[Wintermute0110]

New AEL release 0.9.3

Release notes

Release 0.9.3 improves the support for ROM Collections and the repairing of ROMs in Favourites. Also, the edition of asset/images for categories/launcher/ROMs has been improved a lot. Windows users now can easily create launchers having LNK as ROM files, which seems to be important for people who use Steam. The number of platforms have been increased to 50, covering a broad range of consoles/computers. Finally, some bugs have been fixed.

As usual, please report if you find any bugs or have a feature request.

For 0.9.4 I plan to implement extrafanart for Categories/Launchers/ROMs. This will cause some disruption in the ROM database...

Advanced Emulator Launcher | version 0.9.3 | 8 October 2016

FEATURE LNK ROMs Launcher in Windows.

FEATURE Rename launcher ROMs JSON file if Launcher name changes.

FEATURE Favourite/Collection ROMs can be updated with information from parent.

FEATURE Reorganised all Edit Asset/Artwork context menus.

FEATURE Reorganised and improved all ROM context menus.

FEATURE Increased the number of AEL platforms to 50.

FEATURE Setting options to hide [Fav] and [OK] labels in Launcher/Collection/Favourite ROMs.

FEATURE Setting options to hide Favourites and ROM Collections.

FEATURE ROM Collections can be imported/exported and shared with other people.

FEATURE ROMs in a Collection can now be edited.

FEATURE Move ROMs up/down in collections has been moved from Collection ROM context menu into Edit ROM in Collection context menu.

FEATURE Collection ROMs can be placed in any position in the Collection easily via the context menu.

FEATURE Edit ROM -- Edit Metadata shows all available metadata scrapers, not just the one selected in settings. The metadata scraper selected in plugin settings is only used when scanning ROMs.

FEATURE Edit ROM -- Edit Assets/Artwork now automatically chooses the scrapers available depending on the asset selected.

FIX Fixed launching of standalone launchers having LNK files in Windows.

FIX Fixed launching of ROM launchers having LNK files as ROMs in Windows. Any executable can be chosen as the launcher program (it will be ignored), expect an LNK file.

FIX Fix information dialogs in _command_remove_rom() (shown when deleting a ROM).

FIX Fixed scraping of launchers in context menu Edit Launcher -- Edit Metadata. Now user is able to choose scraper.

FIX Fixed TheGamesDB platform names.

FIX Removed Categories 'default_clearlogo' and Launchers 'default_clearlogo' JSON data files introduced by error in previous versions. ROM STORAGE IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF AEL!!! MIGRATION: automatic. XML writer will remove those fields as soon as categories.xml is rewritten.

[xodiuser]

In Android, when adding new launcher, both "Files launcher" and "Standalone launcher" don't allow me to choose an app as an launcher. It only list the external storage in the system. How can I add the emulator in Android? I remember other launchers let you choose apps. Please help? Thanks!

To configure AEL in Android devices have a look in this thread.

Thanks! I tried to follow the thread you mentioned to setup a PSP rom launcher (PPSSPP). Because the "Add New Launcher" doesn't allow me to choose the emulator, I just choose a random file as the emulator and set everything else. Then I searched the addon data and found the emulator information is saved in Categories.xml file, and I modified the Application and parameter to something like "start -n org.ppsspp.ppsspp/.PpssppActivity -e org.ppsspp.ppsspp.Shortcuts "%rom%"" according the thread you mentioned. But I got an invalid command line error. Also I tried to setup a MAME launcher and scraped the data online, but got nothing at the end.

The RCB is dead, and its GUI is very out of dated. I really want to try AEL. Would you please give a step by step tutorial for Android regarding the popularity of KODI in Android? I think this would greatly improve the adoption of this addon. Thanks!

[JukEboX]

Is it possible to make one of my emulators a link on my home menu? I added it to my emulators folder but it will not show the item in my default action area of my Skin Setup. Using Aeon Nox

[braz]

Is it possible to make one of my emulators a link on my home menu? I added it to my emulators folder but it will not show the item in my default action area of my Skin Setup. Using Aeon Nox

Aeon Nox only uses script.skinshortcuts for its sub menus, so you should be able to select it for a submenu. If you want it on the main menu, it's easiest if you use a skin that implements the skinshortcuts script for all menus.

