What in the name of MAME?

[RIP-Felix]

Thanks guys I'll check out thoes instructions first and post back my results later. If I can create a data profile from the exact mame list my version of mame is using then It should work better. We will see...

As for the roms, I made apoint to copy them to another directory first, so I just deleated the ruined oned and replaced them with the originals. So there is no need to retrieve the backups clr makes (I woulden't trust it anyway, at least not yet).

EDIT:

I am having the same problem. There seem to be bits and pieces of rom sets that it copies and moves around to new sets that I never even had. Honestly, I'm expecting it to just compair the roms I have to the data file and spit out the problems with only thoes. But instead I have to scroll down the entire list and find one of the games I have to find out what it thinks is wrong with it. If I hit fix with only 1941 in the folder, it spits out 1941, 1942, 1943, bublbobl, and suprglob. If I start mame none will work. That was if I selected I perfer "merged sets" in the scanner options. I will also get different results if I select, say "split sets", which spits out an incomplete set of 19 roms! This makes me think that this manager is designed to fix only a complete set of roms. If you had every rom in existance then maybe it would be able to move them around to the right place and make complete sets, but if you have just one your screwed. I don't know, maybe that's what the rebuilder is for. I still have more reading to do...

***

I have done alot more testing, reading, fooling around, and copy/paste/delete cycles. I found that romcenter seems to be producing better results than clrmamepro. To be fair, I just ran it over my entire collection of games, then went 1 by 1 in mame to test for functionality. I added the fixed roms sets to a folder containing working roms and tested in 147 to be sure. I imagine they would both work the same, but I think romcenter is more user friendly. It seemed to spit out the results that I was expecting. In any case I think I'm getting the hang of it. I can see why people collect the entire rom sets for mame. The more you have, the more files the manager has to look at to find a missing file and fix sets with. I think I prefer merged sets, one 1942.zip file is easier than 1942.zip, 1942a.zip, and 1942b.zip cluttering up my folder and rom lists in either gameex or mame. Is there any reason I should not choose to fix my roms into merged sets (I ask because the default is split sets, and wasn't sure why)?

[RIP-Felix]

Ok, I'm getting along better now. I found it easier to get the games working by using the version of mame they were verified for. Also, I'm not trying to update them. If I can get it working in one version that is the version I will use for that game. I can always group the mame versions in Gameex. So that is what I plan to do.

3 questions:

1) How can I make GameEx display the game names, other than making my own map file? I think someone mentioned it was possable.

2) When I use the group option and select the MAME logo to be displayed, it does not display for the group. It will work for an emulator not in a group, just not a group of emulators. I'm using the arcade logo right now for the group, which works fine. I was just wondering if the mame logo not appearing was a bug.

3) Is there a way to tell GameEx not to display certain Games in the list? So for instance, if only want to display the 1941 USA and not 1941 world. 1941.zip is the parent rom to 1941u.zip so both need to be in the folder to get the US version to work, but I just want the USA version displayed In GameEx.

[Chaos.Tiki]

OK I think I missed something here, what are you using to let you know what MAME roms are verified for what MAME versions?

[Tempest]

Most likely ClearMamePro (CMP). Romcenter is another option, and there is one more that I can't think of right now.

[RIP-Felix]

I have both romcenter and clrmamepro.

Ok, lets move past the weird problems I was having before, say post #26 and after is still relavent as far as mame goes.

Lets say I want to update my rom set. If I had a full set of 0.143 roms and I want to update them to 147for example. The following are the steps I would take, this is just what I think Ihave learned so far, so please critique if necessary.

1. Obtain an update set of roms, say 143 - 144. Is it possable to go strait to 147 or do I have to do it incrementally?
2. Copy them into the folder that contains the 143 set. (Here is where I'm a little foggy, I read that you need to delete all the files that are zero bites in size. I'm not sure to what they are reffering to. I don't see how there would be any that end up being zero in size. unless they mean I'm somehow suposed to merge the new updated files into the archives with the old files and deleate the roms that are now unnecessary. If that is the case I assume ther is a way to do that in romcenter or clrmamepro that I'm not familiar with yet.)
3. Then use the fix function to scan and fix all the roms that can be fixed and to remove the unnecessary files.
4. Lastly you will be left with an updated set, correct?.
5. I understand there will still be some game without certain roms that need to be "obtained" and added to the archive for that rom to work. Do I simply open the archive in 7z and copy/paste it in then run fix on that game to verify it?

Now to a more relavent example. A person who only has a hanfull fo games they want to update or get working:

1. Make sure that the bios file for the game is in the roms folder and is a *.zip file
2. Obtain the appropriate sample file and place in the samples folder (if needed for your game)
3. Obtain the appropriate *.chd for your game (if any) andplace in a folder with the same name as the game, and located in the roms directory.
4. Scan and fix the roms using the data file from the version of make that you want it to work in.
5. Obtain the missing roms that clr or romcenter reports are needed. Then somehow merge the new roms into the archive.
6. Then sacn again to verify that it is fixed/remove unnecessary files.

It took me quite a while to get this far, I'm supprised I'm still interested. Please help me get over the last few hurtles, I think I'm getting close.