3 versions of MAME sharing same ROM folder in one list??

[BadMouth]

ok, i see what's happening now (hopefully).  The answer to the if statements is false because that's not actually the path to your roms.
It should be........

if "%2" == "C:\MameOther\MameVerPlus" goto MameVerPlus
if "%2" == "C:\MameOther\MameVerNeg" goto MameVerNeg

[lettuce]

Im not sure, as i placed the roms back in the roms directory within c:\mameverplus folder and also change the rom path in mala back to c:\mameverplus

[BadMouth]

Im not sure, as i placed the roms back in the roms directory within c:\mameverplus folder and also change the rom path in mala back to c:\mameverplus

to c:\mameverplus
or c:\mameverplus\roms

?

You should be able to figure this out by now.

[lettuce]

Yeah the roms are in c:\MameVerPlus\Rom and ive pointed mala to this directory aswell

[lettuce]

I still cannot get this to work as i want. this is my current bat file........

Code: [Select]

echo %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
pause
if "%2" == "C:\MameVerPlus" goto MameVerPlus
if "%3" == "C:\MameVerNeg" goto MameVerNeg

mame.exe %1
exit

:MameVerPlus
cd c:\MameVerPlus
mame.exe %1
exit

:MameVerNeg
cd c:\MameVerNeg
mame.exe %1
exit
I have added the full path for each folder, and added 3 rom paths to Mala (C:\Mame (%1), C:\MameVerPlus (%2), and C:\MameVerNeg (%3)). And when loading 1942 (MameVerPlus) dos reports......



so what the hell is wrong with the above bat file as its stilllooking in c:\mame.

I got this bat file to work if i told it look for the rom.........

Code: [Select]

echo %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
pause
if %1==1942 goto MameVerPlus
if %1==1941 goto MameverPlus

rem default MAME launch
echo I'm going to run the default mame!
pause
cd c:\mame
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
pause
goto end

:MameVerPlus
echo I made it to MAmeVerPlus!
pause
cd c:\MameVerPlus
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
pause
goto end

:end
pause
so why doesnt the other bat file work?  

[jimmy2x2x]

First thing I would do is simplify the arguments:

instead of "C:\MameVerPlus" use plus
instead of "C:\MameVerNeg" use neg

Without the quotes, just like in your second example that seems to work fine.

Are you sure you want to be testing "%2" and "%3" on lines 3 and 4, seems a strange way to pass arguments.

[lettuce]

First thing I would do is simplify the arguments:

instead of "C:\MameVerPlus" use plus
instead of "C:\MameVerNeg" use neg

Without the quotes, just like in your second example that seems to work fine.

Are you sure you want to be testing "%2" and "%3" on lines 3 and 4, seems a strange way to pass arguments.

so change the directories from c:\MameVerPlus to c:\Plus and c:\MameVerNeg to c:\Neg ?, but what would that achieve?

This is just confusing the hell out of me, i hate batch files!!

So the revised bat file should be......

Code: [Select]

echo %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
pause
if %1==C:\Plus goto Plus
if %1==C:\Neg goto Neg

mame.exe %1
exit

:Plus
cd c:\Plus
mame.exe %1
exit

:Neg
cd c:\Neg
mame.exe %1
exit

[jimmy2x2x]

Well if would remove two things that might be causing the problem

1) the quotes, your working example does not have them

2) the non alpha numeric characters that might also be causing the issue (:\), again your working example does not have those characters




What is the output after running the first file?

echo %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
pause

[jimmy2x2x]

Almost, I was thinking of something like this:

Code: [Select]

echo %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
pause
if %2==plus goto mplus
if %2==neg goto mneg

echo Normal mame
pause
mame.exe %1
exit

:mplus
echo Plus mame
pause
cd c:\Plus
mame.exe %1
exit

:mneg
echo Negative mame
pause
cd c:\Neg
mame.exe %1
exit

%1 will be your romname
%2 will be your version (nothing = normal, plus = plus, neg = negative)

Try that and post the output

[lettuce]

Ok, tried that bat file and dos gave me this mesage...

