Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!)

markwkidd

@ismaelzsilva said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

Dude this is awesome! Really simple way to cutdown my romsets. I tried hypersin tools, rom lister, etc, and Simple Arcade Multifilter is the best. Any chances to make a version for MAC system? I am running the .exe in Parallels and its ok, but a native aplication in Mac will be fantastic. Thank you very much!

Thank you, and I'm glad to hear that SAM is working for you via Parallels.

About native OS X support: This tool came into being an unusual way -- I was studying a small console-based arcade playlist generator script for RetroArch that was written in AutoHotKey. I started learning AutoHotKey with the intention of creating an improved version of that script but over the course of a few months I wound up writing an AHK library for dealing with MAME DATs and catver files. Then I wrote two applications based on the library.

If I had any idea the project would wind up like this I would have started out with a cross-platform language. Now I need to rewrite the whole thing from the ground up in order to provide native support for Linux and OS X.

That's a project I'd like to do but it would take a fair amount of time and I haven't been able to get inspired enough to take it on, yet.

ismaelzsilva

@markwkidd
Thank you for the response. No problem, I will use this with parallels, zero problems. I have no idea of programing, but if you need some help or test the a new version, contact with me. Again, SAM is amazing. Thank you very much!
A hug from Spain!

AndersHP

@markwkidd said in [Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets \

FB Alpha collections can be sorted by finding the catver.ini from the MAME set which your FB Alpha collection's ROMs were originally derived from.

Is it correct that FBA 0.2.97.42 is based on MAME 0.187? And what catver.ini and DAT files does this correspond to?
As far as I can see here, none of the mentioned libretro cores match this. Does that mean I have to download a mega 0.187 romset just to obtain the catver.ini file ?!

markwkidd

@andershp said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

@markwkidd said in [Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets \

FB Alpha collections can be sorted by finding the catver.ini from the MAME set which your FB Alpha collection's ROMs were originally derived from.

Is it correct that FBA 0.2.97.42 is based on MAME 0.187? And what catver.ini and DAT files does this correspond to?
As far as I can see here, none of the mentioned libretro cores match this. Does that mean I have to download a mega 0.187 romset just to obtain the catver.ini file ?!

You need an fba dat file. The standalone version of fba can generate these from it's ui, but I think the RetroPie docs also have a link to download an fba dat.

FBA doesn't 'do' catvers, so in that case you want the catver from the equivalent mame version.

AntoPISA at the Progetto site maintains the current recent files. I'm having trouble looking to that site from the device I'm using now, but if you use those keywords you should find it.

AndersHP

I cannot find a catver.ini file for MAME 0.187. In fact, I find the Progetto site very confusing. Should I just get the newest catver file I can find and cross my fingers? Aren't these files 99% similar?

markwkidd

@andershp said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

I cannot find a catver.ini file for MAME 0.187. In fact, I find the Progetto site very confusing. Should I just get the newest catver file I can find and cross my fingers? Aren't these files 99% similar?

I'm looking more closely at the Progetto site now and it does look like they're saying to use the current catvers for any version going back to 0.165.

My obsessive tendencies recoil from that kind of generalization, but AntoPISA knows a lot about MAME metadata so it's probably legit.

AndersHP

OK, so you'd just use the file in the green link at this page?

markwkidd

@andershp said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

OK, so you'd just use the file in the green link at this page?

Yes, that will have to be the catver for your project. If there are unmatched romsets in simple arcade multifilter or other issues please do post here and I'll try to help.

AndersHP

I think it got the job done pretty neatly, and it seems to work faster than clrmamepro and romsorter, and is definitely more user friendly. Thumbs up!

I'd love for an option to sort out NeoGeo games, since I like my NeoGeo folder to be separate, but I guess that comes down to the DAT file, right? So I'll have to use the MAME 0.78u5 'Lite' DAT File mentioned here right?

markwkidd

@andershp I'm afraid that the catver doesn't know anything about Neo Geo. I'm worried that an old DAT like the 0.78u5 would be a poor match for a modern FBA but I have no idea if that would actually be a problem.

cosmo0

Shameless plug :)

@ismaelzsilva said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

Dude this is awesome! Really simple way to cutdown my romsets. I tried hypersin tools, rom lister, etc, and Simple Arcade Multifilter is the best. Any chances to make a version for MAC system? I am running the .exe in Parallels and its ok, but a native aplication in Mac will be fantastic. Thank you very much!

