Troubleshooting MAME High Scores

[Jason Carr]

1 minute ago, Underoath13 said:

0.212

Is it official MAME? What throws me off completely is that you're saying that score uploaded without even playing the game, which to be completely honest is 100% impossible. So something isn't adding up there, though it's hard to say what exactly happened without a log file or anything.

I looked at the database and that 76,460 score was uploaded yesterday.

[Underoath13]

7 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Is it official MAME? What throws me off completely is that you're saying that score uploaded without even playing the game, which to be completely honest is 100% impossible. So something isn't adding up there, though it's hard to say what exactly happened without a log file or anything.

I looked at the database and that 76,460 score was uploaded yesterday.

It is official MAME. Must have been a time zone thing with it posting as today. But I did briefly open mspacman 2 or 3 times yesterday to test out an aspect ratio thing, so nothing to do with high scores. I probably never had the game open longer than 15 seconds so obviously didn't beat any high scores. Also haven't touched anything in the hi or nvram folders since fixing my computer.

And logging is now on by the way, in case I run into anything else.

Edited May 2, 2020 by Underoath13

[Jason Carr]

1 minute ago, Underoath13 said:

It is official MAME. Must have been a time zone thing with it posting as today. But I did briefly open mspacman 2 or 3 times yesterday to test out an aspect ratio thing, so nothing to do with high scores. I probably never had the game open longer than 15 seconds so obviously didn't beat any high scores. Also haven't touched anything in the hi or nvram folders since fixing my computer.

Gotcha, I'm guessing what happened is that the score uploaded yesterday when you were testing out aspect ratios. It is possible for previous scores to upload if for some reason the process that reads the existing scores from hi2txt fails. That should be extremely rare, but we are still seeing one-off situations where the scores aren't read correctly, so I guess that can happen. @GreatStone has a bunch of fixes into hi2txt though, and we'll be updating it with his fixes for the next version, and that should help a lot.

Regardless, even MAME itself sometimes goes haywire with scores, which obviously we can't 100% fix. All to say that we can get this system near-perfect, but it's probably never going to be 100% perfect, unfortunately. It is emulation after all.

[Underoath13]

3 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Gotcha, I'm guessing what happened is that the score uploaded yesterday when you were testing out aspect ratios. It is possible for previous scores to upload if for some reason the process that reads the existing scores from hi2txt fails. That should be extremely rare, but we are still seeing one-off situations where the scores aren't read correctly, so I guess that can happen. @GreatStone has a bunch of fixes into hi2txt though, and we'll be updating it with his fixes for the next version, and that should help a lot.

Regardless, even MAME itself sometimes goes haywire with scores, which obviously we can't 100% fix. All to say that we can get this system near-perfect, but it's probably never going to be 100% perfect, unfortunately. It is emulation after all.

Understood, just thought I'd put that out there. And now that logging is on I'll be better able to help if it happens again. 

[Underoath13]

@Jason Carr

Well looks like my time has come already haha. Same thing just happened for Bubble Bobble. That score was from months ago. I just opened the game, beat a few enemies, and then let them kill me. I exited and my old score uploaded. Also the date is one day in the future, 05-02 instead of today 05-01, so that somewhat explains the Ms. Pacman thing.

Also never did the "CNT" initals thing, don't know where that value came from.

Debug 2020-05-01 07-58-50 PM.log

Edited May 2, 2020 by Underoath13

[Jason Carr]

20 minutes ago, Underoath13 said:

@Jason Carr

Well looks like my time has come already haha. Same thing just happened for Bubble Bobble. That score was from months ago. I just opened the game, beat a few enemies, and then let them kill me. I exited and my old score uploaded. Also the date is one day in the future, 05-02 instead of today 05-01, so that somewhat explains the Ms. Pacman thing.

Also never did the "CNT" initals thing, don't know where that value came from.

Debug 2020-05-01 07-58-50 PM.log 238.29 kB · 0 downloads

Weird, looked at the log file. All I can figure is that those scores were saved previously in nvram and MAME moved them to the hi score file? I honestly don't know what MAME is doing here, or why this is only happening on your machine. At least they're scores that you actually achieved though, I guess.

