Author Topic: How to generate a long name list for mame (arcade) on retropie  (Read 6954 times)

akafox

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# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.2.1
#
executable           /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh
args                 0 _SYS_ arcade  "[romfilename]"
rompath              /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade
romext               .zip
system               Arcade
info_source          listxml
import_extras        /home/pi/.attract/mame-config

That is part of your mame (Advance).cfg above..
1. Change

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executable           /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh
to
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executable          /opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/bin/advmame
2. Generate/rebuild your list again
3. Back out to your list..to make sure it worked
4. Go back to the config and change:


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executable          /opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/bin/advmameback to
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executable           /opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh
Now everything should be fine.

It's misunderstood a lot and it's a problem that is asked A LOT. The other lists are made from the rom name itself. Most "non-arcade" roms are "long-named" already. Mame doesn't work that way however. It uses the list XML to generate those. The "problem" with retropie is that it uses a script to start the emulator ect. When you generate a list for mame it reads the mame.exe (or binary) on a pc, but retropie is not setup that way at default. Most of us use mame directly on a PC..so you never notice it. By changing this for retropie temperately you create the "environment" of a PC (which is what mame needs at first).

basically it's like this:
You generate your list..AM says "Hey I want a list"..the script says "Ok here is what is in there". (Actually the script does nothing..attract mode just looks in the folder and makes a text list of the names of all the files that have the matching extension you've set.) And so you get a rom name list.

If you point your executable to a mame.exe (binary) then AM says "I want a list." then mame says "ok let me check mine and match them for you. thus you get a long name list.

But you want to change your executable back to the retropie script so you get your options back and everything works as it should

Hope this helps everybody! :D
People want life easy..then complain about it

progets

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Re: How to generate a long name list for mame (arcade) on retropie
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2017, 09:19:26 PM »
This is a common question for sure. It's great that you wrote this up!

I would like to make a few points about this:
1. Advmame isn't installed by default in RetroPie and needs to be installed separately.
2. This will work for most mame/arcade/fba roms but not all of them since mame2010 and fba use newer rom sets.
3. Your "import_extras" entry only references a directory and not specific files. In my experience the files must be specified for it to work.

akafox

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Re: How to generate a long name list for mame (arcade) on retropie
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2017, 04:30:26 PM »
3. Your "import_extras" entry only references a directory and not specific files. In my experience the files must be specified for it to work.

Yeah sorry you need to add the file at the end like for example:

import_extras        /home/pi/.attract/mame-config/catver.ini

It was blank because I let the games db pull that information down for me now..I'm lazy :P
People want life easy..then complain about it