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Gridlee launches on iOS | Free MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)

Dawg

Member
Gridlee-icon.png


Thanks to the kind generosity of the three co-founders of Videa—Howard Delman, Ed Rotberg, and Roger Hector—the original ROM images from the only existing Gridlee machine have been made available for free, non-commercial use.

What's this?

Gridlee is a game that was developed in 1982 for arcade hardware, but it never officially released. Now, it launches on the App Store. At first, Gridlee looks like a simple game where you play as a little green dude that shoots at bouncy red figures, but that's not the important bit of the game.

Why not?

Well, as developer David Loureiro explains, Gridlee was developed for the Bally/Sente SAC I cartridge-based arcade machine. It has been brought to iOS devices using an emulator: MAME4iOS.

MAME4iOS?

Well, there's a rom folder hidden inside the game and if one copies other MAME ROMs into that folder, the Gridlee app starts up with the standard MAME4iOS ROM listing, allowing for a great many games beyond just Gridlee to be played on the iPhone or iPad in this Universal app.

Important info:

At the heart of Gridlee sits MAME4iOS v1.3 (MAME 0.139u1), which is much more advanced and feature-rich than the version of iMAME4ALL that powered iMAME. The MAME4iOS settings include advanced visual filters to enhance games' renderings, support for MAME cheats, and support for external controllers such as the iCade, among other features.

Link: https://itunes.apple.com/be/app/id595117070?mt=8


Source: http://toucharcade.com/2013/01/26/mame-is-back-in-the-app-store-for-now-with-gridlee/

Thanks to Pray For Death for pointing it out.
 

ss_lemonade

Member
Man, was just about to get some sleep when I read about this. Immediately grabbed my ipad and downloaded the thing lol. I wonder how stv emulation is on an ipad 4, will try when I get up later
 

Rat Salad

Banned
Can someone recomend a program besides IExplorer to use with this? Because that programm runs $35.00 for a full version. :/
 

slash213

Member
Can someone recomend a program besides IExplorer to use with this? Because that programm runs $35.00 for a full version. :/

Dude, you can transfer files to apps via iTunes, no external soft required. Just select your device, click on 'Apps' tab and scroll down to 'File Sharing' section.

EDIT: oops, just noticed that iTunes does not allow transferring files to EVERY app, apparently. My bad. Then it's either iFunBox (as Milo suggested) or iTools (page is in Russian, scroll down a bit for download buttons). Both are kinda ghetto, but they do their job.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Nice op!

I can transfer files in iExplorer demo mode just fine so far, does it lock later or something?

Alternatively you can probably find the old fully free versions which aren't as pretty and full featured but work.

My experience so far:
I tested some games to see the iPad 2 performance, I thought they'd be demanding but all were smooth! Having never used iMAME before I'm genuinely impressed with the interface, performance, options, the whole package. It's less fiddly than on PC, even, in my opinion at least. If iCade support is as good as the rest it's going to be sweeeeeet.
There's a minor issue with neogeo games because apparently it doesn't look for the bios in the same folder so you have to bundle the bios with every game (it should be a small file so no big deal). Look for instructions on how to do it if you have any.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
I know SFA3 is super smooth on iPad2, yeah, I imagine neogeo will be similar. I wouldn't try anything 3D if I were you :p
 

Rat Salad

Banned
Dude, you can transfer files to apps via iTunes, no external soft required. Just select your device, click on 'Apps' tab and scroll down to 'File Sharing' section.

EDIT: oops, just noticed that iTunes does not allow transferring files to EVERY app, apparently. My bad. Then it's either iFunBox (as Milo suggested) or iTools (page is in Russian, scroll down a bit for download buttons). Both are kinda ghetto, but they do their job.

LOL. Hey free is always good right! Ghetto's fine.

Thanks all for recomending other freebie programs to use. Kinda late and didnt feel like Googling so thought I'd ask here instead.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
There is an issue when changing from landscape to portrait with fullscreen mode on where the stick's art becomes huge and so covers most of the screen. This only happens with skin A, the other skins work fine regardless of fullscreen setting.

And if you're wondering why I'd use fullscreen, I just don't like the bodrer graphics they used in portrait mode for landscape games and actual portrait games are too small in non fullscreen portrait mode too.
 

DaCocoBrova

Finally bought a new PSP, but then pushed the demon onto someone else. Jesus.
There is a considerable performance boost on A6/X devices (iPhone 5/iPad4). Frame rates are much smoother.

Still tripping over the fact that I'm playing Ed Randy: The Cliffhanger on my friggin iPhone and it's perfectly playable!

df06342ef0cf075b8561473d0c983cd6.jpg
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
There is a considerable performance boost on A6/X devices (iPhone 5/iPad4). Frame rates are much smoother.

