Roms work in AM but not in Mame64 (not kidding)

[informix]

OK. i know how this sounds.. BUT.. I run attract mode and play Samurai Shodown 1 2 or 3.. And it works great..
For some reason I  tried to open it up just running the Mame64 executable.. and it gives me the "one or more roms or chd's are missing or .. ... ....Red Screen and won't play!
But it JUST worked in AM.. And yes I know thats not possible.. But it is..
I'm assuming it has some sort of config or something that getting called when i open it native.. But not when AM calls it.. But for the life of me I can't figure out what..

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.3.0
#
executable           c:\retro\mame\mame64.exe
args                 [name]
workdir              c:\retro\mame
rompath              c:\retro\mame\roms
romext               .zip;.7z;<DIR>
system               Arcade
info_source          listxml
import_extras        c:\retro\mame\catver.ini
artwork    flyer           
artwork    marquee         C:\Retro\Mame\marquee
artwork    snap            C:\Retro\Mame\snap
artwork    wheel           C:\Retro\Mame\wheel
And if i got to c:\retro\mame\mame64.exe it runs the UI.. But won't run Sam Sho..   

I guess what is AM doing to get it to work?  How it it called.. Never been under the hood very far..

[hermine.potter]

@ informix
You mean the Mame UI (after launching mame.exe). Probably, here is a correct explanation

[informix]

@hermine.potter   thanks a TON!

That seems exactly it.. And it lead me to try and use the command line to launch the files.. And (of course) it worked..

On my last reinstall I grabbed a new version of mame .199 and didn't retest all the roms i had in both... seemed if AM worked.. it was all good.

Not sure what to do here.. I'm open to suggestions.. 

1.  Do i need to change anything really - probably not but seems like its just ignoring a problem..
2.  Downgrade to an older version of Mame..  i think i started on 1.8... something.. and everything worked.  but again.. ignoring.
3.  Upgrade/update my rom files - could never get clrmamepro  to work.. i could try.. but any advice would be great.. the stuff i tried didn't go well.
4.  Get an updated ROM set - seems this is what I really should do.. But also the most daunting... I have a metric TON of roms that dont' work just because they are old..

Any other suggestions.. or advice would be greatly appreciated..

[akafox]

Yes I find I have the same problem as well. it may have something to do with the software lists? Don't quote me on that.
But if I have an older chd for KI works fine from the command line..from the gui I get the error...soooo..thus my guess...

Never tried updating the chd and then trying..as long as it was not broken i didn't fix it 

[informix]

Finding a lot of contradictory information on this.. And some contradicts what I know has worked. in the past..

I had a bunch of roms from a WHILE back.. if i had to guess (1.25 ish) version of mame.. most all of them worked.. But when I upgraded to a newer version (1.83) a few years  ago.. many of them stopped working.. (But they just worked.)

What it (my research) seems to be telling me is that they roms don't really "change, what changes its how mame expects them to be organized.. The same rom in version 1.10  is just cut up differently and put in differently named files in the rom..

I assume some of them change.. better dump.. Newer version of the code from a machine.. But mostly it seems the actual  roms don't get new info in them..  In general... .. ..

Anyone care to enlighten me more.. Or is there a good non super technical place that this is explained..

Again.. i tried to get some of the programs to upgrade romsets to later versions.. But it never went as expected..

[progets]

When you run MAME from AM or from the command line you are telling the program all the specifics of loading the file. When you load it in MAME it's relying on your MAME configuration to provide this information.

It sounds like you guys haven't actually configured MAME after installing or upgrading it. You can do this through the GUI on any current version of MAME or by modifying the mame.ini with a text editor. Make sure that you define the correct "rompath" to show paths to your roms, chds and bios (if stored separately).

[informix]

It sees the roms and lists them with there snapshots and info in the UI.. I did add the roms directory and CHD directory to the MAME config.. And made some changes to make it looks better on my system.. And had to piece the X-arcade config stuff in there.. But it was all onesie twosie things.. to get this or that working.. 
Not sure what else I need to do.. Especially with this newest behavior..

If anyone has a good sight on how romsets really (reeeeally) work.. Hook me up.. All the stuff I google was either too high level.. or not what I need to work this stuff out..

It seems I "should" be able to upgrade my (admittedly small ) romset to the new version.. I need a database file and some program.. But after that the exact how to gets fuzzy.. And the pages about it show you ONE method and that is it.. and if something goes wrong.. well.. thats that.. 

i know this isn't AM stuff.. But thank you for any help or pointers in the right direction.!

[keilmillerjr]

Too much in this thread for me to sort out. However -

Mame romset version must match mame version.

If attractmode works launching mame rom and not mame, you likely have attract passing params. Check your attract config.

Not sure what you are talking about a database file and some program.

[akafox]

 @informix okay I have to ask is everything starting correctly when using Attract Mode? (Thus games are loading no errors no crashes?)

I am not too sure what the problem is myself. I have the same problem..from the mame GUI I get an error.. however everything works when started from AM just fine. So I have not bothered to look into it.

To update your mame set (the easy way) you need a program called CLRMame Pro (or another rom manager) https://mamedev.emulab.it/clrmamepro/#downloads and you need a .dat (data) file from here http://www.progettosnaps.net/dats/

BEFORE YOU RUN CLRMAME PRO ON YOUR ROMS MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF THEM..YES THAT MEANS CHDS AS WELL!!!!!

this video should help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h5wvz1fjN8
no i did not make the video I am not to blame for anything there!

you are correct about maybe getting a new rom from a better board or a new missing rom or even a renamed rom. And that is about it honestly you can use and OLD rom set in a never version of mame..IF..the rom has NEVER been updated at all...i.e. the info never changes. However as said above..well that happens quite often for many roms every update. So you may be missing a rom that the newer version of mame wants..or it may just be updated and you don't have the updated one so mame gripes.

A rom manager does four things mainly...it merges your roms..fixes your roms..updates your roms..and checks for missing roms

Fixing may just mean renaming..but sometimes it's resizing..
.
Updating means that it sees that a new rom has been added to a existing rom and opens it places the missing (new) file(s)into your original.

Merging means is puts all the roms into one zip (parent and clone together (can waste space that way) but can make it easier to manage

Missing..well it checks for missing roms


More about romsets here http://docs.mamedev.org/usingmame/aboutromsets.html
and here http://www.xente.mundo-r.com/mame/Update286.html yes it gets technical

[informix]

This is Awesome.. Thanks.. I knew "some" of this.. But i started looking at that video and I think its going to help get me from beginner up to at least novice.. ...

Thanks again.!

[akafox]

Hey trust me..I understand...been there done that!

I was only able to build one set for my soft-modded WII..have not had much luck beyond that *lol*

but it makes it MUCH easier to update and maintain for sure!