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My mame.ini file does not preserve graphics settings for games


jordicris

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Hello and sorry for my English ...
I have searched the forum but have not found a satisfactory answer for my problem. When I configure and save the mame.ini file from the MAME root directory, I don't see the changes in the games, not in LAUNCHBOX, not in MAME. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong.
Above all, I save settings related to the visual aspect of the games, but they don't work.
When I modify the options of a certain game with TAB, I keep the settings but when I exit the game, these settings disappear.
I would appreciate your help, thank you.

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5 hours ago, jordicris said:

When I modify the options of a certain game with TAB, I keep the settings but when I exit the game, these settings disappear.

Unfortunately the 'slider adjustments' you make in MAME (press TAB and select Slider Controls) don't all save. 

You need to open a game, make your adjustments the way you want them and write them down [or take pictures with your cell phone].  Next, edit your mame.ini file and change the values for the ones you adjusted.  (DON'T SAVE yet.  keep reading....)

Certain base settings like hstretch and vstretch get saved in the   ../MAME/cfg/<romName>.cfg      folder/file.  Where <romName> is the game you made the adjustments for.  [i.e.  D:\Emulators\MAME\cfg\dkong.cfg ]

But settings for HLSL do not save at all.  (These are the ones you're writing down.)  How they're named in MAME [TAB menu] and in 'mame.ini' may be slightly different.  For example "Quadratic Distortion" is simply called "distortion" in mame.ini.

When you're done with your changes, you'll want to do a File  -  Save As.. and save it as   <romName>.ini    (i.e.  for Donkey Kong, you save it as "dkong.ini").  Save this file into your    ../MAME/ini/   folder.   [  D:\Emulators\MAME\ini\dkong.ini  ]

This thread discusses this 'issue' as well.  https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=118689

 

 

 

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Glad it's working!

As you dive into this more...

  • If you find settings that work for all your games, you can just save those in your "mame.ini" file. (without needing to Save As <romName>.ini)
  • If you find settings that work great for all your Horizontal games, but not the Vertical games... you can save that file with its settings as "horizont.ini".  
  • Same for Vertical games... you can save that file with its settings as "vertical.ini". 

With these last 2, MAME will automatically load the correct ini file based on the games screen orientation (Horizontal or Vertical).

Last note: The files  <romName>.ini,  horizont.ini,  and  vertical.ini  only need to contain lines [of text] for the settings that are different than what you have in your mame.ini file.  Example: for your horizontal games, if you only changed the Quadratic Distortion (distortion) and Rounded Corners (round_corner) to make it look like your 80's tube TV, "horizont.ini" would only need to contain those 2 lines.    (This just cleans them up nicely and also makes it easy to find what exactly it was you changed in each.)

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/7/2021 at 9:22 PM, JoeViking245 said:

Glad it's working!

As you dive into this more...

  • If you find settings that work for all your games, you can just save those in your "mame.ini" file. (without needing to Save As <romName>.ini)
  • If you find settings that work great for all your Horizontal games, but not the Vertical games... you can save that file with its settings as "horizont.ini".  
  • Same for Vertical games... you can save that file with its settings as "vertical.ini". 

With these last 2, MAME will automatically load the correct ini file based on the games screen orientation (Horizontal or Vertical).

Last note: The files  <romName>.ini,  horizont.ini,  and  vertical.ini  only need to contain lines [of text] for the settings that are different than what you have in your mame.ini file.  Example: for your horizontal games, if you only changed the Quadratic Distortion (distortion) and Rounded Corners (round_corner) to make it look like your 80's tube TV, "horizont.ini" would only need to contain those 2 lines.    (This just cleans them up nicely and also makes it easy to find what exactly it was you changed in each.)

Thanks! He hadn't seen this last answer. I find what you explain to me super interesting. Thank you very much again. I will put it all into practice.

Edited by jordicris
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