Problem with Game video previews and merged rom sets

[repetto74]

First of all I wish a Merry Christmas to all of you! :-)

I'll try to explain my problem as best as I can. Actually I do not think this is a real problem but mostly related to a correct set up of Gameex for which I do not know how to handle.

I am using Gameex to manage the emulation of various old consoles (Sega, Nintendo, Atari, etc...) and for each game I want a game video preview playing when I scroll through the main gamelist. Actually many consoles had the same game released in different region (USA,Japan, Europe) so I set up gameex to merge those sets in order to keep one single entry in the main gamelist. The problem I have now is that the game preview will not play in the main gamelist but only in the sub-list (where for example the USA,Japan and Europe version of the game roms are displayed).

Setting the Merge option to "NO" will of course get rid of this problem but then the gamelist will have game names displayed twice or even three times and more (depending on the number of region version of the game) and I do not really like it.

You may told me the best thing to do is to get rid of duplicated roms and keep only one copy but this will be really a time spending process and I would like also if possible to keep every version.

Is there a particular setting in Gameex which allows me to display the game video preview on a merged game name entry?

Thanks a lot and Merry Christmas again!

Rick

[nullPointer]

Hi Rick and Merry Christmas to you as well!

I merge my game lists in the same way you describe, but I still have videos displayed in the main list. When you have a moment would you mind posting the emulator config for one of your emulators experiencing this issue (it wouldn't hurt to post you GameEx.ini as well)?

Just to be clear though we are talking about simply merging your lists in GameEx right? (as opposed to physically merged ROM sets in which you have one .zip with several different ROMs inside)

[repetto74]

Hi NullPointer,

I have checked the roms folder for a console giving me troubles (the Sega SG-1000) and I confirm each game version has its own rom zipped in a separate file. There is a video preview file for each rom with the same rom name. Could this be the issue as gameex is generating its own game name based on the Custom gamelist when the merge option is enabled?

I have attached the Gameex.ini.

Could you please point me to the folder where I can find the Emu config file?? I cannot find it.

Thanks

Rick

GameEx.ini

[nullPointer]

You bet man! You do it through the Setup Wizard, following these directions:

1. Post Your Config:

If you have your emulator running, but can't get it to run from GameEx, then tell us specifically what the problem is, and post your emulator config by doing the following:

Go to: Start Menu > Program Files > GameEx > Setup Wizard

Click "Next Page" , until you see the Emulator Selection screen. If you are using the Setup Wizard in Custom navigation mode, make sure you've selected the Emulator Selection check box on the Custom Select screen, prior to navigating.

In the center of the screen you will see a button matching the one seen in the image below (it's the bottom most button). That's the Export Emulator(s) button. Highlight the emulator you'd like to export in the left hand panel, click the Export Emulator(s) button, and save the file.



Go to the file that you just saved, (you do know where you saved it to, right? ), and double-click on it.

If Windows wants to know what program to use to open the file, Choose "Select a Program From a List of Installed Programs" Choose "Notepad" from the list. (You may want to make sure that "Use This Program Everytime" is checked.)

Copy and paste the text from Notepad into your next post, by using the keys:
Ctrl + "A" (select all)
Ctrl + "C" (copy)
Ctrl + "V" (paste)

Please put the contents of your config file in Spoiler tags. It is difficult for mobile users to read the forums with out them.

You can click on the 'Special BBCode' button, and select Spoiler from the drop down menu.

[repetto74]

OK NullPointer I got it. :-)

Here it is.

Thanks

Rick

Sega SG1000 (MESS).ini

[nullPointer]

I think your problem is likely related to this:

GamesIn7Zips=True

This will complicate matters slightly when it comes to artwork matching. Adultery recently enlightened/reminded me that when you're using the Zip/7-Zip/GoodMerge/RAR feature, GameEx will match the name of the artwork to the rom contained inside the zipped ROM file. So even though your Zip file may be called The Greatest Game Ever Made 11.zip, the runnable ROM inside the zip might be called tggem11.rom or something. When GameEx loads up artwork for this game it's going to look for a video matching the tggem11 name.

