[CYANure]

Hi guys,

Thanks for this addons, it works great with mednafen!

Well... almost great.
I've an issue, my games are in ZIP file format. So in one ZIP file, I've several version of the same game, (J), (U), (E)...

My issue is that, when I launch a ZIP file, it automatically select and starts the Japanese version.

Is there a way to tell AEL which one to start from the ZIP file?

I'd rather have (U), then (E), then (J) for example.


Thank you and sorry if this has been asked already, there is 31 pages and I didn't find anything through the search.

[Wintermute0110]

I've an issue, my games are in ZIP file format. So in one ZIP file, I've several version of the same game, (J), (U), (E)...

My issue is that, when I launch a ZIP file, it automatically select and starts the Japanese version.

Is there a way to tell AEL which one to start from the ZIP file?

What you have is called a merged set: the parent ROM and the clone ROMs (regional different version of the game) are inside the ZIP file of the parent. The opposite to a merged set is a split set: every game is on their own ZIP file.

AEL does not support merged sets, only split sets. What AEL does is just to execute:

Code:

/usr/games/mednafen your_parent_ROM_name.zip

so actually is Mednafen which is choosing to run always the Japanese version of the ROM.

To convert your set from merged into split first you need to decompress all your ZIP files, then compress each ROM into its own ZIP file. You probably need a tool to do both decompression/compression in batch (so google for it). Easiest way is to just uncompress you ROMs and leave them uncompressed.

[CYANure]

Well I asked on the mednafen forum and there is no way to tell him to open the ZIP and run this specific rom.

So I guess I'll unzip my roms, but then I'll have a mess like this:


Game A (E).msc
Game A (U).msc
Game A (J).msc
Game B (E).msc
Game B (U).msc
Game B (J).msc

instead of
Game A.zip
Game B.zip

Is there a way to make sets maybe? Like a "folder" Game A, and in it I'll find all the different versions of the game?

So far the only way I found was making different launchers:

SNES EU > Game A (E).smc, Game B (E).smc, etc
SNES US > Game A (U).smc, Game B (U).smc, etc
SNES JP > Game A (J).smc, Game B (J).smc, etc

But I'd like to do the other way. Only one SNES launcher and inside a Game A "folder" and inside the different versions of the game like this:

SNES > Game A > Game A (E).smc, Game A (U).smc, Game A (J).smc
        > Game B > Game B (E).smc, Game B (U).smc, Game B (J).smc

Thanks!

[Wintermute0110]

@CYANure I think the feature you are looking for is already implemented and named Parent/Clone view. It only for for No-Intro set, though (I suspect by the tags you write you have a GoodSet. You can either get No-Intro sets or use CLRMamePro or RomVault to convert your GoodSet to a No-Intro set).

[CYANure]

Hi,

Yes it is a GoodSet. I'll redownload a No-Intro set.
Thanks for the feature, this is exactly what I was looking for. Not sure I completely understood the DAT thingy but I found the dat o matic website so I'll have a look and try to figure out things.

EDIT: I'm confused here, on Dat-o-MATIC website I only see:

Datset | Standard DAT | P/Clone XML | P/Clone XMDB | P/Clone List


I don't see any P/Clone DAT.

Am I missing something here?

EDIT1: Tried P/Clone XML and got a DAT file so I guess this was the one.

[Wintermute0110]

New AEL release 0.9.5-beta1

Release notes

Compared to previous releases, 0.9.5 contains a lot of new features, changes and bugfixes. The main highlights are:

• New Arcade Database scraper. Only for MAME ROMs.
  
• Launcher extra arguments.
  
• Suspend/resume Kodi audio engine.
  
• Import/Export assets in ROM Collections.
  
• Improved all scrapers speed (using caches).
  
• New "Browse by Category" virtual launcher.
  
• AEL now supports assets in networks paths (smb://server/file).
  
• ROM Collections have same metadata as categories.
  

And many more...

Why a beta1 release?

The new feature of having assets on networks paths has introduced a lot of changes in the code of AEL. Although the plugin is reasonable stable now, there could be still minor bugs (bugs that can be solved changing one or two lines of code) and I don't have time to test every possible combination of settings in order to discover these minor bugs. I think is better to release a series of beta version so you can test the new AEL a bit and report any issues you may find. AEL is in feature-freeze until 0.9.5 is released and I plan to release more betas quickly to solve any issues that may show up.

