Why so many roms?

[InsertCoin]

Long time retro gaming enthusiast, first time Big Box user, first post.

Just installed Launch Box/Big Box. I followed ETA Prime’s tutorial for importing a Mame rom set from. I didn’t find the same set used in the tutorial, I believe he used something like .211, I used .193. In the tutorial, there were something like 3.2k roms imported. When I imported .193, there’s something like 32k roms/files imported. It’s still in process, currently loading extra content from Emu Movies.

My question is 32k sounds like an awful lot. Is that normal? I don’t think I want to sort through that many titles in Big Box, probably really only interested in 150 or so. Would I be better off starting over & getting the individual roms instead of trying to clean up 32k of them?

Edited August 27, 2019 by neil9000
Please do not link to copyrighted materials.

[neil9000]

15 minutes ago, InsertCoin said:

Long time retro gaming enthusiast, first time Big Box user, first post.

Just installed Launch Box/Big Box. I followed ETA Prime’s tutorial for importing a Mame rom set from. I didn’t find the same set used in the tutorial, I believe he used something like .211, I used .193. In the tutorial, there were something like 3.2k roms imported. When I imported .193, there’s something like 32k roms/files imported. It’s still in process, currently loading extra content from Emu Movies.

My question is 32k sounds like an awful lot. Is that normal? I don’t think I want to sort through that many titles in Big Box, probably really only interested in 150 or so. Would I be better off starting over & getting the individual roms instead of trying to clean up 32k of them?

That sounds like its importing every file, so you didnt use the MAME fullset importer?

[InsertCoin]

I followed the instructions from ETA Prime’s tutorial. It did use some type of MAME import wizard thru Launch Box, maybe I used the wrong one. I’ll double check.

Edited August 27, 2019 by InsertCoin

[ItchyRobot]

It really depends on storage space available to you, and personal preference. Some OCD people cant handle having all these extra unused and un-arted ROMs sitting in their library. If you have plenty of space and don't care about having a mamoth collection of possibly unused games in your Arcade collection, then you should be fine.

 

Though, you should have been able to reduce the imported size a bit. MAME is a collection of all kinds of games and hardware configurations. There should have been a few filters you could toggle on/off during the import process, like Fruit Machines, Dance/rhythm games, foreign games, etc. I cant remember all the names of the filters right now. But this would have whittled down the list a good amount and kept you from downloading too much media. Though, a full set of MAME roms, even with the filters on will take a long time. I think mine took a couple days to download if I remember correctly.

 

I also imported a full set, but with a lot of the filters on, as described above. The way I deal with it is to create an "Arcade Favorites - Alex" playlist that only has the games I want to play. I like to keep the whole set available for future use. There are all kinds of little gems of game that I keep coming across-other people recommendations- that I add to my Favorites playlist. Don't quote me on this, but you may even be able to hide the Arcade platform once you have a solid Arcade Favorites playlist created. This would help clean up the library a bit more. I'll give that a try tonight since I am in the same boat as you. I just finished my favorites playlist and may try to hide the larger-full set that shows up as "Arcade" platform.

I am new too, so hopefully i didn't confuse things more than helping.

 

Edited August 27, 2019 by ItchyRobot

[neil9000]

1 minute ago, InsertCoin said:

I followed the instructions from ETA Prime’s tutorial. It did use some type of MAME import wizard thru Launch Box, maybe I used the wrong one. I’ll double check.

Well The fullset importer would not be importing that many files unless you messed with the settings in the import wizard. The MAME fullset importer only imports the games that actually work, which is around 2800, 2816 in my case.

So if it is importing every single file you either chose the wrong import method, or you changed some settings in the wizard.

[InsertCoin]

Yeah most likely user error! I did check the filters for no fruit games, etc, but don’t think I changed anything else.

Thanks ItchyRobot for the suggestion about creating a ‘favorites’ list, that would certainly help. And you’re right, at this rate, I think it will take a day or two for all of the EmuMovies content to update. It started about 12 hours ago, and it’s currently about 20% complete. Then again my internet isn’t the fastest either.

