boochk
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu May 25, 2017 10:20 pm

NES Roms

I have been trying to get a couple of NES classic roms to load in MAME but none of the files I have are compatible. I run the ClrMamePro on the hash file but it is unable to resolve the conflict. When I look at the zip files and compare them to what the hash file is looking for is vastly different. Am I downloading the wrong files? Is there another program that converts the files that MAME is looking for?

Thanks,
John
boochk
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu May 25, 2017 10:20 pm

Re: NES Roms

After hours of reading I finally have figured out a couple of things. First, the weird files I see in the hash file ending with chr and prg are hidden inside the .nes file. I found a utility that will extract them from the .nes file. Once that is done, ClrMamePro can then create the file the Mame emulator is looking for in the \software\nes folder. I was able to convert one file and it does work. The problem is, this is a laborious process. Is these a simpler way of performing these tasks in bulk? I will say that my older son is thrilled to play Mario again!

Thanks,
John
boochk
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu May 25, 2017 10:20 pm

Re: NES Roms

After even more searching, I finally found the answer I was looking for. There is an option in ClrMamePro for headers. Once I selected the headers in the settings for NES, it now recognizes the 20 or so ROMS I downloaded. I hope this information helps others as this took quite a bit of time to figure out!

Thanks,
John
User avatar
B2K24
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2016 5:43 am

Re: NES Roms

An easier way is to import nes.xml from MAME's hash directory into ClrMamePro. Then you can use the rebuilder to rebuild whatever you might have that matches (Source path) into an empty destination directory.

An even easier way is to find collections named "MAME Software List ROMs" and in those collections contains a nes folder that will have matching content.
boochk
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu May 25, 2017 10:20 pm

Re: NES Roms

B2K24,

It turns out that what I thought resolved the issue with the NES ROMs is not working like I thought. I have been using the program ClrMamePro to correct the ROMs to what the Mame emulator wants to see by adding the Mame hash file for Atari and Nintendo. I have been unable to locate the “Mame Software List ROMs” for NES. The 20 or so ROM’s my son had all have extension .nes. When I load the hash file nes.xml and run it against the NES ROMs, it is unable to match any of them. I read that if you go into the settings and select headers from the drop down menu, and select headers for NES, then it will work. When I did this, ClrMamePro created a new set of ROMs that had the corrected names in zip. The problem I ran into is that it created the new rom with the needed “prg” file but is missing the second file “chr”. When I use the utility I found for the .nes file, it will extract both. The utility will only extract one .nes file at a time. Then when I use ClrMamePro without the headers on the two new NES files (prg and chr), it creates the correct ROM. I think I am still missing a step in my process but ran out of time to continue. Is there a step I missed in ClrMamePro?

Thanks,
John
boochk
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu May 25, 2017 10:20 pm

Re: NES Roms

For those interested.....

I found the missing step. Once the files have been rebuilt using the nes headers in ClrMamePro, then you must fix them by using the scanner. Once I figured out the process of running the scanner against the new files, they all run correctly. I will say that since I have not been using ClrMamePro with the default directories, that probably added time to my solution. Overall I am happy with the results and can move on to adding the snaps and other files that make this so cool.

Thanks,
John

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