Moving a folder, paths wrong-but-not-wrong?

[Slag-O-Matic]

Preface: Dumb and unrelated question that I can't find an answer for. Every time I launch LaunchBox I get the "Welcome to LaunchBox 12.11!" splash screen. Any way to stop that annoyance from happening?

Moving on...  My LaunchBox folder sits on the root level of my D drive. I downloaded "MAME 0.243 CHDs (merged)" and put the folder on the same root level. I went into LaunchBox then Tools, Import, MAME Arcade Full Set. Pretty much accepted all the defaults except for one; I told LaunchBox to MOVE my files rather than COPY them, simply because they were already there and it's faster that way. Everything seemed to work fine and when I got home from work things were working properly. Except, oddly, LaunchBox didn't seem to move anything. My "MAME 0.243 CHDs (merged)" folder and all of its contents were exactly where I left them, which is what I didn't want.

I moved the folder into \Games\Arcade\ and then opened LaunchBox. As I expected, it broke all the arcade games since the path had changed.

I found this thread and followed suit. I quit LaunchBox, then opened Data\Platforms\Arcade.xml in Notepad++ and changed all instances of "..\MAME 0.243 CHDs (merged)" to "\Games\Arcade\MAME 0.243 CHDs (merged)". Saved, opened LaunchBox...and they were all still broken.

Reopening Arcade.xml I discovered something odd. Each of the games listed were in a ZIP file (e.g., "\Games\Arcade\MAME 0.243 CHDs (merged)\loht.zip" yet all of the games in that "MAME 0.243 CHDs (merged)" folder are CHD files. There isn't a single ZIP file in there.

Searching my D drive for ZIP files reveals some games I have for other platforms but none of the arcade games (e.g., loht.zip is nowhere on the computer).

I'm sure I'm missing a crucial piece of information, so my questions are:

1. Given that I started with CHD files, where did these ZIP files come from?
2. Where are the ZIP files that LaunchBox is looking for (and created?)?
3. Why didn't LaunchBox move the CHD files as requested?
4. How do I fix this without deleting what's there already and starting over from scratch?

[Retro808]

1 hour ago, Slag-O-Matic said:

Preface: Dumb and unrelated question that I can't find an answer for. Every time I launch LaunchBox I get the "Welcome to LaunchBox 12.11!" splash screen. Any way to stop that annoyance from happening?

Should be a check box on the bottom left of that screen. "Don't show this again for this version".

1 hour ago, Slag-O-Matic said:

Reopening Arcade.xml I discovered something odd. Each of the games listed were in a ZIP file (e.g., "\Games\Arcade\MAME 0.243 CHDs (merged)\loht.zip" yet all of the games in that "MAME 0.243 CHDs (merged)" folder are CHD files. There isn't a single ZIP file in there.

Searching my D drive for ZIP files reveals some games I have for other platforms but none of the arcade games (e.g., loht.zip is nowhere on the computer).

 

The zipped files are the files required for Mame roms to run. CHD files are the compressed hard disk data for larger games. All Mame roms (within exception of a few CHD only games) need the actual zipped rom file. If you used the Mame full set importer within LB it does not actually import files it just uses the Mame.xml from Mame to list the working roms. Mame itself will look for the actual zipped file to run the game after LB sends the command line to launch. So if you have no actual zipped files I am not sure how all your Mame games were even working.

 

[Slag-O-Matic]

1 hour ago, Retro808 said:

The zipped files are the files required for Mame roms to run. CHD files are the compressed hard disk data for larger games. All Mame roms (within exception of a few CHD only games) need the actual zipped rom file. If you used the Mame full set importer within LB it does not actually import files it just uses the Mame.xml from Mame to list the working roms. Mame itself will look for the actual zipped file to run the game after LB sends the command line to launch. So if you have no actual zipped files I am not sure how all your Mame games were even working.

Thanks for the info.

So, based on what you've told me I was able to improve my understanding of how things work, or at least how they're supposed to work. If you'd be so kind to check my math here...

The CHD files don't (usually) contain any game code. It's more like expanded data for the game -- prerendered cut scenes, music, etc. By themselves CHD files are therefore useless without the associated ROM file.

Doing the "MAME Arcade Full Set" thing just downloads a list of all (compatible?) MAME ROMs. It doesn't care whether or not you actually have the ROMs in question, it's just a list. So if you do the "MAME Arcade Full Set" thing with no ROMs, none of the games will work. (And, I misspoke earlier. When I said "things were working properly" I meant that while viewing ARCADE there was a list of titles with all the metadata. I didn't actually try playing any of the games.) So I guess the proper procedure here is to do the "MAME Arcade Full Set" thing and then add the ROMs to the folder as you collect them. Alternately, download a torrent of all of them at once (as I'm doing now) and as MAME is updated for better compatibility those ROM files will already be present and ready to go.

Assuming my math is correct so far, my next question becomes: I can put the zipped ROMs inside of Games/Arcade, but where do the CHD files go? Do I put them in the same folder (alongside those zipped ROMs) or is there a unique folder for them?

Edited June 9, 2022 by Slag-O-Matic

[skizzosjt]

18 minutes ago, Slag-O-Matic said:

Thanks for the info.

So, based on what you've told me I was able to improve my understanding of how things work, or at least how they're supposed to work. If you'd be so kind to check my math here...

The CHD files don't (usually) contain any game code. It's more like expanded data for the game -- prerendered cut scenes, music, etc. By themselves CHD files are therefore useless without the associated ROM file.

