mlsaunders1985 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Is there a way in Launchbox that we can refresh the metadata for our games? For example, if I notice a couple of errors in my collection, I'll edit them on the database, then wait for the changes to be approved. If I then want these changes to be shown in the software, do I have to do it manually? Or is there a way to update everything with any changes made since the last data download? I know I can select all games, then 'Download Metadata and Images', but will this make the software search for each game again, or will it use the existing database IDs already assigned to each game? Only reason this matters is because when importing games, a few were matched incorrectly, and I spent a bit of time going through and manually assigning to the correct game in the database when they weren't assigned correctly (the 'Famicom' game Dig Dug gets matched to Dig Dug II, or the two versions of Indiana Jones on the NES for example). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 4 hours ago, cafcmike said: I know I can select all games, then 'Download Metadata and Images', but will this make the software search for each game again, or will it use the existing database IDs already assigned to each game? It uses whatever you currently have them assigned to. If they're not currently associated with a DB entry, I believe it searches for them. If you already have them assigned to a specific DB entry though, it's not going to research and change it to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlsaunders1985 Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Thanks, but that's not what I'm experiencing. To use the Dig Dug example, I've got this game in my library under the NES platform, even though it's a Famicom game. I had to reassign it to the correct game myself, since Launchbox searches NES games for Dig Dug and all it can find is Dig Dug II. When using the Tools>Download Metadata and Images... option in Launchbox, the same thing happens again - it links the ROM file to Dig Dug II instead. It obviously just does a new search and ignores what I've previously assigned the game to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 1 minute ago, cafcmike said: It obviously just does a new search and ignores what I've previously assigned the game to. When you say that you've "previously assigned the game" do you mean you've actually reassigned your library entry specifically to LB DB entry #16476 (Dig Dug for Famicom) or that you've simply unassigned it from the Dig Dug II entry that it defaulted to and renamed your library entry to "Dig Dug"? Because those aren't the same thing. If you directly associate it to a specific DB entry it shouldn't be doing a new search, it should be pulling the current metadata for that specific DB entry. If that's not what's happening it has to be a bug, and should be reported on Bitbucket if it hasn't already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlsaunders1985 Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Yeah sorry, what I mean was that after Launchbox assigned it to Dig Dug II, I removed that, emptied the platform field, changed the game name back to Dig Dug, then searched again. Then I get all the results for Dig Dug, click the Famicom entry (#16476 as you said) and then change the platform back to Nintendo Entertainment System. When I run the Download Metadata wizard, it overwrites all of this and again assumes the file is Dig Dug II, so it doesn't appear to use the existing ID info at all. My hope was that I could, for example, go onto the database, change the publisher or number of players or something, then in a few days, run the wizard, and this info would be refreshed in my collection. Now, I can't run the risk of running the wizard over my whole collection since I'd lose all the manually corrected links that I've made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 1 minute ago, cafcmike said: after Launchbox assigned it to Dig Dug II, I removed that, emptied the platform field, changed the game name back to Dig Dug, then searched again. Then I get all the results for Dig Dug, click the Famicom entry (#16476 as you said) and then change the platform back to Nintendo Entertainment System. When I run the Download Metadata wizard, it overwrites all of this and again assumes the file is Dig Dug II, so it doesn't appear to use the existing ID info at all. Yeah there's definitely something wrong there. 2 minutes ago, cafcmike said: My hope was that I could, for example, go onto the database, change the publisher or number of players or something, then in a few days, run the wizard, and this info would be refreshed in my collection. Now, I can't run the risk of running the wizard over my whole collection since I'd lose all the manually corrected links that I've made. Yes, that's the way it should already be functioning. Whenever I've done this in the past, the only time it seemed to actually perform a new search for a title was if it wasn't associated with any specific entry at the time - like in cases where there wasn't an existing DB entry at all and I'd just entered info manually in my library. Everything else has always just pulled updated info from whatever DB entry it was assigned to at the time. @Jason Carr and @Vlansix do you have any thoughts on this? If what cafcmike is reporting is occurring currently, surely that's not intentional right? Why would performing a metadata update do an entirely new search for DB entries if that's already been assigned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 When you run the download metadata wizard are you choosing the option to not replace any existing fields or are you choosing the 1st option if you are using the 1st option then I believe it will overwrite everything you have done and change all of your media it runs the process again and replaces everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 2 minutes ago, DOS76 said: When you run the download metadata wizard are you choosing the option to not replace any existing fields or are you choosing the 1st option if you are using the 1st option then I believe it will overwrite everything you have done and change all of your media it runs the process again and replaces everything. It does replace the fields if you tell it to do so but why would it perform an entirely new search for a DB entry? I mean it makes perfect sense to me that you'd want to have the option to replace existing fields (because the DB is going to undergo revisions/corrections over time) but I don't know why you'd want it to perform a completely new DB search, and I'm not sure why one thing would be linked with the other. That seems like it kindof defeats the purpose to me. Now if you don't have it assigned to a DB entry at all, it would make sense in that situation - because maybe there wasn't an entry for it when you first imported the game but it's been added to the DB since then. But if you've already said "Hey Launchbox - this is game X" I don't know why you'd want it to disregard that simply because you want to update your metadata. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Because he is running the wizard and if he chooses to run it to replace all existing media it treats it like the initial scan but I could be incorrect about that. until he answers back though we don't even know if he used that option or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 23 minutes ago, DOS76 said: Because he is running the wizard and if he chooses to run it to replace all existing media it treats it like the initial scan I mean it's entirely possible that that's what is happening; my point is why in the world would we want it to function like that? If you don't tell it to replace the fields, it's not actually updating anything it's just downloading/adding stuff that isn't currently filled out in your library entry. The only way to actually update existing fields that already have data in your library (like a description) is by telling it to replace. If you have a description that's a bunch of random gibberish (we had a problem with weird formatting recently that was causing gibberish to appear in descriptions even though they looked normal on the DB page) and it's been fixed DB-side, unless you tell it to replace existing fields it's going to remain gibberish in your library. It seems to me that the entire point should be to query the DB for specific entries that are already assigned in LB and replace the data for that entry, not to perform an entirely new search for DB entries (unless a DB entry isn't assigned to it in your library). I'm not saying you're wrong - I'm saying that it doesn't make much sense if that's how it's functioning currently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlsaunders1985 Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 I'm choosing the first option in the wizard (to replace all existing metadata) as I'd like any fields that have been updated to be, well, updated in my collection. Can't understand the logic in the app performing a whole new search, though. I mean, how else are you supposed to actually update the metadata? I come across incorrect developers, publishers, genres, even game names all the time, and I always go into the database to correct them. But what's the point if I can't actually get this data back into my collection? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlsaunders1985 Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Any chance of a fix for this? There's so much incorrect data in my collection that has been fixed on the database that I'd like to easily get into my collection without messing things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Paging @Jason Carr and @Vlansix again. In the interim, if you know a game was correctly matched in the first place but had bad/missing data that has since been fixed... you could scrape those again. You can hold CTRL or Shift and select multiple entries at once (you probably already know this). I can definitely confirm that this is happening for me as well though - I recently did a complete re-scrape of all my C64 stuff (because a lot of stuff has been added to the DB since I originally imported them) and there were several that were incorrectly changed because it couldn't find the same title in the DB. Some of them weren't associated with anything at the time (because there isn't a DB entry) so that's what I'd expect for them, but there were some that were assigned to an entry and it was changed. The game Feud is an example. I had assigned it to the Amstrad CPC entry because there wasn't one for C64 and after the scrape it was changed to a completely different game. I had to go back and fix several manually. It's particularly troublesome when it changes it to something incorrect and downloads new media (so it's not just the generic LB logo for the cover) so if you're not paying close attention it'd look like a normal entry in your library. I know my library well enough to know what I do and don't have so when I see a cover for something I don't recognize I know to take a closer look, but if I had a massive library this would be a nightmare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klepp0906 Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 (edited) do we know how this functions at this point? Little late to the party, but im considering a full refresh of metadata & media but dont want a re-search for obvious reasons. Definitely want to be 100% certain before I go ahead with clicking that button EDIT - powers-that-be ala discord have informed me that it will in fact, leave existing database associations alone. Edited October 24, 2019 by klepp0906 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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