Topic: MAME Palette usage

[Will]

I want to know how to use the MAME Pallette to toggle and switch certain sprites and items that get in the way making some arcade games hard to map. Up to now I have never used the Pallette because I relied on the freeze dip switch, but difficulty has reached its peak in my arcade mapping process. I already that F4 turns on the pallette and I only just about zoom in and out, but I don't have a clue how to toggle or switch the colours and so on. Any useful info?

[JonLeung]

For the Neo-Geo, NeoRageX has a function for toggling sprites/tiles on and off.  It requires different ROM sets than MAME, though.

[DarkWolf]

There is no way general way to disable layers in MAME.  If you are lucky, some of the games will display tile maps in the F4 mode, but most don't.  With Crack Down and Bonanza Bros I was fortunate to have the tile maps.  However, when it came to Momoko 120%, and Street Smart, I just had to assemble those from scratch.  I had to remove the status bars by overlap and some editing.



As you know, F4 enters the graphics mode, enter switches between palette, sprites and tile maps if available.  Square brackets ([ and ]) will move through multiple palettes/sprites/tile maps.

[Will]

That information works well Darkwolf. Many Capcom games work well showing background and foreground layers (except for Ghosts n' Goblins) but it does not work for old SNK arcade games like Ikari Warriors III - The Rescue or POW Prisoners of War. But I did discover a strange system of background layers scrolling in the Service Mode in the game "Prehistoric Isle in 1930s" so the backgrounds are readily prepared but the foregrounds aren't. Still I managed to make the final stage with Lucifer for Ghouls n' Ghosts. The F4 option didn't give me everything I needed but I could easily gather the sprites even with the setback of high scores.  

[bradhig]

Can you save screeshots while looking at the palette since some maps appear there?

[Will]

While observing the palette of its layouts and maps appearing, screenshots can only be taken with the Print Screen button and pasted on a graphic program. The scale of the layout will not differ from that of screenshots taken during the game itself.