Launchbox import missing clones

[aeroaggie2003]

I've enjoyed tinkering with Launchbox and getting my arcade cabinet up and running.  Troubleshooting and figuring this stuff out is part of the fun for me.  But I've hit a snag that's got me stumped and I'm hoping someone can help me out.

At a high level, my problem is that my partner loves Ms. Pacman but is only used to the fast version common in most arcade machines.  The base Ms. Pacman in my merged mame set (0.257) is the normal version, and is too slow.  There are multiple clones in the rom zip, and a subset initially showed up under the rightclick -> play version menu...but I can't figure out how to get launchbox to make the speed hack version available.

I've isolated the ms. pacman rom into its own directory, and I can run the speed hack version directly from Mame using this specific file.  So I know it's there, and I know it works.

I have tried importing in launchbox, by directory, by individual file, using "arcade", "windows", and "other" as a platform.  I've tried using the isolated folder ROM and using the ROM in the merged directory location. I've tried "force importing duplicate games", as well as the other custom options to see if they have any impact.  I've checked "import all clones" and unchecked all of the "skip" checkboxes.

The only thing that pops up in "ready to import" now is Ms. Pac-Man.  And for whatever reason, it brings zero clones with it - there isn't even an option to right click -> play version any longer.

But again, I can run Mame outside of LB and execute the speed hack version from the directory that LB refuses to import from.

There are various posts on this topic going back years, and it seems like "force importing duplicate games" and "import all clones" is a common and obvious solution.  I'm definitely a Launchbox noob, so since it's not working, there must be something that I'm missing here.  Is there a stupid mistake I can fix?  Alternatively, how do I force Launchbox to import a ROM? Is the import wizard the only way?

[aeroaggie2003]

I figured out a workaround, if anyone else is stuck on this type of problem.  It's a bit messy, and I'm not sure which step finally fixed it.  I don't want to screw it up by trying to track it down, though.  Here's what I did:

I tried manually adding a game (tools-import-manually add).  I have the mspacman rom in an isolated folder and confirmed to work in MAME, so I used that path in "metadata-additional apps". I set emulator to MAME and fiddled with a few other settings that didn't seem to do much.  However, it still runs only the base game in launchbox.

I edited the rom zip file to remove all subfolders related to clones I didn't want.  I then used the clone pacfast.6f file, moved it into the main folder in the rom zip, and renamed it to replace the existing pacman.6f file.  I then deleted the final mspacmnf clone folder and rezipped everything into a new mspacman.zip with no clones (but my new pacman.6f).  I don't know what I'm doing, so this was a wild guess.

I isolated this new franken-rom zip in the folder that I manually added above, but launchbox was still running the base mspacman game. I double checked everything - the path is correct in the "edit metadata/media" under "additional apps" and under "launching".  So I tried right-clicking on the icon in launchbox, then to file management, and it took me to the wrong folder.  Curious.  I double and triple checked, again, and I'm obviously a noob here but the "file management-open game folder" was opening a different folder than the ones associated with the game when I manually added it.  

I used tools-file management-change roms folder path for selected games and manually changed the path THERE to the isolated folder, and voila.  It works.

There may be an easier, righter way to work this out, but some combination of remaking the rom with only the clone and lovingly beating launchbox into submission on paths seems to have worked good enough to get my lady her ms pacman "like it is in the arcade". 

[Retro808]

Not sure on the exact steps you took to do the initial import, but I just tested a new load of Mame .268 roms against Mame version .268 using the LB Full Mame Rom Set importer and there was no issue with the speed hack rom being imported. The only option from the default I changed was to uncheck the "Skip Hacked" option. 

 

[aeroaggie2003]

If I ever want to start over, I'll definitely keep this in mind!  I don't remember the initial import of the full set but even if I screwed it up, the options in the import wizard indicate that I can force it to import specific ROMs - including clones and hacks - even if they are duplicates.  That's not how it worked for me, and I'm (obviously) not experienced enough with the software to know why.