How to update game list faster from Gameex Arcade "Solved"

[JudgeFredd]

Hi i'm running the latest Mame, and Gameex Arcade (as of 07/12/2016), i was wondering if there is a way to make updating games list faster, it takes forever and seems to tjek up to or over 6000 titles, even when i only have to roms in my rom folder. Is it possible to edit some list (xml?) file or something to speed up this process?

The reason is i would like to quickly test if new roms are recognised and working in gameex, i know i can test the roms with mamegui or mame, but that's does not verify if gameex recognises and are able to run the game (in my very short experience).

I know i'm supposed to attach my ini and log files, but since this is a general issue not applicable to a certain version, i choose not to do this.. Hope thats allright.

[Tom Speirs]

Its a known thing to me and unavoidable right now. The verify is forced in GameEx Arcade to keep options simple and also because GameEx needs to know if games are fully working and not just best available. So right now unfortunately its a known limitation.

Headkaze has developed a better solution for GameEx Evolution and maybe I can utilize that in the future.

[JudgeFredd]

Thx. For a fast reply! :-)

Sp just to clarify, my original question, theres not much difference, in the time it takes to update the games list, when i have 700 Roms in my folder to when i have only 2 roms in folder, is this correct for the current version?

[Tom Speirs]

its the MAME verify that takes the time unfortunately. Its down to MAME itself. I would think it would be quicker with less roms though. Again we have a faster routine for Evo which can hopefully make it into regular GameEx later.

[JudgeFredd]

Thx again! :-) I will try with regular Gameex. :-)

Btw. it is faster with only 2 roms, but it still takes something like 15-39 minuttes to complete.

[Tom Speirs]

One other tip. Use a version of MAME compiled as arcade only. You can use HeadKazes famous MAME compiler for this.

I expect it will be considerably quicker like that. I would try it.

[B2K24]

I used GameEX Arcade Edition with baseline MAME 0.180 from mamedev.org and the update list only took about 5 minutes here on my end.

[JudgeFredd]

That seems very fast indeed, it's the same setup here though, so not sure why yours is so fast.

What do you mean by "baseline", on the newest releases dl page in can choose between mame0180b_32bit.exe or mame0180b_64bit.exe, on the previous releases page, the latest version is 1.79..

My PC Specs:

AMD FX-4300 Quad-Core @ 3.81GHz (standard)
2 x 120GB SSD
16GB RAM
Geforce GTX 1060 (3GB)
Windows 10 64bit

I'm not running much else at the time i update.

After 5 minuttes its at 25% reading "listinfo.dat" there are 2 roms in the roms folder, nothing else have been copied to Mame or Gameex folders.

[DazzleHP]

Bottom line is turn Verify off. I could go into so many technicalities here as to "why" you should, why it's even an option etc. But I won't. Just turn it off, go back and hit "Update List" , wait a bit.

 

[JudgeFredd]

Sounds like good advice! Where do i turn verify off??

[B2K24]

As Tom has stated you can't turn verify off with Arcade Edition. You can only disable it in regular or vanilla GameEX.

 

Anyway, after some thinking on this, I've reached this conclusion. My MAME romset and CHDs are 100% complete with everything properly named as MAME expects.

I know how to use ClrMAMEpro importing the MAME binary to remove un-needed files while making sure everything is correctly named.

 

I'm assuming here that this helps during the verify operation as it checks or run commands, see's that everything is correct, then moves on very quickly.

[Tom Speirs]

The main thing I have found that affects the speed of the MAME verify is storage speed..

If the files are on a good local disk, yes you can do it in 5-10 mins.

[JudgeFredd]

Ahh. Thx. i had tried "regular" gameex but not sure if i had disabled "verify", not sure i'll, ever understand what ClrMAMEpro is, but i'm allready somewhat closer to getting my problem solved, thx. to varius replies and searching other posts, i do believe that putting everything in the folders suggested while running the gameex setup 1 st. time, e.g. c:\emulators\mame32 helps somewhat, i also thinks that theres something to be gained by having everything setup correctly first time you run the setup, since subsequent updates somehow seems to pick up stuff (lists/games) from earlier runs, even though i have reinstalled both mame and gameex to new (and clean) folders.

I've setup a very nice and perfectly smooth PinballX system, guess i was hoping the Arcade setup would be as "easy". :-)

I know that theres a lot i don't understand concerning mame in general, so i'm sorry bout my "noob" statements. :-)

BTW! Black Night rules on pinmame! :-)

@Tom Speirs my disk  are both SSD, so thats not the issue. :-)
 

To summarize i think maybe some file or registry have been saved on my computer, from the first time i ran the game update, and maybe this file needs to be deleted to "reset" my setup, also i have allready increased the speed somewhat, not sure exactly how, but putting files in various folders as suggested in the gameex wizard, seems to have increased the speed, i think i'm down to maybe 15-30 minuttes..

 

I Will make some more test (monday when i've sobered up, from the weekends christmas parties), monitoring the log closely, as this has allready proven very usefull.

If i find a solution i will post it here! :-)

[tthurman]

As you play with it more and more, it will become old hat in no time. 

clrmamepro just looks for pieces that are missing, and sees if it can "borrow" them from other titles.  In the most basic way of looking at it, this "borrowing" is what makes merged sets possible.  I'm a firm believer that clrmamepro requires a lot of repetitive motion, and patience.  I certainly haven't come anywhere near mastering it, and I'd say it's a fair guess most people have not.  IMO It's not the most intuitive piece of software, but it is the best at what it does.

Stay safe!

[u-man]

The most impact on updating the mame list, is the CPU. I have three different PCs and the oldest, takes the most time. You can speedup the process significantly (about 30-50%), by using tools like Romlister, unfortunately those tools are not easy to use for a novice. Romlister creates a list that filters out the games you dont want, games that dont work etc.

You can use that list and exchange it with the original list from the MAME source, that you only download, if you are planning compiling a version for yourself, which again is a complicated process for a novice. GameEx works that way, that it uses exactly this MAME list for comparing with your romset. The original MAME list from baseline MAME is very, very huge and the main reason, why it takes so long for updating.

I know, this doesnt help you much, but i hope it explains it a little bit better for you.

PS: "baseline mame" just means using the original MAME version from the developers, as there are many different MAME versions outthere .

[DazzleHP]

I personally, think that "Verify" should be removed from GameEx altogether. Not even have it as an option/feature. I could go off on a tangent here as to WHY, but i think most you know the reason.

[tthurman]

or perhaps set to "no" by default.

[DazzleHP]

16 minutes ago, tthurman said:

or perhaps set to "no" by default.

That would work also, and at least give the option to use it for those that know how to.