[RESOLVED] A question about naming roms for GameEx and Emu Movies

[Vic Rattlehead]

I am using the Good rom sets for my GameEx installation in zipped 7zip archives. This has worked well for me because it gives me easy access to Japanese and translated Japanese roms for some games while uniting all the different versions under one name so that the game list doesn't get cluttered. At first I just used the basic names for the games like this: "Eliminate Down.7z"

Then I saw that I got a low rate of game recognition (at least from Emu Movies) from this naming convention and I experimented a little to see if I could get better results. What worked out much better was giving the 7zip file a name based on the American (if applicable) versions of the rom inside. So the zip files got names like "Eliminate Down (J) [!].7z" and "Steel Empire (UE) [!].7z"

Most Nintendo and Sega games got a high rate of game recognition both from the GameEx database and Emu Movies with this scheme. For TurboGrafx 16\PC Engine games the GameEx database got most of them while Emu Movies only got about half of them, all but two of these was Japanese so I guess that the Emu Movies database just isn't very good with Japanese releases of PC Engine games. Not a problem. The GameEx database however is and I'm really impressed by it.

There still remains a lot of games in total (for all systems combined) that either has not got any artwork for it or that is not recognized by the database. The missing artwork is not much of a problem since I can get it later manually, but the games that is not recognized by GameEx is something I want to get right from the beginning since all statistics for a game is lost (not lost but the new name gets a new entry) once you change the name of the rom\zip file. It also is easier to see which games are missing artwork since you can go and look into the NOT FOUND folder in GameEx\Assets.I have not found any way to see which games that are not recognized by GameEx's database, except looking at each game manually, but maybe there is an easier way?

I read two places at the forums that somebody recommended using the NoIntro naming convention for rom sets instead of the Good Set naming convention. I have not yet tried to rename all of my sets with one of the rom managers, but I tried renaming a few roms myself using the names from the NoIntro dats. But it did not work as well as I had expected.

With my old naming scheme "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (U) [!].7z" and "Street Fighter II Turbo - Hyper Fighting (U) [!].7z" was both recognized by the GameEx database thus getting appropriate entries for year of release, publishers, description, etc. But Emu Movies did not recognize these entries so I got no artwork or screenshots. Then I tried to rename them using the names given in the NoIntro database file: Nintendo - Super Nintendo Entertainment System (20141008-233107_CM).dat

Street Fighter II (USA).7z and Street Fighter II Turbo (USA).7z was their new names, but to my surprise the problem was reversed. Now Emu Movies recognized the entries but the GameEx database did not. I thought that maybe the problem was the .7z extension so I removed the 7zip files and extracted the American roms inside. I then renamed them exactly as their entries are written in the NoIntro dat file: "Street Fighter II (USA).sfc" and "Street Fighter II Turbo (USA).sfc" But the problem remained. Emu Movies recognize them while GameEx don't. Since it seems strange that GameEx would not recognize such a common naming format as GoodIntro the most likely scenario must be that I gave done something wrong, but I am not sure what. Does the GameEx database use more than just rom names for recognition? The NoIntro database lists the rom checksums too. Do you think that GameEx will fail to recognize a game if it has the right name, but the wrong checksum?

I would also presume that the roms using [!] in the Good Rom sets are the same roms with the same checksums as those in the NoIntro set. So the checksum should not be the problem.

The Good Set games are named like this: "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (U) [!].smc" while I presume that NoIntro set games are named like this "Street Fighter II (USA).sfc"

I haven't tried using a rom manager to rename my files yet, but it should give the same result and I'm also not sure if any of those works well with 7zip files so that all of my roms therein are retained. I'm not yet ready to give up the convenience of being able to play different language versions when I want just yet.

If there are anybody here knowledgeable about this subject I would be grateful for any help with the matter.

[BenjiAtArms]

I would try to clear the GameEx Cache (GameEx\DATA folder). If your SNES Emulator has the number 6 for example, you should delete this files:

EMU_6_Cat.dbcache

EMU_6_Dev.dbcache

EMU_6_Ply.dbcache

EMU_6_Pub.dbcache

EMU_6_YR.dbcache

See, if it works after deleting the cache.

[nullPointer]

Deleting your cached emulator data is definitely worth a shot. Sometimes making a number of changes to your ROM directory can cause the cached data to become out of sync (in my experience at any rate).

If your ever curious to see the exact names that GameEx is using for matching purposes you can take a look at the databases located in the...\GameEx\DATA\EMULATORS directory. If you're not sure how to view those databases, this thread may be of some assistance.

[RIP-Felix]

I just rename mine according to the No Intro standard, or basically to match emumovies. But I can see how that may not be feasible for you.

[Riffman81]

No-Intro sets and GoodSets are as different as night and day. For starters, GoodSets often include EVERYTHING, bad ROM dumps, hacks, demos, betas, different regions, etc. No-Intro sets include most of these things as well, but eliminate all the "Garbage" (bad dumps, hacks, etc). Also, GoodSets, aren't exactly true to what was on the original cartridge when the game was dumped. Let's take a look at the SNES ROM set as an example. Most ROMs used in the SNES GoodSets are in .smc format, and have headers. [!] symbol indicates that the ROM image has no header, if memory serves me correctly. (Headers are information left over from the copying device used to copy/dump the ROM image). No-Intro SNES set are in .sfc format and use headerless ROM images. These are true to what was on the actual cart. (I believe this is true for most No-Intro sets except for the NES. NES ROM images require the iNES header if I'm not mistaken).

No-Intro has become the most common naming convention. The No-Intro naming convention strives to stay true to what was actually on the game box when the game was released. I think you'd have better results using the No-Intro naming schema rather than GoodSets or TOSEC, but to each their own. One thing you wont find in No-Intro sets are translated games, as these are considered hacks. It's basically a matter of personal taste, none of the above information may be of any concern to you, but for others, it matters and it helps to understand the difference between the many different ROM sets floating around out there. I use No-Intro sets for ALL of my cartridge based systems, and although a game may not appear in my GameEx database, it will still show in GameEx and I still have a nice set of artwork, videos, etc. to accompany the title.

As for ROM managers, you may have a terrible time using them with GoodSets if your trying to rename to a No-Intro set. The information I gave above about headered and Unheadered ROMs will certainly cause issues. You'll need to use a No-Intro .dat file to rename. If the checksum of your GoodSet ROM doesn't match whats in the No-Intro databsse, (and 9 times out of 10 it wont) than you'll have to manually rename that ROM. In the end, it's easier to "acquire" a complete No-Intro set to save yourself a lot of hassle. Just my 2cents

[Vic Rattlehead]

Many thanks to everybody for their input! I got the answers that I was looking for and more. I haven't decided yet how I will organize my collection, but the answers here were very helpful.

[Vic Rattlehead]

How do I mark this question as resolved? Should I just edit the thread name?

[tthurman]

One of the admins will do that for you as soon as they read your response.

Glad to hear everything worked out for you!