Lightspeed: Ultra-Fast Mame Importer Tool

[Ziege_UK]

Thank you for the reply. 

I'm happy to wait for any solution 

[Pacman56]

On 10/21/2018 at 3:55 PM, neil9000 said:

Software lists are not yet available for import, but is planned. The new importer adds all working games to Launchbox with the default filters, of course you can uncheck various filters and it will import non working games as well, but by default every game marked as working in the current MAME release is imported into Launchbox, and clones are added as additional apps.

Thank you @neil9000  I recently tried the new MAME importer and was really impressed with the results. Unlike the old importer, I was able to find and restore all my favorites using the default filter against my full merged sets (MAME v0.202).

I'm also happy to learn that importing the Software Lists is something that is planned. I've learned the hard way (while creating my own version of LightSpeed) that importing SL is not that trivial. Some might think that you can simply assign the appropriate command line parameter to the platform level but for some platforms that would not be sufficient and command line parameters have to be assign at the game level. An example of that is with the Atari 7800. Some of the games listed in the a7800.xml (found in the hash folder of MAME) are NTSC games and others are PAL games. NTSC games have to be launched using the "a7800" parameters while PAL games have to be launched using the "a7800p" parameters so that the correct mame machine is used to launch the game. This is just a simple example. There are more complex scenarios with other SL platforms. Fortunately, the information necessary to make that decision can be parsed from these xml files. I would be happy to share all of my findings with @Jason Carr when he's ready to implement Software Lists in LB/BB. This would save Jason a lot of time and frustrations. Hint, hint Jason ?. Just PM me if you wish and I'll send you code spinet that shows what to look for in these SL xml files.

[Jason Carr]

On 10/27/2018 at 4:57 AM, Pacman56 said:

Thank you @neil9000  I recently tried the new MAME importer and was really impressed with the results. Unlike the old importer, I was able to find and restore all my favorites using the default filter against my full merged sets (MAME v0.202).

I'm also happy to learn that importing the Software Lists is something that is planned. I've learned the hard way (while creating my own version of LightSpeed) that importing SL is not that trivial. Some might think that you can simply assign the appropriate command line parameter to the platform level but for some platforms that would not be sufficient and command line parameters have to be assign at the game level. An example of that is with the Atari 7800. Some of the games listed in the a7800.xml (found in the hash folder of MAME) are NTSC games and others are PAL games. NTSC games have to be launched using the "a7800" parameters while PAL games have to be launched using the "a7800p" parameters so that the correct mame machine is used to launch the game. This is just a simple example. There are more complex scenarios with other SL platforms. Fortunately, the information necessary to make that decision can be parsed from these xml files. I would be happy to share all of my findings with @Jason Carr when he's ready to implement Software Lists in LB/BB. This would save Jason a lot of time and frustrations. Hint, hint Jason ?. Just PM me if you wish and I'll send you code spinet that shows what to look for in these SL xml files.

Thank you @Pacman56. Yeah, I'd love to have that code for when I tackle the software lists. Feel free to send it to me and I'll set it aside for when I jump on it.

[Pacman56]

26 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Thank you @Pacman56. Yeah, I'd love to have that code for when I tackle the software lists. Feel free to send it to me and I'll set it aside for when I jump on it.

Sweet! I'll send you that information this afternoon via PM. 

[haynor666]

How's progress Pacman56? Can I ask for this application too?

[Pacman56]

2 hours ago, haynor666 said:

How's progress Pacman56? Can I ask for this application too?

@haynor666 Rather than releasing my own version of lightspeed, I submitted some code to Jason as mentioned in the above post.

Jason will eventually tackle software lists which will be a much better solution than what my tool is currently doing.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Pacman56

[haynor666]

This was  four months ago, that's why I ask about Your application.

[firedoggod]

i would love to see your app too. i think the big things missing in the importer are the filters (and sure SL support). i liked how lightspeed could filter out games for controls and player count that my control panel is not setup for . but i do hope all of these things get integrated soon!

 

i tryed fooling around with lightspeed for use with the current version of launchbox. (i used to use it for hyperspin xml's) im seeing the xmls its spitting out are totally wrong for launchbox now. 

is there a tool that i can use to filter my arcade games for controls/players ect that can spit out something launchbox can use?

 

thanks

Edited March 20, 2019 by firedoggod

[f00tf00t]

Hi there,

 

Is anyone able to provide a download link for lightspeed please?

 

The current one on the first page is down.

 

Thank you

[yourmovecr33p]

Sorry for the necrobump, but incase anyone else comes across this thread like I did, here's a workaround to get a filtered list into launchbox using lightspeed  v0.7j.

