What's the new hotness for a MAME cabinet?

[HatefulGravey]

I have a MAME cabinet that got stalled when I made it playable. I started playing it instead of finishing it. This was years ago so I'm of a mind to set it up with new hardware to update it. What I don't know is the topic of this thread. If you were putting together a new MAME machine what software would you use for things like front end? Are there any emulators that are must haves or ones to avoid? Where are people getting the on screen graphics that make everything look so nice?

Edited September 5 by HatefulGravey

[Cynicaster]

Strong recommendation for LaunchBox. If you're not familiar with it, it's an emulation front end with really nice Retroarch integration.  There's a free version available, which is very capable in itself, but it requires a mouse and keyboard to use it.  That's fine for sitting at a computer desk to play your games, but no good for a MAME cabinet.  For that, they offer a premium version that includes the so-called Bigbox mode, which changes the interface to be suitable for full navigation using only joysticks and buttons.  I can't remember what it costs, I paid for the "lifetime of upgrades" package and it was very reasonable - I want to say it was no more than $40 or so.  And once you buy it, they don't care if you install it on more than one system.  

 

You use the Launchbox mode to do all your importing of ROMs, organizing of lists, scraping of artwork, etc. then have your cabinet boot to Bigbox mode.  There are tons of different themes available for download so it should be no problem to find one you like. 

 

ROM importing is done via a Windows "wizard" based tool, so it's dead easy.  If you plan to only install arcade/MAME games then your best bet is to just get the latest MAME build and a full romset. Launchbox has tools for handling MAME.  If you plan to emulate a range of consoles as well, I'd strongly recommend just going with Retroarch, which I believe comes bundled in with the Launchbox software when you download it.  I know some people prefer standalone emulators but, IMO, Retrorch works great for just about everything and it provides the advantage of having a common setup across several consoles, which is very helpful on a MAME cabinet.  For example, if you use all standalone emulators and they don't all have the same command for exiting a game or entering a configuration menu, then it makes it a pain in the ass to set up buttons for those tasks on your cabinet's control panel.  If you use Retroarch for everything, you can map certain buttons or combos to different functions and they will be the same regardless of whether you're playing Atari 2600, Dreamcast, or anything in between.  The combo of Launchbox/Bigbox and Retroarch is freakin' fantastic, honestly.  Both are still actively supported and get better all the time.  There are shit-tons of tutorials on Youtube for setting stuff up.  Look up the channel ETAPrime (I think that's his name, anyway... something like that).  

 

 

 

 

 

  

[HatefulGravey]

Thanks for the advice. I have actually used LaunchBox before. Never paid for the full experience but I can see how it would be good for a machine. I never used Retroarch so that will be new but I'm sure I can figure it out without trouble. 

 

I'll have to do some looking into where to get MAME rom sets these days. The site I used to use for that kind of thing disappeared a few years ago. I'll have to work out all the terms again too (I remember there were split sets, and merged sets, and CHD files and all kinds of stuff to get right). 

 

Thanks again. You have given me the information I need to feel like I'm moving in the right direction.

[mr_me]

If you're using a front end like EmulationStation, a merged set won't show any "clone" machines, only parents. A split set will have a file for each "clone".

[HatefulGravey]

24 minutes ago, mr_me said:

If you're using a front end like EmulationStation, a merged set won't show any "clone" machines, only parents. A split set will have a file for each "clone".

Thank you for sharing. I did some looking last night and found a few places that offered up the sets. Nothing I found explained the difference you just did. I didn't have long to dig into this then, I will this weekend. 

 

It will likely be the beginning of next year before I get to build a PC for this project. I'm probably going to go ahead and get things like the ROM sets for different systems worked out and just transfer it when the time comes. Come to think of it there are a lot of things I can do before I start worrying about the PC for this thing.  

[akator]

I've been really happy with Batocera Linux, at least on many of the devices Batocera is available on  It's pretty much my default for Intel/AMD hardware.