[nevrion]

I tried to use this addon on my Nvidia Shield TV. The addon can not be opened.
The following error occurs in the Kodi log:

10:58:09 T:1552935216 ERROR: EXCEPTION Thrown (PythonToCppException) : -->Python callback/script returned the following error<--
- NOTE: IGNORING THIS CAN LEAD TO MEMORY LEAKS!
Error Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error Contents: cannot import name OrderedDict
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.semperpax.spmc16/files/.spmc/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/addon.py", line 22, in <module>
import resources.main
File "/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.semperpax.spmc16/files/.spmc/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/resources/main.py", line 27, in <module>
from collections import OrderedDict
ImportError: cannot import name OrderedDict
-->End of Python script error report<--
10:58:09 T:1394215216 ERROR: static bool XFILE::CDirectory::GetDirectory(const CURL&, CFileItemList&, const XFILE::CDirectory::CHints&, bool) - Error getting plugin://plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/
10:58:09 T:1394215216 ERROR: CGUIMediaWindow::GetDirectory(plugin://plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/) failed
10:58:16 T:1452271920 NOTICE: Hole Umgebung

Thanks for your help

[Wintermute0110]

Thanks! I tried to follow the thread you mentioned to setup a PSP rom launcher (PPSSPP). Because the "Add New Launcher" doesn't allow me to choose the emulator, I just choose a random file as the emulator and set everything else. Then I searched the addon data and found the emulator information is saved in Categories.xml file, and I modified the Application and parameter to something like "start -n org.ppsspp.ppsspp/.PpssppActivity -e org.ppsspp.ppsspp.Shortcuts "%rom%"" according the thread you mentioned. But I got an invalid command line error. Also I tried to setup a MAME launcher and scraped the data online, but got nothing at the end.

The RCB is dead, and its GUI is very out of dated. I really want to try AEL. Would you please give a step by step tutorial for Android regarding the popularity of KODI in Android? I think this would greatly improve the adoption of this addon. Thanks!

I myself do not have an Android box to test AEL... so the help I can give you is limited.

As the tutorial thread says, you choose "ROM launcher". As the application you have to choose either su or am. Presumably they are going to be located in /bin/su or /bin/am but I'm not sure... in Linux they are located in those folders but in Android I'm not sure. Also, the application arguments in Android are very complicated... and there is no way to avoid it. Android is the most complicated platform to setup a Launcher.

Good luck and maybe some Android users with more experience will give a hand

[Wintermute0110]

I tried to use this addon on my Nvidia Shield TV. The addon can not be opened.
The following error occurs in the Kodi log:

10:58:09 T:1552935216 ERROR: EXCEPTION Thrown (PythonToCppException) : -->Python callback/script returned the following error<--
- NOTE: IGNORING THIS CAN LEAD TO MEMORY LEAKS!
Error Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error Contents: cannot import name OrderedDict
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.semperpax.spmc16/files/.spmc/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/addon.py", line 22, in <module>
import resources.main
File "/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.semperpax.spmc16/files/.spmc/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/resources/main.py", line 27, in <module>
from collections import OrderedDict
ImportError: cannot import name OrderedDict
-->End of Python script error report<--
10:58:09 T:1394215216 ERROR: static bool XFILE::CDirectory::GetDirectory(const CURL&, CFileItemList&, const XFILE::CDirectory::CHints&, bool) - Error getting plugin://plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/
10:58:09 T:1394215216 ERROR: CGUIMediaWindow::GetDirectory(plugin://plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/) failed
10:58:16 T:1452271920 NOTICE: Hole Umgebung

Thanks for your help

I need the full debug log as indicated in the first post. I need to see the Python version you are running (it is printed by AEL when choosing debug log level in advanced settings, and remember to turn Kodi debug log to OFF). Also, what Kodi version are you running? AEL is only supported in Jarvis and Krypton.

