[Wintermute0110]

yeah i see there is a fix but i cannot find the folders on my android box to place it

Directory should be USERDATA_DIR/../addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/ Note that once you locate USERDATA_DIR, you have to the parent directory and then you will find addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/

I know it's a bit confusing... USERDATA_DIR/addon_data/ is the directory where addons place they temporary files, databases, etc. USERDATA_DIR/../addons/ is where addons are installed (that is, where the Pyhton code of the addon is placed). It is in the latter where you have to place the file.

I will request in the Kodi wiki they will create a new page to differentiate the current USERDATA_DIR from ADDON_INSTALL_DIR.

there is also a problem on Android whereby you cannot have the artwork folder on a network drive or usb drive as android cannot save to these drives. you have to either mount the usb as internal storage or use the internal memory of the device.

AEL 0.9.5 supports having artwork/assets in network mounted paths (thanks go to Chrisism for the patch). For example, you can have your artwork into smb://server_name/AEL-assets-dir/ and AEL transparently will handle it with a new filesystem class interface. Actually, this feature implementation is taking a long time because a lot of testing must be done and it is what is blocking release of 0.9.5.

Note that ROMs must be on a path accessible by the emulators, that is, in a mounted path.

[kiaenigma27]

I must be doing something wrong as i cannot find a folder called assets in either the kodi install or SPMC

just have to hope the kodi 17 beta works with DTS passthrough as this is the only reason i use SPMC

AEL 0.9.5 supports having artwork/assets in network mounted paths (thanks go to Chrisism for the patch). For example, you can have your artwork into smb://server_name/AEL-assets-dir/ and AEL transparently will handle it with a new filesystem class interface. Actually, this feature implementation is taking a long time because a lot of testing must be done and it is what is blocking release of 0.9.5.

I am guessing the above is not implimented yet as whenever i try and choose an artwork folder on a network share or usb stick it gives me and error when adding an emulator? if i choose an internal storage folder on the device it works fine.

[chrisism]

.....
I am guessing the above is not implimented yet as whenever i try and choose an artwork folder on a network share or usb stick it gives me and error when adding an emulator? if i choose an internal storage folder on the device it works fine.

Okay, I used to have SPMC just like you, but I switched to the official Kodi apk's with Jarvis. I am now running 16.2 with the official Kodi apk and that works fine for the Python version issue. Ofcourse you might find a way to update the python library within SPMC. Also koying already has a 16.4 version of SPMC as far as I know.
With the release of Krypton I am not sure yet for android since there is a whole deal with android development in the kodi team and koying went back to SPMC only.

Then with the whole path issue, with my setup I have a server with all my media. Kodi is using SMB paths to my shared folders. As Wintermute was saying I added a patch for SMB paths that fixes some issues for creating the asset folders dynamically. This is indeed not yet in the current releases. The usb path should actually work I think, I like to see logs of those errors, maybe we can fix that in time.

But the most important thing here is the fact that the emulator apps (like retroarch for example) dont support network paths on android!
If you want to run roms coming from a network drive/share you have to mount those, you cannot use SMB or other network paths. This could mean that you have to root you android to make this happen.
A different option is to use local folders, you have to check what folders your kodi can see. This can maybe be different with different android boxes, but check the Files/Folders explorer option in Kodi and map needed folders.

So in short with my setup I have all media on a server, Kodi itself (and thus AEL) uses SMB paths for all the assets (images/trailers etc). I have mounted the folders with my rom files and used the mounted paths as Rom paths in AEL.

[kiaenigma27]

.....
I am guessing the above is not implimented yet as whenever i try and choose an artwork folder on a network share or usb stick it gives me and error when adding an emulator? if i choose an internal storage folder on the device it works fine.

Okay, I used to have SPMC just like you, but I switched to the official Kodi apk's with Jarvis. I am now running 16.2 with the official Kodi apk and that works fine for the Python version issue. Ofcourse you might find a way to update the python library within SPMC. Also koying already has a 16.4 version of SPMC as far as I know.
With the release of Krypton I am not sure yet for android since there is a whole deal with android development in the kodi team and koying went back to SPMC only.

Then with the whole path issue, with my setup I have a server with all my media. Kodi is using SMB paths to my shared folders. As Wintermute was saying I added a patch for SMB paths that fixes some issues for creating the asset folders dynamically. This is indeed not yet in the current releases. The usb path should actually work I think, I like to see logs of those errors, maybe we can fix that in time.

But the most important thing here is the fact that the emulator apps (like retroarch for example) dont support network paths on android!
If you want to run roms coming from a network drive/share you have to mount those, you cannot use SMB or other network paths. This could mean that you have to root you android to make this happen.
A different option is to use local folders, you have to check what folders your kodi can see. This can maybe be different with different android boxes, but check the Files/Folders explorer option in Kodi and map needed folders.

So in short with my setup I have all media on a server, Kodi itself (and thus AEL) uses SMB paths for all the assets (images/trailers etc). I have mounted the folders with my rom files and used the mounted paths as Rom paths in AEL.

