MameFilePaths - Revision history

Butter100fly at 09:27, 30 April 2024

2024-04-30T09:27:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:27, 30 April 2024
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	=== Using mame.ini's rompath variable ===		=== Using mame.ini's rompath variable ===
	One final thing ~~its~~ important to understand is MAME's rompath and MAME's ROM types. Since you have setup MAME so that it works outside of QuickPlay, you'll be aware of MAME's configuration file: Mame.ini. QuickPlay needs to read this Mame.ini - This currently works if you have a mame.ini/mess.ini in the same directory as the mame executable QuickPlay found in an EFind (or if the ini file is in system/mame/ or system/mess realtive to the RetroArch executable, in the case of RetroArch). One of the first settings in Mame.ini is 'rompath' - that's the setting this is ALL about:		One final thing it's important to understand is MAME's rompath and MAME's ROM types. Since you have setup MAME so that it works outside of QuickPlay, you'll be aware of MAME's configuration file: Mame.ini. QuickPlay needs to read this Mame.ini - This currently works if you have a mame.ini/mess.ini in the same directory as the mame executable QuickPlay found in an EFind (or if the ini file is in system/mame/ or system/mess realtive to the RetroArch executable, in the case of RetroArch). One of the first settings in Mame.ini is 'rompath' - that's the setting this is ALL about:

	[[File:Mame_ini.png\|500px]]		[[File:Mame_ini.png\|500px]]

Butter100fly at 12:56, 29 April 2024

2024-04-29T12:56:21Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:56, 29 April 2024
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	== How MAME in QuickPlay works ==		== How MAME in QuickPlay works ==

	First you scan a MAME XML as a one-off thing into QuickPlay, creating a subset of that massive file (plus info from any ini files in your mame extras folder) that QuickPlay uses to print things with. You then tell QuickPlay to print a set of Arcade Romdata files and/or a set of Software List Romdata files, and QuickPlay uses that file it made when it scanned the MAME XML. These romdatas are 'printed', once, in ~~QuickPlays~~ data folder as romdata.dat files and displayed in QuickPlay. If you want to change anything in them, its easiest to just delete them, change some option, and print all of them again (you will lose any customisations you made to the romdatas though, if in doubt, diff them)		First you scan a MAME XML as a one-off thing into QuickPlay, creating a subset of that massive file (plus info from any ini files in your mame extras folder) that QuickPlay uses to print things with. You then tell QuickPlay to print a set of Arcade Romdata files and/or a set of Software List Romdata files, and QuickPlay uses that file it made when it scanned the MAME XML. These romdatas are 'printed', once, in QuickPlay's data folder as romdata.dat files and displayed in QuickPlay. If you want to change anything in them, its easiest to just delete them, change some option, and print all of them again (you will lose any customisations you made to the romdatas though, if in doubt, diff them)

	So once these romdata files are printed, no more interaction with MAME happens until you actually play games.		So once these romdata files are printed, no more interaction with MAME happens until you actually play games.

Butter100fly: note its me who can fix other-game-names other-systems running, not you!

2022-03-24T21:59:32Z

note its me who can fix other-game-names other-systems running, not you!

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:59, 24 March 2022
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	So if you want to run a game that has mame calls in the 'parameters' in the romdata, change its emulator to the one you want, and clear the parameters (or to do this temporarily: right click the rom and clear the parameters before running, and set the MAME emulator back afterwards).		So if you want to run a game that has mame calls in the 'parameters' in the romdata, change its emulator to the one you want, and clear the parameters (or to do this temporarily: right click the rom and clear the parameters before running, and set the MAME emulator back afterwards).

	~~There are~~ two potential fixes to this: either/or make these device calls at the emulator level (so we call the 'CART' version of the NES Softlist emulator in MAME) or make it so parameters don't carry over if you select a different emulator (there would probably have to be an exclusion for 'another mame emulator' though...)		In the long term, I have two potential fixes to this I might be able to make: either/or make these device calls at the emulator level (so we call the 'CART' version of the NES Softlist emulator in MAME) or make it so parameters don't carry over if you select a different emulator (there would probably have to be an exclusion for 'another mame emulator' though...)


