LB MAME support

[NLS]

So, 8.6 MAME overhaul, still needs to download everything from games DB?

I mean MAME has a very organised system for its metadata already (since it has an embedded GUI anyway), so historical data, trivia, hardware details (all those in various ini), screenshots, titles, PCB photos etc. are all available in various already existing torrents and many people (actually most I know that use MAME) keep those updated too along with MAME roms. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY they are supported in mame.ini and ui.ini.
Only videos are not supported (yet). Still there is also an organized attempt for those too (for all other front-ends).

Does LB ignore all that and prefers to download everything from scratch?

From an updated "MAME aware" LB I would very much love the option to USE those files if available, like EVERY MAME front-end out there. And support it fully like MAME itself does.
For example MAME can read a pcb.zip containing ALL PCB screenshots, or a PCB folder containing them...

This is the minimum I would expect from any front-end that supports MAME, i.e. to be at least as capable for MAME as MAME own simplistic GUI.

This is what I meant when I voted for "MAME overhaul" at least.
Any plans for this kind of MAME support?

 

[Jason Carr]

Everything you download from the LaunchBox Games Database is optional. If you want to download a bunch of torrents, all you have to do is place the media in the proper folders, and LaunchBox and Big Box will pick them up. We may add more media options in the future, but this is not planned for the immediate time being.

[NLS]

Thank you for your reply.
I know that using the DB is optional.

I just hoped for being able to use what is available but without huge manual work.
MAME front-ends (though I realize most of them - not all - are limited to being just MAME front-ends), implement MAME metadata support like that:
- Is there a mame.ini and a ui.ini?
- If there are, read the paths for the rom location (supporting multiple paths as most people have separate folders for roms, for chd, for software-list roms and for software-list chd), ini location (which has all the info about the roms, history, trivia etc. - even catergories of the roms are described in those ini, like catver.ini), for the screen snapshots, cabinet photos, pcb photos etc. (there are plenty of different graphics supported).
- If there there are not, ask those paths in the initial wizard OR expect them set in the front-end settings.
So for example, MAME own GUI and front-ends support directly that there can be a "pcb.zip" OR a "pcb" folder, holding PCB photos.

Hope LB can do that in the future. MAME is a major thing for any retro-gaming platform.
Anyway. Keep up the good work.

[Jason Carr]

Ah, I see more of where you're going with this now. We use the catver.ini, mame.ini, languages.ini, nplayers.ini, and series.ini files behind the scenes to populate the metadata that is used when importing MAME games. Initially I thought about requiring users to download these files themselves (most of them in fact do not come with MAME), but that seemed to be way too difficult/annoying for most users, so that idea was thrown out quickly. Most of the metadata that is used when importing MAME games comes from these files, and very little comes from the games database. There are more files we could use (such as history.dat), and we may do that at some point in a future release.

We do our best to cater to the average user, and the average user does not have the knowledge nor the setup in place already to manage all of that properly, with the media in the proper folders and such. It's certainly easy enough to change your folder paths in LaunchBox to match MAME's for the arcade platform, or just copy the files over. I don't envision us taking this approach in the future, because our goal is to make it as easy as possible for the masses, not to pigeon-hole things into existing solutions.

[NLS]

Ah! That is good to know!

So LB when it finds those files it uses them?
How does it know where to find them? From mame.ini and ui.ini?

When I first saw LB I was awed by the fact that it "hid" all the power underneath.
I understand the mission statement to cater the "average user".
MAME is a very special case, because most seasoned MAME users use it the same way: They have the files needed readily available.
I just hoped (and still hope) LB utilizes them when it finds them, before looking online. Because MAME is a special case.

Can I at least hope in the future that comes support for
a) Zipped vs extracted-in-folder (i.e. cabinets.zip or folder cabinets, treated the same).
b) Multiple paths for a single resource type (this is actually useful far all platforms when disk splits are needed).
For example MAME works OK if in ui.ini is defined this: "marquees_directory        marquees;extras/marquees" ...it will correctly read both even if one of the two is a zip containing actual marquees and the other a folder with png files.
...both are features of MAME itself (and also work on any front-end I know).

Anyway the subject is exhausted I think. I hope my wishes are given some thought.