Sorting through emulation extras

[bkenobi]

I have a bunch of content that I've collected over time that I want to get on my cab. The problem is that I just have too much stuff and it's all mismatched. I have 4 Sega Saturn manual collections for instance. They all are from different sources with different naming conventions. I can't even tell if any of them are complete, if there are gaps, if there are overlaps (there are), etc. This is the same for videos, snaps, box art, etc, etc, etc.

For roms I can use clrmame and get things straightened out using a dat file, but I don't know where to come up with one of those for extras. I'm really looking for advice on a procedure to simplify this. I'm really just overwhelmed at the moment and looking for advice from anyone who has done this before.

I've seriously considered junking it all and finding a single set...if I could find one. The only thing I can think of at the moment is to dump everything in one directory and let GameEx use the best matching to pick the one to use. That seems like a lot of extra HDD space used for no reason though.

Thoughts anyone?

[Brian Hoffman]

I have a bunch of content that I've collected over time that I want to get on my cab. The problem is that I just have too much stuff and it's all mismatched. I have 4 Sega Saturn manual collections for instance. They all are from different sources with different naming conventions. I can't even tell if any of them are complete, if there are gaps, if there are overlaps (there are), etc. This is the same for videos, snaps, box art, etc, etc, etc.

For roms I can use clrmame and get things straightened out using a dat file, but I don't know where to come up with one of those for extras. I'm really looking for advice on a procedure to simplify this. I'm really just overwhelmed at the moment and looking for advice from anyone who has done this before.

I've seriously considered junking it all and finding a single set...if I could find one. The only thing I can think of at the moment is to dump everything in one directory and let GameEx use the best matching to pick the one to use. That seems like a lot of extra HDD space used for no reason though.

Thoughts anyone?

I had the same problem with my PSX games and stuff.. Just to many sources too many naming schemes.

I opted to just use Circos naming scheme. This way all my stuff matches up with his videos etc...

you got alot of work ahead of you buddy

[Tempest]

There are some fuzzy match tools out there... I think PimpDaddy Stu made one. It wouldn't be too difficult to do a best-match with a script, but I don't know how accurate it would be. If you want help with one, I'd be happy to assist in any way I can, But I think you are probably qualified to do it on your own.

[bkenobi]

That's what I was afraid of... Actually, I'm sorta having the same problem with my romsets. I have the DATs for No-Intro, but for some reason that doesn't mean it includes all of the valid US roms for a set. For example, Ecco the Dolphin for Game Gear is not in the No-Intro set. I know it exists since Wikipedia has a page for it (and Wikipedia is ALWAYS right ).

[IMBerzerk]

That's what I was afraid of... Actually, I'm sorta having the same problem with my romsets. I have the DATs for No-Intro, but for some reason that doesn't mean it includes all of the valid US roms for a set. For example, Ecco the Dolphin for Game Gear is not in the No-Intro set. I know it exists since Wikipedia has a page for it (and Wikipedia is ALWAYS right ).

I had this problem as well. You literally have to go through each system, with each ROM, pics... etc... one at a time and decide what to keep, what works, what is bad... etc.

I used Romcenter to rename everything, but still, I had to go through each ROM to make sure they work. At the end of the day, I only kept stuff I REALLY wanted, and realized I would be at this the rest of my life if I tried to do it all.

I'm doing this now with the C64 stuff now... it's a royal PITA!!! I also realized having too much stuff, is simply too much! The game lists became too long, and then I'd get confused on which games I really wanted to play. I mean, do you REALLY need every single version of a game system? Some of the Atari 2600 and C64 games are just plain crap. Why keep them? So I streamlined, and made my life easier.

I hope that helps a little.

[bkenobi]

I'm starting to think that I'll just keep Circo's stuff and trash the rest. I know he will keep a single naming convention and he includes dat files. I think his stuff uses the No-Intro naming convention to start with, so it should match my files pretty well as is. The only thing is that he doesn't have all the content for carts, boxes, manuals, etc. that some other sets seem to have. In the end, I just can't justify the time it would take to make the perfect set. Oh well.

Thanks for all the input!