Lightspeed: Ultra-Fast Mame Importer Tool

[quazl]

Antropus, thanks so much for the quick build. Never had custom software WITH my name as a suffix in the exe. :) Worked great! I tried everything with default settings and I had perfect results. I then tried the "killer" settings and it didn't update the list in Launchbox. Is this normal? Do I need to delete the platform or go back to an older xml before trying a new export? Thanks again! I don't know how people like you have time for this. I have ONE kid and don't have time for anything when I get home from work. God bless you, sir!

[knewlife]

Hi, I have a few questions about this app, I use HyperSpin for a long time and have all my games setup in RocketLauncher (www.rlauncher.com). Rocketlauncher can work with various frontends, using his information and media. Sadly there is no plugin for Launchbox yet. The solution for now is have all games setup in Hyperspin and import exactly the same games in launchbox. No problem, just drag all the roms I have already sorted for every Platform into Launchbox. The problem is with MAME: I use a Hyperspin filtered database that contains the kind of games I want. (They can be downloaded in HyperSpin-fe.com site) I think I can't just import this database in launchbox... looking for a solution I found this app. 1) Can this app produce a HyperSpin compatible database with the same settings I use to import the games to Launchbox (so bot Front-Ends have the same games)? 2) Can this app use the zipped MAME extras that is used in the lastest mame version to populate Launchbox? If the app can do both of this actions and also do his own job (import the games I want to Launchbox) that will be perfect :)

[Antropus]

knewlife said 1) Can this app produce a HyperSpin compatible database with the same settings I use to import the games to Launchbox (so bot Front-Ends have the same games)?

Yes. You can filter things with Lightspeed until you are happy with your list, then you can export the exact same list to multiple front-ends, including Launchbox and Hyperspin, so both will have the exact same games. If you already have a hyperspin database though, as it seems to be the case, there's a trick you can use to create a filter from that, but you will need to create a text file containing a simple list of the rom names. Once you have that file, you can temporarily removed the contents of the "All killer" folder and drop in this new file you just created and then activate the All Killer filter. That way, a custom filter matching your custom list will be created and only the games in that list will be imported. It's a cheat, but it works.

knewlife said 2) Can this app use the zipped MAME extras that is used in the lastest mame version to populate Launchbox?

It can use any local artwork you might have, but they have to be unzipped first. After unzipping them to their respective folders, simply point Lightspeed to those folders and all images should be imported into Launchbox.

If the app can do both of this actions and also do his own job (import the games I want to Launchbox) that will be perfect :)

If I understood correctly, it should do it. You will also get some very complete, selective metadata and all games should be ready to be played once in Launchbox, with no additional setup needed. A point to note: I'm currently revamping the whole app. One of the biggest new features will be the "List Mixer". Imagine that you use a front-end like Atomic in one machine, for example, but you also use hyperspin running on a second machine and you want to merge both lists and then create matching lists for both front-ends. The detail is, Hyperspin carries a lot more information, like manufacturer, year etc, while Atomic only carries the name of the ROM. With this new version, no matter what front-end you are using, you will be able to import a list from it and instead of simply importing the info available in the list, Lightspeed will populate all the missing fields, using the information from all possible sources and will create a complete list, including all kinds of information about the game. This way, you will be able to merge Atomic with Hyperspin with Attract-mode, with Launchbox for example and export this mixed list back to all of them or to different front-ends if you wish. I'm excited about this feature myself and I think this will do EXACTLY what you are looking for and more. It will take me some time to conclude all the new code though, but it's happening. Cheers, -Kris

[knewlife]

Antropus said

knewlife said 1) Can this app produce a HyperSpin compatible database with the same settings I use to import the games to Launchbox (so bot Front-Ends have the same games)?

Yes. You can filter things with Lightspeed until you are happy with your list, then you can export the exact same list to multiple front-ends, including Launchbox and Hyperspin, so both will have the exact same games. If you already have a hyperspin database though, as it seems to be the case, there's a trick you can use to create a filter from that, but you will need to create a text file containing a simple list of the rom names. Once you have that file, you can temporarily removed the contents of the "All killer" folder and drop in this new file you just created and then activate the All Killer filter. That way, a custom filter matching your custom list will be created and only the games in that list will be imported. It's a cheat, but it works.

knewlife said 2) Can this app use the zipped MAME extras that is used in the lastest mame version to populate Launchbox?

It can use any local artwork you might have, but they have to be unzipped first. After unzipping them to their respective folders, simply point Lightspeed to those folders and all images should be imported into Launchbox.

If the app can do both of this actions and also do his own job (import the games I want to Launchbox) that will be perfect :)

If I understood correctly, it should do it. You will also get some very complete, selective metadata and all games should be ready to be played once in Launchbox, with no additional setup needed. A point to note: I'm currently revamping the whole app. One of the biggest new features will be the "List Mixer". Imagine that you use a front-end like Atomic in one machine, for example, but you also use hyperspin running on a second machine and you want to merge both lists and then create matching lists for both front-ends. The detail is, Hyperspin carries a lot more information, like manufacturer, year etc, while Atomic only carries the name of the ROM. With this new version, no matter what front-end you are using, you will be able to import a list from it and instead of simply importing the info available in the list, Lightspeed will populate all the missing fields, using the information from all possible sources and will create a complete list, including all kinds of information about the game. This way, you will be able to merge Atomic with Hyperspin with Attract-mode, with Launchbox for example and export this mixed list back to all of them or to different front-ends if you wish. I'm excited about this feature myself and I think this will do EXACTLY what you are looking for and more. It will take me some time to conclude all the new code though, but it's happening. Cheers, -Kris

