Capcom/hanaho ROMs in MAME - Added screenshot

[DreamArcades]

I just worked out a licensing agreement for several Capcom ROMs.
As expected the ROMS are in .bin format (ie 1942.bin). However, I can't get them to run with MAME.
They did include a front end, but I really don't like it and I wanted to use MAME, so I could have just one front end.

Has anyone been able to figure out how to use MAME with the Capcom ROMs?

-Mike

[SirPoonga]

The hanaho capcom CD is just mame32.  The roms are in the roms folder as zips.

So I can conclude you don't have hanaho roms or they were just renamed???

[pcb]

I just worked out a licensing agreement for several Capcom ROMs.

Has anyone been able to figure out how to use MAME with the Capcom ROMs?

If you are using the Hanaho CD, they have their own custom front end that starts a custom version of Mame32 from the command line. 

AFAIK, they are the same roms that run in MAME/MAME32.

If you have something different this doesn't apply.

[Howard_Casto]

I would suggest using a rom managment tool on the roms as well since hanho doesn't keep their roms up to date.  But then again if you fix/change the roms then they aren't the roms you liscensed anymore and you have no legal claim on them.   

[DreamArcades]

Hummm. I must have a different version or something. The only executable I have is for the menu and the ROMS are all bin files. I tried zipping them and MAME wouldn't load them. I also just tried renaming them to zip files, but no luck.

Thanks for all the feedback. Anyone else have any ideas?

[elvis]

I would suggest using a rom managment tool on the roms as well since hanho doesn't keep their roms up to date.  But then again if you fix/change the roms then they aren't the roms you liscensed anymore and you have no legal claim on them.   

Question: when purchasing a private-play license for a game from Hanaho/StarRoms/et al, are you purchasing the rights to the game itself, or to a particular binary file?

Logically speaking, if I have tools which can correct a binary file's mistakes, and I am not making multiple copies of the file, is that breaking the license agreement?

I think I'll have to go re-read the license and see what it says about binary modification, and if that falls under the decompilation/reverse-engineering no-no's.  Knowing standard modern-day licensing, you aren't even allowed to fix problems for yourself.  Legal-jargon-induced insanity.

[2600]

A directory listing with files sizes would help us help you a little more.

That being said, I assume 1942.bin is all the roms for 1942 in one file?  I'd try renaming it zip and extracting it.  If that didn't work, I'd rename it back to bin then open it up with a text or hex editor and takes a looksie.  Could be all the files are just combined into one file.  Hard to say without looking at it in person.

[Chris]

The license agreement should be for use of the software; whether that software is packaged as a ZIP or a BIN should be irrelevent.

I have the Capcom Hanaho CD at home, and I swear that version has ZIP files.  Was there maybe more than one version of this CD?  Some of my ZIPs run in MAME, most do not due to the version of MAME on the CD being so old.

I'll check it out in more detail when I get home.

--Chris

[SirPoonga]

The license agreement should be for use of the software; whether that software is packaged as a ZIP or a BIN should be irrelevent.

Ever read EULAs?  They can be crazy...

[Chris]

The license agreement should be for use of the software; whether that software is packaged as a ZIP or a BIN should be irrelevent.

Ever read EULAs?

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, I'm responsible for license compliance in my office.  Microsoft has a clause in the SQL license prohibiting you from publicly criticizing SQL server without permission from Microsoft...

Heh, so, since I don't own SQL server can I criticize it...

[Howard_Casto]

The short answer is.... until companies quit nit-picking on the eula's it's virtually impossible to own a liscense for software that you can use however you want.  Even starroms had problems.... atari gave them some roms to sell and then decided that they didn't want to and took half of them back!!  I have no clue if the poor souls that bought rights to those games still have any legal claim. 

[Lilwolf]

most EULAs will actually state that the software isn't to be used for its real intended purpose... So if (for instance) MS Word looses a document your typing... And you sue MS, they can claim that you wheren't suppost to use it to write letters.

just an example... haven't read MS ones.  But a lot of other ones.

