pinmame.txt

**************************************************************************************
                               PinMAME
              (Pinball Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)
                             Version 3.7
                           (XX XXth, 2025)
                 https://github.com/vpinball/pinmame/
**************************************************************************************

Latest Info
-----------
  See the whatsnew.txt for latest additions to PinMAME!

What is it?
-----------
  PinMAME emulates the hardware found in almost every solid state pinball machine created from
  the earliest days of CPU-controlled machines (mid 1970's) through 2014 (Stern SAM).
  It is available in various forms:

  Standalone Emulator (PinMAME (command line), PinMAME32 (UI))
  COM library (VPinMAME) to steer simulators like Visual Pinball 8/9/X
  library (libPinMAME) to steer simulators like VPE, PPUC and VPX standalone

  Supported platforms: Windows (x86), Linux (x86/Arm, incl. RaspberryPi and RK3588), macOS, iOS/tvOS, Android

  Currently, the following pinball hardware is emulated:

  Williams/Bally WPC, Williams/Bally System 11, Williams System 9, Williams System 7,
  Williams System 6, Williams System 4, Williams System 3,
  Data East AlphaNumeric System, Data East 128x16 DMD, Data East 128x32 DMD,
  Data East/Sega 192x64 DMD, Sega/Stern Whitestar System, Stern S.A.M., Stern MPU-100, Stern MPU-200,
  Bally MPU-17 & MPU-35, Bally Video/Pinball, Bally 6803,
  Gottlieb System 1, 80, 80a, 80b, System 3, Hankin, Gameplan MPU-1 & MPU-2, Atari,
  Zaccaria, Taito of Brazil, Midway, Capcom, Alvin G. and Co., Technoplay, Mr.Game, Spinball,
  Nuova Bell, Inder, Juegos Populares, LTD, Peyper, Sonic, Allied Leisure, Fascination, Int.,
  Sleic, Playmatic, NSM, Grand Products, Jac van Ham, Videodens, Astro, Micropin,
  Christian Tabart, Jeutel, Valley Manufacturing, MAC / CICPlay, Stargame, Barni,
  Seeben/Sirmo, Splin Bingo, Playbar, Cirsa, Nondum / CIFA, Maibesa, ManilaMatic, Joctronic, Mirco,
  Sport Matic, Regama, Illinois Pinball.

  *Note: Emulation is not 100% working and correct for all hardware, but very close for the vast majority.

  PinMAME is built as an add-on to the historic MAME 0.76 Source Code.
  Some of the original code was altered, and fixes from later MAME versions were applied.
  In addition, it can be compiled on unix platforms (including macOS) and is (hopefully) 100%
  compatible with 64bit CPU architectures/compiles by now.

  All the historic MAME readme files with all disclaimers, credits and instructions are included for
  info on using MAME related functions.

  All standard MAME "functions" do work the same way in PinMAME (profiler, debugger, cheats,
  record/playback, command line switches etc.).

  In addition, there is special compile time support for the P-ROC (http://www.pinballcontrollers.com,
  to drive (at least) real WPC machines with PinMAME/P-ROC) and LISY (Linux for Gottlieb System1 &
  System80, Bally, Atari, Williams and 'HOme' Pinballs, to drive real pinball machines via
  PinMAME and special hardware, see http://www.lisy80.com & http://www.lisy.dev, also README.lisy)
  platforms (see PROC and LISY_X defines in makefile.unix).

What does it do?
----------------
  Before you start to add the ROMs from your favorite pinball machine please note:

  The PinMAME pinball emulator/simulator itself is not 100% playable. It only emulates the
  electronic circuit boards and the display(s) found in the pinball machine backbox.
  There is no playfield and no balls that you will see 'emulated' and displayed!

  This part can optionally be added by using separate independent program packages,
  like Visual Pinball or Unit3D Pinball, which take care of simulating physics
  and the 3D rendering of the playfield and all its parts.

