LaunchBox Beta Testing - 6.8+

[ALIE]

36 minutes ago, SentaiBrad said:

I thought I made the current MAME tutorial that, but it's probably time for an updated version, and you are right: there is probably a lot more I can do there. So, sure. I don't have a time frame per-se, we have a tutorial planned for after we get back from Texas (so next friday's tutorial), but after that Jason and I will talk about it. MAME is certainly confusing.

Yah but I just didn't get it.  I'm thinking from the very beginning downloading mame,setting it up,  updating roms?  Or whatever ever the process is.  

Really From the most basic beginning of the process to the end.  I need someone to hold my hand through the process ?

[Lordmonkus]

Im in the middle of typing up a text tutorial right now, should be done soon.

[SentaiBrad]

Well as a quick run down of it: You download MAME .177 (I think that is what we are on). You download a MAME .177 Rom pack and a MAME .177 CHD pack (the CHD pack is very large). You put them in the MAME roms folder and start importing in LaunchBox. Point the importer to your ../MAME/roms folder, call the Platform Arcade (for Database purposes), then click next. The Importer should change to show the MAME Import option. Check or uncheck based on your personal preference. If the menu doesn't show up, check the box during import "Force MAME Metadata" or something to that effect, then you should be done and be able to let it import.

[ALIE]

1 minute ago, lordmonkus said:

Im in the middle of typing up a text tutorial right now, should be done soon.

Would be appreciated.

I would of course still also very much appreciate a update video by Brad.  I do like videos visual helps :). 

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah of course it would be nice to have one of Brads tutorial videos.

[ALIE]

I might give it a try tomorrow.  Thanks @SentaiBrad @lordmonkus  it's much appreciated. 

[Lordmonkus]

Tutorial done

http://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/33619-mame-tutorial-for-n00bs/

[GreenGriffon]

While we're on the subject, can either Jason or Brad (or anyone who knows) tell me how Launchbox determines which MAME roms are "playable" during the import process?

The reason I ask is, I've been trying to import a heavily curated folder of good, working roms into Launchbox. For some reason, LB refuses to accept a large number of them, but gives no indication as to which ones it is refusing. The only filter I have checked is to exclude non-playable roms, Out of about 2800 roms that I know do work, approximately 600 of them will not import.

My folder of roms comes from the MAME 0.177 set, all with their original filenames.

For the life of me I cannot understand what's going on. Could something be wrong with this particular filter?

 

 

Edited September 29, 2016 by GreenGriffon
typos

[DOS76]

Good question I did the all killer set the other day and ended up with less games then there was in the folder.

[DOS76]

Good question I did the all killer set the other day and ended up with less games then there was in the folder.

[SentaiBrad]

So MAME is extremely tricky, and if you get a MAME Rom set, do not delete any rom files unless you delete the entire family of ROM files, and even then, a rogue random game could require one of those files. One file in the roms folder is not simply one game. Sometimes it can be, but for the most part 1 game = 2 to 15 files; It depends on several factors. A game from Japan for example, may have 1 file, the parent rom, then have been patched and now have a child rom that you need to launch to get the patched game, but it still requires the parent rom. Then say that game was patched again, then translated in to English, then patched 4 more times (a random number). This could leave another 6 child roms, plus the first child rom and the parent rom, leaving 8 rom files for 1 game. If you want to launch a the patched English version, you need to launch the child rom and (usually) have to keep the entire line of Rom for the integrity to be kept, or if you need to / want to launch a clone or alternate version. If the game title doesn't require the entire line of roms, then it will always require the parent rom. There is never an exception in this case (I don't think, but someone can correct me just in case). CHD files are Cloned Hard Drives that have data from a game in the files, from the motherboards hard drive inside the cab. The same thing holds true for what I said above given a random example I made up, but then if it's a game that requires a CHD, now you must add on the CHD structure as well. Now the game requires an extra file, in the appropriate folder.

 

We internalize the names and sort through the packs games based on the information we receive from the MAME Development Group (at least I believe it is they who put this out each version). They have a list of all the internal names and what each of them mean, then LaunchBox converts that in to real names that can be easily read and scraped. After that, we know exactly what each game is. Each game has identifiers on it so that MAME knows what information to give the player about the game. We take that info and give the user a choice. I am unsure how many games is actually in the MAME set, but it's a lot smaller than the file count of ROMs and CHD's.

