Mame & Mala / most games attempt to run then quit with no error...?

[Umgar]

I just finished putting together a Mame cabinet (details here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=105421.0) and just having some issues with Mala/Mame configuration now.

Many of the games I have will not run. When I select the game in Mala, it looks like it's starts to run (I see a flash of the DOS command-line window pop up), but this quickly closes without an error message and returns to the Mala front end screen.

Here was the installation process I went through:

 - Download and install latest version of Mame
 - move ROMs into ROM folder
 - move BIOS files into ROM folder
 - create Mame .ini
 - add contver, history, and control ini's
 - download and install Mala / run Mala first-time setup
 - tweak controls for in Mame config to work with X-arcade stick

Pretty straightforward... anyone else experience an issue like this? Examples of games that work and don't work:

Works:
 Ms Pac-Man
 Donkey Kong
 Mortal Kombat II
 Metal Slug 3

No worky:
 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (tried 3 versions)
 Marvel vs Capcom
 Galaga
 Mortal Kombat III
 

Also, not sure if this is related but all of the BIOS's show up in the games list in Mala... thought that was weird but maybe this is expected behavior since the BIOS's can load by themselves for test mode?

Thanks for the help...


-Umgar

[LeedsFan]

Sometimes some games that used to work in mame suddenly don't work in a new Mame version. I don't have the latest version... think 120 is the latest build I have. But Galaga works perfectly for me. I'm surprised it doesn't work for you as it's one of the classic older games that's worked all the time as far as I know.

Does Galaga use sound samples? Do you have the roms/samples directories etc. all pointed to correctly in MaLa? I'm trying to think of something really simple that's stopping them working.

[Umgar]

I'm running Mame version 0.139 if that helps. I've tried downloading some of the ROMs from different sites just to see if that's the issue and it didn't help. I can't find a rhyme or reason why some work and others don't.

Would I have better luck using a different Mame package instead of plain vanilla Mame + Mala?

[headkaze]

Most likey the ROMs that don't work don't match the MAME version. You can use CLRMamePro to scan your ROMs using MAME's exe to tell you exactly which ROMs are matching.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I would also try running this without the frontend.  Sometimes the frontend puts in extraneous command lines.  Once you have it working without the frontend, then load it up within the frontend to see if it continues to work.

By eliminated variables it's easier to troubleshoot what the real culprit is.

D

[Umgar]

Running Mame by itself the same games won't load but I do get a little more info in the form of this error message:

"The selected game is missing one or more required ROM or CHD images"

Most of these are really basic ROMS though... Galaga, Contra, TMNT, etc. I'm surprised that a new version of Mame would make so many staple games unplayable. Also, it's not like I downloaded the ROMs from some 10 year old defunct website... I would think that the major players would update their stuff...no?

I'm thinking there is something more to this, but I've run out of ideas

[Marsupial]

do you have BIOS roms?