A 0 games found workaround for MAME v.162 and later with Mala.

[SGT]

... and the method still works for Mame 0.227.   Someone should write a utility to make the job a little quicker? 

[Cakemeister]

A PowerShell script could do it.

https://mcpmag.com/articles/2018/08/08/replace-text-with-powershell.aspx

[1upmegaman]

Well i have to thank the person who came up with this strategy it works but not all the way if u let mala pull the xml or even let cmd pull it and then use this strategy it does not change the exe u have to tell mala not to create xml then point mala to changed xml then u only have 3 times to start mala before it recognizes the change and locks then u must start process over agian. so the goal is to find a program that can turn exe scribble to normal xml format notepad++ must have this feature but iam a noob at at of this just like to play old games. IF ANYONE KNOWS HOW TO CHANGE THE EXE PLEASE POST.

[loadman]

Sounds like an easy fix to add to Mala2.0

[loadman]

..and Done. 

Now if only there were people willing to test MaLa 2.0 Bata 1....   

I will be looking for testers soon

[motoschifo]

... and the method still works for Mame 0.227.   Someone should write a utility to make the job a little quicker? 

I created this tool for Windows years ago and will update it in the future.
The "Utility" section includes an export function that uses different names for XML nodes based on the target MAME release number; perhaps this can help.

The replacement procedure (via ps, bash, cmd) can corrupt files, which should not be edited like normal text files.

In detail, this is the correct replacement pattern: from <machine name=" to <game name="
Including the "name" attribute prevents errors. If the "name" attribute appears in the middle of the attribure list of the node, the entire process will produce an invalid XML file.

I've attached a screenshot of the tool, now tested on the latest version of Mame.
You can do almost everything anonymously; no login is required.

I hope this helps while we wait for the MALA fix.
This is the link to download page of my website:
https://adb.arcadeitalia.net/?page=download