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What exactly does it mean when there is a game that has multiple sets listed. For example, the game Moonwalker has Set 1 and Set 2.

What is the difference? Do I need both sets to play the game?

Yes, anything that says "set x" where "x" equals a number you have to download them all and unzip them all at the same time from the same exact location. Just highlighting them and then right-clicking on one of the files should do the trick. :3

Now I'm confused. I thought you were supposed to keep roms zipped in order for them to work.

Only if your emulator supports .zip files, and even then it's still a good idea to unzip them, better quality because it doesn't have to unzip while reading the file, saves time for the program.

If you're referring to MAME sets, I'm guessing yes, because it's still a "set." The files within the archives are probably still zipped themselves. You can double zip a file. Hope this helps, because I really don't know much about MAME. :3

This does confuse people. The extra sets don't actually contain the full game, just the required files for that set. For example, a game may have originally been released in the US and that file will be the full game and have the largest file size. This is the full ROM set, and you'd need it to play. Set 2 might be the Japan release or EU release of that same game, and if you DL this set it will show up as that version in your emulator, and the game may look a little different, and have different copyright info.

In some cases even when you DL the proper full ROM, a game won't work in MAME. Moonwalker used to be one of them, and you would need to get one of the bootlegs. Moonwlkb.zip is a working bootleg of that game for Mame.

Kherr wrote:and even then it's still a good idea to unzip them, better quality because it doesn't have to unzip while reading the file, saves time for the program.

I would, respectfully have to disagree. Unzipping all the ROMS in a MAME set would lead to one unholy mess. In most games, more time is taken to load the game by the arcade machine emulation going through it's POST (Power On Self Test). The time taken to read and load the data from ROMs would be negligible. Even games with large CHD's have little effect on loading times and also remember, this is what the arcade machine would do in "real life" anyway.

laughing_lunatic wrote:I would, respectfully have to disagree. Unzipping all the ROMS in a MAME set would lead to one unholy mess.

With that comment I wasn't specifically referring to MAME, I was just generally covering most emulators. Like ZSNES or SNES9X. While I know ZSNES supports running zipped roms, I prefer to have mine unzipped, seems to make ZSNES run faster, but that's my personal preference.

Again, regarding MAME I have no idea since the only version of MAME I've ever ran was from 1998... lol. I've never unzipped a MAME rom.