Downloaded Artwork - Logos

[dragonz]

Apologies if this has already been asked.  I'm wondering what determines if a logo (showing instead of the text of a game) downloaded or not.  Does it try to match the name of the file to something?  I'm having an issue where my gameboy advance games have no logos for any file whatsoever.  They were named using an official DAT file so I'm wondering what logic is used in determining if there is a logo for said file.

 

Thanks!

[RedDog]

GameEx will try to identify the game based on it's filename. Then, if the logo exists for the game, it will download it from Emumovies.com, place it in the Logo folder you have listed in your configuration, and rename it to match the filename of the game.

So, 1942's filename is 1942.zip. GameEx will find that logo, name it 1942.png, and place it in the Logo folder. I beleive all of the logos will be png as they need to support transparency.

I assume we are talking about using Mame in GameEx Arcade. The process for emulators works in a similar fashion with some minor differences on how it accomplishes it.

One item of note: Unless you are a subscriber to Emumovies.com, I believe the download limit is 250 megs per day.  Alternately, you can grab the MAME System Pack. It is 19GB of glorious assets for Mame (Most everything you may need I believe). It takes a while though.

[dragonz]

Thanks for the reply!

 

No actually this is for some Gameboy Advance files. What are the minor differences?  Can you download those logos ahead of time from Emumovies as well?

 

Thanks!

[tthurman]

They are essentially the same in how it works.

 

You can but If you are not a member of Emu Movies you are limited by the same daily data cap.

Tom has provided the system packs for those without an extensive library, in the case of console emulation you are going to be better off with an Emumovies account and the auto downloader.

 

Configure GameEx, launch it and just let it do its thing for a while.  Trust me, it's a lot easier.

http://www.gameex.info/wiki/index.php/GameEx:Automatic_Artwork_Download_(Setup_Wizard)

[RedDog]

Take a look at EmuMovies Sync. This little utility does the same sort of thing as GameEx, but you can choose to download specific asset groups one at a time. For instance, you will be able to choose to download only logos for GameBoy Advance. The assets will be renamed to match the rom file names as well. The only drawback is that it is rigid on the names of the folders the assets are dowloaded to. You may have to move the asset files after download unless you choose to use the EmuMovies folder names.

One thing to keep in mind is not all games may have assets. More popular consoles like Genesis and NES pretty much have everything, but others may miss pieces here and there. I expect Gameboy will be pretty complete though. EmuMovies does add new assets to collections that need then fairly often.

Side Note: EmuMovies Sync was written by Tom Speirs as well.

[Draco1962]

To tag onto what RedDog noted about not all games may have assets, not all systems are represented. In the capture from FTP below, only Game Boy and Gameboy Color show assets - no GameBoy Advanced.  Looking for logos or "wheel" images via Google or Bing may then be your best bet and you may have to gather from several sources to complete a set of logos and having to rename them if they do not follow a specific convention.

[RedDog]

Yup, Draco is right...not much there for Gameboy Advance. Ah well. Logos are pretty popular yet, so maybe over time...

Emu Movies is the only good source I know that not only has the files but automatically renames them to match the rom (very handy that). There may be others. 

[tthurman]

It's worth noting that the assets available are so due to contributions by others for the overall betterment of the community.

You could fill some of the voids if you're so inclined.

 

 

[dragonz]

Thanks for all the input guys!! Very prompt too!

[RedDog]

Also, the differences I was referring to was how GameEx Identifies the games. For the integrated Mame, GameEx automatically uses it's Mame database while the emulators have a database parameter that you have to set and you need to make sure you have the database (which you can download if need be).