[nevrion]

I tried to use this addon on my Nvidia Shield TV. The addon can not be opened.
The following error occurs in the Kodi log:

10:58:09 T:1552935216 ERROR: EXCEPTION Thrown (PythonToCppException) : -->Python callback/script returned the following error<--
- NOTE: IGNORING THIS CAN LEAD TO MEMORY LEAKS!
Error Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error Contents: cannot import name OrderedDict
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.semperpax.spmc16/files/.spmc/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/addon.py", line 22, in <module>
import resources.main
File "/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.semperpax.spmc16/files/.spmc/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/resources/main.py", line 27, in <module>
from collections import OrderedDict
ImportError: cannot import name OrderedDict
-->End of Python script error report<--
10:58:09 T:1394215216 ERROR: static bool XFILE::CDirectory::GetDirectory(const CURL&, CFileItemList&, const XFILE::CDirectory::CHints&, bool) - Error getting plugin://plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/
10:58:09 T:1394215216 ERROR: CGUIMediaWindow::GetDirectory(plugin://plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/) failed
10:58:16 T:1452271920 NOTICE: Hole Umgebung

Thanks for your help

I need the full debug log as indicated in the first post. I need to see the Python version you are running (it is printed by AEL when choosing debug log level in advanced settings, and remember to turn Kodi debug log to OFF). Also, what Kodi version are you running? AEL is only supported in Jarvis and Krypton.

Sorry i will upload my Debug log soon. Im running SPMC 16.4.2.

[Wintermute0110]

I tried to use this addon on my Nvidia Shield TV. The addon can not be opened.
The following error occurs in the Kodi log:

Thanks for your help

I need the full debug log as indicated in the first post. I need to see the Python version you are running (it is printed by AEL when choosing debug log level in advanced settings, and remember to turn Kodi debug log to OFF). Also, what Kodi version are you running? AEL is only supported in Jarvis and Krypton.

Sorry i will upload my Debug log soon. Im running SPMC 16.4.2.

I just realized, the exception will prevent the Python version and other useful stuff to be printed. I can make a patch and you will have to download that version from Github, install and then post the log. If you are OK with this let me know.

[RazorFR]

Hi Wintermute,

It is nice to see the rapid development of AEL. I am a long time user of the old AL with around 450 roms. I think I will switch to AEL soon probably along with Krypton. So I tested the addon again a little

AEL import function is working well. No errors, but I loose the roms thumbnails in the process (launchers thumbs are ok, roms thumbs are not displayed).
Looking at imported data AEL launchers image are stored in s_thumbs (displaying fine) and rom thumbs in s_title (not displayed by my skin in Kodi). maybe there is something to look at.

Other thing is the support for multiple assets (flyers, snapshots etc...) like Hyperspin. There are really little skins that support that, And in the past skin support for games / RCB or AL has not been the highest priority. So I hope you'll get support for that from some skilled skinners.
Though I am not sure I will ever use all available assets for roms, I would be much interested in having a consistent game section in Kodi similar to video or music library. Is it something that will be possible with AEL?

Someting like
+ Titles
+ Recently added
+ Recently played
+ Genre
+ Studios
+ Years

Right now for me, because of Kodi lack of a "program" library, it looks like below

+ Consoles
+ PC platforms
+ list of available genres

watch gallery

[Wintermute0110]

Hi Wintermute,

It is nice to see the rapid development of AEL. I am a long time user of the old AL with around 450 roms. I think I will switch to AEL soon probably along with Krypton. So I tested the addon again a little

That's not a big collection, so probably AL worked OK for you. In my case, one of the reason to develop AEL was that I had to filter my ROMs to keep the total number of ROMs as low as possible... otherwise AL speed was awful. That limitation is gone with AEL, so feel free to try collections as big as you want. Also, there is no penalty for having many launchers each with thousands of ROMs: AEL speed won't be compromised.

AEL import function is working well. No errors, but I loose the roms thumbnails in the process (launchers thumbs are ok, roms thumbs are not displayed).
Looking at imported data AEL launchers image are stored in s_thumbs (displaying fine) and rom thumbs in s_title (not displayed by my skin in Kodi). maybe there is something to look at.

