Best choice for altering the .mdb files?

**IMBerzerk** · September 30, 2008

Now that I've got a pretty firm understanding on how GameEx works, I'd like to start altering the information databases to match the names of my ROMs. I have a habit of cutomizing everything, so my ROM names are no different.

What is the best program to use to view, edit and alter the GameEx databases.

Thanks,

IMBerzerk

**Stub** · September 30, 2008

Open office. http://www.openoffice.org/

**headkaze** · September 30, 2008

The databases are designed to use 3 of the main naming systems; GoodTools, NoIntro and TOSEC. If your not using one of these naming systems I highly recommend you get yourself ClrMamePro and get it to rename all your ROMs to one of them. It will save you alot of effort required to go through and change them all manually.

**IMBerzerk** · September 30, 2008

The databases are designed to use 3 of the main naming systems; GoodTools, NoIntro and TOSEC. If your not using one of these naming systems I highly recommend you get yourself ClrMamePro and get it to rename all your ROMs to one of them. It will save you alot of effort required to go through and change them all manually.

Thanks Head,

I'm more concerned about the console games like Colecovision, Atari, NES, Intellivision, etc. I wouldn't even dream about touching the MAME roms. That would be a nightmare.

**greatflash** · September 30, 2008

Thanks Head,
I'm more concerned about the console games like Colecovision, Atari, NES, Intellivision, etc. I wouldn't even dream about touching the MAME roms. That would be a nightmare.

You should already have a complete Colecovision database. This is downloaded as long as the option if selected (it is by default) when installing GameEx updates. There is also a complete Atari 5200 and 7800 db that may be online now - If not it will be with the next GameEx release.

For these or anyother db to work, you need to be using one of the three dat naming systems. Follow HK's advice here and try it on you Colecovisions roms (backup of)..

WTH would anyone want or need to modify the names of roms that you are using for mame?

**fRequEnCy** · September 30, 2008

WTH would anyone want or need to modify the names of roms that you are using for mame?

I've come across this before! Some people don't realize that a frontend will take care of the naming for them. When they see the rom name, they don't like the way it appears so they rename them to be more friendly.

**greatflash** · September 30, 2008

I've come across this before! Some people don't realize that a frontend will take care of the naming for them. When they see the rom name, they don't like the way it appears so they rename them to be more friendly.

That is true.

With GameEx's database engine, even with custom emulators, if a rom matches then you can get it to display the database name (it is in each custom emulators options). Using this, when a rom is matched with the db, GameEx will display it's own internal name. This will correct wrong named tosec, no-intro, and goodname's. This is really handy for some japanese releases (see Saturn db) that have many incorrect names and also this corrects spelling mistaakees and the suchlike.

The only thing you need to do is make sure your romset matches one of the 3 DAT's. GameEx will take care of the rest.

The Intellivision one will be finished soon.

The only thing that I may omit from some of the larger DB's is the PD stuff and Hacks. This is so as to get as many done as possible. I will go back and add that data at a later stage. Prototypes and regional/publisher variations will all be present.

**fRequEnCy** · September 30, 2008

Best thing to do is to name your roms according to known naming conventions. This makes them easier to maintain and update. And since widely used they will match GameEx's databases, match screenshots available. etc. If you're not happy with some of the names of your roms, I would use a map file for them to display the way you want. Then you don't have to deal with the databases and still use the ones that the team is creating. So I recommend you doing as HK says and renaming your roms. There's 2 great tools. Well actually there's more but these have the most options. RomCenter is good for starting out and is very user-friendly. ClrMame is great but not at easy to learn as RomCenter. But it is much more powerful and once you get the hang of it, it's easy to use.

**IMBerzerk** · September 30, 2008

I've come across this before! Some people don't realize that a frontend will take care of the naming for them. When they see the rom name, they don't like the way it appears so they rename them to be more friendly.

Precisely. I don't want to see 'DK' for Donkey Kong, or CBongo for Congo Bongo. Also, one major issues with automatic updates for me... my cabinets are not connected to the Internet. They're stand-alones, and will remain that way.

So if I dabble, and things work, cool... if not.. oh well. More time at work wasted. Hey, us Network guys need something to do while CISCO's never fail.

