installing/setting up Big Box fight time ?

[J2chulo]

Hello I pretty new to LaunchBox. Just got it install it. I have done nothing to it. No emulator, no roms. Nothing yet. I am trying to get Bigbox running on a 12on1 cocktail machine and I'm looking for help since I cannot figure it out. I seen video on youtube of people running it on the same machine I have not clue how they did it. Sorry for my lack of knowledge with launchbox I will like to set it up just like this one

[Psynaptik]

You need roms.

You need to import those roms into LaunchBox.

You also need emulators to play those roms.

You need to add those emulators to Launchbox.

Follow the prompts when Launchbox opens for the importing, and you'll be fine.

Failing that, go to the Launchbox channel on YouTube where there are a number of videos on how to get started.

[J2chulo]

14 minutes ago, Psynaptik said:

You need roms.

You need to import those roms into LaunchBox.

You also need emulators to play those roms.

You need to add those emulators to Launchbox.

Follow the prompts when Launchbox opens for the importing, and you'll be fine.

Failing that, go to the Launchbox channel on YouTube where there are a number of videos on how to get started.

Thank you foe your replied. I had don’t all that but running into so many trouble. Inhad posted few videos about some of the problems I’m having. I got neogeo working but was a pain to get all roms to work since final burn alpha was crashing my RetroArch emulator on opening. I kind of sorted it out but n64 using murpen or parallels n64 still crashing. Also I need to figure out how to do cocktail view. I need to find a good working emulator for sega genesis, and some other console. I am trying to donit one at a time because when I just add a console and a hole bunches of rom half of them don’t work on that emulotor and I will be wasting space in my hard drive. Last night I spent about 5 hours just fixing mame roms and neogeo. That include adding missing files to romset etc so now every roms work independently from another. I dont need the parent rom to run another rom. I wish they was an easy way to just find the rom for your emulator version but that was another extra hours searching for them and making it compatible  or stand alone rom

[Retro808]

My recommendation is do not worry about LB import to begin with. First setup your emulator and roms and test them in the emulator. Make sure the games work and your controls are mapped. 
 

Then import into LB. This makes troubleshooting easier. If the roms work before you import into LB, but they do not work when launched from LB we eliminate  it being an en emulator or rom issue. 

[Psynaptik]

Mame is a nightmare and there's no getting round that.

The best way to avoid problems is to download the exact romset for the version of MAME you're running. e.g. if you're running MAME 0.226 then you need the 0.226 romset (and CHDS if that's a thing for you).

If you start to mix mame versions and romsets you're creating a whole heap of pain for yourself.

To save space use a merged set. This is one where if games are clones the set will not duplicate the common files between them. This saves a lot of space, but means that your collection has to stay together. i.e. you can't just copy a file across one at a time and expect it to work, since a file it needs might be in ANOTHER file that you didn't bring across. If you just put your MAME roms somewhere and then add them to Launchbox without copying them across then that's the best way to do it hard drive wise.

Other emulators should be a lot easier to get up and running. Retroarch is also a complete PITA, which for me has always gone beyond just getting things to load. Controls, displays...the very UI it uses. uuurgggh... BUT it does forgo the need to have a dozen emulators all over the shop, and once you have your settings sorted then it's nice. Depends what you're using it for.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Psynaptik

[J2chulo]

2 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

My recommendation is do not worry about LB import to begin with. First setup your emulator and roms and test them in the emulator. Make sure the games work and your controls are mapped. 
 

Then import into LB. This makes troubleshooting easier. If the roms work before you import into LB, but they do not work when launched from LB we eliminate  it being an en emulator or rom issue. 