[DreamArcades]

Sorry for the delay. Here's the screenshot. Personally I'm just about to give up on makingthese BIN files work with MAME. I've tried zipping them, upzipping them, opening the with other compression programs. I'm thinking maybe they are not based on MAME at all.


This is a different collection than the 50 Capcom games that comes with the Hodrod stick. I only have license to 10 games (I'm working on more).

I'm just about out of ideas, if anyone else has any though let me know,
Mike

[Fat_Trucker]

I'm definitely not an expert but could it be something as simple as the .bin files you are using don't have the same filenames as the one's mame uses?. I know the .zip file would have the same name but doesn't mame look for all the various component files inside it rather than a single .bin?

Not a clue how the dumping process works but perhaps if you were to use a similar tool on your .bin file that coders use when they dump pcbs it would break the file into the component parts mame needs to run it.

Lastly are you sure the roms you have are the pure variant?. Is it possible that the roms you have are actually the ones mame refers to as 1942a, etc. You could try renaming to the various variant files that mame has for each game and see if any of them light up!.

[AlanS17]

Naming would have alot to do with it. Plus most games use multiple roms files either all zipped together or in one directory. If you're trying to load a single BIN file, it might have all the individual ROM files combined with some sort of indexing system. MAME just wouldn't be able to read it.

Have you tried just changing the filename from BIN to ZIP? Chances are it's not that easy, but you never know until you try. I think you already would have been able to open them with something if they were just compressed, though. I'd bet it's a proprietary file format as I mentioned above with all the individual ROM files combined and containing some sort of indexing system.

There's no guarantee, however, that the contents of that BIN even conform to MAME naming conventions.

[Howard_Casto]

What Alan said is probably right..... they probably simply merged all the different chip roms into a single bin file for the exact purpose of preventing you from doing what you intend to do. 

I don't know about hanho the company, but I've had dealings with hanho's representatives before.  The message board software would censor any descriptors I used for them.   

Long story short, you aren't going to be able to use those files and unless you can find a loophole you can drive a truck through, you don't have the license to use other versions of the roms.

[pcb]

Personally I'm just about to give up on makingthese BIN files work with MAME. I've tried zipping them, upzipping them, opening the with other compression programs. I'm thinking maybe they are not based on MAME at all.

I'm just about out of ideas, if anyone else has any though let me know,
Mike

If you can email me a copy, I'll check the .bin files against real roms. It is possible that they just merged them all together.

You can email me at mike at mikesarcade.com

[Howard_Casto]

You can email me at mike at mikesarcade.com

You are missing the point pcb..... even if they are, once he unmerges the bins so they work in mame it ceases to be the product he has a liscense for and thus he has no legal claim on it (unless they specifically say he does, which is VERY unlikely) He would be better off just downloading the roms at that point since what he's doing is illegal anyway.
If you can email me a copy, I'll check the .bin files against real roms. It is possible that they just merged them all together.

[AlanS17]

It may be illegal to change the BIN, but I don't think it would be illegal to modify MAME to support the BIN. Either way, you've gotta find out what's in that BIN file.

[AlanS17]

... of course, this is all working under the assumption that the BIN file actually holds everything you'll need to run the game.

[Chris]

It may be illegal to change the BIN, but I don't think it would be illegal to modify MAME to support the BIN.

Good point. He still needs the MAME(tm) team's permission, though...

[Howard_Casto]

It may be illegal to change the BIN, but I don't think it would be illegal to modify MAME to support the BIN. Either way, you've gotta find out what's in that BIN file.

That's true.....  hanho's emulator is a glorified version of mame so it's not only possible, it's probable.  The problem is there is no real way of knowing how said roms have been merged.  Mind youyou could use a comparison tool between the merged bin and the modified bin, but that seems like an awful lot of work, at least to me.

[jelwell]

It may be illegal to change the BIN, but I don't think it would be illegal to modify MAME to support the BIN.

Good point. He still needs the MAME(tm) team's permission, though...

no he doesn't. He only needs their permission if he plans on
1) selling his version - which the mame team has made a point of granting to people that obtain legal roms.
2) using the "MAME" name.

But he can modify MAME to support the bin files without any permission from MAMEdev.
Joseph Elwell.