quazl

Wow! Do you use one the community IDE's for making the GUI like AutoGUI or AHK Studio?

I guess I am the only one on an old CRT? I might be able to teamviewer or RDP into it and get a higher resolution. If you didn't want to change up your UI, that is an option for us old schoolers. Amazing work by the way. What IDE and language are you using to build this?

Super noob question. Do I need to have imported my Arcade platform BEFORE running this or can I use Lightspeed to do the initial creation? I also can't see any of the buttons to export or reset in 800x600.

I have a few questions: I keep my CHD's separate from my ROM files. How would I go about configuring the paths? I am a regular at the PD, but I am not aware of box backs, cart pics, or other software lists pics in Progetto's collection. What are everyone using for these? Will Lightspeed importer ignore my current imported list of Arcade games? ( I want it to actually) Thanks for all the work with this amazing tool! It also doesn't seem to work in 800x600 (My arcade cab CRT). I have tried using the display settings but it doesn't seem to change anything.

Thank you. That answer was the key. In my literally 20 years of collecting ROM's, I haven't really had the space until now to have the whole CHD collection. I was ignorant of the relationship between ROM and CHD. I think that I can write a script to compare the folder names with the collection of ROM's and then create a dummy zip like you were talking about if they don't exist. Thanks so much, DOS76!

DOS76, How do you add them? Do you keep your CHD's separate from your ROM's? When I point to the CHD folder I only get 121 entries ( I adjust the importer to import all clones and uncheck all check boxes as well ) but there are 477 games ( subfolders ) in the chd folder. Are you seeing the same thing as me?

I am not a Noob really, but a Noob when it comes to CHD files. I keep my CHD's separate from my ROM's. I have a full set of .182 of both. I have watched the tutorials, and searched these forums. 1. Does every CHD have a corresponding ROM? 2. How do I add the CHD's to LaunchBox? When I point the importer to the location with all of the CHD's it doesn't seem to get all of the entries. I must be doing it wrong. Thanks for any help

Thank so much! It will be closer to the end of the year. I just wanted to get out in front of it. ~Q

I have an old cabinet that I am finishing up to list on various sites to hopefully sell. I would like to buy a copy of the lifetime version of LB/BB to go with the cabinet. I want to make sure that the person who buys it gets the nice setup that I have made, while abiding by whatever the licensing requires. I hope to get my old arcade out of my house to make way for the new build, and give the new owner a great experience with as little hassle as possible. Can I do this? What is the best way to register this for the new user? Can I put it in the listing that a lifetime license comes with my cab as a "perk"? (with the press that LB is getting, it will be an enticement.) I just want to make sure that the Launchbox team is ok with what I am doing, and if not, what should I do in this scenario?

So I did a little bit of searching and think I have found a good start. I used these sites for what I have found: http://www.progettoemma.net/mess/ - This site seems to be in some loose connection to the Official Mame Team, but it is a little bit old. http://docs.mamedev.org/commandline/commandline-all.html - This is the official help documentation with the commands I used to pull the info I have attached two archives: 1. Software Lists - It is a folder containing all the info kept by MAME about the software lists separated by which system they are in. This doesn't include any of the systems that require CHD's which is basically images created from cassette tapes or hard drive images. I haven't figures those out yet. 2. Media List - This is basically a folder containing text files of each system and which file extension that they support. I didn't know if this was helpful, but it was easy to get out of MAME, so I included it. I also included the batch files for each set of files that I used to make these files. Here is an excerpt of the Nintendo 64 system's XML file which looks like it might be helpful. MediaList.7z SoftwareLists.7z

I will look into that. I will get back with the good news soon hopefully.

Like DOS76 says, I think around version 147 or some version around that time, MESS and MAME joined forces (for good hopefully). It used to be called UME, but they dropped that confusion and just absorbed MESS into MAME. They made sure that one could compile out all the "console trash" (as some arcade purist would say) to have an "old-school" MAME.exe. I am glad the MAME and MESS team did it. Here is an example of a Nintendo game named in the MAME format in the software lists 1942.zip I was just curious, if LaunchBox was aware of the software list, I was going to setup a separate LB and see how it looked. I guess I could have just tried it out.

Just wanted to add my internet high five. Just reading the entries in this thread gets me all warm inside. It all started with @donarumo being extra giving with his time especially after some harsh words about his work. Such character! and now getting to read @eXo's entries and his willingness to use his time and effort to contribute to something that quite frankly he will never get truly compensated for is just great. Thank you guys, so much for all the work, time, and effort that you put into your projects! I was somewhat a high seeder at PD in the past and it is just really cool to read stuff from the developers behind the files. Again, thank you!

