Mame/Rom Organization Possibilities?

[rtkiii]

Hello All,

Just started messing with Emulators and ROMS last night since about 2005 and one thing I always remembered was the mess MAME seemed to have with the ROMS.  Example 1942 comes in three pieces.  If you do not have all three pieces then it does not work.  But once you have them all two of the three do not launch but are listed in your game list.  Is there any way to clean this up a little?  I tried creating a folder inside of the Mame\ROM folder called 1942 which then I placed all three parts in there.  But then MAME does not see it at all.  Not a huge issue when it is just me and a PC.,..but for my Multi-cade I am hoping for a little more cleanliness.

Thanks,
Rich

[BadMouth]

What game list are you talking about?

This one?: (btw, that ugly thing was only put there to keep noobs who don't read instructions from complaining that nothing happened when they clicked mame.exe)



If it doesn't look like that, you are using a UI version of MAME (MAMEUI, MAME32, MAMEPlus) or a front-end(Mala, Hyperspin, Mamewah)

Always mention what software you're using when asking for help.
A lot of front-ends have an option to hide bios roms.
The answer is different depending on which one you're using.

[rtkiii]

Sorry.  Yeah I am using MAME and it looks like your screen.  ROMS load fine but I do not like all the clutter.  I am currently trying to use HyperSpin as a front end and I am getting it to play my games but the damn list is HUGE.  I onlt want my games to display in HS...which is it sounds like I need an XML editor...which I cannot seem to Download anymore    Just getting started but I like all the functionality of HS but just need more time with it.

[BadMouth]

I don't think there is a way to eliminate them from that menu.

...which is it sounds like I need an XML editor...which I cannot seem to Download anymore 

There is a good xml editor called Windows notepad. 

Consider joining the Hyperspin forums.
Excellent support over there from what I see pop up in google results.
I have limited experience with it.  Just set up the basics when I was testing out different front-ends.

(I settled on Mala)

[rtkiii]

(I settled on Mala)

I changed to Maximus Arcade...so  much easier to use...but cost $25

[BadMouth]

...but cost $25

They are still taking money for it?!?!
I thought it was no longer supported.

[Hoopz]

Were people sending funds but never getting the activation codes or whatever they needed?

[Hoopz]

Check out this thread.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=116029.msg1230543.msg#1230543

[rtkiii]

I have switched to Game Ex...what a ripoff...I did not send any money but holy crap...that was a good app...sorry to see it fade away

[Howard_Casto]

I predicted that one as soon as MA was announced.  Just making a FE is a massive undertaking.  Making one that "automagically" supports emulators, well that's damn near impossible.  If you are dong it for fun that's one thing, but if you are in it for the money.... well you'll soon realize that it isn't worth it. 

There's a reason I don't make FEs anymore. 

[Drnick]

There are a couple of ways of doing what you want to do, with hyperspin you can either turn off clones (Which in turn removes Pacman as it's a clone of Puckman) or you can create an xml to only show the games you want.

Definitely join in over at the hyperspin forums, there are a number of tools available to create a custom list.

Hope that helps a bit.

[NOP]

creating an XML of the titles you want is easy with romlister!
(you can't really talk about roms and lists without me jumping in and pimping my wares!)
http://waste.org/~winkles/ROMLister/

I onlt want my games to display in HS...

so if I understand this correctly, you've downloaded 50 or so roms (the count doesn't really matter), they launch just fine, but HS is displaying the rom list for the entire MAME set?

If that's the case, you romlister's "rom scan utility" in the settings screen and it can scan through the files you have and create an XML file with just those games in it.  Import that list into HS and you should have what you're looking for.

I've glossed over the details a bit, but this should get you in the right direction.  happy to expand on it as needed.