MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post tips/tricks or get help with configuring RetroPie
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WoodMill
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MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by WoodMill » Sun Oct 09, 2016 5:46 pm

Okay, not exactly how do you get MAME to run on RetroPie, but more, how do you get the ROMs to work on RetroPie?

I've tried digging into this, and I just don't understand it. I have downloaded some ROMs. Some work, so do not. I have gone in on the ones that don't work, and have tried every emulator, and still won't run.

I read something about re-compiling it or something. I know this whole Raspberry Pi/RetroPie thing is a DIY project, but someone has to have already done all this legwork, right?

Is there a place where I can get Arcade ROMs that just already work with RetroPie?

I have NBA Jam, The Simpsons, and TMNT already working. So that's a plus. But there are some older ones that I just can't get any of the emulators to work with.
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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by Jace055 » Sun Oct 09, 2016 6:31 pm

From time to time, individual roms are updated to reflect changes in the way they were dumped or a change in the understanding of the original hardware they ran on. Because of this, each version of Mame that comes out may have a slightly different rom its looking for. Therefore you have to match the Mame version with the rom for it to work from time to time.

The current version of Mame is .178. The version that runs the best on the Pi0 is .37b5 (a MUCH older version from July 2000 :shock:) the good news, you can use a program called clrmamepro and a "DAT" file to change your newer roms to a version that the 16 year old version of Mame will run. Most of what this process does is change the name of the file so the old version will recognize it as valid.

tldr: For a step-by-step read here. https://github.com/retropie/retropie-se ... aging-ROMs

Keep in mind, the old version supports about 2000 roms, the new version is over 8000. There will be some games that don't work. See the link above for a complete list of games that are supported.
Last edited by Jace055 on Sun Oct 09, 2016 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by beerman » Sun Oct 09, 2016 6:34 pm

I got all my roms from here
[REDACTED]

You need the specific rom pack to work with the emulator you are using. Mame4all uses MAME 0.37b5 I believe.

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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by wermy » Sun Oct 09, 2016 6:36 pm

beerman wrote:I got all my roms from here
[REDACTED]

You need the specific rom pack to work with the emulator you are using. Mame4all uses MAME 0.37b5 I believe.
Please no linking to roms here. :)
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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by WoodMill » Sun Oct 09, 2016 8:33 pm

Not necessarily talking about Pi0. I've got a Pi3 setup on my TV.

I'm in the stage where this just isn't sinking in yet. I've downloaded some pretty popular ROMs, and just cannot get some to work. Like Mortal Kombat, no matter which MAME emulator or whatever they are when it's loading the ROM.

I understand the basics of what you are saying, but don't understand yet how to fix it. I'll check out the step by step and see if I can figure it out.

Thanks.
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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by Jace055 » Sun Oct 09, 2016 9:26 pm

Mame roms are a lot to take in. Some roms need a 'parent' rom in order to work. These games are usually revisions of other older games. I don't know which rom you have for Mortal Kombat but it could require the parent rom to work. In the link I posted, if you look at the compatibility list for each emulator you will see a column listing the parent rom needed. When I am having trouble with a rom, I'll run one of the Windows versions of Mame and usually it will give me more information about what's missing.

Not to pile too much on, you may also need a bios file as well.

Clrmamepro may seem very intimating at first. Just make a backup copy of your entire rom set and give it a go. When you run a Dat file against your set, it will tell you what you are missing.

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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by CaptainDurden » Mon Oct 10, 2016 3:06 am

just wanted to chime in and say that some Roms require special files in order to run (neogeo games need a bios for example, many older capcom games require a qsound file etc etc) , sometimes just googling the Rom name will give you a clue which other files you need in order to run a game.

concerning pi0 and pi1: there's a final burn core called "pifba" which is based on an older mame set and heavily optimized for the weaker pis.
some unlinkable sites offer complete pifba romsets, that way you don't need to mess with dat sheets and clrmamepro (one of the most cryptic and beginner unfriendly piece of software I have ever had to use) and just have a working Rom set for that core out of the box. pm me if you want a link.
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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by RxBrad » Mon Oct 10, 2016 12:08 pm

Edited by YAYA : no links yo illegal roms download

To figure out the ROMset you'd need, check the emulator you plan to use on this page: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/MAME
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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by CaptainDurden » Mon Oct 10, 2016 2:28 pm

To figure out the ROMset you'd need, check the emulator you plan to use on this page: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/MAME[/quote]


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Re: MAME on RetroPie. How do you get to to work?

Post by Mad_Duke » Tue Oct 11, 2016 6:22 am

I've deleted my image unfortunately and the most work I've done was on MAME. So this pifba looks like a good choice to start again.

I usually only put "parents" and "working" without mahjoong, casino and similar stuff.
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