IMBerzerk

**IMBerzerk** · September 30, 2008

What are you guys using to read the databases? I'd like to open them and look to see what the name is calling for, then I can change it to that name, or vice-versa.

At this point, I just want to view the files. From there, I'll see if I really want to dive in.

**fRequEnCy** · September 30, 2008

Open office. http://www.openoffice.org/

What are you guys using to read the databases? I'd like to open them and look to see what the name is calling for, then I can change it to that name, or vice-versa.
At this point, I just want to view the files. From there, I'll see if I really want to dive in.

Use Microsoft Access or use OpenOffice as Stub suggested. I'm sure there are other tools out there but these are the most popular.

**IMBerzerk** · October 1, 2008

Use Microsoft Access or use OpenOffice as Stub suggested. I'm sure there are other tools out there but these are the most popular.

I tried OpenOffice Base, it gave me a bunch of charaters, and a lot of jibberish. It looked like a coded database. I'll try Access.

**IMBerzerk** · October 1, 2008

Got it... it opened in Access. Oh man... here I go!!

**fRequEnCy** · October 1, 2008

Have fun with that!

Doing it manually can get ugly! LOL

**IMBerzerk** · October 1, 2008

Have fun with that!
Doing it manually can get ugly! LOL

Actually, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. All I am doing is changing the fist box to fit what my ROM names are. That's it. I'll add the ones that are missing, and move on. At least now I have a good checklist to go by, rather than guess at what the name might be. I did things very different, especially with my Intellivision ROMs. I grouped them according to publisher, so mine look like this:

Activision - Stampede

Activision - River Raid

Imagic - Nova Blast

Imagic - Dragonfire

Intellivoice - B17 Bomber

Etc. You get the point.

yep... IMBerzerk

**greatflash** · October 1, 2008

Actually, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. All I am doing is changing the fist box to fit what my ROM names are. That's it. I'll add the ones that are missing, and move on. At least now I have a good checklist to go by, rather than guess at what the name might be. I did things very different, especially with my Intellivision ROMs. I grouped them according to publisher, so mine look like this:
Activision - Stampede
Activision - River Raid
Imagic - Nova Blast
Imagic - Dragonfire
Intellivoice - B17 Bomber
Etc. You get the point.
yep... IMBerzerk

I think you are making yourself a lot of work when a simple runthrough clrmamepro will do all the work for you and sort the roms nicelly when the GameEx DB is complete...

In GameEx with the Db, you can list the games by publisher without the need to modify all the filenames. What happens when you want to find a game that you cannot remember the publisher of?

Good luck!

**Tempest** · October 1, 2008

(fRequEnCy @ Sep 30 2008, 02:26 PM) I've come across this before! Some people don't realize that a frontend will take care of the naming for them. When they see the rom name, they don't like the way it appears so they rename them to be more friendly.
Precisely. I don't want to see 'DK' for Donkey Kong, or CBongo for Congo Bongo. Also, one major issues with automatic updates for me... my cabinets are not connected to the Internet. They're stand-alones, and will remain that way.
So if I dabble, and things work, cool... if not.. oh well. More time at work wasted. Hey, us Network guys need something to do while CISCO's never fail.
IMBerzerk

I think you missed the point entirely....When you are viewing the list in Gameex, if your rom is named "cbongo" as it should be, Gameex will display the correct game name "Congo Bongo". If you take a look at the mame.xml file, you will see that it has both names for every game available in Mame, along with alot of other game information. You can continue to do it your way, but it does create issues:

You will not be able to easily update your set (unless of course you have a backup)
Gameex will not be able to match artwork to your set (unless of course you rename all of your artwork too)

There are probably other issues, but those two are a major problem. If you do not like the names that are displayed in other emulators, use a map file. There are alot of them included with Gameex, and if you don't like them, you can modify them with a text editor, or create your own. A map file is simply a list with the romname, and display name with a pipe symbol in between I.E. cbongo | Congo Bongo. If you do it this way, you will be able to manage your romset, artwork, and eventually the new databases more easily. It's a matter of making a map file, or changing all relative files to match... I'm begging you, USE A MAP FILE! You are going to drive yourself Berzerk if you don't.

