Why are mame roms different size ?

[heli]

So i am into mame now, then i see 2 sizes for the same rom.
batsugun.zip 4,8MB or 2,3MB.
What is the difference ?, why is the size different ?

The smaller size version has also a lot of versions :
batsugun.zip
batsuguna.zip
batsugunb.zip
batsugunsp.zip

I hate it when they shorten names, cant find anything.
I have a lot of mame shmups now, and they are all not so big in size, many will fit on my usb-stick, and most are vertical scrolling, great.

[el_rika]

Different regions? Like asia, europe, usa...

[EmperorIng]

Isn't it the case that the parent rom will typically be the largest size, and the different regions will be fractions of that (as they take most of their data from the parent)?

If I find identically-named roms of different sizes in the wild, it usually leads me to suspect that one of them (usually the smaller one) is incomplete or won't work for me.

[DejahThoris]

Isn't it the case that the parent rom will typically be the largest size, and the different regions will be fractions of that (as they take most of their data from the parent)?

That's correct.

[laurabuzz]

One website I find useful when trying to navigate the web of MAME rom versions, parents, CHDs, bios, etc. (which is a nightmare) is Arcade Italia

It doesn't host any roms, but it gives you as much information about them as possible. So if you look at their page for Batsugun:



The first name, highlighted green, is the name of the parent rom - the large file required to run the game - followed by the actual name of the game. In this case they're the same, but they won't be for games with longer names. Samurai Aces (World) is samuraia, for example. Further down the page under Romset:



"Clone of" indicates if it has a parent file you need for it to run. "Clones" gives you a list of all the other versions that are dependant on this one. These are the ones with a smaller filesize. batsugun.zip is a Japanese version, and if you have it you can also run the Special Version (batsugunsp.zip), the Korean version (batsugunb.zip), etc. The parent rom is not always the original version of the game, its just whatever got dumped first. Beneath that it'll tell you if it requires any bios files in addition - Batsugun doesn't.

Helpfully, a little further down under Files...



It'll give you a list of all the files you need to play whatever version of the game you're on, and how they're meant to be formatted. The 'romset' menu will show you which files are actually meant to be in the zip folder if you're still having trouble getting it to work.

What I do is open the "MAME [version] romset", ctrl+f for these files, and use the ones Arcade Italia tells me to. Since I started doing this, I've only had problems about five times (jk!)

[heli]

Thanks Laura nice site.

I play the roms straight from zip files, so i dont think those split things will work,
i want all merged, i am new to this maybe split has some advantages, i think its only for size.

The big file is from Files for MAME208RomsOnlyMerged = 4.8M
Small one from Files for FinalBurnAlphaReuploadByGhostware 2.3M
the other versions are all the same 2.3M

Now i installed all mames, and i only found out that mame2015 is usefull for TATE mode.
The big file works with mame2015, and the menu sucks, i get a volume menu popping up all the time when moving stick up.
argh, hard work that mame stuff.

[laurabuzz]

The big file is from Files for MAME208RomsOnlyMerged = 4.8M
Small one from Files for FinalBurnAlphaReuploadByGhostware 2.3M
the other versions are all the same 2.3M

I don't think we can talk about this, per the rules ^^
Anyway, it actually looks like I just misunderstood what 'meged' and 'split' meant, so don't worry about that part.
You're doing the right thing, just make sure the set your using matches the version of MAME you're using. (The version should appear in the tooltip when you leave your mouse over the .exe file; if you're using a fork like shmupMAME it should have a readme that tells you which version of MAME its based on)

Now i installed all mames, and i only found out that mame2015 is usefull for TATE mode.
The big file works with mame2015, and the menu sucks, i get a volume menu popping up all the time when moving stick up.

I hadn't heard of mame2015... looks like its really meant to be used with Retroarch. Why is it better for tate mode?
I don't have a tate monitor ;__; so I haven't tried doing this myself. There's a thread about setting up tate in MAME here, if mame2015 is giving you trouble.
But it sounds like you've just accidentally set 'joystick up' to 'volume up' in the config - try hitting tab and going to User Interface?

argh, hard work that mame stuff.

I'll drink to that ><

[heli]

Yes it was 1 option i messed up, all good now, these sanwa soft-touch are really soft, accidents happen.
I could not find it first and reinstalled to find out they remembered my settings.

Indeed i use retroarch in raspi4.
In the menu you can set screen rotation under video options, first you need to set aspect to 4:3 instead of 3:4 outside the game somewhere.

All works fine only the button bashing will cost me buttons,
i need to find a option to make 1 button the same with autofire, so i have two of the same buttons, 1 with full auto.

[Krushal]

i need to find a option to make 1 button the same with autofire, so i have two of the same buttons, 1 with full auto.

It's doable, but a bit awkward.

- Load the game.
- Set the turbo button to your desired auto-fire button [Settings->Input->Port 1 Controls]. You probably don't want this across all cores, so "Save Core Overrides" [Quick Menu->Overrides] and revert your change to the turbo button.
- Then, go [Quick Menu->Controls->Port 1 Controls] and double-map the fire button. Finally, back out one level and "Save Game Remap File".

Honestly, for this kind of stuff I prefer manually editing the relevant files (all in the "config" directory), with configuration auto-save turned off.

[el_rika]

One website I find useful when trying to navigate the web of MAME rom versions, parents, CHDs, bios, etc. (which is a nightmare) is Arcade Italia

That's always my go to site for in depth info on arcade games (versions, resolution, refresh rates, etc.)

[heli]

- Load the game.
- Set the turbo button to your desired auto-fire button [Settings->Input->Port 1 Controls]. You probably don't want this across all cores, so "Save Core Overrides" [Quick Menu->Overrides] and revert your change to the turbo button.
- Then, go [Quick Menu->Controls->Port 1 Controls] and double-map the fire button. Finally, back out one level and "Save Game Remap File".

Honestly, for this kind of stuff I prefer manually editing the relevant files (all in the "config" directory), with configuration auto-save turned off.

I have to try this.
Dont know all the config text file things, afraid i mess it up maybe.
In the menu for controls i,m not sure if buttons are remappable, it is the other way around, you assign conroller-buttons to A or B, i have to check again.

[Vanguard]

i need to find a option to make 1 button the same with autofire, so i have two of the same buttons, 1 with full auto.

A lot of the time it's easier to set turbo up with joytokey than it is to jerry-rig an uncooperative program into doing what you want.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Versions of MAME with improved built-in autofire support (the kind that originally made its debut in MAMEPlus and Shmupmame) allow you to do this. JoyToKey and Autohotkey also should work, depending on if you use a controller or keyboard to play. Autohotkey is not detected by all programs, though, whereas JoyToKey should always work unless you can't disable the original game from detecting the buttons (so they can be mapped as keyboard keys).