 

There are also BIOS files in the MAME Rom pack that can be required by a few games, or several hundred, it just depends. The MAME Packs also have the Software List BIOS as well, so it works really well for MESS. Both the MAME and MESS tutorials go over each case in what I think is the best plan of action.

 

You can get a merged MAME Rom set if you need to save on space, but every time there is a new version and you want to update, you'll need to download a new merged pack. If you have a split pack, then you can download, for example, .176 to .177 update packs. @CriticalCid will tell you that you need to use a program like CLRMamePro to merge them successfully, but I've honestly not had any issues dropping the new MAME rom update pack in to my roms folder and just overwriting all.

 

There is probably a lot we can tweak with our internationalizations, and we don't update that list every single update (it's actually a pain in the butt to do from what Jason tells me). Really, not much changes from version to version, so even I personally am on a few versions back only because I don't want to download another 400-500GB's of data. Hope this info helps. Ask any questions if you need to, I am more than happy to answer.

[GreenGriffon]

Thank you for that explanation Brad, I appreciate it.

I used MAME Content Manager to trim down the list by hand, one by one. I was meticulous about keeping the parent roms, and the latest revision of the US version of the game, if one exists. Some other clones were kept if they were noteworthy. I also had the bios files included in the list.

I could understand if LB knocked out any "orphan files" where I left out the parent, but that could not possibly be the case here.

I'm going to print a list of the both directories - my folder of roms versus what was imported - then run a comparison on the lists to isolate what was unceremoniously dumped. Maybe that will tell me more.

Thanks,

GG

 

[SentaiBrad]

If there is a game that should have been imported, and you know it's missing, it could be that our importer is looking for a different file that you may have trimmed. I know you said you went over it with a fine comb, but it's possible. Out of the entire MAME Rom pack was imported, I have about 2885 games with 33 thousand files, and I unchecked several check boxes (I wanted Rhythm games for example).

[rebelone]

On 22-9-2016 at 3:33 AM, Jason Carr said:

Ah, I forgot about that @rebelone. That makes sense. I forgot that the new RocketLauncher emulator doesn't use the platforms list, which is actually the real problem here I think. I'll need to take a look to see how best to address this.

Hi Jason,

Just wanted to say that the issue i had with LB clearing the emulator field on game-edit (with RL) is solved.
I did some edits, and i found that all works fluid now.

[Mute64]

Any inclination when RL will be updated to work with the new xml split feature that LB uses? Im mid way thru building my mates pc with LB + RL but at the moment RL wont work with LB's current XML setup. If RL is not going to be updated dor a while (week+) i may need to roll back to 6.9, how would i go about rolling back a version if i need to.. is there somewhere i can DL the old LB versions?

[ckp]

I'm just curious what doesn't work about RL? I have LB 6.10. Even if i remove launchbox.xml, I can still switch my games to my RL emulator and they work fine. I migrated everything away from RL already, but it still works if I switch a game back to try it.

[rebelone]

50 minutes ago, Mute64 said:

Any inclination when RL will be updated to work with the new xml split feature that LB uses? Im mid way thru building my mates pc with LB + RL but at the moment RL wont work with LB's current XML setup. If RL is not going to be updated dor a while (week+) i may need to roll back to 6.9, how would i go about rolling back a version if i need to.. is there somewhere i can DL the old LB versions?

I have no clue, but as workaround i placed the new populated platforms myself in the launchbox.xml. This way i can setup RocketLauncher AND profit from the latest speed adjustments.

If you want to do this you need to backup your data folder and LaunchBox.xml

Edited September 30, 2016 by rebelone

[rebelone]

46 minutes ago, ckp said:

I'm just curious what doesn't work about RL? I have LB 6.10. Even if i remove launchbox.xml, I can still switch my games to my RL emulator and they work fine. I migrated everything away from RL already, but it still works if I switch a game back to try it.

New populated platforms or new imported games are not reconised by RocketLauncher, as it looks in LaunchBox.xml.
All the platforms and games setup before the beta's of 6.10 are working fine with RocketLauncher.

[ckp]

Doesn't RL get all it needs from the command line arguments passed into it from the LB emulator settings? What does it need from any xml file? I thought all RL needs is the platform name and rom file, and those come right from the command line settings in the RL emulator. I'm not doubting you, but curious. 

Also, as I mentioned, I totally removed my launchbox.xml file as a test and RL still launched my games ok.

Edited September 30, 2016 by ckp

[Lordmonkus]

I don't use Rocket Launcher but apparently there is a new release of it coming out real soon that will fix the problems it is having with Launchbox 6.10 and the new xml split.