**greatflash** · October 1, 2008

Precisely. I don't want to see 'DK' for Donkey Kong, or CBongo for Congo Bongo. Also, one major issues with automatic updates for me... my cabinets are not connected to the Internet. They're stand-alones, and will remain that way.
So if I dabble, and things work, cool... if not.. oh well. More time at work wasted. Hey, us Network guys need something to do while CISCO's never fail.
IMBerzerk I think you missed the point entirely....When you are viewing the list in Gameex, if your rom is named "cbongo" as it should be, Gameex will display the correct game name "Congo Bongo". If you take a look at the mame.xml file, you will see that it has both names for every game available in Mame, along with alot of other game information. You can continue to do it your way, but it does create issues:
You will not be able to easily update your set (unless of course you have a backup)
Gameex will not be able to match artwork to your set (unless of course you rename all of your artwork too)
There are probably other issues, but those two are a major problem. If you do not like the names that are displayed in other emulators, use a map file. There are alot of them included with Gameex, and if you don't like them, you can modify them with a text editor, or create your own. A map file is simply a list with the romname, and display name with a pipe symbol in between I.E. cbongo | Congo Bongo. If you do it this way, you will be able to manage your romset, artwork, and eventually the new databases more easily. It's a matter of making a map file, or changing all relative files to match... I'm begging you, USE A MAP FILE! You are going to drive yourself Berzerk if you don't.

Yes - leave Mame rom names well alone Listen to Tempest (he's a "Super Member") , Though you were recently refering to an intellivision set, the same rule applies really.

**Tempest** · October 1, 2008

Yes - leave Mame rom names well alone Listen to Tempest (he's a "Super Member") ,

Sadly I missed my opportunity to become an "Ultimate GameEx (DB) Guru!"

Though you were recently refering to an intellivision set, the same rule applies really.

I covered that:

If you do not like the names that are displayed in other emulators, use a map file.

:rolleyes:

**greatflash** · October 1, 2008

Sadly I missed my opportunity to become an "Ultimate GameEx (DB) Guru!"

You had your chance but blew it! Poor ol' Channel F, all discarded like that

**IMBerzerk** · October 1, 2008

Tempest,

Nope, I didn't miss your point at all... you kinda missed mine. I have NO intention of ever updating anything regarding MAME. Been there, done that... too many ROMs. They get left alone.

It's the other consoles that I want to play with. The Intellivision, the Colecovision, etc.... those with 100 or less games that I can totally customize everything.. the artwork, the name, etc.

So far, I'm almost done with the Intellivsion list. It looks great! Everything matches, plus I've added a lot of game details from Moby games and the Intellivision site.

Still more to do...

IMBerzerk.

**greatflash** · October 1, 2008

Tempest,
Nope, I didn't miss your point at all... you kinda missed mine. I have NO intention of ever updating anything regarding MAME. Been there, done that... too many ROMs. They get left alone.
It's the other consoles that I want to play with. The Intellivision, the Colecovision, etc.... those with 100 or less games that I can totally customize everything.. the artwork, the name, etc.
So far, I'm almost done with the Intellivsion list. It looks great! Everything matches, plus I've added a lot of game details from Moby games and the Intellivision site.
Still more to do...
IMBerzerk.

He IS Berzerk ya know :lol:

**IMBerzerk** · October 1, 2008

He IS Berzerk ya know

It must have been all that experimental stuff I 'did' back in the 80's... ya know, to 'enhance' my Game Room skills.

**Tempest** · October 2, 2008

He IS Berzerk ya know

I is Tempest...

temÂ·pest (tem′pist)
noun
a violent storm with high winds, esp. one accompanied by rain, hail, or snow
a violent outburst; tumult

**IMBerzerk** · October 2, 2008

Sounds like a good script, I'll try it for the emulators I have not touched yet... it'll be much easier that way.

Thanks for writing it.

IMBerzerk

Urban Dictionary definition of Berzerk: nuts crazy insane mental f%&ked wacked
1. berzerk - to black out and lose your mind, usually in a violent rage.
Bobby: "wha...what happened?"
Billy: "Dude, you just went f^&kin berzerk!"

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