MAME skips games when importing

[Joe35car]

So just curious why does launchbox skip some roms when importing? Does it have to do with not being in the database? 

[JoeViking245]

47 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

So just curious why does launchbox skip some roms when importing?

There are several possible factors involved here. The main one being the filters you may have left checked during the Arcade Import Wizard.

Got anything specific that was skipped?

 

51 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

Does it have to do with not being in the database? 

No.

[Joe35car]

Not home now but some games have the same name and are completely different. Parent roms. Sometimes it will merge thinking it's a clone or not even import it. Also some don't even imported at all. I'll try and give a example later. As for importing I only uncheck prototype adult and a few others. Shouldn't block the specific games that were not imported. . Off topic but launchbox still imports gambling games like slots even though that is checked. 

Edited yesterday at 05:46 AM by Joe35car

[Joe35car]

Oh one more thing. Since launchbox doesn't use the parent import but goes by region. I do USA. Now sometimes I go back and change certain games back to the parent. When I update mame again and choose USA import will it change the ones back that I did before? 

[Joe35car]

D-day ddayjlc and dday

Off the wall has two different games. Would scrape games incorrectly. Had to go back and pick the correct one from drop down menu when importing artwork.

Cannon ball has 2 different games. Had to fix correct artwork in drop menu metadata

Commando has 2 different games. Had to fix correct artwork in drop menu metadata

Argus 2 different games. Same as above with artwork.

Tetris didn't import all. It would combine some as clones.

Black Hole has 2 different games. I believe only one was imported

Freeze has 2 different games. Same as above with artwork

There is more but you get the idea.

I can't recall games that were not imported. Was just a couple.

Edited yesterday at 09:48 AM by Joe35car

[JoeViking245]

6 hours ago, Joe35car said:

launchbox still imports gambling games like slots even though that is checked. 

Some Fruit games (aka slots) are also included in with Casino games. So if you un-checked Fruit Games, you'll get (some) slots even though Casino Games was checked.

3 hours ago, Joe35car said:

Black Hole has 2 different games. I believe only one was imported

A quick search on the Arcade Database (not to be confused with the LaunchBox database) shows 8 variants of Black Hole. Some of which are for pinball machines, so we can throw those out.  But of the remaining, only 1 is considered playable (blkhole).  The rest are all marked as Not Working.  Did you leave Skip games unplayable in MAME checked?

3 hours ago, Joe35car said:

D-day ddayjlc and dday

On my test, both of these were imported.  For this example, are you referring to your subsequent media scraping issue?

3 hours ago, Joe35car said:

I can't recall games that were not imported. Was just a couple.

Your topic referred to games being skipped when importing.  Is your issue/concern more-so towards Arcade/MAME games scraping the wrong media?

 

Sticking to the original topic, games skipped when using the MAME Arcade Import Wizard are wholly dependent on the filters that were checked/un-checked.

If you leave Skip games unplayable in MAME checked, games that are marked (by MAME) as Preliminary (and a few other potential criterium) will be skipped.  You may be able to "play" a Preliminary game in MAME. But their emulation is just 'not up to snuff'.

If you check Skip Clones Entirely, if the parent game is unplayable but a clone of that game is playable, it won't import.  Note: Prioritizing Regions and/or Variant may take precedence over this. If you need confirmation on that, let us know.

There's also the potential issue of same game, different titles.  If you're missing Thunder Zone, look for Desert Assault.

 

To be able to work towards resolving the issue of some games not being imported, we need to know who the offenders are and also the filter selections you used.  

[Joe35car]

I keep skip games unplayable checked.

both black hole games work (blackhol). This is marked with issues but payable. Many games are marked like this and still get imported.

Also what about other question when I import by region USA and go back to some games and change the rom to launch. When I update MAME and import again do I have to manually change these games again if not using the USA roms? Or will it keep my settings for those roms?

 

Example if imported under USA region. Game like B rap boys will make the USA version (brapboyspu) by default. If I change it to (brapboys) as default and update MAME and import again will it remember to keep that setting?

Edited 22 hours ago by Joe35car

[Joe35car]

Seems like choosing world as region leans more towards MAME parent roms.

[Joe35car]

OK just came across a game not imported with same name.

Inferno

minferno and inferno. The inferno was not imported and is marked with with issues but playable. It should be imported like other games marked the same way.

Think I had it reversed but either way only one is imported.

I had to fool LB when importing minferno choosing another emulator besides MAME or it doesn't import. Then go back and change it back to MAME.

