Mame Tutorial for n00bs

[MapleLeaf]

What I meant by my post (what I failed to adequately convey) is that I don't want to move my ROMs to this location on the C drive: "C:\users\username\roms", because I'd prefer them to be visible from my desktop without the use of shortcuts. 
My current pathing is: C:\Users\username\Desktop\Mameui64\Roms, but it doesn't work and I'm not sure why. Regardless, I'm probably going to drop this conversation now and use Mameui64 instead of MAME and hope it works with LB. The other thing I've noticed about Mameui64 vs MAME is that trying to alt tab from MAME causes it to crash (at least for me, and maybe this is expected behavior, I don't know). However, Mameui64 doesn't and since I'm a habitual alt-tabber, if I decide to use standalone MAME for whatever reason, Mameui64 will work better for me. 

[JoeViking245]

20 hours ago, MapleLeaf said:

when I load CMD and type: mame64.exe sf2

I just get the following:

"'mame64.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file."

Srry.  Didn't read back to the original post.  What this is saying is that "mame64.exe" is not in the folder you're currently in (at the command prompt).

The easiest way (for me at least) to get there is to... in Windows Explorer, get to the directory your mame64.exe (mame.exe in my case) and click once on the address bar (so it will highlight blue) and then type "cmd" (without quotes) and hit Enter.

This will open the Command Prompt at that location.  Now type   mame64.exe sf2   and you should be good to go.  Provided the rompath in the mame.ini file was set up.  If this:

C:\Users\username\Desktop\Mameui64\Roms

is actually where your roms are at (more than likely), that's what you put for the rompath.  And to be safe, put in quotes like Lordmonkus shows.

I know you said you were about done with regular MAME, but here it is anyway.   

As for Alt-Tab(bing) in and out of MAME, if you set it Windowed Mode (via the MAME UI.. Configure Options, Video Options, Window Mode = ON) it should work fine.

[MapleLeaf]

Unfortunately, it seems that I need to use MAME and not MAMEui64 because LaunchBox won't play nice with MAMEUI64.exe as an emulator for whatever reason. I just get some random message at the "parsing MAME" screen. "Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1." and none of the artwork will scrape. But using mame64.exe works.

1.) Is there a way to change the Rom path in LB after It's finished scanning the artwork? 

2.) Also, since I'm scraping a tremendous amount of artwork right now (2768 MAME games), is there a simple way to save this artwork/LB configuration for a reinstall or if I decide to install LB on an additional PC?
 

[Lordmonkus]

9 minutes ago, MapleLeaf said:

LaunchBox won't play nice with MAMEUI64.exe as an emulator for whatever reason

It should unless something changed with MameUI. Make sure your mame.ini file is located in the main folder along side the executable and not in a sub folder.

 

[MapleLeaf]

23 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

It should unless something changed with MameUI. Make sure your mame.ini file is located in the main folder along side the executable and not in a sub folder.

 

Yeah, I definitely made sure to do that before I tried and that error above is what happened. It's fine I guess. I'll just use the original/official mame. All I need to do is figure out how to change my rompath in LB. 

[neil9000]

6 hours ago, MapleLeaf said:

. All I need to do is figure out how to change my rompath in LB. 

Just re-run the mame importer and point to the new path and uncheck all the media downloads.

[MapleLeaf]

11 hours ago, neil9000 said:

Just re-run the mame importer and point to the new path and uncheck all the media downloads.

a.) I have a full MAME set, so, Tools > Import > Mame Arcade full set > Uncheck media download should work I imagine. Just seems kinda strange how you can't re-adjust the Rom path as conveniently as adjusting the emulator path. But, this is just a beginners perspective on the situation...

b.) Do people not use Tools > Change Roms Folder Path For Selected Games? I guess this is a bit tedious if you have a full MAME arcade set because it involves going through all the LB created playlists and Ctrl A everything then selecting this option and I was reading that it might not work for all the games for some various reason, but this was a post from 2017/2018 so I don't know if that advice is applicable anymore.

c.) On a different note, what if you only want to import like 100-200 non-merged Mame games? Do you still use Mame Arcade full set or would you use "Rom files" instead? 

[vaderag]

Not a n00b but just resetting up and realised I have the 32 bit version of the latest mame where as I've used 64bit in the past... Which begs the question, is there much benefit to using the 64 bit version?

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, vaderag said:

Not a n00b but just resetting up and realised I have the 32 bit version of the latest mame where as I've used 64bit in the past... Which begs the question, is there much benefit to using the 64 bit version?

There is not a 32bit version these days, its 64bit only and is just mame.exe.

[vaderag]

1 minute ago, neil9000 said:

There is not a 32bit version these days, its 64bit only and is just mame.exe.

Ah, that would explain it!

Also I used to get a no nag version back in the day - is that still a thing?

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, vaderag said:

Ah, that would explain it!

Also I used to get a no nag version back in the day - is that still a thing?

@MadK9 does them and uploads them to the third party section of our downloads section, here is the newest one.

 

[vaderag]

Where does MAME store the control configs if I wanted to transfer that between setups?

[Lordmonkus]

In the \cfg sub folder folder. Each game has its own cfg file.

[vaderag]

3 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

In the \cfg sub folder folder. Each game has its own cfg file.

Thanks, does that include the general controls as well (i.e. not machine specific and UI)

Edited December 5, 2021 by vaderag

[neil9000]

5 minutes ago, vaderag said:

Thanks, does that include the general controls as well (i.e. not machine specific and UI)

That is the "default" file in the same folder.

[turbofeet]

20 minutes ago, vaderag said:

Thanks, does that include the general controls as well (i.e. not machine specific and UI)

The default controls file is called default.cfg.

For me I leave that file read only so it can't be overwritten.

[Ebonia]

After reading a lot of this, I see why some of my files work and some do not. I Just got a new pc and will use my old one as an upgrade to the falling part PC I use now. So I am going to do a full install of everything. Is there a recommended romset version that is most complete and works well with the lastest version of LB. Or Is it more download the mame version of pretty much whatever romset I find. I was reading the 1.98 to 2.04 were the most stable and easiest to find, but that may be outdated information. WIndows 10PC fairly new. plenty of hardrive space.

Thanks in advance.

[Lordmonkus]

Use any set you like but match the rom set to the emulator version.

The latest rom sets are super easy to find nowadays since PleasureDome shut down their private tracker and have migrated over to their new github page. A simple Google search for "pleasuredome github" will have the site you want. The sets are now easily gotten without any registration or share ration requirements.

[Sturm]

So, I plan to keep all my ROMs on a NAS, thus space isn't really a concern. However, I would like to keep the set up to date in the future.

With that in mind, which type of full ROMset should I get - Merged, Non-merged, or Split?

Or should I not bother with trying to keep it up to date with incremental updates and instead just download the full ROMset each time a new version is released?

 

[Lordmonkus]

If you are using the full set importer in LB it doesn't matter what set you use but Non Merged would be a waste of space in that scenario. Non Merged is recommended if you want to hand pick out specific games for your own custom set of games.

As for updating there really isn't any real reason to keep it up to date every month and now that Pleasuredome shit down their tracker and moved to the github io page it's easier than ever to get the latest sets.