Mala not saving MAME config?

[ddrtist]

I am using the latest Mala FE with MAME .122 or MAMEPlus .122. 

When using MAME .122, I am able to click the "config" box in the .ini field and edit settings.  When I edit settings like "skip_X" however, the settings to not save.  They are unchecked as soon as I click the OK box and exit.

When using MAMEPlus .122, I am unable to configure anything at all.  I point Mala to the MAME.ini directory but when I click config, I get "no mame.ini found.  Would you like to create a standard mamegui.ini file?" <---paraphrased.

Has anyone had this problem in configuring the .ini??  I would like to use MAMEPlus because of the highscore support.  I would like MAME .122, but I have been unable to successfully create a compiled MAME with highscore support.

[TheManuel]

The settings that don't get saved are probably not supported by your version of MAME or the syntax for the settings has changed in recent MAME versions and MaLa is providing the outdated syntax.

MaLa can't find the .ini because it is probably looking for mame.ini where MAMEPlus uses mamep.ini.  Also, I think in recent version of MAMEPlus, the mamep.ini file gets saved ini folder rather than in the main MAMEPlus folder.  Check these two issues first.  If nothing works, just edit the MAMEPlus .ini by hand with Notepad.

[loadman]

The settings that don't get saved are probably not supported by your version of MAME or the syntax for the settings has changed in recent MAME versions and MaLa is providing the outdated syntax.

MaLa can't find the .ini because it is probably looking for mame.ini where MAMEPlus uses mamep.ini.  Also, I think in recent version of MAMEPlus, the mamep.ini file gets saved ini folder rather than in the main MAMEPlus folder.  Check these two issues first.  If nothing works, just edit the MAMEPlus .ini by hand with Notepad.

What he said.

On the list is to add an option to indicate where and what name .ini file it is looking for also to have the ability to launch Notepad to manually edit options not supported in the sexy gui.

[ddrtist]

Cool!  Well last night I got high scores working, which is a minor victory for my MAME project, haha.  I would really like to get rid of all the nag screens, but when I add the "skip" lines to the mame.ini file for MAME .122 they do not work.  Could you tell me which version (higher than .122 preferably) that supports the commands to skip warnings and skip disclaimers?

[TheManuel]

I think only MAMEPlus and other derivatives offer this "skip" options and not the official MAME builds.
Open up the ini file for your MAMEPlus executable and look for these options.  If they are supported, they will be there.  All you have to do is set them to "1" to activate them.
You won't be able to get rid of "loading", "decrypting", ect. unless you create your own build.  I don't know of any MAME builds out there that do this.

[ddrtist]

The thing is, they are all in the mame.ini file for MAMEPlus.  I have them all set to one.  The file is not read only.  The settings simply do not work.  Everytime I open a new game, I still get all of the OK screens and such.  One thing you said yesterday was that I should have a mamep.ini file.  My MAMEPlus .122 has a mame.ini.  I don't know if this makes a difference.  But like I said, the skip commands were already in the ini but they do not work.

[TheManuel]

OK.
Try changing somehting more evident first like, say, "run in window" to see if the changes you are making to your ini file are taking effect and we'll go from there.  If after that MAME still runs full screen rather than in a Window with frame and all, then your ini file is being ignored...

[ddrtist]

ahh.  Ok I will definitely try that when I get home this evening.  If the changes are NOT taking, then should I simply copy the ini to another directory and delete the original?  Once it is gone, MAME would rebuild a new one, right?

[TheManuel]

You can generate a new one by running MAME from the command prompt and using the parameter -cc
If the ini file is bieng ignored, I would close down MaLa and start up the MAME GUI (MAME32) which should be available in your MAMEPlus directory.  From the GUI, make changes to your ini, close the GUI down and go back and see if the ini file you think is the right one was changed.  If not, search around to see whether there is another ini file that MAME is working with perhaps in the ini folder and see if that one took the changes you just made.  If you find one, then use that one and discard the other one.