Question about Mame Rom Location, and CHD locations.

[sLpFhaWK]

Hello, this is probably going to be easy because I shouldn't be having these issues, but here I am.

I have a Mame Rom set .257 which I think is the latest but the rom set is Split. I have CHD's but that download said it was merged. So now here is a weird issue. LEt's take Area 51 for example. I Try to load it in launch box and it won't load it just goes back to the list when it ry to open it. but because i've configured MAME with the proper folders under roms to include both the rom path and chd path the games launch when im in mame itself. 

how do i fix this error in LB? should I just copy the CHD folders to the ROM folder and call it a day? I'd prefer to keep them separate as the CHD's never change from version to version. 

[JoeViking245]

In LaunchBox, edit your MAME emulator.  In the Default Command-line Parameters, does it have -rompath %romlocation%?  If so, remove it.

If it doesn't have that, or removing it doesn't help, can you share a few screenshots?

 

Edit your MAME emulator.  Post a screenshot of:  The Details and the Associated Platforms sections.

Edit one of your chd games.  Post a screenshot of:  The Launching tab and the Emulation tab.

[sLpFhaWK]

5 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

In LaunchBox, edit your MAME emulator.  In the Default Command-line Parameters, does it have -rompath %romlocation%?  If so, remove it.

If it doesn't have that, or removing it doesn't help, can you share a few screenshots?

 

Edit your MAME emulator.  Post a screenshot of:  The Details and the Associated Platforms sections.

Edit one of your chd games.  Post a screenshot of:  The Launching tab and the Emulation tab.

Thank you!! This worked perfectly. I did edit the emulator and I noticed that rom path, but i wasn't sure if it was taking the one set in MAME or the one I set initially when I chose to leave the roms where they were. Thank you for the help. It works just as it should now!

[JoeViking245]

Glad it works now.  The -rompath parameter will override whatever is stored in mame.ini.  It's great for regular games (when you don't have the ROM path setup in MAME). But wreaks havoc for CHD's stored in a different location. As you discovered.

[Pixelfetish]

Where is this variable declared?

-rompath %romlocation%

I can't find it in MAME manuals. Is it a Windows System variable set by Launchbox? Does Launchbox set other variables?
I am a bit in lack of information here.

 

 

Edited January 13 by Pixelfetish

[JoeViking245]

37 minutes ago, Pixelfetish said:

Where is this variable declared?

-rompath %romlocation%

I can't find it in MAME manuals. Is it a Windows System variable set by Launchbox? Does Launchbox set other variables?
I am a bit in lack of information here.

The %romlocation% variable was added to (built-in to) LaunchBox sometime early 2022.  Its resulting value is "C:\Path\To\Rom\" (with quotes), based on the games path. 

Other command-line variables LaunchBox makes available are:

%romfile%
%platform%
%launchboxorbigboxexepath%
%gameid%                         

[STEMALO]

I have the 263 ROM set working, but I also have the CHDs. Problem is i need to put the CHD on an external drive, hence a different directory, how can i do this, Is this a MAME config or Launchbox config thinggy?

[sLpFhaWK]

I think u just need to add the second location of the chds to the rom folder location. So for example d:/games,e:/chd

 

jjst a guess and im not sure what to use for multiple folders either a , or ; i would think. Try both. 

[STEMALO]

Where is the place I specify the ROM folders? 

In MAME or LAUNCHBOX?

[Retro808]

23 minutes ago, STEMALO said:

I have the 263 ROM set working, but I also have the CHDs. Problem is i need to put the CHD on an external drive, hence a different directory, how can i do this, Is this a MAME config or Launchbox config thinggy?

You can either open the mame ini file and manually type the CHD folder path in it (goes as an additional path in the rom path section) or you can open Mame.exe without a game and use the setting menu to point to the rom path. 

Example: 

rompath                   "roms;E:\Mame\CHD"

 

[STEMALO]

sadly it's not working.
 

[sLpFhaWK]

If it’s not working clear out the path in launchbox and set the path manually in mame like he said. Don’t forget once you change the config in mame you need to save it.