Thank you for your help.

[neil9000]

4 minutes ago, InsertCoin said:

Yeah most likely user error! I did check the filters for no fruit games, etc, but don’t think I changed anything else.

Thanks ItchyRobot for the suggestion about creating a ‘favorites’ list, that would certainly help. And you’re right, at this rate, I think it will take a day or two for all of the EmuMovies content to update. It started about 12 hours ago, and it’s currently about 20% complete. Then again my internet isn’t the fastest either.

Thank you for your help.

To be honest with you i would cancel that import and do it again. If you leave all the settings in the MAME fullset importer at there defaults it will only import the 2800 or so games that actually work.

[ItchyRobot]

1 minute ago, neil9000 said:

To be honest with you i would cancel that import and do it again. If you leave all the settings in the MAME fullset importer at there defaults it will only import the 2800 or so games that actually work.

Neil9000,

If he cancels it, will he need to manually delete all the old Image/Video folders? Or is there an automated clean up function built into LaunchBox?

Also, if there ends up being a game that does not import (gets filtered out), but he wants to add after import, what is the correct way to manually add an individual game to an already imported MAME set and also get the art for it to download? 

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, ItchyRobot said:

If he cancels it, will he need to manually delete all the old Image/Video folders? Or is there an automated clean up function built into LaunchBox?

You can delete the folders or run the clean up media tool. However i wouldnt delete any of it, no point in deleting it for Launchbox to download it again when you run the import again. You can always run the cleanup tool later to get rid of any lingering files now not needed.

4 minutes ago, ItchyRobot said:

Also, if there ends up being a game that does not import (gets filtered out), but he wants to add after import, what is the correct way to manually add an individual game to an already imported MAME set and also get the art for it to download? 

The default MAME fullset import settings will only import working games, so there wouldnt be any point in adding games after as they wouldnt work anyway. If anything does need adding though you can just drag and drop the file onto launchbox and import with the standard importer.

[InsertCoin]

Just an update - I removed the old MAME & associated roms using Neil9000's instructions above. I did a re-install of the full rom set using Big Box's import wizard & all is good. My total game count went from something like 32k to 3.2k.

Not sure if this may have been the culprit, but on my first pass the versions of the full romset & mame didn't match. On the second pass they matched (I downloaded new versions of each to get the matching set).

All good. Game on!

Edited August 30, 2019 by InsertCoin

[ItchyRobot]

On 8/30/2019 at 6:17 PM, InsertCoin said:

Just an update - I removed the old MAME & associated roms using Neil9000's instructions above. I did a re-install of the full rom set using Big Box's import wizard & all is good. My total game count went from something like 32k to 3.2k.

Not sure if this may have been the culprit, but on my first pass the versions of the full romset & mame didn't match. On the second pass they matched (I downloaded new versions of each to get the matching set).

All good. Game on!

Do you know what filters you checked/unchecked?

I could have sworn I chose to filter out all the crap, but ended up with a monster size set too. I'm going to have to start over like you I suppose.

[Retro808]

28 minutes ago, ItchyRobot said:

Do you know what filters you checked/unchecked?

I could have sworn I chose to filter out all the crap, but ended up with a monster size set too. I'm going to have to start over like you I suppose.

The default checks should get you what you need. So if you do not mess with any of the pre-checked boxes you should get a clean import. 

[InsertCoin]

I didn’t un-check any filters, I believe they’re all checked by default, and I left them that way.

To re-cap my experience;

First Pass

I downloaded mis-matched full romsest (split) & MAME (different versions)

Ended up with around 32k files – way more than I wanted to deal with just to play pac-man etc

 

Second Pass

Deleted the roms per Neil9000’s instructions above

Downloaded new full romset (merged) & MAME (same versions)

Ran the Launch Box full set import wizard 

Ended up with around 3.2k files

 

I’m not sure exactly what caused the difference in the # of roms. I suppose it’s either the fact that during the 2^nd pass, I used matching rom set & MAME versions, or, the first time I used what’s called a ‘split’ rom set, the second time I used what’s called a ‘merged’ romset. I don’t know the difference or if that had anything to do with it. Or maybe I just clicked something I shouldn’t have the first time.

