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Import Arcade ROMs Without Mandatory MAME XML Cross-Check

LaunchBox for Windows

šŸ“‹ Summary

Add an option to the Arcade ROM import process that allows users to import all ROM files in a selected folder, even if they do not exist in MAMEā€™s -listxml output. This would improve support for non-MAME arcade emulators such as FinalBurn Neo, HBMAME, and other derivative or alternative arcade setups.

ā— Problem

Currently, LaunchBoxā€™s Arcade (or Scrape-As Arcade) importer cross-checks ROM filenames against MAMEā€™s generated XML (mame.exe -listxml). Any ROMs not present in that list are silently skipped during import.

This causes several issues:

  • Arcade games removed from official MAME (e.g. certain Cave titles) cannot be auto-imported.

  • ROMs supported by other arcade emulators (FinalBurn Neo, HBMAME, Fightcade sets, hacked ROMs) are skipped entirely.

  • Users are not informed which ROMs were missed during import.

  • Adding skipped ROMs requires manual one-by-one entry, including browsing to each file individually.

For users with large or mixed arcade sets, this significantly reduces the usefulness of the importer.

šŸ’” Proposal

Enhance the Arcade Import Wizard with one or more of the following options:

  • ā€œImport all files, even if not found in MAME XMLā€

    • When enabled, LaunchBox imports every ROM file in the selected folder.

    • ROMs that match the database receive metadata automatically.

    • ROMs without a database match are still added, allowing users to manually fill in metadata or merge later.

  • Optional toggle to skip XML cross-checking entirely during import.

  • (Future enhancement) Support for alternative DAT/XML sources provided by other arcade emulators, when available.

šŸ§© Use Cases

  • Importing FinalBurn Neo or HBMAME ROM sets that include games not present in official MAME.

  • Managing hacked, prototype, or community arcade ROMs alongside standard releases.

  • Verifying which ROMs lack metadata instead of having them silently excluded.

  • Reducing the need for repetitive manual game creation after an import.

šŸ“¦ Benefits

  • Makes the Arcade importer more flexible and transparent.

  • Improves compatibility with non-MAME arcade emulators.

  • Saves significant time for users managing large arcade collections.

  • Aligns Arcade importing behavior more closely with other platforms, where unmatched files can still be imported.

Posted by ddung1234 Ā·
Status: Open To Community2 comments

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Comments2

  • AstroBob changed status to Open To Community
    Teamā€¢

    Dec 23, 2025

    Pinned

    Hi there!

    Thanks so much for submitting this request and for taking the time to explain your use case ā€” that context is always super helpful.

    Iā€™ve gone ahead and fleshed out the main idea using the info you provided, and Iā€™m opening it up to the community for further discussion and feedback. Please let me know if this fleshed-out version doesnā€™t match your original intended request.

    Feel free to let me know if you have any extra thoughts, examples, or edge cases you think might be relevant!

    Cheers,
    The LaunchBox team

  • ddung1234

    ā€¢

    Dec 23, 2025

    Additional option suggestions for other Arcade emulators

    https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/92743-import-roms-issue-not-working-some-arcade-roms/#comment-501704

    Hello, I previously reported an issue in Troubleshooting, but it seems this functionality is still needed, so I'd like to propose adding it.

    As mentioned in that post, I was informed that the current operation of Launchbox's arcade importer has changed. It now cross-checks files against MAME's gamelist.xml file and ignores any files that don't match that list.

    The problem is that this causes issues when using other arcade emulators like Finalburn Neo or HBmame. Because the Launchbox auto-importer completely skips ROM files not present in MAME or unsupported hacked ROMs due to different ROM sets, users face inconvenience. They don't know which ROM files are missing during import, and even if they identify the missing files, they must go through individual manual steps to add them.

    If an option were provided to skip cross-checking against XML files when importing arcade ROMs (importing all files regardless of database presence), users could verify files without metadata in the database and manually merge them with the original ROM or input the metadata themselves.

    While it would be ideal to also add an option to reference DAT or XML files extracted from other emulators, this feels more like an additional convenience feature (since it's uncertain if all other arcade emulators can extract such files). Adding just the part mentioned above would seem to be a fundamental solution.

    If it's acceptable, I would appreciate it if you could review the part I suggested.

    Thank you for consistently maintaining and improving such excellent software.