MarkRMWalker

I recently came across this system whilst browsing some old catalogs and decided to add it to my LB collection. The console was produced by Memorex and distributed in collaboration with Tandy in the early 90’s. It took me a couple of weeks but I managed to locate covers, snaps and other media items for all the released software (about 50 CD’s). The system was similar in concept to the Philips CDi and 3D0 in that it was mainly educational/informational multimedia but had a few games. The VIS stands for “Video Information System”. I am using MAME as the emulator and it runs the software flawlessly. So I would like to share all of this unique and now complete collection with the LB community but am unsure how to do this. If one of the devs creates a new entry in the database I will happily upload all items and metadata or is there another way to get these covers, spines, clear logos, disk and snap images so others can enjoy this interesting console.

Seems to be working now. Thanks for the fix LB team.

I have been working on the Exidy Sorcerer and Apple II adding new titles and missing images. Here is the screens where i edited and added the missing back cover to the Apple II game Zulu Raid. As you can see the edit page accepted the .jpg file and the submit page verified addition. After submission i go to the Change Status page which shows the new entry but no picture of the addition. I have made a number of submissions like this which have all been rejected. I assume because the .jpg file did not attach. I can make new game entries and update/alter the metadata section and even replace existing images but cannot add missing covers, snaps, clear logos or disc images. I have made around 34,000 entries in the past and this is first time i have come across this problem. i have noticed that on the submission page a random number appears in front of the submission details which i cant remember seeing before. In this case it is the number 2.

I have recently been having trouble adding missing images to existing entries. There is no problem creating new entries or updating metadata for existing entries but when i try to add missing images they seem to upload but when i check the submission status it shows as a blank entry. And yes i am using JPG and PNG files appropriately. It seems to accept replacing of existing images as i have just done that successfully with a better box cover but as mentioned new image additions don't seem to get uploaded to the submissions status page.

Hi nonstick, I had to hunt around a few places to find working discs, .cmd and .bas files. If you have access to the TOSEC set that will be a great help to you. it can be found at ((REMOVED LINKS)) Not every .dsk and .dmk file will work but fortunately there are plenty of alternatives. also try here:- ((REMOVED LINKS)) here and here ((REMOVED LINKS)) After a bit of a search and trial and error, I was able to find working files for 98% of LB entries. Good luck.

I have recently started adding some Apple Mac games to LB using the latest MAME v0.273. I have been sticking with the earlier monochrome titles prior to 1990 and using the Mac Classic romset (macclasc). So far I have added around 100 games with about 5 not being able to run for various reasons. I would like to try and add some color titles from the early 90’s but not being a Mac guy I am unsure which Mac system to use. Also there is little information about which MAME Mac cores are usable. Could someone please point me in the right direction. TIA

As far as I can see, and please correct me if I am wrong, the only times I’ve seen transparencies used for discs and cart is for the spinning CD (which is a nice aesthetic) what are the use cases for transparent 5.25”, 3.5”, cassettes and cartridges. We already have a category for clear-logos why don’t we just add another category CD’s that checks for transparencies. This DB is not just a nice addition to a great front end it is also an archive for retro gaming history. Ok, hardcore contributors will bite the bullet and comply but I believe a very large number of casual contributors will just give up at the first barrier. How much rare images will be lost because a well meaning contributor doesn’t understand the requirement or does not know how to create a transparent layer or indeed has the software to do so. Yes “quality versus quantity” is a good and worthy target but what about the “KISS” principal.

Are you deliberately trying to make it more difficult for people to contribute to this project? I understand your argument to do this but many contributors will be discouraged/confused by the error and not contribute out of frustration. So:- A) like me they encounter the error and give up; or B) can’t or won’t take the time to add a transparency layer. Either way the database suffers. Why would you do this for such a limited use case. Outside of clear-logos (a category already seperate) and spinning CD’s, which most people understand intuitively need a transparent layer, the vast majority of submissions are solid background use cases. And what about the the vast majority of discs and carts that already exist without this attribute, they are not going away whilst you have made it less likely that their number will increase. I now have dozens of carts and discs that I have already cropped and prepared that need more work before I can contribute to appease the limited use case of spinning CD’s. “The road to hell is paved with good intention”.

No I have not tried that, but that should only be a requirement for Clear-Logo's not Cart's or Disc's. Occasionally people post these with transparencies like CD's for example but that should not preclude JPG's or non transparent PNG's from being uploaded.

That was the first thing i looked at and used Photoshop to resave them in JPG and PNG formats just to make sure. Still no luck. I have always used PS in the past for editing the thousands of submissions i have made to LB and had no issues. But that was under the old interface.

I have attached 2 examples (PNG & JPG) i have being trying to upload into the Apple II section as North American Carts.. When i submit the JPG file as a cart i get the error message - Upload Failed: File extension error. Please upload a png file for Clear Logo, Box - 3D, Cart, and Disc. When i submit the PNG file as a cart i get the error message - Error: This image type requires a transparent background. As a test to rule out possible issues with file format I tried to upload these files as Box Covers and both formats were accepted.

I’ve recently started uploading covers, media and snapshots to the DB again after a long break and am having trouble with this new interface not allowing me to upload certain images. It keeps on giving me an error when I try to upload cart and disc images even though they are in jpg or png format. I have converted these files between these formats but it still shows an error and says they should be transparent. I am not having this trouble with box covers or snapshots in jpg or png format and have not tried clear logos yet. I have a bucket load of missing cart and disc pictures for the Apple II but can’t upload them. is this a known problem or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks. I have been naming my them as “Disk A, Disk B….) that’s why I have had trouble with the version badge showing.