 

Good luck, I know it’s frustrating.

[neil9000]

1 minute ago, InsertCoin said:

I’m not sure exactly what caused the difference in the # of roms. I suppose it’s either the fact that during the 2^nd pass, I used matching rom set & MAME versions, or, the first time I used what’s called a ‘split’ rom set, the second time I used what’s called a ‘merged’ romset. I don’t know the difference or if that had anything to do with it. Or maybe I just clicked something I shouldn’t have the first time.

 

The romset type doesnt matter, i use a Split set personally. Its all to do with the various filters on the last page of the import wizard. I personally dont touch any of it and leave everything at defaults.

[zetec-s-joe]

Personally use a Non Merged 0.212 set and got 2,817 games with all filters on, with it being non merged you dont need any extra files or bios either. There are still a few games that get through the filters, be sure to set region on import screen to world if doing this for most compatible roms for media

[ItchyRobot]

On 9/4/2019 at 5:58 PM, zetec-s-joe said:

be sure to set region on import screen to world if doing this for most compatible roms for media

That was going to be my next question. If I select World, will it bring in all of the regions ... North America, Europe, and Japan?
 Or is World a whole separate classification with MAME games?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BpnAbN_nDikp7b1VbLXXWub8LgcPtBe9  <--- Image of region selection
 

Edited October 1, 2019 by ItchyRobot

[Anson Cards]

It doesn't change which regions/versions are brought in (it brings in all of them), it only sets which region/version is selected by default when you click "Play". You can manually pick which region/version you want to use per-game if you want.

In my experience, "World" is the region equivalent of the "International" or "Europe" release. I do not know how LaunchBox's pecking order works exactly (does it choose "World" first and "Japan" second if it can't find "World"?), but choosing "World" gives me the best experience.

Choosing "North America" basically sets the pecking order to Mexico -> U.S.A. -> Canada. No idea why it would do that considering more games were released for U.S.A. & Canada than Mexico, but if you want your title screens in English instead of Spanish, choose "World".

Edited October 2, 2019 by Anson Cards
to make clear all regions/versions are imported.

[DOS76]

I've had LB give me a few Hispanic roms as the facing ROM but never on a large scale just on occasion usually I get US games even with NorthAmerica as my chosen region.

[Anson Cards]

You'll have to let us know your secret, DOS76.

Here are some previous forum posts from users selecting "North America" as the region and experiencing an overload of Hispanic ROMs or Hispanic ROMs being chosen as default when a USA or Canada (or both) ROM is available:

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/51807-mame-setting-default-rom-region/?tab=comments#comment-328287

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/50554-region-priorities-seems-to-have-no-effect/?tab=comments#comment-323091

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/41870-search-informations-in-the-version-field-not-possible-yet/?tab=comments#comment-311287

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/47077-mame-arcade-import-region-issues/?tab=comments#comment-296882

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/43851-sfiii-new-gen-missing-from-cps3-playlist/?tab=comments#comment-278167

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/42172-simple-question-if-i-decide-to-import-all-mame-games-minus-some-checkmarked-in-the-wizard/?tab=comments#comment-267537

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/42194-importing-all-mame-games-regardless-of-duplication-and-prioritizing-country-possible/?tab=comments#comment-267444

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/36935-79-beta-1-released/page/4/?tab=comments#comment-233357

Although it might have more to do with the types of games we play. I mostly play fighter/puzzle/RPG games, and so did a lot of the users in these posts. The Mexico -> USA -> Canada priority may only affect these types of games.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Anson Cards
to add links to other forum posts reporting the same issue