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RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2020-03-24

(2020-03-24, 07:10)dmakk Wrote: I just installed the update, and I assume the 1G1R mode is what allowed me to click on a parent and view the parent and all of the clones, because the PCLONE mode just launches the parent. Is this mode or some substitute coming back at some point, or is it permanently gone? I personally used the 1G1R mode to treat parents like game collection, and I'd have the games in a series listed as clones. It'd be pretty disappointing if that functionality stays gone.

Fear nothing, in my setup I also use this feature a lot (I have a full No-Intro ROM set more or less complete in PCLONE mode). The PCLONE and the 1G1R display modes were identical, the only difference being that if you were in 1G1R mode and you click on a game the game launched. In 1G1R mode, to access the clones you had to use the context menu. In PCLONE mode, on the other hand, if you click on a parent you entered the list of clones and from there you can launch either the parent or the clones. What I have done is to eliminate the PCLONE mode and renamed 1G1R to PCLONE mode. This way AEL and AML unifies behavior. The reason to do this is to simplify the addon a bit because most people using the PCLONE mode will want to launch the parent ROM and occasionally have a look a the clones I think. Also, if you want to fully browse your collection you can temporarily set the launcher to FLAT mode and see al the ROMs in one list.

Also, for AEL 0.9.10 I plan to separate the ROM audit code from the PClone code. This will allow to use the PCLONE mode even if you have no DAT files. I am working now on a bullet-proof No-Intro filename parser and other changes in the database. This also will be beneficial to determine the ROM region so the scrapers (especially ScreenScraper) will download the correct regional Boxfront/Boxback/Cartridge for every ROM (currently the user chooses the preferred region for all ROMs in the PClone set).

You have some information in the NOTES file in Github. If you wish, please have a read and tell me any comment or feature suggestion you may have.

EDIT: also, recently I discovered the fantastic world of translation and hacked ROMs. For example, fan translations in Spanish of some Japan-exclusive games like SNES Star Ocean. Until know, those ROMs were not given the love they deserved by AEL and that will change soon. Current AEL supports the EXTRA ROMs folder to place translations/hacks that will not be audited. AEL 0.9.10 will allow to override the DAT files so you can create an NFO file to place the translated/hacked ROM in the correct PCLONE set.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - dmakk - 2020-03-24

(2020-03-24, 10:15)Wintermute0110 Wrote:
(2020-03-24, 07:10)dmakk Wrote: I just installed the update, and I assume the 1G1R mode is what allowed me to click on a parent and view the parent and all of the clones, because the PCLONE mode just launches the parent. Is this mode or some substitute coming back at some point, or is it permanently gone? I personally used the 1G1R mode to treat parents like game collection, and I'd have the games in a series listed as clones. It'd be pretty disappointing if that functionality stays gone.

Fear nothing, in my setup I also use this feature a lot (I have a full No-Intro ROM set more or less complete in PCLONE mode). The PCLONE and the 1G1R display modes were identical, the only difference being that if you were in 1G1R mode and you click on a game the game launched. In 1G1R mode, to access the clones you had to use the context menu. In PCLONE mode, on the other hand, if you click on a parent you entered the list of clones and from there you can launch either the parent or the clones. What I have done is to eliminate the PCLONE mode and renamed 1G1R to PCLONE mode. This way AEL and AML unifies behavior. The reason to do this is to simplify the addon a bit because most people using the PCLONE mode will want to launch the parent ROM and occasionally have a look a the clones I think. Also, if you want to fully browse your collection you can temporarily set the launcher to FLAT mode and see al the ROMs in one list.

Ok, I was confused. I used the PCLONE mode that was eliminated from the current version of AEL. Is this something that could be added back as a menu option for PCLONE mode behavior? In the meantime, I'll just revert back to 0.9.8.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2020-03-24

(2020-03-24, 12:22)dmakk Wrote:
(2020-03-24, 10:15)Wintermute0110 Wrote:
(2020-03-24, 07:10)dmakk Wrote: I just installed the update, and I assume the 1G1R mode is what allowed me to click on a parent and view the parent and all of the clones, because the PCLONE mode just launches the parent. Is this mode or some substitute coming back at some point, or is it permanently gone? I personally used the 1G1R mode to treat parents like game collection, and I'd have the games in a series listed as clones. It'd be pretty disappointing if that functionality stays gone.

Fear nothing, in my setup I also use this feature a lot (I have a full No-Intro ROM set more or less complete in PCLONE mode). The PCLONE and the 1G1R display modes were identical, the only difference being that if you were in 1G1R mode and you click on a game the game launched. In 1G1R mode, to access the clones you had to use the context menu. In PCLONE mode, on the other hand, if you click on a parent you entered the list of clones and from there you can launch either the parent or the clones. What I have done is to eliminate the PCLONE mode and renamed 1G1R to PCLONE mode. This way AEL and AML unifies behavior. The reason to do this is to simplify the addon a bit because most people using the PCLONE mode will want to launch the parent ROM and occasionally have a look a the clones I think. Also, if you want to fully browse your collection you can temporarily set the launcher to FLAT mode and see al the ROMs in one list.

