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MAME crashes when launched through LaunchBox


Einherjar

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Hey there everyone.
Im having an issue that has been raised several times on several boards and forums but i never really found a proper answer to it. If this topic already exists here and i just haven't found it, feel free to pint me in the right direction and close / delete this thread :)

Im using the basic MAME emulator (64bit) from MAME.net and everything used to work fine in LaunchBox up until 2-3 updates ago.
Starting a game over LaunchBox gives me a black screen and a basic Windows error message that "MAME isn't working anymore and has to be closed".
Launching MAME outside of LaunchBox on its own works perfectly fine.

Some suggestions i already took care of, that didn't solve the problem:
-Setting up the ROM directory in MAME itself to point at the same target as LaunchBox 
-Using the suggested command line commands (-skip_gameinfo -nowindow)
-ROM Set matches the Emulator

As for the importing process, i left the checkmarks to *not* import clones, mahjong and all that jazz. Iirc the basic settings for the MAME import process.

The emulator settings are largely left untouched apart from the ROM directory and controls. 

I hope someone might know the silly little thing i overlooked ^^ Thanks in advance !

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The rom directory needs to be pointed at your full list of roms, no where else. Just put the rom set in the mame/roms folder, that's where it looks by default, and when importing tell LB to look there. Otherwise, did you try putting MAME in a different location / hard drive?  Have you tried another PC?

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Like i said, both LaunchBox and MAME are set to the same ROM-Set directory and i double checked that the imported entries in LaunchBox all refer to the proper ROMs / the ROM-Set folder.
Sadly, i don't have access to a different system and (at the moment) rather limited disc space to move everything around.
I can however try to move the MAME instance to somewhere else. Let me try that and i'll report back,

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Scratch all that, i found the issue and its a rather silly one.
I imported LaunchBox into my Steam Library to benefit from Steams internal DualShock 4 mapper, since "InputMapper" has some major issues with Win10 and the way it handles device exclusivity.
Everything else works perfectly fine with that setup, no LaunchBox issues, no emulator problems. 

I just opened an instance of LaunchBox over my TaskBar shortcut to quickly setup the new MAME location, accidentally opened a MAME game...and it works.
Double checked everything and yes, if LaunchBox is launched on its own, MAME works perfectly fine. If its launched through Steam, MAME refuses to start.

Im pretty sure its a MAME issue at this point, since everything else works perfectly fine ^^
What a silly nonsense :P 

Well, so much for that. But thanks a bunch anyways SentaiBrad ! Much appreciated !

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InputMapper has some issues with Windows 10, but it's extremely easy to solve: Close down Steam and plug in the controller. Every time I have an issue with that, that's all I do. As well, they updated several times to help remedy some of the issues, and have systems in place to help it, but it can't be solved completely by them as it was Microsofts doing. Glad you got it fixed up though!

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I setup Steam streaming from computer to computer. On my second computer that is streaming from my main PC, I get the same MAME crash on start when I have Steam big picture launch my Bigbox and then try to launch a MAME game from Bigbox. It's a major bummer. Other emulators seem to work for me in this type of setup, but not MAME. only when steam launches bigbox and bigbox launches mame and the game, do I get this.

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I've just hit this exact same problem, and would be grateful for any suggestions as to how it could be resolved? I thought I was on to a winner having Bigbox launched from within Steam using a Steam Link rather than having to build an entire new machine for big screen gaming, but this is something of a spanner in the works!

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Since the discontinuation of my MAME variant of choice, MAME UI FX, im not up to date what variants are keeping up with current ROM-Set releases, which are actually good etc.
I reckon, that using a variant could actually fix the issue, might be worth a try.
Im pretty convinced that the issue at hand is down to MAME itself, since LaunchBox and pretty much every other emulator works perfectly fine.

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  • 2 years later...

There are different possible causes of this depending on your setup and we have guides on the YouTube channel for setting up Mame with Launchbox.

But off the top make sure that your mame.ini is located in your Mame folder where your Mame executable is located, it may be in your \Mame\ini folder which will cause a problem.

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