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[delta]

Hello Roman,

  It seems that the suggested method to load a MESS XML file doesn't work anymore. As soon as the changes are done to engine.cfg  and clrmamepro is started again, clrmamepro will display an error while scanning the available datfiles.

  The errormessage states "Found an incomplete datfile or a bad exe-output!" followed by information about the last set that is correctly imported.

  At this point there has not been any datfile added and all sets were correct before the change.

Some more information that may be relevant:

- All datfiles in the profiler were either MESS softwarelists (XML) or MAME (XML).
- I'm running clrmamepro on Linux (64-bit) using Wine.
- I remember using this method successfully before with an older version of clrmamepro (I think until around version 3.134).

If you need more information let me know.

Thanks!

[Roman]

For MESS you can either use the direct import via the MESS selector in Profiler->CreateBooking
...or...
software lists should work right away as dats

...or....
in case you create a mess xml output you need to add a new entry to your engine.cfg which should look like this

engine (
   name MESS_DAT
   gamelist mess
   cachefile _messdat
   replace machine game
)
...and you have to switch to that type in the profiler if you're trying to load a mess xml dat

[delta]

Creating a profile for MESS using the first method (Creating a profile from a MESS executable) and loading software lists both work great.

But after I add the MESS_DAT entry to engine.cfg and start cmpro, the profiler will display the error mentioned in my first post while scanning the already existing profiles. At this point I didn't change anything else yet.

If I ignore the error and try to add a MESS XML file I get the error message "Found an incomplete datfile or a bad exe-output!" followed by "An error occurred while reading information from: <path to mess.dat>".

Removing the MESS_DAT entry from engine.cfg and starting cmpro again will cause the error message in the profiler to disappear.

BTW in my first post I did link to your original MESS XML suggestion (http://www.emulab.it/forum/index.php?topic=280.msg806#msg806) but at least for me links do not display not different from any other text in the post so maybe you missed it.

[Roman]

Most likely you're loading it wrongly.
Look at the attached screenshot. You need to load the mess xml with the newly created engine name....

Just tested it, exe import works and if you really need to use a mess xml file, this works as well with the shown method.

[delta]

Thanks, I just tried this using a fresh cmpro install and I can confirm this method works. So I tried to find out how to reproduce the error messages in the profiler again and this is what I found:

- Start with a fresh cmpro install.
- Add the MESS_DAT entry to engine.cfg.
- Add a MAME XML file.
- After adding the MAME XML file, cmpro scans the available profiles and will show the error "Found an incomplete datfile or a bad exe-output!"
- Selecting the MAME profile and pressing "Load/Update" will load the MAME profile anyway.
- Opening the profiler again will show the error "Found an incomplete datfile or a bad exe-output!" again.

I have also tried this with a couple of MESS software list XML files and they all worked great. So it seems it only shows a (harmless) error message in the profiler when MESS_DAT is added to engine.cfg and when a MAME XML file is loaded.

[Roman]

People should use the direct MESS import
Time will tell if this will change...

instead you should use xslt to transform it to a standard MAME style xml

[donnyj]

Hmmm...

What I have been doing is using the actual .xml files from the "hash" directory.

To sort a pile of roms I use the .XML output: "mess -listsoftware > mess_software_lists.xml" and then rebuild those rebuilt files with each individual system "XML".  (Before someone asks/tells, I have too many roms spread around to do a "batch run".

Only "problem" is for the "big" XML, the profile name is "a5200"... no big deal.

Anyways, is my way of doing it wrong, meaning will I not end up with the same results?

On a side note, is "cloneof" working?

[delta]

People should use the direct MESS import
Time will tell if this will change...

instead you should use xslt to transform it to a standard MAME style xml

I get the hint, I'll use the direct MESS import for now Thanks for taking your time to answer my questions and for clrmamepro ofcourse!

Hmm, I just realised how much I actually use clrmamepro and how little issues I actually encounter. I think this is the second issue I encountered (and asked about) in about... 10 years (It really has been that long?!), which shows what a great utility this is

[delta]

Hmmm...

What I have been doing is using the actual .xml files from the "hash" directory.

To sort a pile of roms I use the .XML output: "mess -listsoftware > mess_software_lists.xml" and then rebuild those rebuilt files with each individual system "XML".  (Before someone asks/tells, I have too many roms spread around to do a "batch run".

Only "problem" is for the "big" XML, the profile name is "a5200"... no big deal.

Anyways, is my way of doing it wrong, meaning will I not end up with the same results?

On a side note, is "cloneof" working?

I always use the XML files from the hash/ directory also, which works great. As far as I know there is no way to import the MESS software lists directly from the MESS executable. For the MESS (The mess -listxml output) import however the recommended way is to use the direct MESS import. And that is what this thread was/is about

[Roman]

But softwarelists should not require an engine change or show the warning....


anyway...regarding the warning for the mess.xml....I will look into this after my holiday....

[etabeta]

On a side note, is "cloneof" working?

it works in clrmame (i.e. you can store you romsets in merged/nonmerged/split form based on the settings), but it does not fully work in MESS (i.e. split romsets cannot be loaded if they have shared roms with the parent, see e.g. NES roms which only works if you use the non-merged mode)

[Roman]

do I hear a new requirement here?

[etabeta]

do I hear a new requirement here?

?

if you are referring to my post, I was just warning about a known MESS bug which will be fixed eventually

[Roman]

yeah was refering to your post... if it's a purely mess related issue, fine... won't touch it.