help getting started with mame

seether9111

ummmm i forget
i have mame now and downloaded a game for it but just cant figure out how to load the game??its not exactly the same as a console emulator.it says my directory has no rompath specified??????thanks for any help.
 

FatTrucker

Abusus non tollit usum
Sounds like you have downloaded commandline mame.

For a new user I would recommend Mame32 available from here LINK.

Once you have downloaded it you will notice there is a folder called 'roms' inside the mame32 folder.
Put any rom zips you have in there (leave them zipped). Now run mame32, click 'file' from the toolbar at the top, then select 'audit all'. Mame32 will now search the rom folder and any games you have put there will become available. Simply scroll to the game in the rom list displayed and double click.

Run a new audit whenever you add any new roms.
 

seether9111

ummmm i forget
ok figured out how to load games, but now it says my roms are missing files.i downloaded all my roms from emuasylum.com.am i getting bad roms, or still doing something else wrong?thanks
 

FatTrucker

Abusus non tollit usum
Firstly and most importantly do not provide links or addresses to sites that provide roms. It breaks the forums AUP. Please delete the reference from the above post.

Secondly dependent on what games you are trying to play you may need additional files.

Some games have several 'sets' these are different regional versions of the game. Only one of these sets contains all the game files, this is called the 'parent' rom with the other sets just containing the files that are different for the different versions.
You can find out which are parents by looking at the mame32 game list. There is an entry on the list that lists whether the game is a clone, (clone of) there will be one entry for each game that has no clone info, this means it is the parent rom.

Some other games need a bios to function (like neogeo games). You need to download the bios (like neogeo.zip) and put it into the mame32 rom folder the same as your other game roms. You only need to do this once for each game system that needs one, so for example once you have downloaded the neogeo bios and put it in the rom folder, all neogeo games will work with it.

There are also a number of games that require the game rom and the game CHD (compressed hunks of data) file, this is a large file some of which are over 1Gb that contain large amounts of information stored in the original arcade machine either on a hard disc, cd-rom or other storage medium.

Lastly your games must be compatible with the mame version you are running. Most sites will state which version of mame the roms are compatible with. In the case of the unmentioned site you posted they usually keep their roms fairly up to date.

Hope that helps.

If you are having issues with a specific game then post the game name and the romname and we'll take a look.
 
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