Same emulator, multiple platforms

[sgordon777]

Ok, let's say I want to use the same emulator for different platforms (ie MESS).

This requires that I pass different arguments for different platforms to the same emulator.

 

An example is MESS, which requires per-platform arguments:

mess a800

mess c64

mess a5200

 

The problem is, I seem to only be allowed *ONE* commandline argument per emulator in the Tools/Mange emulators/Configure emulator menu.

The only workaround I can find for this would be to have multiple copies of mess, and treat it as different emulators. I hope there's a better solution.

 

 

 

[neil9000]

8 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

Ok, let's say I want to use the same emulator for different platforms (ie MESS).

This requires that I pass different arguments for different platforms to the same emulator.

 

An example is MESS, which requires per-platform arguments:

mess a800

mess c64

mess a5200

 

The problem is, I seem to only be allowed *ONE* commandline argument per emulator in the Tools/Mange emulators/Configure emulator menu.

The only workaround I can find for this would be to have multiple copies of mess, and treat it as different emulators. I hope there's a better solution.

 

 

 

First of all i would recommend using MAME, mess and mame were merged into one program some years ago. As for the actual issue that is what the "associated platforms" tab we are discussing in your other thread is for, you can add as many platforms as you want to your mame emulator entry there, and each can have its own command line parameter, to load the actual core/bios that platform requires.

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

First of all i would recommend using MAME, mess and mame were merged into one program some years ago. As for the actual issue that is what the "associated platforms" tab we are discussing in your other thread is for, you can add as many platforms as you want to your mame emulator entry there, and each can have its own command line parameter, to load the actual core/bios that platform requires.

 

 

[sgordon777]

15 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

First of all i would recommend using MAME, mess and mame were merged into one program some years ago. As for the actual issue that is what the "associated platforms" tab we are discussing in your other thread is for, you can add as many platforms as you want to your mame emulator entry there, and each can have its own command line parameter, to load the actual core/bios that platform requires.

 

Thanks for your reply. I use MAME for arcade games and my intention was to use it for the computer emulations too, but I simply cannot get it to work reliably with any computer BIOS without running into tons of problems, It's extremely stupid about where to look for files, won't even look in zips. Even if I unzip everything and put it in the root "roms" folder it still doesn't work.

Do people actually use MAME for Home computer and console emulation? If so, I'll take another look

[sgordon777]

12 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

 

Thanks for your reply. I use MAME for arcade games and my intention was to use it for the computer emulations too, but I simply cannot get it to work reliably with any computer BIOS without running into tons of problems, It's extremely stupid about where to look for files, won't even look in zips. Even if I unzip everything and put it in the root "roms" folder it still doesn't work.

Do people actually use MAME for Home computer and console emulation? If so, I'll take another look

 

Also, even if I could get MAME to work without pulling all my hair out first, won't I run into the same problems once I want to use MAME64.exe to be the emulator for more than one platform?

 

[skizzosjt]

1 hour ago, sgordon777 said:

 

Also, even if I could get MAME to work without pulling all my hair out first, won't I run into the same problems once I want to use MAME64.exe to be the emulator for more than one platform?

 

Short answer is no you will not have problems. you're confused about something surrounding emulators and platforms. I'd like to mention Retroarch. This single emulator can be used on DOZENS of different platforms and the way LB/BB is setup allows you the ability to provide specific launch parameters for specific platforms. It's as easy as typing in the name of the platform in the list of associated platforms for the emulator you are editing or setting up.  Dolphin is another good example, which emulates both Gamecube and Wii. You only need a single instance of this emulator setup in LB/BB for both platforms. Setup a 3rd platform for just "Wiiware" games even if you want! You can setup launch parameters per emulator, per platform, or per game even!

 

To provide specific example for you. Imagine you setup your emulator instance of MAME in LB. In that "associated platform" list you would add both Arcade for arcade games and let's call the other platform Computers for computers, very intuitive, I know! You can check the default emulator checkbox assuming you want them to be the defaults. If they need different launch parameters you have at least two different ways to achieve your goal. Set them up per platform, or per game. It sounds like you tried to set it up per emulator which means you would only get one or the other platform to work if they do in fact need different launch parameters.

 

 

[sgordon777]

Ok, understood and applied. Thanks to everyone for setting me straight!

[sgordon777]

I still cant get it to work...

