GameLists: Multiple emuls in same list work-around solution

[hulkster]

worked great!  thanks SGT!!!

[diverdown]

SGT  is your layout available for others to use.  I LOVE IT

[SGT]

SGT  is your layout available for others to use.  I LOVE IT

If you are referring to the one below, I can make it available.  If you're referring to the older plain one, I'll have to see if I still have it.  Let me know.

[sega_mad]

Hi SGT,

Back again, I have a  question relating to this thread.

Am wanting to add Daytona to my MALa list. I have followed your instructions, buy am confused when I get to number 7. I don't know how to create a mame.cmd.

Any help appreciated

Also, is Daytona and sega rally fully playable with model2 emulator?

I'm sure I will have more questions before I get this right!!

Cheers

[SGT]

I don't know how to create a mame.cmd.

Just open notepad and copy & paste the contents quoted earlier.  Then modify it to suit your setup and save it to the your mame folder with the name "mame.cmd".

Also, is Daytona and sega rally fully playable with model2 emulator?

Yes, they are fully playable and a lot of fun.  The graphics are not 100% perfect yet. 

[sega_mad]

Cheers, Will have a go.

I'm running mame 1.14...will that be OK for sega rally, and Daytona?

Will these 2 games be supported in mame in the near future, so I wont have to run model 2?

thanks again

[sega_mad]

SGT

Please help. I can't get it working.

Here's what I did

In C drive I created a folder called "m2emulator" (this has the m2 exe emulator inside)

Also in C drive, I created a folder called "otheremulator" (this has a m2 folder, and inside this is the Daytona zip rom)

I followed your other instructions regarding mala, and had no problem there, so I think the problem must be with the mame.cmd file.

this is what's in my mame.cmd

if "%2" == "C:\otheremulator\m2" goto m2

mame.exe %1
exit

:m2
cd ..\m2emulator
closemul.exe emulator.exe zip %1 rar
exit

Hoping you can help,

Cheers,

Sega mad

[SGT]

I'm running mame 1.14...will that be OK for sega rally, and Daytona?
Will these 2 games be supported in mame in the near future, so I wont have to run model 2?

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it will be a long time before computers are fast enough for Mame to run Daytona at an acceptable speed.

[SGT]

Please help. I can't get it working.

Here's what I did

In C drive I created a folder called "m2emulator" (this has the m2 exe emulator inside)

Also in C drive, I created a folder called "otheremulator" (this has a m2 folder, and inside this is the Daytona zip rom)

I followed your other instructions regarding mala, and had no problem there, so I think the problem must be with the mame.cmd file.

this is what's in my mame.cmd

if "%2" == "C:\otheremulator\m2" goto m2

mame.exe %1
exit

:m2
cd ..\m2emulator
closemul.exe emulator.exe zip %1 rar
exit

1) First of all, are you able to run Daytona in the M2 emulator manually (not using Mala)?  In other words, at a C prompt in the m2emulator folder, does it work when you type:

Code:

closemul emulator.exe daytona

2) Is the m2emulator folder on the same folder level as the Mame folder?  If its not then the "cd..\m2emulator" command will not work.  In other words, if the Mame folder is here:

Code:

c:\emulators\mame

Then the m2emulator folder should be here:

Code:

c:\emulators\m2emulator

3) Also the folder names where the m2 rom is stored is case sensitive in the batch file.  Therefore since "\otheremulator\m2" is in your batch file, these actual folder names MUST be lower case.


4) Make sure there is not a Daytona rom in your mame roms folder or Mame will run the rom instead of the m2 emulator.


5) What are any errors you are getting? If you're not getting any errors, set Mala to NOT hide the command window.  Put a pause command into your batch file to help with troubleshooting.   For example:

Code:

:m2
pause
cd ..\m2emulator
closemul.exe emulator.exe zip %1 rar
exit

When you run Daytona from Mala, (if you unhide the command window) you should see a black command window and the code stopping on your pause command.  This will at least tell you whether the batch file is branching to the m2 section or not.

If none of that helps, you need to post screen shots of the pertinent Mala configuration screens that you have set up.  You also need to tell me what folder Mame is in and answer ALL the questions above.   

[sega_mad]

Hi again,

Man I feel stupid, I can't even complete question number 1...can you spell that out for me!!

I moved the m2emulator folder to the mame folder...no help

Did have the case (lower) correct

Daytona rom is not in mame

Not getting any errors....it wont run, just goes back to mala!!