[jimmy2x2x]

You are not passing %2 to the batch file, looks like you need to check for this first:

Code: [Select]

echo %1 %2
pause
if "%2"=="" goto mnormal
if "%2"=="plus" goto mplus
if "%2"=="neg" goto mneg

:mnormal
echo Normal mame
pause
mame.exe %1
exit

:mplus
echo Plus mame
pause
cd c:\Plus
mame.exe %1
exit

:mneg
echo Negative mame
pause
cd c:\Neg
mame.exe %1
exit


you should be able to enter these 3 command lines and get 3 different results.

Open a command prompt
Navigate to where the batch file is
substitute the actual name of the batch below
try this:

<batch filename> 1942
<batch filename> 1942 plus
<batch filename> 1942 neg

EDIT: apparenty strings have to be in quotes in batch files (its been a while for me! sorry) updated code.

[BadMouth]

I added 3 rom paths to Mala (C:\Mame (%1), C:\MameVerPlus (%2), and C:\MameVerNeg (%3)).

Wha....

[jimmy2x2x]

I have tried out my batch file, it works fine.

Now the only thing you need to do is make sure c:\neg and c:\plus contain your required versions of mame.

In those 2 folders, edit both mame.ini files to point to where your roms are located and that should be that (I think!)
I will assume the roms are pathed in you "normal" mame.ini configuration.

you will call the batch file with 2 arguments

1) rom name
2) mame version (plus, neg or anything else for normal version of mame)

The batch file should be in your "normal" mame folder

Is this what you wanted?

[lettuce]

Change the bat as suggested and ran, c:\mame\mame.cmd 1942 Plus and it loaded fine.........



But when trying to load it through mala it said it couldnt find the rom files.

using just 1942 as an example here,

I have pointed Mala to c:\Plus\Roms
The 1942 rom is in the rom folder in c:\Plus
the roms line in the mame.ini file (within c:\plus) is left as the default setting  'rompath      roms'
and the mame.cmd file is in my main mame folder (c:\mame)

[jimmy2x2x]

ok

so what does the screen tell you when you run it in mala?

are you passing the correct arguments to mame.cmd (I would have called it runmame.bat to avoid confusion)


you might have to get mala to show the command window so see this

[lettuce]

This is what a get from dos when trying to load through Mala.......



Using just 1942 as an example here,

I have pointed Mala to c:\Plus\Roms
The 1942 rom is in the rom folder in c:\Plus
the roms line in the mame.ini file (within c:\plus) is left as the default setting  'rompath      roms'
and the mame.cmd file is in my main mame folder (c:\mame)

[jimmy2x2x]

OK

so the switching within the batch file is working

and your current problem is the location of the roms.

in all 3 mame.ini files (c:\mame\mame.ini  c:\plus\mame.ini  c:\neg\mame.ini) you need to set the rom paths to where the roms are (c:\plus or c:\plus\rom or c:\plus\roms) where  1942.zip is actually located.

[lettuce]

Well you cannot have the same rom files in more than 1 rom folder, so for instance i couldnt have the 1942 rom in c:\mame\roms and also c:\plus\roms. So all the roms that i want to run with plus mame have been moved from the main mame rom folder (c:\mame\roms) to c:\plus\roms.

So in each of the 3 mame.ini files i should change the rom line from 'roms' to 'c:\plus\roms' as so on??

On a side note i dont have a .bat file im using a .cmd file, mame.cmd which contains...

Code: [Select]

echo %1 %2
pause
if "%2"=="" goto mnormal
if "%2"=="plus" goto mplus
if "%2"=="neg" goto mneg

:mnormal
echo Normal mame
pause
mame.exe %1
exit

:mplus
echo Plus mame
pause
cd c:\Plus
mame.exe %1
exit

:mneg
echo Negative mame
pause
cd c:\Neg
mame.exe %1
exit
and then im point Mala to 'c:\mame.cmd' rather than the usual 'c:\mame.exe' file

[jimmy2x2x]

Maybe I am confused here, I thought you wanted to run 3 different versions of mame sharing 1 rom folder.

is this correct?