	[[File:mametool_arcade_filepaths.PNG\|1000px]]		[[File:mametool_arcade_filepaths.PNG\|1000px]]

Butter100fly: /* I tried to run a MAME romdata game with 'parameters to run' in a non-MAME Emulator, but it didn't like the command-line args passed */

2022-03-24T21:57:51Z

I tried to run a MAME romdata game with 'parameters to run' in a non-MAME Emulator, but it didn't like the command-line args passed

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:57, 24 March 2022
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	=== I tried to run a MAME romdata game with 'parameters to run' in a non-MAME Emulator, but it didn't like the command-line args passed ===		=== I tried to run a MAME romdata game with 'parameters to run' in a non-MAME Emulator, but it didn't like the command-line args passed ===

	There is a small conflict with the 'other-game-name' functionality: mame has a problem where the same 'mamename' has been used on, effectively, more than one game for the same system, so if we call a game by its softlist 'mamename' only, we might run the wrong rom (eg: the disk Famicom version of Super Mario 2 instead of the NES cart version). in order to fix this, I hardcoded further loading instructions (namely which device to load from) in the 'parameters to run' against only those items which conflict. However the 'parameters to run' in QuickPlay run irrespective of which emulator you choose to run a Romdata item with. Now if you want to run it with a different ~~mame~~ system, which is entirely valid, you might want this, but if you want to run it outside of MAME, you definitely dont.		There is a small conflict with the 'other-game-name' functionality: mame has a problem where the same 'mamename' has been used on, effectively, more than one game for the same system, so if we call a game by its softlist 'mamename' only, we might run the wrong rom (eg: the disk Famicom version of Super Mario 2 instead of the NES cart version). in order to fix this, I hardcoded further loading instructions (namely which device to load from) in the 'parameters to run' against only those items which conflict. However the 'parameters to run' in QuickPlay run irrespective of which emulator you choose to run a Romdata item with. Now if you want to run it with a different MAME system, which is entirely valid, you might want this, but if you want to run it outside of MAME, you definitely dont.

	So if you want to run a game that has mame calls in the 'parameters' in the romdata, change its emulator to the one you want, and clear the parameters (or to do this temporarily: right click the rom and clear the parameters before running, and set the MAME emulator back afterwards).		So if you want to run a game that has mame calls in the 'parameters' in the romdata, change its emulator to the one you want, and clear the parameters (or to do this temporarily: right click the rom and clear the parameters before running, and set the MAME emulator back afterwards).

Butter100fly: /* I tried to run a MAME romdata game with 'parameters to run' in a non-MAME Emulator, but it didn't like the command-line args passed */

2022-03-24T21:57:20Z

I tried to run a MAME romdata game with 'parameters to run' in a non-MAME Emulator, but it didn't like the command-line args passed

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:57, 24 March 2022
Line 84:		Line 84:
	=== I tried to run a MAME romdata game with 'parameters to run' in a non-MAME Emulator, but it didn't like the command-line args passed ===		=== I tried to run a MAME romdata game with 'parameters to run' in a non-MAME Emulator, but it didn't like the command-line args passed ===

	There is a small conflict with the 'other-game-name' functionality: mame has a problem where the same 'mamename' has been used on, effectively, more than one game for the same system, so if we call a game by its softlist 'mamename' only, we might run the wrong rom (eg: the disk Famicom version of Super Mario 2 instead of the NES cart version). in order to fix this, I hardcoded further loading ~~instrucitons~~ (namely which device to load from) in the 'parameters to run' against only those items which conflict. However the 'parameters to run' in QuickPlay run irrespective of which emulator you choose to run a Romdata item with. Now if you want to run it with a different mame system, which is entirely valid, you might want this, but if you want to run it outside of MAME, you definitely dont.		There is a small conflict with the 'other-game-name' functionality: mame has a problem where the same 'mamename' has been used on, effectively, more than one game for the same system, so if we call a game by its softlist 'mamename' only, we might run the wrong rom (eg: the disk Famicom version of Super Mario 2 instead of the NES cart version). in order to fix this, I hardcoded further loading instructions (namely which device to load from) in the 'parameters to run' against only those items which conflict. However the 'parameters to run' in QuickPlay run irrespective of which emulator you choose to run a Romdata item with. Now if you want to run it with a different mame system, which is entirely valid, you might want this, but if you want to run it outside of MAME, you definitely dont.