Ok, I was confused. I used the PCLONE mode that was eliminated from the current version of AEL. Is this something that could be added back as a menu option for PCLONE mode behavior? In the meantime, I'll just revert back to 0.9.8.

If you desperately need the feature I can bring it back. I though people will like this change because AML users have not complained. Just to be clear:

a) In current PCLONE mode, when you click on a ROM you want it to be launched or enter the PCLONE group?

b) Do you frequently change between former PCLONE and 1G1R modes?

c) Do you want to roll back to old behaviour or do you think it is better to keep things as they are now and create a new setting "Launch parent in PCLONE display mode" If this setting is ON parent will be launched and the PCLONE group can be entered with the context menu. If the setting is OFF then when you click on the parent you enter the PCLONE group and you can launch ROMs from there. In both cases the context menu "Show clone ROMs" in the Parent ROM will be there.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Jachin99 - 2020-03-28

@Wintermute0110 I have added some games to a few different launchers/collections but I think screenscraper kept returning an error when I scraped the roms for cover art the first time.  Is there a simple way to tell AEL to rescrape for all metadata for a given launcher?  Right now I can edit each rom, and rescrape but I have to do that for each individual boxfront, fanart, etc.  I'm looking for a way to to just rescrape everything.  Also I noticed that when I add Local steam games by creating a windows lnk launcher, and scan for roms I don't get any metadata or art regardless of which platform I use.  Is there something I should be doing differently?  Thanks.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - myghalloween - 2020-03-28

Hi @Wintermute0110 
Does this new version fix the command line bug with the Demul emulator?


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - eirrocmh - 2020-03-29

(2016-08-22, 16:47)Wintermute0110 Wrote:
Image
Welcome to Advanced Emulator Launcher

Advanced Emulator Launcher is a multi-emulator front-end for Kodi scalable to collections of thousands of ROMs. Includes offline scrapers for MAME and No-Intro ROM sets and also supports scrapping ROM metadata and artwork online. ROM auditing for No-Intro ROMs using No-Intro XML DATs. Launching of games and standalone applications is also available.

Features
  • Runs ANY Windows, Linux, Android, and OS X Application.
  • Populate thousands of ROMs metadata within minutes with powerful offline scrapers. The offline scraper for MAME is custom made (based on MAME XML database and Catver by AntoPISA) and other platforms use Billyc999 GameDBInfo.
  • Online metadata & artwork scrapers for ScreenScraper, TheGamesDB, MobyGames and Arcade Database.
  • Optimized for blistering speed and efficiency.
  • Highly scalable in accommodating vast libraries without compromising performance.
  • Solid reliability. AEL maintains launcher integrity and completely eliminates the XML database corruption issues with Advanced Launcher.
  • Expanded artwork & asset support including titles, snaps, clearlogos, banners, trailers, boxfronts, boxback, manuals, and more.
  • ROM auditing for No-Intro ROMs using No-Intro or Redump XML DATs.
  • Parent/Clone view mode and 1 game 1 ROM (1G1R) Launcher display modes.
  • Organise and unify all your treasured titles with the special in-built Favourites category.
  • ROM Collections: Bring together all the games from a series that spans over various years and systems.
  • Virtual Launchers: Allows for browsing collections by Name, Studio, Genre, Year and Category.
  • Display the most played ROMs.
  • Display the last played ROMs.
Advanced MAME Launcher or Advanced Emulator Launcher?

Why two different addons capable of launching MAME? Should I use Advanced MAME Launcher or Advanced Emulator Launcher? The answer is that you can use both!
 
  • AML is much easier to configure than AEL. AEL is a general launcher whereas AML is tailored specifically for MAME.
  • AEL only shows the MAME ROMs you have. As opposed, AML shows every single MAME machine, even the ones you don't have the ROMs for.
  • AML includes a set of powerful Machine/ROM filters that makes navigation of MAME and Software Lists easy and convenient.

AML and AEL have been designed to work in tandem to enrich the retrogaming experience for Kodi users.

Installation & DownloadsImage

Current Stable Version is release 0.9.9. If you are upgrading AEL make sure you read the release notes before installing the new version. You have the links to the release notes at the end of this post. AEL supports Kodi Krypton and Kodi Leia.

Development builds are also available from GitHub by clicking HERE. Make sure you install the release-0.9.8 branch and not master.

IMPORTANT AEL currently works in Kodi Leia and Kodi Krypton. It does not work on Kodi Matrix. The reason is that Leia uses Python 2 and Matrix uses Python 3. Once Kodi Matrix reaches the release candidate level I will create an AEL version specifically for Python 3.

IMPORTANT Note that the current development build (future release 0.10.0) in master branch is highly unstable due to a big code refactoring taking place. No support is provided at all for development builds.

