[st graveyard]

New test version available: 0.9.9

This version just contains some small bug fixes and refactorings that are required for Eden repo or future development. Note: As Eden is close to be released as stable version (so I guess) I removed all code that was used to keep Camelot (not Dharma!) compatibility. So if anyone is still using this old XBMC release, please update. Its time

List of changes:

General:

• refactoring: move config wizard to separate module
  
• refactoring: remove Camelot compatibility code
  
• bugfix: remove and add Rom Collection in one turn caused errors
  

Import Games:

• bugfix: import dialog is empty after "Edit offline scraper"
  

Launch Games:

• bugfix: don't launch emulator if 7z file could not be extracted
  

Previous version: 0.9.8

Thanks Malte. I'll update asap.

[st graveyard]

Hello Malte,

I've been doing some more testing with RCB and I currently feel very confused

I'm still playing around with the genesis rom collection I have but just can't seem to get what I want. My rom collection contains exactly 781 games (the hyperspin collection). After several tries of importing using different techniques (accurate, gues match ...) and using different scrapers, I was able to create 781 nfo files, one for each game. Fantastic. However, not all 781 entries were imported in XBMC. So I deleted the games from the collection, did a clean of the database and tried using the local scraper. Each time again I get 776 games in the DB, not 781. Really weird as I clearly have 781 nfo files. So I tested some more, but it didn't work. I switched of all options like 'don't import games without art' ... but always 776. I tried a new import using a 'select match' option, but this also did not work.

But now this ... I completely removed the collection and it's games and I recreated it using local nfo and art. After the import all 781 games were there, but without any description or nfo. Now I was completely confused. I removed all games again and I did a re-import using the local scraper and behold ... the descriptions and all info was back, but again, only 776 entries

Malte, the scraping mechanism of RCB is still so confusing to me. The fact that you have import features on the RCB tool level, and import features on the rom collection level. You can set a link to your nfo files in a collection, but when importing with the local scraper, the nfo files should be placed in the game dir or it won't work, the parser itself ... all of this is too complex ...

I have currently absolutely no clue why the game descriptions and other info is not loaded when creating a completele new collection using local info. I should test some more, because I had it working in the past.

Again, this is no criticism, I'm a NOOB.

I love RCB, don't get me wrong, but the scraper and import functions I don't seem to get.

I will test more and let you know ...

Thanks for reading,
Grave

[st graveyard]

This is just too weird. So after writing all of this above, I gave it a final go. I did a new import this time using the "genesis" scraper and it worked. I have now 781 games in the collection, with descriptions.

So now I don't know anymore how I pulled it of, but it looks cool ...

[malte]

Thanks for the feedback. I will rework the import mechanism with the next releases, maybe it becomes more clear/stable.

But I did not plan to rework the mechanism in general, I think it is quite easy to understand. Of course there are a lot of methods (online, local, nfo), modes (accurate, interactive, ...) and options (addon settings or rom collection configuration). But I needed all these features myself or they have been requested by users.

If you missed these five games several times maybe there have been some options that prevented RCB from importing them. If you want to find out whats going on just try to import these five games and check why they failed. RCB is writing much to the xbmc.log so it should be possible to find out whats missing. You could also just leave it as it is because it is working now

Lets see how it feels when I have done the changes. General plan: Atm RCB skips games if it does not find enough information or artwork. In next releases I want RCB to always import all games and add more options to decide which games you want to see while browsing the list instead. With this mechanism it will be easier to implement rescrape mechanisms and to see the current state of your Rom Collection (how many games are available, how many info is missing, ...).

[st graveyard]

Thanks for the feedback. I will rework the import mechanism with the next releases, maybe it becomes more clear/stable.

But I did not plan to rework the mechanism in general, I think it is quite easy to understand. Of course there are a lot of methods (online, local, nfo), modes (accurate, interactive, ...) and options (addon settings or rom collection configuration). But I needed all these features myself or they have been requested by users.

