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Deleting non imported MAME games


deuxcolors

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Hello.

I'm looking to add arcade games to my LB and I understand how to do it, but I was wondering if anyone had an easy way to go through the ROMs and delete the ones that aren't imported (casino games, etc.)?

Since LB doesn't actually do anything (move, copy) to the roms since they are in the MAME roms folder I figure everything will remain the folder, and if they aren't in LB then I don't need them taking up space on my HD.

Thanks for the help.

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In order to safely do this you must have a non-merged set if not you may deleted something that another ROM is dependent on and then it will report missing files. With a Non-Merged set all games will contain all parts need in order to make that game work so there isn't any reliance on any other files except the one you are launching 

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Thank you for the heads up :)

EDIT: I just checked and I have a merged set.
However I'm not too worried about clones of a game, what I want to accomplish is deleting games that won't be imported at all.
A good example would be DDR I won't import it so I want to nuke it, and all other games in that style, but with the naming conventions used make it a bit of a PITA to figure out what is safe to delete.

Edited by deuxcolors
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Well with a merged set there will still be a ton of bios files and device board files that won't be imported and if you delete them the games that are dependent on them won't work. If you have a non-merged set then those files will be included inside of the game archive but no worries if you mess things up its easy enough to just grab another set again.

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So I finally imported my merged MAME set.

The "original" set is complete and on my server, so I will try to manually clean up the roms folder by comparing the audit list against the roms folder and we will see if I can manage to remove everthing without nuking a game the is in LB, and before that I can clean up LB since I won't be keeping most sports games, lightgun games, and other.

I know this is minor, but I wish there was an option to "Delete all non imported games" in the MAME import wizard, because if I'm skipping all the Majong games I don't really want them using up storage space.

Thanks for the help everyone, and if there is a third party tool that can accomplish what I am trying to do please let me know, and I've already got an idea how to add any required CHD to my list only for those games that require it.

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1 hour ago, deuxcolors said:

I know this is minor, but I wish there was an option to "Delete all non imported games" in the MAME import wizard

The problem there though is exactly what @DOS76 said above, some games may rely on files inside of other completely non related game zips, just because a specific game is not imported doesn't mean that games that are imported don't rely on files inside those non imported games. That is the issue with a merged set. If you want to delete all that stuff you really need a non merged set. You can of course do as you please with your romset, but i will say now you may find you break imported games by deleting other files.

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OKAY!!! Back to the original question.

Is there an easy way to compare imported arcade ROMs into Launchbox and the actual files in MAME's rom folder, so that one can delete all the non imported games?
Yes, it is a non-merged set... All 150GB of it.

I'm trying to be lazy here. ???

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I haven't found a solution yet, and I am still playing with the collection, however this might be of interest to you:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/MAME/comments/6b3kp4/how_i_deleting_from_romset_some_genres_like/

This should help deleting a good portion of the roms you don't need. Been playing with Romcenter last night, not the most intuitive, but usable.

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On 1/15/2019 at 2:19 AM, deuxcolors said:

OKAY!!! Back to the original question.

Is there an easy way to compare imported arcade ROMs into Launchbox and the actual files in MAME's rom folder, so that one can delete all the non imported games?
Yes, it is a non-merged set... All 150GB of it.

I'm trying to be lazy here. ???

[***Edit*** The following method will only work for the main games and NOT clones if using a non-merged set.  If using a merged set OR don't care about clones, go for it.***]

[***Edit #2***  Please see "Take 2.  A bit less convoluted AND will handle clones." on page 2 of this thread for a better solution.***]

Using a couple 3rd party apps so kindly created by others on this site and a little computer work/knowledge, yes! 

You'll need @Lordmonkus Mame No Filler Version 2 and @nicknamex ReadLaunchBox and of course, your non-merged set.

Open ReadLaunchBox
Select LB location
Select Arcade (or Mame. However you have it listed)
Select Box-Front (doesn’t matter which)
Media Exist:    All
Click Analyze
Click Export to Excel
Close

Open the exported spreadsheet
In column E, edit a cell with the rom path\game
Highlight and copy everything before the rom name

image.png.a3dd27d3b73b4b76f89dd848d5e0c380.png
Ctrl-F (Find/Replace) – click the Replace tab
In Find what: paste the path you copied above
Replace All
Close

(Column E should now show ONLY the roms’ file name [except row 1])

Copy all the cells with rom names starting at cell E2

image.png.1818acea91fcb19bf2c7ce4aa9609e9e.png

Open Lordmunks’ Mame NoFiller spreadsheet.
Paste the copied cells into cell B1
Your column B will now probably have more rows filled than column C, so you’ll need to copy the formula in C down to the last row B is filled in to.

image.png.4dd5c9d662a8ad59119e4660c5a8600d.png
Copy all the [filled in] cells in column C

Create a new txt document (call it whatever you want)
Edit it and in the 1st line type “md NoFiller” (without quotes) and hit Enter. (this will make a directory called NoFiller. You can change the name to whatever you want)
Now paste the cells (which will simply become different lines) you copied.

image.png.73b52c86214ccefaff803942832e937b.png 
File, Save as.. filename.bat.  Change Save as Type: to All files. Save

image.png.3f65ecc5590605f258fe9f365a7c776c.png

From Lordmunks’ README file:
Then simply copy the batch file [you just created] into the folder with all of the roms and double click the bat file, it will make a new folder [“NoFiller”] within that folder and acopy all of the roms into that newly created folder. From there you can copy that new folder of roms to anywhere you like and import them into Launchbox, be sure to update your rom path in your mame.ini to point this rom set location. You can now do whatever you like with your full set you downloaded, it is no longer needed for the NoFiller set to function, though you may want to keep a backup just in case.?

Edited by JoeViking245
Reference a better solution
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Ya. I forgot to add "...if my understanding is correct..." ?

I do see what you're saying regarding if you right-click, the other versions are shown.  

Note: My original LB imported rom set was merged.   I then used ClrMamePro on my Full set to make them non-merged.  Then my steps above with ReadLaunchBox and the modified No Filler batch file.  Also my "original LB (only) roms" [merged set] were imported checking all the 'Do not include' boxes (no clones, mahjong.. etc) and copied to ../../games/Arcade.  But yes, the clones were inside the original roms.

Let me know what you find.  I may do a completed 'reset' of my Arcade platform using my "new" non-merged set as well.  Just to see.

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