Manually Specifying Game ID?

[DivinityCycle]

So, I went to import the game "D" into LaunchBox. For the CD-i version, it's gamesDB ID is 23327. I found it on the website by searching for it without any issues.

However, I can't get Launchbox to search for / find it in the "Edit Game" dialog box  Any hints on how to do this?

[SentaiBrad]

You found the CD-i entry for it? I believe it's for PS1 as well. You can technically add in the ID if you manually edit the proper XML file. in ../LaunchBox/Data/Platforms/CD-i.xml (it could be named differently depending on what you named it), back up the XML and open it with Notepad++. Ctrl + F and search for the game. Follow an example from another entry that does has a LaunchBox Games Database ID attached to it and mimic that for this entry, but with the ID you found for it.

What does happen when you edit the game and try searching, nothing or does an error come up?

Edit: It's also worth noting that if you named the platform something different than the default, and did not use the Scrape As function, it may not scrape properly in most cases. So if you did name it something different, go to Tools -> Manage Platforms, open your CD-i platform and set the scrape as value and try again.

[DivinityCycle]

Yup, I'm working with the CD-i version, which is present here: http://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/details/23327

The game is incorrectly identified as "the 3rd Degree", another Philips CD-i title. if I remove that ID and then do a title search in within the "Edit Game" dialog (to try and change the ID associated with the game), the search results returned never include the actual game D, just a bunch of other games. I also tried manually editing the Philips CD-i.xml data file, but there doesn't seem to be any built-in way to tell Launchbox to disregard & repopulate the metadata for the game.

I'm pretty sure the bottom line here is that the way the search works from within LaunchBox is different from how it works on the web-based search, and probably just wasn't written to accommodate extremely short strings like "D". Funnily enough, I CAN get a match when searching for results against Wikipedia from within the Edit Game dialog. 

[SentaiBrad]

That's odd. If you've removed all of the media associated to the game, closed LB and set the ID manually it should then search after you boot back up.

If you could make a bug report with the info you've provided to our BitBucket, we would appreciate it. Click the Issues/Requests button at the top.

[DivinityCycle]

I'll give it a shot, not sure if I re-launched or not. Will report back. Either way, it'd be good to have a way to handle this use-case, like maybe right-click on the ID display with the option "Manually Change ID"?

[SentaiBrad]

That would be a great request as well.

[DivinityCycle]

I may be doing something wrong, not sure.

I found the record for D inside of "Data\Platforms\Philips CD-i.xml".

I reduced the record for the game down to the following:

Quote

<Game>
    <ApplicationPath>Games\Philips CD-i\D (USA)-Disc 1 of 2.iso</ApplicationPath>
    <DatabaseID>23327</DatabaseID>
  </Game>

Then I re-launched LaunchBox.

The record remains the same, with no new or additional metadata populated back in.

I also tried adding the <platform> tag back in, but again, got nothing. I'm guessing probably the <id> tag is need? I'm not sure what this tag is, if it's an app-generated UUID or something that corresponds to the GamesDB but isn't public.

Surprisingly, clicking on the "LaunchBox DB ID #23327" link in the Edit Game dialog takes me to this page: 

http://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/details/22670

While this game looks pretty rad and I'll probably check it out, this is Masters Of The Universe for PS2 and not D for CD-i. I really dunno what's going on with that, and also not sure how to proceed. Any advice is appreciated, as I'd love to finish up my meager CD-i collection

[SentaiBrad]

Something might be off, so I'll forward this to Jason. We've had other software edit the XML's before, and I do teach users how to replace the drive letters for broken links, so editing it does work. It works best when you start editing it with LB closed as well.

So this might be a bit more labored than usual but, delete the game from LB and re-import it. Close down LaunchBox, input the ID in the DatabaseID field, save the XML and load up LB. I tried two things.

I just tested this myself with the same method I just outlined. I edited "AD&D Slayer". First, I removed the number all together so the line looked like this: "<DatabaseID></DatabaseID>", saved the file, loaded up LB and it crashed right away. Went back to the XML, edited the line and added a number in there. I changed it from 3143 to 3130, saved the change and loaded up LB. I put in a random number, so it will probably lead to a random game, but the value was changed within LB. Unless you make backups or are meticulous though, the crash I had is the exact reason I only ever tell someone to edit the paths.

 

[DivinityCycle]

I'm probably going to get the GOG version of D, since it appears that that potentially has nicer graphics and will also probably run better. I'll need to learn all about DOSbox, but I'm a professional computer nerd so I should be able to handle that