MAME roms fails to launch without error messages -- does Launchbox have log files?

[Volpone]

I installed Launchbox, downloaded MAME and a bunch of ROMS, imported the ROMS, and set up the mame.exe in Launchbox.

When I try to launch a ROM, the screen flashes as if it tried to launch the game, but immediately exits.  There are no error messages.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?  Are there log files somewhere to help me figure this out?

[neil9000]

5 hours ago, Volpone said:

I installed Launchbox, downloaded MAME and a bunch of ROMS, imported the ROMS, and set up the mame.exe in Launchbox.

When I try to launch a ROM, the screen flashes as if it tried to launch the game, but immediately exits.  There are no error messages.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?  Are there log files somewhere to help me figure this out?

Do the roms launch outside of Launchbox? Have you told mame the location of your roms? Do the rom versions match the emulator version? All Important information to provide when asking for help. 

[MichaAngelo]

how do you check rom versions and emulator versions?

 

[Lordmonkus]

You download Mame from the actual Mame site, the downloads are labeled.

You download roms from a good site that has them all in one big download which is labeled with the version number.

If you download roms from a trash website that doesn't have them as a set and labeled than you have no clue what set they are from and are therefor practically useless.

[Volpone]

17 hours ago, neil9000 said:

Do the roms launch outside of Launchbox? Have you told mame the location of your roms? Do the rom versions match the emulator version? All Important information to provide when asking for help. 

Thanks, this fixed the problem!  I didn't have mame pointed to the right folder.

Also, my ROM collection is of an older version than my Mame version.  Is that a problem?

[JoeViking245]

58 minutes ago, Volpone said:

Also, my ROM collection is of an older version than my Mame version.  Is that a problem?

MAME is not considered to be backwards compatible.  Though you will find that an older romset will have some roms that still work with a newer version of the emulator (mame.exe).  In fact it may have many that still work, or just a few.  That said, it's strongly advised to ALWAYS match the version of the emulator with the version of your romset.  It'll save a ton of guess work and headaches down the road.  (see reply from Lordmonkus above)