How to choose clone version in merged mame set in Emulation Station

willinliv

Hi,

I'm putting together a 0.78 ROM collection from mame 2003 reference set, retropie 4.2 rpi3.

I tonight have watched the video on using clrmamepro, and after a small test merged set seems cleaner, reducing multiple clones into one single (though I note that the wiki does not recommend this method). After merging the game only shows up once in emulation station, and the file size suggests that the clones are brought together as expected.

I have looked online but cannot seem to find answer - after merging versions of a rom into one zip, which version becomes the 'parent' and the the default for the game in E.S? And on top of that, how would you choose a different clone version to run in ES under a merged collection?

Apologies if as a newbie I am way off! Thanks Will

Lyle_JP

If you merge them all into one zip then you will:
a.) only be able to play the parent still, and
b.) you will have a needlessly bloated parent file-size.

There's a reason it's not recommended.

AlexMurphy

@willinliv This is not what you want to do. If you are using the 0.78 ROM set I am thinking of this usually comes as a non-merged set. This means there is no parent / clone relationship. Each game zip contains every file needed to run it as a standalone game. So in order to have a 2P and 4P or a US and Jap version of a game you simply add both ROMs which will be named slightly differently, to the appropriate folder.

AlexMurphy

@willinliv Have a read of this, it may explain it better than I can. http://docs.mamedev.org/usingmame/aboutromsets.html

willinliv

Thanks @Lyle_JP that makes sense! Thanks for answering both my questions, I shall rethink

willinliv

@AlexMurphy Thanks Alex. Yeah it is a non-merged set where everything is self-contained and can be run independently. I guess the thing that attracted me to the merged approach is that it reduced the number of roms and basically gave me one file instead of loads of clones, obviously now selecting just the parent which may not be a good thing. Might just stick with the romset as is then. Thanks again

Gosenbach

There are also a number of great mame rom filtering applications, I have used Rom Lifter (https://www.waste.org/~winkles/ROMLister/) to great effect. You can pair down your rom set pretty easily to just the stuff you are actually wanting to load up. That might do what you want and be a little better on the pi in the end.

willinliv

@Gosenbach Looks good thanks for the suggestion will give it a try. Cheers

markwkidd

@willinliv said in How to choose clone version in merged mame set in Emulation Station:

@Gosenbach Looks good thanks for the suggestion will give it a try. Cheers

If you have Windows, the Simple Arcade Multifilter can help cut down on the number of non-merged ROMs as well: screenshots and links

dankcushions

as a one off, i'm told if you rename the merged zip file to the name of the specific clone you want to play, then it will load rather than the parent.

herb_fargus

@dankcushions I can confirm that as well.