 

ROCKNIX (used to be JELOS) is similar but tailored for Rockchip devices.  I've got that installed on some handhelds and it is awesome.  I'm also using it on a an Orange Pi 5 that might be used to power a custom handheld, but that project is still very much a WIP.  For now it is making an excellent bedside emulation station with a 9.7" 2048x1536 IPS display.

[HatefulGravey]

It would seem LaunchBox no longer ships with Retroarch. I looked into it and it looked like setting it up right was going to be more difficult that the process I knew, which was setting up the emulators manually. I do remember seeing Retroarch in the options when last I dealt with LaunchBox. If its there now its doing a fine job of hiding from me. 

[Cynicaster]

On 9/6/2024 at 6:21 PM, HatefulGravey said:

Thank you for sharing. I did some looking last night and found a few places that offered up the sets. Nothing I found explained the difference you just did. I didn't have long to dig into this then, I will this weekend. 

Regarding the Split vs. Merged vs. Non-merged, I'd strongly recommend going with non-merged.  The nomenclature does little to clarify things which makes it confusing, but the gist is this: MAME games can have multiple revisions and/or clones (for example - bootlegs, or versions specific to different regions, or versions with bug fixes, etc.)  Unlike what you see with cartridge-based retro consoles where a "ROM" is a single file that represents the code dumped from a cartridge, what we conversationally refer to as a "ROM" for a given game in MAME is actually not a single file but a set of files bundled up into a ZIP.  When you have multiple versions or clones of a MAME game, many of the files in that ZIP will be common to all versions, while other files in the set will be different depending on which version of the game you're talking about.  A "split" set is one where there the goal is to not duplicate any data.  So, you'll have your "parent" romset for a game that contains all of the core files to run that parent version, and then the ZIP files for all revisions and different versions will contain only the files that are different from the parent.  This ensures that you're not duplicating data, but it has the drawback that it requires that you always have the parent version available to run any of the revisions or different versions.

 

A non-merged set is one where every revision/version of a game has its own ZIP file that contains all of the files it needs to run; i.e., it has no dependencies.  Yes, this means that you're going to have multiple instances of certain files scattered throughout multiple ZIP files, but the plus side is you can be sure that any ZIP files you move around will run standalone. 

 

Not sure how much space is saved by doing the split approach but it's probably no more than a few GB.  With storage as plentiful and cheap as it is now, IMO, it's just utter insanity to do anything but a non-merged set.  Splurge on a few extra GB to save yourself the hassle and headaches of dealing with a complex web of dependencies. 

 

On 9/6/2024 at 6:21 PM, HatefulGravey said:

I'm probably going to go ahead and get things like the ROM sets for different systems worked out and just transfer it when the time comes. Come to think of it there are a lot of things I can do before I start worrying about the PC for this thing.  

    

Oh, for sure.  LaunchBox is designed to be "portable," meaning you can set it up on a PC, get your ROMs imported, scrape the artwork and metadata, set up all your emulators/cores, etc. then when you're ready you just copy that root directory over to a different PC and off you go.  You may need to add some updates on the destination computer before things will run (e.g. .NET framework updates, DirectX, etc.) but the whole Launchbox setup will be as it was on the original machine.  It's good practice to plan ahead a bit and use the same drive/folder on both PCs to make sure any absolute paths that find their way into config files will still be pointing to the correct location on the new PC.  For emulation, I typically hang a folder called "emulators" right off the root of my C drive as standard practice, which makes it very easy to move stuff among all my machines.  

 

On 9/8/2024 at 12:09 AM, HatefulGravey said:

It would seem LaunchBox no longer ships with Retroarch. I looked into it and it looked like setting it up right was going to be more difficult that the process I knew, which was setting up the emulators manually. I do remember seeing Retroarch in the options when last I dealt with LaunchBox. If its there now its doing a fine job of hiding from me. 

