mattel aquarius and mame

[d8thstar]

anyone have any luck getting a cart or cass loading with a commend line in mame?

im just learning about software lists, im hoping that will help.

thanks for any input.

[launchretrogirl2562]

I think I have this running.
Will let you know later when I can check my settings.

[d8thstar]

thank you retro… retro saves the day, again!

[launchretrogirl2562]

Ok, here we go.

For the aquarius there are two software lists u could try out.

aquarius_cart
aquarius_cass

Easiest to run are mostly always the flop and cart, cause they mostly don't need anything more than just the correct commandline

In my LB I have the aquarius_cart

My game dir:

D:\LaunchBox\Games\Mattel Aquarius\aquarius_cart

If u decide to copy the zip's to another directory, always make sure to use exact same naming as u will find in the mame software lists.
In this case...use the 'aquarius_cart' folder. It really doesn't matter what the higher level folder is called...just that the zips are in the same folder as what is known in mame.

Then...mame itself.

Each mame software list after running a game on it will create an ini file. That will always happen, even if u don't run a game.
So through command line :

mame.exe aquarius

That will create an aquarius.ini in your mame root folder
It is always wise to just boot the system first...cause that will do the check to see if the system boots and if it finds your bios files (it default looks for them in the roms directory in mame folder)
If mame.exe [systemname], or in this case 'mame aquarius' already throws an error...at least u then know that u first have to locate the correct bios and copy it over to your roms directory

further Items of importance in the ini

rompath                   "roms;D:\LaunchBox\Games\Mattel Aquarius"

keyboardprovider          dinput

For rompath...that is always seperated with a ; for each new path.
In my case,...it has roms...(which is the roms directory in the MAME directory) and it has my main folder for the aquarius_cart files. Basically telling mame...look for either aquarius_cart, or aquaris_cass from within that folder.

If your bios files are in another directory, then your rompath would change

Lets say u decide to keep all MAME bios files in following directory D:\Mamebios and your aquarius mame SL zips are in D:\Games\Mattel\aquarius_cart

then your rompath would be :

rompath                   "D:\Mamebios;D:\Games\Mattel"

But for portability, best to just keep the mame bios roms in the mame roms directory.

For aquarius u will need to look for the following bios files

the second one...that must be from a merged set. Cause I don't have that in mine. 
Anyway, copy those zips to your roms directory

If done all this...and in a command window running mame aquarius boots the aquarius...then u are good to go!

If u want to kind of get any idea of the correct command line.
U can always check what mame itself says by using following commands:

mame aquarius -listmedia

mame aquarius -listslots

With the listmedia...u know mame aquarius would expect -cart, -cart1, cass, cass1...(these can vary)
Sometimes -cart will work, other times it needs -cart1...u will have to test that

For aquarius however it is -cart1

To run the game aquariworm u would use following command :

mame aquarius -cart1 aqworm

If u set up everything as I described above...then mame does not need a fullpath to the game, no .zip, no quotes. Just the romname without extension

so in launchbox for the emulator it would have this

and in associated platforms

 

Try this first and see how u manage.
Cause there is still so much to tell of course...but this is the basis upon which u build for getting other mame SL's running.

Edited Friday at 11:26 AM by launchretrogirl2562

[JoeViking245]

Regarding ROM location, amending mame.ini's rompath line and softlist BIOS files:

If you plan to add more MAME softlist consoles and/or computers to your collection, I suggest placing their respective ROM folders all under one main folder, like "softwareLists". 

e.g.  D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\ 

D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\fmtowns_cd\
D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\fm7_cass\
D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\fm7_disk\
D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\aquarius_cart\
D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\aquarius_cass\

 

This way you will only need to edit the rompath one time and can continue to add subsequent softlists with less worry.

 

Since you're venturing into MAME's softlists, you probably have an Arcade fullset.  Which in turn holds all the BIOS files needed for softlists.

e.g.  D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\MAME_non-merged_fullset\ 

 

Note: Both example paths are within MAME's folder structure to ensure its' and LB's portability.  If portability isn't a concern, put 'em wherever you want. Just be sure to add their relative [to mame.exe] or absolute paths, below.

 

Using the example paths, mame.ini's rompath line will look like:

rompath   "roms;roms\softwareLists;roms\MAME_non-merged_fullset"

Call it a once-and-be-done-with-it approach.

Now when you add more softlist folders under /softwareLists/, you only need to worry about getting the command line parameters correct. 

MAME will find the respective ROMs and the necessary BIOS and Device files.  This covers both Arcade and softlists.

[d8thstar]

you two are too much! thank you guys, sincerely!  Machine is up and running and games are launching.

was this machine keyboard only?  i'm not seeing any joystick setups in the mame menu.

thanks guys, again.

EDIT:  I am noticing games that have (basic) in the title aren't loading (mame tries to start and exits).  is it one of these siuations where a basic cart also needs to be installed in a different slot?

 

EDIT 2:  seems to be tape images, CAQ's?  i tried -cass in mame, mame starts, press enter to start, i get to a basic OK screen.

Edited Friday at 07:11 PM by d8thstar

[launchretrogirl2562]

Those aren't games :

Bootloader BASIC v1.0

Bootloader BASIC v1.1

Bootloader BASIC v2.0

Bootloader BASIC v2.1

U should either hide them from your platform or delete them from launchbox.
Not every zip in a software list is a game. That can also vary, some have tools, utilities, programs,...

Next time, use Joe's plugin to import your mame SL roms

That way, u will have the correct name for the rom u imported into LB.
This just needs to know the location of the HASH directory. U can find those in your mame\hash folder.
Point it to aquarius_cart.xml

Also,...always check those xml files, cause sometimes it will tell u if there are extra things to do. Like as u say, import or load an extra rom into a cart slot.

Many software lists are keyboard only, but some will already have joystick controls mapped.

If they don't,...then u either do it game by game, or u use a set of five configs which u can use in games (ofcourse u need to know/find out which cfg setting to use), or u may get lucky and all games use sort-off the same keys, in which case u can do with one cfg file.

U can tell mame which cfg file to use by passing it -cfg_directory "d:\mame\cfg\aquarius\az_config.cfg"
(as an example)

 

[launchretrogirl2562]

I haven't configured aquarius_cass yet.
From what I can see they are mostly game compilations with each game in different cassette slots.

Seeing as I haven't got this running in my LB I am afraid I cannot advice in this.
Cause cassette games always require that little bit of extra attention to getting them running.

Most things would require a lua script to make it somewhat manageable.

[d8thstar]

thank you so much!  lots to learn on this end.  maybe it's NOT my cousin who's an idiot

if i may ask, how many carts do you have for the aquarius?  i'm sure it's a low number, just checking if i'm in the ballpark.  thansk again retro!

[launchretrogirl2562]

That would be around 35 carts.
And everybody has to start somewhere. Once u get used to these systems, there is overlap with others and it will get easier.

I have several mame SL's running now and still adding more.