MAME -validate vs -verifyroms on Android: which check do you need?
Use `-validate` to test MAME's internal driver and device definitions, chiefly when developing or checking a build. Use `<shortname> -verifyroms` to compare ROM data found through that build's configured paths with expected names, sizes, and hashes. A player repairing one authorized title almost always starts with the targeted ROM audit.
Do this in order
- 01
Record the Android port, exact upstream MAME revision, target short name, and lawful source of the files being checked.
- 02
If one game will not start, run the port's targeted ROM audit or the documented equivalent of `<shortname> -verifyroms`.
- 03
Save every named missing or incorrect item and distinguish ROM, parent, BIOS, device, and disk dependencies.
- 04
Use `-validate <pattern>` only when checking a driver definition or build change; omit the pattern only when a full internal validation is needed.
- 05
Do not read clean driver validation as proof that local media exists, or a good ROM audit as proof that every driver rule is valid.
- 06
Keep the command, build identifier, path configuration, output, and content-rights receipt together before changing one layer.
Decision and diagnostic table
| Check | What it examines | What a pass does not prove |
|---|---|---|
| `-validate` | Internal drivers and devices | Local ROM availability or rights |
| `<name> -verifyroms` | ROM data visible to this build | CHD health, controls, or permission |
| `-verifyroms *` | All discovered sets in rompath | That an undiscovered archive is absent |
| Android menu audit | Whatever scope the port exposes | Parity with every upstream command |
Validation tests the emulator's model
MAME documents `-validate` as an internal rules check for drivers and devices. It is valuable to maintainers, but it does not walk a user's storage and certify a personal library.
Verification tests the named media contract
A targeted ROM audit asks whether bytes visible through this build's rompath satisfy its definition for the short name. The build and path belong in the evidence because another revision may see a different contract.
Choose the smallest diagnostic
For one failing game, preserve a small audit before scanning an entire library. A narrow result makes missing parents, BIOS sets, device ROMs, and wrong hashes easier to distinguish without inventing a download source.
Neither command grants rights to ROM, BIOS, CHD, artwork, samples, or other game data. Return only to your own dump or an explicitly authorized first-party source.