Mame Tutorial for n00bs

[Lordmonkus]

10 hours ago, Rogerooo said:

How does Launchbox handle the files of the roms that were renamed from the previous version? When importing will they be recognized or just don't get imported at all? Is there a database from were LB gets the information of the roms/games included in each rom set that needs to be updated?

 

10 hours ago, Rogerooo said:

EDIT: I've found the Mame.xml file inside the Metadata folder, i guess that's the source LB uses for the MAME info. Not sure how up to date it is as I don't know which roms were renamed/added but i've imported everything anyway.

This gets updated shortly after the new Mame goes live, there is currently no for the end user to know when it is updated but that is something on Jasons to-do list and even pick which version. Jason does update it the day of or the next day after the Mame release though.

This is if you use the Mame specific importer of course, this doesn't apply if you are using the normal import wizard.

10 hours ago, Rogerooo said:

About CHDs. Do i need to create a dummy zip for the ones that don't have an associated rom zip? I keep them in a sub-folder inside my roms folder (MAME\(roms) and MAME\CHD\(chds)), i've also set the path in the mame.ini and they load just fine in MAME but are there any issues regarding LB for keeping them separate?

I wish I could answer your question about the CHDs, I don't use them myself. I don't know what games are CHD files only, I was under the impression that they were companion files to go with the actual chipset dumps and as long as the path for them is in the mame.ini file it's fine.

[DOS76]

I just want to add that Jason updates the main info from MAME rather quickly but certain dats and files aren't available right away and so it may have things added to what data you will get over a few day period.

[Rogerooo]

I see, thank you for clarifying that. I'm on the LB's beta branch and the Mame.xml I mentioned earlier was indeed created today so I guess it's up to date with the MAME release.

I've imported the set using the MAME Arcade Full Set wizard, however i noticed something odd. I was looking for some games to favorite and found out that for instance Asteroids was not imported. Searching in the mame.xml the files for that specific game are asteroid (parent), asteroid1, asteroid2 and asteroidb (clones), these files are on the mame set i've downloaded (split), however the game is not present on LB. I've imported the whole set without skipping any games and the clones were imported as additional apps however i can't find the parent game.

Regarding the CHDs, i'm not sure if there are CHD exclusive games either, I think i've read somewhere that there are but i might be mistaken. I'll try to compare the chd folders and the zips to see if I find games that don't have a corresponding zip rom.

[Rogerooo]

Just re-imported the roms folder by dragging and dropping all the files into LB and using the regular wizard for the process. Since I have MAME as the emulator the mame metadata was fetched and the wizard prompted me to choose which files should be skipped or not. Imported everything, no skips and all the clones. As a test I did this with just Asteroids, since it was the game i noticed was missing, it was successfully imported and so i did it again for the whole set. Its now importing, it's taking it's time but seems to be a bit faster than the first import.

Comparing the files on LB's wizard with the roms folder i noticed that 112 files weren't imported. I don't know for sure if there are any games in there but it looks like it just skipped some bios (and probably devices) which is fine as don't need them in LB anyway. If it helps to debug stuff out, here is the list of those files.

