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Usage

In this page you can find a list of options available for MESS at command line, as listed by using the -showusage option. To each option, there corresponds an entry in the configuration file mess.ini. Please refer to the mess.ini wiki page for a more detailed description of the options and their effect.

CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
-readconfig enable loading of configuration files
-rompath path to ROMsets and hard disk images
-hashpath path to hash files
-samplepath path to samplesets
-artpath path to artwork files
-ctrlrpath path to controller definitions
-inipath path to ini files
-fontpath path to font files
-cheatpath path to cheat files
-crsshairpath path to crosshair files
CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS
-cfg_directory directory to save configurations
-nvram_directory directory to save nvram contents
-memcard_directory directory to save memory card contents
-input_directory directory to save input device logs
-state_directory directory to save states
-snapshot_directory directory to save screenshots
-diff_directory directory to save hard drive image difference files
-comment_directory directory to save debugger comments
CORE STATE/PLAYBACK OPTIONS
-state saved state to load
-autosave enable automatic restore at startup, and automatic save at exit time
-playback playback an input file
-record record an input file
-mngwrite optional filename to write a MNG movie of the current session
-aviwrite optional filename to write an AVI movie of the current session
-wavwrite optional filename to write a WAV file of the current session
-snapname override of the default snapshot/movie naming; %g == gamename, %i == index
-snapsize specify snapshot/movie resolution (<width>x<height>) or 'auto' to use minimal size
-snapview specify snapshot/movie view or 'internal' to use internal pixel-aspect views
CORE PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
-autoframeskip enable automatic frameskip selection
-frameskip set frameskip to fixed value, 0-12 (autoframeskip must be disabled)
-seconds_to_run number of emulated seconds to run before automatically exiting
-throttle enable throttling to keep game running in sync with real time
-sleep enable sleeping, which gives time back to other applications when idle
-speed controls the speed of gameplay, relative to realtime; smaller numbers are slower
-refreshspeed automatically adjusts the speed of gameplay to keep the refresh rate lower than the screen
CORE ROTATION OPTIONS
-rotate rotate the game screen according to the game's orientation needs it
-ror rotate screen clockwise 90 degrees
-rol rotate screen counterclockwise 90 degrees
-autoror automatically rotate screen clockwise 90 degrees if vertical
-autorol automatically rotate screen counterclockwise 90 degrees if vertical
-flipx flip screen left-right
-flipy flip screen upside-down
CORE ARTWORK OPTIONS
-artwork_crop crop artwork to game screen size
-use_backdrops enable backdrops if artwork is enabled and available
-use_overlays enable overlays if artwork is enabled and available
-use_bezels enable bezels if artwork is enabled and available
CORE SCREEN OPTIONS
-brightness default game screen brightness correction
-contrast default game screen contrast correction
-gamma default game screen gamma correction
-pause_brightness amount to scale the screen brightness when paused
CORE VECTOR OPTIONS
-antialias use antialiasing when drawing vectors
-beam set vector beam width
-flicker set vector flicker effect
CORE SOUND OPTIONS
-sound enable sound output
-samplerate set sound output sample rate
-samples enable the use of external samples if available
-volume sound volume in decibels (-32 min, 0 max)
CORE INPUT OPTIONS
-coin_lockout enable coin lockouts to actually lock out coins
-ctrlr preconfigure for specified controller
-mouse enable mouse input
-joystick enable joystick input
-lightgun enable lightgun input
-multikeyboard enable separate input from each keyboard device (if present)
-multimouse enable separate input from each mouse device (if present)
-steadykey enable steadykey support
-offscreen_reload convert lightgun button 2 into offscreen reload
-joystick_map explicit joystick map, or auto to auto-select
-joystick_deadzone center deadzone range for joystick where change is ignored (0.0 center, 1.0 end)
-joystick_saturation end of axis saturation range for joystick where change is ignored (0.0 center, 1.0 end)
CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS
-paddle_device enable (none/keyboard/mouse/lightgun/joystick) if a paddle control is present
-adstick_device enable (none/keyboard/mouse/lightgun/joystick) if an analog joystick control is present
-pedal_device enable (none/keyboard/mouse/lightgun/joystick) if a pedal control is present
-dial_device enable (none/keyboard/mouse/lightgun/joystick) if a dial control is present
-trackball_device enable (none/keyboard/mouse/lightgun/joystick) if a trackball control is present
-lightgun_device enable (none/keyboard/mouse/lightgun/joystick) if a lightgun control is present
-positional_device enable (none/keyboard/mouse/lightgun/joystick) if a positional control is present
-mouse_device enable (none/keyboard/mouse/lightgun/joystick) if a mouse control is present
CORE DEBUGGING OPTIONS
-log generate an error.log file
-verbose display additional diagnostic information
-update_in_pause keep calling video updates while in pause
-debug enable/disable debugger
-debugscript script for debugger
CORE MISC OPTIONS
-bios select the system BIOS to use
-cheat enable cheat subsystem
-skip_gameinfo skip displaying the information screen at startup
DEBUGGING OPTIONS
-oslog output error.log data to the system debugger
PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
-multithreading enable multithreading; this enables rendering and blitting on a separate thread
-sdlvideofps show sdl video performance
VIDEO OPTIONS
-video video output method: soft or opengl
-numscreens number of screens to create; SDLMAME only supports 1 at this time
-window enable window mode; otherwise, full screen mode is assumed
-maximize default to maximized windows; otherwise, windows will be minimized
-keepaspect constrain to the proper aspect ratio
