Bear with me and this bug report please (AM not launching emulator).

[dukpoki]

I'm assuming you've done the basics?  Like re-installing AM from scratch?  I would do that.  Then setup Mame with the default arguments that AM provides then test it again.  This way you can rule out the code, or any lingering funky AM settings as the cause.  If that doesn't work,  then try downloading a different version of Mame--preferably the most recent (0.78 seems ancient and it's recommended to use something more recent because the jump and advances in emulation fixes are massive and well worth it).  Just grab a single test rom from somewhere and try it out.  This way you can rule out the version of Mame as the cause.  If it still doesn't work, then test it out on a different computer so you can rule out if it's your rig or not.

Oh and one other thing.  Make sure in your mame.ini that's found in your Mame executable folder, that for "rompath", you have all your directories to your Mame roms listed.

[xod]

THEN YOUR ARGS ARE WRONG AND YOUR CODE IS OFF!

What "code" of mine is off ? please answer for once...
I have written again and again that there are no problems with the args. Did you read ? Can you stop trolling ?

i dont understand how people are having such problems. mine WORKS FLAWLESSLY

Good for you!

then you need a new board and get windows 64 bit. mame DOES NOT need any args to work. even the older versions.
SOMTHING is conflicting so that tells me either you have a bad BOARD  or your CODE is off some how or yor windows instal is CORRUPT cuz it aint ATTRACT MODE!!

According to your post (quote further down) you're no commandline/code person, and yet you keep telling me that "my code" is very off and so on. Now if I only knew what code it is so I can send to you to inspect, thanks.

ATTRACT MODE NEEDS NOHELP TO WORK AND ALOT OF YOU "TINKERS" ARE FILLING YOU CONFIGS WITH UNNEEDED CRAP AND WONDER WHY IT DOESNT WORK....

im a hardware guy i am by NO means a command line/code person and mine works FINE!

sorry for the caps but goddamn ......

Yep!

[xod]

I'm assuming you've done the basics?  Like re-installing AM from scratch?  I would do that.  Then setup Mame with the default arguments that AM provides then test it again.  This way you can rule out the code, or any lingering funky AM settings as the cause.  If that doesn't work,  then try downloading a different version of Mame--preferably the most recent (0.78 seems ancient and it's recommended to use something more recent because the jump and advances in emulation fixes are massive and well worth it).  Just grab a single test rom from somewhere and try it out.  This way you can rule out the version of Mame as the cause.  If it still doesn't work, then test it out on a different computer so you can rule out if it's your rig or not.

It's very new AM installation. Just a few days ago actually that I installed AM for the very first time. But of course I will try reinstall after I try new mame version. The reason I chose old mame (0.78) is because it's remarkably less demanding than newer ones. While I do not know for certain whether the higher demand of newer MAMEs is mostly due to simpler (and less efficient) code, or due to more accurate emulation, I'm assuming that there is a remarkably higher accuracy which has a role in the performance demand. For example, this system did not run bsnes/higan (most accurate SNES emulator) well 2-3 years ago that I tested, so I continued with SNES9X which I have no problems with.

Oh and one other thing.  Make sure in your mame.ini that's found in your Mame executable folder, that for "rompath", you have all your directories to your Mame roms listed.

I have mame.ini's rompath set to the same location as MAME.cfg's rompath. And as I wrote earlier, if there was anything wrong with the rompath or the args then MAME should fail everytime, and not fail depending on window manager related stuff (no window set "always on top") or explorer shell not running etc..

[xod]

So, I..

