Setting up MAME via remote

Tango

I know there have been half a million posts on setting up MAME. I've been reading the various guides for information on them, but I'd like to make sure I'm doing the right thing. I have an unusual situation in terms of setting up my system.

I'm dealing with an added issue. Without the boring details, I have access via ssh and Samba to my arcade system (running on a Pi3B) and can't always get to the same location as the system. (Also, the keyboard on that system is crappy and a real pain to deal with.) I just downloaded RetroPie this past week or so and installed it. EmulationStation is working okay and I've already done as much of the system configuration as I can. Naturally, I'm trying to minimize the trips back and forth.

I'd like to make sure I understand what I've read about setting up MAME. Eventually, when the system is home, I'll deal with adding other games for other emulators. (Also no FB yet - get MAME behaving first.)

So here's what I get, from reading all the guides:

There are different ROM versions. I can 0.37b5 ROMs with Mame For All, and use 0.78 ROMs with Mame Libretro.
I should validate my ROMs to be sure they're useable, with clrmamepro.
I need to put the ROMs in the proper directory for them to work (/home/pi/RetroPie/roms)

But this all raises a number of questions about items I want to be sure I get right.

I'm not clear, since I haven't gotten this far yeet if EmulationStation has me select a game and then it picks the default emulator to run it on, or if I have to specify it via runcommand.
I see all the sub-directories in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms. That includes the two Mame directories, mame-libretro and mame-mame4all. The guides talk about putting ROM files in the Arcade directory. Do the subfolders matter or are they just to make classification easier?
If I don't need to use the subfolders, is EmulationStation or any other program along the way able to tell if a ROM is 0.37B5 or .78?
I found two collections of 0.37B5 ROMs. With thousands of files, of course, I can't easily compare everything, but one collection has files the other doesn't have. Is there a problem with merging the two collections into one by adding the files that aren't in the collection I'm using to that collection?

Also a note that this page is linked to as a source for documentation on verifying ROMs, but it's been moved. The replacement page does not discuss this issue. this guide links to that page, but also provides links to romvault and romcenter, but, overall, a good, clear description of how to verify ROMs is not easy to find.

mitu

@Tango said in Setting up MAME via remote:

There are different ROM versions. I can 0.37b5 ROMs with Mame For All, and use 0.78 ROMs with Mame Libretro.

If you're an PI3 or up, don't bother with Mame4All, it's an old version meant for low powered devices (PI1/0).

I should validate my ROMs to be sure they're useable, with clrmamepro.

If you get the proper ROMset collection, then you don't really need to. You can do that though, just to make sure it's the correct collection OR if you want to re-organize the collection (i.e. go from merged ROMs to un-merged).

I need to put the ROMs in the proper directory for them to work (/home/pi/RetroPie/roms)

But this all raises a number of questions about items I want to be sure I get right.

I'm not clear, since I haven't gotten this far yeet if EmulationStation has me select a game and then it picks the default emulator to run it on, or if I have to specify it via runcommand.

On first run, if the installation hasn't specified a default emulator for a system (folder), you'll get prompted by runcommand to choose one. After that, you don't need to set anything else as long as you don't want to switch emulators. The settings in the Runcommand launch menu are persistent, so you can choose once and they'll be remembered.

I see all the sub-directories in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms. That includes the two Mame directories, mame-libretro and mame-mame4all. The guides talk about putting ROM files in the Arcade directory. Do the subfolders matter or are they just to make classification easier?

Subfolders matter just for the default emulator assigned to it and for where the emulator stores it's config and additional files (game hiscore/nvram files).
Use the arcade folder or the mame-libretro.

If I don't need to use the subfolders, is EmulationStation or any other program along the way able to tell if a ROM is 0.37B5 or .78?

No, the front-end doesn't know what ROMset version the ROM belongs to.

I found two collections of 0.37B5 ROMs. With thousands of files, of course, I can't easily compare everything, but one collection has files the other doesn't have. Is there a problem with merging the two collections into one by adding the files that aren't in the collection I'm using to that collection?

Could be, the recommended approach would be to use clrmamepro and merge and validate them. But, as I said, don't bother with Mame4All and use something like Mame2003(plus) or FBNeo.

Tango

@mitu said in Setting up MAME via remote:

@Tango said in Setting up MAME via remote:

There are different ROM versions. I can 0.37b5 ROMs with Mame For All, and use 0.78 ROMs with Mame Libretro.

If you're an PI3 or up, don't bother with Mame4All, it's an old version meant for low powered devices (PI1/0).

