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Arcade rom & Software list management


GamaBurst

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Hello Guys,
I have a question about arcade roms and software list management using CLRMame Pro (or Romulus):

Before asking this question here, I have read alot and done a lot of research about this subject but i did"nt find any clear answer to this.

My goal is to properly manage full arcade rom set and software list for MAME and FinalBurn Neo using CLRMame Pro.

All my roms are stored on a NAS Server so the storage space is really not a problem for me. I have plenty of free space!

Regarding the arcade roms management in CLRMame Pro, I normally choose Full Non-Merged so all parent, clone and bios are all in the romsets.

At first for the arcade roms, I want to know if it's the best practice to put the bioses with the roms? Not in a separate dedicated Bios Folder.

For the software list roms which configuration is the best (Merged, Non-Merged or split)? And do you suggest to put all the bios in a dedicated Bios folder ?

Thank you for your help and advices!

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12 hours ago, alexandreleblanc said:

At first for the arcade roms, I want to know if it's the best practice to put the bioses with the roms? Not in a separate dedicated Bios Folder.

It doesn't matter at all. LB does not manage roms, MAME does that itself according to you having set the rompath in your mame.ini file or but just using the default roms folder. LB just uses the MAME xml file to grab the games that work and match any filters you have set using the Full Set Import feature. I have my set non-merged and just import normally a subset of MAME games. I find there are just too many and it makes for a better experience for users, but that's a personal preference.

12 hours ago, alexandreleblanc said:

For the software list roms which configuration is the best (Merged, Non-Merged or split)? And do you suggest to put all the bios in a dedicated Bios folder ?

I don't use MAME with software lists much, so can't help here.

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14 hours ago, alexandreleblanc said:

For the software list roms which configuration is the best (Merged, Non-Merged or split)? And do you suggest to put all the bios in a dedicated Bios folder ?

I'm not saying it's "best", but for me I use a split set for softlist roms.  (Non-merged isn't [typically] a download option for softlists)

If you have a full MAME set (MAME machines, not softlists) and your mame.ini rompath points to it, there's really no sense in moving the softlist BIOS files somewhere else.

But I'm not always the most sensible guy, so I place (copy) my softlist BIOS files into the root folder of where the softlist rom folders are kept, which I have in a folder name "software".  It looks something like:

D:\Emulators\MAME\software\
D:\Emulators\MAME\software\32x\
D:\Emulators\MAME\software\a800\
D:\Emulators\MAME\software\a5200\
D:\Emulators\MAME\software\a7800\
D:\Emulators\MAME\software\32x.zip
D:\Emulators\MAME\software\a800.zip
D:\Emulators\MAME\software\a5200.zip
D:\Emulators\MAME\software\a7800.zip

Then in MAME.ini, I only need to add "software" to the  rompath (because MAME is smart and knows to 'drill down' to the softlist subfolders).  Note: the softlist subfolders need to be named the exact same as MAME references them.  (Which is how they should be already from a proper softlist download.)  So...

D:\Emulators\MAME\software\Atari 800\

...will not work.  (Unless you [also] add "Atari 800" to the rompath.)  

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