I have a couple of hundred movies that I have edited from the version on the original disk. Typically these involve integrating deleted scenes or creating alternate endings.
No matter what I do I cannot get Kodi to add them to the library.
I've created NFOs for them by using media companion and creating the NFO from the theatrical version then renaming the NFO, title and adjusting the run time and a couple of other details. But Kodi will not add them to the library. I've also tried creating an NFO by hand from scratch.
For example;
Prometheus (2012).mkv
Prometheus Peytons Cut (2012).mkv
Prometheus Extended Cut (2012).mkv
Only the first of these is added to the library. I'm not even getting multiples of Prometheus added to the library where it just adds the scraped metadata to the library. It's only adding the first one.
What am I doing wrong?
thanks
Hi Yanta,
Referring to NFO Files, how have you named them for each of those three movies? What is your folder structure for the three movies?
The theatrical Prometheus has no NFO file. (I did have one when I used Media Companion to generate the NFO; It was renamed to Peytons Cut). As that file scrapes properly, I did not worry about keeping the NFO.
Prometheus Peytons Cut (2012).mkv
Prometheus Peytons Cut (2012).nfo
Prometheus Extended Cut (2012).mkv
Prometheus Extended Cut (2012).nfo
Titles inside NFO are identical to filename without the extension.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, files are stored on the server by Genre. So, this movie is in Science Fiction. All files are in the same folder.
\\192.168.1.1\movies\science fiction\Prometheus Peytons Cut (2012).mkv
\\192.168.1.1\movies\science fiction\Prometheus Peytons Cut (2012).nfo
\\192.168.1.1\movies\science fiction\Prometheus Extended Cut (2012).mkv
\\192.168.1.1\movies\science fiction\Prometheus Extended Cut (2012).nfo
\\192.168.1.1\movies\science fiction\Promenteus (2012).mkv
Could you try to scan them again and post the
Debug Log thanks. Make sure you have enabled debug mode in settings.
(2018-05-11, 06:38)Yanta Wrote: [ -> ]So, this movie is in Science Fiction. All files are in the same folder.
I'm just curious... Was this type of (sub)division ever recommended to you by someone, or did you yourself have a bright idea at some moment in time?
@
Yanta
Just tested your scenario and it worked for me. I scraped the original movie, then exported my library to obtain the nfo file. Copied the nfo file for the other two versions and renamed the filename and <title>. Then scanned remaining two movies.
See image with an inlay of my file naming. The
Debug Log should show why it is not working for you.
(2018-05-11, 07:27)Klojum Wrote: [ -> ] (2018-05-11, 06:38)Yanta Wrote: [ -> ]So, this movie is in Science Fiction. All files are in the same folder.
I'm just curious... Was this type of (sub)division ever recommended to you by someone, or did you yourself have a bright idea at some moment in time?
This system was set up in 1999. Originally we used VLC as our Movie player, Which later changed to PotPlayer as VLC was unstable and had lots of lag and stuttering issues.
We used MovieLabel as our library, but that program has more bugs and issues than Windows 10.
No one wanted 3,500 movies in the root, and as the content outgrew the single disk boundaries, the contents had to be split over several disks, necessitating some form of grouping. The only other grouping considered was by year, but Genre was overwhelmingly preferred
I did try joining disks and RAID configurations, but these were less than ideal.
The server is now 10 x 10GB NAS drives in a Windows 2012 R2 server.
Kodi came onto the scene in March 2017 (On a test system), and only went live in April 2018.
pastebin...
https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/hD4gxyyMvy/
The first time I tried the log said that there was no information for the movie when it tried to scrape tmdb.com despite the presence of the nfo file.
All subsequent attempts to get the file into the library show "No change" in Science Fiction folder, as you will see from the kodi.log.
I deleted the nfo. Updated the library. Pasted a new nfo with slightly modified contents and updated the library.
It will not add the movie.
Your issue may be one with " using media companion " and might indicate some sort of incongruity along with the lack of 'cleaning' the library. Kodi keeps it's own library look-up in the database that is not conviently user available. Deleting the .nfo in a folder does not change the information in the library. In a scrape, the target folder is searched for previous meta-data and if Kodi doesn't like what it sees (prehaps it's here media companion is slightly non-standard and that information gets ignored) the scrape will then go online with the default set scraper and looking at your nominclature it's likely that the scrape will fail. All versions of the same movie, should be named as found in the web database of the default scraper. So three ' Promenteus (date) ' files will scrape the same with the same title (you'll have to manually edit the title after the scrape), you can post edit a .nfo after exporting, then a lcoal re-scrape will pull the edit back into the library as edit.
