greatflash

HK: Guess what? Betcha can't... Go on, try! Yep, that's correct - "I have had a brainwave". Ok, this is a new function for DBM called "Directory Scrape". I think you can work it out already Take the C64 goodbase set. This is currently at V5 though the dat is only at V3. Wouldn't it be great to scrape my c64 rom directory and add all the games that are missing? I have the complete v5 set which is much larger than the V3. Take the Saturn or Dreamcast sets. These have no real dat (small iso ones that is all), but all the rom (iso) names follow a set pattern. Mine are named using the Tosec rules. It would be great to scrape the saturn directory to add all the new games that are not in the dat or that I have not manually entered. Take the Naomi sets that are now turning up. I could scrape that directory and quickly add the new ones to the db ready for editing.. This would be fantastic for any db that does not have a dat!!!! Good idea? On the scape screen requesting directory it would need a few options. I.e. Add Data to - "Goodname/Nointro/Tosec" Select witch on to add the data to, ie the name of the files found. This would be non destructive and only add new records. this would also add the name to the "name" field. Strip Brackets - "yes/no" This would indicate if brackets should be removed from entries. (this is handy for c64 mostly) Of course this would also check against existing data for repetition and mark new entries the same as a scrape or add missing. When entering names to the "name" field, the subject of "xxx, the" and "the xxx" should always be entered using the later. I try to structure all my names to use "the" first when needed as this creates a tidier list. That reminds me, need to go through all the publishers and devs (AGAIN) and rename to put "the" at the front, this will also find doubles for me. Sorry if this request sounds more like an instruction OH, quick option. When the pop-up "XXXX has been added to the xxxx cache", is there any chance I could have a warning first with an option of ok or cancel? All the best my overworked friend.. I will try not to bother you anymore.

The game is fantastic. In my opinion it is the best thing to appear on the ps3. Was playing it all last night and again for 15 mins this morning before work. If anyone has a ps3 and has not got a copy - I suggest you do... Fantastic 10/10 PS. Stephen Fry is excellent as the narrator.

You must be mad!! As I say, The db's support ALL games and prototypes. I personally dislike hacks (except english language hacks - when 100%), hacks are the bastard sons of hell and should all be destroyed . Why anyone would want to play super mario world with mario replaced by sonic, or another version of Adventure on the VCS with more unplayable mazes, I will never understand. Hacks have no value, and as someone who really appreciates the history of the games - they are worthless. Now, public domain and new games for old systems are a different matter. Though 90% of the games are RUBBISH, there are a number of games that really shine, games by John Dondzilla, Ken Siders, Arnauld Chevallier, etc are worthy of any collector. These are in the db's for the most part. A lot of the db's are totally complete and actually contain prototypes that are known of but have never been found or released. Demos can be worthy of inclusion for technical reasons, and are included in smaller db's like the Atari 2600, 7800, Intellivision, Vectrex, etc. At the moment, larger db's will not have demo's or hacks. these will be added at a (much) later date for reasons of time. I really want to get the games done. As well as that, the only real data that you may get back for a demo or hack is the year. There is precious info available about who did them or what they are, so in a way - the inclusion is rather pointless. As I say, the db's will contain (and do) ALL known games (or official releases), and all known prototypes. This is really what it is all about, the historic collection of the GOLDEN age of games. Phew.. Thanks for your interest and I hope this helps to explain the db's a bit. PS. Still think you are mad keeping all the hacks. Do a directory search for [hack] and (hack), select all, press delete. Then have a little dance and be pleased that your system has been cleansed!! :)

You can do something similar.. You will have to follow me here.. In the emulator config. -------------------------- Make sure the correct db is selected turn on "database naming" make sure "remove text in brackets" is OFF When you go to the list of games in GameEx, the ones that are in the db will have the bracketed text present, eg (1991) [hack] (Univesal) etc. The games that are in the db will look normal. This is really only of worth with db's that are complete (see first page of this topic). Though, at the moment I really could do without "game XXX is not in the db posts". Most games that are not matched in the complete db's are the result of incorrect file names, though I am sure that there will be some missed and am doing my best to make sure there is not. Things that are missed at the moment are a lot of the pd, demos, and hacks on the larger databases. These will be added later, but my main concern it to get as many actuall GAMES in as possible. The problem with adding a function to show all roms in the db and colour missing ones different (apart from perhaps messing up some themes colour schemes) is that this takes GameEx more into the realm of rom manager, something that i am sure Tom does not want. Saying that, a seperate tool that used the db's to check against your roms and offer a naming function may be something worth looking at when the db's are complete (this could be a while ) Thanks for the input!

