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hitm4n

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Posts posted by hitm4n

    Deleted games not found when using "Scan for removed roms"

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    Hi neil9000, thanks for assisting (i know you do a lot round here, i'd heard of you before i even came to these forums :) ).

    And with that, i'm going to disagree with you :) Feel free to rebuttle (is that the right word) what i say here. I'm sorta thinking out loud.

    I could add a new emulator where the file extension for the games is .squiddlyboo, Launchbox shouldn't care. It scans them, looks at the file names, tries to make sense of those names and find some game info when scraped. I can attach this set of squiddlyboo roms to any emulator i wish. Launchbox will parse that file to the emulator and the emulator will play it.

    So why does it matter that these are bat files. These work in the same way, they are scanned and scraped and work without issue. Each one has its path saved, as if it was its own entity, its own game. Again i say, Launchbox doesn't (or shouldn't) care, its not sentient. What if these bat files were exe files, with each game stored in its own folder?

    My feeling here is, its not the extension thats the issue, its the fact the files are in sub-folders below whatever folder path i give it. If i could select all 6300 folders at once and save those into the "game" path option, i would. I say this because scraping, asjusting paths and other such options takes a fair few minutes to complete. Checking for "missing wrongs" takes less than a milisecond and simply says nothing is missing. Theres no way its actually checking through the folder or checking that every batch file still exists.

    If theres no hope for me here, thats okay. I hope maybe the Launchbox/Bigbox authors may consider whats going on here and maybe look at some new features or improvements in this area. Otherwise i'll just have to play, delete and remove manually from Launchbox each game as i go through them. 6300 though, thats a long road.

    Deleted games not found when using "Scan for removed roms"

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    Any word from the Launchbox authors on this issue? Any clarity on how the scanning for roms (or batch files in my case) takes place, whether theres a workaround maybe, or any planned changes to allow for checking subfolders of a romset? Has this issue been noted before and thought about ? Cheers.

    For now, i am deleting each game manually from my launchbox view, then deleting the related 2 folders from my e:roms drive. Whittling it down that way but its really slow. I really wish i could bulk delete the games from the roms folder and then rescan within launchbox to clean up the list.

    Cheers.

     

    Deleted games not found when using "Scan for removed roms"

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    You are right in all regards, there are multiple game folders, 6300 of them in fact, they are located at "e:\roms\exo\exodos\-6300-" (btw, all the games are unpacked ready to play, no zips.)
    Also in that folder path is one extra folder called !dos at "e:\roms\exo\exodos\!dos". And this folder contains a further matching 6300 set of folders with each one containing a bat file at "e:\roms\exo\exodos\!dos\-6300-"

    Of course the bat files here parse the game name and knows where to find the games files (1 level up) and where to load the emulators from (2 levels up). Every bat is set to load either dosbox or scummvm, or offer options, work fullscreen, keep aspect ratio etc. It all works very nicely, this ExoDos collection is very well put together, but doesn't lend itself well to being manually messed with (if you want to trim the set at least).

    The path is indeed wrong once they are all imported. You are right, it was saying "games/ms-dos". I know this is usually the case as all my roms are on this e drive and i do always have to go in there and update the path. But once i do, and i delete a game, and rescan it would always tell me its missing and remove it from view. (as an aside, i would suggest this is a bit of a bug, considering you've told the app where the games are, and that i want to leave them there, i would say that folder path should be set correctly. Anyway, thats not my real issue, i don't really care about that as its easily edited :) )

    I don't think Launchbox should care if these are bat files or not, they are imported as roms, the path is stored correctly, and when i delete one it should surely see it is no longer there.

    I know i ramble. Bear with... :)

    So, your suggestion. I did think of this myself, i should have said i have tried it. I can only place one path so i changed "games/ms-dos" to "e:\roms\exo\exodos\!dos" This !dos folder contains the bat files, albeit in seperate folders another level in.

    So, i think the scan for missing roms is only looking at the path i put in. Strangely though, shouldn't it then tell me that all 6300 are missing if it can't find those bat files?
    Does the "scan for missing roms" not scan the subfolders too in a path?

