Where do you keep your ROMs/layouts?

[kebabthief]

Hiya folks,

I'm just getting my head around using MFME 20.1.  I've been very pleasantly surprised.

At first, I just downloaded the ROMs, unzipped them and kept them all in a seperate folder.  I've just tried putting all of the unzipped files within the MFME folder.  A couple of wav files needed to be overwritten, so I'm guessing I'm going to have a couple of sounds that belong to a different machine than I'm playing.

Can I just ask what the general consensus is on this? I've noticed that the "Game Manager" within MFME keeps a track of where the ROM/layout is stored on the PC.

Thanks in advance.  Enjoy the rest of your evening.

[WonkySausage]

So personally I do this:

On my main hard drive, I have a folder called MFME, which was set up when you run the installer for the first time so all the necessary files for mfme to work go there (basically c:/mfme)

Within the MFME folder I create a GAMES folder, then within the games folder I seperate the type of machines loosely into categories, so basically I have a club folder for all the club machines I download, Hi tech, lo tech, mid tech, S16/£500, Vintage and Zips.

I have a zips folder to keep all the zip files I download from here (i never delete them in case i need to reinstall something i've deleted - as it saves precious bandwith on here, and also good as a back up!)

I keep each individual machine in its own folder, its just better organised that way. And in game manager I need to do is for it to look in c:/mfme/games to search for games. Some layout designers will put all the files you need to run a layout into a folder, then zip that folder up which is just a simple case of extracting it to the relevant folder within "Games". Some designers just put all the files into the zip, and therefore, I just create a new folder, name it with whatever the machine is called, then extract them to that folder I just created.

Sorry that was a bit TLDR haha. But effectively, lets say I downloaded JPM's Snakes and Ladders. The file location for me would be C:/mfme/games/hitech/JPMSnakesAndLadders which is where the gam, fml, ram and rom files will be located for that particular games. If there's more than one version - say a £10 version and a £15 version, they'll get their own folders too.

[wearecity]

I have an mfme machines folder. 

Within that folder, I have folders for each different tech and in those folders, each machine has it's own folder.

One quirk for me I have MPU3 and MPU4 machines in the same folder. That's because some 24 years ago, originally it was the MPU3/4 emulator.

I guess I could separate them easily enough, but never bothered to. 

I didn't even know there were different techs until FME. 

[pbb]

I have all my games in manufacturer order, Barcrest, BFM etc then its a mess haha, so I use MFME for what  tech I fancy playing (nearly always, Space, proconn and mpu4)!!

[stevedude2]

To get started I recommend chucking all your game folders into one main folder, and then accessing them via the Game Manager -

 

Then go to Database and from here you can scan your computer for layouts, set the main folder to scan and so on, and then you can load the game you want directly from the list of available games -

 

You will find that a lot of games downloaded from the Legacy section have multiple layouts available for them.  Some will be really old and not look as good as more recent ones made with proper artwork and so on.  You can just go through them and hide/remove the ones you don't need or want by right-clicking them -

 

Hope this helps!  Enjoy 

By the way - those wav files will probably just be sounds you've exported from certain games.  They get saved into that game's folder.  If you keep each game in its own folder rather than bundle them all into one big messy folder you won't have this issue.  The sounds in the game will still be correct as these are played directly from the sound ROMs.

Edited June 3 by stevedude2

[chriss82]

I used to keep a desktop folder with all my layouts and zipped files in there but I recently moved it to the downloads folder. I don't download much apart from new layouts and podcasts so any new downloads that isn't FME related gets taken out at the time and put where needs be. The downloads folder shows all my unzipped first then scroll further and all the zipped layouts and MFME files are there. I do need to look at a lot of the zipped ones so I plan to eventually extract everything and put the zip folder back inside the unzipped folder for easy storage. Will still keep it all in the downloads folder. My desktop still has the different MFME shortcuts for me to load things up. All of course backed up with the folder being called Downloads. I removed the sort by time period thing from downloads as that annoyed me.

[vectra666]

Mines far simpler than above I simply have a folder on desktop titled “fruit machines”

within that folder are the layouts I’ve downloaded each within their little brown folder in alphabetical order the mfme app is within that folder marked “z mfme” so it’s always at the bottom or if o type “Z” it automatically comes up 

if you happen to download a layout that isnt in its own folder make one of the machine name and extract the firs to it

i would also recommend having an external drive to keep a back up copy incase your computer goes tits up or you mess up a layout 

[chriss82]

3 hours ago, vectra666 said:

Mines far simpler than above I simply have a folder on desktop titled “fruit machines”

within that folder are the layouts I’ve downloaded each within their little brown folder in alphabetical order the mfme app is within that folder marked “z mfme” so it’s always at the bottom or if o type “Z” it automatically comes up 

if you happen to download a layout that isnt in its own folder make one of the machine name and extract the firs to it

i would also recommend having an external drive to keep a back up copy incase your computer goes tits up or you mess up a layout 

I would agree about the backing up as this happened to me and I lost everything. I have two metal usb's on my keyring (better to carry the extra copy).  I do plan on burning a Blu-ray disc as a third backup and probably is the safest backup option out there over external drives. I know you can get free 15GB with google and this would probably be more than enough for most peoples FME needs.

Edited June 3 by chriss82

[wearecity]

I back up onto a USB stick, which is nearly full now, when FME is put on it. So will need to upgrade it soon.

Then I transfer from the USB onto a laptop. So at that point, I have 3 versions of my MFME collection upto date.

But as soon as a new release comes along, I'm 1 layout behind, on 2 of the devices, because I don't back up that layout immediately.

I don't back up, often enough I suppose, but then as there aren't the volume of releases, there was back in the day, a failure, would mean I'd be a dozen or so layout behind max.

[Amusements]

I always keep a back up of each layout and put in a DX or Classic folder.
I then copy each layout, reset the RAM, top up any hoppers, make sure the sound is on full, and edit the layout for my cabinet in config... I also add a TAG.

You can put in the tag box anything you want, so long as it is one string of characters, and you separate each TAG by a space. Then you can use the filter option in Game Manager.

I then split my layouts in to hopper pay-out configurations.

 

I then add TAGS to each layout

[Ze Frog]

Mine are all in manufacturer labelled folders, and then I have a folder called favourites where I move  machines in and out of if I'm for instance playing a clubber and trying to force it out or having a particularly fun time with certain machines so they are easy to find quickly.