[RELEASE] Map File Magician

[Tempest]

Map Magician has the ability to create map files for GameEx, Giving you full control over capitalization, bracket information, and string replacements. Map Magician also has the ability to tag missing roms, and group similar games together in the game list.

You can create a map file from your rom folder, from a dat file, or both. If you choose to only enter one path, then the map file will be generated from either the rom folder or the dat file. Dat files can have an extension of .dat, .xml, or for Mame, .txt. If you want to have the ability to tag missing roms, then you must enter both paths.

I have chosen to browse to my Mame Roms, and gamelist.txt. I will be working with Mame for this example, but it works the same for all emulators.

If you choose to use your rom folder, you can click on 'Set Extensions' to view a list of available extensions in your rom folder. Put a check next to the desired extensions, and click 'OK'

Put a tick in the box 'Scan Sub-Folders' if your roms are in folders.

As you change the various settings, you will instantly see the results in the preview window. You can type your own information in the file name box, or browse to a Rom file, if you don't like the example that I have provided.

Notes:

Case Correction - The check boxes for Capitalize Abbreviations, and Capitalize Bracket Info override the other Capitalization options.

Bracket Options - Put a tick in the box for each type of bracket that you want to manipulate. Unchecked bracket types will be left as-is.

Tag Missing Roms can be used to add additional characters to the beginning/end of the names of roms that you may be missing, and/or highlight the missing rom with the color that you select.

Region - (Emulators only, Regions are ignored for Mame) In my example above, I will get one rom for each region in the list. If I uncheck 'One Per Region' I would get all roms for the USA, and China. If I clear the region list, and put a tick in the box for 'One Per Region', I would get one rom from each region. Finally, if I clear the region list, and don't put a tick in the box for 'One Per Region', I would get a map file for all roms.

Here I have drawn a box around the controls for string replacement. All string replacements will be made after all other settings, for instance you capitalize a word here, it will be capitalized regardless of the settings for Case Correction. Each string replacement can have its own setting for 'All Occurrences' and 'Whole Words Only'.

Now I have drawn a box around each of the controls for regions. You will use the same buttons to interact with the two list views. Just click on the list view that you want to use before using the buttons. E.G. To add a region, click on the region list view, type the region name in the 'Search Text / Region' Box, and click on 'Add'.

You now have the ability to group game names together in your game list. Click on 'Create Groups' to open this Window

The list to the left is a list of all of the words that are in the file/dat names that you have set the paths for in the Main GUI. The number in () indicates how many times that word has been found.

I have started typing 'bask' in the 'Search Word List' box, until basketball reached the top of tthe list. I then put a tick in the box for basketball, and the list view on the right shows how you might want to create a group so that all of your basketball games will be in one place in your list. No more trying to remember Fighting Basketball, Super Basketball, etc.

The current Keyword is shown on the bottom left. That is the keyword from which the groups will be created.

I got to thinking that NBA Jam is not included, and I want it in with my basket ball games. I typed 'nba' in the 'Search Word List' box, put a tick in the box, and now I have this:

That's OK, but I wanted my games to begin with Basketball, not NBA. I go back to Basketball in the word list, un-check, and then re-check, and I now have this:

Much better!

I click on 'Select All', and then 'Rename' to save the changes, then 'Close' to return to the Main GUI.

Next, I click on 'View Map'

I have drawn a box around a few of the basketball games to show that the changes have been made. At this point, you can click on a row, and edit any text manually in the edit box. After the changes are made, press {Enter} to make the correction.

Now all you have to do is save the map file, and point to the new map file in your emulator config. If you are working with the gamelist.txt for Mame, You will need to overwrite the GameEx\DATA\gamelist.txt file to have the changes applied in GameEx. If you 'update your list' all changes will be lost, so you may want to set the gamelist.txt file to read only.

Thanks to Tom for implementing the ability for GameEx to highlight items in the games list.

Map Magician.7z