WARNING Advanced Emulator Launcher is currently under active development and is offered as a public beta. Until version 1.0.0 is released, storage of metadata, assets, and naming conventions may be subject to change.

Getting Started

Instructions for Advanced Emulator Launcher usage are available from the GitHub Wiki. Currently the status of the wiki is not great and I will update/improve its contents as soon as possible.

A Getting Started tutorial is available here.

How to configure a LNK ROM launcher in WindowsHow to use AEL to launch Retroarch in LibreELEC with a wrapper script to close and reopen KodiExplanation of AEL ROM assets and how they are mapped to Kodi standard assetsAEL Metadata and Asset scrapers demystifiedHow to use AEL to launch a comic/magazine readerThe AEL Asset Library

The Advanced Emulator Launcher asset library has been designed to help you in the process of setting up your Kodi retrogaming library. The Library is available in Github. Currently, the library includes the following items:
 
  • Category and Launcher metadata in NFO format.
  • Category and Launcher assets, including Icons, Fanarts, Banners, Clearlogos, Posters and Controllers.
  • Launcher (emulator) configurations in XML for Linux, Windows and Android platforms. The included configurations are mainly for vanilla MAME and Retroarch.

There are several ways to use the library:

1. If you use the Launcher creation wizard to create your launchers (context menu "Create New Launcher"), you can have a look at the XML files to know the arguments you need to setup the emulators. Later, you can fill the metadata and assets of your category launchers using the context menu and browsing to the assets in the library. It is recommended that you install the library in a directory readily accessible in your media center.

2. You can use the XML configuration files to import into AEL any Category or Launcher. For Categories, the XML file defines the metadata and assets. For Launchers, the XML file defines the Launcher metadata, assets and the emulator parameters (aka the arguments). To import an XML file, go to AEL Utilities section in the root window, then select "Import XML configuration" and browse to the location of the XML file. You can import more than one XML file in one go. Remember to change the ROM path, asset path and application path in the XML before importing. I recommend that you create a directory where you place the edited XML files suited for your setup.

After importing an XML configuration file, if you discover some mistake or want to change some settings, simply edit the XML configuration file and reimport it again. When asked about overwriting the category/launcher say yes. You can reimport categories/launchers as many times as you want until you are totally satisfied with your setup.

The recommended way of setting up AEL is by using XML files. Users with a large number of Launchers (say, more than 10) will find the Launcher creation wizard slow and tedious, where the creation and editing of XML files is much faster and less prone to mistakes. Moreover, having a set of XML files with your emulator configuration will serve as a backup in the event that you have to rebuild your media center emulator setup for some reason (emulator upgrade, AEL addon upgrade, Kodi upgrade, hard disk crash, etc.).

Contributions to the AEL Asset Library, in the form of new assets or XML Launcher examples, are welcomed and encouraged.

Skin Support

AEL supports all Kodi skins including Confluence for Jarvis and Estuary for Krypton or higher. However, what metadata and art assets that can be presented to the user is entirely skin dependent thus different skins may yield different visual results. As AEL is an evolution of Advanced Launcher, any skin which provides support for the latter will actually support both. Currently, there are no skins which fully support the new changes introduced into AEL though some skins / views with robust support for Advanced Launcher presently exist. This is anticipated to change shortly as skin developers become familiar with AEL.

List of skins with Advanced Emulator Launcher support:

This is a very incomplete list of skins with AEL/AML support. If you want to add a skin or find an error here let me know.
 
  • Lyrebird by Rufoo (Kodi Krypton and Kodi Leia).
  • Arctic: Zephyr 2 by Jurialmunkey (Kodi Leia).
  • Aura by Jurialmunkey (Kodi Leia).
  • Estuary AEL MOD (see second post of this thread) by Wintermute0110 (Kodi Leia and Krypton).
  • Citris by Ruffo (Kodi Krypton, development stalled).
  • Arctic: Zephyr Plus by Kodser (Kodi Krypton, not developed any more).
  • Confluence AEL MOD by Wintermute0110 (Kodi Krypton) (deprecated, see second post of this thread).

If you find a skin with good AEL support and it's not in this list please let me know to update the list.

Getting Artwork for Games / ROMsIMPORTANT It is strongly recommended that your ROMs follow the No-Intro naming scheme. The AEL Offline scraper, most online scrapers and the vast majority of online game databases follow this standard. Most emulator asset websites also follow this standard, which means that the artwork image file names will match your ROMs only if they have the correct file name. There are tools, called ROM managers, that verify the integrity of your ROMs and also rename them to the correct name.

Although AEL incorporates online scrapers that will download artwork for your ROMs, due to the large number of artwork pieces it is recommended that you get whole artwork collections, specifically, if you have launchers with many ROMs. These are some places you can download artwork to use with AEL.
 
