New AEL release 0.9.6-beta1
Release notes
New AEL's version fully loaded with a lot of features. Some of them are:
1) Full support for Kodi Retroplayer.
2) New platforms added.
3) Categories/Launchers support clearlogos.
4) Launching mechanism has been rewritten and updated. As a bonus, the emulator output can be recorded (option not available on Windows). This is very useful to check for errors.
5) New metadata fields ESRB rating and Number of Players.
6) Support for multidisc ROM sets.
7) No-Intro audit of launcher has been improved. A new Parent/Clone view mode is available with some ideas taken from Advanced MAME Launcher.
8) Number of ROMs are printed in ROM launchers.
Import/Export of launcher configurations
In AEL settings "I/O" tab two options for importing/exporting launcher configuration have been added. "Export launcher configuration ..." will save all your launchers into a human-readable XML file. This file can be reimported later and used as a backup.
Another use of the "Import launcher configuration" feature is to share emulator configurations among users. A typical launcher configuration file looks like this:
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<advanced_emulator_launcher_configuration>
<launcher>
<category>Nintendo</category>
<name>Nintendo DS (Retroarch)</name>
<platform>Nintendo DS</platform>
<application>/home/kodi/bin/retroarch</application>
<args>-L /home/kodi/bin/libretro/desmume_libretro.so -f -v "$rom$"</args>
<romext>nds</romext>
<rompath>/home/kodi/AEL-ROMs/nintendo-ds/</rompath>
<path_assets>/home/kodi/AEL-assets/nintendo-ds</path_assets>
</launcher>
</advanced_emulator_launcher_configuration>
I have updated
AEL's wiki and
AEL-asset-library to include configurations for a lot of platforms on Linux. I expect the community to contribute configurations for other emulators/operating systems so AEL setup process will be as easy as possible.
Upgrade from previous version of AEL
1) After upgrading to 0.9.6-beta1 go to AEL settings >> IO tab and execute "Check/Update all databases ...". If you don't do this AEL will crash constantly.
2) Some platform names have changed. Obsolete platform names will be changed to Unknown. If the scrapers are not searching well go to Edit Launcher context menu and change the platform to a new one.
3) Because a lot of things have changed I have decided to release 0.9.6-beta1 before the definitive 0.9.6 release. No new features will be added to AEL for a while, just bug fixes. 0.9.6 will be the last version compatible with Jarvis. 0.9.7 and up will be compatible with Krypton only.
Notes to skinners
1) No-Intro "Added" flag value has been removed. A complete up-to-date list of properties is
here. AEL does not set AEL_PCLONE_STAT_LABEL yet.
2) Platform names have changed. Some new names are just aliases of previous names. If your skin relies on platforms names check that. Official platform names can be found
here.
Advanced Emulator Launcher | version 0.9.6-beta1 | 5 March 2017
FEATURE Import and Export of Launchers configurations. Will be very useful especially for Android users.
FEATURE Use a Window property to let skins know wheter a launcher OR ROMs are being rendered.
FEATURE Use setProperty() to inform the skin about ROM flags:
FEATURE Add Retroplayer support. See
https://github.com/Wintermute0110/plugin.../issues/33
FEATURE New menu for the virtual launchers [Browse by ...]
FEATURE New virtual launchers [Browse by ESRB Rating] and Browse by [Number of Players].
FEATURE Added new platforms Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PSX 3 and PSX 4.
FEATURE Clearlogos in Categories, Launchers and ROM Collections.
FEATURE Edit clearlogos in Categories.
FEATURE Edit clearlogos in Launchers.
FEATURE Edit clearlogos in ROM Collections.
FEATURE Default to launcher icon if ROM icon is missing. See
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2500040
FEATURE Update launching mechanism. User Python subprocess module on all platforms and not the deprecated os.system().
FEATURE Log emulator/standalone launcher stdout/stderr into a file. Requires new launching mechanism based on subprocess module. Have a look to AML for an implementation.
FEATURE Add nplayers metadata field to ROMs. Billyc999 database has nplayers NFO.
FEATURE Edit nplayers in ROMs.
FEATURE Add ESRB/MPAA/PEGI rating? >> User ESRB, new metadata field esrb in ROMs.
FEATURE Edit ESRB in ROMs.
FEATURE Support for multidisc systems. Have a look to NOTES.md for more details about the AEL implementation.
FEATURE Delete ROM context menu integrated in Edit ROM.
FEATURE Display number of ROMs in launcher.
FEATURE Platform icons/clearlogos in AEL. Platform icons can be an icon of the console or gamepad. EmulationStation has a lot of material that can be reused for AEL.
FEATURE Improved No-Intro audit.
FEATURE Remove No-Intro Added status.
FEATURE New style Parent/Clone launchers, ala Advanced MAME Launcher.
FEATURE Print number of parent and clones in PClone launchers.
FEATURE Split Launcher report into statistics, metadata and asset reports.
FEATURE Include databases for all supported platforms in AEL offline scraper (well... at least included more databases).
FEATURE Updated Offline scraper MAME database from 0.173 to 0.183.
FIX Fixed crash when editing Collection ROM position.
FIX Keep order when Collection ROM is relinked.
maybe you can create a option to point where is the scrapers in XML format and say to AEL to use these scrapers for a chosen system.
