Lightspeed Mame Importer - Teaser

[Antropus]

CADScott said The browse button for the Mame ROMs paths does not seem to work at all, nothing happens when it is pressed.

Fixed in the new link above!

Also noticed an issue with the media selection dialogs, such as the flyers, which require the selection of an actual image file, rather than the directory itself. It still works, but it is rather intuitive.

Yes, I explain that in the video. I just hate that little tiny window for folder selection, so I'm using a file selection window instead. The only thing about it is that you do need to select a file, BUT you can always add the address through copy/paste or manually typing if the folder is empty. It's just so much faster to navigate with a fully featured window!

Other than that it works great, just imported my entire MAME collection, very fast indeed!

Great to know!

[Antropus]

CADScott said I am using it on 7, works fine

Sweet, thanks!

[CADScott]

I was too impatient to watch the video! Many thanks for your work on this I will do some more testing and let you know if I find any issues.

[CADScott]

@Antropus, the new version you posted is throwing a trojan warning in Security Essentials and stripping out the exe file.

[Drybonz]

Everything seems to work fine, but when I re-open LaunchBox nothing is imported. Will it not use MAMEUIFX as the emulator? *edit* Ok, I ran it again from the beginning and it worked this time. The only difference I could see is that I closed Lightspeed before I re-opened LB. *edit* One initial problem that I notice is that if you ran Lightspeed more than once it creates duplicate emulator entries in LB that you have to clean up, even if you have rolled back to your backed up Launchbox.xml. *edit* After importing, when I run a game, it says the rom file does not exist, even thought the file path is right.

[Antropus]

CADScott said @Antropus, the new version you posted is throwing a trojan warning in Security Essentials and stripping out the exe file.

I've got he most updated Kasperski installed. I just downloaded that very same file, ran the virus scan on it and no threats were detected. Sure thing that the program modifies things, as it copies and renames files in your computer, but only when it comes to launchbox.xml as far as I'm concerned :)

[Antropus]

Definitely false positive... or your computer is infected :) When in doubt, upload it to www.virustotal.com. I just did and out of 56 different anti-virus packages, only 1 reported it as a virus, so a classic case of false positive: https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/e0308219a60104f34f0c9fdafc632a509794938ab0735263126d17ad16146c37/analysis/ Try uploading your download to that website and run the test. If a bunch of them show it as positive, than you better install a better anti-virus in your machine!

[Drybonz]

It was fine in Avast as well. I wanted to mention, in addition to the comments I made above, a quick suggestion for a feature... which is a PlayChoice game filter if that is even possible. The filters seem to be working well as I scroll through the games that were imported... I just get the error about missing rom files with every game.

[Antropus]

Drybonz said Everything seems to work fine, but when I re-open LaunchBox nothing is imported. Will it not use MAMEUIFX as the emulator? *edit* Ok, I ran it again from the beginning and it worked this time. The only difference I could see is that I closed Lightspeed before I re-opened LB. *edit* One initial problem that I notice is that if you ran Lightspeed more than once it creates duplicate emulator entries in LB that you have to clean up, even if you have rolled back to your backed up Launchbox.xml. *edit* After importing, when I run a game, it says the rom file does not exist, even thought the file path is right.

This is a migration tool, so at this point it's not designed to check for already existent games and update their info. It's designed to be used as a Mame migration tool, meaning that if you don't have any mame games in your library, this will quick start things for you. It WILL create duplicates if you already have stuff in there (or if you run the tool multiple time pointing to launchbox.xml every time). Things to watch for: 1) You will need to make 100% sure LaunchBox is not running before you run lightspeed, or else launchbox.xml will be recreated on Launchbox.exe exit. 2) Make sure mame is working outside of launchbox, meaning that mame.ini should be all configured and pointing to the right paths already 3) When you select your mame.exe file (yes, it can be any mame version, including MameUIFX), things are auto populated for you as SUGGESTIONS for file and folder paths. If your mame installation points to different paths other than the default mame installation folder, then you will need to changes those paths manually to reflect your custom settings. If your MameUIFX is already working nicely outside of launchbox, then you might not need any additional command lines passed, so you can simply delete the suggested parameters and try again 4) At any given time you can revert anything done to your library, as backup files are being saved every time you run the program. If you look under your Launchbox installation folder, you will notice a bunch of files named Launchbox###########.xml. Those are the backup files. Look for the oldest one, rename it to launchbox.xml and you should get back to the starting point before you ran it multiple times. -Kris

[Antropus]

Drybonz said It was fine in Avast as well. I wanted to mention, in addition to the comments I made above, a quick suggestion for a feature... which is a PlayChoice game filter if that is even possible. The filters seem to be working well as I scroll through the games that were imported... I just get the error about missing rom files with every game.

