[RESOLVED] Updating MAME - not all games listing (Nintendo Game & Watch)

[whatisk]

It has been quite a while since looking at updating anything within GameEx, however upon seeing Nintendo Game & Watch are now within MAME I decided it was time to update.

I originally had MAME 0.184 installed and running. I downloaded a merged ROM set for 0.214 along with the extras (snaps, etc). I installed MAME 0.214 to a new folder and set it up and copied the ROM files in, etc.

I then renamed my old MAME folder and renamed the new one to match what the old one was. Went into GameEx and did an update. It went through the process of reading MAME game list, catver, etc. However once complete and I go into all games, the Game & Watch ones do not appear. If I exit and run MAME and find them in the list there, they open and play without issue.

I've gone into the settings and gone through and turned off any filters and then gone into GameEx and run an update again with the same results. 

I also made a custom list just for the Game & Watch games and when I go into that it just says there is nothing to display.

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction of what I may need to do or what I have missed to get these displaying. It is also making me wonder what else may not be showing up that is new between the versions I've run.

And one final thing, is there any update on being able to read in the newer formatted history.xml file? It appears as thought the dat file is no longer produced. When looking through the forums I did see a question about it back in October 2021 but am not sure if there is anything further.

Cheers.

[Draco1962]

I am assuming that you are using the integrated MAME. You may need to run MAME as a separate emulator configured to launch the specific ROMs for that system.

[whatisk]

Yes, sorry. This is using the integrated MAME configuration within GameEx.

Why would I need to create MAME again as another emulator just for those games when they show up in the MAME GUI list, listxml when created, etc? If it's the only way to do it, then it's something I will need to do, but don't understand why they wouldn't show in the main/integrated lists.

Is there a doco or something or how to configure as a separate emulator? Though I would imagine it would be similar to the other emulators I've setup.

[Draco1962]

The why is that the focus if the integrated MAME is for Arcade ROMs and not so much the various electromechanical device, consoles, and other systems.

One thing you could try but I cannot guarantee that it will work is to put the Game & Watch ROM names in the Do Not Filter these ROMS section of the integrated MAME in the Setup Wizard.

Otherwise you can point the emulator setup to the same as the integrated MAME.

[whatisk]

Ah okay. Makes sense.

I have now tried putting the Game & Watch ROM names in the Do Not Filter but no luck unfortunately.

I will look at setting up MAME as an emulator rather than using the integrated option and see how that goes.

EDIT:

Created a new folder just for the Game & Watch game ROMs and setup as an emulator. Needed to create my own map file to get the names displaying correctly rather than as the ROM name, but appears to be okay. A little clunky but it works.

[Draco1962]

Glad that you got it sorted! Thanks for reporting back!