That's maybe an issue with the skin. You will need to do some testing. Use the ROM context menu "Edit ROM" -- "Manage ROM..." -- "Choose default ROM artwork...". You should be able to link all the assets (titles, snaps, etc.) to any kind of official Kodi supported artwork (icon, fanart, poster, banner). Some skins display the poster on top of the thumb, even if the poster is the empty string ''. If so, make sure both poster and thumb point to the same asset (title I presume) that contains your imported thumbs.

Other thing is the support for multiple assets (flyers, snapshots etc...) like Hyperspin. There are really little skins that support that, And in the past skin support for games / RCB or AL has not been the highest priority. So I hope you'll get support for that from some skilled skinners.

Yes! It's not a secret by now there is something big AEL-related going on. Actually, TTBOMK Hyperspin only supports 4 kinds of assets plus trailers. AEL is now one of the most complete front-ends out there. AL and RCB had many limitations/bugs that limited their use to small collections. Those limitations have been mostly dropped by AEL. Hopefully, soon there will be some skins that fully support all AEL capabilities and I believe many people will think of Kodi as a serious front-end for general use, on par with Hyperspin, EmulationStation or GameEx.

Though I am not sure I will ever use all available assets for roms, I would be much interested in having a consistent game section in Kodi similar to video or music library. Is it something that will be possible with AEL?

Someting like
+ Titles
+ Recently added
+ Recently played
+ Genre
+ Studios
+ Years

You already have the virtual launchers "Browse by Title", "Browse by Genre", "Browse by Studio", "Browse by Year". ROM Collections is similar to Movie Sets, with the difference that you have to build up your collections/sets. If you want me to add a "Recently played" virtual launcher and maybe something like "Most played ROMs" with a counter of how many times you have played each ROMs that something I can do easily.

Having a "Recently added" in AEL does not make a lot of sense... if you have a big collection. I mean, if you don't use the scanner and add your ROMs one by one, then it could be useful. However, if you use the scanner and scan a MAME collection of, say, 4000 ROMs, then in my opinion it does not make sense to have a list of the last 100 added... what do you think?

Keep in mind there are two kinds of AEL users: A) The ones that have small, carefully curated collections. Usually user A) also has all kind of artwork (maybe even downloaded by hand on a ROM by ROM basis) and B) Users that have full No-Intro collections (thousands of ROMs per launcher), that download whole collections of artwork, and maybe have 2 or 3 different launchers (emulators) pointing to the same ROM directory (for example, I have retroarch picodrive, retroarch genesis plus gx and MAME pointing to my genesis No-Intro ROMs). I have to keep happy to both kinds of users!

Right now for me, because of Kodi lack of a "program" library, it looks like below

+ Consoles
+ PC platforms
+ list of available genres

watch gallery

I don't understand what you mean... Is that picture a mockup of how you want AEL to look?

[RazorFR]

That's maybe an issue with the skin. You will need to do some testing. Use the ROM context menu "Edit ROM" -- "Manage ROM..." -- "Choose default ROM artwork...". You should be able to link all the assets (titles, snaps, etc.) to any kind of official Kodi supported artwork (icon, fanart, poster, banner). Some skins display the poster on top of the thumb, even if the poster is the empty string ''. If so, make sure both poster and thumb point to the same asset (title I presume) that contains your imported thumbs.

I did some testing

At the rom level
Edit rom > Edit Assets/artworks > List
Edit Title (here I can see my poster not displayed in the skin)
Edit Snap
Edi Fanart
Etc...

If I choose anything else than title, get a message "directory to store xxx not configured". also there is no Edit Thumbnail, may be part of my problem.

I did the same at the launcher level
Edit launcher > Edit Assets/artworks > List
Edit Thumbnails (I see my poster, displayed in the skin)
Etc..

I also tried at the launcher level
Edit launcher > Choose default Asset/artworks
Thumbs (currently Thumbs)
Fanart (currently Fanart)
Banner (currently Banner)
Poster (currently Flyer) > Tried to change this one to poster but still nothing displayed at rom level

Strange thing is in a previous version of the AEL, roms thumbs were displayed fine after the import.

