Emu Loader first search for mame.ini or mycustom_mame_filename.ini in MAME's root folder (same place as .exe file).
If neither is found, then EL look for those files in mamedir\ini\ path.
There is no way EL would crash if you have both files in both MAME root and mamedir\ini sub-folder. I have no idea why EL is crashing in this situation.
Quote: Robbbert: The main mame.ini has only one function: to tell MAME where the "ini" folder is. Then MAME reads ini\mame.ini for all the info it needs.
Emu Loader doesn't support that.
EL does not re-read mame.ini in the mamedir\ini sub-folder if it finds the file in MAME's root folder.