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[Classic 80s Gamer]

I have been using Mame and ClrMame Pro for years and it has always bugged me that I have never been able to get the Software List import (not using hash) to work properly.  I have looked at endless videos and done a ton of Googling and am close but not there yet. 

Why not just stick with hash?  2 reasons.  First, it bugs me when I can't get something working that should work ;p Second (and more important), I am about to invest time into importing Mame SL systems into Launchbox so I want to be certain to have the correct directory structure and naming convention in place.  If I can't pass ClrMamePro using all default settings for Mame I may not have my directory structures correct.

Today I set out to figure out what I am doing wrong so I started with clean Mame and Clrmame installs.

The issue I am encountering is the ClrMamePro System feature is not auto-assigning [BIOS] to M:\Mame\Roms and [Soft] to M:\Mame\software, instead 99% is setting to M:\Mame\Roms:

- Summary
   - Running Mame .234, ClrMamePro 4.041, all Mame settings are default (Mame ini rompath=roms and swpath=software)
      - Directory M:/Mame/roms = Audited roms + Non-SL CHDs - all split sets confirmed
      - Directory M:/Mame/software = Audited SL sets using hash method - all split sets confirmed
   - Started a new Mame 234 profile, answered Yes to import Software Lists
   - Added M:/Mame/software, along with M:/Mame/roms to the Roms list in the Profile setting
   - Chose Systems /Auto-Assign
      - All of the [BIOS] files assign to M:/Mame/roms
      - Most (not all) [SOFT] assign to M:/Mame/roms
         - Exceptions that (correctly) assign M:/Mame/software
            - gamecom - [SOFT] Tiger Game.com cartridges
            - ibm5170 - [SOFT] IBM PC/AT disk images
            - msx1_cass - [SOFT] MSX1 cassettes
- Questions:
   - Thoughts on why only 3 of the [SOFT] auto assignments correctly point to M:/Mame/software and the rest to M:/Mame/roms ?
      - Note all 678 SL CHDs passed ClearMamePro using the hash method
   - When Auto-Assign is working correctly should I see M:/Mame/software or should it show the complete path like M:/Mame/software/ibm5170 ?
   - Is my directory structure correct?

Thanks for reviewing.

[Roman]

Auto assign is a pretty easy best-count-wins and it works as follows:
For assigning standard/mechanical/decives/bios and software lists folders it runs through all active rompaths (not subpaths).
Then it counts +1 for per found file/folder for the belonging type. The type which gets the highest value gets this rompath assigned, otherwise the 1st rompath is used.
So you see, you need correctly named files in the paths to actually be able to assign a path, otherwise you all end up with the first rompath.
E.g. you have a rompath e:\roms\a2600 and got 99 valid atari 2600 sets in there and 50 sets of let's say C64, then that rompath gets a count of 99 for Atari 2600 (and most likely much less than the Atari 2600 count for other rompaths) and so the Atari 2600 software list gets assigned to that rompath.

The auto assign might be improved by also checking the rompath name, so e.g. an empty nes folder can be assigned to the nes software lists. That might get in in the near future....but generally the combined mode is pretty dead.

So....the combined mode is a pain to setup since auto assign would only work if you already have sets in all of your paths. And all paths have to be 1) rompaths and b) distinct (besides the 'normal' MAME ones BIOS/STANDARD/MECHANICAL/DEVICES)). Works pretty well if your collection is near perfect, but otherwise you most likely need to assign some or more paths manually.
You can't have "M:/Mame/software" as a rompath. Software lists need to be in distinct paths (which I assume are the subpaths of M:/Mame/software), so you need to add those as rompaths and not their parent paths. You can simply use drag'n drop in the settings folder to add them.


Overall, it's way more easy to use one-profile-per-software lists and run through the data separately. Why?
a) you got the batcher to scan only changed software lists
b) the batcher also allows you to auto-create and assign rompaths for you (no need to setup some hundred paths)
c) the scan results output is way more readable
d) some software lists are not exported by mame via -listsoftware while the hash files have them
e) no problems with identical sets (there are identical sets in MAME which repeat themselves in some software lists)
f) faster lookups

(batcher = select more than one profile in the profiler and hit load, then the batcher with all its options appear)