Getting Started

Of course this is just a quick'n dirty way to start ClrMamePro.
Please read the documentation about the different modules carefully.
You'll learn a lot about the powerful features of ClrMamePro. Anyway...here we go:

Before starting ClrMamePro for the first time, you should check the following:

If you want to use M.A.M.E. and its ROM/sample path settings you should edit your 'mame.cfg'. Search the ROM- and samplepath entries and set it to your ROM- and samplepaths. If you don't have any roms/samples in the '.\' path you should remove this entry.
 

To make it clear: You should only use valid paths which contain ROMs or samples. Not "C:\" or something.

 

Ok...Let's start it ! Double click the ClrMamePro icon

Normally you should see a window which informs you about the following steps. If not, an error happened:

ClrMamePro needs a engine.cfg file (which is normally part of the ClrMamePro archive).
This file has to be a valid one and has to be placed in the ClrMamePro folder.

You should consider to update your system. Maybe installing a new mfc42 will help.
To do this, get the file: http://activex.microsoft.com/controls/vc/mfc42.cab
This is a cabfile. You have to decompress the mfc42.exe from it (e.g. with WinZip) and finally you have to run this executable. It will update your system.

If none of the rare upper errors appeared you can configure ClrMamePro now.

 

Nothing weird happened...so what now ?

If you start ClrMamePro for the first time you automatically see the Profiler Dialog. This is the point where you should read more about the Profiler.

So here is only a quick'n dirty step-by-step instruction for getting the needed ROM information:

If you're using a binary (e.g. MAME.EXE):

Let's assume your binary is a MAME binary and it is stored in 'd:\temp\mame.exe'. In the lower part of the profiler window you see this section:

The filename is the filename of your binary, the executable type (Emulator) is the type of the binary. For MAME it's of course MAME :o). You have to enter a short description for your binary. With this name it will be listed later.

Click on Create Dat and ClrMamePro will create an exe-based datfile which will be listed in the datfile list. Now you have to load that datfile...

  1. Select the DatFile by clicking on it. Press the Load/Update button.
  2. ClrMamePro will now receive the ROMdata from the binary.
  3. The profiler loads the data and exists.

If ClrMamePro can't receive data from a binary you should check if it's a valid binary which is compatible with ClrMamePro.

If you're using a DatFile:

If you're using a MAME DatFile:

 

After receiving the data you'll see the main window with the 6 buttons.

You should setup some ROM paths now. Go to Settings to setup paths. After that you can go to the Scanner to check your roms.

And now the difficult part...How do you store your roms ?

You have to specify your merged mode. If you don't know what merged ROMs are and what the three possible merge modes are, take a look at the Merger. It's extremely important to specify the correct mode. For your first scan you should disable all fix options. Hit scan and watch what ClrMamePro reports. For further information you should read the Scanner Dialog documentation. If you don't know your used mergemode, you should use "split-merge".