Yes that is the best thing to do. I wish I had got your replied earlier hahah I already figured out that way is much better and effective. But I need to map my control I have not done that yet. Also I’m not sure if I want to use RetroArch to run most of my emulator. So far RetroArch its only running my neogeo emulator. I have mame64 running my mame roms. Now I want to add cps1, cps2 and cps3 but I remember having some issues with cps3. When I first started I added few emulator and roms but was having so much trouble that I wiped out everything, platforms and emulators and started doing one at the time. What are your recommendations about using RetroArch to run my emulators or should I use other emulator? The problem I seem is that I can find a way to do cocktail mode on RetroArch 

[J2chulo]

7 minutes ago, Psynaptik said:

Mame is a nightmare and there's no getting round that.

The best way to avoid problems is to download the exact romset for the version of MAME you're running. e.g. if you're running MAME 0.226 then you need the 0.226 romset (and CHDS if that's a thing for you).

If you start to mix mame versions and romsets you're creating a whole heap of pain for yourself.

To save space use a merged set. This is one where if games are clones the set will not duplicate the common files between them. This saves a lot of space, but means that your collection has to stay together. i.e. you can't just copy a file across one at a time and expect it to work, since a file it needs might be in ANOTHER file that you didn't bring across. If you just put your MAME roms somewhere and then add them to Launchbox without copying them across then that's the best way to do it hard drive wise.

Other emulators should be a lot easier to get up and running. Retroarch is also a complete PITA, which for me has always gone beyond just getting things to load. Controls, displays...the very UI it uses. uuurgggh... BUT it does forgo the need to have a dozen emulators all over the shop, and once you have your settings sorted then it's nice. Depends what you're using it for.

Yes mame is a pain and I even downloaded.0226 but even the romset I found foe .0226 doesnt work. They are missing other files and CHDs. I understand what you’re saying about using romset and keeping them together to save space but doing so if by any chance you separate any rom zip file you will be screwing a hole romset. So I’m just adding what ever file that rom need into it own zip and worry free. Even if they are in the same directory I don have to worry about moving them out. I also being adding the qsound file into the game rom zip. I know it is going to take more room in my computer but I’m not planning to have over 5k games or so. But I want to keep my collection clean every rom working.  About RetroArch I love it but I still need to figure out lots of thing on it.

[Psynaptik]

Many files don't work in the romset of mame. It may not be an error in the romset - it's just that a decent dump of that rom doesn't exist.

CHDs must be downloaded seperately, often. They are massive though so worth being selective unless you are completist and have tons of hard drive space.

You can't copy over roms piecemeal. You need to get hold of a non-merged set (I think...), select what you want, and then you can delete the rest if you like. For instance, I have an older non-merged romset which I use (0.170) because it fits onto a 500gb HDD which i keep external. I just copy over the roms I want usually into the directory on the machine I want them to be on, but I can only do this because of the romset and because they're all stand alone.

I would strongly advise against adding your own files into zips - it doesn't work that way.

[Retro808]

I have to disagree about Mame being either a nightmare or a pain. Users make it that way by going to random sites and downloading this rom or that rom and expecting the games to work. Mame is one of the easiest emulators to set up.

1. Download a known good mame rom set (full mame sets always best since they have all the support files needed) from a trusted site and match that mame rom set version to the same mame exe version (does not have to be exact, but it is best practice). There are about 60-70 games that would need a CHD, but not all of them are ones most people would want to keep so find the few you need and download the individual CHD.

2. Launch the mame exe and set up your controls then save the changes. If you do not put the mame roms into Mame's rom folder then change the rom location path in Mame. If you do this in the Mame UI without running a game mame will save the .ini file it needs.

3. Launch a game and play. That easy.

2 hours ago, J2chulo said:

Yes mame is a pain and I even downloaded.0226 but even the romset I found foe .0226 doesnt work. They are missing other files and CHDs.

If the rom set you downloaded was missing other files for games to work than I would not get a rom set from that site. Missing CHD is expected, but missing support files like bios, qsound, or other support zips from a mame set means that set is trash to begin with. Get a set from Pleasure Dome or even Archive and you will be good to go.