Quote

3dobios.zip
aceex2814.zip
airlbios.zip
aleck64.zip
alg3do.zip
alg_bios.zip
allied.zip
amclink.zip
ar_bios.zip
aristmk5.zip
aristmk6.zip
atarisy1.zip
awbios.zip
bubsys.zip
ccfboxa.zip
cd6809.zip
cdibios.zip
cedmag.zip
chihiro.zip
coh1000a.zip
coh1000c.zip
coh1000t.zip
coh1000w.zip
coh1001l.zip
coh1002e.zip
coh1002m.zip
coh1002v.zip
coh3002c.zip
coh3002t.zip
comg903d.zip
comg905d.zip
crysbios.zip
ctsttape.zip
cubo.zip
decocass.zip
eka_base.zip
f355bios.zip
f355dlx.zip
galgbios.zip
gkkey.zip
gp_110.zip
gq863.zip
grfd2301.zip
gts1.zip
gundcb79.zip
gundcb83.zip
hikaru.zip
hng64.zip
hod2bios.zip
hopper.zip
hyperv2a.zip
isgsm.zip
iteagle.zip
konamigv.zip
konamigx.zip
kontest.zip
kviper.zip
lindbios.zip
llandert.zip
macsbios.zip
maxaflex.zip
megaplay.zip
megatech.zip
naomi.zip
naomi2.zip
naomigd.zip
ndcfboxa.zip
neogeo.zip
ngdup23a.zip
ngdup23c.zip
ngdup23e.zip
nichidvd.zip
nss.zip
okean240t.zip
pcorig.zip
peivc006.zip
peset001.zip
peset004.zip
peset012.zip
peset022.zip
peset038.zip
peset100.zip
peset117.zip
pgm.zip
playch10.zip
pyson.zip
qberttst.zip
qbtrktst.zip
sammymdl.zip
sart3733.zip
segasp.zip
sentetst.zip
sfcbox.zip
shtzone.zip
skns.zip
stvbios.zip
su2000.zip
sys246.zip
sys256.zip
sys573.zip
taitotz.zip
tcfboxa.zip
test420.zip
tfupdate.zip
tourvis.zip
triforce.zip
tst_galx.zip
tst_invd.zip
v4bios.zip
wms.zip
wmsa.zip
wmsb.zip

As for the CHDs, this re-import scanned for the following files. I don't know if they are CHD exclusive games or not (some of them aren't, like Primal Rage 2 for instance) but LB did single them out. From the 518 sub-folders/games LB recognized 135.

