sundogak

@Asparky I like the images that you uploaded but have you seen version where it has the source PSD or graphics so can make alterations to button layouts? They work in about 90% of cases “as is” for my Xbox One controller but there are a few tweaks prefer to make. I am not great with Gimp and such but if had backgrounds and buttons could work it. Thanks.

@dragon57 you are awesome, thank you for making it!

Looks like a cool plugin. Really like the ability to see the available media in picture form since makes very easy to pick what want and weed out errors.

Thanks to all that are creating these rings. If anyone has time, the following auto generated AO.Bigbox.Plugin playlist types would be useful to have a ring made. Currently, I am using the "playlist" ring but something specific would be great. Frequent Random Recent Everything (EDIT: I found them in existing pack. For some reason not picking up in my theme. Must be naming issue). Rhythm (I don't see these in the recent Arcade MAME playlist rings but maybe I missed it) If only I could master GIMP and/or Photoshop! Thanks.

@latin625 I had some screenshots of working 5200 install on another thread. Might check and see if anything jumps out on your setup.

@fyrenthenimar They are in the Game Console zip pack (2.2 version). (edit: noticed later you asked for Odyssey 2, that is in there as well)

I assume you are using the 4DO core, right? If so, that core works with zip, 7z and CHD compressed formats. I just tried a 7z Battle Chess ROM set and it works okay. Inside the zip/7z files should be a cue and bin filed that is named correctly (i.e., your cue file references exact title of the BIN file. CUE you can open with text editor). You might try unzipping a file into a folder and trying to load the cue file uncompressed. Unless there is some issue with the 7z file or it was compressed with a bunch of subfolders inside. Other than that, if you said the zip files are working then you could use a batch file to convert the 7z to zip, but again, shouldn't be the case since should work with 7z as well.

Glad you landed on something that is working for your setup. Whenever possible, I try to use that format for CD games if the emulator will support. ePSX (standalone) is one of few found that will not play CHDs. The one advantage to CHD is it is a reversible compression process so can always go back to BIN/ISO if needed. One thing ran into recently is that the CHD.exe was updated to "V5" a couple MAME versions back and anything compressed in newer version has some differences. Most cores seem fine, but I found the Sega Dreamcast cores had issues. The Retroarch Reicast core gags on the V5 CHD compressed files although works fine on older compressed versions (which drove me crazy wondering why wasn't working on some and not others). Redream core works fine either way and Demul standalone works. I did see that there they have patches in works to update Reicast so they are at least working it.

Weird, it scans in my CHD files but skips the PBP files with Retroarch scan even though they use the same naming convention and the Beetle PSX HW core runs PBP format. I don't scan things into Retroarch since LB does what need it to do so never noticed. Maybe some sort of import bug since I can see it stop at the PBP files for awhile then move onto CHD files.

I wouldn't say better just what I used at the time but both will give same results. The Dolphin one is more convenient to use if already have imported the ISO/GCMs. But either tool will work and compress to GCZ or un-compress back to ISO (or GCM which is just ISO with different extension). GCZ files for both tools compress to same level (at least based on a quick test of two games I did). You can multi-select in Dolphin and compress so that would easiest if already have Dolphin up and running. Oh this was a good link I found that helped me along the way with all the format craziness.

Well, ultimately when compressed mine that is why I went the CHD route since I missed you could do any batch method with PSX2PSP. Other than my multi-discs which I did convert to PBP, all rest I bulk converted to CHD with batch script. However, the CHD route doesn't work with the ePSX standalone emulator, only the Retroarch core.