* Downloaded MAME 0.203
* A BIOS-pack (including Neo Geo BIOS)
* A rom (Ghost Pilots)
* Extracted emu into desktop, and put the roms in C:\MY\ROMS\ (just my alias for my real rompath)
* Lanuched AM, set up MAME 0.203 as new emulator, and configured (exe: C:\PATH\TO\MAME\mame.exe, args: [romfilename], rompath: C:\MY\ROMS\)
* Created romlist

I executed AM -> MAME 0.203 -> Ghost Pilots, and a brief black screen, after a very short while, control was returned back to AM. I went ahead and created mame.ini (mame -createconfig) and changed it's roms property to point to C:\MY\ROMS. Again executed AM -> MAME 0.203 -> Ghost Pilots, screen went black, but this time without returning control back to AM. Waited half a minute, and pushed Esc, control was returned back to AM. Then thought whattahell, try again. This time the game launched, success. I closed AM. Removed the "always on top" setting for the task manager window, and launched AM -> MAME 0.203 -> Ghost Pilots again, screen went and remained black. Many seconds later I pushed Esc and returned back to AM. I tried again, and success. As I was writing THESE WORDS I decided to try again. This time I needed to Esc out of the insisting black screen two times to have success, i.e the third execution of MAME 0.203 -> Ghost Pilots. There seems to be an annoying Windows <-> AM <-> MAME conflict.

FYI, Beside SNES9X, I have also added Fusion (Mega Drive, aka Genesis) emulator, and like SNES9X, I have yet to experience problems with that.

Btw, MAME 0.203 executable has a size of 1/4 GB, while 0.78 is around 5.3 MB. I know, 0.203 emulates far more systems .... systems that I do not need (this PC will run them like shit).

[dukpoki]

I find it very weird that your argument is "[romfilename]".  It should just be "[name]".  If i change mine to "[romfilename]", mine doesn't work.  With that said however, you said you got it to work eventually so...*shrug*.  Next time you get a black screen, try Alt+Tab and see if it gives focus to Mame.  As far as Mame versions go, yes the newer versions are both larger in size and more demanding because of the increase in accuracy + the merging of multisystems aka merging of Mame+Mess (which happened in v0.162).

[xod]

I find it very weird that your argument is "[romfilename]".  It should just be "[name]".  If i change mine to "[romfilename]", mine doesn't work.  With that said however, you said you got it to work eventually so...*shrug*.

As I have examined the various related settings, I can tell how AM behaves in this regard. Consider the three configurations below, and notice the outcome (final commandline).

executable: mame.exe
command arguments: [name]
rompath: C:\PATH\TO\ROMS\
outcome: mame.exe gpilots

executable: mame.exe
command arguments: [name] -rompath [rompath]
rompath: C:\PATH\TO\ROMS\
outcome: mame.exe gpilots -rompath C:\PATH\TO\ROMS\

executable: mame.exe
command arguments: [romfilename]
rompath: C:\PATH\TO\ROMS\
outcome: mame.exe C:\PATH\TO\ROMS\gpilots.zip

Notice that when args contains "[name]" it will expand to "gpilots", so if you have no mame.ini -> rompath set correctly, you then have to qualify with "-rompath [rompath]" to generate successful commandline. If args on the other hand contains "[romfilename]" then AM will expand that to "gpilots.zip" (notice the full filename, including the .zip suffix) and automatically prefix the value of "rompath" to it result in "C:\PATH\TO\ROMS\gpilots.zip".

I just like to cover all the holes so to say (including mame.ini -> rompath being valid). Normally I would have chosen config 2 (args: "[name] -rompath [rompath]") because you are exclicitly giving mame a path to (more) roms (notice the plural suffix "s"), potentially multiple ones, separated by semicolon, rather than letting MAME "figure out" that there are more roms in the single directory of that particular rom and search there for additional ones, which a user without prior knowledge may not be sure about.

So to cover all holes, one should choose config #2 and set mame.ini -> rompath to the same value as MAME.cfg -> rompath.

Next time you get a black screen, try Alt+Tab and see if it gives focus to Mame.  As far as Mame versions go, yes the newer versions are both larger in size and more demanding because of the increase in accuracy + the merging of multisystems aka merging of Mame+Mess (which happened in v0.162).

I will, thanks. But indeed AM -> MAME 0.203 is even worse experince for me: huge RAM waste, and more importantly, cannot even set some window to "always on top" and have AM -> MAME executed each and every time.