Quote

Atronic SetUp/Clear Chips    atronic\atronic.chd
BiKiNikko - Okinawa de Ippai Shichaimashita    bikiniko\bikiniko.chd
BioFreaks    biofreak\biofreak.chd
Battle Gear    batlgear\batlgear.chd
Alien: The Arcade Medal Edition    alien\alien.chd
Arctic Thunder    arctthnd\arctthnd.chd
Area 51    area51\area51.chd
Area 51    area51\area51t.chd
Area 51 / Maximum Force Duo v2.0    area51mx\area51mx.chd
Bust a Move 2 - Dance Tengoku Mix    bam2\bam2.chd
NFL Blitz    blitz\blitz.chd
NFL Blitz '99    blitz99\blitz99.chd
NFL Blitz '99    blitz99\blitz99a.chd
NFL Blitz 2000 Gold Edition    blitz2k\blitz2k.chd
Bloody Roar 3    bldyr3b\bldyr3b.chd
Bounty Hunter    bntyhunt\bntyhunt.chd
Beat the Champ    btchamp\btchamp.chd
California Chase    calchase\calchase.chd
California Speed    calspeed\calspeed.chd
CarnEvil    carnevil\carnevil.chd
Cart Fury    cartfury\cartfury.chd
Cliff Hanger    cliffhgr\cliffhgr.chd
Candy Puzzle    cndypuzl\cndypuzl.chd
Cobra Command    cobra\cobra.chd
Come On Baby    comebaby\comebaby.chd
Super CD Dai8dan Mahjong Hanafuda Cosplay Tengoku    csplayh1\csplayh1.chd
Mahjong Hanafuda Cosplay Tengoku 5    csplayh5\csplayh5.chd
Cosplay Tengoku 7 - Super Kogal Ranking    csplayh7\csplayh7.chd
Cube Quest    cubeqst\cubeqst.chd
Donkey Kong Banana Kingdom    dkbanana\dkbanana.chd
Eggs Playing Chicken    eggsplc\eggsplc.chd
Pharaoh's Treasure    ep_pharo\ep_pharo.chd
Ez2dancer 2nd Move    ez2d2m\ez2d2m.chd
Fate: Unlimited Codes    fateulc\fateulcb.chd
Fire Fox    firefox\firefox.chd
Flip Maze    flipmaze\flipmaze.chd
Fuudol    fuudol\fuudol.chd
GameCristal    gamecstl\gamecstl.chd
GameCristal    gamecstl\gamecst2.chd
99 Bottles of Beer    gammagic\99bottles.chd
Game Magic    gammagic\gammagic.chd
Gauntlet Dark Legacy    gauntdl\gauntdl.chd
Gauntlet Legends    gauntleg\gauntleg.chd
Go By RC    gobyrc\gobyrc.chd
RC De Go    gobyrc\rcdego.chd
Harem Challenge    haremchl\haremchl.chd
Heat of Eleven '98    heatof11\heatof11.chd
Host Invaders    hostinv\hostinv.chd
Hyperdrive    hyprdriv\hyprdriv.chd
Judge Dredd    jdredd\jdreddb.chd
Junai - Manatsu no First Kiss    junai\junai.chd
Junai 2 - White Love Story    junai2\junai2.chd
Dead Eye    kdeadeye\kdeadeye.chd
Killer Instinct    kinst\kinst.chd
Killer Instinct 2    kinst2\kinst2.chd
Kollon    kollon\kollon.chd
Kollon    kollon\kollonc.chd
Landing High Japan    landhigh\landhigh.chd
Landing High Japan    landhigh\landhigha.chd
Laser Strixx 2    lasstixx\lasstixx.chd
Laser Quiz Italy    lsrquiz\lsrquiz.chd
Laser Quiz 2 Italy    lsrquiz2\lsrquiz2.chd
Mace: The Dark Age    mace\mace.chd
Mace: The Dark Age    mace\macea.chd
M.A.C.H. 3    mach3\mach3.chd
Mahjong Oh    mahjngoh\mahjngoh.chd
Maximum Force v1.05    maxforce\maxforce.chd
Magic Premium    mgprem11\mgprem11.chd
Mahjong Mania - Kairakukan e Youkoso    mjmania\mjmania.chd
Skins Game    mwskins\mwskins.chd
Skins Game    mwskins\mwskinsa.chd
Skins Game Tournament Edition    mwskins\mwskinst.chd
Nagano Winter Olympics '98    nagano98\nagano98.chd
NBA Showtime / NFL Blitz 2000    nbanfl\nbanfl.chd
NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC    nbashowt\nbashowt.chd
Night Raid    nightrai\nightrai.chd
Odeon Twister 2    odeontw2\odeontw2.chd
Offroad Thunder    offrthnd\offrthnd.chd
Orbatak    orbatak\orbatak.chd
Otenami Haiken Final    otenamhf\otenamhf.chd
Otenami Haiken    otenamih\otenamih.chd
Otenki Kororin    otenki\otenki.chd
Otomedius    otomedius\otomedius.chd
Pingu's Ice Block    pingu\pingu.chd
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu '96    powyak96\powyak96.chd
ParaParaParadise 2nd Mix    ppp2nd\ppp2nd.chd
Primal Rage 2    primrag2\primrag2.chd
P's Attack    psattack\psattack.chd
Psyvariar -Medium Unit-    psyvaria\psyvaria.chd
Psyvariar -Revision-    psyvarrv\psyvarrv.chd
Power Shovel ni Norou!! - Power Shovel Simulator    pwrshovl\pwrshovl.chd
Raizin Ping Pong    raizpin\raizpin.chd
Ray Crisis    raycris\raycris.chd
Road Blaster    rblaster\rblaster.chd
Road Burners    roadburn\roadburn.chd
Rise of the Robots    rotr\rotr.chd
Ring Riders    rriders\rriders.chd
Savage Quest    savquest\savquest.chd
San Francisco Rush 2049    sf2049\sf2049.chd
San Francisco Rush 2049: Special Edition    sf2049\sf2049se.chd
San Francisco Rush 2049: Tournament Edition    sf2049\sf2049te.chd
San Francisco Rush 2049: Tournament Edition Unlocked    sf2049\sf2049tea.chd
San Francisco Rush    sfrush\sfrush.chd
San Francisco Rush: The Rock    sfrushrk\sfrushrk.chd
Shanghai Shoryu Sairin    shanghss\shanghss.chd
Shikigami no Shiro    shikigam\shikigam.chd
Shikigami no Shiro - internal build    shikigama\shikigama.chd
Space Invaders Anniversary    sianniv\sianniv.chd
Simpsons Bowling    simpbowl\simpbowl.chd
Soutenryu    soutenry\soutenry.chd
Speed Driver    speeddrv\speeddrv.chd
Super Puzzle Bobble    spuzbobl\spuzbobl.chd
Tenth Degree    tenthdeg\tenthdeg.chd
The Nanpa    thenanpa\thenanpa.chd
Tokyo Cop    tokyocop\tokyocopk.chd
Tokyo Cop    tokyocop\tokyocop.chd
Tokyo Cop    tokyocop\tokyocopi.chd
Gaelco Championship Tuning Race    tuningrc\tuningrc.chd
Turret Tower    turrett\turrett.chd
Usagi    usagi\usagi.chd
Vapor TRX    vaportrx\vaportrx.chd
Us vs. Them    usvsthem\usvsthem.chd
Vicious Circle    vcircle\vcircle.chd
Star Trek: Voyager    voyager\voyagers.chd
Star Trek: Voyager    voyager\voyager.chd
War: The Final Assault    warfa\warfaa.chd
War: The Final Assault    warfa\warfa.chd
Stunt Typhoon Plus    styphp\styphp.chd
Wedding Rhapsody    weddingr\weddingr.chd
Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey    wg3dh\wg3dh.chd
XII Stag    xiistag\xiistag.chd
Zoids Infinity    zoidsinf\zoidsinf.chd
Zoku Otenamihaiken    zokuoten\zokuoten.chd
Zoofari    zoofari\zoofari.chd
Zooo    zooo\zooo.chd

