MAME: Non-Merged Roms help?

[Phlyp]

I have seen a 1000 how-to videos and guides on importing a mame full set.  I do not want to do that.  I just want to play xmen and the simpsons...  

Ok so I have downloaded mame and added it as an emulator to launchbox.  I have the non-merged desired roms.  Now, how TF do I add them to launchbox?  I've tried adding the full folder, and I've tried adding all the files of the folder, neither method seems to register with launchbox and nothing imports.  The full set importer looks great... if that's what you want, but how do you add just single MAME roms? 

[Retro808]

if you just want to add a single rom you can simply open the Windows folder your roms are in find the rom file for the game and drag and drop it into LB. Then just follow the import wizard to complete. 

Or

You can use >Tools >Import >Rom Files and select the "Add Files" option. Then navigate to the folder in the import wizard UI and select the rom file. 

[Phlyp]

13 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

if you just want to add a single rom you can simply open the Windows folder your roms are in find the rom file for the game and drag and drop it into LB. Then just follow the import wizard to complete. 

Or

You can use >Tools >Import >Rom Files and select the "Add Files" option. Then navigate to the folder in the import wizard UI and select the rom file. 

 

I've tried to both the "add folder" option which holds all of the associated files for the rom, and I have tried the "add files" option and selecting all the files within the folder.  Launchbox still doesn't recognize the files in either case.  Drag and dropping also does not work, it does bring up the wizard but at the end no rom file shows up.

I've used the exact same rom files on a hacked Snes running Hackchi so I know they're actual mame roms... though on hackchi you add them as a zip file; I do not see any way to add them zipped on launchbox, idk if that has anything to do with the issue? 

[Retro808]

It means that somewhere during all these attempted imports the files actually got imported and may be hidden. 

To confirm LB can see them try the drag and drop option and check the box for "Force Import Duplicates" 

Then on the last screen if the games shows this confirms the game is already in your LB. 

You may have one of the "Hide Games Missing" options selected which is why you may not be able to see the original import. 

[Phlyp]

8 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

It means that somewhere during all these attempted imports the files actually got imported and may be hidden. 

To confirm LB can see them try the drag and drop option and check the box for "Force Import Duplicates" 

Then on the last screen if the games shows this confirms the game is already in your LB. 

You may have one of the "Hide Games Missing" options selected which is why you may not be able to see the original import. 

 

So there was one thing I didn't try, dragging the zipped folder into launchbox.  That seems to have worked to import to launchbox however now the game wont play from launchbox.  It does play from mame stand alone though... any idea what step I'm missing now?

Thanks 

[Retro808]

4 minutes ago, Phlyp said:

 

So there was one thing I didn't try, dragging the zipped folder into launchbox.  That seems to have worked to import to launchbox however now the game wont play from launchbox.  

Thanks 

Yeah....For Mame you can only use zipped rom files. You cannot unzip the file and import its contents. 

4 minutes ago, Phlyp said:

It does play from mame stand alone though... any idea what step I'm missing now?

Thanks 

Double check and make sure you are directing Mame to your roms folder if your roms are outside of the Mame folders. This is likelly not the issue since you said Mame directly can run it, but just make sure. Also in LB go to >Tools >Manage >Emulators and edit Mame and make sure you do not have the box checked to unzip the archive before running. Those typically are 2 main issues Mame roms are not running when launched through LB.

[Phlyp]

16 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

Yeah....For Mame you can only use zipped rom files. You cannot unzip the file and import its contents. 

Double check and make sure you are directing Mame to your roms folder if your roms are outside of the Mame folders. This is likelly not the issue since you said Mame directly can run it, but just make sure. Also in LB go to >Tools >Manage >Emulators and edit Mame and make sure you do not have the box checked to unzip the archive before running. Those typically are 2 main issues Mame roms are not running when launched through LB.

ahhh I see what happened, I moved the rom into launchbox's arcade folder when importing it.  I guess it's required to keep mame roms under the mame emulator's rom folder for launchbox?

[Retro808]

3 minutes ago, Phlyp said:

ahhh I see what happened, I moved the rom into launchbox's arcade folder when importing it.  I guess it's required to keep mame roms under the mame emulator's rom folder for launchbox?

It is not. You just need to open Mame and add the new rom folder path location. You can put Mame roms anywhere you want as long as you open Mame and add the path. 

[JoeViking245]

48 minutes ago, Phlyp said:

I guess it's required to keep mame roms under the mame emulator's rom folder for launchbox?

As Retro808 said, you can put the ROMs anywhere you want.  But MAME needs to somehow still know where they are.  An alternate to adding the path in MAME itself, you can add edit your MAME emulator in LaunchBox and add to your Default Command-Line Parameters 

-rompath %romlocation%

Then if you move them again (aka, import them into some other folder), when you load the game, this will tell MAME exactly where the ROM is.