MAME Action Replay Page - News

Reversed the order of the MAME versions in the pulldown on various forms, so that the most recent versions are at the top. It was beginning to annoy me having to scroll down to the bottom for every upload.

I removed all the old pacplus and pacplus-fast scores, since they were recorded in the days when pacplus wasn't really pacplus at all, but was just pacman with different graphics. Nowadays the game has changed, with invisible ghosts, invisible mazes, and the like. So let's start again. Thanks to Thunky for the suggestion. I hope this doesn't piss anybody off too severly.

Removed pacplus-fast since it appears that the new pacplus doesn't have a speedup cheat.

Made an attempt at a makeover on the 'plain text' pages. Look at this - can you do a better ASCII 'MARP'? That one's decidely dodgy...

I've updated the script for the new MAME 0.34 beta 4 release. These games were added:

1942b     "1942 (set 3)"
alexkidd  "Alex Kidd (bootleg)"
alpine    "Alpine Ski (set 1)"
alpinea   "Alpine Ski (set 2)"
arkanoi2  "Arkanoid 2 - Revenge of DOH!"
armwrest  "Arm Wrestling"
astormbl  "Alien Storm (bootleg)"
aurail    "Aurail (bootleg)"
bionicc2  "Bionic Commando (set 2)"
captcomm  "Captain Commando (World)"
commandu  "Commando (US)"
cop01a    "Cop 01 (set 2)"
dduxbl    "Dynamite Dux (bootleg)"
doubledr  "Double Dragon"
eswatbl   "E-Swat (bootleg)"
exprraib  "Express Raider (bootleg)"
exprraid  "Express Raider"
fantzone  "Fantasy Zone"
formatz   "Formation Z"
fpointbl  "Flash Point (bootleg)"
gngt      "Ghosts'n Goblins (US)"
hwchamp   "Heavyweight Champ"
kchamp    "Karate Champ"
mahretsu  "Mahjong Kyo Retsuden"
mjleague  "Major League"
mrtnt     "Mr. TNT"
neobombe  "Neo Bomberman"
quartet2  "Quartet II"
rockmanj  "Rockman - The Power Battle (Japan)"
sdi       "SDI"
silkwrm2  "Silkworm (set 2)"
sonicwi2  "Aero Fighters 2"
tigerh    "Tiger Heli (set 1)"
tigerh2   "Tiger Heli (set 2)"
tigerhb1  "Tiger Heli (bootleg 1)"
tigerhb2  "Tiger Heli (bootleg 2)"
timescan  "Time Scanner"
tokio     "Tokio / Scramble Formation"
tokiob    "Tokio / Scramble Formation (bootleg)"
tron2     "Tron (set 2)"
tturfbl   "Tough Turf (bootleg)"
turbo     "Turbo"
turboa    "Turbo (encrypted set 1)"
turbob    "Turbo (encrypted set 2)"
tws96     "Tecmo World Soccer 96"
vangrdce  "Vanguard (Centuri)"
dotrone   "Discs of Tron (Environmental)"
vulgus2   "Vulgus (set 2)"
wb3bl     "Wonder Boy Monster Lair (bootleg)"
wrestwar  "Wrestle War"

and these games were renamed:

bionicc   "Bionic Commando" -> "Bionic Commando (set 1)"
commando  "Commando (US)" -> "Commando (World)"
cop01     "COP 01" -> "Cop 01 (set 1)"
dotron    "Discs of Tron" -> "Discs of Tron (Upright)"
dynwarsj  "Dynasty Wars (Japanese)" -> "Dynsaty Wars (Japanese)"
gng       "Ghosts'n Goblins (US)" -> "Ghosts'n Goblins (World?)"
karatedo  "Karate Champ (JAP version)" -> "Karate Champ (VS Version - Japanese)"
ldrun2p   "Lode Runner (2 Players)" -> "Lode Runner IV - Teikoku Karano Dasshutsu"
pacmanbl  "Pac Man (bootleg on Galaxian hardware)" -> "Pac Man (bootleg on Pisces hardware)"
pballoon  "Pioner Balloon" -> "Pioneer Balloon"
silkworm  "Silkworm" -> "Silkworm (set 1)"
slapbtjp  "Slap Fight (Japanese Bootleg)" -> "Slap Fight (Japanese bootleg)"
slapbtuk  "Slap Fight (English Bootleg)" -> "Slap Fight (English bootleg)"
tetrisbl  "Tetris (Sega, bootleg)" -> "Tetris (Sega bootleg)"
tron      "Tron" -> "Tron (set 1)"
unsquad   "UN Squadron" -> "UN Squadron (US)"
vanguard  "Vanguard" -> "Vanguard (SNK)"
varth     "Varth" -> "Varth (World)"
vulgus    "Vulgus" -> "Vulgus (set 1)"

I finished the mods to the script which I was wittering on about on Tuesday 29th. I think they are finished now, so I've installed them over the old script. You'll now be using it. I don't think you'll notice any difference, except for perhaps a minimal speedup and hopefully less 'internal server error' messages. If you do by any chance see anything unusual, or any error messages, please send my a copy. Cheers! If I've really broken something, then the old script will be available for a while by clicking HERE, and the new script is HERE. Check the word 'Fast' or 'Slow' in the top frame to tell which you are using.

