The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Front End Support => MaLa Frontend => Topic started by: IDDQD on June 09, 2008, 05:37:55 pm
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I think I read somewhere that this was possible, but I can't find anything about it -- is it possible to run one version of MAME for most games, and then have MaLa automatically run another version for specific games? In my case, Donkey Kong won't run in .125, which is what I'm using, but runs just fine in .112. Is there any way for me to tell MaLa to use .125 for all games but use .112 for Donkey Kong (and presumably others that run better as well)? I tried searching but found nothing... sorry if this has already been answered!
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The way I did it was to use a batch file that called various MAMEs.
There is a thread around here about it, but I used a slightly different method:
1) in mala, instead of pointing the emulator to mame.exe, use mame.bat
2) move your various copies of mame.exe into their own folders - they need their own mame.ini files anyway, so they won't coexist in the same folder. Note you will need ini and roms folders in each mame folder too.
3) in mame.bat, I examine the rom being passed in from mala, and branch appropriately.
(this is from memory)
if %1==dkong goto mame112
if %1==pacman goto mame125
if %1==looping goto mame112
rem default MAME launch
dmame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
goto end
:mame112
cd mame112
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
goto end
:mame125
cd mame125
mame %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
cd ..
goto end
:end
Note that the "default" case is to run a renamed mame.exe right there in the root folder where this batch file exists.
I will gladly post my actual batch file if anyone is interested, but this should allow you to branch to whatever version you want. Works great for me!
-jeff!
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Looks neat an easy. IDDQD, there's also Multi-Mame.
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I'd be interested in that batch file. :notworthy: I was just searching the forum about the same issue!
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I love SGTs method. It not only allows you to get multiple versions of MAME on your main gamelist but also allows you to have games from other emulators on the main gamelist as well as Daphne games on your main list! It's very similar to NOP's method.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=68419.0
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Psst:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/board,43.0.html (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/board,43.0.html)
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I've tried both of these methods, and in both cases MaLa doesn't want to take the .bat or .cmd file, as it's looking specifically for the mame.exe file. What do I do?
E: Nevermind, I had to set up the .bat properly and force it to take it by typing it in the line.
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Okay, here's my mame.bat (in a zip file) that I made according to NOP's method -- it's awesome! I had to play around to make it work, but it works now and is totally worth it... one completely unrelated question, though, does anyone know why the Metal Slug games don't work in .112? I thought they were supported by then...
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after having a look at my official mame.bat file, it appears my memory is as good as I hoped it was-it's virtually identical to what I posted and what you're using, except I have a longer list of games to branch off of, and I'm using 3 different copies of mame.
so, cool to hear that this worked for you too, and that there appears to be no need for me to post my official batch.
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I expanded my list last night, so things are working better even than in that batch!
I also discovered that if you have a U360, you can have it program the stick for 4-way controls, 8-way controls, etc., from the batch file! I can post my .bat again with that update, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out, just cd to the right directory and then put the filename in the bat, and then run mame.
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Excellent idea.
I'm using fatfingers' plugin for the u360 for my setup, but yeah, I could see that working nicely too if there is any misinformation contained in your mala game list that is telling the plugin the wrong U360 settings.
If you use the retro arcade front end layout, it shows graphically what controls and buttons are used on each game, including 4way and 8way sticks. (4way sticks have 4 little dashes around the joystick image) If it's showing wrong, then it's passing the wrong data to the FF 360 plugin too. This would be a great override for that.
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IDDQD,
Thanks for posting the .bat file! :cheers: I'm gonna give it a whirl tonight to see how it goes.
NOP, thanks for your help too!!
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Is there any way to get the batch file to run minimized or hidden?
- nevermind. Window state option in Mala Config. :dunno
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MultiMAME was designed to do stuff like this. It brings multiple emulators into one mame looking exe file. So you can have daphne called when you run "mame dlair" and also have the dragons lair stuff show up in your listxml output to populate the frontend.
http://multimame.wikidot.com/ (http://multimame.wikidot.com/)
It's not as easy as a batch file, but you can do a tons of things for it. (even change the configuration for specific types of games, like swap around the 1-3 buttons and 4-6 buttons for all 2 player 8way 6 button games)
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Thanks Lilwolf. I've heard of it before but didn't realize it could do other emulators too. This is definitely worth looking at and may turn out to be helpful for me, so thanks for the quick summary!
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Is there a list of what game works best in which mame version?
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That's something totally unrelated to this topic. I'm suspecting the answer is 'no', though perhaps a better place to ask is 'main'.
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Any chance of maybe adding this as a feature to Mala in the future? I know you can do it with either MultiMAME or with the BAT file example in this thread, but it seems like it would be a neat feature to combine lists in Mala.
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Great! I've used this batch file some games, which I prefer to run with a different version of MAME. I've also used this to add my mugen game. This needs editing mame.xml and catver.ini. It works perfectly.
(http://www.alvarezeninternet.com/malalayout/h6.jpg)
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IDDQD, could you please go into some more detail on this whole process? I've never used a batch file before, and have very little programming experience (1 C++ class). Looking at the batch file it sort of makes sense, but I don't know where to put and how to actually use it. Thank you and :notworthy: in advance.
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If you look at NOP's example above, you will see references to %1, %2. These variables are the parameters that Mala passes to the batch file. So if you look in Mala for what the command line is, you will see %rom% variable which represents the rom name for the chosen game. When the batch file receives this first parameter it assigns it to the %1 variable. If there are any other variables in the Mala command line setting, they will be assigned %2, %3, and so forth.
Therefore using this method, you can branch off to different areas in the batch file based upon what the rom name is. Of course you branch off to different areas in order to use a different version of the mame executable.
