Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

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DonkeyKongo
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Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by DonkeyKongo »

Hey all, stumbled across this site while trying to break down the mystery of romsets. I've been using MAME for a few years on a desktop & laptop computer, now I'm trying to develop a Raspberry Pi arcade emulator, and am doing a lot of trial & error in DL'ing roms and seeing which ones work and which ones don't (some-- the older ones in particular-- are certainly more difficult than others!)

Obviously, I understand that we can't/should not mention where to find roms etc (which is OK, as I already have a few sites I use). What I'm curious about is if we're able to discuss WHICH versions of roms will work with different emulators, which ones you need when it's a parent or child, etc?

Like I vaguely understand that Pac-Man is a clone of Puckman, and that I'd need both to work. I just don't know if we're able to spell out that you need THIS parent and THIS clone in order to get it work with THIS version of MAME, etc.

Case in point, I discovered a prototype of an arcade game the other day that looked pretty cool, but the ONLY rom I found for it online wouldn't work for the version of MAME I'm running. Still, I'd imagine there's a different version/package out there that it'll work for. Are we able to discuss such matters?

Sorry to ask, I'd reached out to an Admin a few days ago to see if this sorta thing was OK asking and still hadn't heard anything back (assuming the message even went through), just thought I'd try to get an answer before determining if I need to look elsewhere. Thank you.

DonkeyKongo
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Re: Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by DonkeyKongo »

Well it's been about 24 hrs. now, can I assume from the lack of an answer from members or Mods, that we CAN ask such questions, about which romsets, clones, parents etc work with which emulators??

Like I did find this useful guide on RetroPie, sorry if the formatting doesn't translate (and yes, I'll probably ask there too):

Emulator / Required ROM Version / # of ROMs
mame4all / MAME 0.37b5 / 2270
lr-mame2003 / MAME 0.78 / 4720
pifba / FB Alpha v0.2.96.71 / 684
lr-fbneo / FB Neo v0.2.97.44-WIP / 4896
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Arcade/

Still, on some of the sites I get roms from, there are a lot of roms listed simply as working for MAME. But then I also see MAME4ALL, MAME4DROID etc.

MAME4DROID I've seen also referred to as MAME 0.139, while some of the ROMS are listed as MAME 0.139u1. Does this mean I can/should file that one under mame-libretro, or is there/do I need to get a lr-mame2010 package??

And I'm still not entirely sure what the correct combination of roms/parents/children and emulators is to get Pac-Man/Puckman working for mame2003 or mame-libretro(??)

So if someone could answer, yes you can or can't ask such direct questions here, that would be awesome.

Case in point, here are some other ROMs that I seemingly haven't been able to get working for lr-mame2003, or mame-libretro:

DJ Boy
Operation Wolf
Paperboy
Rolling Thunder
Space Invaders
Street Fighter 1
Super Qix
etc

If there's a better site/spreadsheet that can help spell out these kinda direct questions-- assuming no one's comfortable answering 'em here-- I'd really appreciate any referrals. Thank you.
Last edited by DonkeyKongo on Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by Wanderer »

DonkeyKongo wrote:
Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:00 am
Well it's been about 24 hrs. now, can I assume from the lack of an answer from members or Mods, that we CAN ask such questions, about which romsets, clones, parents etc work with which emulators??
Hello and welcome here.

Yes, you can ask such questions. If you couldn't, your posts would not be approved. :)

What you may not do is to provide direct links to roms or to places containing roms. Talking about roms is not illegal, providing links to roms most probably is.

As far as you main question, sorry i can't help. Maybe someone else...

DonkeyKongo
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Re: Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by DonkeyKongo »

Appreciate it, yeah I'd like to thinkthqt everyone who's using forums such as these should know by now that linking to any roms directly is no bueno! ;) Heh.

But fortunately I found a great Excel doc on the main Retropie site that listed some of the emulators compatible w/certain games, I hadn't even really tried FBA yet as an emulator, but in doing so was able to get some 20 games working!!

Nonetheless, there are still quite a few that I haven't managed to get working on anything (mame2003, libretro, and FBA have been my primary options, but if anyone has any other emulators or versions they'd recommend, I'd certainly appreciate that...

