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[what2be]

Trying to use clrmamepro's system lists with MESS but after spending almost a day on it trying different configs and googling my brains out I now admit defeat and am posting here and desperately seeking help.

Also, just want to mention that I already know how to batch import lists and do rebuild/scans one by one for each system, but that only works good for the original import, and when I go to update systems I have to go to each system and run rebuilder / scan which sucks and hence why i've been trying to setup system software lists to automate the whole process.
 
MY SETUP:

I have my bios files in the root of \messui\roms
I have my systems in \messui\roms as well but each system in its own folder, ie:

\messui\roms\3do_m2
\messui\roms\32x
\messui\roms\a800
\messui\roms\a800_flop

In the rebuilder windows of clrmamepro I have "Use system default paths" checked.
I also have "use addpaths" checked and have several paths configured for clrmamepro to search through during rebuilding.

here's what Im NOT sure about...

1) When I click on the "Systems" icon I have a unique path for each system, (and let me tell you what a pain in the ass that was for all the systems I had a folder for but no files in it so they weren't recognized and I had to manually point each one to the correct folder) but where do I point the first 3 systems in the list?, which are:

Standard
Mechanical
Device

do I leave them blank? Unchecked? The root where my my bios and roms, ie \messui\roms\ ?

2) Whats the  softwarelists_175.xml file for that I downloaded from progettosnaps.net? Do I need to import this file into clrmamepro?

3) What is the best way to create the MESSUI.DAT file for clrmame pro?

A) In clrmamepro, via profiler I click import the MESS .175 .dat file that I downloaded from progettosnaps.net
OR
B) In clrmamepro, via profiler, I click "create" then point it to my messui.exe file and then set system to "MESS" and let clrmamepro create its own MESS .175 dat

Thanks!

[Roman]

First of all...there is no MESS anymore. MESS and MAME merged months ago to become only MAME.
So generally you work with MAME, not MESS. MESS in its original form (which were mainly a couple of BIOS sets) are included in MAME's standard output. So they will appear either as standard, mechanical, devices or BIOS entries.
It's up to you if you want to split such standard MAME system separation in different rompaths. Some people do, some people don't. You don't need unique romfolders for these. Mechanical are sets which are flagged by MAME as being mechanical games, typically not arcade games. Devices are all kind of IC dumps which are widely shared between sets and handled by MAME as devices. For example controllers, sound chips etc...BIOS...well...typically system bios dump, e.g. the NeoGeo BIOS set....and standard is the rest.

For MAME you don't need a separate datfile. Profiler->Create lets you create the needed data directly from the MAME executable. If you really need a datfile for whatever reason you can either run MAME from a commandline with -listxml and redirect the output to a temporary file...you can use cmpro's setinformation export function to generate a datfile from the currently loaded and cleaned data.

Progetto softwarelists_175.xml file is most likely a datfile for software lists....no idea...ask the author...


Now to software lists...

Software lists are additional set collections for MAME. For example they contain the actual sets for the C64 emulation. There are 2 ways to work with software lists. An easy to setup and handle one and a more complicated.

The easy one:
Simply use the files from MAME's hash folder as datfiles in the profiler. So you get one profile per software list and in batch mode you can easily run scans/rebuilds on them to keep them updated.

The complex one:
When you import data from a MAME binary you are asked at the end of the import process if you to import software lists, too. EIther all or single ones.
If you're doing this you have to follow some strict rules.
You HAVE to use systemdefault paths. Each software list needs to be assigned to a unique rompath, so you have to go to systems, assign a rompath and you need one rompath for it (settings).
The systems dialog's auto assign of course only works if cmpro finds some sets in your rompaths. It counts appearances and tries to guess the path. So if you don't have any files each system gets assigned to your 1st rompath.

So...generally I'd advice to use the simple one-profiler-per-software list scenario.