[xod]

So I tried Alt+Tab after launching AM -> MAME 0.203, and it did work (on second Alt+Tab, each time). Then I tried the same with AM -> MAME 0.78 (without having any application window "always on top"), and in the brief moment (some milliseconds) that AM GUI (layout) went away I did Alt+Tab and it did work there too. But after a while that I try AM -> MAME 0.78 again, no matter what, it does not work, period. On the other hand, I successfully launched AM -> MAME 0.203 without even needing Alt+Tab. Hehe, I'm getting tired of all this. 

[dukpoki]

Hehe, I'm getting tired of all this. 

Totally feel the same way at the moment because I'm having the same problem with running pcsx2 via batch files.  lol

[xod]

Hehe, I'm getting tired of all this. 

Totally feel the same way at the moment because I'm having the same problem with running pcsx2 via batch files.  lol

I have read others using bat scripts as bridges. What is the actual reason for that though ?

[dukpoki]

I have read others using bat scripts as bridges. What is the actual reason for that though ?

Not sure really.  I'm personally trying to get batches to work because PCSX2 doesn't have a great per game config system built-in to the emulator itself in the same way say, Dolphin does.  The way PCSX2 handles it, is to have a folder with separate ini files and then launch the game via command prompt with the directory to the ini as part of the argument.   That is the only reason i'm trying to use batch scripts--to setup individual games with their own specific arguments.  Now i know there's other various ways to go about doing it for example creating lnk files or using the "custom argument" field that's built-in AM itself (press Esc+down) but I like working with batch files.  (btw there's also a limitation in lnk shortcuts where the "target" field has a maximum character limit which becomes problematic to some code/game combinations, especially games with long names.)

[toothlessgrinn]

this other guy is telling you you args are WRONG also ... so WHAT? DUDE YOU AINT PAYING ATTENTION! what part of ATTRACT MODE NEEDS NO HELP TO RUN MAME OF ANY KIND do you not UNDERSTAND??? im telling you your sht is wrong and so is someone else!

i have been dicking with this frontend for over 8 months trying to figure it out and one thing i know for a FACT is if your even a space off in your code/command/args IT STOPS WORKING so then YOUR ARGS ARE WRONG!!

and save your troll bullshit for facebook!

i GENUINELY gave you my thoughts and your being a rude sob !

mine works JUST fine now and im telling you MY EXPERIENCES with it and you cant even thank a MF for trying? oh noooo....

im a troll.....

and your an ungreatful asshole!!
have a good day.....

 

[xod]

Not sure really.  I'm personally trying to get batches to work because PCSX2 doesn't have a great per game config system built-in to the emulator itself in the same way say, Dolphin does.  The way PCSX2 handles it, is to have a folder with separate ini files and then launch the game via command prompt with the directory to the ini as part of the argument.   That is the only reason i'm trying to use batch scripts--to setup individual games with their own specific arguments.  Now i know there's other various ways to go about doing it for example creating lnk files or using the "custom argument" field that's built-in AM itself (press Esc+down) but I like working with batch files.  (btw there's also a limitation in lnk shortcuts where the "target" field has a maximum character limit which becomes problematic to some code/game combinations, especially games with long names.)

Ok, per-game config is understandable, and I would personally go the batch script route myself.

When I was on WinXP I rememember that I could not "execute" shortcuts (lnk files) because they were Explorer-level file types and were alien to Win32 filsystem APIs. Has that changed, or do you launch shortcuts as argument to explorer ? (if it's possible then I can tell that that didn't cross my mind back then)

[rand0m]

I have read others using bat scripts as bridges. What is the actual reason for that though ?

Not sure really.  I'm personally trying to get batches to work because PCSX2 doesn't have a great per game config system built-in to the emulator itself in the same way say, Dolphin does.  The way PCSX2 handles it, is to have a folder with separate ini files and then launch the game via command prompt with the directory to the ini as part of the argument.   That is the only reason i'm trying to use batch scripts--to setup individual games with their own specific arguments. Now i know there's other various ways to go about doing it for example creating lnk files or using the "custom argument" field that's built-in AM itself (press Esc+down) but I like working with batch files.  (btw there's also a limitation in lnk shortcuts where the "target" field has a maximum character limit which becomes problematic to some code/game combinations, especially games with long names.)

following arguments would work provided a sub-folder with exact same name as rom is in "Game Configs" folder. You only need to create two basic game configs (templates) i.e. hardware and software then copy and rename to rom name. Few games will require fixes on top of that.
 
