2016-12-01, 15:02
Survey to AEL users
Current AEL 0.9.4 includes 2 metadata fields for every ROM named "Alternative application" and "Alternative arguments". You can access these in "Edit ROM" context menu -> "Advanced Modifications" -> "Alternative application" or "Alternative arguments". This 2 fields were inherited from good old Advanced Launcher.
I am considering removing these 2 fields because I think they are unnecessary and consume space on the database (and a bigger database means higher loading times). I plan to replace them by having alternative arguments in Launcher. I want to check with current AEL users: Is anybody using "Alternative application" and "Alternative arguments"? Will anybody miss them if they are removed?
How alternative arguments in Launcher will work
In a typical Launcher, for example with Genesis ROMs, you typically have ROMs belonging to different regions: Europe, USA or Japan. Most emulators will autodetect the ROM region and change the emulator settings on the fly, so you can play the ROM. MAME, however, is very picky about what emulates (well... MAME is very picky about everything, really). If you tell MAME to emulate an European MegaDrive the emulated machine will refuse to run a Japanese ROM.
To solve this problem, I plan to add a new feature to AEL: you can configure extra arguments for a ROM Launcher. For example:
With default arguments MAME will emulate a USA Genesis. With extra args 1 MAME will emulate an European MegaDrive and with extra args 2 MAME will emulate a Japanese MegaDrive. When you launch a ROM in a launcher having extra arguments, AEL will show you a select box where you can choose the arguments you want to launch that ROM.
I recommend you play with this. Usually when you try to play a ROM not belonging to the correct region a funny message is displayed
Also, do not subestimate MAME as a console emulator: for Sega Master System MAME is more accurate that all Retroarch cores available (in terms of less emulation glitches, etc.).
Current AEL 0.9.4 includes 2 metadata fields for every ROM named "Alternative application" and "Alternative arguments". You can access these in "Edit ROM" context menu -> "Advanced Modifications" -> "Alternative application" or "Alternative arguments". This 2 fields were inherited from good old Advanced Launcher.
I am considering removing these 2 fields because I think they are unnecessary and consume space on the database (and a bigger database means higher loading times). I plan to replace them by having alternative arguments in Launcher. I want to check with current AEL users: Is anybody using "Alternative application" and "Alternative arguments"? Will anybody miss them if they are removed?
How alternative arguments in Launcher will work
In a typical Launcher, for example with Genesis ROMs, you typically have ROMs belonging to different regions: Europe, USA or Japan. Most emulators will autodetect the ROM region and change the emulator settings on the fly, so you can play the ROM. MAME, however, is very picky about what emulates (well... MAME is very picky about everything, really). If you tell MAME to emulate an European MegaDrive the emulated machine will refuse to run a Japanese ROM.
To solve this problem, I plan to add a new feature to AEL: you can configure extra arguments for a ROM Launcher. For example:
Code:
Application: /home/kodi/MAME/mame
Default arguments: genesis -cart "%rom%"
Extra arguments 1: megadriv -cart "%rom%"
Extra arguments 2: megadrij -cart "%rom%"With default arguments MAME will emulate a USA Genesis. With extra args 1 MAME will emulate an European MegaDrive and with extra args 2 MAME will emulate a Japanese MegaDrive. When you launch a ROM in a launcher having extra arguments, AEL will show you a select box where you can choose the arguments you want to launch that ROM.
I recommend you play with this. Usually when you try to play a ROM not belonging to the correct region a funny message is displayed
Also, do not subestimate MAME as a console emulator: for Sega Master System MAME is more accurate that all Retroarch cores available (in terms of less emulation glitches, etc.).
