Game list (roms) not showing up in MALA

[jukingeo]

Hello all,

I been an avid user of MameWah for Mame front ends for a long time but I was out of the loop for a few years and I came back to set up a few machines as dedicated Mame machines.   When checking out 'new' front ends, I came across MALA and I am seeing that it is just as popular as MameWah.   I read that it is much easier to set up than MameWah, particularly for vertical oriented machines.  So last night I downloaded it and decided to give it a whirl.

Overall, setup WAS easy.  I was very much astounded that changing vertical orientation was just a few clicks of the mouse!

However, I did encounter a BIG problem and that is none of my roms are showing up on the game list.   I just have an empty list staring me in the face!

I tried to go back and figure out what went wrong, but all my paths seem to be correct.  I know Mame itself is working because I can launch it with a game on the command line (it is the command line version).   I am using an older version of Mame, but that shouldn't matter.

One thing is that I set up Mala/Mame on my D: drive (second hard drive).  I am not sure if that presents an issue or not.

I am wondering if someone can give me some assistance in correcting this problem.

Thank You,

Geo

[jukingeo]

Bump,

Can anyone help me get my roms to show up in the game list?

[NOP]

i'm a bit fuzzy on how mala works for this, but IIRC, it creates an all games list directly off the listxml file that is generated from mame.exe.  I don't believe mala scans your roms folder at all.

So, i'm thinking that if you haven't had mala get pointed to where mame.exe is, and had it generate the listxml file, then it's not going to know what games should be in your allgames list. 

The other option is to launch the malagamelist editor or use romlister to create a list for you.

then from the GUI, right click and there should be an option for select game list, and it should show you all the .MLG files you have in your mala folder.  You should also look in your mala folder to see if you have any .mlg files to begin with.

[swindus]

...  I am using an older version of Mame, but that shouldn't matter. ....

This can matter because MaLa needs at least MAME version .84 or greater as stated on the MaLa homepage. Maybe you are using an older version of MAME and so no xml file is created. If this is the case just create a xml file with a newer MAME version and use it with your current MAME version.

[jukingeo]

i'm a bit fuzzy on how mala works for this, but IIRC, it creates an all games list directly off the listxml file that is generated from mame.exe.  I don't believe mala scans your roms folder at all.

Oh, so it doesn't scan the list directly then, huh?

So, i'm thinking that if you haven't had mala get pointed to where mame.exe is, and had it generate the listxml file, then it's not going to know what games should be in your allgames list. 

Yes, I remember setting it up to where my mame.exe file is and I did have it generate a list. 

The other option is to launch the malagamelist editor or use romlister to create a list for you.

then from the GUI, right click and there should be an option for select game list, and it should show you all the .MLG files you have in your mala folder.  You should also look in your mala folder to see if you have any .mlg files to begin with.

I am not sure I quite follow with the malagamelist editor.  I can't check it now anyway because I am logged into a different operating system right now.  However, I was able to go into my Windows XP folders and locate the Mala folder.  There is only one .mlg file listed there.  It is All Games.mlg.  My concern is rising considering you said ".mlg fileS (plural)".

This can matter because MaLa needs at least MAME version .84 or greater as stated on the MaLa homepage. Maybe you are using an older version of MAME and so no xml file is created. If this is the case just create a xml file with a newer MAME version and use it with your current MAME version.

Oh!  I guess that can explain a lot!  I have two versions of Mame right now, version .123 and version .58.  I am using the older version because vector games look so much better on it.

I will try out version .123 to see if it works, but I know that I DID have MALA generate a list with the old version of MAME, but alas that didn't work.

Anyway, I will report back if I can get version .123 to work.

Thanx,

Geo

[jukingeo]

...  I am using an older version of Mame, but that shouldn't matter. ....

This can matter because MaLa needs at least MAME version .84 or greater as stated on the MaLa homepage. Maybe you are using an older version of MAME and so no xml file is created. If this is the case just create a xml file with a newer MAME version and use it with your current MAME version.

OK,  I changed the version between something newer and something I liked and ended up with version .100.

I have a rom list now but the problem is it is the ENTIRE rom list of over 5000 games.  How do I set it so that it just sees the roms on my system?

Thanx,

Geo

[loadman]

Dude,

Sound you have not had time to search through the wiki, webpage or search this forum  yet as this is all covered.

The answer
- Options - mame config - basics- then hit the options button

http://www.malafe.net/

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/MaLa_FAQ

[jukingeo]

Dude,

Sound you have not had time to search through the wiki, webpage or search this forum  yet as this is all covered.

Yup, that is correct.  Christmas is coming, I am planning to move, have 2 kids to take care of....well you get the picture.

At any rate, setting up the entire rom list of 5000+ titles as a default rather than what is on the system wasn't exactly the greatest of ideas.  Wouldn't ya think?

The answer
- Options - mame config - basics- then hit the options button

http://www.malafe.net/

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/MaLa_FAQ

Thanx for the info, it worked out great!  The FAQ has some great info as well and "right there" too.  The mala site just has too much stuff to go through.

