Hi
I run MAME ROMs by using the current MAME core from the command line in windows 10 like this
Now I’m looking for a way to specify in the command line a specific arcade bezel (from orion’s angel collection) to load with a game. Is this possible and how to do this?
You can use the --set-shader switch to load a preset if you are using one of @MagicHat’s or @hgoda90’s preset packs.
If you are using an overlay AND a shader you can also use the --config switch to load a config.
Retroarch -h will give you a list of available command line switches.
I wouldn’t recommend using the mame layout system in Retroarch, it is more trouble than it is worth.
Give my thread a look. I’ve spent a lot of time compiling an all in one OrionsAngel pack with intentions of having an all inclusive, easy way of essentially downloading one zip, extract, and setup another core preset to get it all functioning. My thread may seem like a lot but you should be able to follow along and set it up. If you have any questions on my setup, use my thread to work through them so others who might be in your shoes also get the benefit from the conversation.
I know you specifically mentioned launching with windows CMD. But I’m not familiar with the switches and options available on that side. I am curious though, why use CMD when retroarch’s interface is fantastic and streamlined for launching games? Are you doing some custom interface on your own and hooking into using retroarch shaders/presets?
I would go with MagicHat’s presets since his autoloads the bezel with the game.
I installed your pack but you don’t have any cfg files. How is that possible? Can you explain?
I saw your reply but i still dont understand it 
I have installed magichat’s pack.
How to run the correct bezel from command line for a game?
So I run a game like this
retroarch -L “F:\RetroArch-Win64\cores\mame_libretro.dll” “F:\MAME\wboy.zip”
Suppose wboy has a bezel available, what to add in the line above to use the bezel? I can’t find it. There seem to be no *.cfg in magichat’s pack. I also don’t understand that
I have a BAT file and I want to quickly load games I play a lot, but using windows command line and not using retroarch interface.
This is part of the unique method that I used in my pack thanks to @HyperspaceMadness for coming up with it. It’s a more simplified way of loading the image directly with the shader file so it cuts down on the overall parts involved in the config. Everything is centralized and contained in the shader config itself.
Got it, that makes sense now. You just want a plain jane physical file that you can double click that loads that single game and brings in the image and the shader. I know it seems simple and basic to do that, but if your looking to do that on a lot of games, it’s a lot of work to do creating them specially when there’s nice packs put together that contain all of OrionsAngels work with very minimal work to do on your end to make use of it.
I’m not familiar with the options available with going that route and I’m not too interested in learning it either haha no offense at all! I picked the method that I like the most and rolled with that and I’m sticking to that unless something else better comes along that’s worth changing to. Hope you get a solution that works best for you. If you have more questions on my setup, we can carry that over on my thread so it helps others who might find it useful as well.
Good luck!
For us that use shaders, with Game, Core, or Content Directory presets that can be saved in the menu, it may not make as much sense to load things from the command line. That is even more true now that we have wildcards, but…
For years, before I got involved with the Mega Bezel, I used cg shaders, and custom CFGs that I loaded from the command line. My HTPC still uses these methods. (cg shaders can be set in an override, unlike slang shaders.)
The bridge from using overlays to border shaders isn’t easy to cross at first.
So as I understand correctly (I just start using the bezels): it’s not possible to load a .params file of MagicHat’s pack using the command line?
For example the game altbeast has file altbeast.params
At this point it will be a little hard to understand but, the Multigame.slangp uses the name of the rom to automatically load the correct file. (Using the $GAME$ wildcard.)
You can load the rom, then the Multigame.slangp, then save a “Core” preset, and in the future it will automatically use the correct cabinet for each game. (Or a generic one if a preset doesn’t exist yet.)
If you are using MAME roms it should just work.
In this case you do not need to use the command line to load the preset.
If you must, you can load the Multigame.slangp from the command line.
OK I think I understand it now. So using a command line only makes sense if I would use orion’s angel original pack with .cfg files that are not automatically loaded based on ROM name?
Correct.
I do think the overlay system could benefit from the same wildcards, maybe @HyperspaceMadness or @hunterk know if it could be added.
Although I think it is just important to get aspect coordinates into the overlay cfg file. 