I had no idea this tool existed, so I built my own, doing similar things in a different way (and more), fully cross platform : https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/17255/fast-and-cross-platform-retropie-arcade-roms-manager-gui

markwkidd

@cosmo0 nice! I'll be taking a closer look soon!

jca2112

Hey, sorry about reviving an old thread.

I'm trying to filter the preferred Final Burn Alpha 0.2.97.42 romset for RetroPie (for a Raspberry Pi 3 as mentioned in the docs) using Simple Arcade Multifilter.

As mentioned previously, I believe FBA 0.2.97.42 is based on the MAME 0.187 romset, so I would be looking for a catver.ini (for sorting) file version for MAME .187, which isn't available anywhere (that I can find). Is okay to use ANY later version of a catver.ini file after 0.187? They only version I see available is for 0.197.

Appreciate any help/info.

markwkidd

The current ProgettoSNAPS catver.ini file is evidently designed to work with all versions of MAME 0.165 through the present. That's the one you need for your FBA collection.

jca2112

@markwkidd said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

The current ProgettoSNAPS catver.ini file is evidently designed to work with all versions of MAME 0.165 through the present. That's the one you need for your FBA collection.

Good to know, thanks. Would that same MAME .197 catver.ini work for MAME 2003 0.78 roms as well? (One catver.ini file for both MAME and FBA sorting?)

markwkidd

@jca2112 said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

@markwkidd said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

The current ProgettoSNAPS catver.ini file is evidently designed to work with all versions of MAME 0.165 through the present. That's the one you need for your FBA collection.

Good to know, thanks. Would that same MAME .197 catver.ini work for MAME 2003 0.78 roms as well? (One catver.ini file for both MAME and FBA sorting?)

The current catver.ini will unfortunately not work well for mame2003.

However, I help maintain a catver.ini for mame2003 which, although I'm biased, should work perfectly for you: https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-libretro/blob/master/metadata/catver.ini

If you haven't used github before, use the "raw" link button to access the file directly

cosmo0

@jca2112 Hey! FYI my arcade manager has all you need for FBA : https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/17255/fast-and-cross-platform-retropie-arcade-roms-manager-gui
I provide several downloadable CSV files to help you manage everything you need.

markwkidd

@cosmo0 said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

@jca2112 Hey! FYI my arcade manager has all you need for FBA : https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/17255/fast-and-cross-platform-retropie-arcade-roms-manager-gui
I provide several downloadable CSV files to help you manage everything you need.

Is it necessary to use the CSV files, or can you use a catver.ini only?

cosmo0

@markwkidd You can convert a catver.ini to csv using my tool :) the source file has to be a csv.

markwkidd

@cosmo0 said in Simple Arcade Multifilter - app for MAME and FB Alpha sets (Get rid of Adult and Mahjong games!):

@markwkidd You can convert a catver.ini to csv using my tool :) the source file has to be a csv.

Hmm.

I am pretty interested in working with your tool, and maybe leaving off of mine altogether, but it's hard for me to get excited about using CSVs when pretty much every other MAME and FBA tool uses DATs and INIs directly. Maybe we can collaborate on something eventually.

Edit @jca2112 I think the other tool is for people with pretty different preferences. SAM is good if you want to, for example, create a folder that only has Lightgun games and Fighters, along with the BIOSes that each require.

If that's your project, you load up the GUI, click on Gun and click on Fighter, and process the folder.

Then maybe you want another folder that is just "Adult" Puzzle games. With SAM you browse down to the Puzzle category, click on the subcategory that says *Mature*, and then you can process out a folder with only adult puzzle romsets.

The other tool is more about providing a curated experience and I think it's better than SAM if you fit into one of the pregenerated CSVs because there is also overlay support etc. But on the other hand if you want to load the latest catver.ini from Progetto and the latest DAT from FBA and then create your own curated folder then I think SAM is still the way to go.