Notice: This script has been updated and bundled as a plugin with the official release of MAME. Any issues or request for support should be done through MAME's issues or support channels.

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MAME highscore saving

This uses MAME's built-in Lua scripting to provide high-score saving with the standard hiscore.dat file just as older versions did before the feature was removed.

Because this uses MAME's built in scripting language it means you can now save hiscores on a modern default build without having to go through the work of patching it.

Warning: This does not take game reset into account, only loading. So resetting the game via MAME interface may overwrite your highscores!

Be aware that ...

• MAME's scripting internals are not yet finalized and they may change so that this script breaks.

• This script only works on recent MAME releases, probably versions 0.154 or newer (I'm guessing here).

• You will need to be running MAME from a command line interface or have a way to add extra arguments to it.

How to use

1. Place hiscore.lua in an accessible directory (such as ~/.mame/).

2. Download and extract a fresh copy of hiscore.dat (from highscore.mameworld.info) and place it in an accessible directory (such as ~/.mame/).

3. Run MAME with the script active:

    $ mame dkong -autoboot_delay 0 -autoboot_script ~/.mame/hiscore.lua
   

   The -autoboot_script ~/.mame/hiscore.lua tells MAME to run our script. And the -autoboot_delay 0 tells MAME to run it immedately. I don't know why the default is 2 seconds which will cause a visible change in the games if they boot immediately to a visible highscore.

The script should create the directory ~/.mame/hi/ and place its highscore save files there (so ~/.mame/hi/dkong.hi in the example above).

These might be compatible with older verions but I've never tested it so no guarantees.

If you don't like the default file paths ($HOME/.mame/hiscore.dat, and $HOME/.mame/hi) you will have to edit the script. The paths are up top and the $HOME magic variable works.