Version 1.30 - 30/04/1999

© 1999 Bole-Feysot Eric - All rights reserved.

This software is freeware and selling it is not allowed.

This program comes with no warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event will I be liable for any damages resulting from the proper or improper use of this software.
YOU USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK.

If you find any mistakes, you don't understand something or something is missing in this document, feel free to mail me.
I remind you that you are not allowed to distribute roms with emulators.

Table of content

1 - What's new ?
2 - Introduction
2.1 - What is RomCenter ?
2.2 - Requirement
2.3 - Installation
2.4 - Quick start
3 - Fonctionnalities
3.1 - Running RomCenter
3.2 - Main window
3.3 - Scanning roms
3.4 - Merging roms
3.5 - Auditing and repairing Mame roms directories
3.6 - Changing mame version
3.7 - Special notes on neo-geo games
4 - Conclusion
4.1 - Uninstall
4.2 - Contact
4.3 - Distribution
4.4 - Greetings

1 - What's new ?

30 04 1999 : V 1.30  'No good dump known' release

- 'No good dump known' roms are now shown with three special flags.
- They are correctly handled during merging and repairing process.
- You can now run games directly from RomCenter
- Some bug corrected

10 04 1999 : V 1.20  Multiple directories release

- Audit engine created. It handles multiple directories, including read only devices. It is also more accurate.
- New mame roms extractor. It works with latest mame betas and should work for every new releases. It is also faster.
- Repair engine rewritten. It handles multiple directories and read only devices.
- Reports are now displayed thru notepad.
- Audit report available.
- No more crash if you choose Mame32.exe as mame executable (error message displayed instead).
- Merge engine rewritten to handle multiple directories
- tested with vr32mame, neomame etc...
- Link in about box now works
- Hang when mame roms directory doesn't exist corrected
- Error when mame path include spaces corrected
- 'Games not found' on latest mame betas corrected (due to mame inconsistencies)

09 03 1999 : V 1.10  pkzip free release

 - PKZIP and PKUNZIP are no more needed.
 - Full 32 bits supports thru zipdll.dll and unzdll.dll
 - Progress informations improved
 - Zip error handler improved
 - Faster scanner (file input)
 - Some other minors problems fixed.

28 02 1999 : V 1.0 Initial release

2 - Introduction

Welcome to Romcenter and thank you for using this software.

Mame ! Everybody knows today this incredible multi arcade machine emulator. It supports new games everydays, and more and more roms are needed. It supports more than 1200 games, and more than 13000 roms ! Authors try now to merge them in sets, correct bad roms, and add missing roms. But you, how do you know exactly which one are good, bad, missing or no more needed ? When a rom is missing in a game, are you sure it is not already there, but in another set? RomCenter will do all that, and more, for you. It helps me a lot, and now, I release it to public for free. RomCenter's core is a database which holds a hierarchical view of mame supported games based on sets/clones/roms. RomCenter manages for you your mame roms directories. If you get new roms, drag and drop them on RomCenter, see what is inside, and merge them in your mame roms directory. They will be analysed, renamed, spreaded and sorted for you, and to check if a game is really working, run it !

RomCenter features:
- Multiple roms directories
- Dynamic mame roms retrieval (no datafiles needed)
- New version detection with roms checking
- Direct games running.
- Rom merging, renaming and spreading
- 'No good dump known' compatible
- Incomplete games and sets detection
- Useless rom files filtering
- Roms zip files drag & drop
- Professionnal interface with sensitive tool bar and contextual menus
- Resizable splitted window
- 32 bits zip support for fast performances
- and more (hot tracking, mouse wheel support...)

I havn't tried RomCenter on 486, but it should work (slow). Tell me if you try.

You need:
- mame 0.34 or better ( mame must support the -listinfos option). Neomame and others derivatives are also working.
- Zipdll.dll and Unzipdll.dll. They are included in version 1.10, and are available separately for future versions.
- Some disk space to temporary store roms.

RomCenter can be launched from anywhere on your hard drive, not from a CD.

- Unzip RomCenter.
The following files will be installed:
- RomCenter.exe : Main executable
- RomCenter.htm : Html documentation (this document)
- rcdoc\... : Documentation files

You also need zipdll.dll and unzdll.dll. They are available for download on the home page.
Copy these dll to your windows\system directory. (winnt\system32 on NT)

- Check you have zipdll.dll and unzdll.dll to your windows\system directory. (winnt\system32 on NT)
- Run RomCenter.exe
- Select your mame executable
- Press the audit button to clean your roms directory.
- Drag & drop new roms zip in the dropping zone
- Click merge to install these roms in mame etc...

If RomCenter seems to hang, display the dos console window from the task bar, open the top left system menu, choose properties and check the bottom check box.
Close it manually. It will now close automatically.

3 - Fonctionnalities

When you run RomCenter for the first time, you must give your mame executable file. RomCenter works with all dos mame clones (neomame, vr32mame, ocmame, kbmame...), but it does not work with mame32. Then, all datas will be retrieved from mame.exe. Roms directories are extracted from the mame.cfg file (if available) and a list of available roms in these directories is built. The main window appears and you are ready to manage your roms with romcenter.

This is the RomCenter main window. You can see in the left list that some pacman roms are used in a lot of games.