No, you are not alone in the above limitations. I did the same thing on a test install with various re-importing cycles and found the same thing. I actually dithered on if should go back to a backup and not use the feature. Basically, as you observed, for all practical purposes one cannot make any additions or changes or they will be overwritten (including game deletions). I tried a custom field (so could put a flag in or additional info) and those also get reverted to blank upon a re-import. It does remember the check box fields such as favorite and hidden as long as you don't delete the game in between import cycles. Additionally, if you click on a game and get the metadata from the LB Database, that data will be overwritten with the MAME developed meta data upon subsequent import. You also have to watch that don't update with the LB DB Genre and Play Mode fields since don't follow the "MAME way" of things. Of course, easy to re-import to fix in that case. I did find that if you import a group type, say the "Casino" group and then delete all but a few and do NOT select the "Casino" group on future imports it doesn't touch the the existing Casino games or add in the other ones. Seems logical but was trying to not have to sift through things to re-delete again. However, of all the issues the biggest one for me is that if you do delete games within an import group it will re-add them again since no permanent flag assigned so will pop in again. I tried adding the "to be deleted" roms to a playlist thinking maybe it might keep the playlist intact but it removes playlist entries if you delete a game. Again make sense, but was trying to figure a way of nuking the games had no interest in easily after each update without having to go one by one. The only way I came up with was the playlist route again where I spent time to move ones didn't want to the list and then hiding. They will remain hidden and within that playlist on subsequent imports as long as don't delete the game. The only problem with that is there is no feature to hide a playlist from Bigbox, so I had this "zzzz-Lame Game-zzz" list in my setup. I figure I could brute force it by copying the playlist xml file after moving games to playlist but just before deleting and then replacing that playlist on a re-import cycle but that is a bit of a fiddly process and will likely break with a MAME ROM name change. I like the genre and play mode Mame metadata but the game info leaves a lot to be desired and in many cases the LB DB has better info. I just don't like the format of some of the data they use like, "XYZ. released 3 different machines in our database under this trade name..." So right now, like you found, if you want to do any customizing of the info the re-import is really not an option. A "lock" field box would like resolve the problem but not sure if that is even on development horizon.

There is the create folder option that allows using the game title that might work. You could then use the import feature within LB to use folder title for import rather than the ROM title. Not ideal but one way but would be quickest without having to go to second step with a file renaming tool.

Looks like you can batch convert with PSX2PSP, see When went back and looked at the PSX2PSP folder there is a "batch mode" script that somehow I managed to miss that obvious link! Although seems issue is that uses the Sony game number and not the title.

One other thing to try and meant to mention in earlier response is to go to the ..\MAME\CFG\ directory and rename/delete the "default.cfg" and try again. In theory it regens the default file automatically but something to verify. Also check in same directory that the game you are testing doesn't have any unwanted controller mappings in it. Beyond that not sure why wouldn't be taking the CTRLR file (whatever you decide on using) as primary other than trying a vanilla install of MAME in test directory somewhere and working backwards.

@Buddy Dacote I tried that "kinks" ctrlr file you referenced in the link (I hadn't realized could remap multiple ways in one file by machine type so that was cool). I use a XBOX One wireless as well so our setups are similar. It seems to remap with keyboard and joystick as expected (see screen snap of 1944 CP1 controller maps vs Neogeo game where can see the buttons are remapped based on machine type) when tab in using the "kinks" ctrlr file. So you might double check a couple areas to verify pulling in correct file. It sounds like you placed the downloaded cfg file into the ..\mame\ctrlr directory so that is first item. Then in your mame.ini file check that the file name is the same but don't include the CFG extension in name. I had an existing cfg I had made called "xbox2player" so I just renamed the downloaded one to what I had for testing. As long as the mame.ini reference and cfg file match it should be golden. I don't necessarily like all the mappings of buttons with XBOX controller but may borrow some of them items they I had in their file. I had a much more simpler one (just two player only) \ which like Neil9000 and Lordmonkus stated above, typically works for bulk of the games. Either way, you will want to get the ctrlr mapping issue figured out so whatever mapping choose is fixed so MAME doesn't have issues of resetting controller maps if forget to turn on controller before launch MAME. Edit: As I was messing around noted (at least) the following problems with the "kinks" file. 1) Don't map the right stick at all, so problem with games like Robotron where just run around but cannot shoot...death results quickly! 2) there are extra spaces in the select and coin commands which seemed to cause funky results when starting games (stopped when deleted them). The Neogeo machine also had some extra spaces in the button commands. 3) they used a "remap" set of commands to map the UI arrow keys to the number pad in start of file. Don't see why since arrow keys not used anywhere else, plus they use the incorrect command for number pad key binding so number pad up/down don't work anyway because have extra "_" in them. 4) pedal/paddles don't look quite right but didn't try them. 5) the player 1 keyboard bindings were removed so would have issues if using for say Apple II emulator game with keyboard (i.e, Castle Wolfenstein).