  • EmuMovies: The most complete emulation asset site on the net (excluding MAME). *Registration Required*
  • HyperSpin Media: Forum for HyperSpin users containing artpacks. Clearlogos are called 'Wheels' in HyperSpin parlance. *Registration Required*
  • Libretro Thumbnails: The Libretro Thumbnail collection of Boxfront, Titles, and Snaps. Most of them have been scraped from TheGamesDB. You can use the Online Updater in Retroarch to download the assets and them copy them to the AEL artwork directories. Alternatively, you can download the zipped artwork packs here.
  • Internet Archive: The Internet Archive is full of treasures! Make sure you do a comprehensive search!
  • Progretto Snaps MAME Artwork: The definitive place in the universe for MAME (and Software Lists) assets.
Notes to Advanced Launcher Users

Both AEL and Advanced Launcher can coexist on the same Kodi installation.
 
Since release 0.9.8, AEL does not support any more the import of AL launchers.xml. This is because AL and AEL have diverged much and the importing process created more problems that it solved. It is recommended that you rebuild your setup in AEL using XML configuration files, creating new AEL artwork directories and moving your AL Icons and Fanarts to the corresponding artwork directories in AEL.

Bugs & Feature Requests

You can ask for feature requests in this thread or directly on GitHub.

If you find a bug or Kodi shows an error in AEL you can report it in this thread or in GitHub. In your report try to be descriptive about the problem and the steps you do that cause it. Also, report your operating system, Kodi version and AEL version. If AEL crashes it is very important that you post a debug log in order to locate the cause of the bug so I can fix it. To generate a debug log, unless otherwise told, follow these steps:
 
  • In Kodi Settings, turn Kodi debug log OFF.
  • In AEL addon settings, go to "I/O" tab and set the "Log level" option to DEBUG.
  • Reproduce the bug.
  • Put your Kodi log file in paste.kodi.tv.

You can use the Kodi Logfile Uploader addon to help with the log upload process. Thanks to Ronie for this fine addon.

Known issues
  1. The offline scraper does not contain yet databases for all platforms. You can see the list of currently supported platforms here.
  2. Multi-disc ROM support is far from perfect and needs some code refactoring.
Release history (and release notes)
  1. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.9
  2. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.8
  3. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.8-beta1
  4. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.7
  5. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.7-beta2
  6. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.7-beta1
  7. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.6
  8. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.6-beta1
  9. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.5
  10. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.5-beta2
  11. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.5-beta1
  12. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.4
  13. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.3
  14. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.2
  15. Advanced Emulator Launcher 0.9.1
 
I noticed when scraping metadata from the online sources that it does not save or remember the metadata after scanning your launcher for new roms. Sure you can click on each one missing the meta and press the "use from cache" option, but thats a pain and takes too long if you have many roms. Hopefully the metadata you scrape from online can just be saved even after doing a new scan for added roms, much like the artwork you scrape from online stays in place even after a new scan.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2020-03-29

(2020-03-29, 07:37)eirrocmh Wrote: I noticed when scraping metadata from the online sources that it does not save or remember the metadata after scanning your launcher for new roms. Sure you can click on each one missing the meta and press the "use from cache" option, but thats a pain and takes too long if you have many roms. Hopefully the metadata you scrape from online can just be saved even after doing a new scan for added roms, much like the artwork you scrape from online stays in place even after a new scan.

All metadata from all online scrapers is cached on disk. The ROM scanner always uses the cache if available. When scraping manually you are given the option to use the cache or rescrape, the scanner always uses the cache. If your ROMs have the same filename and platform, and you rescan you launcher, AEL will use the cached metadata always. Note that to refresh the metadata of your ROMs first you have to delete them from the Launcher, then rescan. The scanner does not modify the ROMs already in the launcher. In other words, the scanner does the following: 1) first delete dead ROMs (filename not found), 2) For every filename, if it is already in AEL DB database skip it, 3) If not then scrape and add to the AEL DB.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2020-03-30

(2020-03-28, 17:57)Jachin99 Wrote: I have added some games to a few different launchers/collections but I think screenscraper kept returning an error when I scraped the roms for cover art the first time.  Is there a simple way to tell AEL to rescrape for all metadata for a given launcher? Right now I can edit each rom, and rescrape but I have to do that for each individual boxfront, fanart, etc. I'm looking for a way to to just rescrape everything.

Right now you have to delete the ROMs from the Launcher and then rescan again. See the explanation in the previous post. The scanner will use the scraper cached information and will download any missing artwork if it is available online.

(2020-03-28, 17:57)Jachin99 Wrote: Also I noticed that when I add Local steam games by creating a windows lnk launcher, and scan for roms I don't get any metadata or art regardless of which platform I use.  Is there something I should be doing differently?  Thanks.

I haven't tested that particular case. Give me some time to have a look, I will create a fake LNK launcher to test in one of my dev machines.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2020-03-30

(2020-03-28, 21:51)myghalloween Wrote: Hi @Wintermute0110 
Does this new version fix the command line bug with the Demul emulator?

