Adding games to mame.dat

[zorrobandito]

What's the minimum requirements to add a game into the mame.dat file? It doesn't have to work in MAME, I just want it to show up in my mame list.

I see from the mame.dat file itself that most games seem to require a lot of info. Let's say that I was running an older version of MAME but I want a newer game to appear in the list. Can I just replicate the lines below? What does MAME.dat need to display it correctly?

game (
   name gyruss
   sourcefile gyruss.c
   description "Gyruss (Konami)"
   year 1983
   manufacturer "Konami"
   history "\nGyruss (c) 03/1983 Konami. \nGame ID : GX347 \n\n- TRIVIA - \n\n<snip>\n"
   rom ( name gyrussk.1 size 8192 crc c673b43d sha1 7c464fb154bac35dd6e2f547e157addeb8798194 region cpu1 offs 0 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.2 size 8192 crc a4ec03e4 sha1 08c33ad7fcc2ad5e5787a1050284e3f8164f4618 region cpu1 offs 2000 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.3 size 8192 crc 27454a98 sha1 030c7df225652ee20d5ef64d005eb011dc89a27d region cpu1 offs 4000 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.9 size 8192 crc 822bf27e sha1 36d5bea2392a7d3476dd797dc05602705cfa23ef region cpu2 offs e000 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.1a size 8192 crc f4ae1c17 sha1 ae568c96a31d910afe30d2b7eeb9ed1ed07290e3 region cpu3 offs 0 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.2a size 8192 crc ba498115 sha1 9cd1f42898cc590f39ba7cb3c975b0b3d3062eba region cpu3 offs 2000 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.3a size 4096 crc 3f9b5dea sha1 6e807da02c2885b18e8cc2199f12f6be9040bf75 region cpu4 offs 0 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.4 size 8192 crc 27d8329b sha1 564ff945465a23d93a93137ad277298770dfa06a region gfx1 flags dispose offs 0 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.6 size 8192 crc c949db10 sha1 fcb8bcbd2bdd751fecb322a33c8a92fb6f07a7ab region gfx2 flags dispose offs 0 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.5 size 8192 crc 4f22411a sha1 763bcd039f8c1838a0d7da7d4dadc14a26e25596 region gfx2 flags dispose offs 2000 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.8 size 8192 crc 47cd1fbc sha1 8203c4ff0b1cd7b4dbc708e300bfeac1e7366e09 region gfx2 flags dispose offs 4000 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.7 size 8192 crc 8e8d388c sha1 8f2928d71c02aba977d67575d6e34d69bda2b9d4 region gfx2 flags dispose offs 6000 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.pr3 size 32 crc 98782db3 sha1 b891e43b25187faca8002919ccb44d744daa3594 region proms offs 0 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.pr1 size 256 crc 7ed057de sha1 c04069ae1e2c62f9b3048844cd8cf5e1b03b7d3c region proms offs 20 )
   rom ( name gyrussk.pr2 size 256 crc de823a81 sha1 1af94b2a6a319a89b238a5076a2867f1cfd279b0 region proms offs 120 )
   chip ( type cpu name "Z80" clock 3072000 )
   chip ( type cpu name "M6809" clock 2000000 )
   chip ( type cpu name "Z80" clock 3579545 )
   chip ( type cpu name "I8039" clock 533333 )
   chip ( type audio name "AY8910" clock 1789772 )
   chip ( type audio name "AY8910" clock 1789772 )
   chip ( type audio name "AY8910" clock 1789772 )
   chip ( type audio name "AY8910" clock 1789772 )
   chip ( type audio name "AY8910" clock 1789772 )
   chip ( type audio name "DAC" )
   chip ( type audio name "RC Filter" )
   chip ( type audio name "RC Filter" )
   chip ( type audio name "RC Filter" )
   chip ( type audio name "RC Filter" )
   chip ( type audio name "RC Filter" )
   chip ( type audio name "RC Filter" )
   video ( screen raster orientation vertical x 224 y 256 aspectx 3 aspecty 4 freq 60.000000 )
   sound ( channels 2 )
   input ( players 2 control joy8way buttons 1 coins 2 )
   dipswitch ( name "Coin B" entry "4 Coins/1 Credit" entry "3 Coins/1 Credit" entry "2 Coins/1 Credit" entry "3 Coins/2 Credits" entry "4 Coins/3 Credits" entry "1 Coin/1 Credit" default "1 Coin/1 Credit" entry "3 Coins/4 Credits" entry "2 Coins/3 Credits" entry "1 Coin/2 Credits" entry "2 Coins/5 Credits" entry "1 Coin/3 Credits" entry "1 Coin/4 Credits" entry "1 Coin/5 Credits" entry "1 Coin/6 Credits" entry "1 Coin/7 Credits" entry "Free Play" )
   dipswitch ( name "Coin A" entry "4 Coins/1 Credit" entry "3 Coins/1 Credit" entry "2 Coins/1 Credit" entry "3 Coins/2 Credits" entry "4 Coins/3 Credits" entry "1 Coin/1 Credit" default "1 Coin/1 Credit" entry "3 Coins/4 Credits" entry "2 Coins/3 Credits" entry "1 Coin/2 Credits" entry "2 Coins/5 Credits" entry "1 Coin/3 Credits" entry "1 Coin/4 Credits" entry "1 Coin/5 Credits" entry "1 Coin/6 Credits" entry "1 Coin/7 Credits" entry "Free Play" )
   dipswitch ( name "Lives" entry "3" default "3" entry "4" entry "5" entry "255 (Cheat)" )
   dipswitch ( name "Cabinet" entry "Upright" default "Upright" entry "Cocktail" )
   dipswitch ( name "Bonus Life" entry "30000 60000" default "30000 60000" entry "40000 70000" )
   dipswitch ( name "Difficulty" entry "1 (Easiest)" default "1 (Easiest)" entry "2" entry "3" entry "4" entry "5 (Average)" entry "6" entry "7" entry "8 (Hardest)" )
   dipswitch ( name "Demo Sounds" entry "Off" entry "On" default "On" )
   dipswitch ( name "Demo Music" entry "Off" entry "On" default "On" )
   driver ( status good emulation good color good sound good graphic good palettesize 32 )
)

