Arcade Emulation, getting ALL the rom files...

[Alex Kidd]

I guess I understand that one game has so mnay roms for Arcade emulation becuase the PCB has many roms chips in it holding data, but why is it that just about ANY game I've tried getting still says I need MORE files? and the one's it lists ARE files I don't have in the rom pack, so... why aren't they there?
I've downloaded the same games from a few sites and they always have the same files in em, sometime one more/one less... but still not all the files it states it needs...

Is it because, like consoles, not all the roms are dumped yet? and if not, why bother distributing the few that are??

They should either give all the files a game needs or none... am I just checking out shitty sites or what?

Alex Kidd

[Bug]

YOU ARE TRYEING to USe only thE clONE SETs YOU need parent sets to run okay get the parent sets O44R ELSE wont work if you OK? TTHA5 why your misseing gameS MASSAGES RECEEVE. okAY?

[CrazyImpmon]

It's also possible the ROM file isn't in the right place. Check the reeadme's for the correct procedure.

As long as we're talking MAME, can anyone point me to a working STUN Runner image? All the ones I've found on the internet were either dead links or removed "due to legal reasons" and nothing's turning up on WinMX.

[Nature Boy]

I guess I understand that one game has so mnay roms for Arcade emulation becuase the PCB has many roms chips in it holding data, but why is it that just about ANY game I've tried getting still says I need MORE files? and the one's it lists ARE files I don't have in the rom pack, so... why aren't they there?
I've downloaded the same games from a few sites and they always have the same files in em, sometime one more/one less... but still not all the files it states it needs...

Is it because, like consoles, not all the roms are dumped yet? and if not, why bother distributing the few that are??

They should either give all the files a game needs or none... am I just checking out shitty sites or what?

Alex Kidd

I'm going to try to answer this just to see if I understand MAME myself (I'm a relative newbie).

Bug is correct. You might not be trying to run cloned stuff, but there is a parent/child relationship between some ROMs. Which means that you need two different versions of the game (Japanese and US say) in order for the US to work. Use MAME.dk to find out what files are needed to run the ROM and it'll also tell you more about this relationship.

My question is this: if you took the files that were needed out of the Japan zip file and put them into the US file, would the game not work? Experts?

The other part of MAME to watch for is versioning. I use v.56 because all my ROMs work with it. But those same games won't necessarily work in a newer version of MAME - they're constantly tweaking things and the same game might require new or different files in a different version of MAME.

Am I wrong here experts?

[zektor]

I guess I understand that one game has so mnay roms for Arcade emulation becuase the PCB has many roms chips in it holding data, but why is it that just about ANY game I've tried getting still says I need MORE files? and the one's it lists ARE files I don't have in the rom pack, so... why aren't they there?
I've downloaded the same games from a few sites and they always have the same files in em, sometime one more/one less... but still not all the files it states it needs...

Is it because, like consoles, not all the roms are dumped yet? and if not, why bother distributing the few that are??

They should either give all the files a game needs or none... am I just checking out shitty sites or what?

Alex Kidd

I'm going to try to answer this just to see if I understand MAME myself (I'm a relative newbie).

Bug is correct. You might not be trying to run cloned stuff, but there is a parent/child relationship between some ROMs. Which means that you need two different versions of the game (Japanese and US say) in order for the US to work. Use MAME.dk to find out what files are needed to run the ROM and it'll also tell you more about this relationship.

My question is this: if you took the files that were needed out of the Japan zip file and put them into the US file, would the game not work? Experts?

The other part of MAME to watch for is versioning. I use v.56 because all my ROMs work with it. But those same games won't necessarily work in a newer version of MAME - they're constantly tweaking things and the same game might require new or different files in a different version of MAME.

Am I wrong here experts?

Yeah, it would work. It's called a merged romset. If you merge the needed JAP roms into the USA rom in question it will in most occasions work. Unless they need parts of a WORLD version that is. I keep all of my roms unmerged (split) because it is easier to get them this way, and easier to know exactly what file contains what roms. Just keep them split IMHO, and store them in the one "roms" folder. Works the same either way...

[Nature Boy]

Yeah, it would work. It's called a merged romset. If you merge the needed JAP roms into the USA rom in question it will in most occasions work. Unless they need parts of a WORLD version that is. I keep all of my roms unmerged (split) because it is easier to get them this way, and easier to know exactly what file contains what roms. Just keep them split IMHO, and store them in the one "roms" folder. Works the same either way...

I agree that keeping them split does make the most sense. But if you're jammed for space and you don't need every file from the other ROMs it can offer savings. Depends if you're the type who always grabs the newest emulator and whatever games require fixing, or if you're the type who isn't giong to bother getting new stuff for a long, long time.