Still struggling to get MAME ROMs working? Here is the answer, and it's simpler than you think.

Like many other poor souls not privy to MAME ROMs and emulators I struggled to get my ROMs to work. It seemed like every time someone tried to explain it on a forum or blog post I left feeling more confused or discouraged, so I put it off. It's one of the most confusing parts of RetroPie.

Finally I came across this helpful Reddit post that had a no bullshit answer and actual instructions of what to do and where to place the files.

EDIT: Here it is summarized below. For more details use the link to the post.

1. Find a 0.78 MAME romset.

2. Copy the roms you want over to the mame-libretro folder

3. Copy the bios files in the romset over to the /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame2003 folder. Just copy them all if you're not sure what does what, doesn't take up a ton of space. Include the samples subfolder. Reboot Emulation Station and the roms will appear.

I was finally able to get Metal Slug working! Uncharted 3 pc torrent download. Finally! FINALLY!!!

Why didn't the main GitHub Wiki have a simple example like this? It could have helped so many others that came before me. So, I updated the Wiki with some information that I think will really help others and would have helped me when I was struggling. I modified the table to remove the useless 'BIOS extension' column where each entry was '.zip' and added a paragraph with an example showing exactly what you need to do to get a MAME ROM working (along with a few other improvements).

TL;DR After struggling for weeks to get MAME ROMs to load correctly I finally stumbled upon a no bs answer here on Reddit and finally got my ROMs to work, which inspired me to update the official GitHub Wiki.

EDIT: Some simple, and great advice from comments below. 2 approaches: (1) To save yourself the headache of wondering whether you have the right files, try downloading the full romsets and throw those in the arcade directory. (2) Copy samples and BIOS into proper directories, then if filesnames have similar names such as game1a.zip, game1b.zip, etc. and make sure you keep these together.

EDIT 2: About the mysterious 'samples' directory, thx /u/wotan: There's a folder called samples in the romset that contains sound files for games. Just copy the entire thing over to /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/mame2003/samples/

EDIT 3: It just dawned on me that a FAQ and TIPS sections on the GitHub Wiki MAME section would probably be really helpful. I will try to compile common questions and answers tonight as a start. More important: those with knowledge of these things should contribute to the Wiki so the RetroPie community needs it and can certainly benefit from it.

EDIT 4: Removed a link.

MAME 0.139

Posted by MasJ @ Tue, 03 Aug 2010 Message Boards

I've just updated our entire MAME section to MAME 0.139. There are a number of new titles that have been added with this release, here they are: Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga - 20th Anniversary Class of 1981 Reunion (V1.02) Indoor Soccer (set 2) American Soccer Super Game III Super Famicom Box BIOS New Super 3D Golf Simulation - Waialae No Kiseki / Super Mahjong 2 (Super Famicom Box) unknown Model Racing gun game Mystic Riders (bootleg?) Battle Gear Battle Gear 2 Puzzle Break Forgotten Worlds (USA, 88621B B-Board) Captain Commando (Japan 910928) X-Men Vs. Street Fighter (Asia 960910) Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (USA 971222) Brave Blade (USA) Brave Blade (Asia) Brave Blade (Japan) Golden Tee 2K (v1.00) (alt protection) Fantasy Zone (317-5000) Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair (set 6, System 16A, FD1089A 317-xxxx) Juuouki (set 5, Japan, FD1094 317-0069) Heavyweight Champ (Japan, FD1094 317-0046) Virtua Striker 2 '99 (Revision B) Virtua Striker 4 ver. 2006 (Rev D) (Japan) (GDT-0020D) Out Run 2 (Rev. A) (GDX-0004A) Ollie King (GDX-0007) Gundam Battle Operating Simulator (GDX-0013) Sega Club Golf 2006 Next Tours (Rev A) (GDX-0018A) Fire Trap (Japan) Wild Fang Mystic Warriors (ver AAA) Quiz Daisousa Sen - The Last Count Down (Korean release) Quiz King of Fighters (Korean release) Real Bout Fatal Fury Special / Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special (Korean release) The King of Fighters '98 - The Slugfest / King of Fighters '98 - dream match never ends (Korean board 2) Space Ship Super Draw Poker (bootleg) Raiden Fighters Jet - 2000 (China) Toki (US, set 2) Oedo Fight (Japan Bloodshed Ver.) Waiwai Animal Land Jr. (Japan) GeGeGe no Kitarou Youkai Slot Alien Challenge (World) The Crystal Maze (v1.3, Datapak) The New Crystal Maze Featuring Ocean Zone (v2.2) The New Crystal Maze Featuring Ocean Zone (v2.2d) The Crystal Maze Team Challenge (v0.9, Datapak) The Crystal Maze Team Challenge (v1.2, AMLD) The Berenstain Bears in Big Paw's Cave AmeriDarts (set 3) Mouse Attack Phantoms II (Space Invaders hardware) unknown Meyco game Video Carnival 1999 / Super Royal Card (Version 0.11) Abacus (Ver 1.0) Book Theatre (Ver 1.2) Magic Number (Italian Gambling Game, Ver 1.5) Magic Class (Ver 2.2) Euro Pass (Ver 1.1) X Five Jokers (Version 1.12) Speed Drop Win Win Bingo (set 1) Win Win Bingo (set 2) Zoo Autumn Moon Fantasy Fortune Ron Jan (Super) Magical Odds (set 2) Fruit Bonus '06 - 10th anniversary (Version 1.3R CGA) Around The World (Version 1.3E CGA) Around The World (Version 1.3R CGA) Southern Systems Joker Poker CD-i (Mono-I) BIOS You can find these and over 9000 more MAME titles at our MAME ROMs Download Section.

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