No scanlines when using HLSL shaders in MAME in BigBox, scanlines work when starting MAME manually

[Reaper978]

I'm using this HLSL shader:

And when launching MAME games from BIgBox everything works fine except that there are no scanlines.  I guess it's good that everything works fine when using MAME manually but I would prefer if it all worked in BigBox.  Hopefully somebody can guide me in the right direction with this, thanks.

[JoeViking245]

Thanks for verifying that it works in MAME first, outside of LaunchBox/BigBox!   In LaunchBox, edit your MAME emulator.  In the Default Command-Line Parameters, remove -nofilter.

[Reaper978]

Thanks for the tip.  Unfortunately the scanlines still aren't appearing.  I tried it in LaunchBox too with the same results.  Maybe this has something to do with it:

There are multiple MAME emulators.  I don't really know why and I hesitate to delete any because I don't want anything to go wrong.  That being said, I tried removing -nofilter from the Default Command-Line Parameters in each of the three emulators and the problem is still there. The MAME emulator that is on the F: drive is where I originally extracted the 0.261 version of MAME.  Maybe there is some kind of conflict happening. It's worth noting that the MAME on the F: drive is the MAME I am using that is displaying the correct HLSL shader with the scanlines and everything.

Edited April 28 by Reaper978

[JoeViking245]

I didn't know you could have more than one emulator with the exact same Name ("MAME 0.261").  Granted they have different paths.  Anyway...

Looking at the one you have on the F: drive, you have it (the command-line parameters) stripped down to the 'bare essentials'. Good!

Since you have 4 (2?) choices for MAME, edit (in LaunchBox) one of the games you know shows the shaders in stand-alone MAME [but doesn't show them in LaunchBox].  Go to the Emulation section and make sure the chosen emulator is "MAME" (and not "MAME 0.261").

[Reaper978]

OK, so I went to the emulation section on one of the games and chose MAME rather than MAME 0.261. When I went to launch the game, it said “The file you specified for the emulator application path was not found”. So in the emulation section, I hit edit. I noticed that the “application path” was different than the actual application path which is “F:\MAME\mame.exe”. I just noticed this. So I changed it to the actual MAME path but when I launch the game, it doesn’t actually launch it. It just shows the regular MAME screen, as if I had opened MAME manually. It’s a step in the right direction I suppose. Thank you for your help.

[JoeViking245]

You might think about removing all but 1 of your MAME emulators in LaunchBox.  You can keep the physical files (for now?) in their respective folders (if you want). Just remove them in Manage Emulators.

In LaunchBox, edit the one remaining "MAME" emulator.  I'll assume it'll be the one that's "stripped down to the 'bare essentials'".  Double check that the Application Path it's pointing to the correct "mame.exe" file, in the correct folder.  Preferably the one you know for sure is showing the scanlines when launched from the MAME UI.  

Go into the Associated Platforms section and verify that the "Arcade" platform (assuming that's what you named it) is in there.  Check the box for Default Emulator (only. No other boxes checked).

Click OK to save.  If prompted with [something like] "Make this the default emulator...", "Do you want to change the default emulator for all Arcade games...", click Yes.  Test a game.

 

If it's still not working, share some screenshots with us.  Edit your MAME emulator (in LaunchBox).  Share a screenshot the of the Details section and one of the Associated Platforms section.  Now edit the game you know works (shows the scanlines) in stand-alone MAME but not when launched via LaunchBox.  Share a screenshot of the Metadata section, the Launching section and the Emulation section.  (5 screenshots total)

[Reaper978]

[JoeViking245]

@Reaper978  Un-check the box to 'Remove space...'.  That's why when launching a game, it just going to MAME's UI.

Everything else looks as it should.  Let us know if that fixes the issue.

[Reaper978]

Alright! Perfect!👍 it works perfectly now. THANK YOU!😊 You are a true pro.