Custom game titles and description

[shroud]

I always have problems with databases mismatching some of my games titles & description. And then of course some databases are simply incomplete.

 

What is the best practice to mix database information with custom information, with regards to games titles and description?

 

Mainly I want to be able to achieve the following:

1) Have GameEx use database titles and games descriptions as a starting point

2) Overwrite titles & description with custom values when for some reason there is a mismatch

3) Add custom titles & description when the game is completely missing from the database

 

I understand that GameEx uses .map files for titles. These are easy to modify manually, but will be re-generated every now and then (when exactly?), so if I fix any wrong title here, I have to do it again over and over. Is there a way to disable the re-generation of the map files, once I am confident that I won't change my set of games at least for a while?

 

I understand less about how GameEx uses the database files... which files can I edit manually to add missing games descriptions? Is it possible to edit them with normal text editors, or what software is needed? Will those files be re-generated sometimes?

 

Thanks for help!

[RedDog]

13 hours ago, shroud said:

What is the best practice to mix database information with custom information, with regards to games titles and description?

Sorry, but there is none. We really do not support people doing their own databases. If you have some SQL or database knowledge and want to dig into it yourself, you certainly can do so. We may give some tips on general functionality, but for the most part you will be on your own.

About a year and a half ago, I took some time to make some custom database files for popular consoles like Nes, SNES, and Genesis so I could not only fill in missing data but to also fix titles that were not finding a match. It wasn't long after that the GameEx team announced a new feature (ratings) that was to be added. I was concerned that this would render my custom databases incompatible unless I also added the new data object. My SQL is pretty basic, so I decided to abandon any more work on it since I did not want an update to essentially make my work useless. I should mention that I am still using my databases and they are working, but I have no idea how long they may be good for GameEx or if they will be compatible with GameEx Evolution when it is released.

I would also love to see the databases be more complete and I know that the team does work on them, but it is a pretty big undertaking. Patience is my advice.

 

13 hours ago, shroud said:

I understand that GameEx uses .map files for titles. These are easy to modify manually, but will be re-generated every now and then (when exactly?), so if I fix any wrong title here, I have to do it again over and over. Is there a way to disable the re-generation of the map files, once I am confident that I won't change my set of games at least for a while?

I have not really looked at how GameEx utilizes them...but looking at the DATA folder, my guess is that you are correct or pretty darn close. A long time ago, I decided to use my own mapfiles so that I could have nice, consistant title names for all my emulators. Thus I was able to 'adjust' titles that utilized European/Japanese/German/etc names instead of USA as well as shorten a few that did not fit nicely on the screen. It took a bit of work on the front side, but once they were done, they were done. I used the import/export feature in Excel along with some simple formulas to generate the map file (which is just a .txt file renamed to .map).

You could do something similar by making a copy of the .map file in the DATA folder, editing it, and then set it up in the Advanced Emulator config in the Setup Wizard.

 

13 hours ago, shroud said:

I understand less about how GameEx uses the database files... which files can I edit manually to add missing games descriptions? Is it possible to edit them with normal text editors, or what software is needed? Will those files be re-generated sometimes?

If you are determined to give database editing a go, make a copy of the file you want to edit and rename it (like "[Console] Nintendo NES - custom.db3"). As long as the new file is placed in the GameEx\DATA\EMULATORS folder, it will show up in the database list in the Setup Wizard so you can 'attach' it to the emulator.

I used SqliteBrowser3 to browse and edit the databases. It is a light-weight program. It's also free! 

GameEx will overwrite databases periodically when a new version is part of a version update. As long as you give your custom database a different name, it will not be overwritten.

[shroud]

Thanks! I think your suggestions pretty much cover what I would like to do i.e. simply fix wrong titles in the .map and add missing game descriptions and details (genre, year, publisher...) in the .db3 files.

[DazzleHP]

Everything that @RedDog said is pretty much spot on. You CAN make your own entries IF you have DB experience, and even then you'll have to make copies of the originals, because eventually they will get updated and overwritten.

I went through this stage and even created my own DB's, but the problem comes when you update. Do you want the 500+ updates that the GameEx team have done? Or keep your 20? Trust me it gets very old very fast.

If however you want to add missing descriptions, alter Titles, correct spelling and grammatical errors, i'm sure the DB team would appreciate your effort.

[Michael Brown]

These are very informative post. But to achieve the best performance for your application, use the .NET.

[tthurman]

Care to elaborate on this Michael?

As for the databases, you might not hear from him much all the time, but greatflash is constantly improving upon the databases