If you missed these five games several times maybe there have been some options that prevented RCB from importing them. If you want to find out whats going on just try to import these five games and check why they failed. RCB is writing much to the xbmc.log so it should be possible to find out whats missing. You could also just leave it as it is because it is working now

Lets see how it feels when I have done the changes. General plan: Atm RCB skips games if it does not find enough information or artwork. In next releases I want RCB to always import all games and add more options to decide which games you want to see while browsing the list instead. With this mechanism it will be easier to implement rescrape mechanisms and to see the current state of your Rom Collection (how many games are available, how many info is missing, ...).

Thanks for listening to my moaning :-)

Regarding the 5 games, I don't know which ones they were. Don't know how to find this out in such a big list.

About the scraping ... I think you are right Malte, I just need more practice. RCB seems like a very powerfull tool ...

Anyway, like you said I will not remove this collection now.

What I plan to do is now try to implement the game movies I have from emumovies. Than I will check all the scraped data. Once everything is complete in XBMC for this collection, I will copy the setup.xml (forgot the name now, but I mean the xml with all the selections you have made in RCB) and then I will remove the complete collection.
Than I want to re-install this collection again using the saved xml. It might sound weird to you, but I just want to have all my game data stored on my HD and I want to see if I'm able to install a collection again in a matter of minutes once they are completed, just like with the movies or tv shows. In case I have a system crash or whatever. That would be my main goal.

I'll test more and keep you'll informed.

Thanks again,
Grave

[st graveyard]

Hello Malte;

I'm now playing with gameplay video in rcb but it won't work in MQ3. Does MQ3 support this? I've setup the gameplay tag in the config xml correctly. This is what I see in the log :

19:15:34 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening:
19:15:34 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:15:34 T:3240 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
19:15:34 T:3240 ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening []
19:15:34 T:3240 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
19:15:34 T:3240 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit() deleting input stream
19:15:34 T:3276 ERROR: XBMC.PlayMedia could not play media:
19:15:34 T:3276 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
19:15:34 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:15:34 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
19:15:34 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
19:15:34 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening:
19:15:34 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:15:34 T:1704 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
19:15:34 T:1704 ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening []
19:15:34 T:1704 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
19:15:34 T:1704 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit() deleting input stream
19:15:34 T:3276 ERROR: XBMC.PlayMedia could not play media:
19:15:34 T:3276 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
19:15:34 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:15:34 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
19:15:34 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
19:15:35 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening:
19:15:35 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:15:35 T:3608 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
19:15:35 T:3608 ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening []
19:15:35 T:3608 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()

Does this mean anything to you?

Thanks

[st graveyard]

Some more :

19:12:27 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Scraper descFilePerGame: True
19:12:27 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Scraper Site: giantbomb.com
19:12:27 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Scraper descFilePerGame: True
19:12:27 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: onAction: ACTION_CONTEXT
19:12:27 T:3276 ERROR: CLocalizeStrings::ClearBlock: Trying to clear non existent block C:\Users\Twin Digits\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\addons\script.games.rom.collection.browser
19:12:28 T:3756 ERROR: Previous line repeats 2 times.
19:12:28 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: onAction: 1
19:12:29 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: onAction: 2
19:12:29 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: Begin showGameInfo
19:12:29 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: End showGameInfo
19:12:30 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening:
19:12:30 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:12:30 T:2064 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
19:12:30 T:2064 ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening []
19:12:30 T:2064 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
19:12:30 T:2064 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit() deleting input stream
19:12:30 T:3276 ERROR: XBMC.PlayMedia could not play media:
19:12:30 T:3276 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
19:12:30 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:12:30 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
19:12:30 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
19:12:30 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening:
19:12:30 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:12:30 T:3716 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
19:12:30 T:3716 ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening []
19:12:30 T:3716 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit()
19:12:30 T:3716 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::OnExit() deleting input stream
19:12:30 T:3276 ERROR: XBMC.PlayMedia could not play media:
19:12:30 T:3276 NOTICE: CDVDPlayer::CloseFile()
19:12:30 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:12:30 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: waiting for threads to exit
19:12:30 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: finished waiting
19:12:31 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: onAction: 117
19:12:31 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: init ContextMenu
19:12:31 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: onInit ContextMenu
19:12:38 T:3756 NOTICE: RCB_INFO: onAction: ACTION_CONTEXT
19:12:38 T:3276 ERROR: CLocalizeStrings::ClearBlock: Trying to clear non existent block C:\Users\Twin Digits\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\addons\script.games.rom.collection.browser
19:12:39 T:3276 NOTICE: DVDPlayer: Opening:
19:12:39 T:3276 WARNING: CDVDMessageQueue(player):ut MSGQ_NOT_INITIALIZED
19:12:39 T:2824 NOTICE: Creating InputStream
19:12:39 T:2824 ERROR: CDVDPlayer::OpenInputStream - error opening []

