Editor for clrmame dat files

[Kincaid]

Hi, does anyone know a editor for clrmame dat files? I downloaded the nointro dat files, but there are still many roms in it that i don't want. For example i would like to delete all the japanese games and i would like to keep only one rom when there are different languages. I know i can open the dat file in a text editor but it would take ages to manually delete all the unnecessary roms. It would be great if there is a tool where you can select some tags to delete and maybe something like setting my preferred language and when there is a game in more then one language it would only keep the preferred.

[nullPointer]

I honestly think that the command line is the best tool to achieve this sort of filter. The common rom sets (No-Intro, TOSEC, etc.) all follow specific rom naming conventions. You can use clrmamepro to enforce applicable rom naming conventions and then leverage those naming conventions (and some strategically placed wild card characters), to move or delete games using the command line interface. For example, the following command would remove all Japanese games from your rom directory (when executed against a No-Intro set):

del "E:\Emulation\Roms\[system_Name]\*(*Japan*)*

This thread contains further examples of this sort of filtering.

Edit: If you're doing this sort of thing for MAME roms you may want to take a look at RomLister (Tempest has a tutorial for it right here). In this scenario you can use RomLister to create the list of ROMS you wish to exclude then build a batch file from that list. RomLister even has the functionality to build batch files built right into the program, so your pretty golden as far as that goes.

Lastly I would be remiss not to point out that GameEx has rather robust rom filtering functionality built right into the program. Using this functionality you can keep your sets complete (if that's your thing), but never have to worry about seeing undesired roms in your GameEx list.

Edited January 6, 2012 by nullPointer

[fRequEnCy]

No-Intro dats can be tweaked via the website. You have options like filtering by language, region, etc. That would be the most simple way of filtering. There are other options as well depending on exactly what results you're after.

[Kincaid]

@nullPointer I could just delete all files conainting (Japan) with a search in windows explorer, but thats not what i want. I would have to do this every time i use the rebuilder. And when i have an edited dat file i can easily see which roms are missing.

@frequency you mean http://datomatic.no-intro.org/ ? I don't see any filtering options.

[nullPointer]

Check it out right here:

http://datomatic.no-...ownload&fun=dat

Leave it to fReq to come up with the clean, elegant solution So yeah, that's a great solution for No-Intro sets. You're probably still going to be out of luck when it comes to some of the other more common sets though (Atari 2600 comes to mind). Have you ever messed with the Dir2Dat function in clrmamepro? Using that function you should be able to shuttle your unwanted ROMS into an alternate directory (or delete them) using the process I described above (or whatever whiz-bang GUI method you kids are using these days ), and use Dir2Dat to build a new DAT from the remaining directory contents. Should work just fine for any set that doesn't contain Parent/Clone realtionships. I'm not sure what it will do with Parent/Clone stuff (probably screw it up ).

[Kincaid]

Thx for the link. I had a quick look at it and it seems to be nearly exactly what i was looking for.

But hey, don't call me kid, I grew up with dos. But why make it harder as it has to be.

[nullPointer]

Thx for the link. I had a quick look at it and it seems to be nearly exactly what i was looking for.

But hey, don't call me kid, I grew up with dos. But why make it harder as it has to be.

No offense intended - in all honesty I'm pretty pumped if someone calls me 'kid' these days! Also don't know if anyone mentioned it, but - Welcome to the Forums!

[Kincaid]

None taken.

And thanks for the welcome, i already learned a lot here.

[fRequEnCy]

As far as other emulators with a different naming convention, I would take a look at Dat Workshop Pro. Toy with that and it can create dat files based on certain criteria.

[Kincaid]

I just downloaded and tried dat workshop pro, but i can't figure out how to edit an existing dat file and i can't find any manuals or documentations about this programm.

[fRequEnCy]

I just downloaded and tried dat workshop pro, but i can't figure out how to edit an existing dat file and i can't find any manuals or documentations about this programm.

I would use dat workshop pro for arcade emulators and use clrmame pro for others emulators. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

[Kincaid]

At this time only nintendo and sega consoles and handhelds. I think filtering the dat file at dat-o-matic for english and german only gives me pretty exactly what i want.