How do you set up individual consoles with MAME?

[progets]

You can read here to determine the best method to get the correct mame.xml file to suit your needs. http://docs.mamedev.org/commandline/commandline-all.html

You can read here about how to import mame, mamewah, hyperspin and other xml files to your AM romlists. This might be what you want if you don't want any check against the actual rom files. https://github.com/mickelson/attract/blob/v2.3.0/Readme.md You can use complete romlists in AM and use an "if file exists" filter to only display the games for roms you actually have.

I mentioned Romlister above which you can find here. https://www.waste.org/~winkles/ROMLister/

As far as the mame chd files go, why even tell AM about these? There should be a .zip file for each of them and if MAME is setup properly they don't need to be configured in AM. I assume these are really duplicate entries because you have the <dir> extension defined. If not, you can always use an app like excel to reorder these games.

[krick]

Thanks for all your help. I'll definitely check out all the resources you linked.

As far as the mame chd files go, why even tell AM about these? There should be a .zip file for each of them and if MAME is setup properly they don't need to be configured in AM. I assume these are really duplicate entries because you have the <dir> extension defined. If not, you can always use an app like excel to reorder these games.

I'll admit that I don't totally understand the emulator configuration options within Attract Mode but I'm slowly figuring it out with your help.  I assumed (incorrectly) that Attract Mode needed the same ROM paths as my mame.ini and that's obviously wrong (now).

I basically used the default MAME config that comes with Attract Mode and modified with my paths.  This is what I had...

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.3.0
#
executable           c:/mame/mame64.exe
args                 [name]
rompath              e:/MAME 0.198 ROMs (merged);e:/MAME 0.198 CHDs (merged)
romext               .zip;.7z;<DIR>
system               Arcade
info_source          listxml
artwork    flyer           
artwork    marquee         
artwork    snap            e:/MAME 0.198 EXTRAs snap
artwork    wheel           

And this is what it looks like now (which no longer has the list of CHDs at the end).  Not sure if I still need  system = Arcade  though.  I think probably not...

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.3.0
#
executable           c:/mame/mame64.exe
args                 [name]
rompath              e:/MAME 0.198 ROMs (merged)
romext               .zip
system               Arcade
info_source          listxml
artwork    flyer           
artwork    marquee         
artwork    snap            e:/MAME 0.198 EXTRAs snap
artwork    wheel           

The only remaining oddity is this one game (worldadv) floating at the end of the list for some reason.  Not sure where that's coming from.  Maybe it doesn't have a proper description in MAME's listxml output or something....

[progets]

And this is what it looks like now (which no longer has the list of CHDs at the end).  Not sure if I still need  system = Arcade  though.  I think probably not...

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.3.0
#
executable           c:/mame/mame64.exe
args                 [name]
rompath              e:/MAME 0.198 ROMs (merged)
romext               .zip
system               Arcade
info_source          listxml
artwork    flyer           
artwork    marquee         
artwork    snap            e:/MAME 0.198 EXTRAs snap
artwork    wheel           


The "system Arcade" setting is only used if you're using thegamesdb.net to scrape game info and/or artwork.

The only remaining oddity is this one game (worldadv) floating at the end of the list for some reason.  Not sure where that's coming from.  Maybe it doesn't have a proper description in MAME's listxml output or something....

When you see a MAME game like this it's because no data was found for the game (using what ever method you have specified in the emulator.cfg).

[dondi]

1st post, new to AM... currently doing a refresh of my ancient XP arcade cabinet I built in 1998, running my favorite (now defunct) frontend, 3DArcade. Unfortunately, 3DA is somewhat "dead" and creating gamelists is a bit archaic after MAME v0.161 with the merging of MAME+MESS, the introduction of SoftwareLists and the reformatting of the XML infos. That said, 3DA is somewhat similar in format to AM whereby it uses tab-delimited (CSV) files for gamelists. Hence, why I am using AM to create "Frankenstein" gamelists to ultimately import into 3DA. It seems it allows me to incorporate multiple sources (i.e., thegamesdb scraping, HyperSpin XMLs, catver, nplayers, MAME/MESS hash XMLs, custom XMLs, etc.) to create my needed gamelists for 3DA, which uses/can use, all the populated fields of the gamelist. I usually create a single "ALL" gamelist, and use autofilters on-the-fly for special cases. I believe that AM uses a similar tactic.
3DA gamelists' format looks like this (a few copy/pastes from my MAME, Pinball, Daphne and Neogeo master gamelists):