[lettuce]

Well i was informed that i couldnt do this, i would need to move the rom files from the main mame directory (c:\mame\roms) to which ever mame folder i wanted to run that rom on, so for 1942 i want to use MameVerPlus (c:\plus in this case) so i had to take the 1942 rom from c:\mame\roms and place it into c:\plus\roms. As i was told you could not have 2 lots of 1942 in different mame directorys, are you saying this isnt so??

If i can use just 1 rom folder across the 3 different version of mame that would be idea

[jimmy2x2x]

You can share 1 set of roms across many versions of mame as long as the rom will actually work with the versions of mame you are using.

For example, sometimes roms get updated or changed for different versions of mame, this may or may not affect you depending on the roms you have and the versions of mame you are running.

you have 2 options here.

Option 1)

have the roms for each version in each sub folder:
like this.
c:\mame\roms  <- contains the roms for c:\mame\mame.exe
c:\plus\roms  <- contains the roms for c:\plus\mame.exe
c:\neg\roms  <- contains the roms for c:\neg\mame.exe

if you do it this way, you will need to make sure all 3 mame.ini files have the "rompath                   roms" line set.

Option 2)

have the roms in one cental location (c:\mame\roms for example)

and set all 3 mame.ini files to "rompath   c:\mame\roms"

do you follow?

we are using relative paths for Option 1 (roms subfolder from current location), and absolute rom paths for Option 2 (the roms are in a fixed location, not relative to current location)

[lettuce]

Yeah, not all roms will work with the 3 version of mame i have so they will have to have there own rom folders im afraid. So i can leave the rom line in the mame.in files as 'rompath               roms' for all 3 mame.ini files right?

And in Mala i need to select 3 different paths for the roms...

1. c:\mame\roms\
2. c:\plus\roms\
3. c:\neg\roms\

is this correct?

So my question is why when i loaded 1942 through mala does it insist in trying to load c:\mame and not c:\plus, and that is why is cannot find the roms files it need for 1942??

[jimmy2x2x]

OK thats fine, leave the roms where they are.

How is mala setting the %2 argument ("neg" or "pos") is this generated from a specific gamelist or something?

[lettuce]

As ive said im clueless when it comes to batch files and the like, what do you mean by 'argument'?

In Mala the command line paramater is set as

%rom% %path%

and for the rom path, rom path 1 is c:\mame\roms, rom path 2 c:\plus\roms and rom path 3 is c:\neg\roms

is this what you were asking?? lol

[jimmy2x2x]

Right!

I severely underestimated this situation

I have started to read the topic from the start, brb !

[jimmy2x2x]

My advice is to run different game lists for horizontal and vertical games, each list using a different version of mame sharing one rom folder.

Forget about batch files for this type of operation, as far as I can see there is no easy way to determine if a game is horizontal or vertical from within a batch file.

Sorry for misunderstanding your issue.

[lettuce]

I thought the way it worked though was the batch file would look in each mame rom folder for said rom and when it found it it would load that version of mame?? So for example 1942, if i selected that in mala, the batch file would first look in c:\mame\roms so it doesnt find it in there so it looks in c:\plus\roms and finds 1942 so load mame from c:\plus??

Is this how it works??

As ive had it work when telling it to look for a certain rom using the below batch file....

Code: [Select]

echo %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
pause
if %1==1942 goto MameVerPlus
if %1==1941 goto MameverPlus

rem default MAME launch
echo I'm going to run the default mame!
pause
cd c:\mame
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
pause
goto end

:MameVerPlus
echo I made it to MAmeVerPlus!
pause
cd c:\MameVerPlus
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
pause
goto end

:end
pause
I just cant get it to work when generally looking for a rom in say c:\plus, it always appears to load from c:\mame
 

[jimmy2x2x]

All your batch file will do is:

check if the rom selected in mala is 1942, if it is then goto the MameVerPlus label
check if the rom selected in mala is 1941, if it is then goto the MameVerPlus label
if the game is not 1942 or 1941 then it will go to the default option.