  Note however, that you can still activate switches with your keyboard, see the display animations,
  and listen to/record the pinball game sounds with the pure PinMAME package itself.

Games supported (incomplete) (a bit outdated, at least since version 2.1 :/ )
----------------------------
  Williams/Bally WPC:  All games from Dr. Dude (1990) to Cactus Canyon (1998)
  Williams/Bally System 11: All games from High Speed (1986) to Dr.Dude (1990)
  Williams System 9: All games from Space Shuttle (1984) to Comet (1985)
  Williams System 7: All games from Black Knight (1980) to Star Light (1984)
  Williams System 6: All games from Blackout (1979) to Alien Poker (1980)
  Williams System 4: All games from Phoenix (1978) to Stellar Wars (1979)
  Williams System 3: All games from HotTip (1977) to Disco Fever (1978)
  Data East AlphaNumeric System: All games from Laser War (1987) to The Simpsons (1990)
  Data East 128x16 DMD: All games from Checkpoint (1991) to Hook (1992)
  Data East 128x32 DMD: All games from Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) to Guns 'n Roses (1994)
  Sega 192x64 DMD: All games from Maverick (1994) to Batman Forever (1995)
  Sega 256x64 DMD: Flipper Football (1996)
  Sega/Stern Whitestar: All games from Apollo 13 (1995) to Nascar (2005)
  Stern S.A.M.: All games from World Poker Tour (2006) to Walking Dead (2014)
  Stern MPU-100: All games from Stingray (1977) to Magic (1979)
  Stern MPU-200: All games from Meteor (1979) to Lazer Lord (1984)
  Bally MPU-17: All games from Freedom (1977) to Black Jack (1978)
  Bally MPU-35: All games from Lost World (1978) to Cybernaut (1985)
  Bally Video/Pinball: Baby Pacman (1982) and Granny & The Gators (1984)
  Gottlieb System 1: All games from Cleopatra (1977) to Asteroid Annie and the Aliens (1980)
  Gottlieb System 80: All games from Spiderman (1980) to Haunted House (1982)
  Gottlieb System 80a: All games from Devil's Dare (1982) to Ice Fever (1985)
  Gottlieb System 80b: All games from Triple Play (1985) to BoneBusters (1989)
  Gottlieb System 3: All games from Lights,Camera,Action (1989) to Barb Wire (1996)
  Hankin Pinball: All games from FJ Holden (1978) to Orbit 1 (1981)
  Game Plan Pinball: All games from Rio (1978) to Cyclopes (1985)
  Atari Pinball: All games from Atarians (1976) to Road Runner (1979)
  Zaccaria Pinball: All games from Winter Sports (1978) to New Star's Phoenix (1987)
  Taito Pinball: All that's available... games between 1980 and 1985
  Midway Pinball: Rotation VIII (1978)
  Capcom Pinball: All games from Pinball Magic (1995) to Kingpin (1996)
  Alvin G. and Co: All games from Soccer Ball (1991) to Pistol Poker (1993)
  Tecnoplay: Scramble, X-Force (both 1987)
  Mr. Game: Dakar, Motor Show (1988), World Cup '90 (1990)
  Spinball: Mach 2 (1995), Jolly Park (1996)
  Nuova Bell: all available Bally clones, also Future Queen (1987), F1 Grand Prix (1987), U-Boat 65 (1988)
  Inder: Brave Team (1985), Canasta 86 (1986), Clown (1988), Corsario (1989), Atleta (1991), 250cc (1992), Bushido (1993)
  Juegos Populares: Petaco (1984), Faeton (1985), America 1492, Aqualand (both 1987)
  LTD: Atlantis, Black Hole, Zephy, Cowboy Eight Ball, Mr. & Mrs. Pec-Men, Al Capone (1980-1983)
  Peyper: Odisea Paris-Dakar (1987)
  Sonic: Odin DeLuxe (1985), Pole Position (1987), Star Wars (1987)
  Allied Leisure: All games from Super Picker (1977) to Star Shooter (1979)
  Fascination, Int.: Roy Clark - The Entertainer (1977), Eros One, and Circa 1933 (both 1979)
  Sleic:
  Playmatic: Last Lap (1978), Antar (1979), Evil Fight (1980), Mad Race (1982), Meg-Aaton (1983), KZ-26 (1984) (*)
  NSM:
  Grand Products: 300/Bullseye (1986)
  Jac van Ham: Escape (1987), Movie Masters
  Videodens: Break (1986)
  Astro: Black Sheep Squadron (1978)
  Micropin: Pentacup (1979)
  Christian Tabart: L'Hexagone (1986)
  Jeutel: Le King (1983), Olympic Games (1984)
  Valley Manufacturing:
  MAC / CICPlay: MAC Galaxy (1986), Space Train (1987), Space Panther (1988), New MAC Jungle (1995), NBA MAC (1996), Kidnap (1986), Galaxy Play (1986), Galaxy Play 2 (1987)
  Stargame: Space Ship (1986), Mephisto (1986), White Force (1987), Iron Balls (1987), Slalom Code 0.3 (1988)
  Barni: Red Baron (1985)
  Splin Bingo: Golden Game
  Playbar: Bloody Roller
  Cirsa:
  Nondum / CIFA:
  Maibesa:
  ManilaMatic:
  Joctronic:
  Mirco:
  Sport Matic:
  Regama: Trebol
  Prototype games and modifications:
    Dave Nutting's Flicker (Sep 1974),
    Bally's Bow & Arrow (Jan 1976),
    Williams Rat Race (Jan 1983),
    Wild Texas (Firepower II Modification),
    machinaZOIS,
    and many more...