Geo

[NOP]

At any rate, setting up the entire rom list of 5000+ titles as a default rather than what is on the system wasn't exactly the greatest of ideas.  Wouldn't ya think?

ah, but then you'd get people complaining that there is no "all games" list. 

your best friend for stripping down the list of 5k roms to something manageable is this:

http://www.waste.org/~winkles/ROMLister

[jukingeo]

At any rate, setting up the entire rom list of 5000+ titles as a default rather than what is on the system wasn't exactly the greatest of ideas.  Wouldn't ya think?

ah, but then you'd get people complaining that there is no "all games" list. 

your best friend for stripping down the list of 5k roms to something manageable is this:

http://www.waste.org/~winkles/ROMLister

Is this something like the MAWS web site...except you can use it within MALA?

I guess I COULD use something like that.  I would like to separate my horizontal games from the vertical ones.

But for now I just followed what Loadman said and it worked fine.

Now I am just looking for some cool background layouts.  Shame though, there aren't many vertical designs.  Then again I have not looked to far past the MALA website.

Much to do!

Geo

[loadman]

Dude,
Sound you have not had time to search through the wiki, webpage or search this forum  yet as this is all covered.

Yup, that is correct.  Christmas is coming, I am planning to move, have 2 kids to take care of....well you get the picture.

But you always have time for your cab 

[NOP]

Is this something like the MAWS web site...except you can use it within MALA?
I guess I COULD use something like that.  I would like to separate my horizontal games from the vertical ones.

it's not mala specific, but yeah, it's similar to MAWS except more powerful since you can do crazy combinations of searches.
you'll want to do more than separate out horizontal from vertical-why have trackball games if you don't have a trackball on your CP?  same with driving games, etc etc.  it just makes sense to only show games that your machine can actually play properly.

(although always keep an allgames list available, just so you can play around with unsupported games for fun)

[jukingeo]

[But you always have time for your cab 

Well, remember the "planning a move part" of what I said earlier?

As of now I don't have a cabinet.  I did have one but sold it over a year ago.   It was a BIG cabinet and the wife was more than happy to see it go.

Lately cash is another problem and I didn't really have too many extra computers laying around.  But recently, I went through all the old computers at my job and my boss gave me about 6 machines to play around with!

Out of the 6, I can make 4 usable machines.   Since all machines are less than 1.0ghz, I decided to delegate them to Mame/Jukebox machines.  So as of now I am torn between creating an in wall, bar top, or cocktail cabinet.   And that will also depend on how much room I have in my new location.  BUT for now I can still set up a machine or two with Mame.

Things are setting up WAY faster with MALA and I love the background jukebox player as well.

it's not mala specific, but yeah, it's similar to MAWS except more powerful since you can do crazy combinations of searches.
you'll want to do more than separate out horizontal from vertical-why have trackball games if you don't have a trackball on your CP?  same with driving games, etc etc.  it just makes sense to only show games that your machine can actually play properly.

(although always keep an allgames list available, just so you can play around with unsupported games for fun)

Oh, I know you can do more with it, I was just using the horizontal/vertical scenario as an example.

Ok, so if I use this program to "generate" a gamelist.  What do I do to put the finished list into MALA?

Thanx,

Geo

[NOP]

Ok, so if I use this program to "generate" a gamelist.  What do I do to put the finished list into MALA?

RL outputs an .mlg file, so just copy that into your mala folder, then from the mala GUI, right click, select game list, and you should see it there.

You may also want to have romlister output a batch file to help you move/copy roms from your main collection over to the ones you want on your machine.  that way you have only the roms that match the list available on your machine at any given time.

Check the tutorials for specifics.
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/RL_tutorials

[jukingeo]

RL outputs an .mlg file, so just copy that into your mala folder, then from the mala GUI, right click, select game list, and you should see it there.

Quick and easy...just the way I like it!

You may also want to have romlister output a batch file to help you move/copy roms from your main collection over to the ones you want on your machine.  that way you have only the roms that match the list available on your machine at any given time.

Check the tutorials for specifics.
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/RL_tutorials

That IS great.  Yeah, I DO see many instances where that can come up.  As of now I am working on my main rom list and updating it and updating my artwork.  Much of it was incomplete.  I didn't have snapshots, nor control panel listings, so I added that as well.

But from there I know that the machines I put together will NOT have the same controls and there is the horizontal/vertical issue as well.  So these are all things that will be taken into consideration.

Now I am assuming that Romlister will only help for MALA, correct?   (I also run MAME in LINUX and use WahCade).

Thanx,

Geo

[NOP]

Now I am assuming that Romlister will only help for MALA, correct?   (I also run MAME in LINUX and use WahCade).

It's just a generic list making program.  it'll output mala game lists, atomicFE, hyperspin, text files, batch files, CSV files, etc etc etc.
I try to support all the major front ends that are out there, although some may be missing- let me know and I'll add it.
I do support mameWah, although I cannot personally guarantee that it works, so let me know when you set up your wahcade cab.

