Jump to content
LaunchBox Community Forums

Launchbox opening wrong version/clone of games


winter0402

Recommended Posts

Hey all. Long time listener, first time caller. I have been pouring through forums over the last few weeks as I finish work on an arcade cabinet build. This issue I believe is a settings problem with my software. One snaffoo was that I have windows 8.1 on my machine so I had to download the older 13.8 version of Launchbox for it to run. Once I got that working I downloaded a full non-merged romset (0.261) which was approx 110 gigs from the place where typically recommended. I also let launchbox download mame when importing, and the MAME version is also 0.261 and matches. I did the initial setup to match the youtube how-to.

Here's is where my noob-ishness comes in. I know there are parent and clones of games within the full romset. At first I thought I got a bad romset, but in trying different versions of the games many do work. For example, X-men. I can open and play X-men (4 Players ver EBA) direct through MAME, but the other 5 various clone options (i.e. 2 Player ver AAA) don't work. When I try to play the game direct through MAME I can find and pick the right version so it loads. When in Launchbox, when you select xmen and hit play it doesn't load. If I right click and select play version, I can pick the right one from the dropdown and load but that is awful clunky. I want to have the working version open by default in launchbox and bigbox. Is there a setting I am missing? I downloaded a non-merged romset so I could go in and delete all the non-working versions but that would take forever and can't be the simplest method. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you got the rom set from Pleasure dome then all roms will work. Did you get the set from that site?

When you say that it does not play when launching through LB what exactly happens? Do you get an error or just it tries to load then goes back to LB?

The clunkiness, I take it that this does not happen when running though Mame directly, correct? It could be a frequency issue when running through LB, but if you had LB set up Mame then it populated some command lines as defaults. One thing I found with a couple builds that had this similar issue is the command line for -waitvsync was the culprit. Reading Mame's documentation this can have differing affects on OS/Video driver builds. Try removing that specific piece in your Mame set-up in LB and see if the issue goes away. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Retro808 said:

If you got the rom set from Pleasure dome then all roms will work. Did you get the set from that site?

 -Yes, its the non-merged 0.261 full set from pleasuredome.

When you say that it does not play when launching through LB what exactly happens? Do you get an error or just it tries to load then goes back to LB?

-No error, it tries to load, black screen for a second, then back to LB.

The clunkiness, I take it that this does not happen when running though Mame directly, correct? It could be a frequency issue when running through LB, but if you had LB set up Mame then it populated some command lines as defaults. One thing I found with a couple builds that had this similar issue is the command line for -waitvsync was the culprit. Reading Mame's documentation this can have differing affects on OS/Video driver builds. Try removing that specific piece in your Mame set-up in LB and see if the issue goes away. 

-The clunkiness isn't screen lag, I probably described poorly. I mean, the process of having to right click and select a different version is a clunky and cumbersome way to select the games. I did try your tip to remove the waitvsync command line anyway, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

You said they should all work, so I'm still wondering if there's an issue with the romset or how it's set up. Not all games work. Many dont, and the ones that do have clones or other versions that don't work. For instance, the very first game on the list of all games, 1 on 1 Government, doesn't work at all. Even in Mame, it says rom/disk images for the selected system are missing. But with a full non-merged set I don't see how that is possible. I didn't touch the romset at all, it is still zipped and I haven't done anything to the folders. I didn't even rename it after download.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Under the LB menu in File Management there is an option to consolidate ROMs for Arcade. It mentions combining roms into a single game based on file name. Wondering if I should do this to try and combine the different versions to create one working version of each game? I want to try adjusting things, but don't want to make matters worse either. It will be harder for anyone here willing to help if I have adjusted the recipe too much..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, winter0402 said:

Hey all. Long time listener, first time caller.

Is this an Art Bell reference!?

I had a merged set, so I dealt with it differently.  I had to take the correct files out of the merged zip and put it in a new zip file named what the correct romname was.  Like 2 player TMNT, and 4 player TMNT.  But all I had to do was point launchbox to the correct rom, and it launched it.  So I'm not sure what could be happening as long as it's pointing to the correct rom.  I think X-men and TMNT were the only games I did that with. 

Edited by damageinc86
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ha it was a talk radio joke, so indirectly it was. Figured some humor before begging for help seemed right.

In LB even galaga doesn't open unless I right click and select a different version by trial and error. It makes me think my non-merged set has files in the wrong folders or mislabeled. I went ahead and downloaded the full merged set last night. I will give that a go today.

What would happen if I select that option to combine the versions in LB?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, winter0402 said:

Ha it was a talk radio joke, so indirectly it was. Figured some humor before begging for help seemed right.

In LB even galaga doesn't open unless I right click and select a different version by trial and error. It makes me think my non-merged set has files in the wrong folders or mislabeled. I went ahead and downloaded the full merged set last night. I will give that a go today.

What would happen if I select that option to combine the versions in LB?

how big is your romset?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, winter0402 said:

What would happen if I select that option to combine the versions in LB?

Dont do that, that tool is not for mame use, you cant mess with mame files, they come exactly as they need to be, all .zip files.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, winter0402 said:

In LB even galaga doesn't open unless I right click and select a different version by trial and error. It makes me think my non-merged set has files in the wrong folders or mislabeled.

With your non-merged set, you have all the ROM files in one folder. Don't you?  They should be.  And if obtained from a 'reputable' source, file names should be good.

Galaga (parent ROM 'galaga.zip' [Namco Rev. B]) does also require 2 device files 'namco51.zip' and 'namco54.zip'.  But even the clones (right-click, play version...) require at least namco51.  Most clones require both.  Those 2 device files should [already] be in the same folder with all the MAME ROMs.  In one folder.

If you switch to a merged set, the device files [the files within namco51.zip and namco54.zip] will be inside galaga.zip.  As well as files for the 6 clones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The non-merged set is 110gb, and from pleasuredome which sounds like the best source. Yes all files are in one main folder, and all still zipped. 

I will take a screenshot of the folder and using galaga as an example, I'll take a screenshot of that subfolder to make sure it looks correctly packaged. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That would make sense. The odd thing is when I start downloading the torrent it shows the file size is 137 but after it downloads and shows complete it's only 110. I'm not sure why the file size would change. What is the correct size for the merged version?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update for those following along at home. The lightbulb went off when the size difference in the files got brought up. Don't know why I didn't think of it before, but it was an issue with my torrent download. The merged set I downloaded was the proper size and complete. Once I switched to that romset (moved the folder into launchbox/games and changed the directories in mame.ini) everything works like a charm. The issue was some of the files were created and "visible" but not fully downloaded in the other non-merged torrent somehow. Now I am up and rocking. Thanks to all who helped with feedback and advice!

My USB encoders and monitor came in today, so I'll be attempting to set it all up this weekend. I got an old Primal Rage cabinet I'm converting. The CRT was bad and the board was previously converted with an old 386mhz running linux many years ago. Decent build I imagine at one point, but it's definitely had its time so I got it for free! I'm gutting everything inside and going to be using my old Thinkpad T430s on a docking station running Bigbox as the heart, with a 25" LCD monitor and the original 2 joysticks and 8 buttons from the cabinet on USB encoders. I'm going to try and wire in the original cabinet speakers and marquee light if I can. Should be a good setup once its finished!

  • Game On 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...