	So if you want to run a game that has mame calls in the 'parameters' in the romdata, change its emulator to the one you want, and clear the parameters (or to do this temporarily: right click the rom and clear the parameters before running, and set the MAME emulator back afterwards).		So if you want to run a game that has mame calls in the 'parameters' in the romdata, change its emulator to the one you want, and clear the parameters (or to do this temporarily: right click the rom and clear the parameters before running, and set the MAME emulator back afterwards).

Butter100fly: /* What is all that extra console output when the romdatas are printing if I choose to print filepaths? */

2022-03-24T21:56:36Z

What is all that extra console output when the romdatas are printing if I choose to print filepaths?

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:56, 24 March 2022
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	</ol>		</ol>

	So when there's some helpful info about other files you could download in order for the romdata item we just printed to run or be fully played, at the moment the best we can do is print that to the console when printing a RomData file, if you are able you can open your mametool_logfile.txt and scrape that info out after doing a print and work out some way to copy the necessary files locally so that synctool will work for you (for ~~bios~~ files, just making sure you have the full 'MAME Roms' on your hard-disk if at all possible will mean that SyncTool will have all the other files it needs to just pull down the CD/DVD images on their own and work fine) .		So when there's some helpful info about other files you could download in order for the romdata item we just printed to run or be fully played, at the moment the best we can do is print that to the console when printing a RomData file, if you are able you can open your mametool_logfile.txt and scrape that info out after doing a print and work out some way to copy the necessary files locally so that synctool will work for you (for BIOS files, just making sure you have the full 'MAME Roms' on your hard-disk if at all possible will mean that SyncTool will have all the other files it needs to just pull down the CD/DVD images on their own and work fine) .

	[[File:mametool_softlist_log_reminders.PNG\|300px\|center\|border]]		[[File:mametool_softlist_log_reminders.PNG\|300px\|center\|border]]

Butter100fly at 21:56, 24 March 2022

2022-03-24T21:56:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:56, 24 March 2022
Line 76:		Line 76:
	</ol>		</ol>

	So when there's some helpful info about other files you could download in order for the romdata item we just printed to run or be fully played, at the moment the best we can do is print that to the console when printing a RomData file, if you are able you can open your mametool_logfile.txt and scrape that info out after doing a print and work out some way to copy the necessary files locally so that synctool will work for you (~~really~~ just making sure you have the full 'MAME Roms' on your hard-disk if at all possible will mean that SyncTool will have all the other files it needs to just pull down the CD/DVD images on their own and work fine) .		So when there's some helpful info about other files you could download in order for the romdata item we just printed to run or be fully played, at the moment the best we can do is print that to the console when printing a RomData file, if you are able you can open your mametool_logfile.txt and scrape that info out after doing a print and work out some way to copy the necessary files locally so that synctool will work for you (for bios files, just making sure you have the full 'MAME Roms' on your hard-disk if at all possible will mean that SyncTool will have all the other files it needs to just pull down the CD/DVD images on their own and work fine) .

	[[File:mametool_softlist_log_reminders.PNG\|300px\|center\|border]]		[[File:mametool_softlist_log_reminders.PNG\|300px\|center\|border]]

Butter100fly: clarify synctool extra logging

2022-03-24T21:52:18Z

clarify synctool extra logging

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:52, 24 March 2022
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	</ol>		</ol>

	So when there's some helpful info about other files you could download in order for the romdata item we just printed to run or be fully played, at the moment the best we can do is print that to the console, ~~so ifor now i've printed them out, so f~~ you ~~lare~~ able you can open your mametool_logfile.txt and scrape that info out after doing a print and work out some way to copy the necessary files.		So when there's some helpful info about other files you could download in order for the romdata item we just printed to run or be fully played, at the moment the best we can do is print that to the console when printing a RomData file, if you are able you can open your mametool_logfile.txt and scrape that info out after doing a print and work out some way to copy the necessary files locally so that synctool will work for you (really just making sure you have the full 'MAME Roms' on your hard-disk if at all possible will mean that SyncTool will have all the other files it needs to just pull down the CD/DVD images on their own and work fine) .

