Mame (arcade) Rom Files Import

[Vader]

@Jason Carr

Not sure if this is a bug or just how lauchbox is supposed to work but I did notice something weird about how Mame rom files are imported. For example, right now I am using a full merged Mame rom set. If I import this whole set, launchbox will import clones appropriately without issue. However, If I try to install one game individually from this same set using the import rom file option, clones for that particular game will not import, no matter what options I select at import. Alternatively, if i use a split rom version of this same game, then the clones will import properly.  Please advise.

 

[Retro808]

6 hours ago, Vader said:

@Jason Carr

Not sure if this is a bug or just how lauchbox is supposed to work but I did notice something weird about how Mame rom files are imported. For example, right now I am using a full merged Mame rom set. If I import this whole set, launchbox will import clones appropriately without issue. However, If I try to install one game individually from this same set using the import rom file option, clones for that particular game will not import, no matter what options I select at import. Alternatively, if i use a split rom version of this same game, then the clones will import properly.  Please advise.

 

I might be misunderstanding but when you add just one game (a single rom file) any clones of it will not show up because you did not add them. You need to also select the clones to add them in.

The individual rom import option actually imports the rom or roms you actually selected. So if you only select one rom LB only imports one. 

This differs from the Full Mame Import option because that feature does not actually import files. It pulls the list of games from the Mame.xaml generated by the version of Mame you use. LB confirms you do indeed have a full set of Mame roms then just generates a list of games based of the xaml so it imports everything related. 

[Vader]

1 hour ago, Retro808 said:

I might be misunderstanding but when you add just one game (a single rom file) any clones of it will not show up because you did not add them. You need to also select the clones to add them in.

The individual rom import option actually imports the rom or roms you actually selected. So if you only select one rom LB only imports one. 

This differs from the Full Mame Import option because that feature does not actually import files. It pulls the list of games from the Mame.xaml generated by the version of Mame you use. LB confirms you do indeed have a full set of Mame roms then just generates a list of games based of the xaml so it imports everything related. 

@Retro808

Thanks for your reply. 

What I am attempting to do, is import one merged mame rom, which has the clones imbedded within the zip file. However, LB does not seem to be able to pick up clones within the zip file on an individual basis. However, like you mentioned, If I use split roms of the same game and select each clone individually along with the parent rom, then the clones will be imported without issue.

I was kind of hoping that LB for windows would work similarly to LB on Android, as LB for Android does pick up clones within a merged rom, when imported individually. 

Hopefully this makes sense.

[Retro808]

1 hour ago, Vader said:

@Retro808

Thanks for your reply. 

What I am attempting to do, is import one merged mame rom, which has the clones imbedded within the zip file. However, LB does not seem to be able to pick up clones within the zip file on an individual basis. However, like you mentioned, If I use split roms of the same game and select each clone individually along with the parent rom, then the clones will be imported without issue.

I was kind of hoping that LB for windows would work similarly to LB on Android, as LB for Android does pick up clones within a merged rom, when imported individually. 

Hopefully this makes sense.

I do not know how Android works with single mame roms as I do not use it. Since the Android build is newer Jason may have added better single rom logic to it.  For LB on Windows importing a single Mame rom LB only imports that file. If you import just tmnt2.zip that is all LB sees. It does not see inside the zip. It does not know its a merged rom and contains the clones.

[Vader]

28 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

I do not know how Android works as I do not use it. Since the Android build is newer Jason may have added better single rom logic to it.  However, the case still stands as I mentioned with LB on Windows. When importing a single Mame rom LB only imports that file. If you import just tmnt2.zip that is all LB sees. It does not see inside the zip. It does not know its a merged rom and contains the clones.

Yea, that is what I noticed. I was just experimenting to see how LB works with regards to clones and merged roms as I am trying to find ways to reduce the size of my mame roms. Especially since a full mame rom set can be over 70 gigs in size. 

Thank for your help

[faeran]

If you are looking to reduce a full set to only a particular set of ROMs, a non-merged set is more what you are looking for. I think if you reduced a non-merged set to only officially "working" games, the set reduces to under 20GB or so.

Using a merged set has a host of issues, one of which you are seeing. LaunchBox reads your file, but cannot determine which set it's from, so has to treat it as one game. Merged sets also have other issues like requiring outside dependency files in order for some games to work, so if you end up moving these files outside of a full set folder, you'll break a lot of your games.

In general, the full set importer ignores what type of set you have and just makes everything work, while the ROM import wizard does not and treats each ROM file as a single game.

[Vader]

12 hours ago, faeran said:

If you are looking to reduce a full set to only a particular set of ROMs, a non-merged set is more what you are looking for. I think if you reduced a non-merged set to only officially "working" games, the set reduces to under 20GB or so.

Using a merged set has a host of issues, one of which you are seeing. LaunchBox reads your file, but cannot determine which set it's from, so has to treat it as one game. Merged sets also have other issues like requiring outside dependency files in order for some games to work, so if you end up moving these files outside of a full set folder, you'll break a lot of your games.

In general, the full set importer ignores what type of set you have and just makes everything work, while the ROM import wizard does not and treats each ROM file as a single game.

Thats probably what I will do. Thanks for your help.