Anyway to move unplayable ROMs?

[Marker0077]

I've come to the realization that a bunch of the ROMs that I have are incorrect, like Samurai Shodown. I don't understand why there would be 2 different copies of this game with the exact same .zip file name but appearently this is not uncommon with MAME games.

My question is, is there a way to move just the games that do not work into a seperate folder, that way only the games that actually work are in the ROMs folder (this gives us the opportunity to look at any defective ROMs)?

This would be a useful program for people using MAME, a program that not only checks the integrity of certain ROM zips, it moves those that will not work & also provides a "safe list" of some sort so that files that may not check out okay will be okay'ed by the user.

[Mike_Fu]

Check out a program called Clearmamepro

http://www.clrmame.com/

The interface is clunky and the documentation is IMO terrible but once you figure out how it works it will do exactly what you are asking. It will scan your roms and it has the option to move (or rebuild) the good ones to one folder and leave the junk behind.

*Also, very important* The first time you use Clearmamepro I would definately recommend backing up your existing roms folder before you start. There are options in Clearmamepro that delete bad roms and bad dumps. You can really screw things up based on what options you select and what .dat files you use.

[Marker0077]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

LATE EDIT:

No clue how to use it & can't find a "New Users" section in any of the documentation that comes with the program, the website, or the forums for this program.

I appreciate you trying to help, I really do, but I need some sort of "getting started" information. Any idea where I can get that?

[Mike_Fu]

Check out:

http://www.mameworld.net/easyemu/clrmameguide.htm

It may be for a few versions ago but I think the concepts are pretty much the same. I am definately not the expert in this subject though so if that link doesn't help you I'd suggest getting help from someone else. If left to my own devices I'd probably blow up your computer by accident.

By the way... any luck with zinc yet?

[Marker0077]

  Mike_Fu said:

By the way... any luck with zinc yet?

I found out that the reason alot of the games that weren't working with ZiNc was because I was missing files out of the roms themselves, alot of which are just the BIOS. Fortunately I found this site which has pretty much every BIOS out there.

To answer your question, I haven't tested ZiNc with any of the working ROMs yet. Currently I'm trying to figure out how to use clrmame & see if there is a way that this program can perhaps insert the BIOS in the ROMs missing them because this whole manually checking them & adding them thing is getting really old.

When I do this installer it's not going to just be an installer, it's also going to be a guide on how to figure things out.

[NIVO]

mame roms are not of the same as zinc roms, unfortunately. It would be nice if they were, but mame either uses or doesnt use roms found in each set and vice versa with zinc. As for clrmame its very simple actually. Post if you have more questions and us folks may be able to get you going right. Cheers.

[Marker0077]

  NIVO said:

mame roms are not of the same as zinc roms, unfortunately.

What do you mean exactly? Does that mean certain ROMs that MAME can not run due to missing BIOS, ZiNc can run because it preloads the BIOS?

From what I've heard, ZiNc can not run anything that MAME can not. All ZiNc does is run them better - that's it. So I'm a little confused on this whole "MAME ROMs are not the same as ZiNc ROMs" thing.

  NIVO said:

As for clrmame its very simple actually. Post if you have more questions and us folks may be able to get you going right.

Oh yes, I have questions regarding that.

#1) How do I get it started properly? What I did was I pointed it to my MAME32 folder & .exe & I moved a copy of my ROMs to the MAME32\ROMs folder (this way I still have backups).

#2) How do I have clrmame seperate MAME ROMs from non MAME ROMs?

#3) Is there a way for clrmame to add missing files to ROMs, such as BIOS? I have alot of files that just need the coh-1000c file or the coh-3002 file, etc; etc. Can clrmame add these files to the ROMs that require them?

#4) I had clrmame rebuild the ROM database. Before, I had 206 ROMs (meaning zip files) with 202 working (through GameEx, I think around 100 work). After the rebuild, I have 505 ROMs (meaning zip files) with 208 working (haven't tested through GameEx filter update). Can you explain to me what that's all about? How can I have 300 more zip files & 6 more games?

LATE EDIT:

#5) What are samples?

[NIVO]

ok to run clrmame here is what i do(note some others may run a few ways different, but ill run you through as best i can)

first lets say you have 2 folders #1 is your rom archive(what you already have)

#2 is your new roms and other roms you may have downloaded.

Now Archive(#1) is here for example: C:\mameroms

newroms(#2) is here: C:\newroms

first thing you do is of course download a new version of mame, and put it in C:\mame

now open up clrmame and click create, point the folder to C:\mame\mame.exe

name the profile something like 106u11

once you set it, highlight it and hit load\update, it will now parse mame for correct rom info

now you see the clrmame taskbar window

click settings and hit add(we are now adding a rom path) which is your rom archive C:\mameroms

and hit ok

now hit merger and just set "You want to create" to merged sets, and hit ok

now hit rebuilder, you have to set 2 paths here make the source C:\newroms(as this is what you are building from)

now for destination use C:\mameroms (as this is your archive where you keep your fixed romsets)

ok now under "merge options" select merge sets, and under "options" check Rebuild 'nodump' ROMs and then close that window

now hit scanner on main toolbar window

under "You want to scan" only check sets and roms

"you prefer" merged sets

"no dump handling" check create missing and check show missing

under "check fix" check mark everything and then click checksums, chekcmark run analysis and fix if possible, then close that small window

now you just hit scan, and let it scan your roms, if it asks you stuff like"would like clrmame to fix this or fix that or delete this, or rename", just answer yes to all as these things are needed for it to repair them correctly. A note here, you cannot use "Fastscan" until you have atleast scanned once, then you may use fast scan to check items.

after the scan has completed, you will see a list either rom(s) or set(s) missing, you simply follow this list and grab any rom or set from where you get your roms, and put them in your newroms folder.

then all you have to do is hit the Rebuilder button from main taskbar, and hit rebuild again. this rebuilds your new roms into your archived roms. Once the rebuild is complete, you can use fastscan to see an updated list after the rebuild, if you see no missing roms, you are finished and may delete anything in your newroms folder, because all your correct and good roms are now in C:\mameroms. if it is not complete, you just need to follow the scanned list and download what u need until it shows 0 missing, then you are done.

I wrote this as plain as possible, just follow the steps and you are good to go.

This method is for merging of romsets(some may not agree with this method, but it works best for me, and keeps romsets neat and tidy)

As for your other question about samples, samples are used by games that actuall had sound sample chips on a pcb board. These chips were dumped to file format so that you may have sound for that particular game. They are not required to run a game, but if you do not have them for a particular game that needs them for sound, you will have no sound.

Good Luck, just follow the steps and take your time and you will have your roms fixed up in no time.

[Marker0077]

Thanks. I'll be sure to add all this to the guide once I get everything going.