Q about what all needs to be done when updating MAME.

[SephYuyX]

All right, so last year I downloaded a full set of .135, and now that I finally have my cab nearly finished I wanted to put it in to action. However I wanted to add Hiscores back in to MAME, so I followed the hiscore guide, and also updated to .138u1 at the same time via MameComplier64. I wanted to avoid doing this, because I remember hearing horror stories of updating MAME, but I did it anyway.

My concern is, what games did I make stop working when I updated from .135 to .138u1, and how do I get them working again?

I remember seeing something about having to update the ROMs or CHDs as well.. and just tried doing some searches on what I needed to do, but there wasnt anything really clear about it.

I noticed then when I tried to play some Arkanoid, which I remeber most of the versions/clones working, but now only two do. MAME says these games should be working 100%, but it says im missing CHDs, etc.

I didnt think the MAME update was a big jump to mess things up, but I guess it did? What can I do to get these games working again? Or am I sol and have to download a complete set again?

Since I did this via MameComplier64 does this fix CHDs too? If I have to revert back to .135, all id have to do is download .135 from the mame website, and then everything would be working as normal?

Thanks.

[SephYuyX]

Er, by 138, I mean 139.
Woul clrmamepro solve my concerns?

[EVEGames]

SephYuyX,
You do not need to download a whole new set, but you probably want to learn to use ClrMamePro to update your existing set from .135 to .139.  You will also, most likely, need to get your hands on a number of updated roms to complete the process, ClrMamePro cannot just convert all your roms from .135 to .139, you will have some missing pieces that you will need to acquire.  ClrMamePro will tell you exactly what you are missing.

-EVEGames

[abispac]

or if you lazy, just download the latest mame set on top of what you have, and youll be fine...

[Hoopz]

or if you lazy, just download the latest mame set on top of what you have, and youll be fine...

+1.  It'll be a minimal size to download and is much easier than trying to update the roms.

[SephYuyX]

By latest mame set I assume you mean just getting the roms that were changed?

[Hoopz]

Yeppers. 

You can do it two ways:

Use an update set that goes from .138 to .139 (or whatever version).  This torrent is usually only 50 - 75 megs.

OR

You can download the new version torrent.  So if you have .138 and go to .139, you just select the torrent and make sure that you point it to your existing roms folder.  You won't have to download all of it.  Your torrent program will scan the folder and find out what files you still need.  I'd guess it'll be less than 200 megs (maybe far less).

The only downside to this is that you'll start having files on your PC that you don't need.  If you update your roms using CLRMAMEPRO, it'll get ride of the old files that aren't used.  I dont think its an issue but to each his own.

[abispac]

stupid clear mame pro, i really dont like it that much, i do have to recognise that once you get to know how to useit, it is a very nice tool to get your roms in shape, but a simple mistake can ---fudgesicle--- things up,thats why i prefer to download the whole newest set in top of what i have and utorrent only downloads what i need, of course i have a bunch of usseles files on my pc, but that dosnt bother me... good luck

[EVEGames]

SephYuyX, Once you get rolling with ClrMamePro, it's not difficult at all, you can do it in your sleep, and you will end up with a lean and clean romset each time.  Not to mention, new MAME releases do not only add/change games, sometimes entire parent sets change, things get renamed, things get dropped or re-arranged.  Now you go to set up your updated MAME game list in your front-end of choice.  You don't do it by hand of course, you let the front-end scan your set and set up game list entries for all the games you have.  You see where this is going, right?  Now you've got garbage entries in your game list which don't launch the right game anymore, or don't launch anything.  ClrMamePro cleans ALL that stuff up for you.  My advice, for what it's worth, don't take short cuts, learn to do it right.

www.mameworld.info/easyemu/  <-- There's a great ClrMamePro guide here.

...of course, mameworld is down right now...

-EVEGames

[Dazz]

I use to just point the new torrent at my existing set and download, but after a while I had sooooo many rogue files and eventually that caused other headaches when it come to setting up various frontends.  I forced myself to learn CLRMamePro and have never looked back since then.  I think that learning CLRMamePro is essential to keeping your rom sets updated and running good, not only for MAME but all systems/rom sets.

I personally update my rom sets, 30 different sets for various systems, every 6 months or so.  I keep all my sets updated and using the most recent No-Intro DAT's.  For me, updating MAME is just a matter of compiling the new version, downloading the update set, verify with CMP and I'm done.  The MAME compile process takes longer than downloading the new roms and running them through CMP. 

Take the time and learn CMP, know what rom sets you use, and how to update/verify your sets.  It's definitely worth it in the long run.

[Donkbaca]

Just read this tread.  So would an easy route be this:

1) get a torrent with the latest version, point it at your rom folder
2) use clrmamepro to get rid of unneeded files after the set is downloaded

This seems pretty easy to me, am I missing something?