MAME/DOOM on the WebTV Plus

Welcome to MAME/DOOM on the WebTV Plus. On this page i'm going to provide information on how to customize your WebTV Plus unit. When this project first started the goal was to simply get MAME working and provide some sort of way to start it up. While in the process of looking for the best way to start MAME the project started to grow to include more stuff and of course with more stuff you need some kind of user interface. It took a lot of work, special tools, and a lot of help from a couple close friends and finally we have something. The progress videos below you can see some of the progress made later on in the project this will give you an idea of what this custom build does. At this point the project is complete and I will provide a instructional video on how to set this up on your WebTV and download links below.

Goals for the custom final build are

  • Get MAME working on WebTV Plus and Derby Plus- 100% complete
  • Get Doom working - 100% - Finally - it only took 7 years :-)
  • Make all original WebTV midi's available for listening - 100% complete (Karaoke player only avail for Old Plus not Derby.)
  • Layout and custom pages - 100%
  • Progress last updated 4/24/2021 - Original start of project 10/29/2014

    Now that all goals are complete I'm not going to say i'm 100% done with this build. I may find other cool things to get on the WebTV plus. Who knows. Update: All new custom build for the Old WebTV plus and Derby! everthing has been redone, to many updates to list! Check out the video below. Last Updated 11-19-2022

    This hack should work on any OLD Plus and DERBY Plus that have the hard drive, will not work on the newer plus that has a Flash Disk. Check the model number on the back of your unit and then check the list below.

    HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE A DERBY? First look through the top vents on your unit, on the right side you should be able to see a hard drive. If you don't you have a NEW Plus, this hack will not work. If you see a hard drive but don't see your model number listed below you most likely have a DERBY. Another thing you can try is if you have a hard drive and are unsure if it's a Derby or not then while the power is off point the keyboard at your WebTV and hit the options button and then enter in the numbers 411 the lights on your unit should flash, now turn on your WebTV. You should see a WebTV Tech Info screen and at the bottum of that screen you should see Modem info, if it says something about a SoftModem then it's a Derby if it don't then it's the Old Plus (Note: depending on your current build you might not see anything about a modem at all). Best method is if you know you have a hard drive and your going to install this hack then your going to have to take apart your WebTV anyway so look on the motherboard you should see the word DERBY. Worst case is you install the old plus build on your box and it doesn't work then you know you have a Derby, just reinstall the build but use the Dreby one this time ;-)

    The list below shows all WebTV models that this will and will not work on. Please note that this list is not complete it may be missing some models. If you have a WebTV that is not listed here please E-Mail Me and let me know!