[jukingeo]

It's just a generic list making program.  it'll output mala game lists, atomicFE, hyperspin, text files, batch files, CSV files, etc etc etc.
I try to support all the major front ends that are out there, although some may be missing- let me know and I'll add it.
I do support mameWah, although I cannot personally guarantee that it works, so let me know when you set up your wahcade cab.

So then the Romlister program is your creation?  I have Wahcade already set up on my main machine.  It is set up to dual boot.   I do most of my emails and surfing in Linux these days, so it didn't make sense to constantly reboot and go into Windows to test something out in Mame.   That is why I was interested in Romlister when you mentioned it.  I have my master rom list situated in Linux.  Once it is tested, I gather up all the artwork for it.   So from my main system I can easily go to any other machine.

I did download Romlister, but I have not been in Windows all day, so I didn't install it yet.

Hopefully later on tonight I will give it a whirl.


EDIT: 12-8-08

Ok, tonight I tried out Romlister and I followed the directions from the FAQ.  I tried out a test gamelist that would filter everything out except maze type games.  The list was generated and I previewed it before I saved it.  Naturally it included every game in that category, but I figured that I would have to apply the rom filter within Mala to filter out the games so that it just reflected the maze game roms in my system.

So far so good.   I saved the file and put it in the Mala directory.  Next I opened mala and changed the gamelist to the test list I created.  Sure enough every rom in that category was listed.   So I went back to the main Mala menu to generate a new list.

Uh Oh!  Huston...we have a problem!  The "refresh gamelist" option was grayed out and I couldn't select it.   I tried to get creative and renamed the new file "All Games" and then the refresh games option was selectable.  However, when I clicked on it, it pretty much returned all the games I had originally on the system.

So apparently Mala isn't selecting ONLY the roms on my system from the filtered list.  So either something is wrong or I am missing something.



Thanx,

Geo

[NOP]

PM sent about this, but it may be leading to a new feature for romlister:

something that scans a folder of rom files and trims down the xml file to only the ones you have.
that way you can work within your personal set of roms and make lists and sub-lists from there.

i think that's the core of this problem-junkingeo wants a list made from the roms he's already selected by hand and moved into his mala folder, and i don't know of a way to build lists in reverse like that.

[jukingeo]

PM sent about this, but it may be leading to a new feature for romlister:

something that scans a folder of rom files and trims down the xml file to only the ones you have.
that way you can work within your personal set of roms and make lists and sub-lists from there.

i think that's the core of this problem-junkingeo wants a list made from the roms he's already selected by hand and moved into his mala folder, and i don't know of a way to build lists in reverse like that.

Hello NOP,

Well when I initially created this thread, my main complaint was that when I created the rom list within MALA, it lists EVERY rom known to MAME (5000+).   However, I was told how to turn on the filter so that only the roms that are in my system will show up in my list and that works fine and then I just had to "refresh" the list.   So I did that and worked fine.

Now after reading your documentation for Romlister (when you mentioned it to me here), I realized that this is a useful tool, especially when it comes to controls you don't have on a system.   I know that some games can be 'faked' (and you have options for that too in Romlister), but take a game like Race Driving for instance.   That game will NEVER work with a game cabinet that doesn't have any kind of driving controls.  So games like this (even though I may have a rom for it), I really don't want to include on the list.

It goes further from there.  Since I do intend to create multiple panels for my cabinet design, I would like to be able to change gamelists to reflect those changes.  For example, I would like to group all my tank games together so when I have a dedicated tank control panel, all I have to do in MALA is choose the "tank" game list.   For 4-way joystick games, all I have to do is create a list for all the games that use a four way stick, so I can group them together.

Now Romlister DOES these things, but only extrapolating this information from the master Mame rom list.   So if I apply the filter for 4-way control games, I will get a list of 300 or so games  appearing in MALA rather than the 30 or so games that I actually have in my machine.  So that translates to much scrolling of empty roms.

Naturally I thought that once I generated the list and put it in the Mala folder, that all I had to do is refresh the list so it would only select the roms I actually have that match the games in the newly created list.  But when I attempt to apply that action, the "regenerate list" option in Mala is greyed out.  And that is the problem.

It is kind of how you explain it above, but as you put it, going in reverse.  Essentially it yields the same results.

So as of now it sounds like I can't apply the newly created list made from romlister to only show the actual roms on my system?  Then does that still would mean I have to manually go into the Gamelist editor (in MALA) and delete the unwanted rom listings that I don't have roms for?   That is a pain.

Really, I think the only thing that would have to be done is if there is a way to "ungrey" the refresh list option for it to work.

I did a bit of digging around in the MALA folder and I did notice another "All Games" file, but it ended in .mlb rather than .mlg.  Could this be the culprit?  Are two files necessary to do what I want?   Does the .mlg file created in Romlister only do half the job?  If not, then why is the refresh option grayed out for the game list created by Romlister?

I think what I am going to do tonight is a little experiment.  I am going to manually edit a gamelist within MALA and then save the results.  I would like to see if I see two files generated and IF I can refresh the newly created gamelist.

Thanx,

Geo