HOWTO: Use datfiles to eliminate clones, etc, from Mame/FBA/Neogeo

[dankcushions]

I’ve been using ROMLister to create some dat files to clean up my roms, so I thought these might be useful to people wanting to do the same.

STEP 1:
Download the right romset for the emulator you want to use. For example, the default (?) FBA emulator in RetroPie is FBA-libretro, and according to the wiki, that uses the FBA romset v0.2.97.30. Go to google and find that romset.

STEP 2:
Download clrmamepro: http://mamedev.emulab.it/clrmamepro/download.htm. This is a tool used to check and refactor romsets. We’ll need it later.

STEP 3:
dat files are used by clrmamepro to retrieve a subset of files from within your set. they contain various metadata, including precize file sizes, to do this. if you got the v0.2.97.30 dat file, and use that to rebuild your v0.2.97.30 romset, you should end up with the exact same set. However you can use refined dat files to get rid of all the clones:

FBA:

• Emulator: fba-lr
• Romset: FBA 0.2.97.30
• Datfile: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=00452128743897913308
• Description: no clones, no neogeo

• Emulator: pifba
• Romset: FBA 0.2.96.71
• Datfile: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mooc4mzesl3r2og/fba_029671_od_release_10_working_roms_filtered.zip?dl=0
• Description: All clones (current tested) non-working\mahjong\quiz\adult\casino\rythm removed

NEOGEO:

NOTE: for neogeo rebuilds, ensure the ‘separate bios sets’ advanced option is ENABLED, otherwise it will try and add the contents of neogeo.zip to every single rom zip, which increases size and means that hash-based scanning won’t work.
• Emulator: fba-lr
• Romset: FBA 0.2.97.30
• Datfile: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=05558959831361649927
• Description: neogeo ONLY, no homebrew/demos/etc

• Emulator: gngeo
• Romset: MAME 0.138
• Datfile: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3s1exbmb40yefgx/pandora_gngeo_084_filtered.zip
• Description: neogeo ONLY. All clones non-working\mahjong\quiz removed

MAME:

• Emulator: mame4all-pi
• Romset: MAME 0.37b5 (July 2000)
• Datfile: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=07696766073490048881
• Description: no neogeo, no clones

• Emulator: Mame-libretro (imame4all)
• Romset: MAME 0.37b5 (July 2000)
• Datfile: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=07696766073490048881
• Description: no neogeo, no clones

(to be continued! anyone got any more?)

STEP 4:
Use clrmamepro to rebuild the downloaded romset using the datfile above. There’s a guide: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Managing-ROMs – we’re only interested in steps 4 & 5.

STEP 5:
Upload your new set to your pi, making sure to change the default emulator for each system affected to the one in table above.

[Floob]

This looks really useful thanks.
Can you let us know what your criteria was when refining these in Romlister so we know whats been removed?

[dankcushions]

[quote=101552]This looks really useful thanks.
Can you let us know what your criteria was when refining these in Romlister so we know whats been removed?

[/quote]

sure – here’s the two searches used:

for all fba-lr, minus neogeo and clones:
!'neogeo' & (!cloneof & !sample_name= & !emulation=preliminary)

for all fba-lr neogeo minus homebrew and clones:
'neogeo' & !'<manufacturer>homebrew</manufacturer>' & !'<year>????</year>' & (!cloneof & !sample_name= & !emulation=preliminary)
(i also then had to manually delete some homebrew/prototypes from romlister, and also amend the .xml file to include the neogeo.zip bios file, as it seems to want to remove that, regardless of the search string)

i’d like to eventually have .xml files for fba-lr and mame, which don’t cross over, as right now both systems have quite a bit of overlap. personal preference, but i feel like fba is for post-1990 releases, and mame for everything before.

[windale]

So do all Parent games work in lr-fba, otherwise this would be a pointless task. You can also filter clones and games that use Bios files etc. using ClrMAME without having to use Romlister (in the set information window settings).

[dankcushions]

[quote=101556]So do all Parent games work in lr-fba, otherwise this would be a pointless task. You can also filter clones and games that use Bios files etc. using ClrMAME without having to use Romlister (in the set information window settings).

[/quote]i think there might be a few rare games where the parent doesn’t work, and the clone does, but personally i’d sooner fix those as-and-when i find them, rather than deal with 100s of clones in my game lists! especially via emulationstation where it’s not always obvious what version you’re looking at.

it might be possible to do this in clrmamepro but with the dat it’s preserved for future rebuilds, rather than having to remember and enter settings in clrmamepro.

[Floob]

Are you tempted to rip out the mahjong and pinball, lightgun games in Romlister as well?

[dankcushions]

[quote=101558]Are you tempted to rip out the mahjong and pinball, lightgun games in Romlister as well?

[/quote]
for sure! i suppose it gets into personal preference territory, so we could have a few datfile variants for each system. i would definitely be interested in making datfiles to strip out the following:
– mahjong
– porn games (although these are sort of hilarious)
– hacks
– quiz games
– lightgun/trackball/etc stuff that is unplayable with a controller/stick

all that should be possible in romlister

[thatguyinfl]

Thanks for this.

[dankcushions]

added gngeo (thanks to ekstreme)

[dankcushions]

Added pifba (thanks to ekstreme)

[dankcushions]

added no clone, no neogeo dat files for both mame4all cores. halves the game list for those!

also added to the wiki https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Managing-ROMs

still not quite sure how to split the fba and mame lists so they don’t have a crossover. I’m not sure there’s a smart way to do it.

[momaw27]

Thank you VERY MUCH for these! I appreciate all your hard work!

[dankcushions]

i can’t seem to update my old post :( but there’s a new one (added to the wiki)

MAME:

Emulator: lr-Mame2003
Romset: MAME 0.78
Datfile: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=04618720736720226948
Description: working, no clones
No. Roms: 2256
RomLister search used: (!cloneof & !sample_name= & !emulation=preliminary) & !(isbios=yes)

Datfile: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=05598248539957382925
Description: ‘lite’ set: working, no clones, neogeo, PlayChoice (NES multiplay), no rotary/dial/trackball/lightgun controls, no casino/multiplay/quiz/mahjong/fruit_machines/rhythm/adult
No. Roms: 1615
RomLister search used: !(‘PlayChoice’ | ‘neogeo’) & !(rotary | dial | trackball | lightgun) & (!cloneof & !sample_name= & !emulation=preliminary) & !(isbios=yes | casino | multiplay | quiz | tabletop | Fruit_Machines | Rhythm | Mature)

i’ve updated the wiki: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Managing-ROMs

[herbfargus]

Thanks! Parents only Dats I think should be the default as most people probably dont care to slog through all the clones. I’ve been keeping a mirror github repo with all the dats here as well:

https://github.com/HerbFargus/retropie-dat

[dankcushions]

whoops, i messed up the mame2003 datfile! i think i buggered up the romlister stage, and it wasn’t the right parent datfile at all. i wondered why i was getting so many missing-file errors…

i’ve uploaded and corrected the links to: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=67593192132500562498

@herbfargus – you’ll be wanting to re-download and correct your repo also, please :)

sorry all!

[dankcushions]

i’ve updated my previous post with just a ‘working’ mame2003 dat, with only working roms. i’ve also done a ‘lite’ set that strips out all non-working games, and clones, bad categories, etc. this is thread is getting messy so i’ll maybe re-do the whole thing once i’m done with the other emulators.

[Floob]

Thanks for all the work you put into this. Must be very time consuming!

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