-unevenstretch allow non-integer stretch factors
-effect name of a PNG file to use for visual effects, or 'none'
-centerh center horizontally within the view area
-centerv center vertically within the view area
-waitvsync enable waiting for the start of VBLANK before flipping screens; reduces tearing effects
-scalemode Scale mode: none, async, yv12, yuy2, yv12x2, yuy2x2 (-video soft only)
OpenGL-SPECIFIC OPTIONS
-filter enable bilinear filtering on screen output
-prescale scale screen rendering by this amount in software
-gl_forcepow2texture force power of two textures (default no)
-gl_notexturerect don't use OpenGL GL_ARB_texture_rectangle (default on)
-gl_vbo enable OpenGL VBO, if available (default on)
-gl_pbo enable OpenGL PBO, if available (default on)
-gl_glsl enable OpenGL GLSL, if available (default off)
-gl_glsl_filter enable OpenGL GLSL filtering instead of FF filtering 0-plain, 1-bilinear (default)
-glsl_shader_mame0 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 0
-glsl_shader_mame1 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 1
-glsl_shader_mame2 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 2
-glsl_shader_mame3 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 3
-glsl_shader_mame4 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 4
-glsl_shader_mame5 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 5
-glsl_shader_mame6 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 6
-glsl_shader_mame7 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 7
-glsl_shader_mame8 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 8
-glsl_shader_mame9 custom OpenGL GLSL shader set mame bitmap 9
-glsl_shader_screen0 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 0
-glsl_shader_screen1 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 1
-glsl_shader_screen2 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 2
-glsl_shader_screen3 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 3
-glsl_shader_screen4 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 4
-glsl_shader_screen5 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 5
-glsl_shader_screen6 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 6
-glsl_shader_screen7 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 7
-glsl_shader_screen8 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 8
-glsl_shader_screen9 custom OpenGL GLSL shader screen bitmap 9
-gl_glsl_vid_attr enable OpenGL GLSL handling of brightness and contrast. Better RGB game performance for free. (default)
PER-WINDOW VIDEO OPTIONS
-screen explicit name of the first screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-aspect aspect ratio for all screens; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-resolution preferred resolution for all screens; format is <width>x<height>[@<refreshrate>] or 'auto'
-view preferred view for all screens
-screen0 explicit name of the first screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-aspect0 aspect ratio of the first screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-resolution0 preferred resolution of the first screen; format is <width>x<height>[@<refreshrate>] or 'auto'
-view0 preferred view for the first screen
-screen1 explicit name of the second screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-aspect1 aspect ratio of the second screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-resolution1 preferred resolution of the second screen; format is <width>x<height>[@<refreshrate>] or 'auto'
-view1 preferred view for the second screen
-screen2 explicit name of the third screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-aspect2 aspect ratio of the third screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-resolution2 preferred resolution of the third screen; format is <width>x<height>[@<refreshrate>] or 'auto'
-view2 preferred view for the third screen
-screen3 explicit name of the fourth screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-aspect3 aspect ratio of the fourth screen; 'auto' here will try to make a best guess
-resolution3 preferred resolution of the fourth screen; format is <width>x<height>[@<refreshrate>] or 'auto'
-view3 preferred view for the fourth screen
FULL SCREEN OPTIONS
-switchres enable resolution switching
SOUND OPTIONS
-audio_latency set audio latency (increase to reduce glitches, decrease for responsiveness)
SDL KEYBOARD MAPPING
-keymap enable keymap
-keymap_file keymap filename
-uimodekey Key to toggle MESS keyboard mode
SDL JOYSTICK MAPPING
-joy_idx1 name of joystick mapped to joystick #1
-joy_idx2 name of joystick mapped to joystick #2
-joy_idx3 name of joystick mapped to joystick #3
-joy_idx4 name of joystick mapped to joystick #4
-joy_idx5 name of joystick mapped to joystick #5
-joy_idx6 name of joystick mapped to joystick #6
-joy_idx7 name of joystick mapped to joystick #7
-joy_idx8 name of joystick mapped to joystick #8
-sixaxis Use special handling for PS3 Sixaxis controllers
SDL LOWLEVEL DRIVER OPTIONS
-videodriver sdl video driver to use ('x11', 'directfb', … or 'auto' for SDL default
-audiodriver sdl audio driver to use ('alsa', 'arts', … or 'auto' for SDL default
-gl_lib alternative libGL.so to use; 'auto' for system default
MESS SPECIFIC OPTIONS
-ramsize size of RAM (if supported by driver)
-writeconfig writes configuration to (driver).ini on exit
-skip_warnings skip displaying the warnings screen
-natural specifies whether to use a natural keyboard or not
SDL MESS SPECIFIC OPTIONS
CORE COMMANDS
-help show help message
-validate perform driver validation on all game drivers
CONFIGURATION COMMANDS
-createconfig create the default configuration file
-showconfig display running parameters
-showusage show this help
FRONTEND COMMANDS
-listxml all available info on driver in XML format
-listfull short name, full name
-listsource driver sourcefile
-listclones show clones
-listbrothers show “brothers”, or other drivers from same sourcefile
-listcrc CRC-32s
-listroms list required roms for a driver
-listsamples list optional samples for a driver
-verifyroms report romsets that have problems
-verifysamples report samplesets that have problems
-romident compare files with known MAME roms
-listdevices list available devices