@GreatStone I see no reason to believe there's any issues with hi2txt here, but since I can't explain what's happening here, maybe you have an idea. Before launching MAME, we run hi2txt to pull and save the current scores. Then after MAME closes we compare the new scores to the old ones and remove any scores that were already there previously, so that we only upload supposed "new" scores. For some reason MAME seems to not be reporting those scores before launch, but after launch reporting them all as new scores.

I don't think this is a big issue, but certainly a weird one. I haven't seen MAME behave that way any other time. I guess it could just be a custom MAME setting or something, idk.

[Underoath13]

34 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Weird, looked at the log file. All I can figure is that those scores were saved previously in nvram and MAME moved them to the hi score file? I honestly don't know what MAME is doing here, or why this is only happening on your machine. At least they're scores that you actually achieved though, I guess.

@GreatStone I see no reason to believe there's any issues with hi2txt here, but since I can't explain what's happening here, maybe you have an idea. Before launching MAME, we run hi2txt to pull and save the current scores. Then after MAME closes we compare the new scores to the old ones and remove any scores that were already there previously, so that we only upload supposed "new" scores. For some reason MAME seems to not be reporting those scores before launch, but after launch reporting them all as new scores.

I don't think this is a big issue, but certainly a weird one. I haven't seen MAME behave that way any other time. I guess it could just be a custom MAME setting or something, idk.

Just looked and neither Ms. Pacman or Bubble Bobble even saved in nvram, and I have no recollection of them ever doing so. It's also possible that it's happened with other users but they just haven't reported it. And my MAME installation should technically be the same as on my other computer where I never ran into these issues, as its an exact copy and shouldn't have any different settings.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I pulled out all of the hi and nvram files on the original computer so I could start fresh, so I pretty much couldn't have run into this issue before. It's just now that I've played any games with previous files in those folders. So it's probably not machine specific.

Edited May 2, 2020 by Underoath13

[rommaster]

On 5/2/2020 at 4:08 AM, Jason Carr said:

Hmm, the log files are saying that hi2txt isn't outputting anything at all, which is quite odd (first time I've seen that). I looked at the code and I'm not sure why that would be. Any ideas @GreatStone?

I was going to wait for the next build with new fixes to investigate this further but this morning it just decided to upload my scores from the last 3 days of gameplay, prior to this morning it wouldn't detect any scores as shown in my earlier logs. Hopefully stays working ?‍♂️

2020-05-04 08:57:29 AM Processing hi2txt output for tapper:
RANK|SCORE|NAME
1|35600|NIC
2|19200|NIC
3|14825|NIC
4|13600|NIC
5|12525|AIC
6|11775|NIC
7|7825|NIC
8|6625|NIC
9|6150|NIC
2020-05-04 08:57:29 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 35600 for rom file tapper and name NIC...
2020-05-04 08:57:30 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 19200 for rom file tapper and name NIC...
2020-05-04 08:57:30 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 14825 for rom file tapper and name NIC...
2020-05-04 08:57:31 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 13600 for rom file tapper and name NIC...
2020-05-04 08:57:31 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 12525 for rom file tapper and name AIC...
2020-05-04 08:57:32 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 11775 for rom file tapper and name NIC...
2020-05-04 08:57:32 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 7825 for rom file tapper and name NIC...
2020-05-04 08:57:33 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 6625 for rom file tapper and name NIC...
2020-05-04 08:57:33 AM MameHighScores.Parse: Uploading score 6150 for rom file tapper and name NIC...

 

[alnyden]

Hey everyone, I've been slow in updating Launchbox recently and just noticed this awesome new feature.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to get it to work (high scores are not displaying) even after reading all the info in this thread.  I'm using a pretty old version of MAME (.184) but I think it's an official version.  I saw my mame.ini and plugin.ini were in the .ini folder, not the primary folder.  I've moved them, but the high scores are still not displaying.  Anything else I might be missing?  I haven't done anything with MAME config files in years so I'm a bit slow with all this.  Thanks!

[Ateb]

How are people posting scores to Blazing Star?

I attempted to to get a score on the board and got a 300,000+ score.  But nothing uploaded.

I recently updated to MAME .220.