 

[J2chulo]

9 hours ago, Psynaptik said:

Many files don't work in the romset of mame. It may not be an error in the romset - it's just that a decent dump of that rom doesn't exist.

CHDs must be downloaded seperately, often. They are massive though so worth being selective unless you are completist and have tons of hard drive space.

You can't copy over roms piecemeal. You need to get hold of a non-merged set (I think...), select what you want, and then you can delete the rest if you like. For instance, I have an older non-merged romset which I use (0.170) because it fits onto a 500gb HDD which i keep external. I just copy over the roms I want usually into the directory on the machine I want them to be on, but I can only do this because of the romset and because they're all stand alone.

I would strongly advise against adding your own files into zips - it doesn't work that way.

I dont thing adding the files a romset need to make it stand along its a bad Idea as long as the sumecheck match. I did about  about 7 and they are all working fine. I understand what you’re saying about getting non merged romset but believe me I tried that and non of them work. They may be for a different version of mame but non of the files I got worked for me. Also I am just planning to add games that I knownI could play one day. Probably no more than 200 games. Mostly fighting game may few sports games and adventures. I want to ad Naomi but want to check which fame I really want from Naomi.

[J2chulo]

9 hours ago, Retro808 said:

I have to disagree about Mame being either a nightmare or a pain. Users make it that way by going to random sites and downloading this rom or that rom and expecting the games to work. Mame is one of the easiest emulators to set up.

1. Download a known good mame rom set (full mame sets always best since they have all the support files needed) from a trusted site and match that mame rom set version to the same mame exe version (does not have to be exact, but it is best practice). There are about 60-70 games that would need a CHD, but not all of them are ones most people would want to keep so find the few you need and download the individual CHD.

2. Launch the mame exe and set up your controls then save the changes. If you do not put the mame roms into Mame's rom folder then change the rom location path in Mame. If you do this in the Mame UI without running a game mame will save the .ini file it needs.

3. Launch a game and play. That easy.

If the rom set you downloaded was missing other files for games to work than I would not get a rom set from that site. Missing CHD is expected, but missing support files like bios, qsound, or other support zips from a mame set means that set is trash to begin with. Get a set from Pleasure Dome or even Archive and you will be good to go.

 

I have to agree with you and disagree at the same time. Yes mame it make to do what it was made for. It shouldn’t be a pain to use it and make it work. The problem start when people started splitting romsets to save space and add more games to their collention which is fine. But with every mame new updates the romset has change and also the files stopped matching. Now days you have hundres of

site carrying different romset and for you to find the right one its a pain. Like I say I am currently running mame .225 but I found a site that carry .226 roms, so I downloaded mame .226 and tried few roms from that site and none of then worked. They all need parent romset and CHDs files. in conclusion I hope I can get everything sort out.

[Psynaptik]

15 hours ago, Retro808 said:

I have to disagree about Mame being either a nightmare or a pain. Users make it that way by going to random sites and downloading this rom or that rom and expecting the games to work. Mame is one of the easiest emulators to set up.

1. Download a known good mame rom set (full mame sets always best since they have all the support files needed) from a trusted site and match that mame rom set version to the same mame exe version (does not have to be exact, but it is best practice). There are about 60-70 games that would need a CHD, but not all of them are ones most people would want to keep so find the few you need and download the individual CHD.

2. Launch the mame exe and set up your controls then save the changes. If you do not put the mame roms into Mame's rom folder then change the rom location path in Mame. If you do this in the Mame UI without running a game mame will save the .ini file it needs.

3. Launch a game and play. That easy.

If the rom set you downloaded was missing other files for games to work than I would not get a rom set from that site. Missing CHD is expected, but missing support files like bios, qsound, or other support zips from a mame set means that set is trash to begin with. Get a set from Pleasure Dome or even Archive and you will be good to go.

 

The problem with this attitude is that you and I now know the information in points 1 and 2, so that 3 is indeed true.

