SentaiBrad

CADScott said Is it possible to create sub platforms under the main platforms? If a new platform is created for every single variant of each system it is going to end up a very long list! I would love to see something whereby there are sub groups within platforms, such as addons and variants. So we might have something like: -Nintendo |_Nintendo 64 ___|_Nintendo 64DD (A subset of Nintendo 64) -MSX |_MSX1 |_MSX2 |_MSX2+ |_MSX turbo R (Hard to draw the layout I am imagining with text!) This would allow our system lists to be manageable and roms to be added to the correct platform. I to would also solve the issue currently with the same game released on different variants of a system. Currently these show up as duplicates and there is no way to easily identify which variant is which. Like with collapsible tree's with plus and minus buttons. Could even be a premium feature, where regular users have a long list. You could even extend that to the console manufactures? So all Sega consoles are under the Sega banner, Nintendo etc. Potentially not, but it's a curious and good thought.

Black screen doesn't mean anything really. Sometimes It usually means there is a BIOS issue. It also black screened then shut down right away. I sincerely have no clue why MESS is a literal MESS. RA achieves multiple platform emulation all under 1 roof, and while a bit obscure, works really well.

I meant BIOS files. xD In this case, if someone wants to play with MESS I say use the official releases. In reality, I haven't successfully gotten any of that to work, in or out of RA. I've done everything "properly" too. Acquired MESS specific BIOS files and set it up correctly. Some times I get a black screen in RA, nothing happens in RA or nothing happens in standalone.

MESS just hardly works period. Do you have the RA MESS drivers? This version of MESS is also old, MAME is too. I don't think they have a MAME .171 core, which also has MESS integrated yet.

I think the thought process is to do it where it makes sense. I think PC games should be split in to 3 era's actually, DOS, Windows 9x era and Windows 2k+. DOS doesn't run on modern PC's, and 95 and 98 era games are very hit and miss. When it comes to consoles I think if it is a separate console it gets it's own section. So Genesis, CD and 32x all had separate games released for it, and CD + 32x games also exist so that would be separate too. MSX should be split up, N64DD should technically be split up (there is no emulator and like 5 Japanese only games though), the BS Add-on for SNES should be separate, etc etc etc. What we had previous before we started editing entries was a database purely from GamesDB. Some systems should be split, but some systems maybe not so much. Like I don't think Sega MegaDrive and Genesis should be split, that's the same exact console. The Famicom Disk System is different then the Famicom, but had similar games. Metroid and Zelda started on the FDS. MAME is tricky... because how do we do that sufficiently? Most users are content with just using MAME, and if all of the platforms are separate that means multiple set ups, but realistically they are all separate and different entities. I guess MAME would be split up by Engine / Board architecture. Either way, the Database will change and transform in to our own. It will be more granular for better overall quality control. It's just going to take some time.

If a game was never assigned a rating then we don't create a rating for it. If it was K+A then we assign it a K+A rating. If a re-release was assigned a rating then we assign the re-release a rating. My thoughts are that we're not here to rewrite history but to preserve it. We should include all of the rating boards, there are 3. ESRB, PEGI and CERO. All 3 should be adopted for region specific games, but we should not change anything period. Part of our job is to help preserve history not create it, except for creating history for preserving it... if that makes sense.

It's not stupid, you're excited! That's what we need. I was just curious more if you had heard it from us or not and I've been using it, so I know how awesome it is too!

Just do what you can with the info given, if we have a year that's fine. Sometimes you're not gonna get a day or even a month, that information wasn't well kept back then.

Of course. I'm getting to the point where most consoles are starting to get repetitive, that's why I am starting to think about going outside of of just consoles but of course I want every major system on there. I don't know if I'd ever cover something like the Fairchild F. xD

Of course, thank you for understanding.

3DO. I'm going to try and start working on a few more obscure stuff. Atari Home Consoles will probably be next week. I am also starting to work out Feature specific or problem specific episodes.

Yea, it's what I could think of. If anyone else has any notes, changes or idea's please please please let us here them. Our community is nothing without you guys. I'm gonna go record Friday's tutorial though. I'll be around if anyone needs me. PM, Twitter, Steam etc.

DonkeyKongsVet said How far in depth do we need to go with guidelines? Do we want to list out titles and formats? etc? I can put the hammer down, smash some barrels, and certainly add in anything already discussed It doesn't need to detail every aspect, hopefully some stuff is common sense. Jason and I are wanting to trust our Moderator's, that said we do need things detailed a bit. The internet doesn't necessarily have standards, but we need them for Quality's sake. First and foremost, Quality is king. When researching something if two sites have conflicting metadata, try and find a 3rd and see what the 3rd one will match. Good and acceptable websites to double check metadata are MobyGames, GiantBomb, Wikipedia and GameFAQ's. When possible get the best looking image available. Preferably no Watermarks, but if one can't be found in the interim then Watermarks is fine until or unless we can find a replacement. (image submission and moderating isn't available yet) We talked about names, try to replicate what the Box dictates to the best of your keyboards ability. Characters like :, - and & are acceptable. Characters like _, + etc are not acceptable UNLESS on the Boxart or the Developer has spelt the game with them. Box names are what we go by for ease of use, but Developer spelling takes precedent as long as they haven't changed it. I'll probably have more, along with the other user. Any new feature requests for the Database can you guys make BitBucket tickets for us? They'll easier to keep track of then the forum post we've already got going. Make sure you put "LaunchBox Games Database:" In the title and mark them Major for us.

MAME was having some issues recently for importing, wrong metadata being recognized or not recognized at all. Currently, Jason will be working on trying to upgrade and update MAME a bit more. It went through an overhaul but needs to be ironed out some more. Thank you for letting us know this though, we appreciate it and it wasn't something specifically we knew about.

I'll also be trying to get a mod chat up and running if everyone thinks that's a good idea.

I'm sure that stuff is coming, Jason is just not here right now. :P There have been a lot of great suggestions that he'll see soon.

No problem, I am glad it's working. If you see any more issues please make more threads or submit them to BitBucket!

We appreciate it @CliveBarker, don't feel like you need to apologize for anything. We WANT everyone's feedback, I just wanted people earlier to read what was already stated, that's all. I still want to hear what anyone has to say. What do you think about Having a button to make a new discussion thread to explain the changes. Being in the thread that I propose? We can talk together as a group if a situation arises.

If someone does make guidelines, PM them to me and I'll review them with Jason as soon as he can. We can then put them in their own thread for everyone to discuss them. Once the moderators for the Database can agree on the rules I'll sticky it and we can move forward with that being our rule set. Then if we need to discuss any particular matter (game, database, rule) we can do that in there.

My Take? If it's on the box, an approved Wikipedia article or an official listing on a developer website, that is how we write it. On the box is generally how it is intended to be said unless an approved Wikipedia article or developer says other wise. If we called every Legend of Zelda ... Legend of Zelda. it'd get bad pretty fast. Let's try and follow the box art to the best of our abilities. For example, I rejected that games name shortening, but accepted the other values it asked for.

As of now Clive, no there isn't, that is a great idea though.

I covered this in one of my tutorials a few weeks back actually. I've been planning to start doing Feature specific video's, this ones on that list.

No it's pretty bad, but I'm not worried about it because they can't. Monopolies are illegal and they do get stopped, I have no doubt this will too.

I don't think anyone would complain there are too many Beta's. If there are people who complain they're probably not updating to Beta's.

There was also a stealth fix for MS-DOS, it wasn't searching properly in the Database because PC was finally split in to Windows and MS-DOS. That's fixed too.