Beastachu Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 (edited) I mean, I got the whole inappropriate images thing on some, but I mean there are dozens that have well documented information on the hack's creation, fairly well known box art, & in general is a well known game as far as emulation goes. I don't understand why they need to be partitioned from other games when they themselves are games that are a predominant feature in emulation. I tried for my first ever submission to the DB the game Super Mario Bros. 3mix. It's a hack that's gained a bit of a following and has box art made for it that's commonly distributed by dealers of fan game cartridges. I also included information on the hack and the developer from it's ROMhacking.net page, screen shots from personal gameplay, a banner I modified from some fan art, and a fan art background. But I was rejected with the message: "Hacks not allowed. Too much bad data or inappropriate images. Rom hacks not accepting. How many times we need to say NO HACKS on database until we have some special markers or section for them? romhacks not allowed." I was unaware of such a NO HACKS rule when I submitted (as I said, this was a dry run to see how long the process took.) I don't understand if each submission has to be reviewed regardless of if it's a hack or not, why hacks are automatically discarded. Why is AM2R in the database, but Kaizo Mario World not? Kaizo has a huge following (not to mention is probably in quite a few LB user's collections); is more well known than AM2R to general gamers; and even has it's own Wikipedia entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizo_Mario_World). There are unofficial cartridge releases of Kaizo you can find in gaming stores, but AM2R has been kinda pushed into sketchy areas to download because of Nintendo's DMCA take down. One's a hack, one's a fan game. Aren't those pretty similar? The only difference being the engine the game is based off of. Personally, I have every intention to add as many prominent ROM hacks into the database as possible with their publish dates, hack developers, screen shots, and fan box art/ backgrounds. IMHO, ROM hacking is a vital part of the emulation experience, and the bit about "How many times we need to say NO HACKS on database until we have some special markers or section for them?" tells me that this is a common problem. Edited April 28, 2017 by Beastachu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakatsu Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 We are waiting for category check box for rom hacks to be added to Games Database. More info here in section 3 of Submission & Moderator Guidelines which is linked in this pinned topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 I do a rom hack show for our channel, so it's not that we don't like rom hacks, but Homebrews and Rom Hacks need to be differentiated in the database. There are no tools currently to do that, so allowing them all in and assuming people will fix them afterward is a very bad assumption to make. Any for either that are on their right now can stay, but adding more while the official libraries are still not done for any console seems odd to me. I want them to be on the database, but I'd rather they be uploaded properly. Part of the database changes Jason is going to make soon is adding these categories. The Moderator Guidelines also have several topics on the forums, a pinned topic in that subforum about them (which is where I also post when I make changes generally), and it's pinned as the topic of the Database channel in our discord. I've put it in as many places as I personally can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beastachu Posted April 28, 2017 Author Share Posted April 28, 2017 Why do they need to be differentiated if they have cited sources? That's what I'm not understanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 It doesn't matter if they have cited sources, they should be marked as Rom Hacks because they're not the original games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beastachu Posted April 28, 2017 Author Share Posted April 28, 2017 I don't understand why that's important From what I've gathered from using LaunchBox's database search function, it goes by name and not the header data of the ROM file. I could understand why have them segregated would be an issue if it boiled down to the header since not all patches change the data on the file. But, I've had to manipulate the way LB reads ROM titles as most ROM files for GBA games have their number in the title file and that has to be edited out in order for LBDB to figure out the metadata involved. Likewise, I've told LB the title for Simon's Quest Redacted was just Simon's Quest, then changed the box art and title after everything had been tagged to the file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LogicalEgo Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 (edited) I manually enter in all my info for Rom Hacks. I have about 20 at most and even made their own wheel for them separate from the original collections. The reason we have such powerful editing tools in LB/BB is for this very reason. Customization. Edited April 28, 2017 by keltoigael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimy Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 I'm late here, but I was recently cleaning my library and was concerned when I noticed that StarFox 2 is no longer in the database. I'm glad to hear that there's plans to add them again eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massatomic Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 the changes came to the db yesterday, so they will be accepted now as long as they have the right tags I think it support will still be have to be made for inside LB itself, like adding filters and search fields... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 Yes, right now LaunchBox doesn't know the difference yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlansix Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Game type field implemented. Closing thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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