    I think its an odd issue, and odd that no-one has seen this before?

    Thanks.

    Deleted games not found when using "Scan for removed roms"

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    I cannot figure this out... please help.

    I have the ExodosV5 collection. All the artwork , manuals and music are moved across to Launchbox manually in their "ms-dos" counterpart folders and placed in the right places (they work).
    I want the games plus the !dos folder to live on another drive though, not my C drive SSD which has more limited space

    So rather than use the ms-dos.xml, that is created by the Exodos installer, i decided to import all the games fresh from their new path, but utilise the artwork and music.
    And it works...

    Now every game is set up to use a batch file, and every batch file is named very nicely, so when imported under the MS-DOS platform, the game names are picked up well, and they match the images i've already put in place so i don't need to scrape any art or allow the games to pick up a launchbox database ID. They just work. I have filtered my set from 7200 to 6300 or so games, this is another reason to not use the pre-existing ms-dos.xml as it lists all 7200 games and i have the same issue i'm having now.

    So. I do a "roms" import, i scan for .bat files in the !dos folder, i remove all the "alternative startup" and "install" bat files, leaving me a set of around 6300 or so game bat files. All good so far. These are imported, i use the inbuilt "ms-dos" platform, i DO NOT scrape for art or metadata. The games are imported, the screenshots work, some play music (those that have some) and all is still good.

    I could leave it now, live with 6300 games and all works well.

    But... Then i play a game and i don't like it. I do want to slim this game set down, so i delete it. I delete the game folder and i delete the corresponding !dos game folder with the batch file. I might scan through the screenshots and delete say 10 or 20 games this way. Then, i use the "Scan for removed roms" tool in the menu, scanning only the "ms-dos" set and it always says zero games missing.

    I can click edit on a game that i know i've deleted, i can see the path for the batch file which again i know no longer exists. But Launchbox doesn't seem to be able to see that its gone. What the hell is going on here?

    Anyone got an idea?

    Thanks.

     

    BigBox Default Platform Category to Start On

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    I also would like this option, i like the Arcade startup video on launch (after BB's intro vid) but mine starts with Amstrad CPC, which is rather lacking in sound. You need a good sounding platform when showing it off to friends :) Lets not talk about the ZX81 theme video....

    My plan, i'm going to try this in a minute, is simply to retitle arcade as ".arcade" so its alphabetically first. Should work...

     

    All new Vectrex Box - Front image set

    in LaunchBox for Windows Custom Themes

    Posted

    Hi. Glad you like the set, i had a lot of fun making it whilst on furlough and now i'm back at work, yeah, i'm no longer updating this set. You;re right, i think homebrew has slowed down a bit. Vectrex certainly has.
    That said, i am keeping an eye on new releases, and newly found rare roms and keeping a list for a potential update pack in future to catch the set up again.

    So about Spikes Circus. As these are images for roms, and Spikes Circus (to my knowledge) is not available as a rom, there is no point in an image.
    There are many other games out there on carts only where i haven't created an image too. If a rom file does indeed exist, get it into my grubby mitts and i will make an image for you.

    Regards.
    Simon.

    All new Vectrex Box - Front image set

    in LaunchBox for Windows Custom Themes

    Posted

    Not sure if its due to people going back to work (me included) that homebrew has slowed down, but since my last release i've kept an eye out and nothing new has presented itself so far. I am now, as i said, back at work, so time is very limited for me now anyway.

    The current version uploaded here and shared on my googledrive link is possibly the last package i release.

    However, i will continue to add new files, so if something new does come along, i may create a cover and chuck it in my googledrive. What i might not have time for is telling the world.

    So basically, i'm just telling you, the news is there is no news. Ha!

    All new Vectrex Box - Front image set

    in LaunchBox for Windows Custom Themes

    Posted

    Is there a faster way to add these to Launchbox? Using a better naming convention maybe? So the files can just be dropped into the right media folder and they get picked up?

    For instance, when you export files they are named "Clean Sweep-01", "Clean Sweep-02" etc. If these file names are based upon the rom file names when they were added, then i guess everyones would be different? I suppose then that this would never work for everyone and it would remain a manual process.

