MAME Rom set (merged) import to LB folder

[CapSwey]

Hi people,

I'm on Windows 11 running Launchbox 13.27. I have a MAME 0.87 package from which contains ROMS (merged), ROMS (bios) and the CHD files. I'm aware how to use them regarding folder structure and file name.

The thing is I only want just a part of this package because of space savings and delete all ROMS/CHD's etc. I'm not going to use afterwards. Like not-working titles, majong, hacked games etc. Currently the MAME 0.87 package is outside of LB. I'm trying to create a currated set inside the LB/Game/Arcade/MAME folder. I have used the "MAME Acrade full set" import method. Marked everything the way I want it to and now LB is fetching all bezels, images, videos etc. How do I copy just the roms I'm using to the LB/Game/Arcade/MAME folder? I'm aware I need to add the BIOS and CHD files later on, it's just the ROMS for now and they are in a merged package.

Thanks for helping me out guys! I feel it's a big waste of space to copy the entire ROM set to my LB folder if my plan is to only play a selection of those titles.  

Is this the proper way or does this only work with unmerged sets?
1. Select ALL Arcade roms in LB
2. Tools -> File Management -> Export/Copy ROm Files from Selected Games to New Folder...
3. Tools -> File Management -> Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games...

Edited Monday at 05:49 PM by CapSwey

[JoeViking245]

3 hours ago, CapSwey said:

I have a MAME 0.87 package

For a 22 your old ROM set, I'm curious how many games are actually in there. 
Actually, I just looked.  There's 4605 ROMs.  Only 2492 if you take out the clones. And less than 50 of those require CHDs (which is higher than I thought it would be).  But compared to the current MAME release having 11,761 games, that's a lot more manageable.

 

3 hours ago, CapSwey said:

Is this the proper way or does this only work with unmerged sets?

For a non-merged set, that would work perfectly.

The main issue you run into with a merged set are the clone ROMs.  These are actually physically inside the parent ROMs. But the application path will point to the ROM filename of the clone, even though the file doesn't physically exist. 

This is where MAME knows to look inside the parent ROM file if the clone file doesn't exist. But LaunchBox doesn't know to do that.

So in step 2 of the process, LaunchBox will look for the physical files to copy. It won't "see" the clones and will tell you as much.  Which may not be so bad. As long as MAME knows what it's looking for when launched.

For step 3, I believe LaunchBox again look for the physical files and change only the path for ones it can find.

 

You might be able to do step #2, then for "step 3"... close LaunchBox and manually edit the platform's xml file, doing a bulk Find/Replace of the application paths (changing from the old to the new).

If you imported no clones, that should make it a lot easier.  If you imported clones as Additional Apps, you might still be [somewhat] ok. If you imported clones separately, you still could be ok.  These latter 2 using the might method.

However, this all depends on you being "aware I need to add the BIOS and CHD files later on" as that's the "next issue".  Not all games require a BIOS and/or Device file, so quite a few should continue to work [after "the move'].  Knowing which BIOS and Device files is a feat on its own. But yeah, could just copy them all into the new location and call it good.  LaunchBox won't/can't do that for you.

However you go about it, just don't delete your full set until you know everything's good. Which.. note step #2 only copies the files. So that'll help [just in case ]. 

 

When you think you got it all good and find that a particular game or 3 don't work, there's a plugin called MAME Tools that one of its features is MAME Troubleshooting that can tell you exactly what's going on (or not going on) with a particular game.  e.g. a missing BIOS or Device file or CHD and what file exactly it's looking for.

[CapSwey]

Thank you so very much for your explanation, very helpful. I think I finally understand a bit better how it works haha. By the way, made a typ error, my MAME set is 0.287 ROMS (merged) (2026). 😅

Tried step 2 and then step 3, unfortunately it didn't go the way I hoped. Eventually I've decided to copy the entire ROM and CHD set to LB/Games/Arcade/MAME, which takes about 1TB of space. I was hoping after filtering out the unwanted titles in LB, to be able to identify which ROMS, and more importantly, which CHD files I could delete, but I still haven't found an easy way to do this. Hopefully the MAME Tools plugin you mentions will come in handy for this. WIll give it a go as soon as I'm back from work tonight. 🙏 I also heard someone mentioning clrmamepro, but I'll try the MAME Tools plugin first. 