The main window is cut in four parts:
 - The files dropping zone (upper left)
 - The general infos area (upper right)
 - The input rom area (lower left)
 - The output rom area (lower right)

You can clear the input roms area by pressing the clear button.
The file dropping zone is used to import zipped roms in romcenter. Simply drag files from a directory and drop them in dropping zone.
The general infos area displays informations on the current mame version and games supported.
The input rom area displays roms which have been recognized in files dropped in dropping zone.
The output rom area shows roms already installed in mame. Note that the list shows games which are virtually available (ie: the roms are present).The list can report that a game is working, although mame report a missing rom. (for example, the rom may be in the wrong set). See repair chapter..

To play a game, select it in the list, and press the play button.

Drag and drop a zip file into the dropping zone. RomCenter will scan the zip, and then show the result in the input window. You can set the filter to 'all' or 'new'.
 - 'All' will display all roms detected in zip files.
 - 'New' will only show roms which are not available in the output area (in fact the mame roms directory).

 A red flag shows you that all roms are missing.
 A yellow flag shows you that some roms are missing.
 A green flag shows you that all roms are available, and the game is playable.
If the flag is crossed, some roms have 'no good dump known'.

 The scanning result is available in a report. Press the report button to display it.

If you want to copy previously scanned roms in the mame roms directory, simply press the merge button, and roms will be copied at their right places with their right names. If you manually copy roms to the mameroms directory, you will need to refresh the output window to take them into account. No roms are deleted in the merging process. This process can take a lot of time. I will go further in optimization in later release, but for now, if you have a huge number of roms to copy, manually copy them to the roms directory and do a repair with RomCenter.

Merging roms follows these rules:
- Roms are copied in their sets if it is available and writable.
- If set doesn't exist, it is created in the first writable directory.
- If set exist on a read only device, a second set is created in the first writable directory. (This feature is supported by mame, and your game will work).

Some mame roms are known as 'no good dump known'. It's mean that these roms weren't available at mame release date. These files are handled correctly in romcenter. If one is met during the merging process, it is supposed to be good and is merged in sets.

Note: You can safely run an audit with all options on, because no disk operation will be performed until you read the report, and confirm the operation.

RomCenter include a fast roms repairing engine. It can spread roms in all sets where they are needed, rename them and delete unknown files. To repair your mame roms directories, simply click the audit button. Choose if you want to delete roms and/or files :

- Delete roms: All unknown roms found in zip files will be deleted. This include all text files, executable files...

WARNING: - The mame directory itself is often in the mame roms paths. If you have original mame zip file here, content will be erased.

- Delete files: All zip files which don't match rom set name will be erased with theirs content. Proceed with care.

All roms are scanned, and checked. Then, if some problems are detected, RomCenter display a report and ask you if you want to repair.
The repairing engine follows these rules:

- Roms are copied in their sets if it is available and writable.
- If set doesn't exist, it is created in the first writable directory.
- If set exist on a read only device, a second set is created in the first writable directory. (This feature is supported by mame, and your game will work).

- Only on zip per set (except when a read only device is used)
- All roms are at the same level in the zip (no subdirectories)
- if possible, Roms names will match rom names of the main clone
- Neo-Geo bios files are moved to neogeo.zip archive, and removed from all neogeo games

The repairing process does not refresh displayed roms with disk available roms. if you manually changed something in one of the rom directories, do a refresh before repairing.

'No good dump known' roms are no more deleted in this process.

When you want to install a new mame version, simply copy it over the old one. RomCenter can automatically detect that your mame executable has changed. As the new version probably support more roms, RomCenter will build a new list.

To optimize disk space, neogeo bios files are removed from all neogeo games and put in a new set called neo-geo. This set is needed for every neogeo games to work. As a side effect, RomCenter will report that a neogeo game is complete, even if the bios files are missing. This is not a bug.

4 - Conclusion

To uninstall RomCenter, delete romcenter executable, doc and games.dat file, and remove the entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/SOFTWARE/ROMCENTER in the registry.

You can reach me at ebolefeysot@bigfoot.com. Send me bugs, ideas, new features you like to see, greetings, phonecards etc...

Get the latest version on the home page at :http://www.bigfoot.com/~ebolefeysot

RomCenter news are also provided at:

- emuspain : www.emuspain.com
- retrogames :  www.retrogames.com
- Emu xpress : home2.swipnet.se/~w-28929/
- PC Arcade : www.emuclassics.com/pcarcade/
- Sys 2064 : sys2064.emulationworld.com/
- Emulatronia : www.emulatronia.com/
- Emu camp : www.emucamp.com/

First, I want to thank all people who write me. Thank you very much for the support.

The following delphi components are used, thank you to their authors.

- URLLabel by Filippo Passeggieri
- E-Mail: passeggieri@geocities.com

- DelZip by Chris Vleghert
- E-Mail: cvleghrt@worldonline.nl
- WWW: http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/Vleghert/

- TFriendlyStatusBar by Ivan Azic
- E-mail: ivan.azic@zd.tel.hr
- WWW: http://jagor.srce.hr/~iazic/

- ComboBox97 by Favio E. Ugalde Corral
- E-Mail: fugalde@geocities.com
- WWW: http://www.geocities.com/~fugalde

Enjoy...