Dreamcast gdi import

[Mysteryisdiman]

Hey guys. So my dreamcast collection was in 7z which is not supported by nulldc so I extracted them per folder. Each folder name contains gdi file and the data. How do I get Launchbox to Add the games. When I do it via add rom it says no Roms found. Snes, nes,gamecube all went fine. Dreamcast extracted not playing well.

[DOS76]

Ok I'm not clear on what method you are tying to use to import the games but here is what I would do based off of the info you have given and how I'm interpreting it. I would open File Explorer and navigate to the folder where your Dreamcast games are from what you typed I'm inferring the games are all in this directory in their own subfolders I would then type in the search bar *.cdi* this will return all your .gdi files select all the games it returns and then drag the files out of Explorer onto LaunchBox this will initiate the import process. When you get to the option to move files keep your files where they are already located. Everything beyond that just do according to how you want to.

[Mysteryisdiman]

Great idea I did not thing of doing it that way. You nailed it on the head with my setup. Everything is in its own subfolder which is the issue. I will test and report back.

[SentaiBrad]

Instead of Drag and Drop the method I use is relatively the same. Go in to the Rom importer and choose Add Files. Then navigate to your Dreamcast Root folder and type in to the Windows Search function in the top right. "*.gdi" They should return the same results except that " " looks for exact values. It's good to use " " when file names could accidentally contain parts of what you are searching. More prevalent when you want to filter out, say, European games from your collection.

[DOS76]

Drag and Drop and the importer are pretty much the exact same thing I just prefer DnD because I can work with it in full screen then just put it into a window when I'm ready to move the files instead of being stuck using File Explorer through LB because basically that is all LaunchBox does is open a smaller window to File Explorer that can't be resized.

[SentaiBrad]

When you select Add Files in the importer, that window can be resized. There's no maximize button but it certainly can be resized. Add Folder doesn't because ... Microsoft.

[DOS76]

Good to know but still basically the same exact thing with both methods working 100% just really a matter of user preference.

[SentaiBrad]

Oh yea certainly.

[Mysteryisdiman]

So oddly enough windows 10 is getting on my nerves. I did use the add files but did them manually 1 by 1 took me over an hour. When I went to Roms folder and did the search to filter .gdi . That all went well, but when you select all and drag only 1 gdi was added. I tried about 10 before caving and doing them 1 by 1. It was painful. Not sure why drag n drop was only adding 1 file instead of all.

[SentaiBrad]

Use the Add Files method instead, and when it searches them all up use Ctrl + A to highlight it all then click add. Edit: It's also probably not Windows 10.

[DOS76]

I use Windows 10 and drag and drop works every time as long as all the files are selected so its weird that you are having an issue with it. In search you can't use ctrl+a until you have at least selected the 1st file so if you just hit the key combo without 1st selecting a file that could be the issue of course if everything was highlighted and it didn't work then I don't know what the issue could be try the other way next time as if I read correctly you have already completed adding the files 1 by 1. This is the best way to handle any multi file games or any games that have their own subfolders so it probably won't be the last time that you have to use it.

[bujinkanrn]

I'm curious about the importing of .gdi files with their associated .bin and .raw counterparts. To run properly, it's my understanding that .gdi format games require all of these files.  Typically, I like to copy every game I import into my launchbox folder so that everything stays organized.  But since most games have the same names for their .raw and .bin files (i.e. Track01.bin), wouldn't that cause a problem with copying multiple games into my LB folder since no two files can have the same name in one folder?  Is there a way to import the entire games and not just their .gdi images so I can keep everything organized?

Edited August 22, 2016 by bujinkanrn

[DOS76]

Personally II never put my games in the LB games folder. My  Drreamcast games are the only .gdi games I have (I think) I have them all in their own folder with all of the files. I used the search method to add them but there is now support for adding disc files where LB will only import the correct file so you should just be able to add the folder and it will import it this is a very good thing to bring up as I don't know if anyone has brought up the consequences of doing so.

[bujinkanrn]

Thanks for responding!  What I'll probably do to be on the safe side is put each game in its own folder and manually copy them all to my LB directory.  That way, all .bin and .raw files will remain in the same folders as their respective .gdi files.  Then, I can tell LB to use the folder names instead of the file names for metadata purposes.   With multi-file games, this seems like a good way to keep files together in an organized fashion.

[DOS76]

That is an excellent solution for moving your multi-file games into the LB games folder