PlayChoice can be definitely filtered. I'll add it to the growing list :) Would you mind posting a screenshot of your launchbox.xml file? Just open it, search for "1942.zip" and save a screenshot. It should look similar to this,only with the path pointing to your own rom folder: If the path is correct, but your roms are in .7z format instead of zip, that might be the problem, as my code only supports .zip at this point, but I can easily adjust it tonight, if that's the case. -Kris

[Drybonz]

So this was the first time I had imported MAME roms to LB... everything was a clean slate when I started. I screwed it up the first time somehow... maybe had LB minimized. Then I reverted back to the earliest LB.xml and started over. I ended up with duplicate emulator entries even though I had reverted to the original xml. The biggest problem is the "rom files do not exist" error, which prevents me from starting any of the games. I'm not sure how to fix that. Any help is appreciated. If I check under "edit" in LB the rom paths appear to be correct. *edit* One min I will try to get you that screenshot. *edit* Sorry... just read the end of your post. They are indeed in 7z format. :)

[Drybonz]

I just edited a random game from zip to 7z and it launched perfectly. :)

[Drybonz]

So, on another note... say I screw up the first time and forget, or simply change my mind and want to add another type of screenshot, for instance (maybe I want to add cabinet shots under "fanart" for example)... is it possible to run Lightspeed a second time to make that change, or as you said above a person would need to roll back the .xml file and start over?

[Antropus]

Drybonz said I just edited a random game from zip to 7z and it launched perfectly. :)

Cool, that's what I thought :) I just uploaded a new version that *should* import any rom extension now. Try this one and let me know: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B23vaxsfSk1yVHpnRlFpdVdfTU0/view?usp=sharing

Drybonz said So, on another note... say I screw up the first time and forget, or simply change my mind and want to add another type of screenshot, for instance (maybe I want to add cabinet shots under "fanart" for example)... is it possible to run Lightspeed a second time to make that change, or as you said above a person would need to roll back the .xml file and start over?

There are different way to do it: 1) Open your launchbox.xml file and do a search and replace, searching for the fanart folder and replacing with the cabinet folder for example. 2) Go to tools > manage platforms > edit > change the paths in the second tab 3) as a last resort, you could roll back to a previous backup and run lightspeed again as you said, but this will add duplicates at this point. In the future I will add a detection feature that will check for stuff already there and just add what's missing. -Kris

[Drybonz]

Antropus said In the future I will add a detection feature that will check for stuff already there and just add what's missing. -Kris

That would be awesome. I was just thinking people might make new favorites lists, etc (as an example) and want to add them with your tool after they have already done their initial import. For an alpha first release... Lightspeed is pretty brilliant. It imported everything that I wanted in seconds with a very tidy and organized format in LB... and the filters are so nice... being able to get rid of the games I don't want with no effort is fantastic. The only problem I had initially being due to having my roms in 7z format, which doesn't work in half the emulators out there anyway. It was a successful first run for me. :) Thanks for the great tool... you put a lot of time in.

[Drybonz]

Antropus said Cool, that's what I thought :) I just uploaded a new version that *should* import any rom extension now. Try this one and let me know: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B23vaxsfSk1yVHpnRlFpdVdfTU0/view?usp=sharing -Kris

Tested and working!

[Antropus]

Drybonz said Tested and working!

Sweet!

[CriticalCid]

Thanks for your awesome tool. It works like a charm :) But unfortunately it’s exactly like I assumed it in my last post. Sega Hikaru doesn’t show up in sources because the unplayable filter filters out all the games for it. So I ask again if could integrate it as its own platform in the GUI. I also have another idea for a future version of your tool. Many games which are imported as the US, Europe or World version refer in the bio notes to the original Japanese version for more information’s. It would be awesome if it could import the bio notes from the original version instead of just a reference to a game version which doesn’t get imported in LB anyway (at least if you filter out all clones). Here’s a screenshot as example:

[Antropus]

CriticalCid said Thanks for your awesome tool. It works like a charm :)

Good to know!

But unfortunately it’s exactly like I assumed it in my last post. Sega Hikaru doesn’t show up in sources because the unplayable filter filters out all the games for it. So I ask again if could integrate it as its own platform in the GUI.

Yeah, this would be a platform to be imported manually for now, I think, and let LaunchBox do its thing. You will not get all the sweet metadata, but it will be imported for now. I will implement the ability to select any source.cpp and add a checkbox by its side, to allow you to bypass all filters. That way, it will force the program to import that source even if everything else is being filtered. I should have it implemented in a few days, so stay tuned!

I also have another idea for a future version of your tool. Many games which are imported as the US, Europe or World version refer in the bio notes to the original Japanese version for more information’s. It would be awesome if it could import the bio notes from the original version instead of just a reference to a game version which doesn’t get imported in LB anyway (at least if you filter out all clones). Here’s a screenshot as example:

We can surely capture that info as well. The problem is always inconsistency in those support files. If it says "developed in Japan" in some games and something totally different in others, only research will tell me the variations, so I can come up with a regex (or multiple) to match it. -Kris

[CriticalCid]

Antropus said Yeah, this would be a platform to be imported manually for now, I think, and let LaunchBox do its thing. You will not get all the sweet metadata, but it will be imported for now. I will implement the ability to select any source.cpp and add a checkbox by its side, to allow you to bypass all filters. That way, it will force the program to import that source even if everything else is being filtered. I should have it implemented in a few days, so stay tuned!

Awesome! I just tested your tool an hour ago and I love it already.These two features would just be the little extra mile to make it perfect for me