Just flew all the way here in my flappy red cape, and it's you again Well, you do have to be right sometimes, it's called chaos theory. Answer enough posts (and you do ), and with some luck you will be right at some point. Put enough monkeys in a room with typewriters and...........

Hmmmm.... I wonder what would have happened.... anyway, the comment was to help djp_1981 and not to lesson the impact of the advice of Tempest. Hold on, just spotted my name on another topic... Something about Galaga... Sorry Tempest, must fly, SuperFlash, up, up, and away..

Try to forget about the map file for now - it only complicates things and also the n64 db will be released with the next version of GameEx and this will name all and offer all the details to suit. The main problem is that the roms will not work in nestled folders and must be in the root of the folder that the RomPath points to. I am sure this is the problem he is having and hopefully this will sort it out. Best to go to basics first and get things working before worrying about map files and custom control settings and the such like. Phew!

Ok, GameEx does not support roms in folders. Take Aerogauge out of \roms\Aerogauge\ and place it directly in \roms\ This should sort it out! As long as your rompath is set to c:\emulators\project64\roms\ a straight Project64.exe "[Rompath]\[RomFile]" should work a treat sorry to confuse with my setting. Why i have it like that I do not know. It really does not make any difference in this case though.

How can you say that? I bought a bit of software that makes googly eyes follow your mouse pointer.. That's way better... :)

GameEx is not finding your roms correctly and displaying a list of roms based on the map file. So, when you try to launch a game, no actual game is found. Are your games in zip files? (not rars) If they are not zipped or 7zipped, turn the "zip/7-zip/goodmerge" option off.. ny command line looks like this, Project64.exe "d:\mess\software\n64\[RomFile]" for some reason I implicitly set the launch with my rom directory rather than [RomPath]? Have no idea why? Are you sure your rompath is pointing at the correct directory? I notice that you have romfilter blank, so that any file within will be displayed in GameEx rom list is zip support is off. Try turning it off and see what pops up!

Thanks HK.. (Again) Really looking forward to having a play today. Love the idea of the direct search editing, this could be a real time saver and at the very least - a great way to maximise the cohesion of the data. Now that I have got EVEN more professional tools, is there any chance of a pay rise - I was thinking of a %50 rise and overtime pay for weekends I will let you know how I get on tonight when I get back from work HK. Will be 8pm GMT (you know - real time ) Thanks again.. PS. Have you noticed how lazy Tom is getting?

Yes, I am colour blind in R G and B, more in some than others. The red I can see (just - it is better on the monitor at home than the laptop at work). But, a triangle would be really nice and make me happy But, if when a scrape is made, each NEW entry gains a flag to say it is new, then your 'cache routine' would notice the flag and NOT add them to the cache. Only when the entry is modified would the flag be removed. Would this not work. The initial trawl through the dev and pub lists took over 40 hours (with some dev checking also), If I have to go through these everytime I do a scrape - nightmare. I know it will not take as long, but it is still a massive amount of dev and pubs to check through.. It needs not remember them, just not to re-order each time an edit is made. There! Put a hand over one eye and squint! there must be a way to stop and "add missing" messing up the db? Yes - I was ---------

I do a scrape when I start a new db. I will not re-scrape until I have completed quite a few.. I will never get it done otherwise The SEARCH was not for an online search, but for the SEARCH&REPLACE function. Follow me here.... At the moment S&R checks for the FULL record and replaces with the FULL amendment - This is exactly as needs to be, perfect. But a standard search (within S&R) needs to check for "within" a record, so a search of "ACME" will find "ACME Sausage Factory", "The ACME sausage Factory", etc. Using this I could find orphaned entries where a dat has used a slightly different name. THIS MUST NOT affect S&R.. Implementation:- Clicking "Replace" - Search for FULL matches and replace with FULL matches. Clicking "Search" - Search for PART matches withing fields and display results only. ------------------- Ok, now down to Scrapes again. When you scrape, new data is entered into the current db. You have no way of knowing which are new and in this way the pub,dev, and name caches will become muddled again. Can a new scrape use a triangle (example) as an icon (instead of the coloured circle) in the game list, and remain (even when db saved) until that record is edited? This way, you will know what needs to be checked at all times. All the db's need is an "Edit Flag". Set to 0 by default and change to a 1 to mark a modified entry. Do ya catch me drift!!?? ------------------- In the games list of an open dat, can the devs and pubs of non-matching entries (dev is not in cache list, etc) be displayed in bold or similar (remember that I am colour blind). This way, a scan of the list will show me edits that are needed. Not sure how to implement this because any dev with a single entry in the cache would be marked in bold. Perhaps something could be implemented with the Modified flag? Or is this a unusable idea.. -------------------- Can the column headings be swapped around and remembered. So I can have the dat names at the back and the year after the name if i need to. On lists with large names the dat names are off the right of the screen In this event, I could move Name to the back so the first 3 are the dat names for easy checking etc... Or perhaps I could move the dats behind description so I have a better view of the data for a game? ------------------- Do you like all my minus signs? ------------------- I will update the tosec/good/nointro at some time, but am quite scared of using updated ones as I have removed and amalgamated so many entries that an "Add missing" could really mess a dat up. Try having a play with the 7800 or 5200 for an example of "Add Missing". You also get multiple entries again... ----------------------- More minuses and Thanks for ALL your work HK..

