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MAME romset import settings question


rydin4life

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I have a romset of nearly 13,000 zip packages, however when I import into Launchbox, I have less than 3,000.  I leave the defaults checked when importing so I skip hacked games, broken games, and all of the categories like fruit games, casino games, mature games, etc.  Are there really 10,000 games in those categories that are excluded?  I don't need to add a bunch of stuff that I'm never going to play anyway so I'm happy with what I have, just more of a curiosity question. 

Also, are there examples of what games fall into those categories..like what is considered a fruit game or casino game for MAME?

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Yes that is how many working games are in the MAME set, all the other files are non-working games, mechanical games, fruit, mahjong etc. A MAME fullset is full with games that simply do not work, or need very specific hardware that you don't have. The import also excludes things like calculators and business software and the like, there is a lot of unneeded stuff in a MAME Romset.

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Thanks @neil9000

It's pretty crazy that there are that many files that aren't used.  Are the fruit, mechanical, etc. games actual arcade cabinet games or are they just random stuff that people have made over the years?  Also, may sound dumb, but what's the point of including non-working roms?  Are they just files that people are working on and may be working files in upcoming releases?

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22 minutes ago, rydin4life said:

Are the fruit, mechanical, etc. games actual arcade cabinet games or are they just random stuff that people have made over the years? 

They are actual code dumps from machines, but you cant really play a fruit/slot machine on your PC, as you dont have the spinning reels or the arm to pull, you also cant play say a basketball game that used a real ball and ring you throw it through etc. its literally just the code from the machine, but you are missing the "machine" part of the equation.

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3 minutes ago, rydin4life said:

Interesting!  What is the point of having it all then?  I guess you could use it to re-create a board for a broken game or in a "build your own" project??

The MAME project is all about preservation and accuracy of arcade machines, the emulation part of that is just a happy offshoot of the preservation process, so EVERYTHING that can be dumped and preserved is. Also its worth noting you actually have more games imported than Launchbox is telling you as many games will have multiple versions combined with it. Take this Street Fighter II for example, it has 24 other versions in the right click menu.

822961114_Screenshot(358).thumb.png.d16012649409079587d852a9d9f00504.png

 

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Just now, neil9000 said:

It will depend on the region you specified at import.

Any game that has multiple versions you can right click, go to edit, then the additional apps tab. This will show all the versions, you can then click one and then click the "make default" button to specify a specific version to launch when just clicking a game.

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1 hour ago, neil9000 said:

Any game that has multiple versions you can right click, go to edit, then the additional apps tab. This will show all the versions, you can then click one and then click the "make default" button to specify a specific version to launch when just clicking a game.

Nice, thank you! 

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I don't know why you think you can't play fruit machines in MAME there are YT videos of them working I'm sure you just set the action of the handle to one of your buttons on your keyboard. Not that I've ever done so but I've seen them in action online

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5 hours ago, DOS76 said:

I don't know why you think you can't play fruit machines in MAME there are YT videos of them working I'm sure you just set the action of the handle to one of your buttons on your keyboard. Not that I've ever done so but I've seen them in action online

Sure for digital only ones, but machines that actually have physical spinning reels with the pictures on, how would that work? The dump will have all the actual code to control all the lights and and the logic for bonus rounds and holds and such, but as the actual reels are physical what would it spin when you press the button? There is a emulator out there that will play some specific games called MFME, but that requires nearly full reproduction of all the visual aspects of the machine in order to work they wont work in MAME  "as is". I mean "technically" they would be "mechanical" games as they use specific hardware in them.

From the thread linked below,

"But MAME only emulates the roms, it doesn't re-create the image of the slot. MFME emulates the roms, but is also an editor that allows the creators to re-produce the appearance of the slot - normally from a scanned flyer."

 

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I'm very new to all of this, so I have a lot of questions, but this is great information!  I honestly have no desire to play any casino games, slots, fruit games..anything like that.  I just want the games I grew up playing in the arcade...the fighters, beat-em-ups, etc.  I still like to learn about things though, which is why I asked about how all this works and all the games that are skipped by default when importing.  Good to know and thanks for all of the info!

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