2019-05-02, 18:22
I'm glad (most of) this thread exists. I come from the B group, and have the preference for the "everything in the ROM folder" style. I'd say it's because it's simply consistent with how everything else is organized for Kodi, but more importantly it just makes the most sense to me from an elegance standpoint. That said, I was not hitherto aware of the deep infrastructure already established by the emulation community, and can see how deviating from it would potentially alienate Kodi's gaming interface from the rest of the emulation scene, where streamlining is probably a good idea wherever possible. Wintermute clearly has expertise that should be highly considered, I can see that from simply reading this thread and some of the linked threads therein.
If at all possible, I'd be delighted if both options could co-exist. When importing a game, it seems feasible assets could simply be searched for in tandem, using OR logic. For example, when adding romname and fanart, could a fetch be attempted to both the "assets folder" organization (/platform/assets/fanarts/romname.jpg), while at the same time scanning for romname-fanart.jpg in the rom folder? Then it could just take whichever one it happens to actually find, and ignore the one that doesn't exist. This would create some bloat to the code, and I'll fully admit that I'm not a coder of any significant worth, so pardon my ignorance if I'm severely underestimating the severity of the potential bloat. However, if it's simple parallel/duplicate bloat, that could maybe be manageable, and might be worth considering to keep it user-friendly for people coming from both sides of this argument (the Kodi library people and the emulation scene people, if you will).
Bottom line for me: If the above can work somehow, excellent. But if it's significantly too cumbersome or unrealistic, then adjusting to the established emulation scene infrastructure is something I'm sure I could get used to (it would just take some time for my OCD to subside
). I'll defer to the expertise of Wintermute and anyone else who has more experience than I in this area.
If at all possible, I'd be delighted if both options could co-exist. When importing a game, it seems feasible assets could simply be searched for in tandem, using OR logic. For example, when adding romname and fanart, could a fetch be attempted to both the "assets folder" organization (/platform/assets/fanarts/romname.jpg), while at the same time scanning for romname-fanart.jpg in the rom folder? Then it could just take whichever one it happens to actually find, and ignore the one that doesn't exist. This would create some bloat to the code, and I'll fully admit that I'm not a coder of any significant worth, so pardon my ignorance if I'm severely underestimating the severity of the potential bloat. However, if it's simple parallel/duplicate bloat, that could maybe be manageable, and might be worth considering to keep it user-friendly for people coming from both sides of this argument (the Kodi library people and the emulation scene people, if you will).
Bottom line for me: If the above can work somehow, excellent. But if it's significantly too cumbersome or unrealistic, then adjusting to the established emulation scene infrastructure is something I'm sure I could get used to (it would just take some time for my OCD to subside
). I'll defer to the expertise of Wintermute and anyone else who has more experience than I in this area.