Here is the log... and I don't see my score or name in the list.   ?

This game, I believe, has different score tables for each ship / character?!?.  If that's the case, which character is it that works?    Or am my blind and not seeing the error of my ways....

 

log.txt

Edited May 4, 2020 by Ateb
Spoilers in spoilers is bad...

[Elhora]

I recently discovered that  Mame scores randomly dont update.

Example : This week end i play Andro Dunos. I make a miserable  69000 score. It updates  correctly. But hey, i want to beat my own score, and boom, i make a 200.000 score. I'm happy with it and what i realises ? it never updated in Launchbox. It doesn't happens all the times, but it did this to a lot of games like Andro Dunos, Metal Slug, Gradius, etc....

I'm using .220 romset. Wonder if i'm the only one facing that problem ?

[Jason Carr]

For anyone reporting issues, please update to the latest beta. There are fixes to both the high scores in LaunchBox and an update to hi2txt, which should fix many issues. Let me know of any issues that you're still experiencing with the latest beta release (10.15-beta-6).

Also, just as a reminder, keep in mind that we won't be able to help with much of anything without a debug log attached. Please see the first post of this topic for instructions.

@Elhora @Ateb @alnyden @nicr4wks

[Ateb]

New beta worked for me!  Although my score sucks!  

Thanks @Jason Carr

Edited May 4, 2020 by Ateb

[Ateb]

1 hour ago, Ateb said:

New beta worked for me!  Although my score sucks!  

Thanks @Jason Carr

Well, something is still not quite right, at least with Blazing Star.

I scored over 300,000 again, but it only uploaded 250,000 even.

My initials are BAD, because I am... 

RANK|SCORE|NAME|STAGE|RANKING|CHARACTER
1|250000|BAD     |All|A|?HELLHOUND
2|240000|WILD RAN|All|A|?PEPLOS
3|230000|YOSHIDA!|All|A|WINDINA
4|220000|M.SAKAE!|All|A|?HELLHOUND
5|210000|TOUYAMA |All|A|?ARYUSTAILM
6|200000|KYO_KUN |All|A|?PEPLOS
7|190000|DIAMOND |All|B|WINDINA
8|180000|HEBOHEBO|All|B|?HELLHOUND
9|170000|TOGETOGE|All|B|?ARYUSTAILM
10|160000|GUNMALAY|All|B|?PEPLOS

 

I attached the log and save file from the nvram folder, there is no .hi file.  Maybe it can help trouble shoot when you get around to it.

BlazingStar-Log-Save.zip

[Elhora]

Even with the new beta, i still have some problems with updating hi-score.

It seems that in many games (specially the first time i play) once i make a hi score, leave launchbox and play the game again, the new hi-score is not recorded.

This is what just happened with Altair and Air Assult. The new hi-score has not been updated

Not all the game behave like that.

 

Debug 2020-05-05 06-37-21 PM.log

Debug 2020-05-05 10-30-07 PM.log

Edited May 5, 2020 by Elhora

[BlackKnight1965]

Any chance that some of the MAME derivatives could be accepted as "official"?  My situation is that I use GroovyMAME to drive 15KHz frequencies on my actual arcade machine with a real CRT.  I can use MAME64, but I am then limited to one graphics mode (640x480 interlaced) that doesn't look nearly as good.  So I have a choice of using GroovyMAME for an arcade-perfect experience or using MAME to allow my high scores to be posted to the COmmunity Leaderboard.  Call me greedy, but I'd like both.  There are so many other ways to "cheat" with MAME derivatives anyway (I'm assuming you could just rename the executable to MAME64.exe, and there must be lots of other things that can't be prevented).  At the end of the day, it comes down to our honor and if somebody wants to cheat, they will cheat anyway.  Not sure how others feel, but I'd rather take the chance that people will cheat but allow those of us who enjoy custom versions of MAME to continue to enjoy them integrated into LaunchBox.  I did switch my default emulator to the stock MAME64 long enough to set the High Score in Missile Command.  Now that I switched back, I can't see the fruits of my labor by checking Information, though. ?

Thanks so much for this wonderful Front End!

