Games wont launch plus game listing number don't seem right.

[Islandguyci]

Hello All,

 

On WIndows 10

I am very new to Launchbox. In fact only discovered it yesterday. 

I have had 3 issues so far which I cant seem to resolve and would apreciate help with any or all of them please. 

 

1. When I launch Launchbox and click on Tools in the top right, sometimes it just flashes up but dont stay long enough for me to select anything. I have to keep closing and reopening the application before it works as expected. 

2. When I select and game to run from my mame collection it looks like its going to open and even says initialising but then disappears. ( have installed Mame64 and pointed Launchbox to the mame install. I have also pointed the folder to the roms folder where my games are stored. 

3.There is an inconsistency in the number game roms I have in the folder and what Launchbox is telling me. I downloaded the Mame rom pack (About 60gbs) When I scan the folder for the roms Launchbox tells me there should be 2840 roms (what I would expected) but in the folder there is now onltonly 484 roms. Regardless, as mentioned above, none of them play. .

 

I fully happy to except I may be doing something wrong but I am not sure what. Any help apreciated. 

 

Thanks

[JoeViking245]

2 hours ago, Islandguyci said:

2. When I select and game to run from my mame collection it looks like its going to open and even says initialising but then disappears.

When you run MAME by itself (mame64.exe), do the games work from there?  Also, when in MAME, be sure to click "Available" on the left pane first.

[Islandguyci]

Thanks. I will check. Would there be a reason that launchbox would have lists if games that I don't have time for ? 

[JoeViking245]

29 minutes ago, Islandguyci said:

Would there be a reason that launchbox would have lists if games that I don't have time for ? 

No.  At least I don't think so.

[Islandguyci]

That should have read. A list of games I don't have ROMs for. 

[JoeViking245]

When you use the Full Set Import Wizard, it doesn't actually look at the roms you physically have.  It imports based on what MAME says is included in the Full Set (minus any items you checked to not import).

I think what yo can do is, after using the wizard, click Tools and then 'scan for deleted roms' (don't have LB open for the exact wording).  This should then get the games in your Arcade Platform that point to a file(s) that doesn't exist and give you the option to remove those form LaunchBox.

[Islandguyci]

32 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

When you use the Full Set Import Wizard, it doesn't actually look at the roms you physically have.  It imports based on what MAME says is included in the Full Set (minus any items you checked to not import).

I think what yo can do is, after using the wizard, click Tools and then 'scan for deleted roms' (don't have LB open for the exact wording).  This should then get the games in your Arcade Platform that point to a file(s) that doesn't exist and give you the option to remove those form LaunchBox.

Thanks Joe. I will try that. I deleted my Mame platform category to start again and now I just can't get Mame added to the platform list on the left. Any ideas why it might not show there? 

[JoeViking245]

Tools, Manage Platforms.  See if it exists.  If it does, (and it's not showing 'on the left') it probably says "Associated Games" is 0 [zero].  No sense in showing a Platform that doesn't have any games.  

Once it has games in there, it'll show up.

Some thoughts: On the left, in the dropdown, select Platform (vs Platform Category) until you get 'the hang of things'.  Helps me at least. lol.  You can call 'this' Platform anything you want (i.e. MAME), but in the long run it may be better to call it "Arcade".  Only reason being when you search for help or watch videos (tutorials), "Arcade" is what's more-so commonly used.  Or just be prepared to interpolate. 

[neil9000]

I f you have entry's for roms in Launchbox that you dont physically have, then you used the MAME fullset importer without actually having a fullset, this is the problem. Import your games as normal roms, and in the wizard check the box to import the games using MAME metadata (or similar wording) That will give you a extra screen in the wizard, as well as tell Launchbox to recognize the names of the roms as MAME is very different naming wise.

[Islandguyci]

On 2/1/2021 at 1:00 PM, JoeViking245 said:

Tools, Manage Platforms.  See if it exists.  If it does, (and it's not showing 'on the left') it probably says "Associated Games" is 0 [zero].  No sense in showing a Platform that doesn't have any games.  

Once it has games in there, it'll show up.

Some thoughts: On the left, in the dropdown, select Platform (vs Platform Category) until you get 'the hang of things'.  Helps me at least. lol.  You can call 'this' Platform anything you want (i.e. MAME), but in the long run it may be better to call it "Arcade".  Only reason being when you search for help or watch videos (tutorials), "Arcade" is what's more-so commonly used.  Or just be prepared to interpolate. 

Thanks again Joe. I seem to be working with a very old rom set I think and the version of Mame I have I dont think is compatible. Not sure how I know which version of mame is compatible with which rom set. Appreciate these questions are more Mame related that Launchbox but is there a location for current roms that are trustworthy. Thanks

[Islandguyci]

On 2/1/2021 at 1:04 PM, neil9000 said:

I f you have entry's for roms in Launchbox that you dont physically have, then you used the MAME fullset importer without actually having a fullset, this is the problem. Import your games as normal roms, and in the wizard check the box to import the games using MAME metadata (or similar wording) That will give you a extra screen in the wizard, as well as tell Launchbox to recognize the names of the roms as MAME is very different naming wise.

Thanks Neil. Will try that,