Using MAME in a frontend

[The Monkey Man]

Right so I'm currently building an MAME cabinet. I'm using AtomicFE, and I want arcade games to run through it, as it's a MAME cabinet.

Thing is, every time I try to open a MAME .zip file through AtomicFE, it doesn't open and goes straight back to the list of games on the front loader.

I'm using MAMEUI32, because the only other versions of MAME I can find are the command line version and the one with the full screen list. I can't find one which is FE compatible.

Can someone help me please? :o

[FatTrucker]

All versions of Mame should boot from a FE without any problems at all. Sounds like either your path or commandline in Atomic aren't working or set up properly.

Does mame boot ok from its own UI?. If it does then the problem is definitely the way you've got your FE set up.

Does Atmoic have an error log or have some kind of settings file?. If so then post it here along with the location of your Mame install on your computer.

Any specific reason why you went for Atomic?. There are loads of others to try out.

[The Monkey Man]

Sorry for the delay of the reply. :P

Atomic was the last of about 10 frontends that I tried out, and it was the easiest to configure for me.

MAME boots okay, and I think it is the way the frontend is set up as well. I couldn't find any error log or preferences to interfere with the gameplay, but the command parameters are [ROMDIR][ROMNAME].[ROMEXT] and on other sites and tutorials, the MAME command parameters are completely different. :P

Oh yeah, the location of MAME is C:\MAME\MAME32 Plus!\mamep-icc.exe. xD

[FatTrucker]

Sorry for the delay of the reply. :P

Atomic was the last of about 10 frontends that I tried out, and it was the easiest to configure for me.

MAME boots okay, and I think it is the way the frontend is set up as well. I couldn't find any error log or preferences to interfere with the gameplay, but the command parameters are [ROMDIR][ROMNAME].[ROMEXT] and on other sites and tutorials, the MAME command parameters are completely different. :P

Oh yeah, the location of MAME is C:\MAME\MAME32 Plus!\mamep-icc.exe. xD

Rename your mame folder to remove the space from MAME32 Plus! (to MAME32Plus), then do the same modification to any paths that use it that you've setup in Atomic.

My first guess is that its sending the commandline with a space and commandlines don't as a rule like spaces in paths.

[The Monkey Man]

Thanks, it works now.

Also, for some reason, the games aren't in alphabetical order. Well, it is, but it's the rom names that are in order, not the game names. So it's like this:

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/777/atomicfealphabetical.png

If you can't see it, it says the currently viewed games in this order:

Appoooh
Aqua Jack
Aquarium
Aqua Rush
SportTime Table Hockey
SportTime Bowling
World Darts
Magic Johnson's Fast Break
Leader Board

Is there anyway that I can fix it? It's kinda annoying. :O

[FatTrucker]

I've only tried Atomic briefly, if its like all the other FE's out there though, there should be an option to create filtered lists. One of these should be by game name without the goodcodes (!)(U)(E) etc.