* arabfgt.zip (Arabian Fight, apparently this is supposed to work on MAME, I've tried both 2003 & Libretro w/I success, so not sure if I have the wrong ROM)
* choplift.zip / chplft.zip (Choplifter)
* columns2.zip
* cruising.zip
* crusnwld.zip
* djboy.zip
* dstlk.zip (Darkstalkers)
* nob.zip (Noboranka)
* opwolf.zip (Operation Wolf)
* pacman.zip (still not sure which Puckman parent I'd need, or which emulator to use them with)
* Paperboy.zip
* pulstar.zip
* rthunder.zip (Rolling Thunder)
* sf1.zip (Street Fighter)
* spaceinv.zip (sure this one needs a parent or something too but I haven't figured it out yet)
* spidman.zip / m1spid.zip (Spiderman The Game)
* sqix.zip (Super Qix)
* twotiger.zip (have the "Dedicated" rom but that's be N/A)
Last edited by DonkeyKongo on Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by RomCenter »

Hi

you can download and run Romcenter with your emulators datafiles and see if you rom are valid or not.
Romcenter will show invalid rom in red, so you will know if you set are validated before trying in the emulator.

As for the romsets 'mystery', there is no such mystery. An arcade cabinet contains a number of rom chip, and each chip give one file.
So a version of pacman has one romset.
This is the theory. Practically, we are not always sure of the validity of the dumped rom. We know for sure when the game itself checks the checksum, but for old games, it is not done.
Anyway, if you want to develop an emulator, my advice is to get the latest mame romsets.
About parent-clone, romcenter in unmerged mode will show you exactly which rom belongs to which game.
Eric - RomCenter developer
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Re: Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by DonkeyKongo »

Thanks for mentioning it, do you have any tutorials for version 2.42 though? (since I'm generally a Mac user-- and unfortunately I see you don't have a version for OSX-- the only PC I had access to was running Windows 7). I found this tutorial for the newer version on YouTube, but unless I'm missing something, it didn't seem to have audio.
https://youtu.be/1JtIh5u2Ko4

As is, assuming I figured it out (was just confused that the database it seemingly opens to shows all the ROMs I don't have), for the 2 paths I created/folders I tried to scan, I'm seeing files listed as "Not a rom," and with "Bad name, correct name is..." (not sure if I'm simply able to rename these files and they're assumed to work?) and "Missing" Infos. I assume the database is included/referenced (although with an older version, I guess you're limited to an older database) to compare and flag what's good and what's bad?

Do most people just try to DL the same rom, replace what's bad, and retest/try running them again?

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Re: Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by RomCenter »

You should use the 4.x version. romcenter 2.42 is outdated and no more supported.
Before scanning your rom, you must import a datafile for the machine you want to use.
Once your rom are scanned, a red rom means you don't have it and you must download it.
A yellow and green rom means it is correct. To fix yellow rom, select it and fix.
Bad name should not impact game loading in mame, as it refers to crc first.

If a rom is missing, you have to find it using its crc. Don't bother to try to launch game until all its rom are green.
Eric - RomCenter developer
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DonkeyKongo
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Re: Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by DonkeyKongo »

Yeah again, that YouTube tutorial, is there supposed to be any audio there? Because I've tried watching it on 2-3 devices and there doesn't seem to be any.

I also tried referencing this one, but I'm not sure if it entirely corresponds with this version 4.1.1 I updated to.
http://wiki.romcenter.com/doku.php?id=getstart:menu

Specifically, after selecting a database (I didn't see MAME-- just the general companies, Namco, Irem etc-- as an option, I guess the general FB Alpha v0.2.97.43 dat is the most the most inclusive option?), I'm confused as to the next step, or how to add/check my ROM files.

The link above mentions File/Add Rom Path, but all I'm seeing next is "Select Romcenter Destination File" (next to "Save Data As...").

When I try navigating to the flash drive where the ROM zips I'm trying to check are stored, the only way I see them is if I select "Save As Type": All Files, which then makes me Save. The pop-up "Select Destination folder and filename" tells me that the file already exists, and asks if I want to replace it. When I choose Yes, the next steps are Set Filters, Access Advanced Settings, and Create The Database.

If I select Create The Database, there's a long wait while the app says it's Reading, Importing, and Analysing rom, then when it's done, there's a huge list of 5000-sone roms I don't have, with just one (presumably the one I chose) "selected." If I type in and search the name of the rom I thought I was checking, it gives me a list of files on the right that it says are "Missing" under Info.

It just seems like there's some steps missing.

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Re: Noob romset question: are we able to ask...

Post by RomCenter »

No, no audio in tutorial.

To get the latest mame database:
  • download mame 0.227
  • extract
  • run romcenter
  • create a new db
  • select mame.exe as source
  • select where to store romcenter db
  • click "create the database"
Then you can add your rom paths, select a rom, a file or a folder and click 'fix' to repair your roms.
Eric - RomCenter developer
Report bugs here.

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