The Atari800 core should auto load the game without having to go into the emulated 800 menus. It sounds like the 5200 isn't selected. I have attached a couple snaps of a working install of 5200 in Retroarch with the Atari800 core. Might double check the Atari 5200 system is getting saved as default in options window and verify in the core options file (snap below). Lastly check that your ".atari800.cfg" file that is located in the root of the Retroarch directory is present and has correct paths. I have attached a copy of my cfg file so you can look at. It has the ROM paths to the System directory so you should be good there but good to verify it is pointing to where expected. It typically is auto-generated but my recollection is that it was "fiddly" when setup. If all else fails I think it was the Atari systems that were picky about the ROMs being same case in titles as expected (may be mixing up Altirra but doesn't hurt to verify). In my Retroarch core options this is what is saved for the 5200 emulatorThis is the .atari800.cfg file location. I have attached my copy of working file but you will have to adjust the paths to the roms according to your install. .atari800.cfg

I originally wanted to stick with PBP for the PS1 since ePSX is not compatible with CHD and likely will not be anytime soon based on some comments made by the developer in their forums. Size wise they are fairly close but CHD being more efficient. However, the deal breaker for me was that the only tool I could find a few years back was the PSX2PSP tool. PSX2PSP is not a batch tool so you have to do each game individually (at least I couldn't figure out how to do in mass). see For the 30 or so multi disc games I had that was okay but it gets tedious real quick doing one by one. Maybe there is a batch PBP tool out there but I didn't find. So that pushed me to CHD where could easily batch convert and/or use my MAME Software CHD set which I already had with no conversion. If there was a batch tool, I likely would have stuck with PBP. So really just up to how much time you want to burn and/or how many games have. ReDream supports CHD via Retroarch core and via the main ReDream emulator. My understanding based on the Retroarch News is that ReDream core is still work in progress relative to the Reicast. In Retroarch, if you ever want to see what file types a core supports, go to "Information" and then "Core Information" within Retroarch and will note. On GameCube, not sure on that. Mine were ISOs >>>GCZ. I never saw (but wasn't really looking at time either) a GC WBFS container. Only my Wii files are in WBFS. To some degree, I was less worried about the "best" compression as long as they were close. Convenience to convert and emulator compatibility became key considerations. I didn't mess too much with worrying about compression for Wii U since I only have a few games (mostly as a curiosity just to see if could get running). Once start getting closer to current generation of consoles things get complicated beyond the compression aspect. CEMU is a cool piece of software but my experience was it took lots of fiddling around to get most to run in good state and it takes a fast computer. My Switch has most of the games I would want on Wii U anyway. ? So not much help there but the CEMU site and Reddit may be best bets for info.

Hmm, the PBP files work in my (non-Retropie) build using either ePSX or Retroarch core. Not sure if there is something different with Retropie. Where you using PSX2PSP (1.4.2) to convert them? My only suggestion would be to re-crunch them again and make sure the BIN files are selected in proper order. I used the default settings in PSX2PSP. Oh, what was the game title you were trying to run?

If you unchecked all the boxes including "hacked" then more than likely Space Invaders is lumped in under "Cosmic Monsters". Scroll down and find that game name and right click (or edit and look at the Additional Apps listing) and should see the rest of the "clones" where you will see Space Invaders. I did the same thing . To fix, simply rerun the importer and do not "uncheck" all of the option boxes related to hacks/clones. I saw some reference in an earlier beta thread that Jason was likely to alter that import behavior with hacks being listed as "primary" but isn't the case yet. Also you will notice this grouping and what is picked as the "primary" one listed as far as the cover art is concerned when you pick North America or World for the region. You will see Pac-Man come in as Puck-Man if picking World Region. Since all the clones are always imported, you can still play Pac-Man but you have right click and select from the clones.

