MAME "initializing" briefly then returns to Launchbox

[Megacade2021]

Here is where I am at...first I am the type of person that will spend hours researching an issue to try to solve it myself. And I did find numerous topics pertaining to this problem. I tried all the remedies and none fixed the issue. Included are screenshots of my settings...

Loaded Launchbox recently

loaded one NES game as a test, loaded emulator...all worked fine.

Loaded MAME set, loaded MAME emulator...get initializing prompt then nothing.

Appreciate any help

thanks

[JoeViking245]

1st off, great job with all the screenshots! Thank you for those!  Fortunately/unfortunately, everything there looks great.

Do the games show up in MAME standalone as "available"?  (in Windows Explorer, double-click on mame64.exe then on the left pane, click "Available")(after clicking available, the number [underlined at the top] should be greater than 0 [zero])

Do the games run in MAME standalone? (double-click on "Ms. Pac-Mac ('Made in Greece'.....)" [the game referenced in you above pict])

[Megacade2021]

I was actually beginning to investigate this when I noticed your comments. So I checked as you suggested and here is what I saw, images attached. The game did not load, and the game title was grey  and not white...so unavailable? Right?

 

[Megacade2021]

Soooo, I just started clicking on game after game on MAME and I can get some of the games to open. So I immediately found the same game in Launchbox and guess what...it opens. Progress

[lessthanzero33]

Yeah, something funky is happening with the latest beta update. Many of my MAME games goes to the load screen and then back. I didn't change any settings or anything. Also, I am using both Stand-Alone MAME (which i am having the issue) and MAME thru RetroArch (which all games are running fine). Im not sure what's happening.
 

[JoeViking245]

Grey means it's a "clone" where white titles are parents.  Since you clicked "Available", that means in your ../roms/ folder is the file_name it's looking for ("mspacmanbg.zip").  The big ugly red error message [last image] means there are roms inside the zip file missing.

The 3 missing roms indicate it was looking for them in mspacman.zip ("mspacman" in parenthesis).  Since I don't see "Ms Pac-Man" on the listed 'available' machines (games), you probably don't have that zip file.

However those 3 files should actually be in the mspacmanbg.zip file.  You may have a "split" set (which I'm not really familiar with) vs a "merged" or a "non-merged" set.  Regardless, the set of 1706 'games' you found may be a hodge-podge collection.  As opposed a true set for MAME 0.227 [to match your mame64.exe version].

Props on doing some process of elimination and finding some that 'do' work.   Now go find a romset that is truly for revision 0.227.   Personally I prefer non-merged sets.  But my only basis for that is I'm a creature of habit. lol  And if it aint' broke, don't fix it.

[JoeViking245]

11 minutes ago, lessthanzero33 said:

Yeah, something funky is happening with the latest beta update. Many of my MAME games goes to the load screen and then back. I didn't change any settings or anything. Also, I am using both Stand-Alone MAME (which i am having the issue) and MAME thru RetroArch (which all games are running fine). Im not sure what's happening.

Are you wanting to run your setup with both emulators for "Arcade" (stand-alone MAME and RetroArch w/MAME core)?

I haven't seen any issues with using the recent betas and MAME (stand-alone).  (I don't (won't) use RA for MAME/Arcade).

[lessthanzero33]

12 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

Are you wanting to run your setup with both emulators for "Arcade" (stand-alone MAME and RetroArch w/MAME core)?

I haven't seen any issues with using the recent betas and MAME (stand-alone).  (I don't (won't) use RA for MAME/Arcade).

I flux between them whenever something happens to the other because of some issue, whether it be updates or something else.

[Megacade2021]

Thank you guys for the assistance. Much appreciated. I believe like others have said is it is an issue of incomplete roms. Or missing files. 

Solution from what I have gathered on this issue: Load small batches of MAME games and check as you go, when one doesn't work look for an individual working rom. Unless I am missing something?

Already loading my next, and hopefully more successful, MAME set.

Good Gaming 

[JoeViking245]

10 hours ago, lessthanzero33 said:

Many of my MAME games goes to the load screen and then back. I didn't change any settings or anything.

[For stand-alone MAME] you say "many" of them show the loading screen then just go right back to LaunchBox.  Does that mean "some" of the games will load and run correctly?  I presume they 'all' worked in the past.

Again, I haven't had any issues with LB/BB betas (nor Official Update Releases) causing emulators to stop working.  That's not to say it doesn't happen.

