Installing MESS

This section deals with installing the MESS application. It includes where you can get MESS from, where to put it and what to expect when you extract it.



Download and uncompress MESS

Download the latest Windows version of MESS from the homepage here.

Unzip the file into a directory of your choice. MESS is distributed in a ZIP file format so depending on what version of Windows you have you may need a tool like Winzip.


MESS folders and files

When you have uncompressed the ZIP file you should see some folders and a few other files. Here is an example of what MESS version 0.105 (mess0105b.zip) looks like once it is uncompressed. The latest version should be similar.

tree

Below is a brief explanation each folder.

artwork Background artwork files for certain systems.
cfg Configuration files for different systems.
cheat Used for cheats for different games.
ctrlr Used for custom controller configurations files.
hash Contains files that MESS uses to identify software images.
ini Where MESS saves its initialization files used for different systems.
memcard Memory card files for selected games.
nvram NVram files used to store system settings on certain games.
roms The folder where you put the system ROM images.
snap Screenshots made at emulation time
software This is where you store your games and software.
tools Contains some programs used to manipulate disk images.

Below is a brief explanation each file.

chdman.exe DESCRIPTION
imgtool.exe DESCRIPTION
mess.chm DESCRIPTION
mess.exe DESCRIPTION
messui.exe DESCRIPTION
messlib.dll DESCRIPTION
sysinfo.dat DESCRIPTION
wimgtool.exe DESCRIPTION