MAME 2003 core not working with half the 0.78 ROMset

RetroArch General
#1

I was adding arcade games one-by-one before. They had come from different sources and it was a real hassle to figure out which core would play them through trial and error. Even though I didn’t really want an entire library, I thought my issues would be fixed by getting a full ROMset designed for a specific core.

I went with the 0.78 set since I read in a couple places it was a good one to try. It also seems to be the only one that Retroarch as a database for. After scanning it all in, I assigned MAME 2003 to that playlist and started trying out some games. So far, 40%-50% of the ones I’ve tried either wouldn’t work or crashed the emulator. Like before, I am able to use trial and error on different cores with the ones that don’t work with 2003, but then I’m right back where I started with the hassle I’m trying to get rid of, but at even a much larger scale!

Is this just something to be expected? Was it an issue with older MAME versions and sets like this?

If I were get the 0.190 ROMset, and try playing it with the latest MAME core (0.190), would I have less issues like this, or will I still find myself having to muck about with multiple cores?

#2

at retropie we have a compatibility list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LP1MELCvcxu7TfiowF_0ZuvRVEMqlfQyTVetnOJvuJc/edit#gid=1744967714 (although this might not be totally relevant to you depending on what system you’re using)

almost all games should boot, but many have dependencies. ie, anything with something in the ‘parent’ column and or ‘bios’ columns will need that file in the rom folder to run.

it’s easiest to put the whole 0.78 romset in your roms folder so you can be sure you have the dependencies.

#3

verify your romsets(clrmame is most common app to use) and make sure the romsets is for the core or mame/fba version intended. (mame2003 e.g. uses .78 romsets)

retroarch arch scanning relies on split romset matching exact crc. use torrentzip so crc matches after you verify - but i have no clue if each one will be added as there seems to be new additions to database that are exclusive to mame cores only.

#4

So, here’s an update.

I was able acquire .161 and patches to move it up to .190. After patching, I did a scan on it with clrmamepro and it reported 100 or so missing sets, but no crc mismatches. The sets that are missing are ones that I don’t care about. It also griped a lot about missing CHDs. I don’t have any CHDs since I don’t have near the space or bandwidth to acquire them all. If I run into any games I want to play that requires them, I’ll manually add them as I need them. Again, not something I’m worried about in the report.

I scanned the new ROMset in Retroarch and it didn’t seem to be picking up most of the ROMs. Furthermore, it was adding them to an FBAlpha playlist instead of a MAME playlist (This was a similar issue back when I was just adding the games I wanted one-by-one). I updated databases and it still imported as FBAlpha. I then temporarily removed the FBAlpha .rdb. This caused the ROMs to be added in a mix of MAME, MAME2003, and MAME2014 playlists. Still not the desired result.

I then removed all .rdb’s related to arcade emulators from the database folder except for the one that just says “MAME.” This seemed to have worked in forcing it to compare against the right database as it is now importing to a MAME playlist only. However, a large chunk of the games (about 1500 or so) are still missing in the playlist that I know are in the folder. Is the current MAME.rdb not updated for .190, or is there something else going on?

As far as compatibility between my .190 ROMset and .190 core, every game I’ve tried that did import to the playlist has worked. I’m happy about this, so now I just need to figure out the scanning issue.

#5

Looking at the MAME RDB on GitHub, it appears the MAME database was last updated on Feb 24, 2017, which would put it around version 0.182. But the current MAME core on the buildbot is updated to 0.191.

I would suggest looking in the Tools & Scripts section of the forum and downloading RetroArch Playlist Buddy to generate a playlist file.

#6

That tool worked great! I appear to have everything added now.

Unfortunately I have run into a couple compatibility issues between the core and romset after all. Apparently when I last did a core update, I got 0.191 for the mame core. My set is only 0.190. Killer Instinct is crashing the emulator. Can there really be that much of a difference between one version? I can’t seem to find an update pack anywhere for 0.191. Since I know asking where to find roms isn’t allowed, I’ll ask this instead. Is there a way I can roll back to the 0.190 core?

#7

you can rollback to older romsets/roms if you use the correct dat file to verify and you have the source files (previous files) for that version that were overwritten during the update. if you indeed use clrmame(as i suggested above) to update the rompack (instead of just randomly unpacking each labeled rompack update found on the net without proper verifying) then is safe to assume that the older files are in backup folder of clrmame.

