Hi everyone I’m new in this community and id liek I know how to activate cheats on mame 3003 core for retroarch 2003 I have downloaded a cheat.dat for mame 0.67 but reading the file it says that most cheats work on previous version and later ones. So when I place the cheat.dat file in the name 2003 directory and open the game and go to cheats I just get the “ cheat database not found unzip and place it in the name directory “ does anyone how to fix this issue? thanks
Download the cheat.dat from here: https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-libretro/tree/master/metadata
Put it in your system/mame2003/ folder.
If you are using MAME 2003-Plus, the same.
Download the cheat.dat from here: https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-plus-libretro/tree/master/metadata
Put it in your system/mame2003-plus/ folder.
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Thanks for you reply it was easier than I thought now I’ve got all cheats I need
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Hiya, I know this is an old post now, but I’ve just started using mame in retroarch using 220 rom set, and i followed the steps above, and still after i load game and click on tab and then cheat, it just say go back to previous menu? can anyone help?
Hi @mrmame, you know that mame is very specific about romsets?
This means the mame core and the romset must match.
For mame2003 and mame2003-plus you need a 0.78 romset, for mame(current) a 0.227 romset.
Also the cheatfile for mame2003 will not work on current mame core. Instead you have to use this:
http://cheat.retrogames.com/ (It is for mame 0.221, but it works on 0.227 too)
If you are using a 0.220 romset you need a mame 0.220 core which is not available, unless you compile it yourself.
Here you find more information on arcade emulation:
Hiya @ImnoTapLumber, Thankyou for your reply, I do have the rom set 0.78 and also the rom set for 0.227, now the question is, where do i put the cheat0221 Aka cheat.7z and cheat.text in retroarch?
Many Thanks mrmame
For mame (current) the cheat.7z goes in RetroArch/system/mame/cheat.7z (don’t extract the content!)
For mame2003 and mame 2003-plus you can get the cheatfiles from their respective github page:
On both cores you can enable the cheats by entering the mame ingame-menu by pressing Tab while playing.
You can change this key in the same menu btw.
Thankyou Very Much @ImnoTapLumber all works now, thankyou for your time and help, much appreciated 
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Is this possible on Android (RetroArch Plus, MAME - Current)? I might remember having enabled a few codes once on Soulcalibur (SOC14/VER.C from WowROMs) through the main Cheats sub-menu (from the Quick Menu), but they didn’t seem to work.
For RG351P running ArkOS, download the MAME2003-Plus cheat file and place it in roms/bios/mame2003-plus folder. Then the cheats will work.
Your input has been very helpful. I apologize for this being a daft question, but does this mean in order for the cheat.dat for Mame 2003-plus to work correctly, I cannot use the Mame 0.232 roms I have? I need to find a specific Mame 2003 romset? So far I have not been able to get the cheats to work and if I am following correctly this is why.
Yes, arcade cores only work with the specific set they’re made to work with. See this doc for more details: https://docs.libretro.com/guides/arcade-getting-started/
Thank you! I have read this and am downloading what I hope is the right romset for my emulator and cheat.dat files
I am still struggling to get the cheats to work. I have MAME_2003-Plus_Reference_Set_2018 for the roms, I have downloaded the latest cheats file from Pugsy and loaded it and the cheat.dat to my retroarch/system/mame_2003 folder. I have enabled cheats in the mame.mini
Still no joy. Does anyone have any tips for me?