For anyone else trying to get things to work, they need to work hard to get all the info to make 3 a reality.

MAME is *not* one of the easiest emulators to get up and running. No other emulator needs you to match cores and romsets (save perhaps FBA) . I haven't used another emulator that does split/merged/non-merged romsets. Most other emulators don't need disparate sets of bios files to get several games to work. Most other emulators don't need caveats about moving individual rom files. No other emulators need a romset OH BUT NOW YOU NEED ANOTHER SET OF (SORT OF) ROMS! (that would be CHDs). Oh, and those CHDs need to match your romset and your core as well. And this is before we get into update patches etc.

I mean it's all necessary because of the different philosophy behind the MAME project cf. other emulators and it's all perfectly justified and it's an AMAZING feat of teamwork and technical skill.

But to say that it's all really easy and straight-forward, implying that if you can't get it to work at first you're stupid or lazy, is not only outright wrong, it's also really unhelpful.

Maybe one of us should put all this in a written guide to pin so that it can be referred to, because I don't see it there. If we've been dabbling in emulation for a while, we tend to take this information for granted.

[neil9000]

2 hours ago, Psynaptik said:

implying that if you can't get it to work at first you're stupid or lazy, is not only outright wrong, it's also really unhelpful.

Show me where he said that? He said no such thing he just stated that MAME is very simple, its users that seem to complicate it for no obvious reasons. Generally it is just like other emulators, you download a pack of roms and you download the emulator, you then tell the emulator where the roms are, and set your controls/options, again just like any other emulator up to this point. The only difference here is matching the emulator version, but thats as simple as downloading the version you need (every single release ever is available from here MAME | Previous Releases (mamedev.org) so getting the correct version is no different than downloading any other emulator). And as long as the romset you downloaded hasnt been tampered with and had things removed then it contains absolutely everything you need, its when users start saying well i dont want all of this and start deleting games that issues occur, as they tend to delete what they think are unrelated games, when in fact you may have dozens, sometimes 100's of other games that rely on files within the zip you deleted.

Keep it simple, get a split/merged/non-merged romset, get the correct emulator for it, if you want to keep your roms outside of the emulators folder tell the emulator where to find them, setup controls/options if needed, as i said earlier, really no different than any other emulator, if you are doing other things that then complicate this very simple setup then you cant really blame that on the emulator, as you are doing things it is not designed to do, and thats on you, not the devs of MAME.

[Retro808]

9 hours ago, J2chulo said:

I have to agree with you and disagree at the same time. Yes mame it make to do what it was made for. It shouldn’t be a pain to use it and make it work. The problem start when people started splitting romsets to save space and add more games to their collention which is fine. But with every mame new updates the romset has change and also the files stopped matching. Now days you have hundres of

site carrying different romset and for you to find the right one its a pain. Like I say I am currently running mame .225 but I found a site that carry .226 roms, so I downloaded mame .226 and tried few roms from that site and none of then worked. They all need parent romset and CHDs files. in conclusion I hope I can get everything sort out.

Agreed. That part is the pain...the rom mixing and matching and all those crap sites. However, that has nothing to do with Mame. That has everything to do with the user. You will get it sorted easily. We have great users and mods here that will help along the way so do not be afraid to ask for assistance/guidance.

2 hours ago, Psynaptik said:

The problem with this attitude is that you and I now know the information in points 1 and 2, so that 3 is indeed true.

For anyone else trying to get things to work, they need to work hard to get all the info to make 3 a reality.

 

Nothing wrong with the attitude Mame is in fact easy. It just takes reading or watching a video to see that. We even have a Mame for Noobs thread that keeps it easy. Perpetuating the myth Mame is hard is a worse attitude. Not arguing it can be made complicated, but prefer to let users know it is actually not and to show them that.