"[romfilename]" --fullscreen --nogui --cfgpath="Path\to\Game Configs\[name]"

Or you can use Spectabis (link: https://spectabis.github.io/) which can boot directly using game config profile.

@xod (thread starter) provided no reason comes to mind why you would be having this issue, have you tried MameUI? progettosnaps has archived versions, you should be able to grab mameUI v0.78.

[xod]

@rand0m

I have downloaded that, but not installed (will do another day). In the meantime, I have modified my MAME.cfg to:

Code: [Select]

exec: cmd.exe
args: /c C:\PATH\TO\mame.exe "[name]" -rompath "[rompath]" -d3d -d3dfilter 1 -d3deffect scan75 -d3dscan 75 -skip_disclaimer -skip_gameinfo 1>%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\AM-MAME-log.txt 2>&1
rompath: C:\PATH\TO\ROMS\

Now, when I have a non-minimized window "always on top" and run AM -> MAME 0.78, I get the log:

Code: [Select]

loading 41e_30.rom 
loading 41e_35.rom 
loading 41e_31.rom 
loading 41e_36.rom 
loading 41_32.rom   
loading 41_gfx5.rom
loading 41_gfx7.rom
loading 41_gfx1.rom
loading 41_gfx3.rom
loading 41_09.rom   
loading 41_18.rom   
loading 41_19.rom   
                   
Average FPS: 59.999447 (79 frames)
But when NOT having a non-minimized window "always on top", then each time I got:

Code: [Select]

loading 41e_30.rom 
loading 41e_35.rom 
loading 41e_31.rom 
loading 41e_36.rom 
loading 41_32.rom   
loading 41_gfx5.rom
loading 41_gfx7.rom
loading 41_gfx1.rom
loading 41_gfx3.rom
loading 41_09.rom   
loading 41_18.rom   
loading 41_19.rom   
                   
41e_30.rom   NOT FOUND
41e_35.rom   NOT FOUND
41e_31.rom   NOT FOUND
41e_36.rom   NOT FOUND
41_32.rom    NOT FOUND
41_gfx5.rom  NOT FOUND
41_gfx7.rom  NOT FOUND
41_gfx1.rom  NOT FOUND
41_gfx3.rom  NOT FOUND
41_09.rom    NOT FOUND
41_18.rom    NOT FOUND
41_19.rom    NOT FOUND
ERROR: required files are missing, the game cannot be run.
But after a minute or so when I tried again multiple times (still without a non-minimized window "always on top"), each time I got:

Code: [Select]

loading 41e_30.rom 
loading 41e_35.rom 
loading 41e_31.rom 
loading 41e_36.rom 
loading 41_32.rom   
loading 41_gfx5.rom
loading 41_gfx7.rom
loading 41_gfx1.rom
loading 41_gfx3.rom
loading 41_09.rom   
loading 41_18.rom   
loading 41_19.rom   
                   
Unable to start video emulation
Error setting cooperative level: 88760245
What does that cooperative level imply, and that value ?

Tomorrow or the day after I'll try MAMEUI 0.78, thanks.

* edit *

And btw, in both cases, when execution of MAME 0.78 fails and when it succeeds, the args passed to MAME are exactly one and the same valid arguments, character by character.

[dukpoki]

"[romfilename]" --fullscreen --nogui --cfgpath="Path\to\Game Configs\[name]"

Wow i feel stupid for not thinking of that.   Haha (at least I did eventually manage to get the batch files to work)

@xod:  Along with MameUI, another thing you could do is try one of RetroArch's really old Mame cores.  Any of their Mame cores with a date (for example: Mame 2010 core) would mean it's the older variant.  Not exactly sure which one 0.78 romset would fall under though for use, or if you'd have to download a new set.  But the older cores would be perfect for you because they would optimized for weaker hardware setups.