I dont have PC-Engine CD setup but I do use the PC-FX setup. In this, I had the same problem and had to add the CD drive letter to the command line to get it to work. This may have nothing to do with the black screen, but may be of help if you sort that out and still find the games are not working. I have "-cd j:" as the swithes I may help.....?

Right, one more thing. Search & replace work GREAT and need to work on whole fields, but... Search (as a single function) needs to work on a match within a field. eg. in SNES "Acme Animation Factory" is listed as a single entry with one dat match (nointro), and I am sure both good and tosec will contain this game, so it must be in the list somewhere? (Right-Click) search could be my friend here (and god knows - i need one! ) and enable me to search for ACME in the name field to find what the other is called so that I can put the entries in one record. This MUST NOT affect the function of Search&Replace, this must always work on a whole record.. Another great idea from the little world of FLASH © 2008, Alll rights relinquished!

Quick note The fix spaces function works a treat.. Love the influx of redness, could spend hours changing publishers names just to watch them blush!! Great work as always HK!!!

Edit games, select all, delete, save - from the game list and the functions of the File menu in the dat list. That is pretty much it.. These are not really that important. It is really just me. You get so used to right-clicking on selections - and i STILL do it all the time.. PS. Good morning! PPS. Still not registered on my website (Flash looks forlorn and dejected)

Another great update HK. DBM is getting pretty impressive. It is funny how these tools can expand.. Had a look at the first release the other day - god, it really has changed. Oh, just remembered the other thing ( ), it was context sensitive right click options and the use of ctrl-a in the db list to select all. The save mdb(s) feature is a great idea that I failed to think of ( ) Thanks again HK. N64 is done (somehow missed GP championship 2?), will check the strange spaces from the ether and will post tonight after work. Making a start on the SNES one now (2500 games at the mo - dare not expand goodname just yet). Will have a play today and let you know how I get on..

No, it will not generally match hacks unless the only difference between the two names is the addition of [hack] or (hack), which would not be regarded. I does not really notice, and these will be added later. Best to get the REAL games done. Will still include prototypes and unreleased.

I think I will start on the Snes. ? . ? . When I do this one, I will have to omit all hacks and pd. If I don't - I will be a LONG time. When all the db's are done, I will go back and update them to add these extra's. I think the main concern is to get all known official games done!

I did release a loader that support zip for the c64 emu ccs and that is posted in the config sticky. This confg allowed you to press f10 and select the disk to insert. I am sorry that I cannot help with Winvice as it is pants The loader by HK for the amiga is available for download, and really is quite easy to set up. I would suggest using it with the whdload amiga game set (very easy to find an download)... It is a great bit of coding and handles everything a treat.

Thanks mate. Highest resolution against a white background if possible, or an outside patio or similar in good light. Don't worry about cropping though, I am quite happy to do that at the same times as I photoshop marks and the such-like out...

An open invitation to all, The N64 db is nearly complete... Any suggestions to what one to do next???? Snes, Nes, Genesis, etc......

I did not enter I already have the stupendious prize that is "GameEx" - what more could I want The theme is still a WIP, just having a few probs finding time to finish it... Getting some nice new graphics from that new website that I may or may not of mentioned... Flash's retro computer gallery, something like that??? :)

Well done HK.. Now finishing the N64 one so all the pub&dev match.. Works a treat. Will still uses export to do the game names to build the list for global dropdown. This will then make matching newly added games a treat!!! Will let you know how it gets on..