retrofe will not load any of my compatible correctly placed roms, im stumped

[shig4444]

hi,
i have spent many frustrating days trying to get retrofe to recognise my roms

my roms are the compatible 'no intro' sets and are in the correct folders according to retrofe paths, but every time no game will sttart and i get this error according to log file----


[2020-03-08 15:12:18] [INFO] [Layout] Initialized
[2020-03-08 15:12:18] [INFO] [CollectionInfoBuilder] Checking for "D:\RetroFE\RetroFE\collections\Main\include.txt"
[2020-03-08 15:12:18] [INFO] [CollectionInfoBuilder] Scanning directory "z:\retrofe\Roms\\Main"
[2020-03-08 15:12:18] [INFO] [CollectionInfoBuilder] Could not read directory "z:\retrofe\Roms\\Main". Ignore if this is a menu.
[2020-03-08 15:12:18] [INFO] [Menu] Found: "D:\RetroFE\RetroFE\collections\Main\menu.txt"
[2020-03-08 15:14:18] [INFO] [Layout] Initializing D:\RetroFE\RetroFE\layouts\Ergo Proxy\collections\Sega Master System\layout\layout.xml
[2020-03-08 15:14:18] [INFO] [Layout] could not find layout file: D:\RetroFE\RetroFE\layouts\Ergo Proxy\collections\Sega Master System\layout\layout.xml
[2020-03-08 15:14:18] [INFO] [CollectionInfoBuilder] Checking for "D:\RetroFE\RetroFE\collections\Sega Master System\include.txt"
[2020-03-08 15:14:18] [INFO] [Menu] File does not exist: "D:\RetroFE\RetroFE\collections\Sega Master System\menu.txt"
[2020-03-08 15:14:34] [WARNING] [Launcher] Checking to see if "z:\retrofe\Roms\\Sega Master System\Aerial Assault (USA).zip" exists  [No]
[2020-03-08 15:14:34] [WARNING] [Launcher] Could not find any files with the name "Aerial Assault (USA)" in folder "z:\retrofe\Roms\\Sega Master System\
[2020-03-08 15:14:34] [INFO] [Launcher] Attempting to launch: "..\emulators\MAME\mame64.exe" sms -cart ""
[2020-03-08 15:14:34] [INFO] [Launcher]      from within folder: ..\emulators\MAME
[2020-03-08 15:14:43] [INFO] [Launcher] Completed
[2020-03-08 15:14:43] [DEBUG] [Page] Allocating graphics memory
[2020-03-08 15:14:43] [DEBUG] [Page] Allocate graphics memory complete

i have tried putting the roms in every nook and cranny of my retrofe installation, and i can confirm retroarch runs the roms ok outside of retrofe, but retrofe will not run anything except the single built in rom in the mame directory

i am totally stumped

i have enclosed the full log file and the settings conf

cheers

[Pieter Hulshoff]

Where did you get this build from?

[shig4444]

hi

got from here--

<link to incredibly bad build removed>

im thinking something has been done to it to handicap it ?
but it doesent seem so ?

[Pieter Hulshoff]

No, just wondering if they are using include.txt files or actually use the roms directory to fill the list. From the launching messages it's clear that it expects a ROM to exist, but it doesn't actually find it. That makes me think there's an include.txt file involved that lists games of which the roms aren't exactly there.

[Pieter Hulshoff]

Where did you place the new roms exactly?

[shig4444]

yes there is a include me txt file, and the rom names listed in it match the roms i have placed here--

retrofe\Roms\\Sega Master System

retrofe deffo searches this location for the roms, and the roms are there, with correct names, but retrofe keeps saying rom not found

[shig4444]

i attach the include txt file, and a rom that cannot be found,
and the menu txt file ( nothing in it )

all of above are in retrofe\Roms\\Sega Master System

[Pieter Hulshoff]

It's an incredibly badly setup build to be honest. As you can see in the log file, the path you think is used for the roms isn't used at all.

It starts with this line in your settings.conf:
baseItemPath= z:\retrofe\Roms\
This defines the base rom path.

This path is then overwritten in the settings.conf files of many of the collections, but not in the settings.conf of the SMS collection. As such, RetroFE expects the roms for SMS in Z:\retrofe\Roms\Sega Master System\, as you can also see in your log.txt:
[2020-03-08 15:14:34] [WARNING] [Launcher] Checking to see if "z:\retrofe\Roms\\Sega Master System\Aerial Assault (USA).zip" exists  [No]

The menu however is filled using the include.txt file. That's why you get all the entries in there, but since none of the roms are actually where RetroFE expects them to be, none of the games will work.

I'd start by putting a # in front of that baseItemPath in your settings.conf to comment out the default rom path. This will at least make RetroFE look in the default place. For SMS that would be in collections\Sega Master System\roms. Then you should delete that include.txt file, so RetroFE only looks in the roms directory to create the games list in stead of building it from the include.txt file. You may need to rename the art accordingly to make sure they match the rom name.

[shig4444]

thanks for your input, much appreciated

so only the sms setup is badly configured ?, typical, its the only romset i even bothered with !,
so if i try other systems they may just run as is ?, not that im interested in most other systems ( always been a sms user only cos of old forgotten stuff like fantasy zone 3 the maze, nowt like it on any other system ), but its worth having a go just to see if they run ?

unfortunately it all sounds too complicated for me so i think i will have to abandon it all before i throw my laptop out of the window in anger.

i may have a go at your suggestions but it might as well be in another language for all i understand !




just as an aside, and you are well within your rights to tell me to get stuffed, but could you edit my settings file ? and then i just replace it back into my setup

[Pieter Hulshoff]

It's usually easier if you take the base install, and work from there using the manual, but I'll see if I can explain.

The first important file is your global settings.conf file, found in the RetroFE root directory (http://www.retrofe.nl/wiki/doku.php?id=global_settings.conf). Within that file is a setting called baseItemPath. This setting defines the root directory for all your roms. This defaults to the collections directory, so if you just comment it out (by putting a # in front of the line) it will use the default.

The second important file is the settings.conf file of the collection, in this case collections/Sega Master System/settings.conf (http://www.retrofe.nl/wiki/doku.php?id=settings.conf). This contains the list.includeMissingItems parameter. If it's set to false, it will only show the games actually in your roms directory. If you commented out the baseItemPath in your global settings.conf, this will default to the collections/Sega Master System/roms directory, which is exactly what you want. As you can see, the default settings of RetroFE are basically what you expect them to be.

I would delete the collections/Sega Master System/include.txt file if I were you. You only need it if you don't want all your roms in your roms directory to show, and you probably prefer automatically showing them in your menu when you add them. When showing them, RetroFE will look for artwork with the same name in the subdirectories of collections/Sega Master System/medium_artwork, like collections/Sega Master System/medium_artwork/video for the video of the game. Since the setup you downloaded already contains a lot of them, you may just need to rename them to match the name of your rom for them to show up.

[shig4444]

thanks for reply

i will have a stab at what you outlined

i did not mention that the include txt file was not originally in the same directory as the roms when i first got the build,  i put it there at a later date to see if i could fix the issue, but i  had the same rom not found error with or without the include txt

i will move my roms to the directory you said and edit the conf, will post results, but i dont fancy renaming all the assets individually, or do i just rename the folders containing the assets ?

cheers

[shig4444]

thanks for help, have got the sms roms running now doing as you suggested

please ignore my last question above about renaming artwork, i shall do it on per game basis

i have another question but will post as another topic

cheers