The logic behind naming the games?

[shroud]

Could someone please explain to me what is the basic mechanism used by GameEx to display game names in the lists?

I understand that there are 3 possible source of names involved:

- the filename

- the name in the database file

- the name in the MAP file

I can see that GameEx is capable of automatically recognize a lot of games and generate the MAP file with their names. But there are still cases where I don't understand why do I end up with a certain name...

For example, I have setup the database name use for MAME games, but then I don't like some of the automatically generated names, so I go and manually edit the MAP file, writing the names I want. Then SOME of those custom names are shown properly in GameEx, while OTHERS are not, and GameEx still shows the automatically generated ones...

[Adultery]

Well for MAME it probably comes form MAME's internal info. The exe outputs most of that information.

To fix all the names you probably have to update the list and that will overwrite your changes.

MAME is pretty specific... If you were looking to do this you're probably better off using it as a seperate emulator and creating your own map file, but you will lose a lot of cool features that integrayed support offers.

[shroud]

Well for MAME it probably comes form MAME's internal info. The exe outputs most of that information.

To fix all the names you probably have to update the list and that will overwrite your changes.

MAME is pretty specific... If you were looking to do this you're probably better off using it as a seperate emulator and creating your own map file, but you will lose a lot of cool features that integrayed support offers.

I am currently using MAME as a separate emulator instead of using the integrated support. It still overwrites my names in the MAP file. I can see that the MAP file is updated only when I add or remove some games from the file system, otherwise it will keep my own name changes, but still the names shown in GameEx will be different. That's why I would like to know how the different name sources interact

My guess is that, when GameEx generates the MAP files (if I understand correctly, this happens only if there isn't a MAP file, or whenever the files in the ROM folder have changed), it will enter names into the MAP file according to (I presume) the database file. But then I assumed the names in MAP are always those shown in GameEx, however that's not true...

For example:

- if I have the 2nd Arkanoid game, GameEx will create an entry in the MAP file: arknoid2.zip "Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH"

- then I edit this name to something else such as "Arkanoid II"

- as long as I don't add/remove/change any file in the ROM folder, my custom name is always there in the MAP file

- still, GameEx always shows "Arkanoid - Revenge of DOH" in the UI

The strange thing is that this doesn't happen with all other emulators... whatever is written in the MAP file is exactly what is shown in GameEx UI.

[Adultery]

Well there's also the cache files for that emulator... If you're doing a stand-alone MAME install then you will need to remove those as well.

[shroud]

Well there's also the cache files for that emulator... If you're doing a stand-alone MAME install then you will need to remove those as well.

I thought that the MAP files in DATA folder (named EMU*) were working as sort of cache files...

Which are the cache files you are referring to?

[Adultery]

It depends on your emu number. In thr data folder there are files with .cache at the end of the file name.

[shroud]

It depends on your emu number. In thr data folder there are files with .cache at the end of the file name.

For example, my MAME is setup to being emulator #1. I can find the following files in DATA:

EMU_1.MAP

EMU_1.DBCACHE

EMU_1.DBCACHEINI

EMU_1_Cat.DBCACHE

EMU_1_Dev.DBCACHE

EMU_1_Ply.DBCACHE

EMU_1_Pub.DBCACHE

EMU_1_YR.DBCACHE

The MAP file seems to me like it's the one that should "map" (sic) filenames to names used by GameEx. Here is where I go and change a name I don't like to something custom, and it *almost* always works.

The last five contain lists of game categories, developers, year etc. apparently generated and used by GameEx for listing games of that system by these parameters.

The two DBCACHE and DBCACHEINI have extensive info per game, including the long verbal description. Are these generated from the databases? Or are the titles generated from the MAP file, so that if I delete the DBCACHE but keep the MAP, will I have my custom names?

The DBCACHE file in particular seems to have auto-generated names... are these names taking precedence over the names in the MAP file? If that's the case, is it safe to manually edit the DBCACHE file e.g. with Notepad?

By the way, oddly enough I seem to have these name problems only with MAME (I have different problems with the Amiga list, where many games are incorrectly listed as duplicates of another game, but I think this is a separate problem).

[Draco1962]

You should be good then. It is safe to delete any of the files with cache in the name. If you delete one for a system that is not problematic, that's OK. They will rebuild on the next launch of GameEx. Keep in mind that right after the initial launch following the removal of the cache files that things may be just a little slower as the new cache files are being built anew.

[nullPointer]

The two DBCACHE and DBCACHEINI have extensive info per game, including the long verbal description. Are these generated from the databases?