Thanks for the anwser, And yes a great feature you have planed for future releases. RocketlauncherUI can produce the text file with all games so I will probably use the cheat you mentiones, will report back. Thanks Again, Knewlife

[Johnnydement]

Been a bit out... got a doubt, this awesome app is version dependant or doesn't mind what mame version you use with any beta? can I current with 0.175? Regards

[timekills]

Drybonz said Ok, so I deleted everything and started fresh with version .7j, and the filter list was generated first try and export to LB appears to have been flawless, so that is great news. When I change the export box to Maximus Arcade, the Lightspeed.txt is generated, however when I drag it on the Maximus converter box no .lst file is created that I can see. *edit* At a glance, the "all killer" list is looking like a solid place to start for people that just want to set up MAME quickly and play some good games.

To clarify - when you say it's working, did you actually try to re-generate the Listxml file from the options tab, or just jump to the Filter button using the default files and have it generate a filtered list and new Listxml file that way? Because it makes a difference in my use. One way works, the other gives me the same error you had initially. Basically, I'm having the same problem you did: when I try to re-generate the Listxml file it replaces the original ListXMLOptimized file with a 1KB file and (very quickly - too quickly, as in not doing anything) creates a 0 KB Listxml file. I can get a filtered list using the stock/default ListXMLOptimized file and not creating an updated Listxml file from the Options page. It is created when I initially hit the filter button. However, presumably this Listxml file won't include the updated info from the .175 versions of Catver, languages, nplayers, and history. Tried running as admin; have plenty of hard drive space. TL;DR - works using default .xml files, but creates bad (0KB) XML files if choosing to create new Listxml file under options.

[Drybonz]

Hey man... it was a two-parter... the first part with the bad list file was fixed, for me, by updating to the latest Lightspeed and deleting all the stuff from previous versions. The second part (fixed about two weeks ago, post 338) was to have the converter in the same exact folder as the list. Hope that helps... if not, that's all I got.

[Drybonz]

I made a folder for clear/wheel logos, but for some reason they don't seem to want to import. All my other images still import normally. Could it be an issue with the LB image folder restructuring?

[Drybonz]

Also, wondering if there is a way to "clear" a media selection... for instance, I no longer want titles screenshots to show up as my box art in LB... if I clear the folder path in Lightspeed, re-run it and re-open LB, the title screenshots are still there... even after refreshing the images. Is there another way to do it?

[rmilyard]

When using current version of Importer with MAMEUIFX .175.1. When I click on Filter I get 0 roms.

[Drybonz]

rmilyard said When using current version of Importer with MAMEUIFX .175.1. When I click on Filter I get 0 roms.

You may have to re-create your mame -listxml on the options tab.

[rmilyard]

Drybonz said

rmilyard said When using current version of Importer with MAMEUIFX .175.1. When I click on Filter I get 0 roms.

You may have to re-create your mame -listxml on the options tab.

I did and still nothing in filter.

[Drybonz]

rmilyard said

Drybonz said

rmilyard said When using current version of Importer with MAMEUIFX .175.1. When I click on Filter I get 0 roms.

You may have to re-create your mame -listxml on the options tab.

I did and still nothing in filter.

It could be the same problem I had earlier where I couldn't get a good list file... I had to delete the whole Lightspeed folder and start fresh with the latest version. I would double-check all your paths (rom path, etc) first to make sure they didn't reset somewhow, though.

[Jason Carr]

Hi @Antropus, not sure if you're aware, but I've gotten a few reports of this error after Lightspeed is used: https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox/issues/1179/key-error-on-launch It looks like somehow either duplicate platforms or duplicate game IDs are being created somewhere, which is ultimately causing crashes. I could make LaunchBox ignore it instead of error out, but then something would be missing from the collection, so I'd rather if we could figure what's causing the issue. Thanks! :)

[rmilyard]

Mine does it after I click MAME -listxml I updated all the others to 175 but when I click MAME -listxml after that when export I get 0 roms.

[knewlife]

Hi, is this problem happening to everione or just in certain conditions? I'm just ending with the mame extras 174 download I really will like to use this app to import my MAME collection here... Gonna backup and try anyway :P

[CriticalCid]

I just tested it and the MAME -listxml option is broken for me as well in the current version.

[knewlife]

I will like to sugest that this app should use zipped extras, as mame use this format in current releases... still waiting to use this to import.

[SpaceMidget75]

Hi Program worked great. After importing I decided I would prefer Titles instead of Flyers as the front covers so I re-imported, selecting Titles in the Flyer path instead. This made no difference and the Flyers remained in Launchbox. So I deleted out the arcade games from Launchbox and did Tools | Clean Up Images (said it removed loads of images). I then tried another import (selecting titles the Titles folder) and the roms imported again, but now I have no images for front covers at all. Very strange. Any ideas? EDIT: I've just noticed after going back into Lightspeed that it's now not showing snaps in the output tab whereas it was before.

[Drybonz]

There was an issue about a page ago reported by the Launchbox author, not sure if that is related, but the Lightspeed author hasn't been around for a while. He may be busy with life stuff.