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Front End Support => MaLa Frontend => Topic started by: dkubarek on January 08, 2009, 04:43:26 pm

Title: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 08, 2009, 04:43:26 pm
Hi. Mala isn't reading all the games I have in the rom folder. It's reading about 60 when I have 120. The only filter I have on is "only show roms in folder" or something like that. The roms are all .zip and the ones not showing up work fine in Mame. I'm using Mala v105 and command line Mame v128. Anyone know how to get my freaking TMNT to show up?
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 08, 2009, 05:36:24 pm
Also, many of the games don't load from Mala. They quit immediately after being launched. They also work in the Mame I'm using.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 08, 2009, 06:18:00 pm
do you have different game lists?
are you on All Games list?
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 08, 2009, 06:30:12 pm
Yea, using all games list
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 08, 2009, 06:46:52 pm
I would delete your mame.xml and resetup mame through mala creating a new xml and refreshing list and see if this helps
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 08, 2009, 06:56:08 pm
OK. will try. What about the roms not loading? They worked fine in Mamewah, but that pooped out on me, too.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 08, 2009, 07:06:33 pm
under options change window state to normal so dos box shows, this may tell you where problem lies
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 08, 2009, 07:11:37 pm
Will try and report back. Thanks for the help. Is there a text file in Mala that logs errors, too?
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 08, 2009, 07:16:48 pm
there is mala.exe.log but this only seems to show problems with mala itself not the games

Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 09, 2009, 02:19:13 am
I have it set to normal and the screen disappears as soon as it launches. It says something about some missing files, but the roms launch fine in Mame 128
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 09, 2009, 08:12:54 am
try a program called romcentre, it will check your roms aagainst your version of mame and tell you whats missing.

make sure if you have more than one version of mame on pc, to point mala to the right one
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 09, 2009, 10:15:30 am
I tried a lot of my roms last night and noticed that many of the DON'T work, so this sounds like a lot of my problem. Some still work if I drag them to a shortcut I made on mame.exe. I didn't know this program existed. Thanks again! In general, are there lots of places out there with sub par roms? I've downloaded a lot of bad ones so far.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 09, 2009, 11:20:29 am
Many roms were bad. I fixed some. Now 72 are green (good) and still only 32 show up. I even checked and tossed ones with bad zips. I also tossed and regenerated my .xml and updated my list.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 09, 2009, 11:47:43 am
Also, many of the good roms aren't loading in Mame. But I'm just dragging them to a shortcut of a command line program, so maybe that's not the most accurate test.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 09, 2009, 06:49:31 pm
you can play them from within romcentre and also in options set to debug in romcentre, this will tell you what files are missing
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 09, 2009, 07:25:13 pm
OK. so just clicking on the icon to "fix" the files isn't all I need to do? The yellow ones changed to green after I did that.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 09, 2009, 07:44:49 pm
press the smiley face in romcenter, that will play the game and tell you if it works
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 09, 2009, 07:52:05 pm
OK. if it doesn't do I debug it or hit that wrench? Or are they the same thing?
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 09, 2009, 08:52:36 pm
After reading some previous posts it sounds like your roms need to match your version of Mame. Is this correct? I'm going to fresh install windows XP (I need to anyway) and try an earlier version of Mame. I'm using a Pentium 1.8 and a gig of ram. So, I'll try going with an earlier version and report back.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 10, 2009, 03:09:30 pm
OK. now I have Mame v.1059. I used RomCenter to find my good roms and many of them work. However, some of the ones marked good don't. The program says it just references files with a database and doesn't check them entirely. So, is it standard practice to test the good games to be sure they work? I'm only looking for about 75 good games, so that's not too much trouble.

Also, some games have another green icon that looks more like a keyhole. What's that all about? Also, dude, I'm sorry i'm so dumb at this. I'm reading posts and the wiki and trying to learn something, but the Web is such a great source for information and misinformation that it's tough.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 10, 2009, 06:16:04 pm
what version of romcenter are you using
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 10, 2009, 06:54:25 pm
3.0, I think. I might try ClrMame, too
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 10, 2009, 08:59:14 pm
go to file and choose new, now create a datfile from emulator, choose your version of mame, now the dat file will be compatible and this is what it will test the roms against.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 10, 2009, 09:04:32 pm
OK. maybe i forgot to change it and it's still referencing Mame 128 when I'm now using Mame .1059. Also on that note, is there any reason to upgrade to Mame .129 when I have a 1.8G Pent 4 and 1 gig of ram? I noticed those roms are easier to come by but I like my version of Mame. It's been hacked a bit.
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 13, 2009, 01:02:54 am
Beetle,
I switched to Mame .129 and got a matched set. A few games test fine but don't work, but almost all work. They show up, too, so I'm set. Thanks a bunch for the help. dk
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dungbeetle46 on January 13, 2009, 04:56:02 am
no problem,now play and be happy ;D
Title: Re: Mala: Not all games showing up
Post by: dkubarek on January 13, 2009, 10:23:01 am
Haha. It's going to my nephews this weekend, so I'll be happy but I won't get to play. Bitter sweet, you know.