Code: [Select]

|Description|Name|Year|Manufacturer|Clone|Romof|Category|VersionAdded|Available|Emulator|Type|Model|Favorites|Video|Orientation|Resolution|Aspect|Frequency|Depth|Stereo|Controltype|Buttons|Players|Coins|Driver|DriverStatus|SoundStatus|ColorStatus|HtmlLinks|TimesPlayed|DurationPlayed|Rating|Maturity||||
|1942|1942|1984|Capcom|none|none|Shooter / Flying Vertical|.19|Yes|mame|arcade||Favorite|raster|vertical|224x256|3x4|60||mono|joy8way|2|2|2|1942.c|good|good|good||83|807||||||
|Pac-Man|pacman|1980|[Namco] (Midway license)|puckman|puckman|Maze|.01|Yes|mame|arcade||Favorite|raster|vertical|224x288|3x4|60||mono|joy4way||2|2|pacman.c|good|good|good||91|881||||||
|Gauntlet II|gaunt2|1986|Atari Games|None|None|Maze / Shooter Large|.30|Yes|mame|arcade|||Raster|Horizontal|336x240|4x3|60.000000|Unknown|Yes|Joy 8 Way|2|4|4|gauntlet.c|Good|Good|Good||80|781||||||
|Moon Patrol|mpatrol|1982|Irem|none|none|Shooter / Driving Horizontal|.31|Yes|mame|arcade||Favorite|raster|horizontal|240x248|4x3|57||mono|joy8way|2|2|3|mpatrol.c|good|good|good||72|701||||||
|Super Xevious|sxevious|1984|Namco|xevious|xevious|Shooter / Flying Vertical|.27|Yes|mame|arcade|xevious||raster|vertical|224x288|3x4|60||mono|joy8way|2|2|2|xevious.c|good|good|good||86|852||||||
|Galaga|galaga|1981|Namco|none|none|Shooter / Gallery|.30|Yes|mame|arcade||Favorite|raster|vertical|224x288|3x4|60||mono|joy8way|1|2|3|galaga.c|good|good|good||99|940||||||
|Flash Gordon|Flash Gordon|1981|Bally|pinball_bally_70s_flashgordon||Solid State|TAB|Yes|pinball|Pinball|pinball_bally_70s||Y|||||||||||||||||||||||
|Future Spa|Future Spa|1979|Bally|pinball_bally_70s_wide_futurespa||Solid State|JPSalas|Yes|pinball|Pinball|pinball_bally_70s_wide||Y|||||||||||||||||||||||
|Creature from the Black Lagoon|Creature from the Black Lagoon|1992|Bally|pinball_bally_90s_creaturefromblacklagoon||VPinMame|unclewilly|Yes|pinball|Pinball|pinball_bally_90s||Y|||||||||||||||||||||||
|Twilight Zone|Twilight Zone|1993|Bally|pinball_bally_90s_wide_twilightzone||VPinMame|melon|Yes|pinball|Pinball|pinball_bally_90s_wide||Y|||||||||||||||||||||||
|MACH 3|mach3|1983|Mylstar Electronics|none|daphne|Platform / Laser Disc||Yes|daphne|app|mach3||Raster|Horizontal|||||||||||||||8|1||||||
|Dragon's Lair Enhanced|dle11|1983|Cinematronics|lair|daphne|Platform / Laser Disc||Yes|daphne|app|lair||Raster|Horizontal|||||||||||||||8|4||||||
|Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (Euro 980123)|mvsc|1998|Capcom|none|mvsc|Fighter / Versus|.127u4|Yes|fb_alpha|arcade|||raster|vertical|384x224||59.63741||stereo|joy|6|2|2|cps2.c|good|good|good|||||||||
|Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (USA 980123)|mvscu|1998|Capcom|mvsc|mvscu|Fighter / Versus|0.058|Yes|fb_alpha|arcade|||raster|vertical|384x224||59.63741||stereo|joy|6|2|2|cps2.c|good|good|good|||||||||
|Super Street Fighter II Turbo (World 940223)|ssf2t|1994|Capcom|none|ssf2t|Fighter / Versus|.037b13|Yes|fb_alpha|arcade|||raster|vertical|384x224||59.63741||stereo|joy|6|2|2|cps2.c|good|good|good|||||||||
|Super Street Fighter II Turbo (USA 940323)|ssf2tu|1994|Capcom|ssf2t|ssf2tu|Fighter / Versus|.070u5|Yes|fb_alpha|arcade|||raster|vertical|384x224||59.63741||stereo|joy|6|2|2|cps2.c|good|good|good|||||||||
Currently doing battle with my first AM gamelist/SoftwareList; Atari 2600. Using multiple sources, such as HyperSpin XML, MAME hash XML, catver.ini, nplayers.ini and thegamesdb. So far, I am ok with the AM-generated Atari 2600 romlist (you may notice there are inconsistencies, especially regarding genre with clones and genre in general. I noticed that even if genre appears on thegamesdb and/or the HS XML (which uses a different romname than my MAME set), that the genre gets dropped) . Here are my preliminary results:

Code: [Select]

#Name;Title;Emulator;CloneOf;Year;Manufacturer;Category;Players;Rotation;Control;Status;DisplayCount;DisplayType;AltRomname;AltTitle;Extra;Buttons
amidar;Amidar;a2600;;1983;Parker Bros;Maze / Outline;2P alt;0;joystick (8-way);good;0;raster;amidar;;;1
amidare;Amidar (PAL);a2600;amidar;1983;Parker Bros;Maze / Outline;2P alt;0;joystick (8-way);good;0;raster;amidare;;;1
aquavent;Aquaventure;a2600;;198?;CCE;Action;1;0;joystick (8-way);good;0;raster;aquavent;;;1
aquaventp;Aquaventure (Prototype);a2600;aquavent;1983;Atari;;1;0;joystick (8-way);good;0;raster;aquaventp;;;1
armoramb;Armor Ambush;a2600;;1982;Mattel;Shooter;1;0;joystick (8-way);good;0;raster;armoramb;;;1
armorambe;Armor Ambush (PAL);a2600;armoramb;1989;Telegames;;1;0;joystick (8-way);good;0;raster;armorambe;;;1
artduel;Artillery Duel;a2600;;1983;Xonox;Strategy;1;0;joystick (8-way);good;0;raster;artduel;;;1
artduele;Artillery Duel (PAL);a2600;artduel;1983;Xonox;;1;0;joystick (8-way);good;0;raster;artduele;;;1
This gets me further than most other methods. I think I am having issues with the scraping from thegamesdb as the most glaring issue is that it downloads the overview text files (1,428 of them for the complete Atari 2600 set), which is great, except that all of them are empty. Is this a temporary thing? I've also tried with the latest AM nightly after reading that there were scraping issues last month. AM does download some art; 24 fanart folders, 593 flyers, 15 marquees 83 snaps and 188 wheels. I'm not so concerned with the art. I can cobble-together the needed art between MAME extras and probably a utility like FatMatch to rename any non-MAME-romnamed art and/or videos. I have a feeling my atari2600 config may be a little "off". I tried a few variations, but here is the current state:

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.4.0-15
#
executable           mame
args                 [name]
workdir              G:\Staging\v0.187
rompath              G:\Arcade DLs and Utils\MAME_0.185_Software_List_ROMs_non-merged\MAME_0.185_Software_List_ROMs_non-merged\MAME 0.185 Software List ROMs (non-merged)\a2600
romext               .zip;.7z
system               Atari 2600;a2600;2600;console
info_source          listsoftware+thegamesdb.net
import_extras        catver.ini;nplayers.ini;G:\Staging\v0.187\hash\a2600.xml;G:\Arcade DLs and Utils\Hyperspin FE Hyperlists\Atari 2600.xml;G:\Arcade DLs and Utils\Utilities\CSV Database Info Editor v1.0\Data\Atari 2600.xml
artwork    marquee         $HOME/mame/marquee
artwork    snap            $HOME/mame/video;$HOME/mame/snapMy catver and nplayers are on the root of my MAME/Working Dir. I tried to include multiple XMLs, figuring than none of them alone fit-the-bill, but between the 3, they contained the desired fields, i.e., clone, genre, correct MAME romname for a2600, etc. Yes, a bit "Frankenstein" but I haven't found an "easier" solution yet to get the desired results using the MAME Atari 2600 ROMs/SoftwareList --> a good CSV. I will be doing the same for the other Consoles too.
Sorry for the long post... I'm going a bit batty and getting wordy after being at this for so long.