[malte]

Than I want to re-install this collection again using the saved xml. It might sound weird to you, but I just want to have all my game data stored on my HD and I want to see if I'm able to install a collection again in a matter of minutes once they are completed, just like with the movies or tv shows. In case I have a system crash or whatever. That would be my main goal.

Easiest way will be to backup config.xml and MyGames.db. If you have your rom files and artwork at the same places as before the crash this will restore RCB without any reimporting.

I'm now playing with gameplay video in rcb but it won't work in MQ3. Does MQ3 support this? I've setup the gameplay tag in the config xml correctly. This is what I see in the log :

Yes, Aeon MQ3 supports it. I am using it myself here. From your logs it looks like RCB can't find any movies and tries to start the player anyway. Did you import the movies already?

[reapy]

If you are going back to work with the importer i just wanted to add what i think would be a really nice feature is to work with the found files in the directory and tell rcb what it is manually. I know the semi auto import does this to some extent, but i feel like it still misses files or outright finds the wrong ones if the roms filename is too off.

So really just something like a file view, then you can select it and manually scrape by putting in an id or url from one of the scraper sites. I am thinking along the lines of myself not being able to get donkey kong country 2 to show up in the snes titles. I tried to rename it exactly like it is on scraper sites, and i even hand downloaded the artwork and settung up the nfo file, and still cant get it in. My next step is to look at the log after an import to see where it might be going wrong, but i have a nagging feeling it would be nice to just select that file and say "hey, this is dk2, go set it up with its artwok and nfo and lets be done with it".

I think its like that 90% problem where most of it is right, you just want to brute force the last few roms and put the scrapping process to bed. Also the other thing is on the htpc it is always more of a hassle to get the keyboard and mouse out, which drives us lazy users to have those costly gui options for things that should normally be easier to accomplish without a remote.

Ive also been having some random issues with launching mame games in that when i return to xbmc the game filter no longer updates and i have to restart rcb...but i need to update to eden 3 and am still 2 versions behind on rcb, if things still keep up in the future ill try to get a log up.

Also again this add on is great, totally see how all the options and features are those pesky post launch things that you always have to account for but never seem to be able to plan for its a great app that more than gets the job done.

[st graveyard]

Easiest way will be to backup config.xml and MyGames.db. If you have your rom files and artwork at the same places as before the crash this will restore RCB without any reimporting.



Yes, Aeon MQ3 supports it. I am using it myself here. From your logs it looks like RCB can't find any movies and tries to start the player anyway. Did you import the movies already?

Thanks for the tip Malte!

I did a import of the movie files using the 'local artwork' scraper as explained in the wiki. However, I will try some more (I'm not the smartest scraper user out there ). Maybe I'll have to delete the collection and do a complete new creation (local import) with the movie files from the start. Who knows, than I will immediately see if I can get the 781 entries again in the collection with a fresh scrape ...

I'll try this today.

Cheers,
Grave

[st graveyard]

Hey Malte,

Just an idea. Don't know if this new scraper in ALA is of any use in RCB?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=85724&page=317

Cheers,
Grave

[st graveyard]

Hello Malte,

I was able to import the game videos, but I had to completely recreate a collection. However, I think I could have avoided this by setting the option 'always re-scan' in the add-on settings to active, I don't know.

