Updated MAME Files

[RandyR]

Hi Everyone,

I've spent the better part of 2 months working on updating the MAME files for the retro engines. Well, I should say that after trying to use Gemini in a browser, copying and pasting code, I finally gave up and switched to Claude a few weeks ago so that's who did all the real work. :^) Definitely money well spent.

For anyone who would like to try the current state of the effort you can download the tar archive here. It only contains the updated files including the aarch64 compile mess v0.289. Once I am finished, I'll make the Github repo(s) public.

Randy

[RandyR]

A new version of the updated mame files has been uploaded. Eventually I'll work with Johan to release an updated mame_emulation resource file.

Same link:

engines.tar.gz (15.6 MB)

Randy

[Dirk]

Hi Randy,

thank you for working on this topic!

Beside of a mame_emulation resource package I  have already suggested to include the lua source script files to Johan’s GitHub repository so everyone could see the current status and suggest /include new enhancements or improvements.

Beside of that: Maybe it is now a good time for changing our „mess“ executable back to the correct name „mame“ !?

Dirk

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[Randy Reade]

Hi Dirk,

Yes, I agree the plugin should be hosted within Johan's picochess repo. Perhaps the custom artwork files as well. And, you are right, it's time we stopped using the outdated mess name.

My repos are currently private but I'll soon switch them to public when the files are ready for primetime. Hopefully they will work well on all hardware as most of the dev has been on my Linux PC.

Randy

[RandyR]

There may have been an issue with the version I uploaded on Nov 1. I have updated the file to include the latest fixes. The link is the same:

engines.tar.gz (15.6 MB)

If you aren't familiar with the extraction process, here are the steps to take:

First, backup any MAME related files if you want to keep them. This archive replaces the following files and folders:

aarch64/mame/

aarch64/retro.ini

aarch64/engines_ini/all_retro.ini      <----- replaced by the copy (cp) command below

mame_emulation/mess

mame_emulation/plugins/chessengine/

Second, copy the engines.tar.gz file to your Pi. Then in the same folder as the file, open a terminal (e.g. via ssh) and carefully enter the following commands (copy/paste if possible):

sudo systemctl stop picochess
rm /opt/picochess/engines/mame_emulation/mess
rm -rf /opt/picochess/engines/mame_emulation/plugins/chessengine
rm /opt/picochess/engines/aarch64/retro.ini
rm -rf /opt/picochess/engines/aarch64/mame
tar -xvpzf engines.tar.gz -C /opt/picochess --numeric-owner
cp -p /opt/picochess/engines/aarch64/retro.ini /opt/picochess/engines/aarch64/engines_ini/all_retro.ini
sync

Then reboot the Pi.

Randy

[RandyR]

Latest version uploaded (same link as before). Also, for those running on the DGTPi here's a link to the shortened Level names:

mame_uci_dgtpi_en.zip  (105 KB)

Randy

[RandyR]

Forgot to mention, these .uci files replace the ones in /opt/picochess/engines/aarch64/mame/ for the DGTPi.

[Andrea Gatti]

Hi Randy, Dirk,

Am I right saying, therefore, that as they stand now, these updated engines and artwork do not get installed when I use the "Update Picochess" function in the modern menu?

Thanks.

Andrea.

[Randy Reade]

Hi Andrea, 

Yes, that is correct. PicoChess itself needs a couple of changes to support the new MAME functionality, the mame folder containing the scripts and .uci files needs to be updated, the all_retro.ini and retro.ini files need updating and the mame_emulation resource file needs to be updated. I believe if you update your mame folder manually it might break the update functionality of PicoChess (uncommitted files found?) but maybe the updater would just revert the mame folder. Johan could say for sure.

I'm sure it won't be long until these updates are incorporated.

Randy

[Randy Reade]

I forgot that the mame folder is part of the architecture-specific engine resource files so a normal update wouldn't overwrite the folder unless you ran the install-picochess.sh script manually and specified the small or lite parameter. So this means all aforementioned resource files will need the mame and .ini files updated in addition to updating the architecture-specific mame_emulation resource files.

Randy

On Thu, Nov 5, 2026, 3:27 a.m. Andrea Gatti <andreag...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Randy Reade]

Or follow the steps here when the resource files are updated:

https://github.com/JohanSjoblom/picochess/tree/master#how-to-add-more-engines

On Thu, Nov 5, 2026, 3:27 a.m. Andrea Gatti <andreag...@gmail.com> wrote:

[RandyR]

MAME files updated again. Same link. This will also require the updated artwork.

DGTPi .uci files were updated as well. Same link as before.

[Andrea Gatti]

Hi Randy, many thanks for the confirmation and the detailed explanation.

Regards

Andrea