Where are my ROM Collections?

Don't panic! ROM Collections now have the same metadata as Categories/Launchers. Unfortunately, during the automatic upgrade process the collection name will be lost and your current ROM Collections will show as empty list items. In order to restore the collection names, simply open the context menu, "Edit collection", "Edit metadata" and change the title of the collection.

Advanced Emulator Launcher | version 0.9.5~beta1 | 13 December 2016

FEATURE New Arcade Database online metadata/asset scraper for MAME ROMs.

FEATURE Support for several arguments in launcher. This will be useful when using MAME for console emulation (MAME consoles from a different region have different names, and an European console will typically refuse to run a Japanese game). Survey about this: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2467547

FEATURE New command SHOW_ALL_ROMS to render all ROMs in all launchers. Will be used by skins.

FEATURE Supend/resume Kodi audio engine at launching. This will prevent sound problems in Linux. Include a setting for this in addons "Settings" --> "Advanced".

FEATURE Export/Import assets/artwork in ROM Collections. Encode binary files in base64 and put in an auxiliar JSON files. Exporting assets should be optional, not mandatory.

FEATURE Extranafart for ROM Collections.

FEATURE All requests are cached in TheGamesDB scraper.

FEATURE All requests are cached in GameFAQs scraper.

FEATURE All requests are cached in MobyGames scraper.

FEATURE Resolve image URL for online asset scrapers. This will increase scraping speed a lot. Requires a change in the scraping API.

FEATURE TheGamesDB scraper now returns Titles and Snaps. However, since there is no difference between Titles, Snaps and shots in TheGamesDB this only is useful when doing manual scraping.

FEATURE Improve message reporting in Kodi GUI when scanning ROMs.

FEATURE Improve launcher report and include is a No-Intro audit information.

FEATURE Remove ROM tags (for example, (Europe), [Rev A]) from parent ROM names when showing parent ROMs in a PClone launcher.

FEATURE New No-Intro status 'Added'.

FEATURE Browse by Category Virtual Launcher. http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2458080

FEATURE Deal with Kodi virtual filesystem smb:// paths. Merged a massive patch by Chrisism.

FEATURE New platform "Microsoft Windows"

FEATURE Add genre, plot and rating to ROM collections. Unify ROM Collections and Cateogories metadata. During the migration current collections names will be lost and user has to edit every ROM Collection and set a new name.

FEATURE Request monospaced font on text viewer dialog (window 10147).

FIX Fixed searches in launchers.

FIX Fixed artwork display in ROM Collections (Icon/Fanart/Banner/Poster).

FIX Fix "launching app not found lnk_launcher_app" error in Windows LNK launchers.

FIX Remove setContent() old code.

FIX Fixed the case of removing all categories and having just Standalone/ROM launchers on addon root.

FIX Fix offline scraper search when there are hypens in filename. http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2461203

[Wintermute0110]

EDIT1: Tried P/Clone XML and got a DAT file so I guess this was the one.

That's it. It has DAT file extension but if you open with an editor is actually an XML file. There is a bug in Kodi Krypton beta 5 and lower versions that prevents DAT files to be loaded in the file selector dialog, so you will have to rename you DAT file to XML. This bug has been fixed in Kodi Krypton beta 6 and up.

[jeck11]

I'm sorry for the completely noob question but why am I only seeing a listing of rom's? I see everyone else's screenshots showing sweet filter-able poster art to select games instead.

Here's what I'm seeing. What am I doing wrong?

watch gallery

[firewater]

Trying again to setup this, hope I succeed this time haha

First and most important, not being able to get the .lnk launcher work on Windows. I create a new .lnk launcher, set the correct path, then context > add roms, and both scan and add manually prompt an error that tells me to check the log. This is the log. Nothing is scanned. What's up?

Second, is there any way these are scanned automatically from the folder? I'd imagine it'd be a major pain to have to manually context > scan every time I grab a new game (which is quite often).

And third, what does the "Launcher XML/JSON not found" message means? What's does that file contain?

I'm sorry for the completely noob question but why am I only seeing a listing of rom's? I see everyone else's screenshots showing sweet filter-able poster art to select games instead.