Some people will add the %path% variable (which will become %2) to the command line setting in Mala in order to branch off based upon which folder the rom is located in. This is useful if you have a lot of roms that you want to run with different versions of Mame (or any other emulator). Using this method, you simply move all the roms you want to run in with a certain version of mame to one folder. This alleviates you from having to put a line for each rom in your batch file.
Hope that wasn't too confusing...
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@SGT. I understand that in principle, but I haven't got it to work yet. I'm actually trying to to it the way that you showed in your own thread, using the %path% variable. There are still some other parts of the mame.cmd that you wrote that I don't understand.
On the desktop I have a folder called MamewMala that has everything for Mala. Inside that I made a folder called other_emus. Inside that folder is another one called roms_2 with all the roms that I want to run with an older version of mame. I put the other executable (MameUI32) in other_emus (is that right?). Could you write me the mame.cmd file from this info? I think seeing it already written for me would make it easier to understand what's going on. :notworthy:
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@SGT, I got it working. Your guide is great. It was my computer ignorance to blame. Later tonight I'm gonna try to get my PC Touhou games to work. I may have a question or two for you about that. Thanks.
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Ok this seems a great work around.
Do you create the .bat file in notepad and then save as mame.bat? If so have done this
How do you point Mala to the .bat file when it only reads .exe?
Two newbie questions I know , just stuck on that!
Sorry! and appreciate any help, cheers.
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>Do you create the .bat file in notepad and then save as mame.bat? If so have done this
You can, just be careful when you save the file. notepad will try to save the file as a .txt file every time, so you may end up with mame.bat.txt as your filename. When you save the file in notepad, change the dropdown box in "save as type" to all files.
> How do you point Mala to the .bat file when it only reads .exe?
This was answered by IDDQD near the top of the thread. You have to type it in.
You must also rename your existing mame.exe to something else. I used "dmame.exe" in my example.
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Thank you for your reply.
I think I have followed what you have said but I keep getting the error
"mame.bat is of an unrecognised format, try selecting a valid file"
I get that error when pointing mala to mame.bat (by typing in) rather than the usual .exe.
The error also comes up whether i use my written .bat file or the one I downloaded from the above.
I have this structure if I have followed your instructions :
desktop \ test \ mala
\ mame1 everything that mame1 needs, exe, roms, etc
\ mame2 as above but for mame2
dmame.exe
dmame.xml
\roms (for dmame)
and the mame.bat file which is giving me gip!!
Think I'm missing a trick here, thanx again in advance!
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I think I have followed what you have said but I keep getting the error
"mame.bat is of an unrecognised format, try selecting a valid file"
I get that error when pointing mala to mame.bat (by typing in) rather than the usual .exe.
the only thing I can think of then is that this is a new type checking software thing introduced into newer versions of mala. Might have to drag loadman into this and see if there is something going on in the background.
My version of mala is at least 2 years old.
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Ok thanks again!
At least i'm nearly there. I can almost taste it, hehe.
The mala i'm using is 162g but will try and play around with different versions.
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Can I ask what version of Mala you are using then and I'll give it a go with that one?
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Yeah,
I have not used this method but have been told it works
I don't think I have changed any code in this area, but if you find it works for you in an older version and not another let me know what version and I can chase up what is happening.
Are you sure you have saved the .bat file correctly as per instructions? Can yoiu post a screebshot of the 'propoerties' of the file (eg right click and select properties. What is the file type?)
You can, just be careful when you save the file. notepad will try to save the file as a .txt file every time, so you may end up with mame.bat.txt as your filename. When you save the file in notepad, change the dropdown box in "save as type" to all files.
Here is the mala code and it is not recognizing this bat file
// check dos or windows version
case GetMameExeType(AMameExecutable) of
etUnknown:
begin
ShowMessage(Format('Binary %s has an unknown format!'+#13#10+'Please, select a valid file.', [AMameExecutable]));
nicemame:= False;
end;
etDOS:
begin
nicemame:= False;
ShowMessage('DOS MAME binary cannot be used as default. Please use Win32 command line version > 0.84.');
end;
end;
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Yeah that code is the error i am getting.
No I created the file exactly how it said to ie. not .bat.txt and for now I am using the one posted above. Once mala recognises it i will change it accordingly to my setup.
I honestly think I'm making a schoolboy error here as everyone else seems to have success with this one, so appreciate your help loadman.
Here is the screenshot.
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hi.
I I tried the nop's method , but could not.
here are my mame versions:
C:\Users\pedro\Desktop\MaLa174\mame125\mame125.exe
C:\Users\pedro\Desktop\MaLa174\mame170\mame170.exe
i want to run mpatrol on mame125 and the other games on mame170
:notworthy: helpe me please.
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You aren't supplying us with much information to help you with.
if %1==mpatrol goto mame125
rem default MAME launch- this is the version of MAME inside your mala folder that runs all the games except games listed above this line.
mame170 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
goto end
:mame125
rem change folders to where the alternative copy of MAME exists.
cd mame125
rem now run that specific game with this new version of MAME
mame125 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6
rem now return back to the main MALA folder once the game is finished.
cd ..
goto end
:end
You don't need two entire copies of mala in separate folders.
Your mame170 folder is the main place you are running from, and that is the 1 copy of mala you will be using.
In a folder inside mame170, create a new folder called mame125 and place mame125.exe and all of the support files (roms, samples, ini, etc) inside that folder.
Hope that helped. It probably didn't...
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:D thank you very much, i will try this.
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Thanks NOP,
finally I got. Works fine.
Thank you very very much. :notworthy: :applaud:
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:D Now i will try to use 3 mame in a list.
Thanks Nop.