1-Used "bulk wizard" to change all games in atari 2600 platform to use MAME

2-configured Mame platform as instructed in commandlines page (see below)

However, when I click on a game, say pitfall, it seems like MAME is being started but returns immediately without loading the cart.

I can run all the atari2600 games form MAME commaline, ala:

mame a2600 -cart r:\atari2600\PITFALL.BIN

 

Any ideas?

Is there some logfile or something so I can try to troubleshoot?

 

[Kiinkyfoxx]

5 hours ago, sgordon777 said:

I can run all the atari2600 games form MAME commaline, ala:

mame a2600 -cart r:\atari2600\PITFALL.BIN

 

I could be completely wrong here - it has been known several times but you state that the game loads via command line with "mame a2600 -cart r:\atari2600\PITFALL.BIN" but then in the Default Command line parameters you have added -skip_gameingo -nowindow

Have you tried using that in an external command line? I "think" you are basically passing

mame a2600 -cart -skip_gameingo -nowindow %romname% so mame is looking for a cart called -skip_gameinfo rather than the actual game

so try

mame a2600 -skip_gameinfo -nowindow -cart

Edited August 17, 2022 by Kiinkyfoxx

[sgordon777]

30 minutes ago, Kiinkyfoxx said:

 

Have you tried using that in an external command line? I "think" you are basically passing

 

yes, also tried just puttibg 

a2600 -cart 

in the dialog, -same thing

My gut feeling is LB is trying to treat this like an arcade game and put the game name on n commandline. But i cant proove it until i can see the generated commandline. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by sgordon777

[Kiinkyfoxx]

Ok I had had a little play and made some assumptions so hopefully this is ok and going to work

Assumption 1 - you haven't set up the pathway to your atari roms inside your mame.ini file

Version 1 - with the rom file being a bin file and not in a zip format as "expected" by Mame

File Launching screen - as you can see its a bin file

Emulator page - ignore it being called Trial emulator I use this for trialling things rather than it being a real one - important info DO NOT TICK ANY OF THE BOXES

Associated platform page - have the skip game info and no window before cart

The above works and loads the game. 

Below is how Mame emulator normally set up  (for me) - its the ticks in remove file extension that I think cause the issue - when using below set up and the bin file it doesn't load - remove those ticks and it also works on my normal Mame setup whereas it didn't before

Version 2

Assumption - using an Atari 2600 zipped rom set still zipped and having set your pathway to your Atari roms in mame ini 

eg 

rompath           roms;R:\a2600

Launching tab - notice file called adventur.zip not adventure

Emulator tab - boxes are ticked on this occasion

Associated  tab

 

Both of the above loaded the game for me on Mame - I normally use the Stella Core in RetroArch for Atari and I have to say only just started with Atari stuff myself

So maybe look at your Emulator tab and see what have ticked - your could always make another emulator called Mame-Console and still point to same Mame.exe but use use different set up on tick boxes 

Hopefully this comes across as helpful and not patronising

PS - Retro808 and JoeViking245 know what they are talking about - just ignore me 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Kiinkyfoxx

[Retro808]

2 hours ago, sgordon777 said:

yes, also tried just puttibg 

a2600 -cart 

in the dialog, -same thing

My gut feeling is LB is trying to treat this like an arcade game and put the game name on n commandline. But i cant proove it until i can see the generated commandline. 

 

 

 

 

Did you set your rom path for the a2600 roms in Mame?

I just set this up. Never used Mame for non-arcade and it launches into the game without issue. I ran it zipped like mame would traditionally do and the .bin is in the zip.

Took me only a couple minutes. 1) Added my rom path to Mame since I keep different locations outside of the emulator folder. 2) Added the platform name to Mame's Associated Platforms list in LB. 3) Added: a2600 -cart to the command line for the platform. 4) Tested games. Did not even have to alter any of my standard Mame settings in LB.

 

[JoeViking245]

7 hours ago, sgordon777 said:

However, when I click on a game, say pitfall, it seems like MAME is being started but returns immediately without loading the cart.

I can run all the atari2600 games form MAME commaline, ala:

mame a2600 -cart r:\atari2600\PITFALL.BIN

Since your a2600 games are not in MAME's traditional zip format, you need to tell MAME the full path to the bin.  Just like your command line above, that worked.