How do I get LB to differentiate between multiple versions and multiple disks? Currently if I have multiple (more than two) disks both the version and disk badges appear. If I have two disks only the version badge appears.

I have come across a pile of GEMDOS images for the ST and am having trouble figuring out how to run them in the Retroarch implementation of Hatari. So far i have deduced that i need to create an Ide HDD image but i am unsure how to load these GEMDOS files into the HDD image. Could someone please give me a heads up to get me started in the right direction, TIA

A few weeks ago I decided to add my first computer love to my LB collection. Back in 1979 I bought the TRS-80 Model 1 Level 2 16k and thus started my life long fascination computing technology. I was a little underwhelmed however with the meagre size of the LB database for that historically important system. Anyway, since then I have been beavering away and have made a substantial increase to the database for this venerable computer. I have added well over 100 titles complete with covers and sundry artwork. I decided only to add titles for which i can find covers. As of today I have about 20 titles left to upload and will continue as long as I can still find covers. Although, it seems I have almost tapped out that reservoir. So, for anyone interested in having a closer look at one of the original trinity, they will have a better experience than I did a month ago. By the way, I am using the TRS80GP emulator. It handles all the relevant file types and integrates well into LB.

It would not be necessary to match them against the hashes or crc’s just the names of the file. As far as completionism, I really would like to get an idea of the titles I have missing in relation to the database not every file available for that platform. I already have the the full TOSEC and No-Intro sets. The problem is finding new additions and missing titles in huge platforms that have thousands of entries. There is already a mechanism to upload your collection and that flags missing cover artwork. It surely can’t be to much more difficult to flag missing games as well. I’m certainly not complaining about LB I think it is a fantastic way to collect and categorise old and new software and artwork. It would just be nice to have someway to ensure your collection is current with the constantly changing database.

Is there some way to compare your rom collection against the LB database in order to find missing or needed files? This is a trivial matter to complete manually for small databases but some database platforms have a huge number of entries that get added to on a regular basis. Two years ago I added the Amstrad CPC platform to LB and can see that this database has been substantially increased since then. I know that I can rescan to update any added or updated artwork to my existing collection but there does not seem to be any way to ascertain newly added or missing software entries against my current collection. Most collectors, like myself, have a completionist or pedantic streak and this lack of this facility drives me, and I assume them, nuts. Half of the fun for me is tracking down missing software or artwork. Maybe this functionality already exists and I have missed it. Please help.

Over the weekend I put a few MAME only systems like Amstrad GX 4000, Epoch Game Poctket, Entex Adventure Vision and the super A,can into LB. They all work well but I still need to configure the controllers and figure out how to exit the games elegantly. Howeve, the big problem I can’t seem to solve is the lack of sound. I am using a recent build of MAME (the same one I am concurrently using for the Arcade systems) and have found the right ROMs that run the system software with no problem except for the lack of sound. I just checked the Arcade Setup and seem to have lost sound there as well. I had sound for the Arcade systems when I installed them last year but that seems to have stopped now. I am using the same MAME emulator for the Arcade and new additions. Could someone point me in the right direction to sort this out. TIA, k1w1 PS. All of the Retroarch, AppleWin, ZX Spectrum and other emulator systems have sound.

A belated thank you thfourteen. I gave up on this problem shortly after my post and did not see your response. Your solution worked wonderfully.

I have recently installed the TI-99/4A on LB and have tracked down dozens of new cover and assorted art for the games. I have added some better and new covers through the LB's games database but have a lot of stuff for games that are not on the list. How do i create new game entries or submit the new items i have?

Ok, I have fixed the bezel framing by adding appropriate bezels for the new MAME systems. I am still having issues with the CoCo not exiting when I press the "esc" key. MAME is still opening a window this time without the any warning message even though I have found a good bezel.

I have been getting a number of platforms (Emerson Arcadia, GX4000, Channel F) setup to use MAME today and have had no real trouble until the CoCo. I can run games but the "esc" key does not gracefully exit the program back to Launchbox. I have to "ctrl alt" and close the window manually. MAME is generating an error reporting window in the background whenever I run a CoCo program saying "Warning: layout view 'Bezel Artwork' contains deprecated bezel element". I suspect this is causing the problem with exiting but dont know how to stop the error being reported. I have MAME setup to run Arcade games and the bezels have been installed with them. So everytime I set up another platform, as mentioned above, with MAME emulation I get an arcade themed bezel when i run the games. this was only minor inconvenience but this error when running coco games is a problem. Any ideas how to aleviate the error window and for that matter stop the arcade bezel from framing the other systems games. TIA

I decided the other day to start a brand new install of LB because i was having some minor glitches and annoyances with an older install. Unfortunately I can not get WHD files to run in my new install I just get a message saying "error parsing global configuration file line 28 'NoWriteInfo'." These files run fine in my old install. I have copied all of the old system folder to the new LB\retroarch and am using PUAE. I updated the old build to LB 12.13 and the WHD files still run ok with that build in the older setup. I am guessing there might be a config file that may have different settings, but cant find anything. Any ideas?

Ok thanks. I have fixed GC bezel problem by copying the .cfg files into the dolphin-emu folder but still have no luck with SNES.