Which folder should I add my MAME roms to?

Thorr69

@fretman Arcade is a defined system. ROMS in that folder are found by any of the arcade emulators. You only want to use the ones named for specific emulators if you want them only to be found by that emulator. For example, putting pacman.zip (MAME 0.78 version) in the arcade folder will mean that every arcade emulator will find it. This means you can use mame2003 or mame2003plus to play it depending on your preference (or any other arcade emulator, even though they likely won't work with it). If you put pacman.zip in the mame2003 folder, then the only emulator that will find it is mame2003.

So, if you only plan to use one emulator, throw all your roms in the arcade folder. You can use the other named folders for games that you don't want your primary emulator to try to run.

sleve_mcdichael

Use arcade or mame-libretro. The mame2003 folder inside is where it will store settings and configurations and stuff, and if you add any additional emulators like mame2010 or FBNeo (use arcade or fba folders for FBNeo, not mame-libretro) they will each get their own folder inside whichever main folder you are using.

fretman

Thank you both for the clarification. I will put the 0.78 roms into the Arcade folder. I think there's enough games in that set so that I won't be adding anymore arcade game which is what my main purpose was for putting this unit together. I never really played any console games but I think I will add the top 25 games of all time per console to beef up the unit. Hoping that my 64gb card will hold everything.

Chuck_G

Chiming in here as I built my Pi 4 3 days ago. I have RetroPie up and running and have been able to get my Atari 2600 stuff working perfectly. Uncertain about my MAME roms. I followed this vid (

) and the system created the folders on my flash drive. From reading this thread, it sounds like I should just use the arcade folder. Where I'm a little confused is understanding which emulators are in Retropie. Is MAME in there? Is the ColecoVision and Intellivision emulators in there? How do I activate them or do I need to add them? Some searching hasn't given me a clear answer. Can someone point me to where I need to go?

mitu

@chuck_g said in Which folder should I add my MAME roms to?:

Can someone point me to where I need to go?

The arcade section of the docs, starting with https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Arcade/.

Chuck_G

@mitu Thanks. I read that before I posted. I was still confused because that showed for Pi versions Zero, 1, 2 and 3. I have a 4. Also, when I clicked on the MAME link, it took me to https://retropie.org.uk/docs/MAME/ and the chart showing 12 versions of MAME. Do I need to install the one I want or are all of those already in RetroPie?

:::UPDATE:::

I found the menu that shows all the installed packages (core, main, experimental). It appears I have lr-mame2003 installed. I do not see Is there any downside to installing all the packages? I also don't see emulators for coleco such as CoolCV. Is that still in the system?

IanDaemon

@chuck_g Well, I don't think that there is a performance downside to having more arcade emulators. Even if you have multiple versions of an emulator, you still need to pick one to launch the ROM. (For instance MAME2010 doesn't fall back to using MAME2003 or something like that.)

In addition, downloading random ROMs and trying to match an emulator afterwards is very frustrating. (the wack-a-mole approach) I've done that. It's frustrating. You're better off getting a complete romset for the emulator. Or using something like CLRMAMEPRO.

You can read all about emulators, roms, and romsets in the Arcade documentation that mitu just linked.

dankcushions

@chuck_g said in Which folder should I add my MAME roms to?:

I found the menu that shows all the installed packages (core, main, experimental). It appears I have lr-mame2003 installed. I do not see Is there any downside to installing all the packages?

the downside is that it will take several days to do and will make managing your roms a nightmare. just use mame2003/lr-fbneo (the recommendations for pi3 still apply to pi4)

Chuck_G

@dankcushions Thank you all for your help. MAME is working. And advice on the ColecoVision Em?

mitu

@chuck_g said in Which folder should I add my MAME roms to?:

And advice on the ColecoVision Em?

Install the emulators for ColecoVision ? See https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Colecovision/.