addressing those failing roms

[MrJimmy]

Hi Everyone,

I've just completed the basic build of my gorgeous cabinet, a 1979 Asteroids clone (Meteoroid) cocktail cab which had no guts, so I added a Core 2 PC with 2GB, a CRT PC monitor and an IPAC giving 1 stick and 6 buttons a side. Plus lots of TLC, cuts and bruises etc for me....

I've jumped all in with GameEx, its a cracking front end and a choice for life I think. Just one question at this stage, now I've got the basics up, the two top games on my list are failing me (Mario Bros and Tempest). I have the roms but running MAME direct reports a missing ROM or CHD. Is this something I can dig into further? Not asking where to get ROMs, just how I go about addressing these sorts of issues.

Thanks in advance,Jim

[fRequEnCy]

Hi Everyone,

I've just completed the basic build of my gorgeous cabinet, a 1979 Asteroids clone (Meteoroid) cocktail cab which had no guts, so I added a Core 2 PC with 2GB, a CRT PC monitor and an IPAC giving 1 stick and 6 buttons a side. Plus lots of TLC, cuts and bruises etc for me....

I've jumped all in with GameEx, its a cracking front end and a choice for life I think. Just one question at this stage, now I've got the basics up, the two top games on my list are failing me (Mario Bros and Tempest). I have the roms but running MAME direct reports a missing ROM or CHD. Is this something I can dig into further? Not asking where to get ROMs, just how I go about addressing these sorts of issues.

Thanks in advance,Jim

Perhaps your roms don't match your version of MAME. They may need to be rebuilt or your simply missing a ROM as the error suggests.

[simbamame]

Try running MAME outside of GameEx and check and see if the game/ROM is listed if it is it will also tell u weather its compatible with the version of Mame you have as fRequEnCy stated. If its not compatible try a different version of mame. Latest version is 0.142u6 grab it here

[MrJimmy]

Thanks guys, I think the next step for me is to try older MAME versions, but how far back should I go? Can I use MAWS or search mamedev release notes to work out which version I need? I've tried but I'm not properly sure how to read this info. I'm pretty tech savvy (ex programmer) but it's a mountain of stuff to wade through!

or, perhaps I should just grab 2 or 3 sensible revisions and set these up for problem roms.... what do you guys do?

[fRequEnCy]

Thanks guys, I think the next step for me is to try older MAME versions, but how far back should I go? Can I use MAWS or search mamedev release notes to work out which version I need? I've tried but I'm not properly sure how to read this info. I'm pretty tech savvy (ex programmer) but it's a mountain of stuff to wade through!

or, perhaps I should just grab 2 or 3 sensible revisions and set these up for problem roms.... what do you guys do?

It's hard to say. It would require research to see what version your roms are in. Basically looking in each rom file and see what the specifics of it's contents. There are no tools to tell you this. IMO it's not worth it. Just rebuild your roms to the latest version of MAME or the version you intend to use. Rom management tools will aide you in this. ClrMAMEPro and RomCenter are among the popular ones as well as newer ones popping up in the community.

[MrJimmy]

It's hard to say. It would require research to see what version your roms are in. Basically looking in each rom file and see what the specifics of it's contents. There are no tools to tell you this. IMO it's not worth it. Just rebuild your roms to the latest version of MAME or the version you intend to use. Rom management tools will aide you in this. ClrMAMEPro and RomCenter are among the popular ones as well as newer ones popping up in the community.

sounds like the right step I'll try those and see how I get on - thx fRequEnCy