Headrush69

If you put your controller map into the ctlr folder in MAMEUI64, it will appear in the GUI under Controllers->Defaiult input layout to use.

I’ve been testing directly with Retroarch from the command line to bypass Launchbox first. To eliminate Apple II machine specifics like that, I only kept the Apple2.xml hash file and associated software list. The newest Retroarch also has a config option to start in CLI. You likely have to enable that now, but I still haven’t had success.

It's the same here. My guess is there is some extra complexity because for Apple2 there are multiple software lists, unlike consoles like A5200. I've been testing various configurations, but nothing in the console output from Retroarch is indicating a specific problem yet.

Impossible to answer because too many variables: screen size, monitor, your preference, pc specs,... All I can say is I use Lordmonkus’ HLSL on my Windows machine, and CRT-geom on my less powerful Raspberry PI and Mac Mini. So happy with both.

I don't use Retroarch for MAME, but I tried running the latest MAME core (0.214) following this guide: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/softwarelist-getting-started/ (Using Method 1, Method 2 should like a lot of work) and it seem to load OK once the hash file was put in RetroArch/system/mame but it promptly locks up my PC completely. Not really work the hassle VNCing in to check what's going on. Is there a specific reason to use Retroarch for MAME? SHaders?

Yes very subjective and you can waste a lot of time tinkering per game. i switched to Lordmonkus’ HLSL settings from above awhile back and have been happy with them.

Do you have your roms in the default rom folder in the MAME folder? You can set your rom directory wherever you want on that same screen under Configure Options but the default is roms folder in MAME folder. (Make sure you save configuration if you change it)

I tried adding redirection to the command line arguments as well, but because LB always adds the file name as the last argument, it doesn’t work.

Can you expand on this? Obviously I have to disable the hide console option and startup screens in LB for this to work, but the console log closes so fast it's hard to read. Is there some setting to make it persistent?

I would suggest using standalone MAME over the Retroarch 2015 core, as there have been a ton of changes since that version and MAME's input system is more versatile. (But it all depends on what you're trying to run.) Assuming you're on WIndows 10, right click the Windows icon in taskbar and select Powershell in the menu that appears. type cd following by a space, and than drag your MAME folder onto this screen. Hit return/Enter. This will move you into the MAME directory. Now just type either of those commands from above. Just make sure you have the -v option.

I submitted the error to MameTesters and a fix has already been submitted and checked. So hopefully next MAME version should be fixed. Update: Fix is included in MAME 0.216. Looks like 0.216 introduced a bug (crash) in twincobr though. ?

If you start MAME standalone from a command prompt passing the option -v, it will give you exact details on what the problem is.

I never doubted the number of PD users, just know when doing support best not to assume. It's all good. ☺️ Thanks for posting those.

I think you made some important points which help clarify things, but I wouldn't assume most people get their roms from PD. It doesn't hurt to make sure, as if you're that person that isn't and have issues it could be quite frustrating. The key point here is using the dat file provided by whatever source you are using. All I was trying to point out that might cause problems for people is that if you ClrMamePro with the XML generate from MAME itself, your Non-Merged set will NOT have device files inside rom sets., they will be separate. Of course if you have a full set this is all academic with Launchbox, but if you have a "slim" MAME set, it would matter. MadK9, I'm not a PD member, could you supply a copy of their complete non-merged DAT file? I keep slim sets for different arcade machines I build and that would save a lot of work manually adding these myself.

A user here posted some scripts that made running Phoenix with Launchbox much easier: Works OK but still strange compared to most emulators. For the roms I need, Retroarch core works well enough. For N64 I use Mupen core in Retroarch as well but for any N64 mods, the parallel N64 Retroarch core works when Mupen doesn't. (Kids love Multiplayer Super Mario 64 even though they drive each other crazy with POV issues when they don't work together)

Hardware: https://www.retrorgb.com/mister.html

That would be nice but doesn't sound like it will happen. Since a real non-merged set isn't that popular anyways and even the MAME team don't recommend it, he's not overly interested. Just one of those quirks that could drive someone crazy (yours included), wondering why their non-merged set wasn't working right even when your set looked complete. ?

That's a different argument, It's very likely that the non-merged set on PleasureDome includes the device sets in each rom. The OP said they had a complete merged set already. I'm just trying to point that if they use ClrMamePro (which I believe is the most popular MAME rom manager), to rebuild their set to a Non-Merged set, they will be missing files. To verify, I just rebuilt the set for Galaga from a complete 0.214 set and sure enough namco51 and namco54 device files are not included.

I agree with what you are saying about usefulness but read the last section that is cut off about device sets.... it says you need device sets as well. Originally device sets were considered roms, but that changed at some point with Mame, so they used to be complete sets. From Mame doc you posted “as such You’ll also need the device set as well as any needed for the game” Edit: You can manually add the device sets to game roms, just don’t assume ClrMamePro makes what we use to know as a complete non-merged set.

Are people sure these sets weren’t built with earlier versions of ClrMamePro? According to Roman of ClrMamePro they aren’t included: https://www.emulab.it/forum/index.php?topic=4188.0 Edit: I’m talking about device files, not BIOS files just to be clear.

These do work with the Retroarch flycast core, so you likely have issues with your rom set.

A non-merged set MAY not contain device files either. ClrMAMEPro will not add these to game rom sets. You will have to maintain these yourself. I have a separate DEVICES folder and just add that as a rom path in MAME along with the roms folder.

Thanks for checking. I was hoping to post on MameTester and/or Richard Bannister's MAME forum but can't seem to get a proper account activated. Thankfully using the Phasor option is a work around for now.

No one using MAME for Apple II that can test? It's definetely version 199 where it stops working.

It all depends on the game and the emulator. You have a pretty decent CPU and you probably will have good success with most roms/emus. Some of the newer MAME roms and Switch Emu would likely be helped by overclocking, but you just have to try and see.