    All new Vectrex Box - Front image set

    in LaunchBox for Windows Custom Themes

    Posted

    Very cool Dragon57, i'll post a review and comment etc. in the downloads area.

    I hope between us, at least in the short term (this was a lockdown project for me and i'm still locked down for approx 3 more weeks as i type) we can keep all these sets in line. Your call, but if you do an update set, you could call it v1.4 (thats my next release number), to get our pack numbers lined up? Totally up to you.

    Great job on the set! Simon.

    All new Vectrex Box - Front image set

    in LaunchBox for Windows Custom Themes

    Posted

    v1.2 is uploaded to the downloads area and my googledrive. Single files are on my GDrive too.
    3 US versions of covers added and their corresponding UK versions updated.

    NB// I am no longer going to upload an update pack (zipped) or leave old versions on my googledrive. I'll maintain a single pack and only the readme and version number will need to be updated. The whole pack is only around 55mb anyway, tiny, so should be no bother to just download the whole thing each time i think.

     

    • Thanks 1

    All new Vectrex Box - Front image set

    in LaunchBox for Windows Custom Themes

    Posted

    11 hours ago, GreenGriffon said:

    Hey Hitm4n, great stuff, thank you.

    I see WebWarp, but do you by any chance have a box done for WebWars (the U.S. version)?

     

    OK, i've done a Web Wars logo and built the cover. I've updated the Web Warp cover as well to match the placement of logo. Both have the correct logo in the main image at the bottom too. Filenames will be updated for these to show the UK / US differences.

    I've also done the same with Blitz Action Football / Blitz Action Soccer. 2 new files will come for these too.
    And i'm about to create a "Soccer Football" one to go with the "Heads Up Action Soccer" title.

    I think these are the only 3 i will be making duplicate covers for as they have diffferent titles and logos. I'm definately not starting to make multi region covers and multiple versions of the same thing across this whole set.

    Check in later today for the updated pack.

    All new Vectrex Box - Front image set

    in LaunchBox for Windows Custom Themes

    Posted

    I've had a list or two sent to me of missing roms/images, mostly via Facebook. I've scanned through them and the upshot is, 13 more roms added. This means 13 new images to create. These are...

    3D Demo (2000) (Christopher Salomon)
    3D Vector Space Cab (2017) (Fell^DSS RiFT TRSi)
    All Your Base (2001) (Manu Parssinen)
    Berzerk Ultimate RC1 (2019) (Christopher Salomon)
    City Bomber (2007) (Andrew Coleman)
    Doodle v1.0 (2015) (Chris Malcolm)
    Monster House (1998) (Garry Grierson)
    Philly Classic 3 Demo (2002) (Christopher Tumber)
    Quick Shot v1.01 (2016) (Chris Malcolm)
    SinZ (2015) (La1n)
    This Is Just A Non Playable Demo (1999) (Martin Balazs)
    Very Vectight (2014) (Pex Mahoney Tufvesson)
    V-Theremin v1.01 (2015) (Chris Malcolm)

    I'll be starting these images tomorrow and uploading to my googledrive updates folder as usual. If i get to 20 update files then i will re-zip them into a v1.1 pack and reupload here as well.

    So.... More tomorrow.

    • Like 1

    All new Vectrex Box - Front image set

    in LaunchBox for Windows Custom Themes

    Posted · Edited by neil9000
    Please dont post links to copyrighted materials on these forums.

    A search on google for "Vectrex Tosec" should lead you to a collection on Archive.org. Thats got a ton in it. Thats the first set i grabbed. It has a lot of junk though, dupes, bad dumps, clones etc. So needs filtering a bit.

    Link Removed

    There is also an online emulator that has a great rom set behind it. Following that emulator to its github page lets you get at the individual roms too... This is probably the largest collection i've found, lots of homebrew and weird and wonderful stuff and very up to date (but not quite).

    Link removed

    These 2 links should see anyones collection hit 200+

    HTH

     

     

    • Thanks 1
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