Thanks.

I think what i am going to do is just install an SD card as internal storage and keep everything on there..

just noticed on my shield I now have an option to mount a network share from the settings of android that I never saw before.. must be new. wonder if that will allow apps to see SMB shares

[chrisism]

[quote='kiaenigma27' pid='2465981' dateline='1480411750']
.....

Thanks.

I think what i am going to do is just install an SD card as internal storage and keep everything on there..

just noticed on my shield I now have an option to mount a network share from the settings of android that I never saw before.. must be new. wonder if that will allow apps to see SMB shares

Cool, I myself have a Minix box and I had to root it and use scripts to get the mounting done. This would make it really easy. But when you mount a network drive it will be accessible through something like /sdcard/mounts/MyExternalDriveName which you use instead of smb://10.10.10.1/MyExternalDriveName
This is needed for the emulator apps, not for AEL itself.

[kiaenigma27]

ok some success..

add my NAS as mount in android and now all the emulators can see it as storage space and load roms directly from the NAS.

AEL also sees it as android storage rather than a network share

[chrisism]

ok some success..

add my NAS as mount in android and now all the emulators can see it as storage space and load roms directly from the NAS.

AEL also sees it as android storage rather than a network share

Nice, this should do the job. With the next release AEL will fully support both SMB paths and mounted paths. Still emulator apps generaly only support mounted paths though.
One other thing that might be good is to unzip your roms if they are zipped on your network drive. I myself noticed that this works better with the emulator apps when starting up. It doesnt have to unzip the file first and loads better. Although it might be only with my setup because at the moment I have to connect through a VPN connection through crappy internet.

[kiaenigma27]

ok seems even when mounting shares via android i still can save artwork to anything other than internal memory of the device..

whenever i choose a folder on the mounted share it gives an error

[Wintermute0110]

ok seems even when mounting shares via android i still can save artwork to anything other than internal memory of the device..

whenever i choose a folder on the mounted share it gives an error

Please post the debug log. Follow the instructions in the first post.

[atsumori]

Hi Wintermute, glad to see things are really coming along for this addon! I was wondering if you've had a chance to consider implementing multi-disc title support such as was present in Advanced Launcher? That's the one thing holding me back from AEL as the Advanced Launcher multi-disc funcitonality solved two issues (multi-disc games showing up several times in the list and how to handle alternate games etc.).

[Wintermute0110]

Hi Wintermute, glad to see things are really coming along for this addon! I was wondering if you've had a chance to consider implementing multi-disc title support such as was present in Advanced Launcher? That's the one thing holding me back from AEL as the Advanced Launcher multi-disc funcitonality solved two issues (multi-disc games showing up several times in the list and how to handle alternate games etc.).

Hi Atsumori. Yeah, the multidisc support is already in the TODO list but I have been coding more important things first. Probably the implementation will be slightly different (and improved ) compared to what Advanced Launcher does. Also, multidisc names will be based on TOSEC/Trurip, maybe you will need to do some renamings to your ISO images. Still not clear what I will do, how do will affect the database, etc. If you have any comments of course they are welcomed.

[axlt2002]

Hi Wintermute0110! First of all thanks a lot for your great and appreciated effort!

I have one question related to the internal Favourites of the add-on. I have actually created a launcher for a Windows game under the Emulators category. How is possible to add that launcher in the Favourites? To me it seems that only ROMs can be added...I'm asking this because the Mimic skin is actually having an "initial support" of your add-on now and the developer managed to add Windows games to the Favourites Take a look to this post and the fourth previous ones.

In addition to this, the .nfo has all the fields filled (year, genre, plot, vote, etc.), but is not possible to browse any of the categories you are providing. Again, do they work only for ROMs and not for .exe files (i.e. launchers)?

Looking forward for your clarification. Thanks!

[Wintermute0110]

Hi Wintermute0110! First of all thanks a lot for your great and appreciated effort!

I have one question related to the internal Favourites of the add-on. I have actually created a launcher for a Windows game under the Emulators category. How is possible to add that launcher in the Favourites? To me it seems that only ROMs can be added...I'm asking this because the Mimic skin is actually having an "initial support" of your add-on now and the developer managed to add Windows games to the Favourites Take a look to this post and the fourth previous ones.

In addition to this, the .nfo has all the fields filled (year, genre, plot, vote, etc.), but is not possible to browse any of the categories you are providing. Again, do they work only for ROMs and not for .exe files (i.e. launchers)?

Looking forward for your clarification. Thanks!

Yes, for technical reasons Favourites, ROM Collections, Virtual Launcher, etc. are only for ROMs. Also, ROMs have more assets and metadata than Standalone Launchers. If you have a collection of games, then you can create a ROM LNK launcher, which is what Braz (Mimic skinner) does.