It's unlikely that anyone would be interested, but if you look in this directory you'll find a list of the places where visitors to some of my pages have come from.

Can anyone please tell me what this is all about? Or even what language it is in? I was just checking out which sites were sending people here and came across it. I guess it's Polish, come to think of it, since it's on the 'Polish MAME Page' and has a '.pl' address...

Didn't fix the problem of how the script converts all usernames to lower case. If, when you register, you choose a name in capitals, the script won't let you log in using the same name - instead, you have to use a lower case version of the same name. Thanks to our newest contributor, N. Rodgers (prefix 'NMR') for demonstrating this fact to me...

Fixed a nasty bug in the script which trashed the uploads page if you put a return character into the description of your recording. For example if you were saying 'hi' to someone... :o)

I've been splitting the large script which runs all the CGI commands on this site up into lots of little scripts. The idea being that it's a waste of the server's time to load the whole script each time, when only a faction of it is needed. I didn't finish yet, but from what I've done I'm wondering if it was worth bothering. The default at the moment is to use the original large single script. If you click HERE (split) then you'll be using the new set of split-up scripts (and you'll need to log in again, by the way). Can anyone tell me whether there's any noticeable difference with how fast the two versions run? If you click HERE (single) then you'll be running the original single large script. Clear? No? Oh well, never mind. It's just that from the server logs I can see that lots of people come to this site, the script times out, a few times and they go away again, never to return. Which seems like a waste, to me. Oh yeah - if you try both, please email me with your findings.

Incidentally, I know I've missed bits when I split the script up - features such as editing your account or recording details won't work, neither will uploading a new recording, although it doesn't seem to do any harm to try it.

Congratulations to BBH for being the first to have 100 different 1st place scores! And hello to ikzoo, our newest customer, who just helped begin BBH's downfall with a Ponpoko recording. :o)

I've been tinkering with the script again. Nothing major, but if you experience any new problems (as opposed to all the old problems, of course) then please let me know!

I added all the new games for MAME 0.34 beta 3. So now you can upload recordings made with that version.

Looks like we're back up again. The clock's gone wrong again, so the dates of upload are wrong. I'd fix it if I could, but I can't, so I won't. Over to BBH - time to upload your 'bunch of recordings', man! :o)

Also, there's some discussion going on in the message board (click 'Board' in the top frame) about whether the page should accept NeoGeo recordings - apparently there's a problem with the dipswitches or something?

Thunky sent me an email asking if I could extend the text based high score list to show the top three for each game (since he often goes after 2nd or 3rd place, just like I do - I guess neither of us have any pride, right Krool???). So I did it. See the links in the bottom right of the top frame...

There's this guy on IRC called 'Maxwel' who keeps asking me about my page, telling me he can beat the scores here, and never uploading anyway. Well - he asked if I had a text only copy of the high scores. I didn't, but I've arranged for one to be made each night at midnight, or there abouts. You can find it HERE if you want to. Now Maxwel - let's see that 30 million on Puzzle Bobble, OK? :o)

Thanks for your responses to my question on Wednesday. It seems some of you are receiving emails and some aren't. I think it's a problem with this server. If I tell it that my email address is chris.moore@writeme.com then it can't reach me, but if I tell it the zwaxy@bigfoot.com address then it can.

Atila of RetroGames put up a link to this site. Nice one, Atila. :o)

Did any of you receive any automated email messages from my script recently? You know the ones - they say "somebody uploaded a score which beat you" and stuff like that. It's just that Mr. Angry beat both my flicky scores last night, but I didn't get any mail about it.

Well - I'm back off holiday. Looks like communitech.net has shut us down, so I've moved in with Atila of retrogames fame. Thanks mate! :o) I've not finished uploading everything here yet, so please don't be surprised that nothing works.

No changes today. I'll be leaving the site alone so as I don't break anything before I leave it for 3 weeks. Please continue to fight amongst yourselves while I'm away. :o)

I'm going on holiday to the US of A for 3 weeks in a couple of day's time, so don't be too surprised this page doesn't get updated for a while. Please save up all your 0.34 beta recordings for when I get a chance to tell the script about the new games...