I tried the pause in the batch file, and unhide the command window. but the black screen was gone so fast i couldn't read it!!

As for the last one, how do I post screen shots!!

So sorry for all the dumb questions, and thanks for your help so far.

Chees

[SGT]

I moved the m2emulator folder to the mame folder...no help

No, I just wanted to make sure that the m2emulator folder and the mame folder are subfolders that are side by side, so to speak.  For example, I have a folder called "emulators".  In that folder is my m2emulator folder *and* my mame folder.  It doesn't have to be this way, but that's the way it needs to be unless a change is made to the batch file.

I can't even complete question number 1...can you spell that out for me!!

Providing you have your folders set up as outlined as above:

Click START, then click RUN
Type CMD, then click OK


In the black window, type the following:

Code:

C: <ENTER>
CD \emulators\m2emulator <ENTER>
closemul emulator.exe daytona

What error if any do you get?

how do I post screen shots!!

Not sure if you're asking how to create a screenshot or how to attach one into this forum.

1)  Bring up the Mala option screen that you want.
2)  Press PrintScreen
3)  Click Programs>Accessories>Paint
4)  Click Edit>Paste
5)  If you know how, crop out all of the screen shot accept for the Mala options window
6)  Save the file.
7)  When posting a reply, choose Additional Options....
8 )  Browse for the attachment that you saved in the Paint program.

[sega_mad]

Hi Sgt,

Many thanks for the instructions....very easy to follow!!

I have changed the folder around to how you have  it.....m2emulator inside emulators folder.

Here are the screen shots

Cheers,

Sega-mad

[SGT]

1) You need to open m2's emulator.ini file into notepad and make sure the Dir1 is pointing to your rom folder which I assume should be:

Code:

Dir1=\otheremulator\m2

2) You don't have the closemul program in your m2emulator folder.  This is a wrapper that allows for the ESC key to close the m2emulator.  You can download it at the link below.  Make sure you unzip into the m2emulator folder.

http://lustar.free.fr/clusters/closemul/

3) Retry the CMD steps again, but make sure you type it exactly.  Last time you had a typo.  Make sure it is NOT emutator :

Code:

C: <ENTER>
CD \emulators\m2emulator <ENTER>
closemul emulator.exe daytona

4) Try the above step twice as I know that the closemul program creates the closemul.ini file the first time it is run. 

5) After the second try, post the error messages that you get.


EDIT ADDITION:

I didn't see a screenshot of your Mame command line.  Make sure it is:

Code:

%rom% %path%

Notice the space between %rom% and %path%

[sega_mad]

Hi again,

Mame command line is correct (has space)

But the download for the esc wrapper does not work. When I try to extract the file it says "cannot open file.it does not  appear to be a valid archive"

Cheers

[SGT]

I can download and open it okay.  Sometimes when corruption occurs on downloads its necessary to do the following:
This time right-click the download link and choose "Save Target As".

Keep trying until the archive is valid.

[sega_mad]

Tried that.

Am I missing something....this is the only file I can see to down load "Closemul v0.3.0.2"

[sega_mad]

Tried it again, if I put my mouse over the file it says

"no zip file, bad zip file, or part of a spanned/split zip file"

[SGT]

Email attachment sent.

[sega_mad]

Ok, think I'm making progress.

After I did the re install, now it looks like I can get to the m2 emulator from Mala, but there is a fault/error with the roms. I'm running mame 1.14...could that be the problem?

Cheers

[SGT]

Ok, think I'm making progress.

After I did the re install, now it looks like I can get to the m2 emulator from Mala, but there is a fault/error with the roms. I'm running mame 1.14...could that be the problem?

Cheers

No, Mame has nothing to do with the M2 emulator.  I would say that either you have the wrong rom or M2 is not looking in the right folder.  Open the Daytona rom and see if the files that it says are missing are in there.  If the files aren't there, you have the wrong ROM.  If they are there, you need to check and make sure that the line in M2's emulator.ini file is pointing to the right folder for your roms.

[Lakersfan]

I was wondering if someone can help me out with this ... I am trying to get fceUltra to play Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA).zip and (of course) add this one game to my main list (which is primarily mame games).

If I open a command prompt, I can get this cmd line to run just fine:

Code:

Closemul.exe fceu.exe "I:\Emulators\emulators\fceUltra\roms\Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA).zip"

so I don't think that's my problem.

