Lahrs

Is this a feature of Launchbox or specific emulators? That looks like an ideal setup.

Although all of my ROMS are sorted in their individual folders by systems, and most ROMS within their own folder inside of that, I'm in the process of moving and redoing my entire collection to a new HD and associated emulators. Other than Main Brand (Nintendo, Sega, etc) - Console Name - ROMS, is there any better way to do it? I figure my file paths are optimal, but since I'm already doing the work, maybe there is a better way.

I'm trying out Mesen for the first time, and despite multiple Google searches, I can't find the answer to my question. Is it possible to set multiple ROM paths for each system, or do I have to put all of my ROMS (NES, SNES, etc) into one folder?

I've spent the last few hours digging into file compression... and playing games. I have a better understand now, and I still find it impressive, though less baffling. If I'm understanding correctly, your "Prt of tht is tht its now cmpressd." would need a small set of instructions so the computer, emulator, etc. would know how to rebuild all the missing A's and the O in 'now' should not be there, but with another set of instructions on how to rebuild all the missing O's. I think I'm close, though surface level. That was a very helpful visual.

To be fair, I don't even understand how zip files work, so I believe that will be my next Google search. It is all 1's and 0's and if you shrink them down, they have to go somewhere. That is just my thought process at the moment, and I need to read up and get informed. I do appreciate your reply. While the compression still wracks my brain, I do believe I understand the on-the-fly decompression into memory, and I assume that is why the game still plays at full speed.

This isn't a question on to how to make a .chd file but what is actually going on with it. For example, I have a Dreamcast ROM of NBA Hangtime, the cue/bin file size is roughly 1.1GB. I turned it into a .chd file, and it's down to 247mb. I run it through Flycast, and it runs just as well, loads up just as fast, and plays exactly like the cue/bin file but at 1/4 the HD space. It seems as long as the emulators themselves can play a .chd file, there is every reason to convert them. Am I missing something? How does a file reduce its size to 1/4 without losing anything? Amazing, but baffling.