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[RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - Printable Version

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RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - malte - 2013-02-04

MachoRico Wrote:first you see the game starting and then xbmc pops up and the game disappears in the background. ON that moment XBMC is in the front and the emulator is still running on the backgrounf. You can hear the music of the game on the background. When i switch with alt+tab the game is in the front but the disappears in a few seconds to the background.
Still no idea about this. Could not see anything in the log and was not able to reproduce it. Can you show me a complete debug log (via pastebin or xbmclogs)? Maybe there is anything else that may be of interest.

aur0n Wrote:I'm going to format my PC, is there any way to backup my current settings, so that I can import them later?
You just need the "config.xml", "MyGames.db" and "settings.xml" from RCBs userdata/addon_data dir. When your paths to emulators, roms and artwork remain the same on your new installation you can reuse your setup without importing anything.

ghostelement Wrote:Hey Malte, just wanted to give you a heads up. Not sure when the last time you looked at our API documentation for thegamesdb was, but we've made some changes. We have some new API calls and some new art types you might be interested in (clearlogos). We also have thumbnailing for posters now.
Thanks. I will check this and see what I can use.

skypichat Wrote:To close Project64 I use ALF+F4 but this keyboard command kill XBMC in same time
How to close Project64.exe without crash XBMC ?
It closes Project64 AND xbmc at the same time? With ONE keyboard stroke?

It looks like you want to launch the emu in solo mode. Usually XBMC should not be running at this point. Are there any issues with closing XBMC before you launch Project 64?

Dondi Wrote:Is there a master listing, page on the wiki or sticky thread of current suggested Emulators, emulator versions & suggested configs. Also, ROM sets come in all flavors (i.e., TOSEC, No-Inro, Good Sets); does this matter for use with RCB, as it looks like RCB can parse the ROMs from the .7Z, .zip or native filetype, and pass it on to the emulator?

If there isn't a page with suggested EMUs, ROM sets and the like, then maybe someone could answer directly with tips/suggestions/recommended commandline switches, etc that I may need. I plan on using the following EMUs for use with RCB.
A good ressource for supported Emulators is Angelscrys Emulator wiki. It lists most emulators with some hints about configuring them for XBMC.

Besides this, I recently started to replace all my emulators with Retroarch where possible. It allows you to configure everything once and reuse this configuration for different systems.



RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - Dondi - 2013-02-05

Thanks for the wiki resource malte. Unfortunately, I have hit a wall straight away. My first go on a dev machine (Win 8), before I port everything to my XBMC, did not go very well. I decided to give 3DO a try. The ROM set I have are .zip files, not .iso or .bin/.cue. The wiki assumes that you have 3DO roms as .iso for use with 4DO. The set I have are .zips that are named the game's name and each zip contains a Media subfolder that has a .ccd, .img and .sub files.

I have been posting on my ROMs forums about this as well and the response was to use Virtual CloneCD. Correct me if I am wrong, but, I don't think that will work, and besides, I am totally against running any virtual hardware. Can RCB parse the .ccd image file from the .zip ROM set?

The only 2 things I can think of is to either:
1) Unzip each game and recreate .iso files from each
or
2) unzip each game, configure RCB to point to my 4DO emu as the emu, point RCB to the folder with my 3DO ROM folders unzipped with their respective .ccds, specify .ccd as extension and then somehow configure the commandline to fire-off Virtual CloneCD Huh Is that doable?? Any suggestions here since I think I'd need help with the commandline's params and switches

Not sure what to try next, any help at this stage is appreciated. Thanks!!

Can anyone share their 3DO experience with RCB?


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - st graveyard - 2013-02-05

(2013-02-04, 14:07)malte Wrote: Besides this, I recently started to replace all my emulators with Retroarch where possible. It allows you to configure everything once and reuse this configuration for different systems.

Hi Malte,

I'm also very interested in experimenting with this. I read retroarch is also for LINUX systems and is comand line based. I think this would be great for my UBUNTU minimal install with XBMC.
You have any experience with XBMC on ubuntu? You know where I can get a LINUX version of retro arch? Is implementation of retroarch in RCB easy (like any other emulator)?

Any hints?

EDIT : found this for LINUX : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/RetroArch


Cheers,
Grave


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - malte - 2013-02-05

Dondi Wrote:Can RCB parse the .ccd image file from the .zip ROM set?
No, not yet.

Dondi Wrote:The only 2 things I can think of is to either:
1) Unzip each game and recreate .iso files from each
About how many games are we talking?

Dondi Wrote:2) unzip each game, configure RCB to point to my 4DO emu as the emu, point RCB to the folder with my 3DO ROM folders unzipped with their respective .ccds, specify .ccd as extension and then somehow configure the commandline to fire-off Virtual CloneCD Is that doable?? Any suggestions here since I think I'd need help with the commandline's params and switches
I guess this could be doable. If it is not too time consuming I might be able to help with the scripts. But I never tested 3DO myself or have any setup here to test with. Also I am limited with time these days, so it may take a while until we have set this up.

