MAMEUI64 - File Organization - Need Assistance.

[DOS76]

Standalone MAME lets you set directories from the UI without needing to edit the .ini mostly you can do the basic stuff from the UI only need the .ini for more advanced settings

[neil9000]

OK, I just downloaded MAMEUI to test. I opened it and went to options in the top bar and selected directories.

Then left it on Roms and clicked browse, I navigated to where my roms are then hit OK.

MAMEUI then starts scanning by default, you can see the progress in the bottom left bar.

Then I double clicked on the game "1941" and it loaded right up.

That's all that is needed in order to get MAME working, no command lines needed. This is the same also in the default MAME just that the UI looks different.

 

[FennecTheFox]

22 hours ago, neil9000 said:

Can you put your roms and chd's in the MAME/Roms folder and open MAMEUI and double click the 1941 game, does it load?

Yes, I was able to do this weeks ago, but I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to manually move my files into their respective Mameui64 folders. I'd prefer to keep the files separate and tell Mameui64 where to look for them. The downloads I have are specifically designed to work that way. Having said this, I speculate that I could probably move all of these files into their respective Mameui64 folders, but that for me is a very messy way of doing things. It may complicate matters when a.) Updating to a new version of Mameui64 and b.) Using Clrmamepro to update my sets. But maybe not--I haven't done either of these things yet.

I've attached a screenshot to clarify something using the ROMs directory as an example. I believe this is what you were discussing earlier. Mameui64 by default looks at the "roms" folder first as it does for every other folder within Mameui64. You can delete this directory or specify an entirely new path over top of this directory. However, I believe you can also add additional ROM directories and Mameui64 will look for the Rom files in every directory specified. (I'll get to why I'd want to do this or may need to do this later on.) Does that sound accurate?  

Ok, moving on...

Now, I should be able to set a directory for my ROMs, CHDs and Software List ROMs under Options > Directories > Roms.  

Sound about right?


The next step: I need to set paths to the contents of these folders:

-MAME 0.194 EXTRAs
-MAME 0.194 Multimedia

Here's a screenshot of everything inside these folders: 

-MAME 0.194 EXTRAs:

-MAME 0.194 Multimedia:


When looking inside the "EXTRAs" folder, I already have these folders within Mameui64. 
-artwork
-ctrlr
-dats
-folders
-samples 

Now, there are differences between the contents of these folders--as expected--since I'm adding new files to Mameui64. BUT there are also certain similarities (overlap). See screen captures. 

Artwork comparison:

Samples comparison:


So, for the sake of these specific comparisons, do I keep the default Artwork and Samples directories while adding the new artwork and samples directories? I assume if so I can do this for everything in MAME EXTRAs and MAME Multimedia.

Now, if I was setting paths in "original" Mame with the mame.ini and the ui.ini files, this is how it would all come together. 

mame.ini file example: 

ui.ini file example: 

Hopefully these two examples give you a better understanding of what it is that I'm trying to do.

I realize this is a crazy long post, but I'd greatly appreciate a response because I've spent A LOT of time working on the content of this post and trying to come up with the best possible way I could explain this situation lol. This is why I felt that direct voice communications was a better option than back-and-forth forum posts. 


 

 

[mylkman]

Much easier when you post pics direct instead of links.

[FennecTheFox]

6 minutes ago, mylkman said:

Much easier when you post pics direct instead of links.

Yah, I considered that, but when I was trying to attach images they were showing up at the very end of my post which isn't where I wanted them to be displayed.
Not sure why. I guess I need to get used to using this forum. The post was up by the time I realized this and I didn't have time to fiddle around so I kept things as is. 

Edited March 1, 2018 by FennecTheFox

[DOS76]

Okay I edited your post to show your screenshots (why I don't know) that will make it easier for other users to help you or maybe future users to learn something. As to your queries on the directories they are correct you can add paths to all that different content for roms just like you are doing.
As to the Extra and Multimedia files quick question do you plan on using LB or just MAME if you are using LB those files will be redundant as LB will scrape its own images many that will be the same and if you are using LB you will rarely ever see the MAME interface.
Based on you comparison images I don't see any overlap but I believe it will be safe to overwrite the files and add the additional stuff
Not sure if I follow you on the paths I've downloaded the Extras before and I just unzip them and add them to there the matching folder with in MAME (don't use UI version)  this way I don't have to edit the paths they are just in the default folders MAME is trying to use.

[FennecTheFox]

10 minutes ago, DOS76 said:

Okay I edited your post to show your screenshots (why I don't know) that will make it easier for other users to help you or maybe future users to learn something. As to your queries on the directories they are correct you can add paths to all that different content for roms just like you are doing.
As to the Extra and Multimedia files quick question do you plan on using LB or just MAME if you are using LB those files will be redundant as LB will scrape its own images many that will be the same and if you are using LB you will rarely ever see the MAME interface.
Based on you comparison images I don't see any overlap but I believe it will be safe to overwrite the files and add the additional stuff
Not sure if I follow you on the paths I've downloaded the Extras before and I just unzip them and add them to there the matching folder with in MAME (don't use UI version)  this way I don't have to edit the paths they are just in the default folders MAME is trying to use.

I do plan on using LB/BB. But I thought I should get a handle on MAMEUI first before moving forward. And yeah, I read a while ago that LB will scrape It's own images. How does it handle video snaps though?

Here's a screenshot with the "Ctrlr" files overlapping - there are also other overlapping files in different folders separate from "Ctrlr", but I'm just using this specific example. If I was to drag and drop or copy & paste, some of these files would be overwritten and that may be fine, I don't know. If I was to change the default path in Mameui64 - Options >  Directories > Controller Files and I selected the EXTRAs "ctrlr" folder, then I'd be missing some of the files in the Mameui64 Ctrlr folder, UNLESS I kept the default path and added the EXTRAs ctrlr folder as a secondary path. Does this make sense? So I may need two paths: (The default) "ctrlr" and the EXTRAs "ctrlr"


What in particular about my path questions are you unsure on? 
There seems to be multiple different ways you can add files to Mameui64 and possibly original Mame.  

1.) You edit the mame.ini or the ui.ini files to point mame toward the location of your files. 
2.) You drag and drop or copy & paste files into their respective folders. This is the strategy you went with, but I prefer to avoid doing this. I outlined some of my previous concerns. 
3.) If using MAMEUI (maybe It's the same for original MAME), you go Options > Directories and locate your files through there. I want to do this, but I'm unsure if I need to keep the default paths within Mameui64. Or if I can keep the default paths and also add new ones. 

I feel like I'm doing a not-so-great job of explaining this right now as I'm very tired. I'll check back in tomorrow.