I have not tested that yet, sorry. I will do it ASAP.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Jachin99 - 2020-04-01

I was able to rescan for metadata from the edit rom context menu if I remember correctly.  Thanks for looking into the the steam thing as well.  I started kodi the other day and noticed I now receive an error message about one of my launchers.  The same error message tells me to report it as a bug so here is a log.  https://pastebin.com/sFh9bEUb


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2020-04-03

(2020-04-01, 03:05)Jachin99 Wrote: I was able to rescan for metadata from the edit rom context menu if I remember correctly.  Thanks for looking into the the steam thing as well.  I started kodi the other day and noticed I now receive an error message about one of my launchers.  The same error message tells me to report it as a bug so here is a log.  https://pastebin.com/sFh9bEUb

Please disable Kodi debug in Kodi settings and enabled AEL debug in AEL settings. The log is very difficult to read because Kodi Debug is ON and the amount of information is overwhelming. Once you upload a new log I will have a look at the problem.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Jachin99 - 2020-04-04

(2020-04-03, 10:54)Wintermute0110 Wrote:
(2020-04-01, 03:05)Jachin99 Wrote: I was able to rescan for metadata from the edit rom context menu if I remember correctly.  Thanks for looking into the the steam thing as well.  I started kodi the other day and noticed I now receive an error message about one of my launchers.  The same error message tells me to report it as a bug so here is a log.  https://pastebin.com/sFh9bEUb

Please disable Kodi debug in Kodi settings and enabled AEL debug in AEL settings. The log is very difficult to read because Kodi Debug is ON and the amount of information is overwhelming. Once you upload a new log I will have a look at the problem. 
Here is a new paste, thanks https://pastebin.com/z5b5Bb90


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2020-04-06

(2020-04-04, 05:23)Jachin99 Wrote:
(2020-04-03, 10:54)Wintermute0110 Wrote:
(2020-04-01, 03:05)Jachin99 Wrote: I was able to rescan for metadata from the edit rom context menu if I remember correctly.  Thanks for looking into the the steam thing as well.  I started kodi the other day and noticed I now receive an error message about one of my launchers.  The same error message tells me to report it as a bug so here is a log.  https://pastebin.com/sFh9bEUb

Please disable Kodi debug in Kodi settings and enabled AEL debug in AEL settings. The log is very difficult to read because Kodi Debug is ON and the amount of information is overwhelming. Once you upload a new log I will have a look at the problem. 
Here is a new paste, thanks https://pastebin.com/z5b5Bb90

OK, I can see the error now, however I cannot determine what caused it. Can you please post the file KODI_USERDATA/addon_data/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/categories.xml? You can find the KODI_USERDATA directory here.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Jachin99 - 2020-04-06

