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How to test a conversion using MAME

twistedsymphony

twistedsymphony

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There's a PCB conversion that I suspect will work, might need some adjustments to the ROMs but I'd like to test it and get it working in MAME before I start searching for the PCBs though.

What I did is rename the ROMs from the game I want to convert to, the same as the those on the target PCB and then zipped it up and named the zip the same as the target PCB.

When I try to run this though MAME does a CRC check and then refuses to load the game because it fails CRC.

Searching around I see a lot of people saying it will simply "Warn" you that the CRCs don't match but then run the game anyway, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Is there a way to load the game even if it fails CRC? is there a better way to go about testing this?
 
I've done it a couple ways

The easy workaround is to not select the game from the gui. Run mame.exe romname instead. This should get you the warning you can observe and bypass instead of failure to load the game.

If that doesn't work....

Hard way is to compile mame yourself applying the correct crc values for your game before building. Basically search the source for your filenames and put in your new checksums to replace the "correct" (original) ones. Then build and run. This shouldn't be needed to just test one game but it does work.
 
twistedsymphony said:
There's a PCB conversion that I suspect will work, might need some adjustments to the ROMs but I'd like to test it and get it working in MAME before I start searching for the PCBs though.

What I did is rename the ROMs from the game I want to convert to, the same as the those on the target PCB and then zipped it up and named the zip the same as the target PCB.

When I try to run this though MAME does a CRC check and then refuses to load the game because it fails CRC.

Searching around I see a lot of people saying it will simply "Warn" you that the CRCs don't match but then run the game anyway, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Is there a way to load the game even if it fails CRC? is there a better way to go about testing this?
Click to expand...
there are two ways in which I do this:

* add a new game in the appropiate cpp driver with the right CRC
* just do as you did and add the option -debug when running mame in that way you'll just get the warning and will be able to debug. If you just want to play, simply choose from the options in the menu "Quit debugger and play" (or something like that) and you'll be able to play normally. 8o
 
If you use MAME64UI (or MAME32UI according to your operating system) instead of MAME command line version it will successfully load the game although it complains about the wrong CRC.
 
skate323k137 said:
The easy workaround is to not select the game from the gui. Run mame.exe romname instead.
Click to expand...
This did it for me.

I was using mame64.exe (0.193) and launching with -window -debug then selecting the game from the list. it pops a red CRC error screen and says "push any key to continue" but when I push a key is it just goes back to the menu without attempting to run the game.

setting the romname from the commandline it shows the crc errors in the command window but launches the game anyway :thumbsup:
 
I know MAMEUI, very nice GUI, but if you don't want to install another program, just for a quick test, I guess it does the job.
 
caius said:
As said (but it seems you missed or ingore my advice), you can use MAME64UI which integrates a nice graphical user interface.It will complain about different CRC bit it will run the game.
You can donwload it from here:
Click to expand...
Thanks, I saw it and read it but I tried skate323k137's advise first since it was very quick to just add the rom name instead of downloading new software.

I'll definitely give mameui a try though, I may end up liking it better :)
 
no need to test, I can confirm for you that Gal's Panic 4 can indeed become a Gal's Panic S: Extra Edition. ;)

but seriously keep us posted if you discovered a good candidate! I loves me some conversions.
 
Be warned MAME emulates hardware "globally" so sometimes it will work fine in the emulator but not at all on real hardware.
Many protections or hardware related functions not understood yet are circumvented.
 
twistedsymphony said:
What I did is rename the ROMs from the game I want to convert to, the same as the those on the target PCB and then zipped it up and named the zip the same as the target PCB
Click to expand...
You also dont need to zip the roms;

In your 'roms' folder, create a new folder with same name as romset, place files in said folder (be sure to move/delete the zip from roms folder)
 
brizzo said:
You also dont need to zip the roms;

In your 'roms' folder, create a new folder with same name as romset, place files in said folder (be sure to move/delete the zip from roms folder)
Click to expand...
I actually just learned that earlier today while following some mame debugger guides; definitely a time saver :thumbup:
 
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