It's been quite some time since I've done a fresh install of LB so maybe things have indeed changed with respect to the bundling of Retroarch, but if I recall, it gets placed in the folder \\launchbox\emulators\retroarch.  When you're importing ROMs and you select Retroarch as the emulator, there is a checkbox for "download required core if not already available" or something to that effect.  So if you decide to grab some ROMs for, say, Atari 7800 and they're your first ones, the system will automatically download the 7800 core in retroarch and you'll be ready to go as soon as you finish the setup wizard.  

 

 

      

[HatefulGravey]

I currently have a merged set in LaunchBox. If I download and go through the process of installing the non-merged set am I going to see all the clones and such listed with the normal games? I don't know that I want all that cluttering up the games list.

 

I am likely going to do a fresh install of LauchBox and import the roms instead of copying them over. Right now I don't have the paid version of LaunchBox and when I get the PC for the MAME machine ready I also plan to pay for the EMUMovie (I think that is what it is called) to get all the video files and such to make the machine look just that much nicer. I thought it would be easiest to just figure it all out now and reinstall it later. It is a little like doing the work twice but I don't mind. 

[Cynicaster]

4 hours ago, HatefulGravey said:

I currently have a merged set in LaunchBox. If I download and go through the process of installing the non-merged set am I going to see all the clones and such listed with the normal games? I don't know that I want all that cluttering up the games list.

 

I am likely going to do a fresh install of LauchBox and import the roms instead of copying them over. Right now I don't have the paid version of LaunchBox and when I get the PC for the MAME machine ready I also plan to pay for the EMUMovie (I think that is what it is called) to get all the video files and such to make the machine look just that much nicer. I thought it would be easiest to just figure it all out now and reinstall it later. It is a little like doing the work twice but I don't mind. 

 

I believe there is an option in the MAME import wizard to only import the main games and not the clones, etc.  

 

In any case, my main point was to avoid having to worry about dependencies, which is an issue associated with split sets, not merged.  As an example of when this would burn you, say you have the set on your emulation rig, and sometime in the future you pick up a tablet or retro handheld, and you want to go into your MAME archives and grab a list of a few dozen games to transfer over to your new device.  You will likely run into a situation where some of those games don't run because you failed to bring over the parent roms.  With non-merged and merged sets, you don't have to worry about that - it's grab and go.

 

I'm not sure I understand why you would duplicate the work, unless you just enjoy messing around with files and such...?  Me, I just want to play the games on a nice set up, and find the configuration very tedious and cumbersome due to the sheer volume of files involved (all the consoles, with their respective rom collections numbering in the hundreds or thousands, with each rom having potentially several art files and videos associated with it, etc. you're talking thousands upon thousands of files).

 

You don't need to have the paid version of LB to get your platforms and roms all setup.  So you can do that now on the PC you have, copy the whole directory tree over to the new computer when it's available, pay for the upgrade on LB to open up Bigbox mode, and you pick up from there without missing a beat or having any of your previous effort wasted.  If you want to wait until that time to get the EMUmovies you can do that too, after moving to the new PC.    

 

  

Edited September 9 by Cynicaster
typo

[HatefulGravey]

1 hour ago, Cynicaster said:

I'm not sure I understand why you would duplicate the work, unless you just enjoy messing around with files and such...?

To be honest, I am a data junky. I really like moving files around and stuff. I'm the guy with a file tree for everything and naming conventions for every document I create. Now the internet knows that about me too.

 

I'm more likely to redo large parts of this because of the things I'm learning now, and the one mention of RetroArch I found in LaunchBox leads me to believe the previous integration may make a come back. I'm sure I'll want to at least try that. 

Edited September 9 by HatefulGravey

[HatefulGravey]

For the record, Retroarch is still "integrated" in the way MAME is. When you go to add Retroarch to your emulator list LaunchBox offers to download and configure Retroarch for you. Then it's there and things run like they should. Just thought I would correct the record.