Here it is
xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<advanced_emulator_launcher version="1">
<control>
  <update_timestamp>1585529572.5</update_timestamp>
</control>
<category>
  <id>e3a6e66571b4916a61cca336208328bc</id>
  <m_name>Nintendo</m_name>
  <m_year />
  <m_genre>Company</m_genre>
  <m_developer />
  <m_rating />
  <m_plot>Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and software company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo is the world&apos;s largest video game company by revenue. Founded on September 23, 1889, by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as cab services and love hotels. Abandoning previous ventures in favor of toys in the 1960s, Nintendo then developed into a video game company in the 1970s, ultimately becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan&apos;s third most-valuable company with a market value of over $85 billion. Nintendo of America is also the majority owner of Major League Baseball&apos;s Seattle Mariners. The word Nintendo can be roughly translated from Japanese to English as &quot;leave luck to heaven&quot;. As of March 31, 2014, Nintendo has cumulative sales of over 670.43 million hardware units and 4.23 billion software units. The company has created some of the most well known and best-selling video game franchises in the industry, including Mario and The Legend of Zelda, among others.</m_plot>
  <finished>False</finished>
  <default_icon>s_icon</default_icon>
  <default_fanart>s_fanart</default_fanart>
  <default_banner>s_banner</default_banner>
  <default_poster>s_poster</default_poster>
  <default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</default_clearlogo>
  <Asset_Prefix>../Category assets/Nintendo</Asset_Prefix>
  <s_icon />
  <s_fanart />
  <s_banner />
  <s_poster />
  <s_clearlogo />
  <s_trailer />
</category>
<category>
  <id>5558a3bcae42557d13b90e375d5f0d3f</id>
  <m_name>PC Games</m_name>
  <m_year />
  <m_genre />
  <m_developer />
  <m_rating />
  <m_plot />
  <finished>False</finished>
  <default_icon>s_icon</default_icon>
  <default_fanart>s_fanart</default_fanart>
  <default_banner>s_banner</default_banner>
  <default_poster>s_poster</default_poster>
  <default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</default_clearlogo>
  <Asset_Prefix />
  <s_icon>special://profile/addon_data\plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher\asset-categories\PC Games_555_icon.jpg</s_icon>
  <s_fanart>special://profile/addon_data\plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher\asset-categories\PC Games_555_fanart.jpg</s_fanart>
  <s_banner />
  <s_poster />
  <s_clearlogo />
  <s_trailer />
</category>
<category>
  <id>0fe1fcc057c0726055b7e07c409199d4</id>
  <m_name>Sega</m_name>
  <m_year />
  <m_genre />
  <m_developer />
  <m_rating />
  <m_plot />
  <finished>False</finished>
  <default_icon>s_icon</default_icon>
  <default_fanart>s_fanart</default_fanart>
  <default_banner>s_banner</default_banner>
  <default_poster>s_poster</default_poster>
  <default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</default_clearlogo>
  <Asset_Prefix />
  <s_icon />
  <s_fanart />
  <s_banner />
  <s_poster />
  <s_clearlogo />
  <s_trailer />
</category>
<launcher>
  <id>e7bfa3522063b098a1810db2117204a4</id>
  <m_name>Computer Games</m_name>
  <m_year />
  <m_genre />
  <m_developer />
  <m_rating />
  <m_plot />
  <platform>Microsoft Windows</platform>
  <categoryID>5558a3bcae42557d13b90e375d5f0d3f</categoryID>
  <application>lnk_launcher_app</application>
  <args>%rom%</args>
  <rompath>F:\PC Games\Steam\</rompath>
  <romext>lnk|url</romext>
  <romextrapath />
  <finished>False</finished>
  <toggle_window>False</toggle_window>
  <non_blocking>False</non_blocking>
  <multidisc>True</multidisc>
  <roms_base_noext>roms_PC_Games_Computer_Games_e7bfa3</roms_base_noext>
  <audit_state>Audit OFF</audit_state>
  <audit_auto_dat_file />
  <audit_custom_dat_file />
  <audit_display_mode>All ROMs</audit_display_mode>
  <launcher_display_mode>Flat mode</launcher_display_mode>
  <num_roms>6</num_roms>
  <num_parents>0</num_parents>
  <num_clones>0</num_clones>
  <num_have>0</num_have>
  <num_miss>0</num_miss>
  <num_unknown>0</num_unknown>
  <num_extra>0</num_extra>
  <timestamp_launcher>1585454813.45</timestamp_launcher>
  <timestamp_report>1585443390.29</timestamp_report>
  <default_icon>s_icon</default_icon>
  <default_fanart>s_fanart</default_fanart>
  <default_banner>s_banner</default_banner>
  <default_poster>s_poster</default_poster>
  <default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</default_clearlogo>
  <default_controller>s_controller</default_controller>
  <Asset_Prefix />
  <s_icon />
  <s_fanart />
  <s_banner />
  <s_poster />
  <s_clearlogo />
  <s_controller />
  <s_trailer />
  <roms_default_icon>s_boxfront</roms_default_icon>
  <roms_default_fanart>s_fanart</roms_default_fanart>
  <roms_default_banner>s_banner</roms_default_banner>
  <roms_default_poster>s_flyer</roms_default_poster>
  <roms_default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</roms_default_clearlogo>
  <ROM_asset_path />
  <path_3dbox>F:\PC Games\Steam\3dboxes</path_3dbox>