[zorrobandito]

Worked it out. Just get a decent text editor (e.g. notepad++) and copy an existing entry or use the one below. Don't forget to make a backup of your mame.dat first!

Basically I'm using this to add games into my MAMEWah MAME list but running them via another emulator.

Minimum Info (not actually sure about whether this is the minimum but it suits my purposes - I'll experiment with less later.)

game (
   name cobra
   sourcefile cobra.c
   description "Cobra Command - Daphne"
   year 1984
   manufacturer "Data East"
   history "\nSpace Ace (c) 1984 Data East. \n"
   rom ( name 82s126.3m size 256 crc 77245b66 sha1 0c4d0bee858b97632411c440bea6948a74759746 region sound1 offs 100 )
   chip ( type cpu name "Z80" clock 3072000 )
   chip ( type audio name "Laserdisc" clock 96000 )
   video ( screen raster orientation vertical x 224 y 288 aspectx 3 aspecty 4 freq 60.606060 )
   sound ( channels 1 )
   input ( players 2 control joy4way buttons 1 coins 2 )
   dipswitch ( name "Fake Data" entry "Disabled" default "Disabled" entry "Enabled Always" entry "Enabled with Button" )
   driver ( status good emulation good color good sound good graphic good palettesize 32 )
)

[zorrobandito]

Not solved. I was experimenting with smaller blocks of data as the mame.dat placeholders but mame just killed mame.dat

Now, when I do exactly the same steps as I outline above, it just wipes mame.dat to 0 bytes. Replacing it with a backup restores everything.

I did notice that the reason the CPS3 Street Fighter III games and Dragon's Lair were so successful is because they already have entries in mame.dat. Creating the dummy zip files enabled them in the listing. Then the config\game\[name].ini takes over and all is good until I added something new.

Any thoughts? Has no-one manually added games to mame.dat?   

[headkaze]

Can CLRMAME Pro output this format?