Suggest to start fresh with these files, pull them out completly, clean the library in settings and ensure the files are gone. Re-add the folders titled as Promenteus (2012), ensure your scraper is up-to-date, with the movie in focus in file view scrape each manually. Exit file view and enter 'recently added' re-title. done. Note: once a listing is in the library, the log will indicate "No change" and bypass, there is no internal re-examination.
A little experiment with the media companion manager might disclose if Kodi is working well with 3rd party created .nfo material or not.
Nothing shows in the log, which means we can't start debugging it.
As @
PatK suggested, it is more than likely your nfo files that are the problem. Once you have carried out procedure suggested by PatK you might want to follow my method of creating the nfo files as stated in my previous post.
As you are on Windows, you should consider installing a Portable version of Kodi. This Portable version can be your test library. You can break this test library as much as you want, because it won't affect the main library. Once broken, just delete the Roaming\Kodi folder and start again. I have 5 portable versions installed on my test computer, - v17.6, UWP, a couple of v18 nightlies and a music PR version at the moment. They all work happily without interfering with each other. This is a Window feature only.
https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_Ko...table_Mode
Once you have the Portable version installed, scrape the movie Prometheus into the Library. Then Export to separate files to get the NFO. This is a perfectly generated NFO. Now copy and modify the nfo files for the other versions and try scanning into the library. If it works, then you know Media Companion is not generating compatible nfo files.
@
PatK - I cleaned my library a couple of days ago.
I also manually created the NFO from scratch without using Media Companion.
Re-add the folders titled as Promenteus (2012),
It looks like you're suggesting the movies are in separate folders for each movie. This is not the case. Remember, this content is used by almost a dozen people, most of whom are NOT using Kodi.
I'll give it a try.
@Karrellan
I have a test PC set up for just such uses. I'll refresh it from a Pre-Kodi install and test as you have suggested.
Step by step:
1. Add your .nfo for your file, making sure that it the exact same name as your video. Add it to the same path as your video.
2. Go to Videos > Files > path to your file, pull up the context menu and set content. If your file has already been scanned to your library then open the info for that file ("I" on a keyboard or long press Enter or Select on a remote and select "Information"). Select "Refresh" and when it asks "Locally stored information found. Ignore and refresh from internet?" select No.
Both Thor:Ragnarok's are the same file, one has just been renamed "Director's Cut and had the .nfo modified.
To keep from having to create a .nfo for your alternate files, use the export library feature then copy the .nfo from one of the files by the same name, rename it and then modify it.
" I cleaned my library a couple of days ago. " everytime you want to correct the library, you should do a clean.
" It looks like you're suggesting the movies are in separate folders for each movie. This is not the case. " Yup, naming 3 movies the same isn't going to work in a flat file structure and that's why the odd titles don't scrape. In the long run, it would be advisable for each movie to have it's own folder (if you have a lot, I have a batch file that will automate, or TheReanmer would work well). It doesn't matter if the .nfo are created with MC or manually the hard way, if they're not compatable; Kodi will grab the meta-database material and ignore the .nfo in the flat file.
(2018-05-13, 02:02)PatK Wrote: [ -> ]" I cleaned my library a couple of days ago. " everytime you want to correct the library, you should do a clean.
" It looks like you're suggesting the movies are in separate folders for each movie. This is not the case. " Yup, naming 3 movies the same isn't going to work in a flat file structure and that's why the odd titles don't scrape. In the long run, it would be advisable for each movie to have it's own folder (if you have a lot, I have a batch file that will automate, or TheReanmer would work well). It doesn't matter if the .nfo are created with MC or manually the hard way, if they're not compatable; Kodi will grab the meta-database material and ignore the .nfo in the flat file.
Then I need to find an alternative solution.
Having 3,500 movies (including various versions of the same movie, plus thousands of episodes of TV shows and Documentaries in a folder for each will drive people here insane trying to find something. As I said, there are only 4 Kodi installs here, and at the peak, 12 PCs, laptops and tablets. 3,000+ folders with absolutely no grouping.... <shudder>
Ok, how about this... I set up a volume on the server with symbolic links to each media item. I can write a program to automate the creation of said links and individual folders.
Assuming Kodi works with Symbolic Links? Since Symbolic links occupy no space, I don't need a big volume...
In this way I can then have the 1 folder per movie structure you recommend.
Of course, I'll have to build my library from scratch again.. But that's only about 3 - 4 days work.
@
Yanta
Before overhauling your library, lets just figure out if it is simply your nfo files and what is wrong with them.
What you are trying to do should work whether it is in Movie Folders or Movies in one folder. If you overhaul your library as indicated... you haven't solved the problem so you will more than likely just encounter the problem again.