So just stick with Mame Libretro since I'm on a 3B? And, because of that, I only use the 0.78 ROMs and don't have to deal with the 0.37B5 set at all.

I should validate my ROMs to be sure they're useable, with clrmamepro.

If you get the proper ROMset collection, then you don't really need to. You can do that though, just to make sure it's the correct collection OR if you want to re-organize the collection (i.e. go from merged ROMs to un-merged).

That saves some work, especially since it looks like any programs that validate are on Windows and I don't have any Windows system and would have to install Wine for the ones that can work on Linux.

I need to put the ROMs in the proper directory for them to work (/home/pi/RetroPie/roms)

But this all raises a number of questions about items I want to be sure I get right.

I'm not clear, since I haven't gotten this far yeet if EmulationStation has me select a game and then it picks the default emulator to run it on, or if I have to specify it via runcommand.

On first run, if the installation hasn't specified a default emulator for a system (folder), you'll get prompted by runcommand to choose one. After that, you don't need to set anything else as long as you don't want to switch emulators. The settings in the Runcommand launch menu are persistent, so you can choose once and they'll be remembered.

From your wording, it sounds like the folder I put the ROMs in determines what emulator gets run?

I see all the sub-directories in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms. That includes the two Mame directories, mame-libretro and mame-mame4all. The guides talk about putting ROM files in the Arcade directory. Do the subfolders matter or are they just to make classification easier?

Subfolders matter just for the default emulator assigned to it and for where the emulator stores it's config and additional files (game hiscore/nvram files).
Use the arcade folder or the mame-libretro.

A little confusing - 'arcade' seems redundant. Why is there both an 'arcade' and a 'mame-libretro' folder?

If I don't need to use the subfolders, is EmulationStation or any other program along the way able to tell if a ROM is 0.37B5 or .78?

No, the front-end doesn't know what ROMset version the ROM belongs to.

But it sounds like the folder a ROM is in will tell it what to use as default, right?

I found two collections of 0.37B5 ROMs. With thousands of files, of course, I can't easily compare everything, but one collection has files the other doesn't have. Is there a problem with merging the two collections into one by adding the files that aren't in the collection I'm using to that collection?

Could be, the recommended approach would be to use clrmamepro and merge and validate them. But, as I said, don't bother with Mame4All and use something like Mame2003(plus) or FBNeo.

For now, then, no Mame4All. After I get this working, I'll deal with FB. I may wait for that until I have easier access to the machine, but, by then, I'll be more used to the system.

Also, for now, for initial setup, I'm putting things in /usr/pi/RetroPie/roms, but I will be adding a USB ramdrive, putting a share for it in Samba, and moving the ROMs there in the future. Basically one write to the SD card to put the MAME ROMs in there for the first time. I'll add the USB and start using that once access is easier.

mitu

@Tango said in Setting up MAME via remote:

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From your wording, it sounds like the folder I put the ROMs in determines what emulator gets run?

Yes, but a system/folder can have multiple emulators (though only one can be the default).
[..]

A little confusing - 'arcade' seems redundant. Why is there both an 'arcade' and a 'mame-libretro' folder?

If I had to guess (this was added before I have any involvement with the project) is that mame-libretro was geared towards a certain MAME emulator, while arcade can use several arcade emulators and you could put certain ROMs (not supported in a mame-libretro ROMset collection) there.

But it sounds like the folder a ROM is in will tell it what to use as default, right?

Yes, though EmulationStation has no knowledge of that - runcommand configuration decides what gets run.

dankcushions

@Tango said in Setting up MAME via remote:

Why is there both an 'arcade' and a 'mame-libretro' folder?

if you want to run the largest list of playable arcade games on a raspberry pi 3, you'll be running games on lr-mame2003, lr-fbneo and perhaps some of the other mame emulators (lr- and otherwise). the arcade folder allows you to choose from the full gamut of arcade-related emulators, so you can have a full list of all arcade titles in emulationstation entry, rather than individual emulationstation menus for Final Burn Alpha/Neo, MAME, etc.

MAME or Final Burn Alpha/Neo is kind of an abstract system name for retropie anyway, since it's the name of the emulator rather than the system(s) it emulates, so you might just prefer to have them in the 'arcade' section even if you just want to use the same emulator for all games in that folder.

Tango

Thanks!

I did everything via ssh, then when I was able to get to the machine and turn on the display, it was working and I had access to 4,705 arcade games! True, hundreds of those were just Mahjong or different versions, but all the stuff I had fun playing in arcades is all there.