Thanks again!!! 


 

[JoeViking245]

2 hours ago, CapSwey said:

my MAME set is 0.287 ROMS (merged)

I figured as much. But you said it 2 different times, so thought I'd have some fun.  

 

2 hours ago, CapSwey said:

copy the entire ROM and CHD set to LB/Games/Arcade/MAME, which takes about 1TB of space.

I would hold off on the CHD set and concentrate on just the main ROM set to start. This should whittle you down to about 85GB.  One of the Features in MAME Tools is Which MAME Machines Require CHDs.  It's basically a visual representation of 'is it worth it'.  e.g. Of the just over 1TB of CHDs, you're looking at almost 690 games [comprised of about 1040 individual .chd files] .  About 370 of those games are parents (since the files are so big, probably don't want to mess with the clones).  Of those approx. 370, only 57 are considered "Working".  112 if you look at "Working" and "Imperfect" ('may run but has some minor emulation issues').  Anyway, just food-for-thought.

 

3 hours ago, CapSwey said:

I also heard someone mentioning clrmamepro, but I'll try the MAME Tools plugin first. 

clrmamepro can help you to create/isolate a curated set. IF you can figure out how to use it.  I don't know how to use it, myself. But I've heard great things ('once you figure out how to use it').

Honestly, I think you'd be time-[WAY]-ahead getting a non-merged set (about 151GB) and doing step 2 and 3 and just-be-done-with-it.  Once you whittle out the crap create your perfect curated set, the storage space consumed will be much less.  The Merged CHD set will work just fine. Besides, you don't have a choice. That's the only format if comes in (from reliable sources).  As for the BIOS set you mentioned, with a non-merged set it won't be needed.

Whether you stick with merged set or get a non-merged set, if you can, I suggest keeping the full set in-tact somewhere (external drive? thumb drive?) and then pull out (copy, not move) for your curated set.  You never know when someone's going to point out that Hidden Gem you never knew about and then wished you hadn't deleted the rest of the full set.  Been there. Done that.™  

[CapSwey]

Thank you so much again. I really appreciate your help a lot! 🙏
It's quite a lot of information to process to someone who's quite new to MAME. 😅 I will let everything sink and get to it asap.

Atm all CHD and ROMS on the same drive. I'm going copy the CHD to an external one first, before deleting, like you warned me for. 😉 Then they're always available in case I made a mistake or when those hidden gems arrive I never knew of. ✅
After that I will try to figure out which of the CHD files I actually really need. LB creates a nice playlist with "CHD required" games, but I have a hard time figuring out which game title in which ROM and thus which CHD.

Soooooo the very first thing after copying everything to an external HDD is to install the MAME Tools Plugin and take it from there.

 

Thnx thnx thnx again and I will post an update asap! 🙏 

Edited yesterday at 04:01 PM by CapSwey

[CapSwey]

Extremely happy with your feedback and help JoeViking245... Managed to eliminate 604GB of unnecessary CHD files! 😃

- First placed the entire MAME 0.287 set on an external HDD in seperate folders. In case of future use like you mentioned.
- Copied the ROMs to LB/Games/Arcade/MAME.
- Used the LB MAME Complete Set importer and filtered out what I don't need for this system and downloaded bezels, artwork, etc.
- Installed that amazing user friendly MAME TOOLS Plugin and used it to lookup which CHDs I needed.
- Copied those CHD (in their folders) to LB/Games/Arcade/MAME, next to the zipped rom files.

Thus far everything is working great. Next I'm going to look more into MAME for configuring. Planning to use HLSL filters and set a mouse for lasergun games etc.
After this I'm planning on filtering out more ROMs and their CHDs, for those titles I don't want to use. Like all the BeatMania titles and I saw some Keyboard titles in the list as well.

Back on track, the future looks bright..., at least regarding this LB system  So thanks again for all the help!  

 

Edited yesterday at 08:45 PM by CapSwey