Issues with metadata sources and file names

[AladdinSane]

Hello, I am getting around to setting up my Big Box set up and have a few questions about setup. Is there the ability (or does another source exist?) to use another source for metadata? I have a lot of Japanese games that are not being matched and are not in GameDB. Does something better exist? Can Launchbox work as middleware and/or have some ability to rename roms to match the EmuMovies naming standard? Since the EM sync is in the background and rather transparent, if your files are not named correctly, it will simply not find anything. If the database knows that, for example, Super Mario Two.nes is equal to GameDB ID 1234, it should then be able to map that to EmuMovies Super Mario 2 (US).nes and then rename the file to match the standard. Is something like this possible? It seems like when adding new ROMs I would need to manually log in to my EmuMovies account to make sure the files are named correctly so I can ensure all the metadata points match up. I look at something like Plex which has a somewhat loose naming standard and allows you to manually match something then "line it up" with the metadata providers in the background. Also, similar to Plex, when you manually modify a field in the database it shows a lock icon that prevents it from being overwritten from any metadata refresh. Something like this would be great in Launchbox so if I make a change to a Notes field, category or similar that it will not be erased in the future. Overall it is a great program and I look forward to getting everything switched over to it!

[Zombeaver]

AladdinSane said Is there the ability (or does another source exist?) to use another source for metadata? I have a lot of Japanese games that are not being matched and are not in GameDB. Does something better exist?

You can enable Wikipedia searching for metadata when you do your import (it's one of the checkboxes in the wizard). Mobygames is quite good but unfortunately it's not integrated into Launchbox for the reasons Jason mentioned here and unless something has changed since then, there's not likely a way around that. You can use it as a last resort though, to manually update your entries if need be.

AladdinSane said Can Launchbox work as middleware and/or have some ability to rename roms to match the EmuMovies naming standard?

I don't think there's a way to do this in Launchbox; probably intentionally to prevent people from accidentally screwing up their library.

AladdinSane said I look at something like Plex which has a somewhat loose naming standard and allows you to manually match something then "line it up" with the metadata providers in the background.

You can do this in Launchbox. When you right-click and edit a game, go up to the name field and change it to whatever you want and hit the "download metadata" button to the right. It should provide you with a list of close matches among the different metadata scrapers.

AladdinSane said Also, similar to Plex, when you manually modify a field in the database it shows a lock icon that prevents it from being overwritten from any metadata refresh. Something like this would be great in Launchbox so if I make a change to a Notes field, category or similar that it will not be erased in the future.

I think this is a great idea. If there isn't already a feature request for this on the bitbucket page I would recommend creating one for it.

[Jason Carr]

Yeah, some great ideas there. The way it currently works is it will only update empty fields from the web, unless you tell it to overwrite. But obviously Plex's solution is superior. I don't see many people "updating" their metadata from the cloud at this point, so that hasn't really come up yet. Out of curiosity, what types of file names are you having trouble with, @AladdinSane?

[AladdinSane]

Jason Carr said Out of curiosity, what types of file names are you having trouble with, @AladdinSane?

Mainly it is a lot of Japanese or Japanese games with translations that are not in GamesDB to begin with (but do have video, etc. at EmuMovies) I think my main concern is trying to cut down as many steps as possible. Right now, I would have to figure out the name according to EmuMovies, then rename my file to match. It would be nice to have something in the middle that when it can ID it against something known to then rename the file to match EM standards. I think this is just a frustration with all FE's and such, automating all this metadata and standardization.

[SentaiBrad]

If a Japanese game is in the DB some users may not have done it right. There is an "Alt name" box that you can put the English name in. If they do that, LB should be able to still find the game if you search the Japanese or English name. However, since a lot of these games are obscure (i have A LOT of them too) there just doesn't exist entries for them. Wikipedia helped that a little bit, but its still not perfect. I even had to add a lot of Japanese games and DOS games myself to the DB. I gave up eventually and just manually added images for a lot of my Japanese games. Also, there is no standard when it comes to naming. It is partly why It is more confusing. TV Shows get away with this a little bit because there is an accepted format by Kodi or Plex. Just get FileBot and tell it to name the show that way. That doesn't stop disputes of what season is what (I am looking at you American Pickers) and that can still get screwed up. There likely will never be a standard either sadly.