Trying to use Mame

RetroArch General
#1

Hey guys. I’m trying to consolidate as many emulators as possible into Retroarch. I’m trying to use Mame/Mess core and for example the GX4000 which to my knowledge does not require bios files.

My roms are named to no intro standards, that being said they run fine when ran through Rocketlauncher launching stand alone mess/mame. But RA doesn’t see them (.cpr). So I can’t launch them. If I change them to Bin files they work but then the mess/Mame core isn’t listed as an optional core to run the content.

What needs to be done here to run them as is?

1 Like
#2

It’s a big ol’ pain in the butt to run MESS console ROMs in RetroArch. You need to enable the softlist core options and… some other stuff. I’ve never done it myself but there are threads about it on this forum. This hyperspin forum thread seems useful, too:

#3
  1. Download the hash file from here for GX4000:

for gx4000 the file is here:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mamedev/mame/master/hash/gx4000.xml

  1. Place the hash file into your retroarch system/BIOS directory in the mame/hash folder or mess2014/hash folder. The path to the file would be:

…path_to_system_directory/mame/hash/gx4000.xml

or

…path_to_system_directory/mess2014/hash/gx4000.xml

  1. Get the MAME softlist romset for GX4000. Save the zip files into a folder on your computer named gx4000. The folder needs to be named exactly, since the core is looking for this folder name. It would be something like:

…path_to_rom_files/gx4000/batman.zip

  1. In Retroarch, browse to the folder and launch the zipfile with MAME (latest) or MESS2014 (or you can launch it from the command line). In practice, I’ve actually found MESS2014 to work with less glitches than the latest MAME core.
1 Like
Odyssey 2 in MAME in Retroarch on Linux
#4

Another way is to create a batman.cmd file (to take the previous example ) and then in the file add the command "gx4000 -cart /Games/Romz/amstrad/gx4000/batman.zip" just change the path to suite your rom path and OS. then load the cmd file and use mame or mess.

#5

Thankyou for the replies guys!

The problem is I’m running launchbox which has all my roms already imported for 50+ systems. If I have to download new romsets with new names just to incorporate mess into RA it’s going to be a nightmare. I’d have to rename all media, movies, etc.

There is no way that mess can be ran from Retroarch with my current no intro set roms? Like I said I know standalone mess works with them via rocket launcher , but re downloading and renaming is not an option for me :frowning:

#6

The cmd file idea should work in launchbox, you can use any romset this way.

#7

I have tried to get cmd files to work but in vain. I tried some examples:

Example 1:

  • batman.zip is in /Games/gx4000/batman.zip
  • batman.cmd is in /Games/gx4000/batman.cmd
  • cmd file contains gx4000 -cart /Games/gx4000/batman.zip
  • Launch the game with batman.cmd works. (However, I think the core is just parsing the names and doesn’t even look at the cmd file)

Example 2:

  • batman.zip is in /Games/test/batman.zip
  • batman.cmd is in /Games/test/batman.cmd
  • cmd file contains gx4000 -cart /Games/test/batman.zip
  • Launch the game with batman.cmd fails.

Example 3:

  • batman.zip is renamed to batmanb.zip, placed in /Games/gx4000/batmanb.zip
  • batman.cmd is in /Games/gx4000/batman.cmd
  • cmd file contains gx4000 -cart /Games/gx4000/batmanb.zip
  • Launch the game with batman.cmd fails.

It seems like the core requires the folder name and filename to be exactly correct no matter what. Is there some cmd file magic that I’m missing?

#8

this is a few examples from my setup (on Ubuntu using RA as frontend for this)

kof98wh.cmd:
aes kof98ice -rp "/Games/retroarch/mame/roms/neogeo"

using the cmd file to run neo-geo hacks gets edited a lot.

private-parts.cmd:
c64 -flop "/Games/Romz/Commodore/c64/private-parts.d64" -rp "/Games/Romz/MESS/Bios"

Used to run c64 demos downloaded from pouët.net (the -rp is rompath since my rom organization is currently messy)

redhat.cmd:
at486 -harddisk "/Games/Romz/MESS/Software/at486/Redhat3.0.3.chd" -rp "/Games/Romz/MESS/Bios"
#9

Hi gents,

I am also trying to get this to work and here are my findings:

I’ve renames my rom path from Amstrad GX4000 to gx4000, and trying to start the game (unzipped from .7z to the rom file, then zipped again to .zip) brings me here

image
image.jpg971×509 189 KB

Any clue what this access violation code could be coming from ?