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Prerequisites for using the MAME console application on MacOS:
- Intel-based Macs – MacOS 10.14 or above (majority of Macs made before 2021).
- M1(aarch64)-based Macs – MacOS 12.0 “Monterey”.
- libSDL 2.0 or above – SDL for MacOS (currently 20.0.22).
- Knowledge of using the Terminal.app within MacOS or a frontend.
The current MAME release is 0.246, released on July 31st, 2022.
nice
It would be helpful to add links to the latest version of MAME per MacOS.
Example: MacOS 10.14 or above = MAME 0.244
MacOS 10.13 = MAME 0.???
MacOS 10.12 = MAME 0.???
MacOS 10.11 = MAME 0.???
MacOS 10.10 = MAME 0.???
MacOS 10.9 = MAME 0.???
I like this idea but I didn’t keep those records and even I didn’t retain all this data. A good way to gauge this is looking up the version release date and then look up what MacOS was available at that time for a decent gauge. Usually I built on the oldest OS X possible to retain as much compatibility as I could. Still, I’ll see what I can come up with when I have some time!
MAME 0.244 needs actually macOS 12 (Monterey) to run.
When I try to run it on macOS 11 (Big Sur) it is not working.
See message when I try to run it under Big Sur:
user@Mac /Applications/mame0244-arm64 $ ./mame
dyld: Symbol not found: __ZNKSt3__115basic_stringbufIcNS_11char_traitsIcEENS_9allocatorIcEEE3strEv
Referenced from: /Applications/mame0244-arm64/./mame (which was built for Mac OS X 12.0)
Expected in: /usr/lib/libc++.1.dylib
Hrm I’ll check it out, thanks for the report!
Thank you so much. I am also getting a crash when I try to run SDL MAME version 0.244 on Mac OS 11 Big Sur. A fix for this would be super useful because I can’t go up to Mac OS 12 just yet.
More details: Running the file “mame64” results in a crash, running the file “mame” succeeds. MacOS 11 Big Sur.
The only file you should have as a executable is “mame”, the former “mame64” pre-dates the M1 processors and the zip only comes with a “mame” executable. If you have just placed new releases over old ones, it never would have deleted the old “mame64”, but that is surely over 2 years old, and isn’t supposed to run on M1. If the “mame” file runs on Big Sur then all should be well, but I can’t test that. If it doesn’t run, mame is also available through macports and brew and should work on Big Sur.
Hi,
do you know if there is a way to have a shortcut to start the app from the dock? Using maybe a command or something similar to bypass the terminal and start SDL MAME easier?
Thank you for your efforts on MAME dev
I’m personally unsure if you can add the MAME binary to the Dock directly, but if you can, you may have to keep all the corresponding MAME folders in your Home directory. Give it a try and see what happens!
Hi,
Yes there is an app you can download here called “M64”:
https://github.com/bamf2048/bamf2048.github.io/releases/download/M64/M64.app.zip
Download the file and unzip it to your MAME folder that contains the mame.exe file. You will have to rename “mame.exe” to “mame64.exe” in order for M64 to work.
You can drag and drop the M64 file to your launchpad icon in the dock. Now you can launch with the icon. 🙂
Last I recall that app had no new development in years. Just by having to rename the mame binary tells me it’s been a few years it’s been dead already. I don’t suggest or recommend people use dead software to do things with. It can’t possibly support new things added to mame only very basic things it can interpret.
I’ve used it for a few years with no problems. I agree with your comment about “dead software” however, this app just executes the mame executable and nothing else. It doesn’t use or enhance any mame features. If you want to give it a shot without renaming your mame executable, right click on the M64 app and show package contents. Go to the Contents/Resources directory and edit the script file changing mame64 to mame. Save it then move the M64.app into your mame directory. Can’t quite remember but I think everytime you update mame you need to run it from the terminal once.
Not working on Mac Os Monterey, when running “./mame” command into the terminal, the screen goes black, mouse pointer is displayed and responding, BUT, nothing else works, backlit keyboard or screen bright keys are working, but trying to go back, change or go to any other app, nothing works, only mouse pointer, I had to force shutdown by pressing power btn, that was the only way out. Fyi I installed LibSDL (copied the content into /Library/Frameworks).
Any ideas?
First run should be “./mame -cc” for “create config”. After just the main command will do. Also, there is a delay the first time mame is run, I believe it is building database data, where the screen will appear unresponsive and stay black. This is normal and mame will start, let it finish.