I can get it listed in my games by editing the mame.xml file, adding this:

Code:

<game name="Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA)">
                                  <description>Super Mario Bros. 2</description>
                                  <driver status="good" emulation="good"/>
</game>

However, I'm pretty sure my screw up is somewhere in my mame.cmd file:

Code:

if "%2" == "I:\Emulators\emulators\fceUltra" goto fceUltra

mame.exe %1
exit

:fceUltra
cd ..\fceUltra
Closemul.exe fceu.exe "I:\Emulators\emulators\fceUltra\roms\Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA).zip"
exit

but I can't figure it out!

Any suggestions?

ps- attached a pic if helpful...

[SGT]

Where is fceUltra.exe located?  Is it located here?:

Code:

I:\Emulators\emulators\fceUltra

Where is mame.cmd located? Here?:

Code:

I:\Emulators\Mame

or here?:

Code:

I:\Emulators\emulators\mame

[Lakersfan]

fceu.exe is located here: I:\Emulators\emulators\fceUltra

mame.cmd is located here: I:\Emulators\Programs\mame

[SGT]

That being the case, in mame.cmd change:

Code:

cd ..\fceUltra

to:

Code:

cd \Emulators\emulators\fceUltra

Also %2 will equal the folder that the rom is actually in; therefore, change:

Code:

if "%2" == "I:\Emulators\emulators\fceUltra" goto fceUltra

to:

Code:

if "%2" == "I:\Emulators\emulators\fceUltra\roms" goto fceUltra

Note that the path in the preceding line is case sensitive.  Once you get it working, you won't want to use the actual rom name in mame.cmd, but I'm guessing you probably already know that.  There may be more problems, but that is what jumps out at me right now.

[SGT]

Another thing that I'm not sure about is you have Mala to search subfolders under I:\Emulators\emulators which is correct, but the roms are two levels down instead of one level down.  I haven't tested Mala to know whether Mala searches for roms in subfolders of subfolders if you know what I mean.


Edit:  Nevermind.  A quick test shows Mala will search down more than one level of subfolders.

[Lakersfan]

Well, before you posted your response I was trying to figure some things out. Sorry, but I'll have to re-verify a few things. My folders are now as follows:

Main- I:\Arcade
Mala- I:\Arcade\mala
Emulators- I:\Arcade\emulators
Mame- I:\Arcade\emulators\mame
fceUltra- I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra
fceUltra Roms- I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms

Based on that, I changed my mame.cmd from

Code:

cd ..\fceUltra

to

Code:

cd I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra

which is where my fceu.exe emulator resides.

Also, you said,

Also %2 will equal the folder that the rom is actually in

so I changed my line to

Code:

if "%2" == "I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms" goto fceUltra

I refreshed my games and still no-go.

The error that pops up is so fast it's hard to read. But I think it says something along the lines of

Code:

I:\Arcade\emulators\mame>if "Mario" == "I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms" goto fceUltra
I:\Arcade\emulators\mame>mame.exe Super

"Super" approximately matches the following:"

then it goes and list some mame roms.

Maybe this has something to do with the rom name of "Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA)" since it has spaces. Also, where is it getting "Mario" from in the first line?

Here's my latest mame.cmd file:

Code:

if "%2" == "I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms" goto fceUltra

mame.exe %1
exit

:fceUltra
cd I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra
Closemul.exe fceu.exe "I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms\Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA).zip"
exit

[SGT]

Yeah, the spaces in the rom name is causing a problem.  In Mala for the command line you'll need to enclose %rom% with quotation marks:
 

Code:

"%rom%" %path%

You also need to change:

Code:

cd I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra

to:

Code:

cd \Arcade\emulators\fceUltra

You can include the drive letter in the cd command if you need to change drives if you use the /D parameter.  But in this case, its not needed.

[TheManuel]

Thank you for providing that work-around, SGT.

I just begun playing with Mala and, like you, I use one or more older versions of MAME for some games.  At a glance, I could not find a way to have all the games from the different versions show up on the same list so I figured I had not tried hard enough.
However after reading through your post, I am completely shocked that this is not a basic feature of such a powerful front-end considering how many different emulators are out there for arcade games even if MAME is so ubiquitous.  I imagine most people would like to have a list that includes all arcade games regardless of what emulator runs them.

At any rate, I know I should not look a gift horse in the mouth.  Your work-around sounds like a good deal so I will give it a try.

Regards.

[SGT]

@TheManuel  -  Thanks for the kudos.