	[[File:mametool_softlist_log_reminders.PNG\|300px\|center\|border]]		[[File:mametool_softlist_log_reminders.PNG\|300px\|center\|border]]

Butter100fly at 21:48, 24 March 2022

2022-03-24T21:48:34Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:48, 24 March 2022
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	[[File:mametool_arcade_cli_reminders.PNG\|200px\|thumb\|left\|arcade is printing]]		[[File:mametool_arcade_cli_reminders.PNG\|200px\|thumb\|left\|arcade is printing]]
	[[File:mametool_softlist_cli_reminders.PNG\|200px\|thumb\|right\|softlists are printing]]		[[File:mametool_softlist_cli_reminders.PNG\|200px\|thumb\|right\|softlists are printing]]
	One point of printing filepaths is so we have named files to pass to QuickPlay's Synctool, but consider this: a romdata entry can contain only one filepath, and so Synctool only syncs one file, which isn't how MAME really works. With Mame there can also be:		One point of printing filepaths is so we have named files to pass to QuickPlay's [[Synctool_Guide \| Synctool]], but consider this: a romdata entry can contain only one filepath, and so Synctool only syncs one file, which isn't how MAME really works. With Mame there can also be:
	<ol>		<ol>
	<li> BIOS files / device files / parent files - needed for the rom to run</li>		<li> BIOS files / device files / parent files - needed for the rom to run</li>

Butter100fly at 21:46, 24 March 2022

2022-03-24T21:46:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:46, 24 March 2022
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	== tips ==		== tips ==
	<ul>		<ul>
	<li>If after all this, QuickPlay STILL can't work out what a rompath is going to be, it will fallback to not really printing a rompath and instead ~~print~~ './qp.exe' as the filepath, the reason for that is that QuickPlay does need a valid file in the filepath ~~option to run anything~~, so its own file is the one file we know will definitely exist on your filesystem - it means QuickPlay doesn't know a filepath for this rom (bear in mind some arcade roms actually have no file of their own as they are embedded, so even if you have turned on the printing of filepaths here, you still may see this sometimes in the path column</li>		<li>If after all this, QuickPlay STILL can't work out what a rompath is going to be, it will fallback to not really printing a rompath and instead printing './qp.exe' as the filepath, the reason for that is that QuickPlay does need a valid file in the filepath column in a RomData line, so its own file is the one file we know will definitely exist on your filesystem - it means QuickPlay doesn't know a filepath for this rom (bear in mind some arcade roms actually have no file of their own as they are embedded, so even if you have turned on the printing of filepaths here, you still may see this sometimes in the path column)</li>
	<li>Whatever you do for naming your rompaths, be aware that some chd names, particularly Software List CHD names, can be very long. Minimise your path name length to allow for these (e.g.: prefer 'D:/Mame/Roms' over 'D:/OldGames/AllIndividualEmulators/MAME Assets/Content Files/MAME Gamefiles/MAME ROMS' or you will blow Window's MAX_PATH limit)</li>		<li>Whatever you do for naming your rompaths, be aware that some chd names, particularly Software List CHD names, can be very long. Minimise your path name length to allow for these (e.g.: prefer 'D:/Mame/Roms' over 'D:/OldGames/AllIndividualEmulators/MAME Assets/Content Files/MAME Gamefiles/MAME ROMS' or you will blow Window's MAX_PATH limit)</li>
	<li> Filepath printing is supported for RetroArch but there are a large number of factors and potential setups going on (in particular RetroArch require that the bios file for a non-arcade system always can be found in the parent folder of a softlist ROM), so unless you have all your ROMS and in a single folder, you might want to disable filepath printing for Mame-In-Retroarch, or design yourself some symlink mechanism that satisfies that rule. But as long as you follow [[RetroarchMameMod \| the guide on how to setup RetroArch for MAME In QuickPlay]] you should have a mame.ini file that QuickPlay will read, so you might have luck!</li>		<li> Filepath printing is supported for RetroArch but there are a large number of factors and potential setups going on (in particular RetroArch require that the bios file for a non-arcade system always can be found in the parent folder of a softlist ROM), so unless you have all your ROMS and in a single folder, you might want to disable filepath printing for Mame-In-Retroarch, or design yourself some symlink mechanism that satisfies that rule. But as long as you follow [[RetroarchMameMod \| the guide on how to setup RetroArch for MAME In QuickPlay]] you should have a mame.ini file that QuickPlay will read, so you might have luck!</li>