Update List

[Will]

Tom, this a combined question/feature request. I think it would be helpful to have an offline "update list" option. When in gamex, and updating my mame list, it seems that it goes really slow since the pc is having to render the GUI, play the mp3, and (after a few minutes) show the attract mode. If there were an option to do this in the config menu or something it seems that it would be much faster. What does everyone think?

Now my question, what exactly does the update list do/build? It is JUST the games list, or do I need to be updating it whenever I change snaps and artwork and samples, etc? And it is just for MAME right?

[hansolo77]

Update List generates the MAME Roms/Games list. It incorporates files that describe the game, how many players it uses, what category it would fall under (like Shooter, side scroller), what 'system type' it would fall under (like, cps, lightgun, vertical), and what rom files are included to create the parent name. All of this data is compared to your GameEx settings, such as your filtered out games. Once it has a list of the histories, and a list of filters from GameEx, it then pulls a list of what roms you have in the MAME/roms folder and builds the list. Of course, I may have the order mixed up, where the list is generated, then the information added, then the filters go into effect, but the idea is still there.

So you only need to run the Update List if:

A.) You download a new version of MAME and want to have GameEx list the newly available roms

B.) You make a change to the GameEx settings; ie, you decide to filter out porn, or add Japanese titles

C.) You make any changes to your roms, such as a new collection download, or a restructured set via clrmamepro.

You shouldn't have to update the list whenever a new GameEx version is released. You also don't need to update the list when you change snaps, videos, or any other "extra".

Hope that clears it up for ya.