advmame - games won't load SOLVED

I_Died_Once

I have a full mame 0.106 romset, over 60 gigs with all the chd's and 6,166 files, full on set. When I go to play any game, it goes to a black screen and back to the menu. Tried going into the launch menu and using different emulators; advmame, advmamde 0.94, advmame 1.4 - all do the same thing. Roms are in the right place, they just won't load. Not sure what I am doing what here.

I am fairly confident the romset is legit, how would I go about getting logs pulled, or does anyone else know of this issue and its resolution?

caver01

@I_Died_Once Have you modified the .rc files for AdvMAME? Any mistake in there will stop it from launching.

I_Died_Once

I have not

rbaker

@I_Died_Once said in advmame - games won't load:

it goes to a black screen and back to the menu

Either the required BIOS files are missing or not the correct set. Have you verified the set against the DAT file?

I_Died_Once

Yes, the dat file matches everything in the set. I am thinking at this point I am missing the BIOS files. Where would those be at in the rom set?

rbaker

@I_Died_Once So you used clrmame? If so, all the BIOS files should already be in the set. Files like "neogeo" and "taitofx1" are examples of BIOS files. Not all games require BIOS though. If they are not there, the set is incomplete.

rbaker

@I_Died_Once said in advmame - games won't load:

Roms are in the right place

Next thing is to tell us where exactly you placed them and how you got them there - for example transfers via Apple Mac can introduce files that cause issues.

_J.R.N_

@rbaker i have the same issue and I transferred roms through Mac over the network

caver01

@rbaker

@rbaker said in advmame - games won't load:

transfers via Apple Mac can introduce files that cause issues.

I gotta call foul on that. I have always transferred files over the network from my mac and I have never had a problem. I used to rely on AdvMAME exclusively.

caver01

@I_Died_Once try this:

Exit emulation station and with a keyboard connected, try launching your rom manually:

/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/1.4/bin/advmame romname.zip

This way, you will see the failure message which might give clues about what is happening.

UDb23

Errors are logged in "/dev/shm/runcommand.log".
Try launching a game and then check the content of that file.

rbaker

@caver01 Thanks for the clarification. I have never used a mac but often see this issue discussed. I guess I should have said file names as opposed to files. I think is was Cyberduck or something.

_J.R.N_

Can someone explain to me what DAT is so I can check that

_J.R.N_

How do I launch rom manually?

rbaker

@_J.R.N_ said in advmame - games won't load:

Can someone explain to me what DAT is so I can check that

In order to verify or rebuild a set, you need its corresponding DAT file and a software tool to process the DAT. DATs describe the ROM contents including filenames, file sizes, and checksums to verify contents are not incorrect or corrupt. You will need to read this.

caver01

@_J.R.N_ said in advmame - games won't load:

How do I launch rom manually?

Scroll back up to my previous reply. I gave you the command to type to launch a rom manually using advmame 1.4. The rom should be from a .106 romset and it should be located in the folder that advmame expects (the .rc config file specifies the rom directory, and it should be aligned with the RetroPie location).

One more time for good luck: Exit Emulation Station. At a command prompt (using an external keyboard) type:

/opt/retropie/emulators/advmame/1.4/bin/advmame joust.zip

assuming you have that rom.

_J.R.N_

Jus to clarify.. this will work for all emulators correct?? I'm stuck trying to get my Snes, Nes, and. N64 roms to work.

_J.R.N_

What script would I use to manually run n64 roms

caver01

@_J.R.N_ said in advmame - games won't load:

Jus to clarify.. this will work for all emulators correct?? I'm stuck trying to get my Snes, Nes, and. N64 roms to work.

No. The command only works with AdvMAME. Every emulator will be different, and AdvMAME works nicely this way because you don't have to include the path to your rom file, as AdvMAME is expecting the rom to be located where specified in the .rc file.

I_Died_Once

I want to thanks everyone for their help on this one. I am going to have time to work on this over the weekend and will update this thread for posterity's sake with my findings.