MAME Save States- Always able to save your state regardless if game is supported

[OldSchoolGamer]

I was just thinking... with all these programs, hacks, emulators, patches, cheat codes, etc. that people create... I'm suprised nobody was able to make some type of thing that will always let you save your game/state/progress in MAME regardless if the arcade game supports save states.

Just thinking how many times I got screwed because I had to save a game in MAME that wasn't supported and when I went to load it, it malfunctioned. The MAMEdev team doesn't seem to be close in supporting all those unsupported games with the ability to save the state.

So how come a third party doesn't take it upon themselves to create such a program/add-on which would somehow let the user save their progress in any arcade game played with MAME?

[OldSchoolGamer]

I guess I'm just suprised that MAME has existed this long and yet no hacker/programmer has made something that will let the user save their progress in practically any arcade game for MAME.

I understand that the MAMEdev team is dedicated to trying to preserve arcade games and trying to be emulate games as accuratetly as possible. Now since 'save states' were basically not part of any arcade game, I understand why the MAMEdev team doesn't care/focus that much about save states and has not yet came up with something that will let save states be supported for all games. If save states are not part of the MAMEdev team's purpose and focus, then I realize why they haven't supported many games with the save state ability.

Well knowing what the MAMEdev's team focus and purpose are... how come some hacker or programmer hasn't taken it upon themselves to create such a thing that would allow save states for all arcade games for MAME? I guess it's just suprising for me that this hasn't happened yet considering how long MAME has existed already. There are so many incredible programs, emulators, cheats, hacks, add-ons, codes, patches, etc... I'm just suprised that nobody has tackled the 'save state' issue more for MAME.

Upon the creation of some of the first NES, SNES, Genesis etc. emulators... saving your gameplay progress (save states) were implemented soon after the release of some of the first emulators. It did not take that long for save states to be included in those emulators. So why is it taking so long for someone to create the save state feature in MAME? You can't leave it up to the MAMEdev team and hope that they create a fully functional save state feature. Because obviously that's not their purpose nor focus.

[ReyVGM]

It doesn't work like that. You can't just make a program that automatically save states everything. Remember that a NES emulator is just that, a NES emulator. If you program a save state feature, it will work with all NES games. But MAME is an Arcade emulator and there are over 200 different Arcade boards and to have save states for each arcade board, then you would have to program in 200 different save state features.

But once you program in the save state feature for an arcade board (say, CPS2 or Neogeo), then all the games using that board should theoretically work.

So why is it taking so long for someone to create the save state feature in MAME?

Finding that "Someone" is the key word there.

I know people say "MAME Team", but there is no team really. It's just a bunch of people like you and me that contribute to the growth of the emulator on their free time, for free. Be grateful that you can even save on lots of games. When I started using it there were no save states whatsoever and no cheats either or fast forward.

Save states will slowly get added to all the drivers. Don't you even dare ask something like this on any MAME board because you'll probably get banned.