How to update your MAME ROMset to a newer version with CLRmamepro

[mU$!c]

1 hour ago, CriticalCid said:

It’s definitely possible and works exactly the same way. You just have to use the Rollback ROM packs instead of the update packs. Of course you will need all Rollback packs from your current version to 0.168. With that said. Finding all required Rollback sets would probably be harder than finding a complete 0.168 set.

As alternative you could also try to find an older set and older update packs and update that set to 0.168.

A second alternative would be to use an older complete set (pre 0.168, but as close as possible) and a more current set (again, as close as possible) and try to build a 0.168 set with them, but you will most likely end up with a handful of missing files if you are gonna use that method.

@CriticalCidThanks for the valuable info and the tutorial. Slightly off subject, I just converted a .zip collection of samples over to .7z . I know that MAME supports .7z ROMS, but does MAME now support .7z samples?

[Lordmonkus]

It does and has for a little while. Up until I just recently got a full 177 rom set I was using a mixed set of zip and 7z roms.

[mU$!c]

Just now, lordmonkus said:

It does and has for a little while. Up until I just recently got a full 177 rom set I was using a mixed set of zip and 7z roms.

So, I'll be all good with my .7z collection of audio samples? Ya know, that go in the samples folder.

[Lordmonkus]

should be good

[mU$!c]

16 minutes ago, lordmonkus said:

should be good

Awesome! I'm waiting for that next big leap in MAME dev. For now I will just play 0.175, doesn't bother me to be 2 versions behind.

Edited October 7, 2016 by mU$!c
there is a real Morpheus on this Earth (Dr. S. James Gates, Jr.)

[Puppet]

Thx for this great tut, just one question about step2 :12

i Have the complete romset 161 and all update  .rars to 175 can i just add a path to the one folder with all these update rars in it? or do i need to make a folder structure first with all update rars in separated folders ?

Thx

[Lordmonkus]

I would do it one pack at a time just to be safe.

[Puppet]

5 minutes ago, lordmonkus said:

I would do it one pack at a time just to be safe.

ok so separate folders for each update version, and add all folder paths separate in step2 :12 ?

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah, i would unpack one pack and update with it, then unpack the next and update with that til you get them all done.

Reason being the way that the updates work. For example you could have

Update 1 with gamerom.zip which contains files a,b and c

Then in update pack 2 you could have an update to gamerom.zip but only contains file b.

Now if you unpack them in the updates in the same location gamerom.zip from update pack 2 would over write the one from update 1 but it only has file b and not a and c.

Hope that makes sense.

[Puppet]

ok thx for your help, so then this line of text aint correct:

"If you have more than one update pack you can add all update packs at once in order to update your ROMset to the current version. No need to repeat this entire updating process for every single update pack."

i added all packs the only difference is they are in one folder

 

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah you probably can do it all in one shot, I would just do it one by one just to be safe.

[CriticalCid]

9 hours ago, Puppet said:

ok thx for your help, so then this line of text aint correct:

"If you have more than one update pack you can add all update packs at once in order to update your ROMset to the current version. No need to repeat this entire updating process for every single update pack."

i added all packs the only difference is they are in one folder

 

No it isn’t wrong, it’s entirely safe to update your set with multiple update packs at once. But just like lordmonkus said you have to make sure that every update pack is in its own seperate folder and you don’t overwrite anything.

Clrmamepro will exactly know (based on the CRC values) which files it needs from each update pack.

[Puppet]

7 hours ago, CriticalCid said:

No it isn’t wrong, it’s entirely safe to update your set with multiple update packs at once. But just like lordmonkus said you have to make sure that every update pack is in its own seperate folder and you don’t overwrite anything.

Clrmamepro will exactly know (based on the CRC values) which files it needs from each update pack.

 

Thank you guys! because from 161 to 177 would have been a nightmare

[bran479]

Man, I dont even want a full set just games I like.  Someone remind me why these change so often.  I forgot with a pita it is.

Edited October 16, 2016 by bran479

[Lordmonkus]

Roms themselves change usually because they maybe were improperly dumped previously and even though they worked they weren't right. Then someone does a proper dump of a game and because arcade rom dumps are different than cartridge dumps you now have more files in the zip file.

In the case of the latest version of Mame (178) the Capcom CPS2 roms have a .key file which is an encryption rom that was on the arcade boards. And because Mame aims for accurate 1:1 emulation they wanted to emulate these chips so now we have to have the roms with these .key files.

[SentaiBrad]

Personally, every few versions I just download a new MAME rom and chd pack. It's a PITA, but... every 5 or so months isn't bad to re-do it.

[Headrush69]

On 2016-10-16 at 7:15 PM, SentaiBrad said:

Personally, every few versions I just download a new MAME rom and chd pack. It's a PITA, but... every 5 or so months isn't bad to re-do it.

I only keep a full 0.161 set and each version update pack from then on. (All stored within one directory)

What makes things easier is using the Set Information tools within the scanner result window.

I have a list of all my favourite MAME roms listed in a text file. (MAME_Favourites.txt)

On each new MAME release, I let ClrMamePro read the MAME binary to get the XML information it needs. I do a scan, and from the results page I click the Set Information button. From there you load that text file which will enable only the roms you need for those games. (You don't have to worry about CHDs, or the exact roms needed for the set, it's taken care of automatically.) From the same page, you can now export a dat file for just your mame games.

I use this dat file in ClrMamePro with the paths set to where I store the roms for Launchbox. If for some reason it's missing any roms, switch to the rebuilder which has the update pack folder as source and fixed.

 

 

[SentaiBrad]

Yea, I know of ClrMAMEPro and choose to not use it. @CriticalCid will be mad I said that. I just downloaded the .180 set, then the .181 came out, so I just grabbed the split roms updated pack and the chd update pack and just dropped them in. It wont make a big enough difference, and im updated again. I try not to do that update route too many times in a row, but if I feel the need to even upgrade my pack (I was still on .178), and it's been enough versions, I'll just do a re-download.

[Headrush69]

2 hours ago, SentaiBrad said:

Yea, I know of ClrMAMEPro and choose to not use it. @CriticalCid will be mad I said that. I just downloaded the .180 set, then the .181 came out, so I just grabbed the split roms updated pack and the chd update pack and just dropped them in. It wont make a big enough difference, and im updated again. I try not to do that update route too many times in a row, but if I feel the need to even upgrade my pack (I was still on .178), and it's been enough versions, I'll just do a re-download.

I understand that completely and though I quoted you I was just giving my method in general to anyone.

Way back in the day when I started with MacMAME and downloading massive sizes wasn't really an option, I like many MAME users was wasting too much time trying to have a complete an perfect set. I think too many people still do that. Having a compete subset of "my" games was a cleaner option and using the ClrMamePro options above meant I didn't have to worry about the internal specific rom changes within the games I liked.

The most important result was the OCD in me was satisfied that the MAME profile in ClrMamePro had a green check mark even though I only had a subset of ROMs.

[SentaiBrad]

Since I do a lot of recording, having them all available is nice, but I am more worried about the games that I want and what interests me first. Also, no worries, I did think you were talking to me, but no worries.