> So...my current solution: setup another artwork path in mame.ini, keep the
> effect pngs in one (e.g. unzipped in MAME's artwork path) and keep all the 3rd
> party artwork stuff zipped in another (including zipped versions of the
> effects).

OK, thanks for clearing that up. Not a perfect solution I guess - maybe I will just try and overcome my anal retentive nature and ignore the "missing" sets... :)