Random games not working?

[aldub516]

Hey all. thanks for the help as usual. It seems as im testing my games, i came across two so far that are not working for some reason. So far, nibbler and missile command are just exiting mame, and just returning me to menu in gameex. In mame.exe missile command is telling me im missing roms or chds.. i have missile.zip and missile2.zip in my roms. Nibbler on the other hand, is showing me the first second of the game boot screen, then exiting. Ive never had a rom have a problem after loading. I dont know how many games are like this, but id like to anticipate any answers now. Yes, roms and mame versions match, and ive downloaded another nibbler which still wont work?

Missile command- missing rom chds
nibbler- starts for a second then exits mame

unknown how many games will do this.

[nitrogen_widget]

Do you have the proper version romset for your version of Mame?
I have to ask.

[aldub516]

Yes i do, and created my own clean list with rom lister. Thus far most games are fine, i have about 3,000 give or take. Im just confused as they are both old games that shouldnt have a problem. Nibbler especially is a wierd problem since it does boot.

[NOP]

romlister isn't going to guarantee that your rom set is good for that version of MAME.  It doesn't check inside the zip file.

The contents of the zip files themselves occasionally change when a new release of MAME comes out- perhaps a ROM was dumped incorrectly or new rom was added.  A new version of MAME typically means new games are added, but sometimes it also means that MAME needs some different data in some of the zips- and as far as missle command goes, you are missing at least one file inside your zip that the version of mame you're using now needs.

You may want to look into a tool like CMPRO to investigate your zip files compared to what version of MAME you have, or find a romset that exactly matches the version of MAME you are running and grab individual updates from it.

Good luck- this is why many people never upgrade MAME once they have all the games working on their cabs.  The headaches sometimes aren't worth it.

[aldub516]

Well what i meant was i have a clean set of roms i want with rom lister.. All roms were pulled from a master rom folder, all .149, so the romset is indeed correct. I have a clean and confirmed 149 rom of nibbler. i even put all the clones and such in the folder. Its booting the first second with all the boxes on the screen and just closes mame.. These are the 2 games thus far doing this. is there an error log or anything from mame that would say whats causing it to cut out?

[lamprey]

Well what i meant was i have a clean set of roms i want with rom lister.. All roms were pulled from a master rom folder, all .149, so the romset is indeed correct. I have a clean and confirmed 149 rom of nibbler. i even put all the clones and such in the folder. Its booting the first second with all the boxes on the screen and just closes mame.. These are the 2 games thus far doing this. is there an error log or anything from mame that would say whats causing it to cut out?

AS I mentioned in your HLSL thread, try running from a command line with the -verbose option. That should tell you if there is an error.

[aldub516]

ill be completely honest, as educated as i am on certain things,command line is something i know minimally about.. If you can maybe walk me through that process that would help. What kind of error or process does that method run?

[lamprey]

Are you using Windows?

[empardopo]

These games have worked well ever? Where do you get it? Perhaps, over there say you what version of mame you must use for running them.
Greetings.

[aldub516]

i am running windows 8.1 and mame .149. I have indeed had them work in the past. Even downloading new files still doesnt work? Nibbler in particular is weird because it boots to the first screen of the game and then jumps back. xained sleena, vicious circle, beam invader are also games im finding wont load up. Im just trying to find a common problem within these roms. Maybe they are just unplayable generally and i dont know? When a game doesnt load up, ill go to my master rom folder and copy over all its sets and add them to my folder, still dont work. Lets start with nibbler because id like to play it, and its an old game that shouldnt be giving me issues. If someone can walk me through the above command line test, that would be great

[Vigo]

Here is the easiest method I know to use command line for this purpose.

1) Open a command prompt. - On win 8, from your start screen, go to apps and find command prompt, or do a search for cmd

2) a dos box will come up. Type cd then a space, then type in your directory that mame.exe is in. for example cd C:\emulators\mame

3) Type mame then type the name of the rom. The mame.exe will know where to look because of the mame.ini config. So I would write something like mame nibbler

4) Since the game won't work, the dos screen will tell you what is failing. Usually it will say there is some file or files NOT FOUND. Meaning that the files inside the the .zip rom are not packaged the way mame likes. If you add the -verbose command after the rom, if will tell you about on hardware and other functions that could be affecting as well. So for the detailed results, just type mame nibbler -verbose or whatever the rom name is. You can post a screenshot if you are stumped.

[lamprey]

Another way to get a command prompt with less typing is to use windows explorer. Navigate to the folder where the MAME exe is located, press the shift key and right-click the folder and select Open command window here.

[empardopo]

Another way to get a command prompt with less typing is to use windows explorer. Navigate to the folder where the MAME exe is located, press the shift key and right-click the folder and select Open command window here.

Good trick. Everyday I learn something new. Thanks

i am running windows 8.1 and mame .149. I have indeed had them work in the past. Even downloading new files still doesnt work? Nibbler in particular is weird because it boots to the first screen of the game and then jumps back. xained sleena, vicious circle, beam invader are also games im finding wont load up. Im just trying to find a common problem within these roms. Maybe they are just unplayable generally and i dont know? When a game doesnt load up, ill go to my master rom folder and copy over all its sets and add them to my folder, still dont work. Lets start with nibbler because id like to play it, and its an old game that shouldnt be giving me issues. If someone can walk me through the above command line test, that would be great

Those same games worked before or not?

Greetings.