Adding MAME CHD's to Launchbox

[Lordmonkus]

 

[thejamestownoasis]

29 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

 

thanks- I tried your tutorial at least twice: between the creation of the ini file, the use of the notebook, and changing of path names, etc, I'm sure I'm sure I'm just jacking something up, somewhere. This just seems so straightforward: download mame ui, place roms in mameui ROM folder. Done. In the video, he doesn't even go to "options" to point to the folder where he put his roms...at least it's not depicted in the video, anyway. He just plays the simpsons, all in the space of about 4 mins, lmao. 

 

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+eta+prime+mame&view=detail&mid=F05A114461400CAF1BC6F05A114461400CAF1BC6&FORM=VIRE

 

 

[thejamestownoasis]

 I don't know how to even navigate to the mame folder through the command line, lol. I tried the shortcut methodology, but this is what I see after "properties" :

 

where do I add the "sapce" -cc ?

 

Miffed.

James

[Suhrvivor]

3 hours ago, thejamestownoasis said:

 I don't know how to even navigate to the mame folder through the command line, lol. I tried the shortcut methodology, but this is what I see after "properties" :

 

where do I add the "sapce" -cc ?

 

Miffed.

James

 

You need to make a shortcut of the MAME executable (mame.exe or mame64,exe). You created a shortcut of the containing folder.

BTW, you can easily open the command line interface by navigating to the MAME folder in Windows Explorer, then in the address bar just type CMD and press enter. (you can enter "mame.exe -cc"  or "mame64.exe -cc" to create the ini files).

[DOS76]

Interesting didn't know you could open a command window at your location by typing CMD in the address bar once you clear it of the path

 

[Styphelus]

Cool, I set them up and got some of them working, however a lot don't seem to work at this stage.

Is there a list of working CHD games? I downloaded part of the CHD set and found that a lot of them don't actually work. 400GB is a lot to download, especially for non working games.

[thejamestownoasis]

This entire process has really made me look (and feel) like a fool. It simply cannot be this difficult, nor I, this ignorant. I feel like there's something fundamentally wrong with my arrangement/methodology that is forbidding success. I'm at work now, but I really don't know how much more time, energy, and sanity I have left for this. I know it must be driving those trying to help crazy too, so my apologies. 

Following ETA's video STEP BY STEP and having nothing is infuriating- ditto for Lordmonkus' tutorial. 

Honestly, I cannot recall anything that has caused me this much difficulty. 

James

Edited September 6, 2018 by thejamestownoasis

[Styphelus]

5 minutes ago, thejamestownoasis said:

Honestly, I cannot recall anything that has caused me this much difficulty. 

Guess you haven't tried setting up Taito Type X games yet.

[Kondorito]

James were you able to create the mame.ini file? I am reaching a point in which I want to do a screen sharing session and help you out to get this sorted out XD

[thejamestownoasis]

1 minute ago, Kondorito said:

James were you able to create the mame.ini file? I am reaching a point in which I want to do a screen sharing session and help you out to get this sorted out XD

Thanks a ton. No, I never did. I am likely trying to over-simplify something that is already pretty simple, lol. Is my understanding that if I want to "skip" the command line method, I simply need to right click the mame app and creatE a shortcut from the from the pop up menu?

I wish I was home right now.

Thanks

James

[Kondorito]

• I am assuming that you have a MAME folder
• That you have extracted the content from the MAME version you downloaded (preferably the exact same version as the rom set version you have).
• That you have placed all the rom zip files inside the "roms" folder
• For the ini creation, if you are finding the step too difficult, try placing this attached ini file in your main MAME folder (where the main mame exe file is)
• Launch MAME and try double-clicking on any game from the list (dont worry about the audit or the status of the file). Try with a common one like 1943.zip or similar; see if it launches. If it gives you an error of some sort, paste the image with the error here. If it works fine, then just follow the LB tutorial steps to import all the roms and assign the mame exe as the emulator.

ini:

mame.ini

[thejamestownoasis]

11 minutes ago, Kondorito said:

