Using LB import wizard to shave down my MAME rom set?

[deezdrama]

So im aware you can choose not to import fruit machine roms, majhong, clones,bootlegs ect when importing a mame romset..... after your filtered list is imported you can export this set to a new folder. What im wondering is will it import the roms needing CHD files?

 

I have a full .228 mame romset, a full .228 bios set, and a full .228 CHD set.

 

When importing my mame romset will it also include the current working roms that require chd files? That way I can skim down my mame set to a more manageable size instead of keeping 550gb of CHD files on my drive when most are not being used?

Or should I use a program like clr mamepro to audit/skim down my set first?

 

Thanks!

[neil9000]

16 minutes ago, deezdrama said:

after your filtered list is imported you can export this set to a new folder.

Yes.

16 minutes ago, deezdrama said:

When importing my mame romset will it also include the current working roms that require chd files?

No, launchbox knows nothing of the CHD files, it doesnt need to, Launchbox just tells MAME the rom name to launch and MAME itself handles the rest. You can however get a list of working CHD's from within MAME itself by using the filters in the UI it opens to.

Also i should add you should only have Launchbox copy your roms out to a folder if you have a Non-Merged romset, just pulling those roms out of a merged or split set will break games that rely on files in other zips that are not that games.

[deezdrama]

2 hours ago, neil9000 said:

Yes.

No, launchbox knows nothing of the CHD files, it doesnt need to, Launchbox just tells MAME the rom name to launch and MAME itself handles the rest. You can however get a list of working CHD's from within MAME itself by using the filters in the UI it opens to.

Also i should add you should only have Launchbox copy your roms out to a folder if you have a Non-Merged romset, just pulling those roms out of a merged or split set will break games that rely on files in other zips that are not that games.

 

 

 

Thank you for the insight!

Edited February 15, 2021 by deezdrama

[DOS76]

You've just misinterpreted what Neil said he said you would need the non-merged set having the split and the merge are basically the same thing when it comes to pulling random files out of the set.

[deezdrama]

2 hours ago, neil9000 said:

Yes.

No, launchbox knows nothing of the CHD files, it doesnt need to, Launchbox just tells MAME the rom name to launch and MAME itself handles the rest. You can however get a list of working CHD's from within MAME itself by using the filters in the UI it opens to.

Also i should add you should only have Launchbox copy your roms out to a folder if you have a Non-Merged romset, just pulling those roms out of a merged or split set will break games that rely on files in other zips that are not that games.

So when I import my mame set.... If I check the box to not import non-working roms then it wont import roms that require CHD files and do indeed work if I have the chd files? I will need to manually add the CHD required- working roms?

Edited February 15, 2021 by deezdrama

[deezdrama]

23 minutes ago, DOS76 said:

You've just misinterpreted what Neil said he said you would need the non-merged set having the split and the merge are basically the same thing when it comes to pulling random files out of the set.

sorry.... I read it wrong

[neil9000]

11 hours ago, deezdrama said:

So when I import my mame set.... If I check the box to not import non-working roms then it wont import roms that require CHD files and do indeed work if I have the chd files?

Thats not what i said. As i did say, Launchbox does nothing with the CHD files, it doesnt know of or care about them, they are for the most part not working as they also need the matching rom file to work (with a handful of exceptions). All loading and rom paths is handled by the MAME emulator itself, launchbox doesnt need to or do anything at all with the CHD's. If you leave the MAME fullset import wizard on default settings it will import around 2800 games, all of which will work as long as you also have the CHDs and your rom paths in the MAME emulator are correct. All Launchbox needs is the games shortname.

For example here is the zip for 1941, 

all Launchbox does is tell MAME to load 1941, it doesnt even pass the actual file, it just tells MAME the name of the file to load, and as long as MAME knows your rom path it loads. Same with games with a CHD, Launchbox tells MAME the name, like Killer instinct for example, Launchbox will tell MAME to load kinst,

and MAME will locate the rom in your rom folder, and then the CHD in your CHD folder, and load the game.

So the export option in Launchbox will only export the actual rom files, not the CHD's as it knows nothing of them.  And again like i said, i would not recommend even using this tool on a split or merged set, they share files, so a game may rely on a file in a zip that is in a non working game for example, and as that non working game wouldnt of been imported its not there to export, so the game that relied on that file cant use it and therefore breaks. You want a Non-Merged set for that, that is where each individual zip has every single file that the game needs to run, so they are self contained roms. This leads to much duplication, say all the Capcom games need the qsound file to run correctly, in a Non-Merged set every single Capcom game will have that file in it's zip, while with the other two types that file is only present once, in one game zip, and all the other games know to get that file from there. This is why split and merged sets are around 60-65GB and a Non-Merged is around 120GB, it contains thousands of duplicate files.

Finally like i also said above, you can get a list of working CHD's from the mame.exe itself. Open mame and choose the custom filter at the bottom of the left list, then in the first filer choose "working", then add a second and choose "CHD Required", then a third and choose "Available, then "Return To Previous Menu". This will then show you a list of CHD's, like so.

You can then double click the floppy disk icon top centre and choose to output that list in a type of your choice, if you wish.

[deezdrama]

Thanks for the detailed reply!

My confusion was where launchbox got its working/nonworking rom labeling info.... I'm aware launchbox just passes commands to lauch so-and-so game to the emulator defined, but just wasn't sure if the import utility for mame was different than the rest, I thought maybe launchbox went off of its own master xml list or something of whats working/ not working when Importing games. I asked this on reddit as well and someone said LB would not import CHD games and this also had me confused. I already have the correct file structure for the CHD's .... I ran the mame filters "working"and "chd required" the other night and ended up with 270 results ....I exported the list and copied those folders/chd files with proper naming to the root of my mame roms folder and most of them are working, some will load and freeze on intro splashscreen but alot of them I knew just would have partial functionality. I ended up with a 241gb romset including the chd's ?

I just wish there were more standard mame sets available without all the unwanteds and extra files, and that they would include the popular working chd files. Im sure there is but I tend to stay on more trusted sites where its not a thing.

Anyway it was made to sound like, on redditt -that those roms requiring CHD's were just labeled as "not working" and wouldn't be imported by launchbox but I think they meant the CHD folders themselves wouldn't be imported . This is not a concern because I have all my roms on another drive and the CHD folders are where they need to be and I just need to point launchbox to the folder location so always just choose "keep roms in their current location".

So its all handled by mame and solong as mame labels the chd required roms as working then LB will import it... I know now mame is where launchbox is getting its working/non-working list so I should be good to go. Going to import the set tomorrow.

 

[neil9000]

7 hours ago, deezdrama said:

Anyway it was made to sound like, on redditt -that those roms requiring CHD's were just labeled as "not working" and wouldn't be imported by launchbox but I think they meant the CHD folders themselves wouldn't be imported .

Correct, the games are "imported" into Launchbox as long as the rom is marked as working, again though Launchbox isnt technically importing anything at all, it doesnt look at the actual files you have in the folder you specified, it does this for all other systems, but MAME is different. As of version 11.9 the MAME importer was updated and Launchbox now gets the working game list directly from the MAME.exe itself (much like you did with the CHD list, you can generate lists from MAME via command line without even opening the emulator, and this is what Launchbox now does).

 

7 hours ago, deezdrama said:

So its all handled by mame and solong as mame labels the chd required roms as working then LB will import it...

Correct, it will add the rom to your list in Launchbox, it doesnt care if it has a CHD or not, just that the rom works, if a rom does need a CHD MAME itself handles loading of that.