DragonKing N00b question

[irkenInvader]

Hi everyone,

I am BRAND new (I mean, really, REALLY new) to MAME and retro-arcade gaming.  I have downloaded (I think!) everything I need to play.  I got a copy of Mame32 (installed in E:\Mame32) and I put a Ms. PacMan rom (mspacman.zip) into the roms folder (E:\Mame32\roms\mspacman.zip).  This works fine.  I start up Mame32 and double-click Ms. Pacman and sure enough, there's the game playing!  yay me!

Now, my problem is, I want a spiffy frontend.  I download DragonKing (which looks like it will be sweet, btw!) and installed that (E:\DK).  I run the program and it goes through it's little wizard and I update the files like it says and then I see the splash screens and then ... well, then I see the list screen with nothing listed.  In the previews pictures I see a flashing blue box around different game names/pictures ... on my screen, the flashing blue box flashes all by itself in the lower left hand corner.  there are no games there!  I'm guessing I'm not setting up my master list file right.  I THINK it has something to do with a mameinfo.dat file?  I'm totally lost.

Can you help?

--irken

[Howard_Casto]

Check the docs....

Quick things to check though:

1.Don't use mame32.... it's not supported as it can't generate listinfo data. 

2.  Make sure your mame.cfg (this should open for you during the wizard) is setup correctly.  If it doesn't point to a valid install of mame them dk can't generate the lists. 

3.  Make sure the font installed properly.  It's extremely rare, but in certain instances windoze screws up the install.  Just double click on the font file and see if a preview is displayed, if not then it got screwed up. 

[SirPeale]

Check the docs....

Always good.

Quick things to check though:

1.Don't use mame32.... it's not supported as it can't generate listinfo data. 

Since when?  But still a good idea to use the command line version.

2.  Make sure your mame.cfg (this should open for you during the wizard) is setup correctly.  If it doesn't point to a valid install of mame them dk can't generate the lists. 

For the Windows version it's 'mame.ini' .

[Random24]

For 2. I believe Howard is talking about the DK mame.cfg which is in one of the DK sub directories.  Since I am not at my cab right now I can't look at which one but I believe it is called \Dragon King\cfg\ or something like that.

[irkenInvader]

Hi again,

I have tried what you suggested.  I changed everything to use the E:\Mame\ directory instead of E:\Mame32.  I moved extra art there, as well.  (I had, for example, a directory E:\Mame32\snap, but there was NOT a directory E:\Mame\snap.  So, I copied those sorts of folders into the E:\Mame directory.  is that right?  Now there IS an E:\MAme\snap full of nice .png files!)

Here is my Mame.cfg:
======================================================
[Config]
extension=.zip
path=E:\Mame\
exe=mame.exe
send rom path=1
send exit keys=0
command line options=-ctrlr ragingdragon -lightgun -throttle

[Command Line Options]

If you wish to add extra command line options for a specific rom(s) use romname=command line options syntax.
For example:

#pacman=-resolution 640x480x32

or

#area51=-lightgun

Of course, remove the "#," those are there to comment out the examples. You can use either the parent or clone name.

bzone=-noartwork_crop

=======================================================

And here is my dirs.ini:
=======================================================
[Dirs]
***Enter all your rom paths... Just like you do in a mame.ini

roms=E:\Mame\roms\


***Put These in as a base folder.  I.E. If your snaps are in "e:\mame\snap\"
***then the entry should be: "e:\mame\"

Primary Artwork Dir=e:\Mame\
Additional AW Dirs=
***The alternate elements allow you to have two more artwork elements besides the usual.
***Simply put the name of the sub folder (like "\controls\").
***Note:  Skins must have an alt-element slot defined for this to work. 

AltElement1=\cpanels\
AltElement2=\misc\

[startvd]
[path]
logo=Mame.png
caption=Mame
useclones=0
searchstrings:5=MAME
filters:6=*mature*;9=*Working No*;6=BIOS
[/path]
[/startvd]

=======================================================

When I run either the listgen.exe app, or select "Generate new List" (exact wording?) from inside the FE, they complete the task VERY quickly.  I would think it would take longer.  Here is a list of the contents of my E:\DK\list generator directory:
  listinfo.dat
  listgenlog.txt
  ListGen.exe.manifest
  ListGen.exe
  listdetails.dat
  gamelist.dat
  Dats\:
    readme.txt
  CatVers\:
    catver.zip
    catver.txt
    catver.ini
    catver readme.txt

Can I delete any of the above .Dat files to start over?  like, maybe I ran the list generator wrong once and now I need to start over?

Also, where do I find the font file you mentioned?  I couldn't check that 'cause I didn't know where it should be.

Thanks for you help!

--irken

[Howard_Casto]

I didn't say to change the folder, I said to change the version of mame you are using.  Mame32 does not work.  (Contrary to what peale says.  )

The list generator doesn't work until your mame.cfg points to a valid version of either dos mame or regular mame.  Mame32 won't cut it. 

There is no point to deleting the files you mentioned as they are automatically overwritten each time to re-generate the master list. 

[irkenInvader]

Hello again,

I didn't explain well enough.  I have both mame and mame32 installed.  They are installed, respectively, in E:\Mame and E:\Mame32.  When I said I changed the folder, I just meant I changed the folder referenced in the .cfg and .ini files.

I am using Mamewah succesfully at the moment.  I would rather use Dragon King, though.  Were the contents of those file setup correctly?

I would like to check that font file you were talking about.  Where does that get installed?

--irken

[Howard_Casto]

Make sure you are using a version of the listgen that is compatable with your version of mame. The one currently packaged with dk only works with older versions of mame. 

[irkenInvader]

Thank you so much, Howard.  That was exactly the problem (I was using the packaged version of listgen.).

I am now getting a beautiful frontend with all the artwork where it should be when it comes up.

Now, however, when I select a game and hit "1" key (action key?  select key?  what do you call it?), dragonking says "Get Ready" ... and then nothing happens.  grrrrr!

What am I doing wrong now?  I am using Mame, not Mame32 ... did I set up an .ini or .cfg or something wrong?  The roms are good, I tested them with Mame from the command line.

Thanks again for your patience and help,

--irken

[Howard_Casto]

I can't really help you with that.   Dk just launches mame, if mame gets "stuck" then it's usually a mame configuraiton error or you are sending it bad command line options.  Something to note is the fact that the cfg you sent has the example commnad line options still in place.  Unless you have the same ragingdragon ctrlr files, those options are going to give you an error. 


Also errors in mame will freeze the launch, so if you try to launch a corrupted file or a file that gives the "bad crc" warning message it'll freeze up. 

One last thing is that huge games (like later neogeos and hardrive games) sometimes take a while to launch. 

[irkenInvader]

Hi one last time, Howard!

You're the best Dev ever!  Thx for all your help.  Last night, after I posted, I figured out that the example command-line configs were my problem.  After removing those, I was eating pellets, chasing ghosts and blasting Galaxians like there was no tomorrow!

Thanks again for your help and (especially) your patience!

--irken

[lucindrea]

sonthing that howard did not mention that has helped me TONS when setting up an emulator in DK is the fact that it creates a log file ( dk.log? dont know the name off hand as i'm not at my machine atm ) .. if you copy the command it uses and type it in the command prompt at the mame dir and it doesnt run , then it's a problem with the command line , if it does then it's in one of DK's settings.

i have yet to find an emulator that i cannot run from DK ( this includeds a few stand alone games )  even if a few req. a wrapper. ( autoit has helped when wrappers dont )