2 hours ago, Psynaptik said:

MAME is *not* one of the easiest emulators to get up and running. No other emulator needs you to match cores and romsets (save perhaps FBA) . I haven't used another emulator that does split/merged/non-merged romsets. Most other emulators don't need disparate sets of bios files to get several games to work. Most other emulators don't need caveats about moving individual rom files. No other emulators need a romset OH BUT NOW YOU NEED ANOTHER SET OF (SORT OF) ROMS! (that would be CHDs). Oh, and those CHDs need to match your romset and your core as well. And this is before we get into update patches etc.

No other emulator emulates so many different consoles, arcade boards, and systems like Mame does. Before you say Retroach...Retroarch is not an emulator. The cores it runs are the emulators. Thats why Mame needs all those different things. It offers different romset so users have an option of how they want those roms that aids in space saving.

2 hours ago, Psynaptik said:

.... implying that if you can't get it to work at first you're stupid or lazy, is not only outright wrong, it's also really unhelpful.

Do you care to pinpoint exactly where I stated this? I have been nothing but professional and honest with my input and recommendation. I would appreciate it if you do not put words where they do not exist. I implied nothing. You were the only person to imply anything.

[Psynaptik]

For all it's faults, MAME is at least easier to use than Retroarch, in my opinion.

I did not state that you SAID it, I said it is implied, and those are two very different things.

Like I said, there's an assumption made that it's 'all so simple', if only you do everything exactly correctly, with the right tools, in the right way, in the correct fashion...etc.

I don't think that saying, "well, it's all your fault for doing something wrong", when they obviously don't have the knowledge to know what's the right and wrong way to do things, is the correct way to go about helping people.

I think you are forgetting how long it took you to learn about emulation, the bewildering array of vocabulary that goes with it (particularly with MAME). I'm sure you have been doing this for a while and have spent a lot of time on it.

And you don't need to tell me what MAME is, *I* fully understand. I'm just trying to help someone else understand, rather than blaming them for having issues.

I'm simply suggesting that having a little empathy for those at the start of learning about emulation might be a nice thing to do. Sorry if that doesn't sit well.

[zugswang]

20 hours ago, Psynaptik said:

Mame is a nightmare and there's no getting round that.

The best way to avoid problems is to download the exact romset for the version of MAME you're running. e.g. if you're running MAME 0.226 then you need the 0.226 romset (and CHDS if that's a thing for you).

If you start to mix mame versions and romsets you're creating a whole heap of pain for yourself.

To save space use a merged set. This is one where if games are clones the set will not duplicate the common files between them. This saves a lot of space, but means that your collection has to stay together. i.e. you can't just copy a file across one at a time and expect it to work, since a file it needs might be in ANOTHER file that you didn't bring across. If you just put your MAME roms somewhere and then add them to Launchbox without copying them across then that's the best way to do it hard drive wise.

Other emulators should be a lot easier to get up and running. Retroarch is also a complete PITA, which for me has always gone beyond just getting things to load. Controls, displays...the very UI it uses. uuurgggh... BUT it does forgo the need to have a dozen emulators all over the shop, and once you have your settings sorted then it's nice. Depends what you're using it for.

MAME a nightmare ?

A monkey could get it working in 5 minutes.

Just download it , drop the roms and bios files into the roms folder and thats it.

What's a nightmare about that ?

[Retro808]

6 hours ago, Psynaptik said:

I did not state that you SAID it, I said it is implied, and those are two very different things.

Like I said, there's an assumption made that it's 'all so simple', if only you do everything exactly correctly, with the right tools, in the right way, in the correct fashion...etc.

 

I stand corrected on that point. However you implied it to my statements which is incorrect to do. I will respectfully ask you do not imply things that are not there. You made an incorrect implication against sound recommendations and input. Which is usually the case when people imply or assume things.

6 hours ago, Psynaptik said:

And you don't need to tell me what MAME is, *I* fully understand. I'm just trying to help someone else understand, rather than blaming them for having issues.