Yes, the DBCACHE files are generated from the database(s). GameEx creates these cache files as a performance measure, since it's much faster and more efficient to read this information from cached files than it is to read from the database every time.

Or are the titles generated from the MAP file, so that if I delete the DBCACHE but keep the MAP, will I have my custom names?

No. If you delete the cache files GameEx is simply going to rebuild them again. In troubleshooting lingo this is what we refer to as clearing or rebuilding your cache files, since that's exactly what happens in this scenario.

The DBCACHE file in particular seems to have auto-generated names... are these names taking precedence over the names in the MAP file?

That depends on what you have set for Use Database Name in your Emulator Settings

If that's the case, is it safe to manually edit the DBCACHE file e.g. with Notepad?

NO! As I mentioned before all information in this directory is to be considered volatile information (including the MAP file). It's not recommended that you make manual edits to any of it. GameEx doesn't know (or care) whether or not you've made manual edits, and will happily go about overwriting all your hard work. If you're interested in making making your own map file, I'd recommend checking out Map File Maker, Map File Magician, or another similar alternative. Then you can plug it in via the Map File entry in your emulator settings.

Alternately I'd really recommend setting up MAME through the dedicated MAME Settings, rather than setting it up as a stand alone emulator. Trying to get your map file together is only going to be the first (and not the last) headache you'll encounter when trying to set up MAME as a 'standard' emulator. (I couldn't remember whether this was discussed or not, but it definitely bears repeating).

[shroud]

You should be good then. It is safe to delete any of the files with cache in the name. If you delete one for a system that is not problematic, that's OK. They will rebuild on the next launch of GameEx. Keep in mind that right after the initial launch following the removal of the cache files that things may be just a little slower as the new cache files are being built anew.

Ok, so here's what happened

I deleted EMU_1.DBCACHE and EMU_1.DBCACHEINI, but I have kept the EMU_1.MAP file with my own changes.

At next start of GameEx, those 2 missing cache files were generated, BUT also EMU_1.MAP file was re-generated, overwriting my changes completely.

Once again, the generated EMU_1.MAP file has a lot of missing titles, as apparently GameEx did not recognize a number of MAME games.

[shroud]

Alternately I'd really recommend setting up MAME through the dedicated MAME Settings, rather than setting it up as a stand alone emulator.

But if I do so, will I be able to use my custom names, and how? And will I be able to customize the title of the whole MAME section?

[nullPointer]

But if I do so, will I be able to use my custom names, and how? And will I be able to customize the title of the whole MAME section?

The integrated MAME functionality uses GameEx\DATA\gamelist.txt in a similar way that standard emulators use the map/cache files. The difference is that this list is only affected when you update your MAME list through GameEx (rather than being overwritten every time you start GameEx). So there is still a bit of risk, but it's an important distiction that Update List is a user initiated action whereas the cached emulator files are purely controlled through GameEx. If you really don't want the game list to be overwritten you could set it as read-only in Windows, although I don't know that I'd fully endorse that approach as well (as it could cause new 'mysterious' problems some point down the road when you've forgotten that you've done this. Hey as I can attest, Age Happens )

You can rename your MAME section through the use of Custom Menus. It's noteworthy that you can't change the name of MAME categories since that information comes from catver.ini (although if you're using MAME as a standard emulator you aren't currently enjoying that feature either, so probably nothing lost there )

[shroud]

You can rename your MAME section through the use of Custom Menus. It's noteworthy that you can't change the name of MAME categories since that information comes from catver.ini (although if you're using MAME as a standard emulator you aren't currently enjoying that feature either, so probably nothing lost there )

I think I don't have Custom Menus in the free version of GameEx...

[nullPointer]

Ah yes, likely not. When or if you decide to purchase a license you may find that custom menus are a nice way to tailor your system to your liking. Otherwise the default menu item is labeled MAME, which really is really pretty descriptive any way (I mean, even with custom menus I've always left this menu item with the default label).

[Adultery]

You should be able to change the name of that in the Text/Language section unless I misunderstood the post up there...

[nullPointer]

Ha, right you are! I tend to erroneously think of text/language settings as being specific to language customization, but yes that would definitely work for altering menu labels as well.

[shroud]

You should be able to change the name of that in the Text/Language section unless I misunderstood the post up there...

Ha! You're absolutely right, I wonder how did I always miss that

[DazzleHP]

I think the moral of the story here is - Pay nothing, get awesome! Pay something, get awesome+! Am i right?