Noticed that MAME 0.33 has finally been released. Added it to the list of versions which the script knows about.

Put the A-Z links in the top frame.

A few more changes to the script... I changed the version selection from radio buttons to only of those selection box things, I added the ability to search for recordings made with a particular version of MAME and I fixed the emailing code so that it should only tell you that your leaderboard score has been reduced if it really has!

The leaderboard table shows how the players' previous score was split between 1st, 2nd and 3rd place now. There are no links on these numbers, since the script doesn't remember the details.

Zeus has been in touch with me to tell me that MAME 0.33 beta 4 appears to record and play back the "VIC dual game board" games (invho2, invds, pulsar, etc) which don't seem to record properly with any other version of MAME. So try using m33b4 if you want to submit scores for these games.

I've added a new feature to the script. On the leaderboard page, the links work a little differently. Now, if you click on a player's name, you'll see all the scores by that player which are contributing towards the player's total score (as it was before) but you'll also see any scores by other players which beat that player's scores on these games. Also, if you click on the number of 2nd or 3rd placings any player has, the resulting list will show the recordings by that player which have 2nd or 3rd place, and will also show the scores which are stopping the player being first at those games. This is useful if you want to see which games you're 'nearly top' at. Thanks to Krool for the suggestion.

There is no news today, I'm afraid. I've been too busy trying to climb the leaderboard. :o)

Minor tweak to the upload script. Now it shows the position that any new uploads achieved on the uploads page in brackets after the score.

Greetings WorknMan - welcome aboard! :o) In response to your Piranha question, I played your recording back. I see what you mean - that red baddie floating up and down the very side of the screen... I'd never noticed that before, but I've only played the game with the speedup cheat before. Not very helpful, am I? :o)

Uploaded a whole bunch of dreadful recordings and made notes against some of the unplayable games saying that they aren't playable. Basically, I'm trying to work out which games don't have scores because nobody got around to playing them yet, and which don't have scores because they don't work. Please feel free to upload any crappy scores if you can get an unplayed game to work, and make a note against it if it doesn't work. As a by product of all this I've gone up to 9th place in the leaderboard. Woohoo!!! :o)

Made a start at fixing the problem of the 280zzzap scores. Didn't finish though, and probably left the script so that it won't accept 280zzzap scores at all.

These games have only had their long names changed:

contra    "Contra" -> "Contra (US)"
contrab   "Contra (bootleg)" -> "Contra (US bootleg)"
dowild    "Mr. Do! Wild Ride" -> "Mr. Do's Wild Ride"
gryzorb   "Gryzor (bootleg)" -> "Contra (Japan bootleg)"
mikie     "Mikie (US)" -> "Mikie"
mikiej    "Mikie (Japan)" -> "Shinnyuushain Tooru-kun"

This game was added (actually, it was in m33b6 too, just m33b7 was missing it):

starfire  "Starfire"

Well well. A new MAME version becomes available. See my MAME page if you need a copy. Not much has changed, except that it's now a 0.33 release candidate. Here's what's happened:

Split the invds category into invds-ds and invds-inv, since it's really 2 different games.

I've been assigned a bunch of games to test before the final release. Most of them I have recordings for already (thanks!) but a few (gaunt2, invds-ds, invds-inv, lottofun, roundup and sdungeon) haven't got scores at all yet. I don't know yet whether these games work or not, for the most part, but having recordings uploaded for them would be useful! :o)

As requested by Krool, I've split the large link in the top frame up into more useful smaller links.

Updated the CGI script so that now when you move the mouse over a link you get to see a description of what the link will do. That should make things clearer.

I've posted a question on the message board about Neil's recent 4-in-1 pacman upload. What do people think? Me, I'm impressed.

There's a new link on the login page which you can click if you forget your password. It will email it to you.

Well, I guess you can call me stupid. I left the mail code in test mode last night, so it all got sent to me, not to you guys. Let's try that again then, shall we? Comments, as always, are appreciated.

OK, so I was lying again below. But now it's *really* fixed. Probably.

I think I might have got the automatic emailing script working, so now you can go to the 'edit user' area and tell it what you want to be emailed about. Do you want to be emailed about every upload to the site, or none of them, or something in between the two? There are lots of options, so it's almost bound to be broken in some way...

Please don't be too angry with me if you get hundreds of identical emails from me... :o) Gotta go, anyway - I just heard a friend of mine has had an accident. I'll fix any problems tomorrow (Monday).

Added a chat room again, and this one works well! CLICK HERE to go there...

I made quite a lot of changes to the script, to get it ready to start sending people emails. Hopefully you won't notice any difference at all yet, but if you do have problems, then please email me.

Tidied up the script index page a little.