Mucci's Guide

Mucci from RetroRoms website wrote a very comprehensive guide with pictures. It's available in PDF format for free here: http://www.mameguide.info/

The guide's index is below:

Introduction.........................................................4 The man behind this book........................................4 Thanks goes to..................................................5 Important Note..................................................5 Chapter 1: Environment...............................................6 Chapter 2: MAME......................................................8 Installing MAME (Windows).......................................8 Using MAME.....................................................20 Installing MAMEui (Windows)....................................34 Installing add-ons for MAMEui..................................44 Using MAMEui...................................................56 Installing MAME (Linux)........................................61 Using MAME (Linux).............................................65 Chapter 3: MESS.....................................................67 Installing MESS (Windows)......................................67 Using MESS (Windows)...........................................79 Installing MESSui (Windows)....................................89 Using MESSui (Windows).........................................95 Chapter 4: ROMs....................................................105 What are ROMs and their status?...............................105 Split vs merged vs non-merged ROMs............................107 What are CHD files?...........................................117 Download ROMs.................................................120 Download CHD from Retroroms.net...............................121 About the versions number.....................................141 Chapter 5: Other Tools.............................................142 Installing a front-end........................................142 Using a front-end.............................................150 Installing torrentzip.........................................153 Using torrentzip..............................................158 Installing torrent7zip........................................161 Using torrent7zip.............................................164 Chapter 6: ROM-Tools...............................................166 Dat-file XML-Structure........................................166 DFC- Dat-File-Creator by ARMAX................................170 Installing Dat-File-Creator DFC...............................171 Using Dat-File-Creator DFC....................................172 CLRMAME - Cool little ROM manipulation and management engine by Roman Scherzer.............................................187 Installing CLRMAME............................................187 Using CLRMAMEPRO..............................................191 Chapter 7: Compiling MAME/MESS.....................................380 Compiling with full source code...............................380 Updating source with TortoiseGIT (GUI)........................399 Chapter 8: Appendix................................................412 Used web-sites and more.......................................412 Document History..............................................414

Reference

 * 1) Adobe Reader - download PDF software