[progets]

Code: [Select]

import_extras        catver.ini;nplayers.ini;G:\Staging\v0.187\hash\a2600.xml;G:\Arcade DLs and Utils\Hyperspin FE Hyperlists\Atari 2600.xml;G:\Arcade DLs and Utils\Utilities\CSV Database Info Editor v1.0\Data\Atari 2600.xml
My catver and nplayers are on the root of my MAME/Working Dir.

The way you have defined catver.ini and nplayers.ini is incorrect. What you have posted has AM looking for these files in the root of the AM folder, not the mame root folder. You need to either move these files or define full paths or pathes relative to the AM folder.

The empty/blank game overview files is a current issue. This did work correctly in the past. There were recent changes to the way AM uses these file as well as changes to thegamesdb.net API so I don't know where this issue lies.

[dondi]

@progets Thanks for the reply... Hmmm.., are you sure about the pathing of the INIs in my CFG? I get a message in the console stating "info found for 152 entries" for catver and 153 entries for nplayers. I also tried with absolute paths with same result. I assumed that most all pathing was relative to the Working Directory. Will catver and nplayers have much of an effect on SoftwareLists, or do they just affect the Arcade portion of MAME?—still unclear if SoftwareLists are addressed in these 2 INIs. Doesn't seem that the 2 INIs are getting the bulk of the Atari 2600 set. I see that thegamesdb has Genre info for most of the Atari 2600 set. Wondering if this portion of the scraping is also being currently affected along with the overview TXTs

Had a feeling the blank overview txt files was probably just an API issue or something changing in the scraper; I tried every-which-way to get them pulled from thegamesdb to no avail. Hopefully, someone is on the case and it'll be fixed soon.

Quickie art question: I'm currently using the MAME SoftwareList non-merged romset for my Atari 2600. Over the years I've obtained various art and video sets from various sources with various naming conventions, i.e., MAME 8.3, No-Intro, Goodsets, etc. If/when assigning multiple art sources in AM, will AM use any "fuzzy logic" to look at the game name to grab the appropriate art/video and copy into the destination folder with my current MAME 8.3 naming convention, or do I need to use a 3rd party util to rename first?
Thanks again for the assist progets!!

[progets]

@progets Thanks for the reply... Hmmm.., are you sure about the pathing of the INIs in my CFG? I get a message in the console stating "info found for 152 entries" for catver and 153 entries for nplayers. I also tried with absolute paths with same result. I assumed that most all pathing was relative to the Working Directory. Will catver and nplayers have much of an effect on SoftwareLists, or do they just affect the Arcade portion of MAME?—still unclear if SoftwareLists are addressed in these 2 INIs. Doesn't seem that the 2 INIs are getting the bulk of the Atari 2600 set. I see that thegamesdb has Genre info for most of the Atari 2600 set. Wondering if this portion of the scraping is also being currently affected along with the overview TXTs

Had a feeling the blank overview txt files was probably just an API issue or something changing in the scraper; I tried every-which-way to get them pulled from thegamesdb to no avail. Hopefully, someone is on the case and it'll be fixed soon.

Quickie art question: I'm currently using the MAME SoftwareList non-merged romset for my Atari 2600. Over the years I've obtained various art and video sets from various sources with various naming conventions, i.e., MAME 8.3, No-Intro, Goodsets, etc. If/when assigning multiple art sources in AM, will AM use any "fuzzy logic" to look at the game name to grab the appropriate art/video and copy into the destination folder with my current MAME 8.3 naming convention, or do I need to use a 3rd party util to rename first?
Thanks again for the assist progets!!

Yes, catver.ini and players.ini can be used in newer version of mame that have mess merged as long as they are up-to-date versions that contain the information. nplayers.ini is outdated and no longer needed since this info can now be taken from the mame.xml. I am also certain about the paths unless something has change in the past 6 months.

No, there is no fuzzy logic on existing art matching with AM. The name is a 100% match (except the file extension) or it's not recognized. You can use 3rd party tools to rename or use the built-in scraping feature of AM to get artwork that matches from thegamesdb.net (this requires the proper configuration of your emulator.cfg files).