Jump to content
LaunchBox Community Forums

Mame Tutorial for n00bs


Lordmonkus

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Lordmonkus said:

Try setting your ini files to read only.

I have not run into this issue myself ever but I have heard of instances where people with wireless controllers lose their controller settings when Mame gets started up without the controller turned on.

Thanks Lord- here's the clincher the controllers are all wired, if I keep them plugged in all is OK, but if I unplug them the data is wiped. 

Initially the ini was set as read only and turned read/write on just incase MAME tried to overwrite  and couldn't......

 

It looks like I may just have to do a fresh install-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 05/02/2018 at 12:14 PM, steveboura said:

Thanks Lord- here's the clincher the controllers are all wired, if I keep them plugged in all is OK, but if I unplug them the data is wiped. 

Initially the ini was set as read only and turned read/write on just incase MAME tried to overwrite  and couldn't......

 

It looks like I may just have to do a fresh install-

small update to this- very odd indeed

I could not get MAME to hold controller settings at all no matter what I did- so I did a fresh install set everything up and am pleased to report that controller settings hold true between power-ups.

 

I ran a comparison between all the plugin files, MAME.ini files and ctrlr files between fresh install and non working install- line by line on split screen. They were identical in every respect except that one held controller setup and the other didn't. I'm curious has anyone else experienced this or do . I just put it down to a computer glitch?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
1 minute ago, Astraye said:

After I downloaded the rom set, what should I do with it? sorry i'm a very noob mame user

Download the version of MAME that matches the version number of the set you downloaded from Here. you can keep your roms anywhere and tell MAME where they are, but as you are a beginner I would just suggest putting them in the MAME/Roms folder as that's where it looks by default.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just like @steveboura I'd like MAME to keep my controllers' configuration even when I unplug some of them.

From what I read, MAME has a fix for this problem, and it's supposed to be this: http://docs.mamedev.org/advanced/devicemap.html.
I tried to follow this guide, helped with this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmjfwLuZ_X0&feature=youtu.be.

But I encounter a "mame could not load controller file" message when trying to set this up. Does anyone here tried it too and found a way to make it work?

Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi guys,

Hoping for some help with getting this working.

 

to give some background I had a raspberry pi with an arcade section within retro pie. I have moved all the roms from it into my launchbox Rom folder (named arcade) and I have downloaded latest MAME version. Also I have retroarch set up in launchbox to play ps1 and dolphin. 

 

I have imported all the roms into launchbox under arcade and assigned them to play using retroarch, and also downloaded all of the different arcade cores within retroarch itself. however this refuses to load. 

 

I have also tried to open with mame which also doesn't work. 

 

i know I am probably going wrong somewhere, does anyone have any suggestions on what I should try first?

 

from reading above I think it could either be the wrong version of mame I am using or possible needing an ini file but I am a noob and any help troubleshooting would be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, WuTangDan said:

Hi guys,

Hoping for some help with getting this working.

 

to give some background I had a raspberry pi with an arcade section within retro pie. I have moved all the roms from it into my launchbox Rom folder (named arcade) and I have downloaded latest MAME version. Also I have retroarch set up in launchbox to play ps1 and dolphin. 

 

I have imported all the roms into launchbox under arcade and assigned them to play using retroarch, and also downloaded all of the different arcade cores within retroarch itself. however this refuses to load. 

 

I have also tried to open with mame which also doesn't work. 

 

i know I am probably going wrong somewhere, does anyone have any suggestions on what I should try first?

 

from reading above I think it could either be the wrong version of mame I am using or possible needing an ini file but I am a noob and any help troubleshooting would be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks in advance.

Hi and welcome. :) If the roms were originally for the pi they are probably a really old version, as that is what the pi has to use due to its low horsepower. Your best bet would be to get the version of MAME that matches the version of the roms you have. MAME is very picky with this as the game dumps change all the time as better dumps are made or the emulation is improved and if you don't update them they will stop working in the newer versions of MAME.

Or the other option is to download the latest set and version of mame, its currently 0.194, but is updated every month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, neil9000 said:

Hi and welcome. :) If the roms were originally for the pi they are probably a really old version, as that is what the pi has to use due to its low horsepower. Your best bet would be to get the version of MAME that matches the version of the roms you have. MAME is very picky with this as the game dumps change all the time as better dumps are made or the emulation is improved and if you don't update them they will stop working in the newer versions of MAME.

Or the other option is to download the latest set and version of mame, its currently 0.194, but is updated every month.

Thanks :)

Is there some way to check with version the roms are from? 

If not could you give me a subtle hint where one might source the latest Rom pack from?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, WuTangDan said:

Thanks :)

Is there some way to check with version the roms are from? 

If not could you give me a subtle hint where one might source the latest Rom pack from?

 

 

I don't believe there is a way to ID the roms you have. So your best bet would be a new set. Pleasuredome will be able to assist you there, you will need to register for free and carefully read there rules as they are ratio based. They use torrents and if you don't share back they will ban you in a heartbeat, just read the instructions carefully and you will be fine. Also get either the "split", or "non-merged" set. The merged set will not import to Launchbox correctly due to the way it is structured.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

Unless it has changed since the last time I looked at it the rom set the Pi used was the 0.37b version which is from 2000/2001.

That's incredibly helpful, thank you I will give that a try!

 

I  know that with the pi you often had to select different cores in RA in order to get certain Arcade games working (i.e. fb alpha would work for some, MAME 2000 would work for others) and this was quite easy to do as you can just press A before you load in and then switch the core.

 

How do you go about getting that to work within Launchbox? It seems like a huge task to get everything working if i have to assign certain games to certain cores. 

 

Thanks again for the quick and helpful replies :) 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can do it in Launchbox using the Custom Command line when you edit a game which is the more time consuming way or you could setup separate emulator entries and which you could then tell the game to load with. This method takes some up front setup time and clutters up the emulators menu in Launchbox but makes it easier to assign an emulator per game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, WuTangDan said:

That's incredibly helpful, thank you I will give that a try!

 

I  know that with the pi you often had to select different cores in RA in order to get certain Arcade games working (i.e. fb alpha would work for some, MAME 2000 would work for others) and this was quite easy to do as you can just press A before you load in and then switch the core.

 

How do you go about getting that to work within Launchbox? It seems like a huge task to get everything working if i have to assign certain games to certain cores. 

 

Thanks again for the quick and helpful replies :) 

 

 

If you get the current set it doesn't matter, all the working games will work in the current version of MAME, so just the one emulator.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, that's what I was afraid of.

 

I am leaning towards just downloading the newer ROM pack, it seems the easier option.

 

I think I will start fresh this weekend *sob*

 

Was hoping ETA Prime would do a video on this, but I don't think he has yet.

 

Promising news from Launchbox about drop downs for the different cores for RA in the associated platforms though, that would make things so much easier!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...