Doing the "MAME Arcade Full Set" thing just downloads a list of all (compatible?) MAME ROMs. It doesn't care whether or not you actually have the ROMs in question, it's just a list. So if you do the "MAME Arcade Full Set" thing with no ROMs, none of the games will work. (And, I misspoke earlier. When I said "things were working properly" I meant that while viewing ARCADE there was a list of titles with all the metadata. I didn't actually try playing any of the games.) So I guess the proper procedure here is to do the "MAME Arcade Full Set" thing and then add the ROMs to the folder as you collect them. Alternately, download a torrent of all of them at once (as I'm doing now) and as MAME is updated for better compatibility those ROM files will already be present and ready to go.

Assuming my math is correct so far, my next question becomes: I can put the zipped ROMs inside of Games/Arcade, but where do the CHD files go? Do I put them in the same folder (alongside those zipped ROMs) or is there a unique folder for them?

CHD files go into a folder that is the same name as the game/ROM zip file, and that folder is in the same folder as the game/ROM zip file....for example for Blitz 99

 

rom/zip file is blitz99.zip

it is in folder path MAME/ROMS

this means you need a folder called blitz99 in the folder path MAME/ROMS. the folder path would therefore be MAME/ROMS/blitz99

in this blitz99 folder, is where CHD files go

 

this concept is used for all CHD type games as far as I am aware

[Retro808]

@Slag-O-Matic Your summation is pretty accurate. You need the actual Mame roms to run the games, along with any support files (bios, qsound, etc.).  You technically do not need the whole CHD set as there are not a lot of working roms with CHD files (I think around 60 or so). Also LB is not listing "compatible" roms, it is listing those roms Mame has marked as "working". There are many roms that you can play, but have graphical or sound issues. They will technically work, just have issues.

As @skizzosjt mentioned that is how Mame looks to have the rom files and the CHD files located. You can however, place them in any folder location you want. You just need to open Mame and tell it where you put the roms and the CHD files.

The best practice is download a the full most current Mame rom set. Downloading random roms will usually lead to issues as the Mame rom usually needs to match the Mame version you are using. Changes happen and sometimes roms no longer work, new working roms are added, or the file(s) inside the zip get changed. So best practice is match the rom version with the Mame version.

My recommendation:

1. Download full current Mame rom set. Place it inside your \Games\Arcade folder from the get go since this is where you mentioned you want them. I never like having LB move my roms, mitigates any risks of something breaking.

2. Since you already have the CHD files place them inside the \Games\Arcade folder. Each CHD however needs to be unzipped and inside a folder named after the rom (I do not know how to full set actually looks when downloaded). Look back at @skizzosjt post if you want a quick reference.

3. Use the Mame full set importer and tell it to leave the roms where they are.

4. Test some games. If they are not running, open the Mame.ini file located inside the Mame folder and see if the rom path is pointing to your \Gaames\Arcade folder. If not then you need to enter the path. After that you should be up and running. (Note: Mame by default looks for the roms to be in the Mame \roms folder so if they are not there you need to always tell Mame where they are).

[Slag-O-Matic]

This has all been very helpful so far, thanks.

I downloaded a ROM pack, copied them into Games\Arcade, and things started working (playing) as expected. Not everything, of course, but that's also as expected.

I'm still at a bit of a loss with the placement of the CHD files however. I ran a small experiment and got some truly odd results. I started with just one game: Area 51. I had a zipped ROM file (area51.zip) and two CHD files (area51.chd and area51t.chd) inside a folder called area51. I first put the ROM file into Games\Arcade and tried playing it through LaunchBox and it worked (which is to say, the game was running, I saw the splash screen, insert coin, etc). I quit LaunchBox, put the area51 folder with the two CHD files into Games\Arcade, then put the ROM file into Games\Arcade\area51. Ran LaunchBox again and Area 51 failed. So I thought, okay, it's still looking for it in Games\Arcade, so I quit LaunchBox and moved all three files (area51.zip, area51.chd, and area51t.chd) into Games\Arcade, then deleted the now-empty area51 folder. Relaunched LaunchBox and Area 51 failed again. So then I thought, okay, maybe the CHD files are bad, so I deleted the two CHD files. At this point the setup was EXACTLY as it was when I started the test. I relaunched LaunchBox and...Area 51 failed AGAIN?!?!? It's almost like the CHD files "contaminated" Area 51.

What's the best way to approach this? I've been previously told that the ROM and CHD files have to live in the same folder, named the same, inside of Games\Arcade, but that doesn't seem to work. Am I missing a step somewhere? Or am I better off just dumping all of the CHD files into Games\Arcade? And whatever the case may be, why did Area 51 work and then stop working even though there's no difference in the setup?

[Retro808]

The way you had it originally is correct. Not sure why after your experimenting you did not go back to that since that is the only scenario that actually worked.

The best approach is how you had it.

>Mame zipped roms: \Games\Arcade folder

>CHD Files: The actual CHD files in individual folders named after the roms. All those individual folders inside your \Games\Arcade folders.

          >>Example: \Games\Arcade\are51\area51.chd and area51t.chd

 

2 hours ago, Slag-O-Matic said:

TAnd whatever the case may be, why did Area 51 work and then stop working even though there's no difference in the setup?

There was a difference. You moved files to areas Mame did not know to look. If you look back at my original post I mentioned you can put roms and chd files anywhere you want. You just need to open Mame and then tell it where to look.

[Slag-O-Matic]

11 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

There was a difference. You moved files to areas Mame did not know to look.

Actually the answer is simpler: What I wrote is what ACTUALLY happened, but not what I THOUGHT I did.  🙂  I THOUGHT that the first attempt was just the ROM file in the Games folder, not with the CHD folder there also. Clearly that's not what I did but that's what I thought I did. Anyway, yeah, you're right. I put the folder of CHD files in there and Area 51 worked again. All good now. Thanks yet again!