You create a LNK launcher. You create a couple of directores, for example e:/LNK-roms and e:/LNK-assets. In the former directory, you place a LNK file pointing to the executable of your game. To create the LNK file, navigate to the game EXE, then drag and drop, click on "Create shortcut". You create one LNK per game. Then, in AEL you create a new Launcher, select LNK launcher, as the ROMs folder point to e:/LNK-roms and as the asset folder point to e:/LNK-assets.

Also, thanks for the link about Mimic skin Adding a menu entry and a widget for AEL is a first step. I hope Braz will make some views for AEL to display metadata and more artwork and top of icon and fanart.

EDIT: forgot to say... scrapers are fully available for "LNK ROMs". As platform, you can select "Microsoft Windows" or "Microsoft MS-DOS". It is important to choose the correct plaform when using the scrapers or otherwise wrong results will be returned by the searches (actually, the platform is exclusively used by the scrapers, both metadata offline and metadata/asset online). Scrapers should also work well for launchers, if there is any problem with the scrapers just tell me and I will have a look.

[axlt2002]

Hi Wintermute0110! First of all thanks a lot for your great and appreciated effort!

I have one question related to the internal Favourites of the add-on. I have actually created a launcher for a Windows game under the Emulators category. How is possible to add that launcher in the Favourites? To me it seems that only ROMs can be added...I'm asking this because the Mimic skin is actually having an "initial support" of your add-on now and the developer managed to add Windows games to the Favourites Take a look to this post and the fourth previous ones.

In addition to this, the .nfo has all the fields filled (year, genre, plot, vote, etc.), but is not possible to browse any of the categories you are providing. Again, do they work only for ROMs and not for .exe files (i.e. launchers)?

Looking forward for your clarification. Thanks!

Yes, for technical reasons Favourites, ROM Collections, Virtual Launcher, etc. are only for ROMs. Also, ROMs have more assets and metadata than Standalone Launchers. If you have a collection of games, then you can create a ROM LNK launcher, which is what Braz (Mimic skinner) does.

You create a LNK launcher. You create a couple of directores, for example e:/LNK-roms and e:/LNK-assets. In the former directory, you place a LNK file pointing to the executable of your game. To create the LNK file, navigate to the game EXE, then drag and drop, click on "Create shortcut". You create one LNK per game. Then, in AEL you create a new Launcher, select LNK launcher, as the ROMs folder point to e:/LNK-roms and as the asset folder point to e:/LNK-assets.

Also, thanks for the link about Mimic skin Adding a menu entry and a widget for AEL is a first step. I hope Braz will make some views for AEL to display metadata and more artwork and top of icon and fanart.

EDIT: forgot to say... scrapers are fully available for "LNK ROMs". As platform, you can select "Microsoft Windows" or "Microsoft MS-DOS". It is important to choose the correct plaform when using the scrapers or otherwise wrong results will be returned by the searches (actually, the platform is exclusively used by the scrapers, both metadata offline and metadata/asset online). Scrapers should also work well for launchers, if there is any problem with the scrapers just tell me and I will have a look.

Thanks a lot for your prompt feedback! I will made this "exercise" then...

I think you can have a great collaboration with braz, the author of Mimic skin. I would be happy to help you in case providing usage feedbacks, etc. (sorry, but I'm not able to code anything!)

One suggestion: I would change a little the colour of the add-on icon from pink to a more warm red...

[atsumori]

-snip-

Hi Atsumori. Yeah, the multidisc support is already in the TODO list but I have been coding more important things first. Probably the implementation will be slightly different (and improved ) compared to what Advanced Launcher does. Also, multidisc names will be based on TOSEC/Trurip, maybe you will need to do some renamings to your ISO images. Still not clear what I will do, how do will affect the database, etc. If you have any comments of course they are welcomed.

Great to hear! The old Advanced Launcher implementation only stored the first game of the set in the DB, and it just searched for any other files with the file name pattern "filename-cdXXXXX" when that game was selected. I can't say it was the best implementation as it required a file system check every time you get a file with "-cd" in the file name, but it was a pretty easy to drop into existing code.

For the new implementation, my only suggestion would be to add some sort of "-custom" file naming option in addition to TOSEC/Trurip naming lookup to allow for pseudo multi-disc items and custom sets, such as DLC that is handled by a separate application file (for example Deus Ex Human Human Revolution and the Missing Link DLC are like this on PC). This is useful as a lot of DLC and mods items don't have cover artwork to display, so it looks a lot better to collapse them all into the base game and select the other items from a sub menu (this also allows for custom groupings programatically for example, you could have several links with different minecraft servers.)

One other way of handling this would be to, aside from the TOSEC/Trurip naming multidisc implementation, create some sort of automatic collection (like Kodi collection) handling at the launcher->rom level. For example, naming files in the format {collection name}(position}displayname.extension would automatically create a collection {collection name} in the path of that launcher, with the item displayed at {position} in the list with the name "displayname". Personally I think this method is maybe too slow navigationally (since you're opening a subdirectory instead of a submenu), but it might be more consistent with how the rest of AEL works.