MAME Filters and Exceptions

[chrisvg]

Hi guys,

I've just found this frontend and have been playing around with getting my MAME games list set up nicely.

I have got quite an extensive set of filter rules, however I would like to add a couple of exceptions.

If i understand correctly, a game that matches an exception will over ride any rules I have?

As part of the rules I have configured, I am limiting games to 1 or 2 players.  But, I also want to manually add some exceptions for games that can be configured via dipswitches to be 2 player (instead of 3 or 4).  An example of this is Snow Bros 2, this game is technically a 4 player game, but you can configure it in MAME via dipswitches to actually act as a 2 player game.

So, I should be able to add an exception for a game that matches the name "snowbro2" (the rom name in the mamelist.txt used by AM), and have it show up in between Snow Bros. and Snow Brothers 3 in my game list, right?

Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case.  If someone could point out what i've done wrong or correct my assumptions, I would be eternally grateful!

I have included my global filter configuration below, hopefully someone can point out what I am doing wrong!

Code: [Select]

...
global_filter       
rule                 Title not_contains bootleg|prototype
rule                 Category not_contains Electromechanical|Tabletop|Casino|Mature|Quiz|Computer|Microcomputer|Test|Portable|Console|Handheld|Device|Training Board|Synthesiser|Clock|Document Processors
rule                 Category not_equals Misc.
rule                 Year not_contains ?
rule                 Manufacturer not_contains bootleg
rule                 DisplayType equals raster
rule                 CloneOf not_equals .*
rule                 Status equals good|imperfect
rule                 Control contains joystick
rule                 Control contains 2-way|4-way|8-way
rule                 Control not_contains keyboard|mouse|trackball
rule                 Players contains 1|2
exception            Name equals snowbro2
...

Cheers,
Chris

[chrisvg]

Ahah, crisis averted

After some experimenting I found that moving the exception to the beginning of the filter list (before the rules instead of after).  I guess that makes sense - I want to special case certain games first, then run the rest of the games through a filter to weed out the ones I don't want.

Hope this helps someone else!

[Nick]

I had the same problem, thanks for posting the solution!
Unless I missed it in the doc the order of the rules and exceptions isn't mentioned there.