It will not check if the rom is in the folder, it doesnt know anything about it, it will just always go there if you select one of those games from within mala.

you *might* be able to get this to work, but you will need some way of checking if the rom exists within a certain path
and make sure that you have an intelligent way of sorting the roms, verticals and horizontals etc...

Not worth it imo

[lettuce]

Or could i list all roms that i want to be loaded with mameverplus or mameverneg and do it that way, for example.......

Code: [Select]

echo %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
pause
if %1==1942 goto MameVerPlus
if %1==1941 goto MameverPlus
if %1==1943 goto MameverPlus
if %1==dkong goto MameverPlus
if %1==bjack goto MameverNeg
if %1==Mercs goto MameverNeg

rem default MAME launch
echo I'm going to run the default mame!
pause
cd c:\mame
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
pause
goto end

:MameVerPlus
echo I made it to MAmeVerPlus!
pause
cd c:\MameVerPlus
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
pause
goto end

:end
pause
Would that work?

[jimmy2x2x]

That idea would work, it might be a bit of a long way round if you have lots of games!

there might be another way using some logic, im just experimenting with it atm

[jimmy2x2x]

OK I might have a quick solution, it depends on 1 thing.

Are your roms already sorted, so that any given rom only appears once with NO DUPLICATES

ie 1942.zip only appears one time in either c:\mame\roms, c:\neg\roms or c:\plus\roms ?

[jimmy2x2x]

Im pretty sure the following instructions will solve your problem.

It will switch to the version of mame where the rom exists, so you can have your different HLSL effects for vertical and horizontal games.

You will need to have 2 mame folders:

c:\mame  (this one will be for horizontal games)
c:\vertmame  (this one will be for vertical games)

c:\mame\roms  (contains all your horizontal games)
c:\vertmame\roms (contains all your vertical games)

both mame.ini files (c:\mame\mame.ini and c:\vertmame\mame.ini) have the "rompath     roms" line

put this code into a batch file, save the batch file as c:\mame\runme.cmd

Code: [Select]

@echo off
if exist c:\mame\roms\%1.zip goto horizontal
cd \vertmame
:horizontal
mame %1
exit

point mala to this batch file (c:\mame\runme.cmd) and just pass %1 as the rom

You will need to add both rom paths to mala (c:\mame\roms and c:\vertmame\roms)

Let me know how you get on.

[lettuce]

I shall try what u suggested when I get home. Will this method only work with a max of 2 folders?, as ideally I need it to work for 3 set of folders, 1 for standard Mame, and 2 for vertical games. The reason I need 2 vertical Mame folders is some roms don't display properly and need a different value set in the 'post.fx' file within the HLSL folder, hence 2 vertical Mame folders need.

[jimmy2x2x]

I think this should work 3 different versions of mame, let me know

You will need to have 3 mame folders:

c:\mame  (this one will be for normal games)
c:\vertmame  (this one will be for vertical games)
c:\horimame  (this one will be for horizontal games)

c:\mame\roms  (contains all your normal games)
c:\vertmame\roms (contains all your vertical games)
c:\horimame\roms (contains all your horizontal games)

all 3 mame.ini files (c:\mame\mame.ini  c:\vertmame\mame.ini  c:\horimame\mame.ini) have the "rompath     roms" line

put this code into a batch file, save the batch file as c:\mame\runme.cmd

Code: [Select]

@echo off
if exist c:\mame\roms\%1.zip goto normal
if exist c:\horimame\roms\%1.zip goto horizontal
cd \vertmame
goto normal
:horizontal
cd \horimame
:normal
mame %1
exit

point mala to this batch file (c:\mame\runme.cmd) and just pass %1 as the rom

You will need all 3 rom paths to mala (c:\mame\roms  c:\vertmame\roms c:\horimame\roms)

[lettuce]

Bingo my man, works a treat. Thanks for going out your way to help with this!, its very much appreciated! 

[jimmy2x2x]

np, glad its working for you