In what games? What I've tried on iPad2 has been the same as on my PC to my untrained eye, with scanline and/or CRT filters on (but not the smoothing, I didn't even try that, who would want that;). I even manually removed frame skip.

But as I said, up to CPS2/neogeo level. Don't even know if I'd want anything beyond that. Those I want don't even work on PC.
 

SmokyDave

Member
I grabbed Gridlee last night. Do I need to be jailbroken for any of this file transfer malarkey? I really want to play Cadillacs & Dinosaurs on the iCade!
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
I grabbed Gridlee last night. Do I need to be jailbroken for any of this file transfer malarkey? I really want to play Cadillacs & Dinosaurs on the iCade!
No, you don't, if people were jailbroken they wouldn't need this app to have MAME :p
 

DaCocoBrova

Finally bought a new PSP, but then pushed the demon onto someone else. Jesus.
In what games? What I've tried on iPad2 has been the same as on my PC to my untrained eye, with scanline and/or CRT filters on (but not the smoothing, I didn't even try that, who would want that;). I even manually removed frame skip.

But as I said, up to CPS2/neogeo level. Don't even know if I'd want anything beyond that. Those I want don't even work on PC.


Sega stuff like Galaxy Force 2, Power Drift etc. iPhone 5 smokes both my iPad 2 and Mini when I run them side by side.


No, you don't, if people were jailbroken they wouldn't need this app to have MAME :p


Dat iFBA...
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Ah, I didn't try such sprite scaling games, I didn't imagine they'd be more demanding than CPS2/neogeo but that makes sense.

Although some such games aren't very suitable for iCade anyway, requiring different controls for the best experience.

Edit: right, even Outrun is real bad (but Space Harrier and Afterburner II seem smooth), and there's slowdown in Metal Slug X also after all, but not that bad, it's a shame though. Garou and Shock Troopers are flawless so I thought it's set.
 

Aaron

Member
I know SFA3 is super smooth on iPad2, yeah, I imagine neogeo will be similar. I wouldn't try anything 3D if I were you :p
This new version doesn't seem to run neogeo games very well. Some don't work that worked with imame, and others have increased slowdown. It's better for the few other things I've tried though. This is on an ipad2.
 

ParityBit

Member
When you download this, is there anything you should do to make sure you keep the app even when its removed from the store? So like if you format your device, or get a new one. That way you know you have it for good?
 

PFD

Member
When you download this, is there anything you should do to make sure you keep the app even when its removed from the store? So like if you format your device, or get a new one. That way you know you have it for good?

Download on itunes, place the IPA somewhere safe. You can always install it back on your device by synching through itunes or iFunBox.
 

ParityBit

Member
Download on itunes, place the IPA somewhere safe. You can always install it back on your device by synching through itunes or iFunBox.

I have iExplorer from way back when still. Does that work? I never paid for it, I think it was from when it was free ...

Or should I just grab iFunBox?
 

Sye d'Burns

Member
I have iExplorer from way back when still. Does that work? I never paid for it, I think it was from when it was free ...

Or should I just grab iFunBox?

Experiences with older devices / older iOS versions may be different.

I don't think it's officially iOS 6 compatible. I have used it when I installed iDos on the iPhone 5 and it worked, to a limited degree. Copying files from the device to the mac did not work, I would end up with a 0KB file. Deleting files was also hit or miss, often requiring a restart of the app on the mac. Moving files to the device tended to work without issue.

I haven't installed ifunbox, yet, but I will before I attempt anything with Gridlee. It's not worth the hassle.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
This new version doesn't seem to run neogeo games very well. Some don't work that worked with imame, and others have increased slowdown. It's better for the few other things I've tried though. This is on an ipad2.
Yeah, it's hit or miss, like any version. But there's still a vast library that works optimally or is at least playable!

For neogeo I saw slowdown in Metal Slug X but Metal Slug, Garou, KoF'98, Shock Troopers, and others seem to work well.

It's hard to tell for sure when just checking out attract modes and playing a bit without going through every situation.

I'm ok with that since I bought Metal Slug 3 via the official release, that probably would have slowdown on this. And anyway, I can run any game I own more optimally on PC and play with a 360 or Wii pad, it's still cool to have some of them on iPad2.
 

fvng

Member
this reminds me of that flashlight app for iphone that secretly acted as a way to turn your iphone into a wi-fi hotspot for mobile tethering.
 

Tain

Member
The performance is surprising on an iPhone 5. Neat, but I'm not sure how much I'll use it.

Alextended said:
For neogeo I saw slowdown in Metal Slug X but Metal Slug, Garou, KoF'98, Shock Troopers, and others seem to work well.

Sounds like it's working as intended, honestly.
 