  <path_title>F:\PC Games\Steam\titles</path_title>
  <path_snap>F:\PC Games\Steam\snaps</path_snap>
  <path_boxfront>F:\PC Games\Steam\boxfronts</path_boxfront>
  <path_boxback>F:\PC Games\Steam\boxbacks</path_boxback>
  <path_cartridge>F:\PC Games\Steam\cartridges</path_cartridge>
  <path_fanart>F:\PC Games\Steam\fanarts</path_fanart>
  <path_banner>F:\PC Games\Steam\banners</path_banner>
  <path_clearlogo>F:\PC Games\Steam\clearlogos</path_clearlogo>
  <path_flyer>F:\PC Games\Steam\flyers</path_flyer>
  <path_map>F:\PC Games\Steam\maps</path_map>
  <path_manual>F:\PC Games\Steam\manuals</path_manual>
  <path_trailer>F:\PC Games\Steam\trailers</path_trailer>
</launcher>
<launcher>
  <id>c2ad477861a0bacaa0b3694cfbf158e8</id>
  <m_name>Nintendo Entertainment System</m_name>
  <m_year />
  <m_genre />
  <m_developer />
  <m_rating />
  <m_plot />
  <platform>Nintendo NES</platform>
  <categoryID>e3a6e66571b4916a61cca336208328bc</categoryID>
  <application>retroplayer_launcher_app</application>
  <args>%rom%</args>
  <rompath>F:\Game Files\NES\</rompath>
  <romext>nes</romext>
  <romextrapath />
  <finished>False</finished>
  <toggle_window>False</toggle_window>
  <non_blocking>False</non_blocking>
  <multidisc>True</multidisc>
  <roms_base_noext>roms_Nintendo_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_c2ad47</roms_base_noext>
  <audit_state>Audit OFF</audit_state>
  <audit_auto_dat_file />
  <audit_custom_dat_file />
  <audit_display_mode>All ROMs</audit_display_mode>
  <launcher_display_mode>Flat mode</launcher_display_mode>
  <num_roms>24</num_roms>
  <num_parents>0</num_parents>
  <num_clones>0</num_clones>
  <num_have>0</num_have>
  <num_miss>0</num_miss>
  <num_unknown>0</num_unknown>
  <num_extra>0</num_extra>
  <timestamp_launcher>1585529572.5</timestamp_launcher>
  <timestamp_report>0.0</timestamp_report>
  <default_icon>s_icon</default_icon>
  <default_fanart>s_fanart</default_fanart>
  <default_banner>s_banner</default_banner>
  <default_poster>s_poster</default_poster>
  <default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</default_clearlogo>
  <default_controller>s_controller</default_controller>
  <Asset_Prefix />
  <s_icon />
  <s_fanart />
  <s_banner />
  <s_poster />
  <s_clearlogo />
  <s_controller />
  <s_trailer />
  <roms_default_icon>s_boxfront</roms_default_icon>
  <roms_default_fanart>s_fanart</roms_default_fanart>
  <roms_default_banner>s_banner</roms_default_banner>
  <roms_default_poster>s_flyer</roms_default_poster>
  <roms_default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</roms_default_clearlogo>
  <ROM_asset_path />
  <path_3dbox>F:\Game Files\NES\3dboxes</path_3dbox>
  <path_title>F:\Game Files\NES\titles</path_title>
  <path_snap>F:\Game Files\NES\snaps</path_snap>
  <path_boxfront>F:\Game Files\NES\boxfronts</path_boxfront>
  <path_boxback>F:\Game Files\NES\boxbacks</path_boxback>
  <path_cartridge>F:\Game Files\NES\cartridges</path_cartridge>
  <path_fanart>F:\Game Files\NES\fanarts</path_fanart>
  <path_banner>F:\Game Files\NES\banners</path_banner>
  <path_clearlogo>F:\Game Files\NES\clearlogos</path_clearlogo>
  <path_flyer>F:\Game Files\NES\flyers</path_flyer>
  <path_map>F:\Game Files\NES\maps</path_map>
  <path_manual>F:\Game Files\NES\manuals</path_manual>
  <path_trailer>F:\Game Files\NES\trailers</path_trailer>
</launcher>
<launcher>
  <id>ff7a5f7a77b76b0f4025bc7acb5fc3b4</id>
  <m_name>Sega Gensis</m_name>
  <m_year />
  <m_genre />
  <m_developer />
  <m_rating />
  <m_plot />
  <platform>Sega Genesis</platform>
  <categoryID>0fe1fcc057c0726055b7e07c409199d4</categoryID>
  <application>retroplayer_launcher_app</application>
  <args>%rom%</args>
  <rompath>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\</rompath>
  <romext>md</romext>
  <romextrapath />
  <finished>False</finished>
  <toggle_window>False</toggle_window>
  <non_blocking>False</non_blocking>
  <multidisc>True</multidisc>
  <roms_base_noext>roms_root_category_Sega_Gensis_ff7a5f</roms_base_noext>
  <audit_state>Audit OFF</audit_state>
  <audit_auto_dat_file />
  <audit_custom_dat_file />
  <audit_display_mode>All ROMs</audit_display_mode>
  <launcher_display_mode>Flat mode</launcher_display_mode>
  <num_roms>21</num_roms>
  <num_parents>0</num_parents>
  <num_clones>0</num_clones>
  <num_have>0</num_have>
  <num_miss>0</num_miss>
  <num_unknown>0</num_unknown>
  <num_extra>0</num_extra>
  <timestamp_launcher>1585445140.67</timestamp_launcher>
  <timestamp_report>0.0</timestamp_report>
  <default_icon>s_icon</default_icon>
  <default_fanart>s_fanart</default_fanart>
  <default_banner>s_banner</default_banner>
  <default_poster>s_poster</default_poster>
  <default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</default_clearlogo>
  <default_controller>s_controller</default_controller>
  <Asset_Prefix />
  <s_icon />
  <s_fanart />
  <s_banner />
  <s_poster />
  <s_clearlogo />
  <s_controller />
  <s_trailer />
  <roms_default_icon>s_boxfront</roms_default_icon>
  <roms_default_fanart>s_fanart</roms_default_fanart>
  <roms_default_banner>s_banner</roms_default_banner>
  <roms_default_poster>s_flyer</roms_default_poster>
