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Main => Software Forum => Topic started by: roknrol on January 05, 2022, 04:18:36 pm

Title: Editing mame.xml file and updating Mala layout
Post by: roknrol on January 05, 2022, 04:18:36 pm

After spending several hours researching and trying different approaches, I'm still no closer to joy ... so I must be missing something simple.

Essentially, I'm trying to edit the values that appear in a Mala layout using the "g_description" tag. As best I can tell, these are pulled from the mame.xml file. However, editing the description for the specific rom names isn't being reflected when running Mala. For what it's worth, I've verified that my changes are saving in the mame.xml file, and I've refreshed the Mala "all games list" several times -- but the description for the specific games I've edited isn't being reflected.

Am I missing a specific step here? Does Mala pull the "g_description" from somewhere other than (or in addition to) the mame.xml file? Or do I need to do something else in the Mala config in order to refresh what's being pulled from the mame.xml file?

I would appreciate a friendly shove in the right direction, please!

Title: Re: Editing mame.xml file and updating Mala layout
Post by: roknrol on January 10, 2022, 12:47:52 pm

OK, after trying a couple of different approaches, I think I sorted this out -- though the solution isn't exactly elegant or straight-forward, but it works. I'll memorialize the process I used here for others' benefit.

• Working from the All Games (master) list in MaLa, identify each game for which you want to change any of the metadata. (Identify and note the description name or rom name of each.)
• For each game, right-click and select the Remove game from this list option.
• Once you have gone through the All Games list and removed all the ones you intend to change, exit MaLa.
• Edit the mame.xml file in your Mame directory.
• Locate and update any of the corresponding metadata in the XML file for each game you identified in Step 1. Save the XML file.
• Re-start MaLa, right-click and select the Refresh main game list option. Your updated metadata will now appear once MaLa reprocesses the mame.xml file and adds the removed games back into the list.
• Right-click and choose Options / Configuration. The Options window appears.
• On the Game Lists tab, click Update game metadata in all lists. Your updated metadata will now be automatically applied across all your defined game lists.