| | | Extracted from Steam's Arcade Game Series: Ms. Pac-Man (see entry 1497) and running in ~current MAME 0.254.
Extracted with the Game Extraction Toolbox https://github.com/shawngmc/game-extraction-toolbox -- it's a Python script; I ended up using Windows Python but I think probably I could have used MSYS2 or WSL Python (which I also installed).
So it's basically
py -m pip install --user pipx
py -m pipx ensurepath
pipx install game-extraction-toolbox
gextoolbox tasks extract --task ags_mspacman --destdir ./ |
|
|
| | | Command line like
C:\downloaded\mame0254\mame.exe mspacmab -waitvsync -nofilter -volume -10 |
|
|
| | | And of course I then immediately find another command parameter: "-autosave" makes a save state automatically when you quit, in effect keeping your high score saved--because old games like this I guess didn't save anything, when the power went off, all the records went with it.
C:\downloaded\mame0254\mame.exe mspacmab -waitvsync -nofilter -autosave -volume -10 |
|
|
| | | Python for Windows from https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/
|
|
|
| | | | Taking vsync out of the command line. ^ _^ I'd thought I'd needed it for recording games well but doesn't seem to be the case, at least for the ones I've checked now; and they're mostly noticeably more responsive with it off, whee! : ) |
|
|
| | |
At some point I hope I can come to terms with that the fact that I'm never going to want to put significantly more time into any of these action puzzle games so there's no danger that I'll ever get significantly better at them, so I may as well just chill out and enjoy them for the occasional changes of pace that they are rather than fretting about the whole thing. ; )
But no I just stress about points. : PP
You get the first stage/life being purple if you insert a credit on the marquee attract screen, where it first says "MS PAC-MAN," before any ghost appears. Found it discussed here https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/ms-pacman-purple-maze-question.75547/ referencing game code discussed here http://donhodges.com/ms_pacman_bugs.htm . |
|
|
| | | | I tried making my own "Turbo" Ms. Pac-Man by launching the game with "-speed 1.5" in the command line--but the speed resets to normal when you eat a power pellet. And the sounds pitch-shift and sound gross, and continue sounding gross even after the speed resets from a power pellet. ; ) |
|
|
| | |
My previous high score--set last time I played, in September--was 44970, so I just edged it out, whoop whoop! ^ _^
I guess they're probably pears. = P |
|
|
| | |
I installed ReShade on MAME, and the ReShade Shader I'm using is one I found today in the emulator Ares--it's a shader called "VHSPro," and I got the ReShade version from https://github.com/Bapho/reshade-shaders/tree/master/Shaders (and to install it, just copied its .fx file into the reshade-shaders folder in MAME, once I'd installed ReShade for that mame.exe).
In ReShade's VHSPro config menu--it's got loads of options accessible with the Home key once installed in MAME, unlike the no-option shaders in Ares--I turned off Fisheye, and switched Bleeding from "Three Phase" to "Old Three Phase," which is less blurry, and looks more like the version I first saw and liked today on SNES Mr. Do! in Ares.
Oh! I didn't set a new high score, I just exactly equaled the old one, haha! ^ _^
I definitely do better when I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing, so I can't get worried about the ghosts or zero in too hard on dots. = D
Was just playing using the arrow keys on the keyboard! Probably not what I want to do long-term since I tend to slouch into non-ergonomic positions more when doing that, I think--but I hadn't realized I could play that well on keyboard... I suppose it just goes to show my play doesn't exactly depend upon manual dexterity. ; D
Those credits in the VHSPro.fx are
" VHS Pro by Vladmir Storm
Ported by Marty McFly and Matsilagi
Updated for ReShade 4+ by Marot Satil and Bapho"
Apparently they did miss an "i" in his name; Vladimir Storm is on YouTube: @vladstorm_
The shader appears to be a copy of Storm's VHS Pro shader on the Unity AssetStore: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/fullscreen-camera-effects/vhs-pro-44925
An earlier & simpler version called VHS Shader https://reshade.me/forum/shader-presentation/1258-vhs-shader was copied from Storm's VHS Tape Noise https://www.shadertoy.com/view/MlfSWr
OH! I was babbling about moving my NES play from Mesen to Ares because I thought ReShade (and VHSPro) didn't work in Mesen...but it does! Oh! Neat. : D
Didn't work too well in the current version of Mednafen though, which I currently use for Genesis, PC Engine, and NGPC.
And it doesn't work for me in old old old versions of MAME that I use for certain old ROMs of mine (like Dig Dug and Night Slashers) in which I use GDI (software) rendering because MAME back then enforced blurry bilinear filtering on DirectX output. Hmm then again this shader does some blurring anyway so maybe I could just turn off ITS own blurring and use old MAME's blurring in DirectX. ; D Ah yeah that WORKS (have to point ReShade's install to DX9), although it's a smidge blurrier than I'd like, even after turning off VHSPro's Bleeding option, which does the shader's own blurring. |
|
|
| | |
This rotated "Arcade" screen mode in Namco Museum Vol. 3 is an excellent version of Ms. Pac-Man--even does a number of things better than the actual arcade version (ie arcade ROM extracted from Steam version of Arcade Game Series Ms. Pac-Man and played in latest MAME):
- more distinct dot-eating sounds--they don't double-up like in MAME
- rounder Ms. Pac-Man (superior aspect ratio when set to "PAR 1:1" in DuckStation; "PAR" stands for "Pixel Aspect Ratio" 'p')
- much better at keeping my high score (MAME's auto-save-state high score is easy for me to mess up and lose ; D)
The Steam extracted arcade ROM in MAME does do a few things better:
- easier-on-the-eyes maze wall colors (not as super-bright as the PS1 version)
- slightly larger overall graphics size on-screen
Those two factors in MAME's favor are probably gonna keep me playing Ms. P in MAME for the most part--but the PS1 version is really good in its own right! |
|
|
| | |
