Issue with MAME Setup

[SmokeyCC]

Hi There

I am struggling with setting up Mame up.  I think I have messed up the fundamentals. 

My folder structure looks like:

Mame\mame.exe
Mame\Roms
Mame\Roms\244\ROMS merged\
                                                3b2_300
                                                2b2_600...
Mame\Roms\244\CHDs merged
Mame\Roms\244\CHDs merged\2spicy\
                                                          dvp-0027a.chd
Mame\Roms\244\CHDs merged\a51site4\
                                                             a51site4-2_0.chd
                                                             a51site4-2_01.chd

Is it possible to tell me how it should be?
I am trying to setup At-The-Arcade Flex but I'm struggling with mame.cfg

Could someone tell me if merged roms are OK?  Also show me how the folder structure should look?  Finally what the cfg path should be?

Hopefully that will help me progress
I did look at the pinned post on setting up attract mode but I think I have done something different!

Lastly just wanted to ask are, there any pre-built packages with mame, emulators and layouts pre-installed?  I'm working from the base and wondering if there's a better approach.

Thank you
Chris

[progets]

If you use a merged romset AttractMode won't see any clone roms since they are zipped in the parent roms. Most people use non-merged roms.

Most people would put everything in a single folder for MAME arcade roms. If you have a rom and matching chd folder in different locations that might work in MAME but will likely have issues in a frontend like AttractMode. If you use MAME software list roms, they should go into a separate folder with their matching chd files.

...\MAME\Roms\<romname.zip>
...\MAME\Roms\<chd_folder_name>

[SmokeyCC]

Thank you, I will work out how to unmerge and then organise accordingly