  'Supported' usually means that the game loads and the display(s) start up along with lamps etc. All games
  enter attract mode and you can use the Coin Door switches to enter the menus.

    *Note: Sound may not be supported, or may not work properly for all listed games.
   **Note: A FEW games may not work or be supported correctly due to customizations of the original hardware.
  ***Note: Some games may not be fully supported, simply because we could not find full rom sets,
           so some chips remain undumped.

Simulation?
-----------
  For many games there is a ball simulator which you can use to simulate "playing" the game.
  The simulator allows you to use the keyboard to make shots/hit targets with your virtual/
  invisible pinball..

  Essentially, it triggers the correct switches depending on where the balls are located.

  (You can program a simulator for your own favourite game if you know a bit of programming
   and a lot about the game. If you are intersted let us know and we'll try to explain how to do it)

  For more information, please refer to simulation.txt for instructions on using the pinball
  simulator built into PinMAME!

  Many games are not fully simulated, but some have at least preliminary simulator support!


Instructions
------------
  Only PinMAME specific setting are listed here. Please read the MAME readme
  file for instructions on using MAME and all it's options.

  Some ROM images are double size (i.e. the data appears twice).
  This is most often done on purpose due to the limited availability
  of smaller sized EPROMS or to simplify upgrades (all ROM images same size).
  PinMAME accepts the double sized ROMs but the checksum verification
  is disabled. The -verifyroms will still report wrong sized ROMs.


Command line switches
---------------------
  For a full list of command-line options, pass `-showusage` to PinMAME.
  
  These options can be set on the command line or in mame.cfg:

  -[no]dmd_compact   off = Display a more DMD like display (space between dots)
                     on  = Display a compact DMD display

  -[no]dmd_only      off = Display lamps, swithes and simulator
                     on  = Don't display lamps, switches and simulator
                           (they still work). Good when creating animations
                           or screen shots!

  -[no]cheat         on  = Speed up WPC game start up by disabling checksum
                           (does not work with Dr. Dude). Try it on a security
                           PIC game for an interesting message. The
                           functionality is present in the roms, PinMAME just
                           enables it.
                           Also enables MAME cheats (e.g overclocking)
                     off = Normal startup

  -dmd_antialias n   Antialias the DMD display with intensity 0-100%.

