Edit Mode

[starbuck]

May be there and I just can't find it. Would like to have a edit button on the screen when you pick a game in a emulator. You then could edit the infomation on that picticular game and add it to its database.

[bkenobi]

There is no way to do this in GameEx. If you want to edit MAME info, you would need to edit the individual files that are used to build the MAME information (history.dat, etc.). If you want to edit the stuff for consoles and other systems, you can find the database you are using in the GameEx directory structure (forgot where ATM), and edit it directly via MS Access or one of the freeware editors.

[starbuck]

Been doing that. But would be easier if done in GameEX. Don't have access on my machine to conserve space. Gameex reads the database without it. So some type of database reader is built into GameEx. Should be simply to add a edit button so it could be done inside Gameex.

[bkenobi]

You can read data easily via the JET engine which is included in visual studio among others. That being said, it's not quite as simple to develop a database editor inside a cabinet/HTPC friendly environment. I understand your point, but I respectfully hope Tom doesn't implement this. Editing databases is something that needs to be done to set things up, but is not something you would want to do every day. As a result, I would personally prefer a link being posted for a lightweight MS database editor rather than coding in a complicated one into GameEx.

Either way, this is not in GameEx right now. If you want it, I would suggest adding it to the features requests thread in the sticky section.

[starbuck]

Thanks for the replies bkenobi. I program in visual basic and have already did a bare bones database editor that I use to update. I currently running 131 systems thru GameEx. Many of them don't have databases available on the site. As a result i'm always updating my info. Sure there are many more users out there that have information that we could pool if it was somehow able to be uploaded thru gameex.

Just a thought

[bkenobi]

There was a major effort conducted last year where ~4 or 5 forum members scraped data from a couple web sites to construct one of the most complete sets of databases for a front end currently available. This data is now included in the installer and is usable for anyone. These databases replace the original ones (although they are also still included) and can be found in the GameEx installation folder. The new ones have bracketed system types (like [console] and [handheld] for example). If you have more data that is not included currently, please let us know especially if you are willing to share with the community!

[starbuck]

I am using the ones in GameEx. (Using the one with brackets (Console) etc. Have added to some and have made quite a few new ones. What I do is make a map file of all the games for a system and then when GameEx runs it, it lists all the games known for said system. Was working with a certain ex member to come up with a way that when Gamex loaded the system it would read the list and turn the color of the text to say green if the game was available. This would allow you to know which games you still needed. Another avantage of the map files was that I can put all my larger size games on seprate discs. I also keep some of the games in folders on cd's or dvd's.

My biggest dream was that when people used the map files thru GameEx, each system would display all the available games for that system for them and they would then know what was available and what the didn't have when GameEx compaired then rom directory with the map files.

Now I compare my mad file with my rom directory, snap directrory, box directory etc. and then spend time looking for the the snaps and information to add to the exhisting or new databases.

I beta tested a frontend several years ago that did this and it was a great benifit to have this function when you first started in the emulation scene.

[bkenobi]

I can see this being useful for those that don't obtain complete sets from the start. I'm a freak (like many others here) and obtain the whole set in one fail swoop, so my list would be completely green.

[starbuck]

Freak here too. Have all the Good sets too and many others but seems that I'm always finding new roms that I add to the list and then get a kick out of finding them. Big sets and files like sega cd, saturn, psx etc. I burn the roms to discs and play them from them. The map files let me do this.

Just in the last week I've found 2 new 7800, 5 5200 and 4 2600 games not in goodtools.