i had recently got the full mame4all romset (2000+ games) and so put them in the 'roms' folder (found in the MAME4All folder)
then i noticed that now when using mame4all, waiting times between choosing/playing games are much longer, because mame4all has to display a big list of 2000+ games every time you want to choose a different game to load...
there's a solution though, which makes mame4all bring up the 2000+ gamelist SUPER FAST
note: this should also work with eg. GP2X, PSP, DINGOO ..ANY emulator where you have thousands of games in one folder
here's how to do it:
Please note: this is aimed at Windows users
1. download this program linked below (i only tested it on XP, but hopefully it is ok on vista etc)
http://www.compulsivecode.com/images/CopyInOrder.zip
2. have ready on your computer somewhere, a roms folder, which has all of your roms inside already
3. have your dingoo (or PSP, GP32, etc) linked up to your computer via cable, ready to accept new files, or have your sd card plugged into your computer and ready
4. in your mame4all folder on your sd card, you must delete your old 'roms' folder (you must delete the actual folder, not just the roms inside the folder! .. so, now you will have NO roms folder)
5. now run the CopyInOrder software linked above which you downloaded. you will see the main window. now you need to drag the roms folder located on your computer, into the main white area where it says 'Drag and Drop files...' IMPORTANT: you must drag the roms FOLDER into this window. DO NOT drag the rom files across so they are listed individually in a huge list. doing this will cause problems. so now, you will only have one entry in the 'Drag and Drop Files' window list, which will be your 'roms' folder and a ticked checkbox next to it (you will not be able to see the individual rom names in the 'Drag and Drop Files' window, as they are inside the roms folder)
6. Set the 'Destination Path' in the CopyInOrder software to your mame4all folder on your sd card
7. You are ready to begin the copying. simply click the 'Copy Files' button to begin. the roms folder which you have on your computer, is now copied into the mame4all folder of your sd card.
So now, what will happen is you will notice the CopyInOrder prgram is copying your files over to your sd card in Alphabetical order. You might have thought Windows would automatically do this? It DOES NOT, and because of that, emulators like mame4all have to alphabetically process/order/sort/list the thousands of roms. This may not be a big speed difference when using perhaps 100 roms... but when you use thousands or roms in one folder (eg. the full mame romset) you will notice a BIG difference in time it takes for the emulator to list the games. if you don't believe me, try it for yourself!!
then i noticed that now when using mame4all, waiting times between choosing/playing games are much longer, because mame4all has to display a big list of 2000+ games every time you want to choose a different game to load...
there's a solution though, which makes mame4all bring up the 2000+ gamelist SUPER FAST
note: this should also work with eg. GP2X, PSP, DINGOO ..ANY emulator where you have thousands of games in one folder
here's how to do it:
Please note: this is aimed at Windows users
1. download this program linked below (i only tested it on XP, but hopefully it is ok on vista etc)
http://www.compulsivecode.com/images/CopyInOrder.zip
2. have ready on your computer somewhere, a roms folder, which has all of your roms inside already
3. have your dingoo (or PSP, GP32, etc) linked up to your computer via cable, ready to accept new files, or have your sd card plugged into your computer and ready
4. in your mame4all folder on your sd card, you must delete your old 'roms' folder (you must delete the actual folder, not just the roms inside the folder! .. so, now you will have NO roms folder)
5. now run the CopyInOrder software linked above which you downloaded. you will see the main window. now you need to drag the roms folder located on your computer, into the main white area where it says 'Drag and Drop files...' IMPORTANT: you must drag the roms FOLDER into this window. DO NOT drag the rom files across so they are listed individually in a huge list. doing this will cause problems. so now, you will only have one entry in the 'Drag and Drop Files' window list, which will be your 'roms' folder and a ticked checkbox next to it (you will not be able to see the individual rom names in the 'Drag and Drop Files' window, as they are inside the roms folder)
6. Set the 'Destination Path' in the CopyInOrder software to your mame4all folder on your sd card
7. You are ready to begin the copying. simply click the 'Copy Files' button to begin. the roms folder which you have on your computer, is now copied into the mame4all folder of your sd card.
So now, what will happen is you will notice the CopyInOrder prgram is copying your files over to your sd card in Alphabetical order. You might have thought Windows would automatically do this? It DOES NOT, and because of that, emulators like mame4all have to alphabetically process/order/sort/list the thousands of roms. This may not be a big speed difference when using perhaps 100 roms... but when you use thousands or roms in one folder (eg. the full mame romset) you will notice a BIG difference in time it takes for the emulator to list the games. if you don't believe me, try it for yourself!!