Other MAME settings (modified to work with PinMAME)
---------------------------------------------------
  - The display looks better with -noscanlines
  - Display must be forced to 8 bit (-depth 8) if it is not doing so automatically.
  - Printer output will be saved in the MEMCARD directory
  - You may underclock the DCS sound CPU to increase performance but
    sound will be slightly delayed (not synchronized with the display)
    and will sometimes be garbled. Use the F8,F9,F11 keys for underclocking.
    Note that this is not necessary anymore given todays hardware and is also
    not fully supported anymore.

PinMAME Specific Command line switches
--------------------------------------
  The following are new command line switches for PinMAME only, and do not
  exist in MAME.

  These can be set on the command line or in mame.cfg

  -dmd_red   0-255 (Controls the amount of red displayed for a DMD Dot when
                    it's lit at 100%!)
  -dmd_green 0-255 (Controls the amount of green displayed for a DMD Dot when
                    it's lit at 100%!)
  -dmd_blue  0-255 (Controls the amount of blue displayed for a DMD Dot when
                    it's lit at 100%!)

  -dmd_perc66 0-100 (Sets the Brightness percentage to display a DMD Dot which is lit
                     at 66%, Default = 67%)
  -dmd_perc33 0-100 (Sets the Brightness percentage to display a DMD Dot which is lit
                     at 33%, Default = 34%)
  -dmd_perc0  0-100 (Sets the Brightness percentage to display a DMD Dot when NOT lit)

  -dmd_antialias 0-100 (Sets the DMD antialiasing intensity)
  -dmd_only         (Don't display lamp/switch/solenoid matrices)
  -dmd_compact      (Display DMD and LED displays in a more compact format)

  -dmd_colorize     (Use distinct RGB colors for DMD intensities,
                     e.g. uses dmd_red, dmd_green and dmd_blue along with the following options)
  -dmd_red66        (Amount of red displayed at 66% intensity)
  -dmd_green66      (Amount of green displayed at 66% intensity)
  -dmd_blue66       (Amount of blue displayed at 66% intensity)
  -dmd_red33        (Amount of red displayed at 33% intensity)
  -dmd_green33      (Amount of green displayed at 33% intensity)
  -dmd_blue33       (Amount of blue displayed at 33% intensity)
  -dmd_red0         (Amount of red displayed for not being lit)
  -dmd_green0       (Amount of green displayed for not being lit)
  -dmd_blue0        (Amount of blue displayed for not being lit)

  (for more information on the settings above, see "Changing the Look of the DMD")
  
  -[no]force_stereo     (Always force stereo output to better support multi-channel sound)
  -serial_device <dev>  ("COMx" on Windows or "/dev/ttyXXX" on Unix; the device mapped to
                         the WPC serial port of the Printer Kit or WPC95 AV board)
  -sound_mode 0-3       (Sound processing mode; 0=PinMAME, 1=Alternative, 2=PinSound,
                         3=PinSound + Recordings)

VGM sound file dump
-------------------

VGM file output support does exist for AY8910, OKI6295, SAA1099, YM2151, YM2203, YMF262(OPL3), YM3526, YM3812, Y8950, and SN7648/9X (unsure about the mappings for these latter ones though!) sound chips
 Either use -vgmwrite on the commmand line (PinMAME)
 or select it in the game options (this requires a restart though, as VGM output requires to track everything)

General Keys
------------
  Each Hardware platform supports different keys. See Keys.txt for more info.

Controlling switches (manually)
-------------------------------
  The following keys will toggle the state of a switch

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
  ---------------
  Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I Select Column 1-8
  A,S,D,F,G,H,J,K Select Row    1-8

  For example, to toggle switch 34 (Col 3, Row 4) press "E" while holding "F"!
  If the game has a simulator, press "Del" key to toggle between simulator keys
  and the switch keys.