Yes! It's not a secret by now there is something big AEL-related going on. Actually, TTBOMK Hyperspin only supports 4 kinds of assets plus trailers. AEL is now one of the most complete front-ends out there. AL and RCB had many limitations/bugs that limited their use to small collections. Those limitations have been mostly dropped by AEL. Hopefully, soon there will be some skins that fully support all AEL capabilities and I believe many people will think of Kodi as a serious front-end for general use, on par with Hyperspin, EmulationStation or GameEx.

Kodi + AL is already a perfectly serious frontend (for those who just want minimum metadata + poster and fanart). AEL and also the Kodi retroarch version will probably convince + people.

You already have the virtual launchers "Browse by Title", "Browse by Genre", "Browse by Studio", "Browse by Year". ROM Collections is similar to Movie Sets, with the difference that you have to build up your collections/sets. If you want me to add a "Recently played" virtual launcher and maybe something like "Most played ROMs" with a counter of how many times you have played each ROMs that something I can do easily.

Yes recently played and most played would be a nice touch indeed. recently added not really useful I do agree.

Keep in mind there are two kinds of AEL users: A) The ones that have small, carefully curated collections. Usually user A) also has all kind of artwork (maybe even downloaded by hand on a ROM by ROM basis) and B) Users that have full No-Intro collections (thousands of ROMs per launcher), that download whole collections of artwork, and maybe have 2 or 3 different launchers (emulators) pointing to the same ROM directory (for example, I have retroarch picodrive, retroarch genesis plus gx and MAME pointing to my genesis No-Intro ROMs). I have to keep happy to both kinds of users!

Right, I guess I am more type A

The image is just my current game Menu/Hub in artic zephyr.

[Wayneright]

I have been through the rigorous pleasure of setting up Hyperspin and the only easy part was skinning thanks to the Hypertheme.exe . I would like to use all the assets you have available to achieve at least one view in my skin on par or above a hyper spin wheel and collection view. I can do the basic fanarts trailer and thumbnail skinning but was curious on how to call things like logo into play. Are you using something like "$INFO[ListItem.Property(logo)" or is the only way to configure in the context menu and trick the code by placing logos in another folder like title snaps. Really like the AEL addon. Hard to get it to scrape whole selection for me but individual metadata always works.

[Wintermute0110]

I have been through the rigorous pleasure of setting up Hyperspin and the only easy part was skinning thanks to the Hypertheme.exe . I would like to use all the assets you have available to achieve at least one view in my skin on par or above a hyper spin wheel and collection view. I can do the basic fanarts trailer and thumbnail skinning but was curious on how to call things like logo into play. Are you using something like "$INFO[ListItem.Property(logo)" or is the only way to configure in the context menu and trick the code by placing logos in another folder like title snaps. Really like the AEL addon. Hard to get it to scrape whole selection for me but individual metadata always works.

I'm not a skinner myself, just a coder, so the help I can give you is limited

Have a look here to know all the metadata and artwork set by AEL.

For the case of a view for ROMs, I guess the infolabels you use in the skin will be like,

PHP Code:

$INFO[ListItem.Art(title)]
$INFO[ListItem.Art(snap)]
$INFO[ListItem.Art(fanart)]
$INFO[ListItem.Art(banner)]
... 


Extrafanart is not currently implemented but I will code it soon.

[xodiuser]

Always got error when "Add No-Intro XML DAT ..."

Code:

00:17:52 T:18446744072407617480   ERROR: EXCEPTION Thrown (PythonToCppException) : -->Python callback/script returned the following error<--
                                             - NOTE: IGNORING THIS CAN LEAD TO MEMORY LEAKS!
                                            Error Type: <type 'exceptions.TypeError'>
                                            Error Contents: Required argument 'shares' (pos 3) not found
                                            Traceback (most recent call last):
                                              File "/storage/usbotg/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/addon.py", line 47, in <module>
                                                plugin.run_plugin()
                                              File "/storage/usbotg/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/resources/main.py", line 211, in run_plugin
                                                self._command_edit_launcher(args['catID'][0], args['launID'][0])
                                              File "/storage/usbotg/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/resources/main.py", line 1323, in _command_edit_launcher
                                                useThumbs = False, treatAsFolder = False).decode('utf-8')
                                            TypeError: Required argument 'shares' (pos 3) not found
                                            -->End of Python script error report<--