Since you are also using MAME for Arcade machines, most likely your MAME emulator settings in LaunchBox have these 2 boxes checked.

So, with your Default Custom Command-Line Parameters you have set for "Atari 2600", LB will send the command

mame a2600 -cart -skip_gameingo -nowindow pitfall

With this, MAME will go into Atari 2600 Cart mode (for lack of better phrasing), bypass the game info window, start fullscreen, and look inside your rompath folder(s) for pitfall.zip.

Since (at least for your a2600 roms) you don't have MAME's softlist romset (the ones that are in zip format), I recommend you create a new emulator in LaunchBox.

Use the same executable (  ) but give it a different name (of course) like MAME_with_quotes or whatever.  You can have the same Default Command-Line Parameters (it doesn't matter anyway), but un-check both those boxes.  Then in the Associated Platforms section, Add Atari 2600 and its Default Custonm Command-Line Parameters ( a2600 -cart -skip_gameingo -nowindow ).  This will now send

mame a2600 -cart -skip_gameingo -nowindow "R:\atari2600\pitfall.bin"

 

[JoeViking245]

Scratch that new emulator idea above.  Just ran some tests..

As stated in your other post about this, put all your Atari 2600 .bin files into the folder "R:\atari2600\a2600\"  

R:\atari2600\a2600\adventure.bin
R:\atari2600\a2600\pitfall.bin

You don't need to add a2600 to the rompath.  Since your command line says to 'go into Atari 2600 mode', MAME knows to look for a subfolder called a2600 within your rompath's you have listed.

Don't need to change any of your existing MAME setting in LaunchBox.  Just add the subfolder, move the .bin files into it, start LB and play Pitfall (and Adventure).

[sgordon777]

First huge thanks to everybody for the ideas,

 

I got it working by zipping the individual games and add the ROMs folder to the path. -Hope this won't break other emulators, which share the same atari2600 archive.

 

However, I think I'm going to be in big trouble when I try to get LB to use MAME with Apple2e, where I just have a bunch of disk and caassete images that Mame surely isn;'t going to recognize, as it does with atari2600 files. Mame fully supports this usage pattern:

mame apple2e -floppydisk1 {path_to_my_disk_image_binary}  # works perfectly fine

Is there simply no way to have LB start mame as a system and not try to interpret the image it's loading?

What if I renamed mame.exe to something else?

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by sgordon777

[sgordon777]

>> What if I renamed mame.exe to something else?

 

This seems to have worked!..

I copied mame.exe m1.exe, and am now able to treat it like other emualors, without it trying to "name" the image I'm using.

I have this wokring both for atari2600, and for apple2gs

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by sgordon777

[JoeViking245]

3 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

mame apple2e -floppydisk1 {path_to_my_disk_image_binary}  # works perfectly fine

If this works perfectly, then MAME is recognizing it.  Can you show a literal example?  As in the full path and file name plus extension.  

For Apple IIe floppies, MAME supports  extensions: mfi, dfi, dsk, do, po, rti, edd, woz, nib   For cassettes it's .wav

Honestly, you're creating more work than necessary by not having an actual MAME softlist ROM set.  You know. .zip files.

But according to your "works perfectly file" statement, you CAN make it work with what you have.  You NEED to have the afore mention check boxes un-checked in the emulator settings so that it will pass "{path_to_my_disk_image_binary}" at the end of the command line.

 

15 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

Is there simply no way to have LB start mame as a system and not try to interpret the image it's loading?

Do you mean like, double click a game, and have LB simply just open MAME. And then you navigate to Apple IIe, and then select a game from there?  aka: have the LaunchBox frontend open the MAME frontend.  You can always Right-Click a game and select Open MAME (assuming it's the default emulator for that Platform)

 

21 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

What if I renamed mame.exe to something else?

An emulators executable name is simply a name, by any other name.

[JoeViking245]

7 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

I copied mame.exe m1.exe, and am now able to treat it like other emualors, without it trying to "name" the image I'm using.

I have this wokring both for atari2600, and for apple2gs

I'm curious.  Between your MAME and M1 emulator settings, does one of them have these 2 boxes checked, and the other doesn't?

 

[sgordon777]

Mame has both checked

M1 has neither checked

 

[sgordon777]

Even better, I can use a windows shortcut (ie M1.lnk) rather than a copy of the exectuable and achieve the same result

Edited August 17, 2022 by sgordon777