[alnyden]

On 5/4/2020 at 4:11 PM, Jason Carr said:

For anyone reporting issues, please update to the latest beta. There are fixes to both the high scores in LaunchBox and an update to hi2txt, which should fix many issues. Let me know of any issues that you're still experiencing with the latest beta release (10.15-beta-6).

Also, just as a reminder, keep in mind that we won't be able to help with much of anything without a debug log attached. Please see the first post of this topic for instructions.

@Elhora @Ateb @alnyden @nicr4wks

Hi Jason. I updated to the latest beta, but still no luck.  Again, it's not displaying any high scores.  Also, when I sort by "Mame High Scores Supported" and select "yes" it says "no results found."  Attached is the log.  Thanks for your help!

Debug 2020-05-06 10-56-40 AM.log

[Jason Carr]

On 5/4/2020 at 6:50 PM, Ateb said:

Well, something is still not quite right, at least with Blazing Star.

I scored over 300,000 again, but it only uploaded 250,000 even.

My initials are BAD, because I am... 

RANK|SCORE|NAME|STAGE|RANKING|CHARACTER
1|250000|BAD     |All|A|?HELLHOUND
2|240000|WILD RAN|All|A|?PEPLOS
3|230000|YOSHIDA!|All|A|WINDINA
4|220000|M.SAKAE!|All|A|?HELLHOUND
5|210000|TOUYAMA |All|A|?ARYUSTAILM
6|200000|KYO_KUN |All|A|?PEPLOS
7|190000|DIAMOND |All|B|WINDINA
8|180000|HEBOHEBO|All|B|?HELLHOUND
9|170000|TOGETOGE|All|B|?ARYUSTAILM
10|160000|GUNMALAY|All|B|?PEPLOS

 

I attached the log and save file from the nvram folder, there is no .hi file.  Maybe it can help trouble shoot when you get around to it.

BlazingStar-Log-Save.zip 4.36 kB · 0 downloads

We should probably report this game to @GreatStone. If you can follow the instructions in the first post of this topic for reporting hi2txt issues, please do (create a ticket on Github).

[Jason Carr]

On 5/5/2020 at 10:50 AM, Elhora said:

Even with the new beta, i still have some problems with updating hi-score.

It seems that in many games (specially the first time i play) once i make a hi score, leave launchbox and play the game again, the new hi-score is not recorded.

This is what just happened with Altair and Air Assult. The new hi-score has not been updated

Not all the game behave like that.

 

Debug 2020-05-05 06-37-21 PM.log 183.54 kB · 0 downloads

Debug 2020-05-05 10-30-07 PM.log 33.55 kB · 0 downloads

As far as I can tell, these appear to be hi2txt (or MAME) issues as well. Can you report them? See the instructions in the first post of this topic for reporting hi2txt issues.

[Jason Carr]

23 hours ago, BlackKnight1965 said:

Any chance that some of the MAME derivatives could be accepted as "official"?  My situation is that I use GroovyMAME to drive 15KHz frequencies on my actual arcade machine with a real CRT.  I can use MAME64, but I am then limited to one graphics mode (640x480 interlaced) that doesn't look nearly as good.  So I have a choice of using GroovyMAME for an arcade-perfect experience or using MAME to allow my high scores to be posted to the COmmunity Leaderboard.  Call me greedy, but I'd like both.  There are so many other ways to "cheat" with MAME derivatives anyway (I'm assuming you could just rename the executable to MAME64.exe, and there must be lots of other things that can't be prevented).  At the end of the day, it comes down to our honor and if somebody wants to cheat, they will cheat anyway.  Not sure how others feel, but I'd rather take the chance that people will cheat but allow those of us who enjoy custom versions of MAME to continue to enjoy them integrated into LaunchBox.  I did switch my default emulator to the stock MAME64 long enough to set the High Score in Missile Command.  Now that I switched back, I can't see the fruits of my labor by checking Information, though. ?

Thanks so much for this wonderful Front End!

I'd have to look into if there are any differences in functionality or command-line usage between GroovyMAME and MAME. I've put so many hours into the high scores features at this point that I really need to move on to new things, at least for now. It's an awesome feature, but I can't spend forever on it, unfortunately. I'll note the request though.