DIP settings
------------
  You can change the country and other settings for the game in the DIP menu.
  Not all games do support all country settings though.

  Each game and the simulator can use some "fake" DIP settings to
  choose between different hardware options (e.g. number of balls installed).

Display
-------
  The display shows the DMD or the Alphanumeric LEDs and optionally
  (via the -[no]dmd_only command line option) three matrices:

  Top:      Lamp Matrix
  Middle:   Switch Matrix
  Bottom:   Solenoids/Flasher Matrix
  Below:    Diagnostic Lights found on the main hardware board.

  PinMAME contains functionality to display the lamp matrix laid out similar
  to the real pinball machine. See TZ for an example.

  If you want to do a similar layout for your favorite game which does not
  yet exist, let us know, and we may be able to help you.

Changing the Look of the DMD
----------------------------
 Changing Color:

   Every dot in the DMD uses an RGB (red, green, blue) color triplet to specify
   the color of each dot to display. To change colors properly, you must know
   the appropriate RGB numbers of the color you wish to use.

   For example, PinMAME's default is a yellow'ish color:
   Red = 255, Green = 224, Blue = 32
   For an orange color, you could use: Red = 255, Green = 64, Blue = 0
   For red dots, you could use: Red = 255, Green = 0, Blue = 0

   Experiment with the #'s, until you find colors that look good to you!

 Changing the Intensity of the DMD Dots:

   The DMD uses 3 levels of intensity (100%,66%,33%) plus an "unlit" state
   to create graphics on the display. 100% are dots that are fully lit,
   where as 66%, 33%, 0% will each be darker than the fully lit dot,
   by a certain percentage.

   You can control these percentages yourself to change the appearance
   of the DMD. You can change the intensities, using dmd_perc66, dmd_perc33
   and dmd_perc0. You cannot change a fully lit dot's intensity. It must
   always be 100%.

   For example, to make the DMD Dots much closer in intensity, you could adjust
   the settings to (100%,90%,80%), by setting dmd_perc66 = 90, dmd_perc33 = 80.
   This would result in animations where the contrast between each of the 3
   intensity levels would be minimal.

   To make the contrast even more drastic, you could use (100%,50%,20%),
   by setting dmd_perc66 = 50, dmd_perc33 = 20.

   These are just examples to demonstrate the functionality. Using these
   #'s, would probably not look very good! :)

   As with the Colors, experiment with the intensity levels, until you find
   #'s that look good to you!

  4-color mode:

   It is also possible to specify 4 completely different RGB colors, e.g.
   for each intensity level separately. This allows for simplistic colorizations
   of the DMD.

Sound Command Mode
------------------
  PinMAME has the ability to let you trigger sound commands manually. This
  will let you play any sound the pinball game can output. Hit the 'F4' key to
  turn Sound Command Mode on or off. Follow the instructions on screen to
  generate sounds.

  The sound commander work in two modes:
  Manual mode:  you enter the commands directly using the arrows.
                NOTE: Not all Sound Command #'s generate a sound. e.g.
                Many games don't have a sound for command #01!
                Most games require two bytes for each command.

  Command mode: Sound commands are read from the "sounds.dat" file
                and you can scroll thru all available commands
                with the arrow keys. Look in the sounds.dat for
                details on hw to use it.

  For some games the sound command history is displayed. It can be useful
  to find out how certain sounds are generated by the hardware.

  Note that some machines do not offer this functionality, either due
  to the way these work (e.g. Stern SAM does the mixing internally)
  or due to the implementation being incomplete/unfinished.

Recording Sounds to a Wave File
-------------------------------
  PinMAME can record the sound output to a wave file for you to play back
  anytime you want. Hit the 'F5' key to begin recording, and hit 'F5' again,
  to stop recording.
  The files are created in the 'wave' directory. They begin with the name
  of the game, plus a #, just like screenshots work.