Sorry about the double post but since this an extensive post i figured its better for organization.

[neil9000]

15 hours ago, Rogerooo said:

I see, thank you for clarifying that. I'm on the LB's beta branch and the Mame.xml I mentioned earlier was indeed created today so I guess it's up to date with the MAME release.

I've imported the set using the MAME Arcade Full Set wizard, however i noticed something odd. I was looking for some games to favorite and found out that for instance Asteroids was not imported. Searching in the mame.xml the files for that specific game are asteroid (parent), asteroid1, asteroid2 and asteroidb (clones), these files are on the mame set i've downloaded (split), however the game is not present on LB. I've imported the whole set without skipping any games and the clones were imported as additional apps however i can't find the parent game.

Regarding the CHDs, i'm not sure if there are CHD exclusive games either, I think i've read somewhere that there are but i might be mistaken. I'll try to compare the chd folders and the zips to see if I find games that don't have a corresponding zip rom.

Asteroids imported just fine for me using the MAME fullset importer via tools/import/mame fullset importer.

Its also worth mentioning that the MAME fullset importer isnt strictly speaking importing the games, it assumes you have a fullset as that is what the wizard is for and simply adds all the working games filenames to the Arcade.xml, its not actually checking weather you have the roms or not as it is expected that you do. It relies on MAME knowing the location of your rom folder to load the games, it simply passes the filename you requested to MAME, and MAME then loads the game from the rom folder you specified in the mame.ini.

[Rogerooo]

Oddly enough it did import for me too when I imported my previous set a few months back (it was .173 i think).

I downloaded the whole set and there are no missing roms. It must have been something about the Asteroids game, either i deleted it by mistake (don't recall doing so but it could've happen) or something else. The game did import just fine after manually dragging it into LB so no problem there. Also, after re-importing all files again just to make sure, only 3 more games were added (99 Bottles of Beer, RC De Go, Skins Game Tournament Edition) these games are in CHD format, I guess this means the set was fully imported.