• I am assuming that you have a MAME folder
• That you have extracted the content from the MAME version you downloaded (preferably the exact same version as the rom set version you have).
• That you have placed all the rom zip files inside the "roms" folder
• For the ini creation, if you are finding the step too difficult, try placing this attached ini file in your main MAME folder (where the main mame exe file is)
• Launch MAME and try double-clicking on any game from the list (dont worry about the audit or the status of the file). Try with a common one like 1943.zip or similar; see if it launches. If it gives you an error of some sort, paste the image with the error here. If it works fine, then just follow the LB tutorial steps to import all the roms and assign the mame exe as the emulator.

ini:

mame.ini

1. Check. I have a "MAME" folder.

2. Check, mostly. I have the 201 version of MAME extracted, and BOTH a 185 and 193 version of the ROM set (I grabbed the former version after fearing I may have had a corrupted/unworkable version of the latter). Same result with both.

3. Check. All the files have been copied into the MAME (or MAMEUI) ROMS folder, zipped. Just the files, not even their folder.

4. Thank you, I will try just that- placing the ini file where the exe file is.

5. Got it. Thanks so much, I will give it a shot when I get home.

Thanks for the time- knocking off stuff off a check list works, many times.

I will return...

James

Edited September 6, 2018 by thejamestownoasis

[thejamestownoasis]

On 9/6/2018 at 11:07 AM, Kondorito said:

• I am assuming that you have a MAME folder
• That you have extracted the content from the MAME version you downloaded (preferably the exact same version as the rom set version you have).
• That you have placed all the rom zip files inside the "roms" folder
• For the ini creation, if you are finding the step too difficult, try placing this attached ini file in your main MAME folder (where the main mame exe file is)
• Launch MAME and try double-clicking on any game from the list (dont worry about the audit or the status of the file). Try with a common one like 1943.zip or similar; see if it launches. If it gives you an error of some sort, paste the image with the error here. If it works fine, then just follow the LB tutorial steps to import all the roms and assign the mame exe as the emulator.

ini:

mame.ini

thanks- FINALLY got around to trying this- long story- no change.

 

James

[Kondorito]

6 minutes ago, thejamestownoasis said:

thanks- FINALLY got around to trying this- long story- no change.

 

James

What happens when you launch a game directly from mame? What is the error message? 

[thejamestownoasis]

There are really none available to launch- with the exception of 10 yard fight and about FIVE others, lol- when I attempt it will say “one or more roms or chds are missing”.

 

james

Edited September 11, 2018 by thejamestownoasis

[thejamestownoasis]

Now I’ve downloaded both a 185 and 193 set and get the same thing.

[MadK9]

Which romset are you using? merged/split or non-merged? if using the first two, you will need to also have the bios files. Don't mix different versions of mame rom files, if you use Mame 201, then use 201 Roms & 201 CHD's and 201 Bios files (Chd rarely update so not as important).

If you have the roms in the roms folder within the mame folders, then you don't need to edit any config files, as mame will look in its rom folder, providing you did''t remove the path in the config file.

 

 

[Kondorito]

Out of curiosity, what are the sizes of those two sets you downloaded? 

[thejamestownoasis]

rom sets are the expected 59 gigs. Are you telling me that I really need the EXACT MAME 185 or MAME 193 to run those respective ROM sets?

All I have heard is that it doesn't matter, so long as your MAME version is reasonably close to your ROM set.

 

I do have the rom set in the mame rom folder, btw.

 

Thanks

James

Edited September 11, 2018 by thejamestownoasis

[thejamestownoasis]

22 minutes ago, MadK9 said:

Which romset are you using? merged/split or non-merged? if using the first two, you will need to also have the bios files. Don't mix different versions of mame rom files, if you use Mame 201, then use 201 Roms & 201 CHD's and 201 Bios files (Chd rarely update so not as important).

If you have the roms in the roms folder within the mame folders, then you don't need to edit any config files, as mame will look in its rom folder, providing you did''t remove the path in the config file.

 

 

hmmmm...bios files, lol. Right now I just have the roms sets and the latest version of mame exe. 

 

I do think I have split versions of both rom sets.

 

Thanks

James