MAME (Internal) folder paths

Libretro Cores
#1

Hi, does anyone know if it is possible to set MAME’s internal folder paths? In other words: I start the MAME core without a ROM then set the paths using MAME’s interface.

I found an ini inside Retroarch’s system folder /home/XX/.config/retroarch/system/mame/ini/

Inside that there is a ‘rompath’ option, I referenced an external drive where I have my MAME ROMs but this doesn’t seem to work.

I also tried adding the path manually using MAME’s internal menus but when I navigate to the path and press Tab to add the path nothing happens (Game Focus is On).

My goal was to try to get MAME to work internally: ROMs, snaps etc. all referenced inside the internal version. One of the reasons for this is due to how MAME can reference a ZIP file containing the various art files.

Could this be a permission issue, or perhaps it just is not possible?

#2

The mame.ini can be used for rompaths in special circumstances but most of the time it is unnecessary.

If you want to try messing with it you’ll have to enable the feature in your mame core settings or manually in your OPT file.

mame_mame_paths_enable = "enabled"
mame_read_config = "enabled"

If you set those two values and use a valid path in the ini, when you start the core it will see your roms.

MAME-241020-222721
MAME-241020-2227213840×2160 771 KB

Just like the standalone.

If you use the default snapshot folder “RetroArch\saves\mame\snaps” and put your “snaps.zip” in the “RetroArch\saves\mame” folder, you will also see images. (The zip name will have to match the path name. e.g snaps.zip not the Extras default snap.zip)

MAME-241020-223913
MAME-241020-2239133840×2160 872 KB

Although I don’t really see a purpose. :innocent:

Keep in mind that with “read config” enabled, loading a rom from the internal menu will use values in the ini and you may get unexpected results. (And both settings have to be enabled to show images.)

e.g.

# CORE ROTATION OPTIONS
#
rotate                    1

Will override anything in the OPT file.

Although loading as content from the Retroarch menu will still behave normally.

1 Like
#3

Thank you @Duimon

I enabled the two settings in the OPT file and the ROMs are now recognised :grinning:

I tried copying my snap.zip to “RetroArch\saves\mame”, I renamed it to ‘snaps.zip’ but unfortunately that did not work. I also tried it in a ‘snaps’ folder.

I also tried setting a path for snapshots in the mame.ini but this didn’t work :disappointed_relieved:
There is a ‘snapshot_directory’ under ‘CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS’ in the mame.ini and this is the snap path but I think it is also used for taking snapshots while playing so I though perhaps there is another reference.

MAME has a ui.ini file and it has options for other paths like ‘cpanel’ etc. So I tried editing this and ‘cpanel’ worked! The same ini file has a path for ‘titles’ so I added this but unfortunately it did not work.

Strangley ‘snaps’ and ‘titles’ are not displaying. Both these files are quite large 1.7GB each. The same directories work with MAME outside of Retroarch. So perhaps it is a memory limitation?

To explain the reason behind all of this, I have a few ideas I want to try:

The first is to use the latest version of MAME with Lakka: I know I can scan the ROMs to add them as a playlist; this works really well if I use my DAT file. If I then want to see snaps and titles in the MAME playlist I have to copy my files to Retroarch’s thumbnails folder, but they cannot be compressed. This means almost 100,000 files, and they take a long time to copy to a USB stick. So the plan was to use MAME’s internal menu to keep the files zipped and show the snaps etc. that way.

The other reason is for Linux: I am currently using MX Linux, the latest MAME is available as a FlatPak and runs great but it doesn’t support shaders, or at least I’ve had trouble in the past getting them to work (same with other distros). I know that MAME runs great in Retroarch and it supports shaders; so ideally I’d like to have all my snapshots, artwork and other extras working.

I can work around all of this, so none of it is an issue really, more of an experiment.

I also tried running Software List ROMs but unfortunately these just ran the main emulator and not the sub-system ROMs.

Now I know what files to play around with I will probably tinker some more and if I resolve the issues I will mention it here :blush:

Thank you again for your help :+1:

1 Like