1 - I'm going to assume you know how to get the proper .ini files and mame xml into lightspeed. You can manually add them by downloading your version from projetto snaps if you can't get it to sync.
2 - Set up your filters
3 - On the export screen, hit "Filter!"
4 - on the left, there is a "Copy/move sets" option panel. Set this up so it copies (or moves, up to you) the filtered roms to a different directory on your computer. Hit the "Copy/Move" button.
5 - Import that directory as a new platform and nest it like a playlist under your main list (change it's parent list setting).
*6 - If you've chosen to copy the files, go into the platform settings and change the default rom location to your main mame rom directory and delete the duplicates. You can also do this through the platform cfg file launchbox generates.

 

Edited October 27, 2020 by yourmovecr33p
clarity

[haynor666]

I'm using LightSpeed MameLister v183b2. Seems to be the best version for me. No tricks required.

[yourmovecr33p]

8 minutes ago, haynor666 said:

I'm using LightSpeed MameLister v183b2. Seems to be the best version for me. No tricks required.

i've only been able to get Beta v0.7j. Would you mind uploading the version you have? Unless I'm a dunce and am missing the active link. Everything I've tried is dead.

[haynor666]

Just to strict - version is 0.183b2. It is probably much older but somehow does not produce problems for me like newer.

 

https://mega.nz/file/0gt2BCoZ#6VZA_82KeZqzS12dlu2UW1TJk5h_cS-wLOY_Cj-eaFU

[f00tf00t]

@haynor666

 

Thank you!

[Light Sock]

Anyone can give me a download link to the latest known stable version of this?

Much appreciated, thanks!

[Jason Carr]

FYI all; the latest version of LaunchBox (11.9) should do the vast majority of what folks need for a MAME importer (Lightspeed shouldn't really be necessary anymore, as the MAME full-set importer handles pretty much everything). If not, please tell me what LaunchBox is missing.

[Light Sock]

55 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

FYI all; the latest version of LaunchBox (11.9) should do the vast majority of what folks need for a MAME importer (Lightspeed shouldn't really be necessary anymore, as the MAME full-set importer handles pretty much everything). If not, please tell me what LaunchBox is missing.

Hi @Jason Carr and thank you for your reply. At first I was really excited to wait for the next version of LB but reading your message again, I've checked and I already have Launchbox 11.9 version. So maybe I'm not looking at the right place but the importer in Tools > Import > Mame Arcade Fullset isn't doing exactly what Lightspeed did. It more just clean the obvious Mame junk the vast majority doensn't want.

As for what could be improved in the importer; I think that some people want to have a fullset that is fully working and playable by their control panel. For example in my case I have 2 joysticks that are 4 way / 8 way only. So again, in my case, what's missing in the Mame full-set importer is the following:
 

• Removing games that have more than 2 players
• Removing games that have more than 8 buttons (excluding COIN and START buttons)
• Removing games that aren't 4 way or 8 way (analog joy, lightgun, spinner, rotating joy, etc)

Thanks a lot for your great work by the way! It would be awesome to see the Mame importer updated to fin tune the collection to your control panel compatibility!

[Jason Carr]

6 minutes ago, G22 said:

Hi @Jason Carr and thank you for your reply. At first I was really excited to wait for the next version of LB but reading your message again, I've checked and I already have Launchbox 11.9 version. So maybe I'm not looking at the right place but the importer in Tools > Import > Mame Arcade Fullset isn't doing exactly what Lightspeed did. It more just clean the obvious Mame junk the vast majority doensn't want.

As for what could be improved in the importer; I think that some people want to have a fullset that is fully working and playable by their control panel. For example in my case I have 2 joysticks that are 4 way / 8 way only. So again, in my case, what's missing in the Mame full-set importer is the following:
 

• Removing games that have more than 2 players
• Removing games that have more than 8 buttons (excluding COIN and START buttons)
• Removing games that aren't 4 way or 8 way (analog joy, lightgun, spinner, rotating joy, etc)

Thanks a lot for your great work by the way! It would be awesome to see the Mame importer updated to fin tune the collection to your control panel compatibility!

@G22 Ah, okay, good to know.

[Light Sock]

7 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

@G22 Ah, okay, good to know.

Do you plan on adding those features? If yes, any ETA? Can we pay for the development somewhere for priorities?

Thanks!

[neil9000]

6 hours ago, G22 said:

Can we pay for the development somewhere for priorities?

No, that is not something we are interested in, that would just lead to people with cash to throw around to dictate the the future of Launchbox, and thats not a good idea. Best use our bitbucket, and either search for a similar request and upvote it, or if it doesnt exist create it yourself and vote on it, can also post the link here on the forums to try and drum up interest. New features and improvements are dictated by the userbase, either via the bitbucket or via the occasional community polls we run where users get to vote on new features and something like the top twenty most voted are what is worked on, and we are currently still implementing features from the last poll from 2019, which you can look at here.