You need to both install a skin that supports these views (try Sexy Cirrus, it's listed on the first page of the thread), and have the "assets" (poster, snapshot, fanart, logo, etc) of each game (which can be scraped, much like you'd do with movie posters and plot).

[Wintermute0110]

Trying again to setup this, hope I succeed this time haha

First and most important, not being able to get the .lnk launcher work on Windows. I create a new .lnk launcher, set the correct path, then context > add roms, and both scan and add manually prompt an error that tells me to check the log. This is the log. Nothing is scanned. What's up?

Should be fixed in Github now. Please install last version from Github and test it. The bug only manifested when using the asset scraper when scanning ROMs.

Second, is there any way these are scanned automatically from the folder? I'd imagine it'd be a major pain to have to manually context > scan every time I grab a new game (which is quite often).

I think that's not possible because of the way Kodi addons work. Kodi addons are not normal "applications", in the sense that are initiated when Kodi is started, then keep on the background and display something when you browse them. Kodi addons are like web pages: every time you browse the addon is invoked. Every time you browse the addon, a new addon instance (with different context, memory, etc.) is created to perform the action requested: display a launcher, launch a ROM, etc. Because of this, I cannot set AEL to monitor in the background for changes in your ROM folder.

Having said that: if you just added a new ROM, the scanner should be very fast, even if you have thousands of games. Only the new ones will be scrapped, for the ones you already have cached information and local assets (local assets that may have been scraper in a previous scanner run) will be used. With old good AL scanning a big collection, even using local metadata and assets was very slow for several reasons. I took a lot of care when coding AEL to make all operations as fast as possible so this nuisance no longer applies.

And third, what does the "Launcher XML/JSON not found" message means? What's does that file contain?

In the addon data directory, the file categories.xml stores the information of the Categories and all Launchers (both ROM and Standalone launchers). ROMs for each launcher are stored in separated JSON files, one for each launcher. This JSON database is created when you run the scanner for the first time or when you manually add a ROM for the first time. If you clear/delete all your ROMs in a launcher, AEL simply deletes this JSON database. Also, for every JSON ROM database there is a small associated XML file that contains information about the launcher the ROMs belong. Power users may find this XMl file useful to do fancy stuff (like transferring ROM databases between different machines) or if you have to recover your setup after a backup (because of a hard disk failure, etc.).

[trihy]

Not sure how to use online scrappers?

Im seeing only file list too.

Trying on MAME and snes, nes.


BTW, I think Wii U category need to be added. There are pretty good wii u emulators.


Thanks

[Wintermute0110]

Not sure how to use online scrappers?

Im seeing only file list too.

Trying on MAME and snes, nes.

BTW, I think Wii U category need to be added. There are pretty good wii u emulators.

If you want to use an asset scraper when scanning new ROMs then make sure you have proper settings in the addon settings. If you want to rescan your ROMs you must delete the ROMs from the launcher first.

To use the scraper on a ROM by ROM basis, then select that ROM, open the context menu, "Edit ROM", "Edit assets". For every asset you can choose all the scrapers that support that asset.

IMPORTANT: All current Kodi skins only support 2 kinds of assets. Default is to map Boxfront to Icon and Fanart to Fanart. You can remap any AEL asset to Kodi standard assets.

Wii U: OK, I will add the new platform soon.

[trihy]

Thanks, will try to do that.

BTW, made a quick test, added demul (dc emulator) additional arguments -run=dc -image="%ROM%"

And demul launch with an error.

On Rom Browser Collection launchs just fine with the same arguments.

What could be happening?

Thanks again.

[Wintermute0110]

Thanks, will try to do that.

BTW, made a quick test, added demul (dc emulator) additional arguments -run=dc -image="%ROM%"

And demul launch with an error.

On Rom Browser Collection launchs just fine with the same arguments.

What could be happening?

Thanks again.

If it works on RCB, you have not changed anything at all, then probably there is some mistake in the arguments. If you want support then post a debug log as indicated on the first post.

[trihy]

Well, cant see any error. Demul launch and show some warning error and wont load the game.

ATM is scrapping mame info, so it will take long.

Will post debug later.

Thanks


Another nice thing, could be the ability to set default folder for AEL start. For example, start on inside emulators folder. Or the ability to delete main menu items/categories.