Mac MAME Advanced: Intel Build besides Silicon Build

It seems that one of the major drawbacks of current MacOS MAME is the lack of a Dynamic Recompiler (dynarec), which is only available for Intel64 builds. Modern Arcades can crawl even on very powerful Silicon Macs if the games relies on a dynarec. This is where an Intel build comes to the rescue.

Comparison between ARM/Silicon and Intel64 Build

What this comparison tells you:

• The ARM build fares much better in old school gaming that don't require a dynarec. 
• The Metal backend seems to catch up with the OpenGL backend, which is still faster. 
• The performance gains with an Intel64 build in games that require a dynarec are dramatic.

So here is a current Intel64 build of MAME 0.273 on Github, compiled today:

https://github.com/estefan3112/mame-MacIntel-builds

I compiled this Intel build from the original MAME source without any modifications. So far my testings were very successful in that this build runs without any trouble. As always, please use it at your own risk, but it should behave like normal MAME.

QMC2 - running the two MAME builds in parallel:

Based on a very good hint of a user, QMC2 lets you run both builds in parallel. While the ARM build is configured at first start normally, you can configure the Intel build afterwards as a parallel emulator:

Step 1 - save the build in an own directory (i.e. everything you've got in the zip file)

Step 2 - let QMC2 find the second emulator with this configuration:

You must first configure the four lines at the bottom and then "Add" them, so that they are in the window above. Note that the argument $ID$ is required for a game to start.

Step 3 - choose a game and go for the alternative emulator in the dropdown menu - done!

In this dropdown menu, switch from "Default" to the alternative emulator. Works like this.

From now on, enjoy the Intel64 build in games that need the support of a dynarec!