Mame Game Database

[joshsmithtogo]

I haven’t seen any news on this, but is the Mame database being updated with the new release or can LB transition to using Mame.dat files so the user can manually update it. Import still skips some of the newer working roms. 

[DOS76]

MAME is using either 0.174 or 0.175 in LaunchBox I've mentioned it a few times and there has been a few other request for an update but seems like its not a real concern and hasn't been addressed yet. You of course can add any games you want manually by using the add button in the bottom right of the LB interface (assuming you have the bottom bar view showing).

[joshsmithtogo]

@DOS76  thanks for the input. I know I can add manually but if the database is that old then there will be a lot of unknown games that I may miss and never know I had missed them. I really think the best solution is to allow users to reference a .dat file during the scan/import process. 

[neil9000]

Yeah I agree, the best thing would be for Jason to let us point to our mame emu and take the list from there like CLRmamepro does, then he wouldn't have to worry about updating the list in Launchbox anymore.

[DOS76]

I definitely don't disagree but it just seems like there is little interest in getting it accomplished. Also I been thinking about if maybe the LBDB added a status line for MAME games and users could mark the games status in the DB and any games marked as working would be imported this way it would be out of Jason's hands and in the hands of the users.

[ZeSystem]

Is this something we can do at the moment?

I use RomCenter and it can also take a list from the emulator executable.

I'm actually surprised it hasn't even been updated since 0.175. Wow.

[neil9000]

Just now, DOS76 said:

I definitely don't disagree but it just seems like there is little interest in getting it accomplished. Also I been thinking about if maybe the LBDB added a status line for MAME games and users could mark the games status in the DB and any games marked as working would be imported this way it would be out of Jason's hands and in the hands of the users.

Yeah that's not a bad idea either, but Jason would have to spend time on the database as I'm not sure where vlansix is these days. So its time he would have to put in either way.

[Replay]

MAME database is too much work for one person alone. Take a page from other front-ends and scrape information from history.dat and mameinfo.dat and be done with it!

[ZeSystem]

1 minute ago, Replay said:

MAME database is too much work for one person alone. Take a page from other front-ends and scrape information from history.dat and mameinfo.dat and be done with it!

You can simply pull the data from the mame executable without much work.

[Replay]

Yes, it could execute and parse -listxml information...

[Jason Carr]

To clear up some misconceptions here, we *do* use the mameinfo.dat and history.dat files. The trouble is that those two pieces of data alone do *not* provide all the information we need in order to get all the filtering logic working properly in LaunchBox. There are a number of other fields that are provided by other sources. So combining them all is what's tricky. I do realize that it all needs to be updated; hopefully I can do that soon here.

[Replay]

I'm looking forward to MAME progress. Keep up the awesome work

[Tomkun]

Hi.

I'm a new user to Launchbox and am slowly transitioning from Hyperspin. I'm really happy with my purchase so far, but this MAME situation is a bit of a disappointment to be honest. As MAME is updated to frequently, it really needs frequent updates to keep up. I diligently keep my MAME romset up to date, but not being able to see them in Launchbox is frustrating to say the least.

Has there been any progress on this front, or are there any feasible alternative solutions for importing the missing roms?

[DOS76]

Although LB isn't updated in MAME if you are knowledgeable about the program and check on what is added which hasn't really been much except Tiger Handhelds you can add the stuff you want manually every month. I know that this isn't the best option but it is totally available to you just depends on how much work you are willing to put into it. Hopefully the update will be coming soon as it was voted high up on the poll.