Multi Emulator Super System (
MESS) is an
emulatorAn emulator in computer sciences duplicates the functions of one system using a different system, so that the second system behaves like the first system...
for many game consoles and computer systems, based on the
MAMEMAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The aim of MAME is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines;...
core.
The primary purpose of MESS is to preserve decades of
computerA computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century . These were the size of a large room, consuming as...
and
consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or electronic device that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
history. As technology continues to progress, MESS prevents these
vintageVintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
systems from being lost and forgotten.
MESS emulates
portableA portable computer is a computer that is designed to be moved from one place to another and includes a display and keyboard. Portable computers, by their nature, are microcomputers. Portable computers, because of their size, are also commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers...
and console gaming systems, computer platforms and calculators.
Multi Emulator Super System (
MESS) is an
emulatorAn emulator in computer sciences duplicates the functions of one system using a different system, so that the second system behaves like the first system...
for many game consoles and computer systems, based on the
MAMEMAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The aim of MAME is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines;...
core.
The primary purpose of MESS is to preserve decades of
computerA computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century . These were the size of a large room, consuming as...
and
consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or electronic device that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
history. As technology continues to progress, MESS prevents these
vintageVintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
systems from being lost and forgotten.
MESS emulates
portableA portable computer is a computer that is designed to be moved from one place to another and includes a display and keyboard. Portable computers, by their nature, are microcomputers. Portable computers, because of their size, are also commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers...
and console gaming systems, computer platforms and calculators. The project strives for accuracy and portability and therefore is not always the fastest emulator for any one particular system. However, its accuracy makes it useful for
homebrewHomebrew is a term frequently applied to video games or other software produced by consumers to target proprietary hardware platforms not typically user-programmable or that use proprietary storage methods. This might include games developed with official development kits, such as Net Yaroze or...
game development, for example on the
Atari 7800The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a video game console re-released by Atari Corporation in June 1986. The original release had occurred two years earlier under Atari Inc. The 7800 was designed to replace Atari Inc.'s unsuccessful Atari 5200 and later to re-establish Atari...
.
MESS supports 376 unique systems with 1069 total system variations and is growing all the time. However, not all of the systems in MESS are functional, some are marked as non-working or are in development. MESS was first released in 1998 and has been under constant development since.
MESS license
MESS is distributed under the same license as MAME. While MESS is available at no cost, including its source code, it is not
open-source softwareOpen source software is computer software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain. This permits users to use, change, and improve the...
or
free softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also...
because commercial use and redistribution are prohibited. That is, its license does not meet the conditions of the
Open Source DefinitionThe Open Source Definition is used by the Open Source Initiative to determine whether or not a software license can be considered open source.The definition was based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines, written and adapted primarily by Bruce Perens....
, nor is it "free software" as defined by the
Free Software FoundationThe Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to distribute and modify computer software...
.
In particular, MESS may be redistributed in source or binary form, either modified or unmodified, but: "Redistributions may not be sold, nor may they be used in a commercial product or activity." Also, redistributions of modified versions (derivative works) must include the complete corresponding source code (similar to a
copyleftCopyleft is a play on the word copyright to describe the practice of using copyright law to remove restrictions on distributing copies and modified versions of a work for others and requiring that the same freedoms be preserved in modified versions....
).
http://mamedev.org/license.html
Challenges of MESS Emulation Usage
Generally the emulation only includes raw hardware logic such as for the CPU and
RAM-Ram, ram, or RAM as a non-acronymic word:As a non-acronymic word Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:-Animals:*Bighorn Sheep, A North American mountain sheep species*Sheep, an uncastrated male of which is called a ram...
, and specialized
DSPA digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with optimized architecture for fast operational needs of Digital Signal Processing.-Typical characteristics:...
s such as tone generators or video sprites. The MESS emulator does not include any programming code stored in ROM chips from the emulated computer, since this may be copyrighted software.
Obtaining the ROM data by oneself directly from the hardware being emulated can be extremely difficult, technical, and expensive, since it may require
desolderingIn electronics, desoldering is the removal of solder and components from a circuit for troubleshooting, repair purposes and to salvage components...
of
integrated circuitIn electronics, an integrated circuit is a miniaturized electronic circuit that has been manufactured in the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
chips from the circuit board of the device they own. The desoldered IC is placed into an expensive chip reader device connected to the
serial portIn computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...
of another computer, with pin sockets on the reader specifically designed to match the chip package shape in question, to perform a memory dump of the ROM to a data file.
Removal of a soldered chip is often far easier than reinstalling it, especially for extremely small surface mount technology chips, and the emulated device in question may be effectively destroyed beyond recovery after the ROM has been removed for reading.
However, if one has a working system, it is far easier to dump the ROM data to tape, disk, etc. and transfer the data file to one's target machine.
See also
- HazeMD
HazeMD is a computer software program for personal computers designed to faithfully and precisely emulate the entire software library released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, including many Unlicensed cartridges which do not function correctly on any other emulator.The emulator is built on the...
, Side-project which emulates only the Sega Mega DriveThe is a fourth-generation video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 and Europe in 1990. The console was released in North America in 1989 under the name Genesis, as Sega was unable to secure legal rights to the Mega Drive name in that region...
using the MAME code.
- MAME
MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. The aim of MAME is to be a reference to the inner workings of the emulated arcade machines;...
External links