[RESOLVED] Changing MAME Versions

[spiffo]

Ok, so I've got my MAME into a right state.

After some problems getting certain games to show up in the All Games category it seems as if the old adage is true and 'Install the version of MAME that matches your ROM Set' is the way to go.

My question is if I downgrade my MAME to 0.183 so that it matches my ROM set what do I need to do in Game Ex Arcade in order that it will list and verify the ROMS correctly?

Do I need to find a Mame info.dat file that matches 0.183 and replace the one in the Game Ex folder for instance?

I'm a little lost, thanks, spiffo.

[Draco1962]

All things must match the version of MAME you are running - ROMS, DATS, etc.! When you make these changes always be sure to Update List upon first boot of GameEx or Arcade Edition after the change.

[spiffo]

Yep that pretty much confirms what I had gathered.

So as far as Game Ex goes, I have changed the following files:

mameinfo.dat

history.dat

These are in the GameEx Arcade Edition\DATA\ Folder

Are there any more that need to be changed?

 

Thanks, spiffo

[Draco1962]

Should be good to go. Have you tried to run and update list yet?

 

[spiffo]

I think catver.ini needs to be matched to the MAME Version as well ?

So I've changed catver.ini, mameinfo.dat and history.dat to the MAME 0.186 versions.

I've installed the MAME 0.186 version and Romcenter reports all my roms are good.

I do an 'Update List' in Game Ex Arcade and basically nothing has changed, there are just about half a dozen that will not show up in the 'All Games' List.

So I've added them to the 'Don't Filter These ROMS' section and re-run the 'Update List' but they still don't turn up in the 'All Games' List.

If I search for them, they are there, but they don't show up in any lists!

I've also tried a custom list, they won't show up in there either!

 

I'm at a total loss, it all looks extremely similar to Asfaleia's Problem from this thread:

 

 

[B2K24]

This is why I prefer to just run the latest version of MAME with the latest ROMs and update the support files myself with custom path to root of my mame folder.

I don't have GameEX verify my roms because I can do that manually with a rom manager like ClrMamePro.

I never have any problems with games not showing up or lists being empty.

 

[tthurman]

Please provide your gameex.ini  and log please.

As B2K24 has already pointed out, if you have "verify roms" set to true, then most certainly set it to no.  It filters anything that isn't considered 100%, which inevitably removes lots of titles that work perfectly fine.

Edited September 17, 2017 by tthurman
Don't forget to update after making changes

[spiffo]

Verify ROMs doesn't show up as an option in the Advanced MAME Settings of the WIzard?

 

But looking through the GameEx.ini file it has been set to False.

GameEx.ini

log.txt

[B2K24]

With your GameEX closed download the full install and manually install it to the same location that you already use. It won't wipe out or delete anything important.

Doing this might fix your issues and then you can make the appropriate adjustments in setup wizard then preform an update list.

 

 

[B2K24]

I looked at your log.txt after I posted and you insert an unknown option -verifysets

Running: C: C:\Emulation\Emulators\MAME\mame64.exe -verifysets -rompath "C:\Emulation\ROMs\MAME" > C:\Users\User1\AppData\Local\Temp\verify.dat

 

This needs to be corrected.

 

I run MAME from my J:\ drive and my command-line argument is valid for MAME usage.

 

Running: cmd.exe /c J: J:\MAME\mame64.exe xexexj -rompath J:\MAME ROMs (T7Z-Merged);J:\MAME CHDs;J:\SOFTWARE LIST ROMs;L:\MAME SOFTWARE LIST CHDs

 

[Draco1962]

Just an FYI he is using the Arcade Edition. I believe you are correct that the -verifysets command line switch needs to be removed. 

[spiffo]

OK, thanks for your help on this, looks like you've spotted the culprit.

Next stupid question is, where is that command line being generated from and how do I remove the -verifysets?

Thanks, spiffo.

[B2K24]

I'm having a look at Arcade Edition right now in an attempt to figure it out. I searched your posted gameEX.ini and didn't find it in there so it's not making sense to me at the moment.

