Mala can't see my ROMS - Fixed ;-)

[idsane]

Hi. I just set up MALA and it is having some problems playing my roms. I have the options set to where my roms are stored (which is under the roms section of mame32) but it doesn't seem to play them. They only way I can get it to play is if the rom is stored under the roms section of the actual mame.exe folder. However, even though it won't play any of the games, it still generates the entire list even though I have the options checked for only working games and such. Any ideas? Thanks

[empardopo]

Where have you the options checked? In MALA or Mame?
They must be so in MALA. In MALA Game collections options you must check only games with rom found in rom folders and only work games.

Test and then comment here.

Greetings.

[idsane]

I have the options checked in MALA. I am running mala105a and mame139b. It is odd b/c

1. when I point it to a location with no ROMS, nothing shows up....check
2. when I point it to the mame folder that has 2 ROMS in it, those 2 roms show up and nothing else and work.... check
3. when I point it to the folder containing the 7416 ROMS I have, they are all generated on the list, but none play except the two I put in the mame folder to test it..... whaaaaa?

[empardopo]

Where are you getting these 7416 roms? Are the two roms and the 7416 roms in the same directory?

You should test with the last beta of MALA, or another version of mame.
I've checked with 1.6.6.2 version of mala and wolf mame 0138.

I created the directory c:\roms and I got into the rom wrally. Rom path 1 in MALA points to c:\roms. Refresh main list and ok. I launch wrally and it doesn't work fine. Fail!!!

Then I created the directory c:\roms2 and i got into the rom aerofgt. Rom path 2 in MALA points to c:\roms2. Refresh main list again and OK.Both roms are in the new list but when i launch wrally or aerofgt roms don't work! Fail!

However, with the rom directory of mame, the two roms work fine.

The problem is that Rom Path in MALA seem that don't work.To work fine you must add the new rom paths in mame.
In other words, all the roms must be in the directory in mame.At least I think so.
I think that the rom path in MALA serve only to see the roms and not to launch them.

Loadman, can you take a look?

Thanks.

I'm sorry for my bad english.

[idsane]

Thanks empardopo. I ended up just putting all the ROMS in the mame folder in the roms folder. For some reason, it would generate the list anywhere else I put them, but then said it couldn't find the files when I tried to play them. Mame32 still lets my select and play the ROMS from where ever. Seems like a bug, but at least there is a work around! I think your English is great by the way!

[empardopo]

Let's wait and see what it says Loadman.
Greetings!

[loadman]

Hi,

If you want to specify the path you need to send that in the 'Command Line' on the options- mame - basics tab.

eg:

What works for me is:
%path%\%rom%

Possibly I should set it as that as default??

In the MaLa logs, you can see what parameters are being passed to mame.

In my case:

2010/08/14  22:33:47.75   Info: Set dir: C:\mametable\mame\
2010/08/14  22:33:47.76   Info: Starting Game ***: Create process: mame89.exe C:\mametable\mame\rom1\1942

[empardopo]

Loadman, i tried again and it only works if I change the file mame.ini
I'm using the 1662 version of MALA and wolfmame 0.138.

[loadman]

Loadman, i tried again and it only works if I change the file mame.ini
I'm using the 1662 version of MALA and wolfmame 0.138.

What does the logs say? Particularity on the 'Starting Game' section

What have you got set in the 'Command Line' on the options- mame - basics tab.?

Are you using a 'command line' version of mame?

What happens if you don't specify 'anything' in mame,in?

Please provide answers to these questions in order for me to follow up. Thanks  

My tests were using 1662 and mame .89..107 & .110 and worked with two different directories set in MaLa. I could not test on later versions of mame as I don't have the right roms for teh latest versions)

Later.....  OK I did some tests.

It seems mame changed the way you need to specify rom paths at some point (somewhere between  .110 and .125)

Try this command line.

-rp %path% %rom%

This worked for me with version .138 and a free rom 'Start Fire' I got from the mame website.

So I think this issue is solved  

For future issues I encourage all to look at the logs and see what mala is passing to mame on game start

MaLa is designed to be flexible and future proof by allowing you to alter the parameters passed to mame.

The only thing I had to do to get it working was read the config.txt on the latest mame version

-rompath / -rp <path>

   Specifies a list of paths within which to find ROM or hard disk images.
   Multiple paths can be specified by separating them with semicolons.
   The default is 'roms' (that is, a directory "roms" in the same directory
   as the MAME executable).

You can always do quick manual tests using a commend prompt (see attached screen shot)

[empardopo]

Loadman,

if I put %rom% or %path%\%rom% in a command line of MALA doesn't work. Only the roms in directory rompath of mame.ini work fine.

However, I've put -rp %path% %rom% in command line in MALA and now all my roms work fine.I've even deleted the mame.ini file and then they runs everything correctly.

Thanks a lot. You are a crack.

[idsane]

The -rp %path% %rom% in the command line also worked for me. Thank you both for your help! 

[Dartful Dodger]

The -rp %path% %rom% in the command line also worked for me. Thank you both for your help! 

+1

Thanks!