  <roms_default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</roms_default_clearlogo>
  <ROM_asset_path />
  <path_3dbox>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\3dboxes</path_3dbox>
  <path_title>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\titles</path_title>
  <path_snap>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\snaps</path_snap>
  <path_boxfront>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\boxfronts</path_boxfront>
  <path_boxback>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\boxbacks</path_boxback>
  <path_cartridge>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\cartridges</path_cartridge>
  <path_fanart>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\fanarts</path_fanart>
  <path_banner>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\banners</path_banner>
  <path_clearlogo>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\clearlogos</path_clearlogo>
  <path_flyer>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\flyers</path_flyer>
  <path_map>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\maps</path_map>
  <path_manual>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\manuals</path_manual>
  <path_trailer>D:\Game Files\Sega_Genesis\trailers</path_trailer>
</launcher>
<launcher>
  <id>26df193b7d53bc5332c066c32f2e6d30</id>
  <m_name>Super Nintendo</m_name>
  <m_year />
  <m_genre />
  <m_developer />
  <m_rating />
  <m_plot />
  <platform>Nintendo SNES</platform>
  <categoryID>e3a6e66571b4916a61cca336208328bc</categoryID>
  <application>retroplayer_launcher_app</application>
  <args>%rom%</args>
  <rompath>F:\Game Files\SNES\</rompath>
  <romext>sfc</romext>
  <romextrapath />
  <finished>False</finished>
  <toggle_window>False</toggle_window>
  <non_blocking>False</non_blocking>
  <multidisc>True</multidisc>
  <roms_base_noext>roms_Nintendo_Super_Nintendo_26df19</roms_base_noext>
  <audit_state>Audit OFF</audit_state>
  <audit_auto_dat_file />
  <audit_custom_dat_file />
  <audit_display_mode>All ROMs</audit_display_mode>
  <launcher_display_mode>Flat mode</launcher_display_mode>
  <num_roms>43</num_roms>
  <num_parents>0</num_parents>
  <num_clones>0</num_clones>
  <num_have>0</num_have>
  <num_miss>0</num_miss>
  <num_unknown>0</num_unknown>
  <num_extra>0</num_extra>
  <timestamp_launcher>1585445140.71</timestamp_launcher>
  <timestamp_report>0.0</timestamp_report>
  <default_icon>s_icon</default_icon>
  <default_fanart>s_fanart</default_fanart>
  <default_banner>s_banner</default_banner>
  <default_poster>s_poster</default_poster>
  <default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</default_clearlogo>
  <default_controller>s_controller</default_controller>
  <Asset_Prefix />
  <s_icon />
  <s_fanart />
  <s_banner />
  <s_poster />
  <s_clearlogo />
  <s_controller />
  <s_trailer />
  <roms_default_icon>s_boxfront</roms_default_icon>
  <roms_default_fanart>s_fanart</roms_default_fanart>
  <roms_default_banner>s_banner</roms_default_banner>
  <roms_default_poster>s_flyer</roms_default_poster>
  <roms_default_clearlogo>s_clearlogo</roms_default_clearlogo>
  <ROM_asset_path />
  <path_3dbox>F:\Game Files\SNES\3dboxes</path_3dbox>
  <path_title>F:\Game Files\SNES\titles</path_title>
  <path_snap>F:\Game Files\SNES\snaps</path_snap>
  <path_boxfront>F:\Game Files\SNES\boxfronts</path_boxfront>
  <path_boxback>F:\Game Files\SNES\boxbacks</path_boxback>
  <path_cartridge>F:\Game Files\SNES\cartridges</path_cartridge>
  <path_fanart>F:\Game Files\SNES\fanarts</path_fanart>
  <path_banner>F:\Game Files\SNES\banners</path_banner>
  <path_clearlogo>F:\Game Files\SNES\clearlogos</path_clearlogo>
  <path_flyer>F:\Game Files\SNES\flyers</path_flyer>
  <path_map>F:\Game Files\SNES\maps</path_map>
  <path_manual>F:\Game Files\SNES\manuals</path_manual>
  <path_trailer>F:\Game Files\SNES\trailers</path_trailer>
</launcher>
</advanced_emulator_launcher>



RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2020-04-07

@Jachin99 Are you using skin widgets to call AEL? For example, a widget is the contents of an AEL launcher you see int the home window.

In the log I can see that AEL is called to show ROMs in a launcher with an ID that never exists. If you use only AEL to browse your ROMs this will never happen because AEL reads the categories.xml file every time you enter AEL, so the contents are always updated.

If you use your skin to create the widget and after the widget creation you manipulate your categories/launchers, then it is possible that the MD5 ID of the launcher changes and hence the error you get. Note that launchers with the same name will always have different ID, this is to allow launchers with the same name (yes, it may sound stupid but some people may want to have more than one launcher with exactly the same name, on different categories for example).

If the problem is the one I think it is, the solution is to delete the old widget and to create a new one. Every time that you create/delete launchers you must update your widgets. However, if you do other things like scanning ROMs or artwork then it is not necessary to update your widgets. Launcher ID only changes at launcher creation.