djwar Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 Hi folks What emulator do you recommend me for old school arcade games ? is it better to use an emulator downloaded from internet or retroarch ? Share your experiences, please thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 Well first, I would suggest watching our tutorials that you can get to from clicking the link in my signature or at the top of the forums. After that, the MAME Core in RetroArch isn't bad, but MAME or MAMEUI is certainly an option. There are some small trade offs, it just depends on what you want. RetroArch has some better controller support and shader support, but MAME stand alone may have some better performance. RetroArch also takes some time to update the MAME core (which is just the MAME core by the way and no cores with a year after the name). So the MAME core was just recently updated from .170 to .175, so that was several weeks / months of not being up to date if that's something you care about. Just make sure that you get a MAME Split set that matches your version of MAME. So if you get MAME .175b from the MAME site (or MAMEUI), then grab a MAME .175 split rom set and you should be good to go. Grab the CHD pack if you can download the giant file size and want the games that will offer. Make sure to import your games as the system Arcade so that it can properly use the MAME Importer. For better, more detailed help, you should really watch the tutorials. If you have more questions feel free to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwar Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 Thanks Brad again, I always looking for info and watching videos. The problem with retroarch is that, there are many mame cores, do you recommend any in specific I just tried 1.75 mameui and is awful, I set it to available, and I get a bunch of stuff in the list that I dont have in the rom folder, all messed up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 Well just to not get confused, it is MAME .175, and I did say the MAME core, the one without the years. So JUST the MAME core. Also, you really need to get a ROM set for MAME. If you have a rom set, all you need to do is put the files in the "roms" folder and that's it. If you have been watching the tutorials that's all you need to do. You don't need to put the games any where special if you use RetroArch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwar Posted July 10, 2016 Author Share Posted July 10, 2016 yes Brad with the nicest voice..I was watching your mame video on YT, thank you sir The only thing that I didnt undestand is the CHD file.. and updating roms when you upgrade to a new version of mame.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 10, 2016 Share Posted July 10, 2016 CHD's are Images of Hard Drive's, so think of them as ISO's of Hard Drives. Some games were released like this, where the rom (the zip files) reference the hard drive files or some games were bootable from the hard drive. So some games will require these and some games you only get with these files. Gauntlet Legends is a good example. If you grab the MAME .175 Split Rom and CHD pack, when .176 comes out all you need to grab is the respective split .175 to .176 packs. Sorry If I seemed a bit short there, I thought I had explained it well enough but I apologize I didn't. It just seemed like part of my message was ignored, but I realized I may not have explained it well enough, so I am sorry. If you do have any more questions I am more than willing to answer them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwar Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 Brad, allow me to point out something about you mame video, I didnt get the Mame import filter, was that removed ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 No, the platform just needs to be called Arcade or you check the box during import "Force MAME Importer" and it should work. If you call it something other than Arcade you'll also need to use the Scrape As function to Scrape it as Arcade once all of the names change over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwar Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 SentaiBrad said No, the platform just needs to be called Arcade or you check the box during import "Force MAME Importer" and it should work. If you call it something other than Arcade you'll also need to use the Scrape As function to Scrape it as Arcade once all of the names change over. Is this though RA or stand alone mame ? cause I do not see that option, I was trying the core here, choose Arcade and nothing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 You would probably be better off using stand alone MAME or one of it derivatives instead of RA at least to do the import and then afterwards you can always change the emulator to RA if that is what you want to use. That or if you use RA just use the checkbox to force MAME naming and it should be good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwar Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 This is what Im getting, and sorry Brad for trouble you so much, I really appreciate your time helping me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 It should automatically be using the MAME Importer, but that final screen you hovered on, yes check that MAME Box. You hovered over it with your cursor. That's the box I was telling you to check. Do that, and right after the MAME Importer should pop up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 So the MAME Importer is automatically shown based on the emulator, not the name of the platform. I've had this wrong apparently. So you need to either check that box I told you about, or use MAME as the emulator (the same one you had on the list), and the MAME Importer will run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwar Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 OK I got it now sir, with RA that mame checkbox you were saying has to be checked, but with the stand alone mame you get it automatically. Brad, with all your experience here, what do you prefer, RA or stand alone for Arcade ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 MAME. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djwar Posted July 12, 2016 Author Share Posted July 12, 2016 How does launchbox reacts to split sets, merged sets and non merged sets ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Well it's really only split and merged, those are the two types of sets, and just fine. I've imported Merged before, but I use split sets as they're easier to update. You can update a merged set, but it requires extra software or you have to re-download the entire set again. Split sets are easier to upgrade as they generally get easy update packs. Like .174 to .175 split pack's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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