Sure, dump completely and perfectly the first time.
Check your work? Surely there must be a way to do a "sector by sector" type thing like a hard drive image?
It is checked. More now than in the past, but mistakes were made and are still made: the chips being dumped can be bad, the wrong dumping hardware can used so it checks fine with that hardware but found to be wrong later, chips missed and not dumped, PCBs incomplete, hidden ROM inside CPU chips not normally holding ROMs, etc.
So a dump might seem to match a chip when tested but still not be right. Even if all the dumps made really do match, a chip or five might have been missed. And the only way to test if you dumped
everything and everthing perfectly is a working emultor (or a
blank PCB); a catch 22.
Name then perfectly the first time.
Name shouldn't matter, DOS is dead. 8-1 isn't necessary anymore...
First, you already have most the current ROMs with 8.3. That means at least one major name change people will complain about right there. And the files inside the zips are already not following the 8.3 limit. (But 8.3 is not my issue anyway.)
Second,
whether assuming we go a more flexible naming convertion or not, a set first named "Arcade Game" might be found to be "Arcade Game v2" when we find "Arcade Game v4". And then we find the game set is officially named "Arcadegame v.#". You're saying leave it at the old name just because it's hard for you to rename your file? Or do you want to name the files as numbers and set up a relational database matching number to name, so the names can be undated as needed without changing the file name/number? Both IMO are worse fixes than the problem.
If you discover another version of the game, don't add it.
If it's the same game, do we really care? Besides, emulate that game and call the code that uses it.
Yes, there are differences between the sets.
If there isn't a big enough difference, mameDev currently does not add it. (In fact, some of the recent removals were becasue there were no differences.)
I don't know what you mean after the "besides", though. I must be misuderstanding what you mean, since if it means what I think it means that's what mameDev does ATM (besides making any fixes that might have been exposed, unless the emulation is perfect already).
Basically never make fixes and freeze mame at it's current stage
Where do you get that idea? I say get a TRUE image of the UNCHANGED PCB, and emulate it - fix the emulation, not add hacks, samples, etc to each version of the "ROMS" (since they keep changing) so MAME can run it better in the next version...
Sure.
Perfection is a fine goal, but not a reasonable starting point like you request; reality is rarely that perfect.
Especially over the thousands of games dumped, with their dozen or so ROMs each. We can't be sure we have your "TRUE image of the UNCHANGED PCB", and even when we think we have prefect dumps, can only use what we have our hands on, be it a working, broken or hacked arcade board. That is why I say your suggestion freezes mame, in adding new ROMs, fixing bad dumps, and adding to incomplete dumps (some thought to be complete).
Sometimes a known uncomplete dump of a game is made so emulation can be started instead of waiting for a better PCB before doing anything. Why delay progress waiting for something that may be years in the future.
PCBs were thought to be good, but found not to be. Perfect dumps of bad chips is still bad. Even though they test to match perfectly, and the PCB looks unchanged from original state.
We might "know" there were X number of versions of a game, but we only have one ATM, so it's treated as the "only" one until the others can be found instead of waiting until we have all X of them (at which point we might find there was X+1 of them).
We only have a hacked version, so we use it until a better one is found.
A mistake is made, even with all the testing, checking, reviewing, ect.
And FWIW, mame's samples are not part of the ROMs; they have they own folder and changes in them do not effect the ROMs. (Dumping undumped/bad-dumped sound ROMs do effect the ROM set, of course, but are not "samples", and are a fix to old dumps.) Mame does not hack the ROMs themselves, although mame emulates hacks that were in the arcades.
In the scenario where a newer better dump is discovered, THEN replace it.
That's what is done ATM. (We're getting better dumps more often than you wish.)
I would also like to state my undying thanks and gratitude to the MAME devs...
Me too. Keep doing what you want, and have fun.
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Topic: 106 roms w/ mame .107 (Read 4527 times)
