Config MAME emulator on M1 Mac

[DaveInFL]

Just downloaded AM for my M1 Mac and I have tried to set up an emulator for MAME.  I've gone over things several times and gone through several google results, but all to no avail.  Whenever I choose to Generate Collection/Rom List in my emulator it always comes back with 0 results.  I'm going crazy here as to why it won't work, all the directories are correct.  I've checked them over and over.  This is my Mame.cfg file:

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.6.1
#
executable           $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/mame
args                 [name]
workdir              $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/
rompath              $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/roms/
romext               .zip
system               Mame
info_source          listxml
exit_hotkey          Escape
pause_hotkey         $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/artwork
artwork    artwork         $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/artwork
artwork    cabinets        $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/cabinets
artwork    marquee         $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/marquees
artwork    snap            $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/snap

Is this a known issue? Why doesn't something as basic as generating the ROM list work?  Am I missing something stupid?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[progets]

Remove the stuff you don't need and change the system from "Mame" to "Arcade". Something like this

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.6.1
#
executable           $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/mame
args                 [name]
rompath              $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/roms/
romext               .zip
system               Arcade
info_source          listxml
artwork    artwork         $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/artwork
artwork    cabinets        $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/cabinets
artwork    marquee         $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/marquees
artwork    snap            $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame64/snap

Once you get it working you can add other options if you want.

[DaveInFL]

Tried that, didn't make any difference whatsoever. Generate Collection comes back with "Wrote 0 entries to Collection/Rom List"

[progets]

Can you generate the listxml file from the command line?

mame -listxml > mame.xml

[DaveInFL]

Yes, I did that and then ran the command line to generate the ROM list.  That worked, so that's good news Still, not sure why it would not work in the app itself.

Now, the next issue is that it is not displaying any of the graphics (snaps, cabinets, etc) nor will it start MAME.  Again, I have checked the directories and they are correct.  Very surprised that this is not working.  I must be doing something stupid, but I've gone through a few HOW TO posts and I believe I have done everything correctly.

[DaveInFL]

Does AM create any kind of log file I can review on the Mac? I'm shooting in the dark trying to get this working and getting close to giving up and looking for something else to use as a front end.

[DaveInFL]

Here is my latest config file.

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.6.1
#
executable           $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame/mame
args                 [name]
workdir              $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame/
rompath              $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame/roms/
romext               .zip
system               Arcade
info_source          listxml
exit_hotkey          Escape
artwork    artwork         $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame/artwork/
artwork    cabinets        $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame/cabinets/
artwork    marquee         $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame/marquees/
artwork    snap            $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame/snap/;$HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame/videosnaps/

Also, this is the ls result of my $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame directory:

dwilliams@Davids-MacBook-Pro-2 ~ % ls $HOME/Documents/EMUs/mame
COPYING            castool*           docs/              history/           language/          nlwav*             snap/              videosnaps/
MAME-List.xml      cfg/               floptool*          hlsl/              ldresample*        plugin.ini         soundtrack/        whatsnew.txt
MAME0.243ROMs.xml  chdman*            flyers/            imgtool*           ldverify*          plugins/           titles/
artwork/           covers_SL/         folders/           ini/               mame*              romcmp*            ui.ini
bgfx/              ctrlr/             gameover/          jedutil*           marquees/          roms/              uismall.bdf
cabinets/          dats/              hash/              keymaps/           nltool*            samples/           unidasm*

[progets]

Make sure your MAME emulator (not AttractMode) mame.ini file contains the correct "rompath" to your roms.

This is old but it might help. http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=326.msg2330#msg2330

[DaveInFL]

It does, if I start MAME from command line it finds all the ROMS that I have. Same directory.

[progets]

Try running a couple of MAME games from AttractMode and then post your last_run.log file.

[DaveInFL]

Sure, I can do that.  Where would I locate that log file?

[DaveInFL]

I've done some more playing around and I honestly believe that this app is just not stable for the M1 Mac.  If I run the app from the command line it will actually find the Roms and the graphics, but the resolution on my monitor is all off. The games will also start.  However, if I run it from my applications icon nothing works.  Sorry, but to me that is basic testing of an application.  Maybe this application is great under windows and works much better, but for M1 Macs it has a way to go.  Maybe I will check back on the next release and see. Until then, I'll look for something else for my Mac front end.

Also, I really don't mean to be disrespectful to the developer, so please do not take my comments above that way. Just frustration at not being able to get the application to work and inconsistency in running the application from the icon compared to running from the command line.

All that said, if there are any other suggestions then I am happy to try

Are there any other M1 Mac users here that have got Mame to work without issues?

[DaveInFL]

Ok, so I installed the windows version of AM and Mame under my Windows Virtual Machine and put in the same settings. Works perfectly.  So, AM works great under windows but needs work under M1 Mac.

[DaveInFL]

No feedback from the developers of AM for M1 Mac then on this issue?

[progets]

The last AM Mac release was in in January 2020 which is before the M1 came out.

The forum is for users and developers don't look for issues here. Report any problems, issues, feature requests, etc. here https://github.com/mickelson/attract/issues.