Can't read / save default Retroarch's MAME 2016 core settings

RetroArch Windows devices
#1

Hi !

I’m rather familiar with Retroarch and its features, but I do have a problem I can’t figure how to solve since a couple days… I guess I changed something in my configuration but can’t figure what.

Here’s the problem: I digged a lot into arcade emulation recently, using Retroarch’s Mame core (windows version) for my needs. Input configurations, game settings, romsets etc… all was working fine.

Until recently, for some reasons (not sure if it was the default setting), the “Enable softlists” and “softlists automatic media type” in Ingame core options are enabled by default. Also, other options are disabled by default Which is not what it’s supposed to be, according to my config.

Here’s what retroarch_core_options.cfg looks like. Note I’m using Mame2016 core for specific reasons, some of the games I’m playing can’t work with some previous versions:

mame2016_read_config = “enabled” mame2016_write_config = “enabled” mame2016_saves = “game” mame2016_auto_save = “disabled” mame2016_mouse_enable = “enabled” mame2016_throttle = “disabled” mame2016_cheats_enable = “disabled” mame2016_alternate_renderer = “disabled” mame2016_softlists_enable = “disabled” mame2016_softlists_auto_media = “disabled” mame2016_media_type = “rom” mame2016_boot_to_bios = “disabled” mame2016_boot_to_osd = “disabled” mame2016_boot_from_cli = “disabled”

The softlist options are especially worrying me because some games refuses to boot if these are enabled ( Frogger for example, I don’t know the technical reasons).

So, here’s the question:

Why is my mame core not loading the options from my retroarch_core_options.cfg file ? I already tried switching options between these rows in my retroarch.cfg files:

core_specific_config game_specific_options auto_overrides_enable

But nothing worked. Also, my Mame.ini is apparently ok, yet I can’t find anything related to softlists options in it, I would have used this instead…

Anyone got an idea on how to fix this and why is it happening ?

Thanks for your read and upcoming help !

#2

Still no clues about the issue despite many different tweaks and changes.

The core seems to overwrite my Mame.ini file, but it doesn’t seem to read the infos in it when I boot a game. The mouse should be enabled by default according to the ini, but no response in game.

Also, I tried configuring all these options directly from the mameui after closing a game, config file is overwritten when I save the settings and close the core, but when I get back into a game, it’s like I did nothing, yet the file remains the same with all the options I previously configured…

#3

I changed your thread title to give it a more precise name. We have eight different MAME cores, I believe.

I unfortunately have little experience with MAME 2014 and none with MAME 2016 or MAME (the current version of the core). Therefore this is a lame suggestion, but could you use one of the older MAME cores for everything except the games that are only in MAME 2016 and later?

(I’m curious if you don’t mind sharing what games you need 2016 for – there are so many new games in later MAME that I don’t even know about.)

#4

Hi ! Thanks for your answer.

I kinda struggled to get a right title to explain my problem and wasn’t sure if I should apply this to all mame cores or just this one, I opted for the first choice but I guess it’s better this way indeed.

Using various cores would indeed be a better solution for most people depending on which games you wish to play, but as you know, Mame can be painful for that reason depending on your version and the rom sets you have… Most of my collection is already configured for this specific version / using different rom sets from the previous versions of the core available in retroarch so I really can’t go backward now.

What bothers me is that I had no problems before a couple of days, it’s just that I certainly did something wrong somewhere, probably in my retroarch config, but I can’t find where I messed up…

From what I understand, you’re using older versions of Mame for your configuration ? Could you tell me if your setup is correctly reading your retroarch_core_options.cfg, depending on the mame options listed in this file, and if the file overwrite itself when you change parameters in your mame core setup (ingame) ? Mine was working like that (I think) but not now…

About games running on Mame 2016, exclusive ones are certainly nothing impressive for most people but there’s a couple of good ones… Metal Freezer / Last Hope / Lock On / Wing Force… These ones could interest shmup fans :smiley: Especially Wing Force.

Also, most of the other games earned little tweaks and more accuracy over the years of course, that’s the reason why I really prefer a recent version of Mame. Not having to use the oooooold sound samples for old games like Mario Bros or Donkey Kong is way better.

Obviously if your computer can handle a recent version, it’s always better to play the most up to date romsets imo. :slight_smile:

EDIT: Perhaps some more infos about the problem. I’m not too sure if it’s normal, but when I change my mame core settings in Retroarch with some content loaded, and select the “save core overrides” option, a .cfg file named after the core is created in “/Retroarch/config”(MAME 2016.cfg), but the file is plain empty. Not sure if my settings infos are supposed to be in there.

#5

Somehow I suspect that this is an issue somewhere in your RetroArch configurations.

I am hoping someone with more experience with those areas will drop into the thread, but no luck yet.

If you are using Windows, it’s pretty straightforward to download RetroArch a second copy of RetroArch (the non-installer version) and set up a totally fresh install without disturbing the setup you have now.

I can’'t promise any results, but there might be some value to trying out a fresh install.