    Brand Model Type Modem RAM ROM Storage CPU speed CPU chip Install Hack
    Sony INT-W100 Classic V.34 2 MB (2 MiB) 2 MB (2 MiB) 2 MB 112 MHz R4640 No
    Philips MAT-960 Classic V.34 2 MB 2 MB 2 MB 112 MHz R4640 No
    Sony INT-WJ200 Classic (Japan) V.90 8 MB 4 MB 1.1 GB 150 MHz R4640 No
    Sony INT-W150 New Classic V.90 8 MB 2 MB 2 MB 150 MHz RM5230 No
    Philips MAT-965 New Classic V.90 8 MB 2 MB 2 MB 150 MHz RM5230 No
    RCA RW-2100 New Classic V.90 8 MB 2 MB 2 MB 150 MHz RM5230 No
    RCA RM-2100 New Classic V.90 8 MB 2 MB 2 MB 150 MHz RM5230 No
    Sony INT-W200 Plus V.90 8 MB 2 MB 1.1 GB 150 MHz R4640 YES
    Sony INT-W200 CND Derby Plus V.90 soft modem 8 MB 2 MB 1.1 GB 167 MHz RM5230 YES
    Philips MAT-972 Plus V.90 8 MB 2 MB 1.1 GB 150 MHz R4640 YES
    Samsung SIS-100 Plus V.90 8 MB 2 MB 1.1 GB 150 MHz R4640 YES
    Mitsubishi WB-2000 (RW- ?) Plus V.90 8 MB 2 MB 1.1 GB 150 MHz R4640 YES
    La-Z-Boy Leather Plus V.90 8 MB 2 MB 1.1 GB 150 MHz R4640 YES
    La-Z-Boy Fabric Plus V.90 8 MB 2 MB 1.1 GB 150 MHz R4640 YES
    Sony INT-WJ300 Plus (Japan) V.90 soft modem 16 MB 4 MB 1.1 GB 167 MHz RM5230 No
    RCA RW-2110 New Plus V.90 soft modem 16 MB 8 MB Flash Disk 167 MHz RM5230 No
    Sony INT-W250 New Plus V.90 soft modem 16 MB 8 MB Flash Disk 167 MHz RM5230 No
    Philips MAT-976 New Plus V.90 soft modem 16 MB 8 MB Flash Disk 167 MHz RM5230 No
    Echostar Dishplayer 7100 DISH tuner V.90 soft modem 16 MB 4 MB 8.6 GB 167 MHz RM5230 SEE HERE
    Echostar Dishplayer 7200 DISH tuner V.90 soft modem 16 MB 4 MB 17.6 GB 167 MHz RM5230 SEE HERE
    RCA UltimateTV DirecTV tuner V.90 soft modem 32 MB 4 MB 40 GB 167 MHz RM5230 No
    RCA RM-4100 MSNTV2 V.90 / Ethernet 128 MB none 64 MB 733 MHz Celeron No
    RCA RM-4100 (2) MSNTV2 V.90 / Ethernet 256 MB none 64 MB 733 MHz Celeron No

    Notes: It is unclear if any other manufacturers made a Derby unit other than Sony. It's also unclear what units came with the La-Z-Boy 'e-cliner' (likely sony) and unknown if it's Old Plus or Derby Plus. lol who actually has/had one of these??


    Needed Files

    OLD PLUS
    Download - Custom_OLD-PLUS_WTV_Build_7352_MAME-DOOM-YDKJ-ExtraBuild.img Last Updated 7-23-2023

    PLUS DERBY
    Download - Custom_DERBY_WTV_Build_7.2.5.3_MAME-DOOM-YDKJ-ExtraBuild.img Last Updated 11-19-2022

    Download WinHex:
    WinHex 19.6 Full Version

    Download 7zip form:
    7zip

    Troubleshooting

    How to create a backup of your WebTV Plus hard drive and how to install the custom build.

    Newest Custom Build Preview and how to use a SD card to replace the old WebTV HDD

    Early Progress Video's 1 and 2 from the start of the project



    The back story for those interested goes like this. Back in 98 when a group of guys known as WebTV Explores discovered a WebTV service known as Test-drive and on the server found that one could download games such as Doom and YDKJ. It was also rumored that other games existed that could be downloaded as well so a few of them tried to enter in different names of games in the download code to see if anything took, games like Duke Nukem, Quake, etc. but nothing seemed to work. One of the members tried Mame but it was thought at the time that nothing worked. As time went on that member blew the power supply in his box and never returned to the WebTV service again. Fast forward to 2014 out of no where I receive an e-mail from an old friend who stated that he dug his old WebTV box out from the closet and repaired the power supply so he could mess around with WebTV again, hooked it up and noticed he still had an old internal build on the unit from the test drive days so he hooked up his WebTV hard drive to a PC and realized he had something called MAME. Could it be?? All this time and he never realized that MAME on WebTV was real?? After a little rework of the Doom start up command MAME starts up. I was sent the exact hard drive image and loaded it up on my WebTV and the rest is history.

    I remember Webtv was upset at the time when we released Doom and YDKJ to the public but can you imagine there reaction if we actually knew we had MAME and released that? MAME it's self wouldn't have been a big deal but having MAME complete with the roms built in released to the public might have upset them more since the roms them selves I believe is illegal.

    Back to secret Pics/Info