Edited 21 hours ago by Joe35car

[Joe35car]

Another example:

Ironman Ivan Stewart's Super Off-Road . Has two different parent roms but merges them together.

offroad and offroadt are merged but are parent roms.

[Retro808]

minferno is listed by Mame as "Preliminary" that is why LB did not import it. Even though it is technically playable that preliminary tag is one LB will not import.

For Super Off-Road just checked and my last import has offroad and offroadt imported as separate games since offroadt is the Track-Pack version. This is from Mame .268 import. Even checked a cabinet that has not been updated since Mame .240 and imported separate as well. 

 

[Joe35car]

So my question is why do other games marked preliminary get imported? Who decides this MAME or the Launcbox database?

[Joe35car]

Launcbox didn't import these roms either when choosing USA region

kov and kovplus. Both are parent roms and marked working.

 

Because of being preliminary?

 

How about change the way it imports. It's either marked working or not. Not in between. Just how MAME does it.

Edited 20 hours ago by Joe35car

[Retro808]

9 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

So my question is why do other games marked preliminary get imported? Who decides this MAME or the Launcbox database?

Not sure. Would need to know what other games marked as preliminary got imported for you. LB typically only imports games marked as "Good" and "Imperfect" in the Status. 

Also the LB Database has nothing to do with what gets imported for any platform. The database is only for metadata completion. For Mame, if you are using the Mame Full Set import option LB reads the Mame.xaml which comes from Mame's data and compares it to the check boxes you selected (or unselected) in the import wizard.

11 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

Launcbox didn't import these roms either when choosing USA region

kov and kovplus. Both are parent roms and marked working.

 

Because of being preliminary?

 

Both those are listed as preliminary by Mame. 

Honestly I am not sure why Preliminary is not imported, but Imperfect is. There are games marked as "Preliminary" but have Emulation as "Good". That knowledge is definitely above my pay-grade. 

Compare Knights of Valor and Bucky O'Hare

http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/dettaglio_mame.php?game_name=buckyea&search_id=1

http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/dettaglio_mame.php?game_name=bucky&arcade_only=0&autosearch=1

 

[JoeViking245]

1 hour ago, Joe35car said:

kov and kovplus. Both are parent roms and marked working.

Because of being preliminary?

How about change the way it imports. It's either marked working or not. Not in between. Just how MAME does it.

LaunchBox's basis for what's considered playable/un-playable comes direct from MAMEs Overall status.  Not any of the subsets (emulation, graphics, color etc.).

If it's red (i.e. kov and kovplus), it doesn't get imported (unless of course certain filters are un-checked).   

If it's yellow (i.e. kov2p) or green (i.e. kov2nl), it will get imported.

 

[Joe35car]

Thanks I'm just trying to wrap my head around this and importing process lol. Yes I use the full mame import tool when I upgrade my MAME to the newest versions. 

[Joe35car]

1 minute ago, JoeViking245 said:

LaunchBox's basis for what's considered playable/un-playable comes direct from MAMEs Overall status.  Not any of the subsets (emulation, graphics, color etc.).

If it's red (i.e. kov and kovplus), it doesn't get imported (unless of course certain filters are un-checked).   

If it's yellow (i.e. kov2p) or green (i.e. kov2nl), it will get imported.

 

Well I use mame exe but say using arcade64 it's marked yellow. Not sure about mameui. 

[Joe35car]

Could we add a check box to import preliminary games in future launchbox builds? 

[JoeViking245]

2 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

Well I use mame exe but say using arcade64 it's marked yellow. Not sure about mameui. 

Different forks process the ROMs (and emulate) differently.  So maybe they do seem to work better in them, or they're not as particular as the Official branch of MAME (which is what LaunchBox defers to).  

The good news is ROMs that, for whatever reason don't import, you can easily drag and drop those "just a couple" of ROMs right onto LaunchBox and import them that way.

[Joe35car]

5 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

Different forks process the ROMs (and emulate) differently.  So maybe they do seem to work better in them, or they're not as particular as the Official branch of MAME (which is what LaunchBox defers to).  

The good news is ROMs that, for whatever reason don't import, you can easily drag and drop those "just a couple" of ROMs right onto LaunchBox and import them that way.

That's what I've been doing but it's a long process going alphabetical order. How about adding a preliminary check box when importing? I mean there's an option for hacked games. 

Edited 18 hours ago by Joe35car