Tain

Member
Yeah. After running the app it'll populate the Documents folder with the normal MAME directory structure (including roms directory)

Now how do I get to dip switches or hit that Service Menu button...
 
And is there perhaps a way to get 6 buttons working? I know it's a bit much and will probably be horrible on my iphone but I wanna mess around on some fighting games lol.

Damn I got Alien vs. Predator running...my dream has come true.

Thanks for all this info!
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
And is there perhaps a way to get 6 buttons working? I know it's a bit much and will probably be horrible on my iphone but I wanna mess around on some fighting games lol.

Damn I got Alien vs. Predator running...my dream has come true.

Thanks for all this info!
By default it should automatically add the required number of buttons on its own based on the game you run (for me it often does it wrong but with extra buttons, not less!). But you can also configure how many buttons are available and displayed in the options and also configure each game's controls manually in the same menu system as the PC releases.

Edit: tested with SF2 and while it does add 6 buttons it seems to be wonky in what each does, I'll have to try configuring.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Hmm I thought I had seen it in a menu but now I can only find the general, not per game settings. That's in the rom selection screen all the way at the bottom (you can go by pressing up at the top). Well, maybe you can manually input them in each game's cfg file too, after testing to see what button registers as what and what it prints in the default config.
 

Tain

Member
Actually, it looks like you can get to the tab menu with Coin + Start.

Unbound buttons still show up as virtual ones, unfortunately
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Cool, I should have tried that. Just keep in mind you gotta hold down the button to register after pressing to remap a function. Don't think the button doesn't work just because you tap it and it doesn't switch to that.

You can also probably check the cfg and copy paste the contents after remapping just one Capcom fighting game, one SNK game, etc, for the rest from those companies, rather than remap each game manually, whatever works.

Edit: the above works, I just configured SFA3, HSF2, MVC & VSAV copy pasting the stuff after manually configuring just HSF2.

For what buttons are displayed I don't know how you can set that manually per game but it can probably done with file editing also, I would imagine. Otherwise the global setting is in the settings screen.

Maybe it's also possible to change the layouts with file edits? That would be nice, to use B with the placement of A and so get rid of that graphical issue but not alter the button placement. Someone more into that stuff should try and figure it all out.

Edit: the above is probably impossible as all those skin and such files seem to be in the folder people say is protected.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Does anybody know which specific games have been added, fully working, from 137b to 139u (like Battle Garegga)?
Is there a list? Or games that have gone from wonky to full support?
I've downloaded the app but have yet to try it, for starters does anybody know if it needs soecific cfg for Dodonpachi in portrait mode like iMame4All did and how do you add a button with autofire (so that button with autofire= power fire, holding the other button= laser fire)?
 

ss_lemonade

Member
Tried running gunlock. Doesn't run at full speed but its running a great deal faster than my s3 where the framerate just falls apart
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Cool, I should have tried that. Just keep in mind you gotta hold down the button to register after pressing to remap a function. Don't think the button doesn't work just because you tap it and it doesn't switch to that.

You can also probably check the cfg and copy paste the contents after remapping just one Capcom fighting game, one SNK game, etc, for the rest from those companies, rather than remap each game manually, whatever works.

Edit: the above works, I just configured SFA3, HSF2, MVC & VSAV copy pasting the stuff after manually configuring just HSF2.

For what buttons are displayed I don't know how you can set that manually per game but it can probably done with file editing also, I would imagine. Otherwise the global setting is in the settings screen.

Maybe it's also possible to change the layouts with file edits? That would be nice, to use B with the placement of A and so get rid of that graphical issue but not alter the button placement. Someone more into that stuff should try and figure it all out.

Edit: the above is probably impossible as all those skin and such files seem to be in the folder people say is protected.

Did you make those cfgs for iCade support or without? Either way, I'd love if you could send me a couple of cfgs to copy paste :)
How do you get rid of frameskipping? I never could in iMame since all I'd see was AUTO or picking a frame to skip between the first and the eleventh iirc.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Well, they're setup how I want the controls, you may want them different... Just go configure SFA3 then copy paste the contents of its cfg into the other fighting games' cfg (everything below the system name which is sfa3 in that case).

Then do one for a KoF and put it in the other SNK fighting games, etc.

It should work as the former all use 6 buttons (well, except things like Super Gem Fighter, it has 3 iirc) and the latter all 4.

Then do the same for side scrolling action games, beat 'em ups, etc, which mostly all use 2 or 3 buttons (though there are exceptions like the Dungeons & Dragons games and other such things).

For frameskip I can choose "none" in this release.

Edit: also, no, I haven't tested it with iCade yet, maybe the buttons it uses are all weird instead, or they're all new inputs.
 
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