Anyway, I have listed my actions below, together with the things I don't understand, more clearly now for you :

1) When creating a new collection using local info and art/videos. When all the local data is stored in its own folders (a folder for boxscans, one for screenshots, one for nfo files ...) everything is imported but without any game data at all. This is what I don't understand. RCB has a wizard for a collection. This wizard asks you where your data is stored, where your art is stored, where your nfo files are stored and where your parser is stored. To begin, the parser. RCB should not ask this. I copied the local info parser from the C drive (after I got the info from you on this forum). My nfo files are stored in a seperate folder. When importing now using the new scraper, everything is there, all games, all screenshots, all videos ... but no game descriptions or info at all. This is weird.

2) To solve this issue you need to use the local nfo scraper. Now, first I had to switch on the option 'always rescan' at addon settings level. Than I had to switch on the 'allow update' option at the rom collection level. Then you can do a re-import using the local nfo scraper and yes, all info is there BUT ... You need to copy your nfo files to the same dir as where the games are stored.

--> You see the complexity here? I now know how to import complete collections, so I'm happy now ;-)

3) I now have the videos in the main window and this is starting too look pretty awesome! However, I have a pretty fast pc (Intel I5) and there is slow down in the videos. Sounds starts playing when the video is not visible yet. Is there a way to perhaps speed it up a bit? I'm thinking of adding the vidoes only in the game detail window instead of the main screen. However, this would be less cool ;-)

4) Using confluence together with the game videos, this skin becomes highly unstable and makes my XBMC crash completely at numerous times while browsing or importing games. This is no problem in MQ3.

5) Do you have any idea if MQ3 and RCB support game logo's, or developer logo's or thinkgs like that?

Anyway, Malte, I hope the whole scraping thing is clear for you. I'm just writing this down, perhaps you have hints and am I doing things wrong. But the way I see it, if you have local nfo files, only the local scraper (not the collection scrapers) are able to add them to the DB. Maybe this can be changed a bit in the future ... I don't know.

I will be toying some more and let you know how it works out.

Thanks a lot for your support.

Cheers,
Grave

[malte]

Just an idea. Don't know if this new scraper in ALA is of any use in RCB?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=85724&page=317

Not sure. Will have to check the site but I think the offline scraper is also working well atm. If MAWS will not come back for sure I will check for other alternatives. arcadeHITS might be a good one though. Thanks for the hint.

I was able to import the game videos, but I had to completely recreate a collection. However, I think I could have avoided this by setting the option 'always re-scan' in the add-on settings to active, I don't know.

Strange. Tomkun reported the same behaviour. It should not behave like this when you use the "local artwork" scraper. I tested this often and could never reproduce it.

1) When creating a new collection using local info and art/videos. When all the local data is stored in its own folders (a folder for boxscans, one for screenshots, one for nfo files ...) everything is imported but without any game data at all. This is what I don't understand. RCB has a wizard for a collection. This wizard asks you where your data is stored, where your art is stored, where your nfo files are stored and where your parser is stored. To begin, the parser. RCB should not ask this. I copied the local info parser from the C drive (after I got the info from you on this forum). My nfo files are stored in a seperate folder. When importing now using the new scraper, everything is there, all games, all screenshots, all videos ... but no game descriptions or info at all. This is weird.

I see. This is a misunderstanding and maybe a bit confusing by the addon. The "local nfo" scraper is different from a normal offline scraper where you need to set the path to parser and game description. You could just set all pathes to your artwork and select "Scrape game info online" as scraper selection. In game import dialog the "local nfo" scraper will be available anyway. But I see the confusion and will think about reordering the options in wizard to make it more clear.

2) To solve this issue you need to use the local nfo scraper. Now, first I had to switch on the option 'always rescan' at addon settings level. Than I had to switch on the 'allow update' option at the rom collection level. Then you can do a re-import using the local nfo scraper and yes, all info is there BUT ... You need to copy your nfo files to the same dir as where the games are stored.