@Lakersfan  -  Be forewarned.  I have played around a little bit with fceUltra.  Adding the quotes around %rom% for Mala's mame commandline works for fceUltra, and it doesn't seem to affect Mame.  However, it did cause a problem with VivaNonno.  I haven't tested to see what problems it might cause with the other emus that I use in the Mame gamelists such as M2, Daphne, Zinc, Radikal Biker, Mjolnir, and PC Games.

Fortunately, Mala has the Advanced feature for the Mame command line which allows for conditional command lines.  I may be wrong, but I believe any problems can easily be resolved by adding a conditional command line based upon the rom path.

On another note, I noticed after exiting fceUltra that the Mala screen was scrambled.  When this has happened before, I usually resolve it by setting the emulator resolution to the same resolution used by Mala.   I wasn't able to run fceUltra at the same resolution without it crashing.  This is no big deal for me as I do not intend to run this emulator, but I wanted to give you a heads up in case you encounter the same problem.

[Lakersfan]

Thanks for the help, SGT. However, I still am unable to get it to work. One quick question after re-reading your post. Do I need a "dummy" file of Super Mario Bros 2 somewhere?

From what I can tell, I am getting the same error when trying to run the game ... it seems to be looking in mame roms for a game similar to Super Mario Bros. 2.

[SGT]

In your case, you don't need a dummy file because the actual fceUltra rom is stored in the searchable rom path.  You really need to see exactly what variables Mala is passing to Mame.cmd.  To do this you can add the following two lines at the beginning of mame.cmd:

Code:

echo %1 > test.txt
echo %2 >> test.txt

After you have attempted to start that game, view the contents of test.txt which is in the mame folder.  The first line is your rom name and the second line is the rom path.  Post the contents of test.txt here if you want to.

[Lakersfan]

Thanks! Will give a try a bit later today after I'm done xmas shopping and a few other pre-Christmas chores. :p

[Lakersfan]

Here's my test.txt:

Code:

"Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA)"
I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra

[SGT]

Wow.  Isn't your Super Mario Bros rom actually in?:

Code:

I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms

Any chance you have a second copy of that rom sitting in?:

Code:

I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra

[Lakersfan]

Yes, the rom is in I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms

For whatever reason, I also had the rom in I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra... I took it out but I get the same exact log as above when I try to run it.

last mame.cmd file:

Code:

echo %1 > test.txt
echo %2 >> test.txt

if "%2" == "I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms" goto fceUltra

mame.exe %1
exit

:fceUltra
cd \Arcade\emulators\fceUltra
Closemul.exe fceu.exe "I:\Arcade\emulators\fceUltra\roms\Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA).zip"
exit

Thanks so much for all your help with this.

[Lakersfan]

no wait .. it works now! I just had to do a refresh in mala... one of the most basic things.

Thanks for helping me out with this!!

[SGT]

Great! 

[TheManuel]

      
I feel better now.

Hey SGT:
I can't get it to work with an older version of MAME.
Here is what my mame.cmd looks like:

if "%2" == "D:\MAME\roms104\Using" goto mame104


mamep.exe %1
exit

:mame104
cd D:\MAME\Emulator\MAMEplus_Intel_0.104
mame.exe
exit

The problem is that the rom name is not being passed to the alternate version of MAME described above.  It simply starts MAME as mame.exe and I get the quick text the command line version of MAME displays when you start it without a rom namea.

Any ideas where I can start looking?

Thanks.

[SGT]

Two things to change and two things to check on:

Change

Code:

mame.exe

to:

Code:

mame.exe %1

Change

Code:

cd D:\MAME\Emulator\MAMEplus_Intel_0.104

to:

Code:

cd \MAME\Emulator\MAMEplus_Intel_0.104

Also the following is case sensitive, so make sure it matches the folder names exactly:

Code:

D:\MAME\roms104\Using

To verify that Mala is passing the exact same thing as the line above:
Put the following as the first line in the mame.cmd:

Code:

echo %2 > test.txt

After you attempt to run the game, check the contents of test.txt file which will be in the same folder as mame.cmd.  There will be one line in test.txt that should match EXACTLY (case included) the line below:

Code:

D:\MAME\roms104\Using

Also make sure that there is not a rom with the exact same name in your regular rom folder.  I am assuming you changed the mala settings as outlined earlier in this thread.

[TheManuel]

Thank you SGT.

The %1 after mame.exe did it.
I will knock my head a few more times against the wall for not trying that after everything I did try.
I had assume %1 was rompath #1 and %2 rompath #2 when %1 is actually the rom name and %2 is the path.

I should point out that including the drive letter after cd does not affect the process.

Regards.