Did you already try to fire the zip files to 4DO? In RCB you can configure if you want to unzip files before launching the game (default is to unzip games before launching). Maybe you could also try to unzip the files before launching and pass the img file to 4DO?

st graveyard Wrote:You have any experience with XBMC on ubuntu? You know where I can get a LINUX version of retro arch?
No, not yet. I already installed it but did not find the time to test it in detail. You can grab it from here: https://launchpad.net/~hunter-kaller/+archive/ppa. Just add "ppa:hunter-kaller/ppa" to your software sources.

st graveyard Wrote:Is implementation of retroarch in RCB easy (like any other emulator)?
Yes. I configured it for windows and it is quite easy. And as said above you just have to do this once (configuring gamepad etc.) and it works on all platforms the same.

On Linux configuration in RCB should look like this:
Code:
emu command:    retroarch
emu params:    -L /usr/lib/libretro/libretro-snes9x-next.so "%ROM%"
You have to change the part "/usr/lib/libretro/libretro-snes9x-next.so" for every different system to make sure it grabs the correct libretro core.


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - Dondi - 2013-02-05

Thanks for the reply malte

(2013-02-05, 10:54)malte Wrote: About how many games are we talking?
Looking at a complete set - around 100+ .zip/ROMs. Not too bad.

(2013-02-05, 10:54)malte Wrote:
Dondi Wrote:2) unzip each game, configure RCB to point to my 4DO emu as the emu, point RCB to the folder with my 3DO ROM folders unzipped with their respective .ccds, specify .ccd as extension and then somehow configure the commandline to fire-off Virtual CloneCD Is that doable?? Any suggestions here since I think I'd need help with the commandline's params and switches
I guess this could be doable. If it is not too time consuming I might be able to help with the scripts. But I never tested 3DO myself or have any setup here to test with. Also I am limited with time these days, so it may take a while until we have set this up.

Did you already try to fire the zip files to 4DO? In RCB you can configure if you want to unzip files before launching the game (default is to unzip games before launching). Maybe you could also try to unzip the files before launching and pass the img file to 4DO?

The .zip files aren't recognized by 4DO, just .iso and .bin/.cue

I installed Virtual CloneCD, unzipped a test ROM on my test Win 8 machine, mounted the .ccd, went to 4DO and opened the virtual drive and it worked fine. I prefer not running any virtual CD/daemons on my XBMC if I can help it. I think my preference is .iso if possible, and if you have any ideas on getting these .zip ROMs to .iso, I'm all ears. I found it baffling that the set was in this format when the EMUs can't read them natively; but it was later explained that the intent of the set was more for accuracy of the original discs and to let the EMUs catch up rather than conforming the ROMs to the current EMU, which makes sense as EMUs evolve.

I think I'll just go into a holding pattern on this for now. I decided on 3DO first as it was always the hardest to configure on my cabinet with 3darcade. I can start doing the other consoles in the meantime. I also posted on Angelcry's Adv Launcher thread, maybe this particular ROM set is more up his alley?


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - st graveyard - 2013-02-05

(2013-02-05, 10:54)malte Wrote:
st graveyard Wrote:You have any experience with XBMC on ubuntu? You know where I can get a LINUX version of retro arch?
No, not yet. I already installed it but did not find the time to test it in detail. You can grab it from here: https://launchpad.net/~hunter-kaller/+archive/ppa. Just add "ppa:hunter-kaller/ppa" to your software sources.

st graveyard Wrote:Is implementation of retroarch in RCB easy (like any other emulator)?
Yes. I configured it for windows and it is quite easy. And as said above you just have to do this once (configuring gamepad etc.) and it works on all platforms the same.

On Linux configuration in RCB should look like this:
Code:
emu command:    retroarch
emu params:    -L /usr/lib/libretro/libretro-snes9x-next.so "%ROM%"
You have to change the part "/usr/lib/libretro/libretro-snes9x-next.so" for every different system to make sure it grabs the correct libretro core.

Thank you Malte, I'm still a complete LINUX noob :-)
This helps a lot. I hope to test this in the days/weeks to come.
I will definitely keep you posted. I have seen there is already support for a lot of systems.
This should be an interesting journey. I hope retroarch fits XBMC nicely (keeping it in background ...).

Cheers


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - Angelscry - 2013-02-05

(2013-02-05, 09:31)st graveyard Wrote:
(2013-02-04, 14:07)malte Wrote: Besides this, I recently started to replace all my emulators with Retroarch where possible. It allows you to configure everything once and reuse this configuration for different systems.