Having said all of that, doesn't MESS handle running zipped ROMs directly? You may not even need to use that setting, and if that's the case it will greatly simplify your setup (since at that point GameEx will match artwork against the name of the zip directory itself).

[repetto74]

Hi Nullpointer

Understood your clear explanation on this matter thanks :-)

Let me give a try to your suggestion tonight when back home and I will revert.

Thanks again.

Rick

[repetto74]

Hi Nullpointer

I have tried as you asked but that does not fix the problem.

I have disabled the zip option in Gameex and games will all start normally but I still cannot see the video preview on the main gamelist (with merge set option enabled)

Let me maybe explain better the folder structure of my roms. For the SG-1000 console for example I have 2 versions of Bomb Jack, one for Japan and one for Taiwan. In the rom folder of the SG1000 console I have then two different zip folders one is called Bombjack (Japan) and the other one is called Bombjack (Taiwan) and inside each zip there is the rom (.sg) with the same name as the zip.

With the "merge" option enabled I will only see "bombjack' displayed in the gamelist and after selecting the game I will get into the sub-menu where I see then the Bombjack Japan and Taiwan. The video preview will not display in the gamelist but only once I'll get in the sub-menu.

I think the problem as to do with the name of the game given by Gameex (using I believe the internal database) which will not match the name of the 2 video previews which are as per the 2 zip names.

[DazzleHP]

Hi repetto,

Thought i would just jump in and throw an idea out there (it's kind of my thing ) but have you tried fuzzy matching with the troublesome emulators? I forget precisely the setting in GameEx but there is an option to roughly match the names of snaps/vids etc which may be useful in this situation, if i'm understanding the problem correctly that is

This is what i'm understanding of the situation:

You setup an emulator prior to your current problem.

GameEx then downloaded and named your artwork/vids in this manor: game1 (Japan), game1 (USA), game1 (EU) etc.

Now you have merged the list so instead you have just game1 (instead of game1 (Japan) etc)

As there is no artwork named game1, it is not displayed, only when in sub menu and the artwork matches again (because in sub menu you see game1 (Japan), game1 (USA) etc)

Is that about the gist of it? If so fuzzy matching may help. If you want to try it and can't find the setting then holla back and i'll check it out for you.

[repetto74]

Hi NullPointer,

You mostly get it right except that the video previews all comes from Emumovies and did not download them via Gameex. The Video preview files have also been renamed using Fatmatch which basically will do the same work as FuzzyRename.

all videos were renamed according to the name of each rom zip file and that is where the problem comes from as you said. Video files are renamed according to the Zip names and not the game name of the main Gamelist. So how can I rename the video files to match names in the gamelist???

As far I understood and with the "merge set" option enabled the main gamlist is created by gameex with only one entry per game. So how can I match my videos with entries of this gamelist??

[DazzleHP]

Hi, were you replying to my post? I'm confuzzled

If you were, i wasn't referring to actually renaming your artwork - GameEx has an option to use the best match it can find when it comes to artwork. So for instance you have a rom named game1, but no exact artwork match, if you turn the option on GameEx will use artwork that is close to game1 instead (like game1 (japan) for instance)

[repetto74]

Hi Dazzle,

Yes sorry I was replying to you :-).

Where this option is supposed to be in the Wizard? Is it in the Emulator Setup or Either in the General Settings of Gameex?

[DazzleHP]

Unfortunately it seems you cannot enable it per emulator. But if you wanted to give it a try, to see if it works for you it is in Tweaks/Performance, under Snap Best Match

[repetto74]

DazzleHP you ROCK!!

Set the Best Snap Match to enabled and now I can see preview videos on the Main gamelist!

Many thanks!