Will keep looking to try and figure it out for you if no one else beats me to it

[B2K24]

@spiffo

I was able to reproduce your problem when my rompath was set wrong in the GameEX AE Setup Wizard. Once I corrected that then the games show as they should based on my settings.

 

Here's a log of my last run but am unsure if it will actually help you.

 

 

 

log.txt

[spiffo]

In the Setup Wizard under Advanced MAME Settings, I don't have the Verify ROMS Option, see attached screenshot.

Could it be that the Arcade Edition just doesn't have the ability to switch that off?

Or is it not that simple?

[tthurman]

It's in your gameex.ini

Quote

AllowImperfect=True
VerifyRoms=False
OnlyRoms=True
NoGameInfo=False
GameFilter=
GameFilterOn=False

Yours is already set to false.

[B2K24]

Did you grab the new GameEX Arcade Install that got updated yesterday? Please grab that and after installing, double check that all paths are set correctly in the Setup Wizard.

Keep in mind you can copy and paste the paths in there as you browse them locally. After that's done then preform an Update List in GameEX Arcade Edition itself.

After I fixed some minor problems from not running the Arcade Edition for a long time, I've noticed my log doesn't use -verifysets anymore. This isn't something you can enable or disable as tthurman pointed out. You just need to be sure your paths are correct in setup wizard as well as rompath option in mame.ini

MAME has it's own internal UI that you can preform a test with to see if it works and launches games without errors without GameEX being involved. To have a successful GameEX experience you obviously want MAME to work without throwing any errors.

Double click mame64.exe and type the name of a game you want to run in the search. If you can run a few games without MAME complaining then we need to figure out the issue with GameEX Arcade edition itself.

Here's my latest log after my paths are set correctly and I installed the latest. You'll notice -verifysets isn't used and what it sends to MAME is MAME approved.

 

log.txt

[spiffo]

OK, yep I've installed v14.91 of Arcade.

I've matched my MAME.ini ROM path to the same as the one in the Setup Wizard, run the update list and still the same problem.

As one example, Space Invaders (invaders.zip) does not show up in the All Games List, it runs fine from within MAME and if I do a search inside Game Ex it shows up and I can launch it and play it. But it just will not show up in the All Games List!

Current files attached:

mame.ini from the mame folder

GameEx.ini

log.txt after an Update List

mame.ini

GameEx.ini

log.txt

[Draco1962]

Can you tell us what version you are using of MAME and same for your ROMs?

[spiffo]

Currently using Mame 0.186

The ROMS have been audited with RomCenter, I used the MAME exe as a source, as you can see from the screeenshot, it tells me they are all good.

[cdbrown]

From the GameEx.ini 

MAMEPath=C:\Emulation\Emulators\MAME\

Shouldn't it be MAMEPath=C:\Emulation\Emulators\MAME without the \ at the end? This is how the paths for other items are written - 

ROMPath=C:\Emulation\ROMs\MAME

AdvanceMAMEPATH=C:\Emulators\AdvanceMAME

[spiffo]

OK, now I feel a bit stupid.

In the Setup Wizard screenshot above, you'll notice a line that says 'Show Vert/Horiz - Auto Based on Display'

That line is filtering out all games that are Vertical Shooters / Scrollers because of my normal horizontal display, no wonder Space Invaders and Centipede didn't show up, DOH!

I still can't get the Update List to not verify the ROMs, if you check the log it always includes -verifysets, but when I checked the verify.dat file that gets stored in users\'username'\appdata\local\temp and found the missing games in there and listed as GOOD I knew it couldn't be a verification problem.

Well anyway, I've learnt loads, thank you very much to everyone who has helped, much appreciated.

spiffo.

[B2K24]

Oh wow, I didn't even know about that feature either. Glad you got it all sorted.

[tthurman]

Thanks for reporting back what you've discovered, certainly enlightened me!

[Draco1962]

I wonder if that was added recently with the GameEx change that generaties mame.xml files for PinballX?

Edited September 19, 2017 by Draco1962
Nope. Has been there all along.