HELP with rom updates PLEASE

[imagamejunky]

Guys please help me out. I am seriously pulling my hair out in frustration trying to find CLEAR instructions on the proper way to update all of the needed files for mame.

I have a working version of mame .152 with working roms for .152. I have followed plenty of old instructions on using clrmamepro to update. I successfully used clrmamepro to update the roms I already had from .149 up to .152. I had to do it in multiple steps using rom update packs I found. I now have over 2900 mame roms that are now available/selectable in gameex.

This mame business is a CRAZY mess of confusing tutorials and contradicting information with lots of dead links and horrible spammed websites in many NON English languages. I thought setting up my virtual pinball cab with VP and FP was frustrating at times, but this is just flipping ridiculous!!

Please point me in the right direction.

Can I update from .152 to .155 in ONE step? I can't find rom update packs for .152 to .153 or .153 to .154 etc etc.

Do I need to find separate bios updates along with the rom updates or are the bios updates included in the rom update packs?

And what about the CHD updates?

This is so confusing..

What are you gurus doing to update your games when new mame versions are released?

Feel free to PM me with any info that you don't want posted.

Any helpful information would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Junky

[B2K24]

This is not an issue with GameEX itself and I believe it too be against the rules to mention ROM sites on these boards.

The updates from (v0.153 to v0.154) were 20 GB if you factor in the ROMs + the CHDs

All I can really suggest is using this guide --> http://www.mameworld.info/easyemu/clrmameguide/clrmame-guide.html

Create a profile with the latest MAME binary which is 0.155 at the time of this writing.

- go settings and add your rompath there

- go scanner and scan + fix with all fix options checked

Then the rebuilder can be extremely useful if you have ROM sources to rebuild into your destination to complete your set.

Again this has nothing to do with GameEX and so I suggest you respect this forums and it's rules. Maybe googling can help.

[u-man]

Hello imagamejunky,

That is the best tutorial i know, for clear mame pro:

http://www.cphsolutions.f2s.com/guides/cmprotutorial.htm

it has all the info you need . dont hesitate, it can be frustrating sometimes.

CHDs are games that used laserdiscs or hdd´s to display in game content, therefore they are rather huge. I only have a view (i.e. Carnevil), as the most of them dont play well enough, to enjoy a game (imperfect so to say). So I wouldnt look for a complete CHD setup, at least not now, because if you want to update CHDs, then you will see the real hell . Start with roms and try to understand the logic behind it, then you can still expand with CHDs .

Best wishes, good luck

[tthurman]

FWIW, I find rebuilding sets unnecessarily maddening too, but apparently once you grasp the concept, it's relatively easy. Since this isn't something you do everyday, I find myself reviewing the links above often for a refresher. Just know that what you are doing is finding bits and pieces of one game that are missing, by "borrowing" the same bits and pieces from another. Many of these bits and pieces are identical, and therefore are shared among many different titles, and in the insane size these sets grow to, some of them just get lost in the shuffle. Your just rebuilding to add them where they are missing, and then checking to see how you did.

Once you learn the ropes so to speak, you'll start to find your way around, and when you do, you will find some alternative methods that you may find much more appealing.

[DazzleHP]

"fixing" a full romset takes a bit of know-how and practice, mainly because just like everything else you need to know the software you are using. And like tthurman mentioned, with MAME it just doesn't happen often enough for you to get used to things, which makes keeping up particularly difficult. The longer you wait between revisions the harder it becomes.

So might i suggest, this time you acquire yourself a full .155 romset, build yourself a 0.155 mame.exe and start from there. Give yourself a chance From that point on then you can apply update patches as they are released, using clrmamepro or RomCenter or another rom manager and get used to how to do it. That way in may be 2-3 major revisions you'll have a good grasp on things, ready to fix it up good

[imagamejunky]

I appreciate the help guys.

Thanks

Junky