Mame Logo Variations

battlecat

Hello All:

I'm not sure if this is something anyone else has experienced but I recently realized it is an issue for me.

I have roms in both Mame4all-Pi and the lr-mame2003 folders. I did this because I figured that if a rom didn't work on one system it may work in the other. Is this thinking wrong?

What I found difficult is that when I use both folders the menu item for MAME shows up twice as the exact same icon.

It would be nice to have it show up with some indicator of what version of MAME it is accessing.

This may only affect those people like myself but it would be a nice feature.

Thank you,
Battlecat

meleu

@battlecat a guy named @UDb23 made some cool logos for different versions of mame.
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2975/svg-format-for-emulationstation/9

The instructions are inthe next post

backstander

hey @battlecat !
Getting MAME up and running for someone new to all this is always a pain!

Starting off you need to know that different versions of MAME use a different set of ROMs:
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Managing-ROMs

For example:
lr-mame2003 uses the Romset of 0.78 but Mame4all uses the Romset of 0.37b5 so if you're planning on using lr-mame2003 then you'll want to look for a Romset of version 0.78.

Since RetroPie is fully customization you can actually accomplish what you want by editing a file. Now I tried this and I don't think it works the way you want because of the different Romsets for each variant of MAME but I like for people to try it for themselves and learn that way haha.

Okay now you need to look in a file to find out what to put in the other file. I'm not actually at my RetroPie so I'm going off memory. It doesn't matter which way you do this but let's say you want all your ROMs to be in the mame-libretro folder.

Look in this file for Mame4all and find the full line for the emulator(s) you want to use with MAME2003:
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-mame4all/emulators.cfg

Next paste that information into this file on a new line:
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-libretro/emulators.cfg

Make sure all your MAME ROMs are in the roms/mame-libretro folder and when you launch a game and it doesn't work the first time, then try loading up that same game again and immediately pressing a button when you see the Runcommand Launch Menu and then Select emulator for ROM and the Mame4all emulator(s) should be on the list now. You can also do this with FinalBurn Alpha which I should note, also uses another Romset different to the other 2 mentioned above.

You should now only have MAME listed once and you'll have access to both sets of emulators.

battlecat

@meleu Thanks! That looks promising.

The reason I posted it in this particular part of the forum was to see if it might be something that would be incorporated into RetroPie. After all while they are all MAME systems they are not the "same system". Each version of MAME supported is different with a different ROM-set support.

That being said I was hoping to see if the devs would consider adding to them main menu each MAME version as a separately recognized system for both clarity in the menu and as an added feature for those who use MAME extensively.

Thank you,
BC

dankcushions

@battlecat said in Mame Variations:

That being said I was hoping to see if the devs would consider adding to them main menu each MAME version as a separately recognized system for both clarity in the menu and as an added feature for those who use MAME extensively.

they are separate, to an extent. folders /mame-advmame/ and /mame-libretro/ and /mame-mame4all/ are all separate entries in emulationstation. you can see the mame emulators they cover here: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/MAME

but broadly, i don't think there's much of a sensible use-case for using more than one mame emulator on a retropie install. other than advmame being specifically good at vector games, i don't see why you wouldn't just pick one emulator and get the set for that.

suprjami

@dankcushions One potential reason is individual games not being supported by the "main" emulator.

For example, if one is using lr-mame2003 for most ROMS, but want to play a ROM only supported in lr-mame2010.

Personally I think that's what the arcade directory is good for, and you can set per-ROM emulator presets in there using runcommand.

dankcushions

@suprjami said in Mame Variations:

@dankcushions One potential reason is individual games not being supported by the "main" emulator.

For example, if one is using lr-mame2003 for most ROMS, but want to play a ROM only supported in lr-mame2010.

Personally I think that's what the arcade directory is good for, and you can set per-ROM emulator presets in there using runcommand.

yeah me too. also for FBA only stuff. but in either case i think the user wants it to be invisible (ie, the arcade folder). separating them out (further than they already are) doesn't seem useful to me.

suprjami

@dankcushions said

yeah me too. also for FBA only stuff. but in either case i think the user wants it to be invisible (ie, the arcade folder). separating them out (further than they already are) doesn't seem useful to me.

Agree. I have discussed making per-MAME-emulator directories and themes with @BuZz before, we decided it was too much effort for no gain and would just confuse things and break things more.

battlecat

Okay let me start over.

I installed a fresh copy of RetroPie.
I go into where the ROMS are stored.
NOTE: There are several folders for the various MAME ROM sets. I am not "creating" these folders.
I copy my MAME ROM set 0.37b5 into /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/mame-mame4all
I copy my MAME ROM set 0.78 into /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/mame-libretro
I re-boot RetroPie.
I see that there are 2 icons for MAME which are identical.

I was trying to suggest that it would be nice to have emulation station provide different MAME screen menu icons so that it would be easier to differentiate between the MAME builds.

Currently the EmulationStation menu icons for all MAME builds are all the same on my install.

Thank you,
BC

backstander

@battlecat

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2975/svg-format-for-emulationstation/9

dankcushions

@battlecat said in Mame Variations:

NOTE: There are several folders for the various MAME ROM sets. I am not "creating" these folders.

I copy my MAME ROM set 0.37b5 into /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/mame-mame4all

I copy my MAME ROM set 0.78 into /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/mame-libretro

i guess my question still is, why? :) your mame4all set seems redundant.

battlecat

@backstander

Hi:

Meleu suggested this link I think already.

Thank you for the re-suggestion.

While it is a work around it does address to my suggestion that there be different Icons "built" into the RetroPie image to support multiple MAME builds being used.

I am merely throwing the suggestion out there for the devs to say yeah, nay, or ignored.

Thanks,
BC

battlecat

@dankcushions Some ROMS from one set work fine and some from another work fine but not all ROMS work in both builds. This is why I use more than one MAME build.

--bc

dankcushions

@battlecat said in Mame Variations:

@dankcushions Some ROMS from one set work fine and some from another work fine but not all ROMS work in both builds. This is why I use more than one MAME build.

--bc

that should be impossible. mame2003 is a later mame core. mame4all shouldn't support anything that mame2003 doesn't, and mame2003 supports a lot of things that mame4all doesn't. i'd be very curious as to what those games are.

battlecat

@dankcushions Hi there:

Well for instance Advanced MAME 106 will not play Altered Beast but some of the other MAME builds do.

I know from using other MAME builds that this is the case for many roms.

According to the MAME devs roms that work in one version may be depreciated and not work in the next newer version depending on the ROMS dump status.

--BC

dankcushions

@battlecat said in Mame Variations:

@dankcushions Hi there:

Well for instance Advanced MAME 106 will not play Altered Beast but some of the other MAME builds do.

advmame is neither mame4all nor mame2003 :)

meleu

My other 2 cents: I think this discussion is more related to ES theme development than RetroPie development itself...

battlecat

@dankcushions the concept remains the same.

battlecat

@meleu

Thanks meleu. I was unsure where Retropie drew the line at what was part of it verses what was EmulationStation.

I will find a forum there and make the suggestion.

--bc

meleu

@battlecat said in Mame Variations:

I will find a forum there and make the suggestion.

I didn't mean it! :-)
This is the right forum (I guess), but this kind of request is better addressed to theme makers, such as @mattrixk , @edmaul69 , @Rookervik and others.
Or better yet, you follow the instructions in the link I have posted and DIY. This is the spirit behind the Raspberry Pi. ;-)