Yes, if you already imported games and want to get info added to your games you will need the re-scrape option. But if you specified a path to your nfo files in addon settings RCB should also find them there. No need to place them next to your roms.

3) I now have the videos in the main window and this is starting too look pretty awesome! However, I have a pretty fast pc (Intel I5) and there is slow down in the videos. Sounds starts playing when the video is not visible yet. Is there a way to perhaps speed it up a bit? I'm thinking of adding the vidoes only in the game detail window instead of the main screen. However, this would be less cool ;-)

There is a little delay before a video starts but this is not a performance issue it is related to the XBMC API. When we don't have this little delay XBMC will often not notice that the video wants to start.

But sound and video should always start at the same time. Maybe you have an extra delay in Aeon MQ3 before the info panel is shown? If so, you can change that in the menu on the left.

4) Using confluence together with the game videos, this skin becomes highly unstable and makes my XBMC crash completely at numerous times while browsing or importing games. This is no problem in MQ3.

Strange. Did not happen here. Usually it should stop video playback before you import games. So it should not matter if you have game videos or not. Are you on Dharma or Eden? Dharma had some known problems with video playback but this should be solved in Eden.

Could you please show me a log of such a crash?

5) Do you have any idea if MQ3 and RCB support game logo's, or developer logo's or thinkgs like that?

Developer and publisher logos are supported. Game logos not out of the box but I am not sure if Marcos implemented them anyway. I guess not. You can add the path to your developer and/or publisher logos the same way as you added game videos and import local artwork again.



As always: Thank you very much for the detailed report. It helps me a lot to see how users use RCB and how they think it should behave. I see there are some differences from time to time

[malte]

I just updated the wiki page on scrapers. Maybe it gets a bit more clear now. Will check how to improve it in the addon anyway.

[st graveyard]

There is a little delay before a video starts but this is not a performance issue it is related to the XBMC API. When we don't have this little delay XBMC will often not notice that the video wants to start.

But sound and video should always start at the same time. Maybe you have an extra delay in Aeon MQ3 before the info panel is shown? If so, you can change that in the menu on the left.

Do you mean the nr of seconds it takes for the info panel to pop up? I've switched this off but it does not solve the delay

Strange. Did not happen here. Usually it should stop video playback before you import games. So it should not matter if you have game videos or not. Are you on Dharma or Eden? Dharma had some known problems with video playback but this should be solved in Eden.

Could you please show me a log of such a crash?

I've checked the log myself but there is nothing wrong in it. It just stops. The same with XBMC, I get a windows pop up 'program is not responding' 'want to break it off or wait?'

Developer and publisher logos are supported. Game logos not out of the box but I am not sure if Marcos implemented them anyway. I guess not. You can add the path to your developer and/or publisher logos the same way as you added game videos and import local artwork again.

Cool, I will experiment with this later...

Malte, I have some more questions. How do you switch the videos off? I've changed this parameter in the config.xml :
<fileTypeForMainViewGameInfoBig>screenshot</fileTypeForMainViewGameInfoBig>

First I switched this to gameplay, this made the videos available in XBMC, now I set it back, but the videos stay. I see a slight switch to the screenshot, but than the video starts again. This is weird since it is nowhere to be found in the config xml anymore. Any ideas? perhaps a cache problem?

I'm now experimenting with the positioning of the art. my config xml contains this :

<imagePlacingMain>gameinfobig</imagePlacingMain>
<imagePlacingInfo>gameinfosmall</imagePlacingInfo>

The gameinfobig I understand, but the gameinfosmall (I guess this is the game details window in XBMC) I don't get in MQ3. Nothing seems to change here when I fiddle with the parameters. Do you perhaps have some bit of documentation based on the MQ3 view for this? (I know I'm asking a lot ) EDIT : I'll switch to confluence for this, it's more clear in there ...

As always: Thank you very much for the detailed report. It helps me a lot to see how users use RCB and how they think it should behave. I see there are some differences from time to time

No thank you for all the support Malte.

I will let you know when I test more. I will continue untill I completely understand this great tool and till I'm able to set up a collection just the way I want it to be.

Cheers