I'm now importing the software lists systems. I know they aren't yet supported and Jason is working on it but as a solution I'm using the Files.xml (Metadata folder) to specify the Platform/Game/File names for the systems, the information comes from the datfiles, with a little Notepad ++ macro i'm able to port the information with the correct tags and the games are all recognized by LB. I can provide you my Files.xml when i'm done importing everything if you guys want.

[Lordmonkus]

Just now, Rogerooo said:

It must have been something about the Asteroids game, either i deleted it by mistake (don't recall doing so but it could've happen) or something else.

It might be possible it was under another name, clone or something. I don't know of any clone names that it could be under at all, i'm just saying it might be a possibility.

[Rogerooo]

Yes that's also a possibility. But if that was the case wouldn't LB not import it again when I did it manually? Because the game supposedly was already in the database, and that's why it just imported those 3 games, everything else was already there.

[Rogerooo]

Hey, sorry to bother again.?

I've downloaded a romset of 3DO games but the files don't follow the MAME naming convention, is it possible to load the game without renaming the roms or do I need to rename them? If so, is there an easy method to do it?

[DOS76]

I don't think MAME works properly with 3DO

[Rogerooo]

What about the RA core? Is it good or a standalone emulator is a better option?

[DOS76]

The RA core is fine I think I've got the games and I've gotten them running but never really spent much time playing any of the games so can't really say.

[neil9000]

10 minutes ago, Rogerooo said:

What about the RA core? Is it good or a standalone emulator is a better option?

Its not bad by any means. But there is absolutely no reason to use it over and above MAME. Im a retroarch user for as much as i can, but not for that.

Each to there own though.

[Lordmonkus]

38 minutes ago, Rogerooo said:

Hey, sorry to bother again.?

I've downloaded a romset of 3DO games but the files don't follow the MAME naming convention, is it possible to load the game without renaming the roms or do I need to rename them? If so, is there an easy method to do it?

For 3DO use the RA core for it.

[Rogerooo]

@DOS76 @Lordmonkus Cool, thanks for the help. I'll probably not play much of it either but it's cool to have another system to look at in BigBox

@neil9000 My issue with Mame in this case is just the filenames, the roms won't load. After getting used to how mame works and loads its systems, etc. I became a fan of it. The huge library of machines available is great and the ability to use overlays/shaders is a nice plus (one of the main reasons why i also prefer RA over standalone). If there was a way to load the games bypassing the name check i would probably use it sometimes. The command line gives me this error message:

Error reading input file: file not found
Fatal error: Device CD-ROM Image load failed: Unspecified error

[DOS76]

I think Neil completely misunderstood that you meant the 3DO core and not the MAME core over standalone MAME (either that or I'm completely confused by his post)

[Rogerooo]

Oh, I see. Yes, there is no point in using Mame's RA core after having set up the standalone in LB. Which is not that hard either and is much more easier to configure the machines.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Rogerooo

[neil9000]

22 minutes ago, DOS76 said:

I think Neil completely misunderstood that you meant the 3DO core and not the MAME core over standalone MAME (either that or I'm completely confused by his post)

i think maybe u are right.

[Tatts4Life]

Are the steps for setting up MAME in the first post still working? I orinally setup my MAME system by putting MAME64.exe and all the files in a MAME folder and the roms in the roms folder inside the MAME folder. I then saw in the first post that I could put MAME in my emulators folder and the roms in my games folder inside LB. I then did the steps to create a MAME.ini and on the roms line pointed to my roms folder now. I tried a game that worked earlier and now it doesn't start up.

This morning I found the 204 split file and I'm currently downloading that. I plan to start over by deleting MAME all together and starting fresh with the most current set. Am I able to follow the first post to setup the UI before moving on to LB, or do the roms need to be placed in the roms folder?

[DOS76]

As long as you have an ini file that contains the correct path to the games you can have them in any location you want.