#8

It’s not the romset I need to roll back. It’s the mame core. My core updated to 0.191, but I can’t find any update packs to patch the romset to 0.191. Since I can’t ask where to find a .191 update pack (understandably), I’m asking if there’s a way I can instead roll the core back to .190

#9

what platform are you on? windows? linux? 32bit? 64?

#10

32bit Windows 7 at the moment.

#11

Managed to find a 0.191 update pack. Some games still crashing though. Ones that I remember working way back when.

Edit: Scratch that. I’m an idiot. Just remembered that those ones require a .chd. Grabbed it from my old MAME folder and it’s working now.

#12

I’m having the same problem with the mame 2003 core for Android which I downloaded using the core updater inside of the Retroarch app. I am using the correct romset and the roms worked with previous versions of the core. I tested them on another Android device with the older core and they still work.

I noticed that when I load the working core it lists “MAME 2003 0.78”. On the new device with the core from the core updater, it lists “MAME 2003 0.78 3bbc504”. I’m wondering if this is an experimental build of the core that somehow got mixed in to the core updater by accident? I have tried re-downloading the core and even tried downloading it on another Android device but it keeps downloading the “3bbc504” version which doesn’t work with most of the roms in the 0.78 romset. Can this be fixed? I can’t side-load the older core on my new device because it’s not rooted.

#13

The series of numbers after the name is the git hash. We’ve been appending them to cores for a long time now, so if your older version doesn’t have it, it must be pretty old indeed.

#14

Thanks for replying. Now that I’m looking at the other new cores, I can see that they also have the string of letters and numbers. The older core I have is definitely older but I’m stumped as to why the romset that was working before is now not working in the new core. The same roms that worked before are now having all kinds of problems. If I copy the rom files to the old device, they work. They also work just fine in mame 0.78 for Windows and on my retropie. In the current core for Android, most of them will launch but have all kinds of bugs. For example, the text from the game may appear on screen but all other graphics are missing or in some cases a strange image will appear for a few seconds that looks like a kill screen, then Retroarch will crash. Did something else change with the core or are there some other new requirements to getting the roms to work?

#15

I tried updating the core today to 8bb68bc and am still having the same issue. These roms work on every other retroarch platform I’ve tried with the latest core but none of them are working in the Android core and I’ve tried multiple different Android devices. I have also checked some of them with clrmamepro just to ensure there aren’t any possible issues with the roms.

I really think something is wrong with the Android core. Can anyone confirm if they can get the correct 0.78 roms working in the current MAME 2003 core for Android? Not sure if I’m allowed to list specific roms on this forum but if so, I can provide specific roms I’ve tried that aren’t working properly if that helps.

#16

You can list them and we’ll all assume you have the legal right to have them, so don’t give us any reason to think otherwise :slight_smile:

#17

Don’t provide the ROMs but do tell us whether your MAME 0.78 ROMs are split or non-merged.

The MAME 2003 catver.ini available here is pretty accurate in terms of what has been ever known to work on any platform: https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-libretro/tree/master/metadata

Sometimes there are problems with certain games being emulated on certain processor architectures and platforms.

Post the names of specific titles that aren’t working.

#18

Thanks to both of you for taking the time to respond.

The roms are non-merged.

Here are two specific roms with issues:

1943 (1943.zip) - Displays text only with black background.

Splatterhouse (splat.zip) - Loads to strange image then RA crashes.

I’ve tried both in the mame 2003 core for Windows and for Retropie and they both work there. They both check out fine in clrmamepro too. They also used to work in older versions of the Android core. I can provide more examples if needed. I’ve tried a few others and none have worked so far. At this point, I haven’t gotten any roms to work in the Android core but they all have worked on other platforms.

#19

Thank you for taking the time to provide results. This seems like a regression bug that has not been reported by anyone before you.

Could you please create an Issue ticket for this bug and post the same log information here? https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-libretro/issues

Once it’s logged in github I will try to attract the attention of a developer who can help.

#20

Thank! I reported the issue here: https://github.com/libretro/mame2003-libretro/issues/306

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