Hi Malte,

I'm also very interested in experimenting with this. I read retroarch is also for LINUX systems and is comand line based. I think this would be great for my UBUNTU minimal install with XBMC.
You have any experience with XBMC on ubuntu? You know where I can get a LINUX version of retro arch? Is implementation of retroarch in RCB easy (like any other emulator)?

Any hints?

EDIT : found this for LINUX : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/RetroArch


Cheers,
Grave
http://www.gwenael.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=408




RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - wagnumpi - 2013-02-05

(2013-01-31, 19:06)malte Wrote:
wagnumpi Wrote:Hi, im having exactly the same problem but actually running on Windows 7. I just replaced the code in the applaunch.bat file (users/rob/appdata/roaming/XBMC/addons/script.games.rom.collection.browser) with the above and hasnt helped either unfortunately. Really want to use Rom collection browser but having to revert back to advanced launcher due to this issue which is a real shame. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated
@huzz456, wagnumpi: Did you use the original applaunch.bat script that comes with RCB or did you modify it in any way?

Very similar to Huzz once again, only adding the timeout to prevent the capplication error problem which it did but then XBMC just starts back up straight away. Thanks


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - MachoRico - 2013-02-05

Hello malte,

The link for the xbmc logs.

XBMC log

i hope this will help to find the problem.



RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - skypichat - 2013-02-05

(2013-02-04, 14:07)malte Wrote:
skypichat Wrote:To close Project64 I use ALF+F4 but this keyboard command kill XBMC in same time
How to close Project64.exe without crash XBMC ?
It closes Project64 AND xbmc at the same time? With ONE keyboard stroke?

It looks like you want to launch the emu in solo mode. Usually XBMC should not be running at this point. Are there any issues with closing XBMC before you launch Project 64?
Yes XBMC stay in background, Maybe it's because I use the PVR, Xbmc take a long time to close
Why close XBMC in that case ?
Code:
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Begin launchEmu
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: launching game with id: 522
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Begin launcher.launchEmu
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: files for current game: [(u'D:\\MeediOS\\Emulateurs jeux\\Project64k\\Roms\\Super Mario 64.v64',)]
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: launcher.buildCmd
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: emuCommandLine: D:\MeediOS\Emulateurs jeux\Project64k\Project64.exe
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: preCmdLine:
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: postCmdLine:
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Getting Multiple Disc Parameter
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: emuParams: %ROM%
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: rom: D:\MeediOS\Emulateurs jeux\Project64k\Roms\Super Mario 64.v64
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: No precmd created.
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: No postcmd created.
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Begin saveViewState
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Begin saveViewMode
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: End saveViewMode
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Begin helper.saveViewState
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: End helper.saveViewState
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: End saveViewState
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: cmd: call "C:\Users\Skypichat\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\addons\script.games.rom.collection.browser\applaunch.bat" "D:\MeediOS\Emulateurs jeux\Project64k\Project64.exe" D:\MeediOS\Emulateurs jeux\Project64k\Roms\Super Mario 64.v64
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: precmd: call
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: postcmd: call
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: launchEmu on non-xbox
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: launch emu
19:30:29 T:5044  NOTICE: RCB_INFO: onAction: 7

When I close Project64 I have an error who say "Unable to write to the log file, already in progress writing" something like that

EDIT
I modified the applaunch.bat to not kill XBMC, so I don't have the crash.
My question is: Why do you want to close XBMC ?


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - Dondi - 2013-02-05

Hey malte, et. al.

Update on my 3DO shenanigans: Late last night/early this morning I decided to take an entirely different tack on this. I decided to use a TOSEC set of 3DO ROMs. Each game is zipped, and each .zip contains a .iso file. I think this will serve me better.

I tested on my DEV machine where I unzipped the ROM, launched 4DO, did FILE-->>OPEN IMAGE, selected the .iso and it worked fine.

Can someone confirm my assumptions below before I port this gigantor of a set over to my XBMC machine?

I am assuming this will perform nicely with RCB in its current form:
3DO TOSEC set: .zips with .iso files inside
Using the argument: --StartFullScreen -StartLoadFile="%rom%"
%rom% set to iso|bin

and I guess somewhere in RBC I tell it to look for .zips (I haven't gotten beyond the install of RCB on my XBMC machine as of yet, so I apologize. I've just been searching, testing, reading forums, downloading, etc., on my DEV machine in preparation to port everything over once I can get everything working)

Pretty-much a "default" RCB set-up unless. I am assuming that RCB can "peel" open the .ZIP to get to the .iso and push it to the EMU with the above params. That's the way I am undersatnding this add-on, please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks for the help everyone!


