Mala - Multiple .exe's in one game list?

[Franco]

I would like to set up a game list in Mala containing my Bullet Hell games (Perfect Cherry Blossom, Imperishable Night etc)

All of the games run of an .exe

I have got each game working in Mala by creating a separate game list for each game and then selecting the 'Emulator' .exe as the .exe that launches the game and also choosing the 'Rom Path' as the directory that contains the said exe.

Would it be possible to have a way of being able to select each game in one list rather than having a seperate game list for each game?

[DaveMMR]

If it was a snake it would have bitten you - just a couple of spaces down at the time of original posting: 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=68419.0

[unclet]

I am assuming those games are PC games .....

So, you could do either of the following:

1) Install all of your PC games within one common directory (ie: C:\PCGames\) like the following:

C:\PCGames\Perfect Cherry Blossom\(installed files go here)
C:\PCGames\Imperishable Night\(installed files go here)

Then have MALA setup with a ROM path of "C:\PCGames\" and tell it to search recursively within this directory for a ROM extension of "exe".   

This should allow the games with EXE to be executed.   

The downside of doing it this way is that the game list is made up of the actual EXE file name, which is usually not that descriptive AND it would be hard to start each individual game with different input parameter commands .... assuming each game has some options which can be passed to it when started via the command line.

I personally would try (2) below.

2)  What I did for all of my PC games was simply create a BAT file to start each game.  A BAT file is simply a text file which has an extension of BAT.  Inside this text file are command line statements which change directories to where the game's EXE file is located and then also contains the actual command line statement to start the EXE file. The actual game can be installed anywhere on your computer you want, but all of these BAT files would be stored together in a common location. 

For example --> C:\PCGames\batfiles\(all BAT files go here)

Now set up a new emulator in MALA called "PCGames" and set the ROM path to "C:\PCGames\batfiles\" and set the ROM extension to BAT.

You can name the BAT file anything you want such as the following:

  Perfect Cherry Blossom.bat
  Imperishable Night.bat

When you refresh the "PCGames" gamelist within MALA, then all the games listed will be the names you selected for your BAT files.   Basically, just name your BAT files with a name you would like to see in the MALA gamelist.

For example:
Here is the contents of the "Rogue Squadron 3D.bat" file (only 3 lines):

d:
cd "D:\Emulators\PCGames\Rogue Squadron 3D"
"Rogue Squadron"

When MALA runs this BAT file, the BAT file executes as follows:

1st line)  make the current selected drive to be "D:"
2nd line)  change the directory to be where the Rogue Squadron game is installed
3rd line) Run the Rogue Squadron EXE file


Basically if you open up a command window by the following:

  START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/Command Prompt


.... then these 3 lines are what would be required to execute the Rogue Squadron game manually.  Placing these three lines in a BAT file and then executing the BAT file just automates this for you so you do not have to type each three lines manually.

Hope this makes sense ...... my explanation is quite long but the actual steps to get all of your PC games working in MALA using BAT files is really quite easy.

NOTE1:  Having separate BAT files for each game allow you to name the BAT file whatever you want.  As a result, since MALA uses the filename of the BAT file to populate the gamelist, you will now have descriptive game names.   Also, if each PC Game you have requires a different way to start them then all of these differences can be inserted into the game's specific BAT file with no problems.


Oh yeah .... the link provided by DaveMMR I believe gives you an example of how to have MALA list games from different emulators within the one MALA gamelist.   For example, say you wanted to have one gamelist in MALA which has your favorite Sega, Nintendo and Atari games together in one list ...... you could then do something like the link describes.    I believe you are asking how to get different PC games listed in one gamelist ... so this is a little different.   Howeve, using my approach above should allow you to do it rather easily.

[SGT]

I have found that lnk (shortcut files) work much better than having to maintain batch files for pc games from within Mala.

[unclet]

Ahh .... yeah LNK files should do the similiar thing.   Back when I configured MALA the LNK support had problems so I never used it.

[Franco]

Thanks all for your help, especially your thorough .bat guide unclet.

I actualy tried using shortcuts last night but I kept getting errors for some reason. Im going to give the batch files ago as Ive never really used them and it will be good practice at least

Thanks again all 

[unclet]

Well, just ask if you have trouble getting some CDs to start up and I can try to help you through it ....