[RESOLVED] How to change MAME rom names?

[larson92]

So, I have had in install MAME as a non-MAME emulator because I have not been able to get Mame to see my toms from within GameEx. (MAME works fine, however, as long as GameEx masquerades as a nonMame emulator.)

The problem is that the roms all show up as their unfriendly filenames, and I want them to show as their actual game names. I've tried making shortcut links to the roms and tried various ways of getting that to work. I've also tried simply renaming the roms--but that doesn't work, either.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[tthurman]

I believe the best approach here is to figure out what is causing you problems using the built in MAME support. Unless you specifically have a reason not to use this, then you are unnecessarily removing many of the features that make GameEx the great frontend it is. If it simply is not seeing your sets, it sure sounds like a path issue.

I can only guess you want to rename things so that you can more easily identify the games while browsing them, but if you have built in MAME support up and running you don't have to worry about this, and you can use Dazzle's guide to custom MAME lists to group all your favorites however you like, genre, manufacturer, etc.

MAME relies on the naming conventions within the sets, renaming them would break funtionality.

Best advice I can give is to post your ini and log so we can see what is causing you these problems

[Adultery]

If it's not a path issue, then turn off verify sets in the MAME settings. It's been causing issues for me since I updated my sets.

[larson92]

I've tried using the MAME functionality within GameEx, but failed to get it to function. Here is the thread--including my config and log:

http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/15484-yet-another-cant-see-roms-thread/#entry135050

All I really need now is to have the roms show up as readable game names.

[Adultery]

So change use database name to 'yes' and select [ARCADE] MAME.

[tthurman]

101, Oh

Is your romset that old too?

Seeing how Adultrey brings a vast amount of experience and knowledge to the table, for sure try his recommendation. I really hope it works for you!

Have you tired running a corresponding version of vanilla MAME, and applying diff patches to alleviate those things that annoy you? Disclaimer: That's so old I don't even know what diff's you would need anymore, but you should still be able to dig them up.

Perhaps give 0.106 a try, as it seems it was the last stable release before some pretty substantial code changes

Aside from that, I belileve your fighting a bit of an uphill battle. Considering how this project continues to evolve, if you draw a line in the sand you can easily be limiting yourself in so many ways.

Good luck!

<edit>

For the record: The only renamer I've ever been aware of is Don's. To my knowledge it never worked for MAME, you just don't rename MAME names. On the surface it seems renaming is nothing but a simple convenience, but the reality is that it wreaks havoc.

[larson92]

Okay, so the use database is now working. Thanks!

Now, I want to be able to edit the game names (because the "ignore stuff between brackets" option no longer works) and a game info window pops up whenever a game is highlighted in the list (which I don't want), even though the "show game info" option is set to NO.

I am guessing that this all happened because I'm now using the database, and that the way to fix it is to edit the database. Is that correct?

Also, I don't have MS Access, so what is the best way to edit the database? (I tried Notepad, but there was too much gibberish to be able to see what to change and how.)

Thanks!

[Draco1962]

Are you referring to the game info popup that displays a brief description with a user rating?

[larson92]

Yes, that is what I'm referring to.

[Draco1962]

In Setup Wizard under Display Settings, change Enable PopUp Descriptions to No.

[larson92]

Thanks Draco, that worked!

Now I plan to use AxBase (http://sourceforge.net/projects/axbase/) or MDB Viewer Plus (http://www.alexnolan.net/software/mdb_viewer_plus.htm) to edit the game names in a copy of the database.

Thanks to Adultery too, for the database help!