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - kpop - 2013-02-06

hi, could anyone help me with this problem i have, when scraping my rom collections i have mobygames set up for artwork/boxfronts it scans and adds all the artwork but some of the boxfronts are for different consoles,i have checked mobygames to see if it has the said boxfront for the right console and it does, i have tryed resrcaping the selection in interactive mode but the screen flashes and doesent do anything.


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - azshorty2003 - 2013-02-06

Hi all,
I'm having a strange but annoying issue. I built an HTPC during christmas for XBMC to double as a MAME/ROM machine. I had never used XBMC before this. I set up RCB a few weeks ago just for my SNES games to figure out how to use it all.

But my SNES collection is looking great and running fine. My movie and tv collections are coming from my NAS in the basement over my network, and thats going well. My ROM collection is on the HD inside my HTPC. When I set it up to run my SNES Roms, everything went well. They're located in C:\Roms\SNES. With each other system in their own respective folder (\NES,\N64,etc)

The problem I am having is, now when I try to add a new collection in RCB, the default location it tries to look under is on my NAS under my TV SERIES folder, not even the root directory, which I find odd. And it doesn't seem like, or at least I can't find a way to, change the location back to the C:\ drive. Can anyone help me figure this out? My SNES collection is still fine, but if I try to amend the directory, it also defaults to the NAS\Tv Shows.

I don't know XBMC very well yet. I have no problem erasing everything from RCB and starting from scratch if thats a necessary solution. Like I said, I only have one collection active at the moment. I would've tried that already if I knew where to properly look for a library file. I don't see any setting inside RCB that would accomplish this. Thanks for any help.


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - malte - 2013-02-06

@MachoRico, huzz456, wagnumpi: Are you using XBMC Launcher? A similar issue is described here. Maybe this solves the issue for some of you.

skypichat Wrote:Yes XBMC stay in background, Maybe it's because I use the PVR, Xbmc take a long time to close
Why close XBMC in that case ?

I modified the applaunch.bat to not kill XBMC, so I don't have the crash.
My question is: Why do you want to close XBMC ?
I don't want to close XBMC. But it seems like you activated solo mode in RCB and that wants to close XBMC. Deactivate solo mode should solve this issue.


Dondi Wrote:I am assuming this will perform nicely with RCB in its current form:
3DO TOSEC set: .zips with .iso files inside
Using the argument: --StartFullScreen -StartLoadFile="%rom%"
%rom% set to iso|bin

and I guess somewhere in RBC I tell it to look for .zips (I haven't gotten beyond the install of RCB on my XBMC machine as of yet, so I apologize. I've just been searching, testing, reading forums, downloading, etc., on my DEV machine in preparation to port everything over once I can get everything working)

Pretty-much a "default" RCB set-up unless. I am assuming that RCB can "peel" open the .ZIP to get to the .iso and push it to the EMU with the above params. That's the way I am undersatnding this add-on, please correct me if I am wrong.
Yes, your assumptions are right. You can import the files as "*.zip" and when you are launching the game, RCB will extract it to a tmp-directory in RCBs userdata/addon_data directory and passes the iso-file to the emulator. Anyway, you should test this with some games on your dev machine before you go on.


kpop Wrote:hi, could anyone help me with this problem i have, when scraping my rom collections i have mobygames set up for artwork/boxfronts it scans and adds all the artwork but some of the boxfronts are for different consoles,i have checked mobygames to see if it has the said boxfront for the right console and it does, i have tryed resrcaping the selection in interactive mode but the screen flashes and doesent do anything.
Can you give me examples of some games that have been scraped wrong? Usually the scraper should be platform safe. Maybe you found a bug or something changed on mobygames.

When rescraping just flashes without doing anything, make sure that you activate Rescrape already imported games in Addon Settings.

azshorty2003 Wrote:The problem I am having is, now when I try to add a new collection in RCB, the default location it tries to look under is on my NAS under my TV SERIES folder, not even the root directory, which I find odd. And it doesn't seem like, or at least I can't find a way to, change the location back to the C:\ drive. Can anyone help me figure this out? My SNES collection is still fine, but if I try to amend the directory, it also defaults to the NAS\Tv Shows.

I don't know XBMC very well yet. I have no problem erasing everything from RCB and starting from scratch if thats a necessary solution. Like I said, I only have one collection active at the moment. I would've tried that already if I knew where to properly look for a library file. I don't see any setting inside RCB that would accomplish this. Thanks for any help.
Sometimes you have to add your local drives (or certain directories) via XBMC File manager before you can access them in the browse dialogs.


RE: [RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - kpop - 2013-02-06

there is quite a few it seems to get wrong on different platforms, eg APB for the lynx come up as apb cover art for the pc, and pit fighter for the lynx, knowing that both the front boxart are in mobygames i have tried renaming the roms to match the game title on the site, along with downloading the cover and putting it in the directory deleting the nfo and rescraping with no effect apart from pit fighter now having the master system boxart