If you run MAME outside of LaunchBox, do the games work there?  (You can right-click a game that isn't working in LB and select "Open MAME..." to start MAME.  Look for that game and double-click it.)

[lessthanzero33]

4 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

[For stand-alone MAME] you say "many" of them show the loading screen then just go right back to LaunchBox.  Does that mean "some" of the games will load and run correctly?  I presume they 'all' worked in the past.

Again, I haven't had any issues with LB/BB betas (nor Official Update Releases) causing emulators to stop working.  That's not to say it doesn't happen.

If you run MAME outside of LaunchBox, do the games work the work there?  (You can right-click a game that isn't working in LB and select "Open MAME..." to start MAME.  Look for that game and double-click it.)

Yes, games work outside of LB/BB. I didn't change anything at all. For example, none of my StreetFighter 3 series work, and i play them daily, but using my RetroArch MAME in LB/BB, they all work fine. I will try to roll back the beta and see what happens.

[lessthanzero33]

Now i am more confused than ever. My StreetFigher 3 series will not work in MAME or RetroArch in LB/BB or Stand Alone versions as well. I have the CHDs and the correct files because all the games were working before. Also, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure doesn't work and Red Earth(Warzard) as well. I haven't tested others but can someone test these games as well?

[JoeViking245]

I tested sfiii and sfiii3, jojo (Don't have Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure, just Jo Jo's Venture) and redearth (don't have Red Earth 'Wizard')... all chd's and all worked. MAME stand-alone revision 0.227.  Of those 4 chd's, the most recent one is dated 2019.  As in I've updated the MAME emu, but have not checked if the chd's have/had been updated [for a couple years]. 

When you open MAME [stand-alone] and then click "Available" on the left hand pane, do those games show up?  If so, can you show us a screen shot of the red box error message that pops up, please.

[lessthanzero33]

Ok, so after further testing, now those games that i stated, the no CD version work. Odd, maybe i need to redownload a fresh batch of MAME and the roms/CHDs. I've updated MAME and the roms using clrmampro but maybe i need a fresh start.

[JoeViking245]

That's an option.  A long_download option.  But an option non-the-less.   My thought is if they worked just a few weeks ago, there's really no reason they shouldn't now.  Though sometimes a 'fresh start' can be good.  But if you want to troubleshoot some, leave a reply.

[Megacade2021]

UPDATE: I added the entire path name to the "rom path" in the config file and it looks like that may have been the issue. Although I can't be 100% positive of that since I wound up deleting all the MAME games and loading only a few until I got them working. My next project is to get the trackball to work with MAME, had some issues with it last night. It works as a mouse but does not work in a game??? If this persists I will create a new thread to discuss potential fixes, unless there is one already

[Joe35car]

I'm having the same issue with systems like Odyssey2. Works out of MAME command but RL seems to want to launch it but nothing happens. I have other systems working fine like SNES, I just want to use MAME without RA. Also does the same thing in Rocketlauncher.

 

Thanks

Edited January 24, 2021 by Joe35car

[JoeViking245]

3 hours ago, Megacade2021 said:

I added the entire path name to the "rom path" in the config file and it looks like that may have been the issue.

Glad to hear it's getting resolved.  Ya, if you have them scattered around (like I do ) the rompath can get messed up pretty easily.  But really it's not that bad.

rompath       "roms;G:\Roms\MAME NonMerged;G:\Roms\MAME CHDs;G:\Roms\MAME Software List ROMs (split)"

Separate each one with a ; (semi colon) and put a " (double quote) and the very beginning and the very end.  The quotes are only needed if you have   s p a c e s   in your path_name [like all mine are], but just put 'em in anyway and save a headache down the road.

[JoeViking245]

1 hour ago, Joe35car said:

I'm having the same issue with systems like Odyssey2. Works out of MAME command but RL seems to want to launch it but nothing happens. I have other systems working fine like SNES, I just want to use MAME without RA. Also does the same thing in Rocketlauncher.

For getting Odyssey2 going, there's some information here: 

Don't know anything about Rocket Launcher (I've never used it) and have never used RetroArch to run MAME.  But the above post does talk about using the stand alone MAME emulator for Odyssey2.

[Megacade2021]

Once I got frustrated enough I finally just copy and pasted the entire rom path and it loaded. I now use a similar strategy for each emulator. I also have become very organized in where I allow the files to be. Basically I started over (deleted everything - luckily I had just began).