  If you're having trouble, make sure your .cfg file points to a valid directory,
  and that you have enough free disk space to create the wave.

  Note that WAV files can become big quickly. These are not compressed like
  MP3 files, so you can easily end up with 50MB of WAV files
  for just a few minutes of recording!

  There is also an Automatic Sound Dump functionality:
  Started via 'F6' and skips automatically to the next sound / creates a new file if there
  is no sound at all anymore (silence) or the length reaches 4mins.
  The dump stops automatically after soundcommand 0xFF (=max 256 overall generated sounds).
  There is also an altsound CSV created with the dumps. This one can be
  altered with lucky1's Altsound Editor.

Recording DMD frames to a Text File
-----------------------------------
  By creating a folder called 'DmdDump' inside of the PinMAME folder,
  one can then use the 'F6' key to start recording DMD frames to a text file.
  The file is created in the 'DmdDump' directory and contains the name
  of the game.

Accessing Williams/Bally WPC - Hidden Menu
------------------------------------------
  Did you know that all WPC Machines have a hidden menu?
  Yes, it's true. To access it, you must leave the bookkeeping menu while
  holding down 'up' [9] and 'down' [8] buttons. i.e. press 'Enter' [0] three
  times, so that "B1. Main Audits" is flashing as the selected choice
  Now hold down 'up' [9] and 'down' [8] and press 'escape' [7].
  If you did it correctly, you should see a new choice on the menu:
  EXEC LOCKUPS - B.1 01..... Using the normal Up/Down keys you can cycle through
  the other new choices... Try this on your real machine at home too!

Known Bugs
----------
 See bugs.txt for a list of known problems with PinMAME.

The PinMAME Development Team
----------------------------
Steve Ellenoff     (sellenoff at comcast.net)
Tom Haukap         (Tom.Haukap at t-online.de)
Martin Adrian      (wpcmame at hotmail.com)
Gerrit Volkenborn  (gaston at pinmame.de)
Brian Smith        (destruk at comcast.net)
Thomas Behrens     (TomB1709 at gmail.com)
Oliver Kaegi       (okaegi at freesurf.ch)
Matthias Buecher   (maddes.b at arcor.de)
David Rodriguez    (netsplits at yahoo.es)
Randall Perlow     (rperlow at yahoo.com)
Carsten Waechter   (toxie at ainc.de)


PinMAME Contributors
--------------------
Inkochnito         (inkochnito at kpnplanet.nl)
Marton Larrosa     (marton at mail.com)
Jarek Parchanski   (jpdev at priv6.onet.pl)
Jonathan N. Deitch (jdeitch at litz.org)
Dave Roberts       (daverob at cwcom.net)
Dorsola            (dorsola at descent2.com)
Johan S            (arcadepreserv at hotmail.com)
Guru               (theguru at emuunlim.com)
Martin Wiest       (Mr.Startrek at gmx.de)
Joep               (veld2611 at planet.nl)
Jim Hernandez      (vidpro1 at netzero.net)
Douglas Cope       (djcope11 at yahoo.co.uk)
Silvio Finotti     (silviorf at yahoo.com)
Yvon Poulin        (darkness21 at globetrotter.net)
Pascal Janin       (PascalPi1 at aol.com)
Daniel Dietrich    (3d at data-east.de)
Kelley             (pinballjail at charter.net)
Hans Balk          (www.flipperwinkel.nl)
TecnoPinball       (www.tecnopinball.org)
Peter Hall         (peter.hall at tele2.ch)
Basilio Garcia     (basi_garcia at hergar.com)
Paulo Branco       (paulovtec at gmail.com)
Mike Roberts/mjr
Rob Raper/DJRobX
lucky1


Note from the PinMAME Development team
--------------------------------------
We're working hard to improve this great emulator, and welcome your feedback!!
Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions, bug reports, suggestions,
code patches, whatever!