I have been using No-Intro ROMs for years and have loved them. They are probably the cleanest set out there. As MAME continues becoming "THE" emulator along side RetroArch, I have been collecting the "Software Lists" ROMs. They seems to be more complete, but also named very differently. Does the Launchbox Games DB recognize the MAME naming scheme for consoles? Thanks and God Bless!

Antropus, thanks so much for the quick build. Never had custom software WITH my name as a suffix in the exe. :) Worked great! I tried everything with default settings and I had perfect results. I then tried the "killer" settings and it didn't update the list in Launchbox. Is this normal? Do I need to delete the platform or go back to an older xml before trying a new export? Thanks again! I don't know how people like you have time for this. I have ONE kid and don't have time for anything when I get home from work. God bless you, sir!

I really don't know how to explain this. It is very weird and must just be buggy on my system. Here is my flow. Open Lightspeed and keep all defaults except for the first "Paths" tab. I do the filter I do the Export Here is my file system before I open Launchbox After I select Arcade here is my file system. Also notice that I have no art. Is this bizarre? Very! I see that the when it adds the "Arcade" platform that the relative path to Mame is incorrect as well as the rom path as well. Just for the sake of being clear. When I try this export, I do not have an existing Arcade platform or any mame roms imported into Launchbox.

Antropus said kmoney2315 said I was wondering if there was a way to properly import the Sega Model 2 games only into its own platform with this tool? Yes you can! 1) Close LaunchBox 2) Set all your filters and please remember to check "Not-working" as well. You need to do this because Sega Model 2 games are not playable in MAME yet (or are they? Not sure about changes in the latest versions). 3) Go to the Platform Tab and uncheck all checkboxes, then check ONLY the one below "Platform from Driver". Keep "Lock Emulator" checked as well. 4) From the dropdown menu right by "Platform from Driver", select "model2.cpp". A name will be populated "Model2". This is the name of the desired platform, so change it as you wish. 5) Under Export, click "Filter!". You should now see only Sega Model 2 games listed. 6) Select Launchbox for the Format to be exported and verify if the path to your launchbox.xml is correct. 7) Click "Go!". 8) Re-open Launchbox and you should see a new platform containing all Sega Model 2 games. If by any chance the list is not populated when you hit "Filter!", try changing some filters, as some might be preventing those games from showing up. -Kris That was my mistake. I assumed (incorrectly) that your tool added metadata and hid entries as needed. I much closer to getting this to work properly. Now when I start adding my Artwork Paths the process takes a bizarre turn Once I load up Launchbox and sync metadata and images, I have new directories on my "D:" drive. What could I possibly be doing wrong?

I have tried everything. I completely deleted both the Launchbox and the Lightspeed folders and started from complete scratch. 1. "Installed" Launchbox 2. Extracted Lightspeed 3. Imported Mame 174 roms with all default settings into launchbox 4. I now have 2807 Roms in my Arcade Platform 5. Run Lightspeed and setup the paths for Mame64.exe, lightbox.xml, and mame roms. 6. Deleted all paths to artwork 7. All tabs in lightspeed are default. 8. Made sure that Format section is set to Launchbox and that the path to the Launchbox.xml is correct 9. Filtered and exported. 10. 2667 Roms 11. Open Launchbox 12. 3247 games I have no idea what is going on.

Understood and thank you for the explanation. Naming a "group" of Rom's and "scrape as" would be great. Until then, I will keep configuring with the easy stuff. Thanks so much for your time.

SentaiBrad said You can manually type in anything. All you need to do is run the importer, type in your custom platform, then select the folder for your games. Don't forget to check the box to force the mame importer as well on the last page with the check boxes. This has definitely got me close, but now none of the pictures and metadata will sync. If the platform is Arcade it doesn't seem to have an issue. It seems to want to pull from Wikipedia, no matter what. If I disassociate from wiki and then do a search for metadata it will let me choose the LaunchDB and then download the right files. IF I do a batch, it will pull it from Wikipedia even when it is unchecked.

I am trying to make a platform called ShmupMAME, which will house all the games that ShmupMAME supports. I have added it to the Platform list and added the emulator to the emulator list and added the Platform to the emulator. When I import rom's, I am not getting my custom platform in the list. Am I doing this correctly? Thanks,

Just wow! Love this tool! Just three questions. How and where do I get system.ini files? How do I get synopsis files? Does the "sselph/scraper" work on windows? Thanks, so much!