I'm simply suggesting that having a little empathy for those at the start of learning about emulation might be a nice thing to do. Sorry if that doesn't sit well.

There you go again implying or assuming I did things. All I did was disagree it is not hard and explained what makes people think mame is hard. Truth of the matter Mame is only hard due to the user trying to do the odd rom pick and choose. Yes, I did exactly what he did and initially thought Mame was hard. Went through the same frustrations. Then I came here and mods and users told me honestly that I am making it harder than it needs to be and explained why. So this is the same I do for any user going through the same thing. You assume I have no empathy and then apologize assuming it might not sit well with me. I have empathy which is why I choose to be truthful with a new user and not tell them Mame is hard when it is not. Funny how j2chulo never once complained or assumed I blamed him or implied he was stupid or lazy. Only you did that???

I will make a recommendation this point is now beaten dead and can be laid to rest. Anything further the thread will be locked.

@J2chulo We are here to help so any issues just ask away.

[J2chulo]

@Retro808 @Psynaptik @neil9000 I am no new when it come to MAME and yes mame is intend to work fine as long as you put the correct files where there suppose to be or you tell mame where does files are. I started using mame probable in the early 2000 if not on the 90th's. I'm new to Launchbox. I understand everyone point of view and I don't want you guys to argue about it. Maybe we are taking thing the wrong way but we are all gamers and love to keep the retro community alive. I cannot remember exactly on witch version I started using mame but I remember I had used AdvMame, MameUi, Mameuifx and just mame. It being so long that I don't quiet remember the difference between them. I has being so long I think the last time I used it was on my Ipad or Iphone 3gs mame4all and mameios, I know more or less how mame work but finding romset for your version is what got me stuck. I am not planning to have tons and tons of game maybe 50 or less per emulator. but I want to set up my lunch box with a nice look just like the video I posted on my first post. I have a 12in1 cocktail arcade1up and I want at least to have every rom I add to work. I think I am missing few more game on mame then I want to move on to another emulator like CPS1, CPs2, CPS3, Naomi and few retro console. I appreciate every one who is helping me and giving me advice on mame. I do read and try what you guys are telling me to do. 

[Retro808]

@J2chulo No worries. Not really arguing, just clarifying wrong assumptions or implications. ?

MameUI and the others are just offshoots of Mame that have a nice graphic interface (there are some other small differences). So they work the same and are worth using, but on a few rare occasions their updates broke with LB so best to just use regular Mame. Not saying do not use the others, just be mindful. Plenty of users still use the offshoots.

As far as other systems like CPS1, 2, and 3. All those roms are in the Mame romset and you can just run them in Mame. The roms for Naomi are in the Mame set as well so you can pull those to run in Demul. There are some batch files on our forum that will easily copy out those roms from a Mame set into unique folder so you can import them as individual platforms. I will see if I can locate the links.

 

[J2chulo]

1 hour ago, Retro808 said:

@J2chulo No worries. Not really arguing, just clarifying wrong assumptions or implications. ?

MameUI and the others are just offshoots of Mame that have a nice graphic interface (there are some other small differences). So they work the same and are worth using, but on a few rare occasions their updates broke with LB so best to just use regular Mame. Not saying do not use the others, just be mindful. Plenty of users still use the offshoots.

As far as other systems like CPS1, 2, and 3. All those roms are in the Mame romset and you can just run them in Mame. The roms for Naomi are in the Mame set as well so you can pull those to run in Demul. There are some batch files on our forum that will easily copy out those roms from a Mame set into unique folder so you can import them as individual platforms. I will see if I can locate the links.

 

I notes that running some roms on Naomi it look like more like the real arcade machine I dont know if its just me but but running a retropie setup while playing Naomi it give a feeling like you are playing the real arcade, the graphic look kind of better too. Maybe its a retropie thing. But games like super street fighter iii 3rd strike it look good on CPs3. If you can find that link let me know