CHD format is typically supported on most of the Retroarch cores. I have slowly moved most of mine from iso/bin formats over to CHD. It does save quite a bit of space plus it can be uncompressed back to original format/CUE/ISO etc if needed. There have been version changes to CHD over years (up to 5 now) which have improved the archiving and compression process so best to use current CHD.EXE if compressing files. Here is a listing for the larger game files: PS2 - use GZip format. see more info in LB Forum thread here. PS1 - use CHD format if using Retroarch Mednafen HW cores it supports CHDs. Note that standalone emulator PSXe does not support CHD format. For multi-discs I use the PBP format that was compression tool designed by Sony for the PSP. Use a tool called PSX2PSP. The advantage is it allows you to merge Disc 1, Disc 2 type multi-disc games into one compressed file (cannot do that in CHD, must retain each Disc # separately). You can also do that with M3U playlists for CHDs but the PBP format is much simpler. In theory could compress all to PBP but the PSX2PSP tool isn't well suited to mass conversion and isn't quite as a efficient as CHD (typically over half size of original disc) See below for batch conversion (and limitations) for PBP using PSX2PSP: PSP - Use CSO compression format on most games. Tool called PSP ISO Compressor works well (again, not easy for mass number of files). Saturn - can use CHD with Retroarch Mednafen cores. Sega CD - can use CHD with Genesis Plus GX Retroarch core. Note for the Sega 32X CD games I had to leave those in native bin/cue format since the Retroarch core for Sega 32X didn't accep CHDs (but was only a few games for me so didn't worry about it). NEC Turbografx-CD - can use CHD with Mednefen PCE Retroarch core Sega Dreamcast - can use CHD with reicast Retroarch core. Also works with Demul standalone emulator. Gamecube - can use the GCZ compression format with Dolphin standalone or Retroarch core. There is a command line tool called GCIT that will compress from ISO or can use the compress option within Dolphin (full standalone emulator). Wii - Use the WBFS format in Dolphin. Phillips CDi (I use MAME here) and Panasonic 3DO (Retroarch 4DO core) also can use CHD format Most other games ZIP will work fine. All the compression can take time and some of the non-command line tools are "one by one" conversions which can suck a lot of time. For the CHD format, the MAME monthly package has the CHD EXE. There are variety of scripts to convert in mass. Search the forum here for several examples since that is where I got mine (attached). For the batch file just change the extension and path. CHD.EXE must be in same directory and would start with a test file or two first. Any errors it will just stop waiting for input. The advantage when all done is that have smaller size files, less "stuff" since don't have CUE, ISO, BINs all floating around, and if you already have the MAME Software List files for Saturn, PSX, and Dreamcast, you don't have to bother with conversion since they already converted to CHD format. The RetroPie wiki site also had good information on various compression formats. chdbatch.bat

Sounds to me like a mame.ini path problem or it is picking up another ini file and pulling settings from there. When you imported (I assume using the Full Set Wizard) you should double check the mame.ini and/or the mame executable file is in the directory just above the ROMs folder you selected in the importer. Also check your MAME.ini has the correct paths since you said you moved it in the other thread. Particularly the rompath, homepath, and the inipath directories. I would try putting in full paths so sure it is pulling from where want particularly if using MAMEUI which adds another layer to mix. So for example, I have my mame.exe file in G:\Emulators\MAME and ROMS are just below that which is where pointed LB. If still not working then only suggestion is to either use the mame64.exe rather than MAMEUi or not use the Full Set Wizard but the original ROM importer since I assume that worked before.

Didi you import with the "Mame Arcade Full Set" option and if so do you have a full set of ROMs at version that is recent version set? Are they split or un-merged? My set is version 201 and Split and imported/works fine (~35,488 rom files in directory with another ~718 CHD directories) . If you don't have a full set of roms stick with the ROM Files import option like prior. Other item to check is if you using something like MameUI that you have the MAME.INI in the MAME root directory.

I notice after importing via the Mame full set feature that the Audit Current Platform and Scan Removed/Added roms menu options within the Tools menu are all dimmed out and not selectable. Is that by design? I could maybe see the add/removed roms in that the new concept is to pull from official set each time but the audit feature is still a very useful feature (particularly for seeing add/corrects relative to the LB database). Thanks, Chris operator error (sigh). For others: Looks like I was in Platform Category "Arcade" and had the header listed and not selected on the "Arcade" Playlist. Could of swore had selected but was late and there were a ton of new playlists that I was fiddling with. Cheers.

Like erebus44 and Chris Kant, I have a similar issue with mystery release dates being input when the script runs. I have recently had the issue with two submissions (Dark Castle, Beyond the Dark Castle, for Apple Mac OS) where the release date was not input with what was in LB but instead inserted "2018". Both games were already in the system so just doing updates (mostly images). I saw it momentarily pop up when it was running the script but thought it was just my imagination. I then went back and looked at the moderation list and it had sent a change to update what was the correct date of 1986 to 2018. At first I thought I had a typo on my part but I went back and looked in LB it was correct year of 1986. It also did it on another game I submitted the the next night and I made sure the date was correct before starting the script. The only date I have in LB for those two games that is "2018" was the "last played" date so not sure if it is getting mixed up. The moderation's got approved so it wound up changing a correct release date with an incorrect one. I manually submitted a change to fix. I would test more but don't want to pollute the DB with bogus dates. I wish there was a way to stop/reject own submissions in the DB (not just for the plugin but for manual as well). Note: I have the most recent plugin version installed.