Anyone use a "Selective" Rom Collection? (Rather than trying to own everything)

[newyears1978]

Over the years I dabble in and out of Rom collecting. I really like to play my real consoles but there's something cool about the meshed modern tech with old tech with emulation, and just being able to have more of a collection.

However what I find is that when using ALL no-intro sets and rom sets etc etc - I end up overwhelmed in setting it all up and usually give up and move on. I did so with my last HyperSpin setup (despite it being really awesome)

I started realizing that it actually stressed me out more than I enjoy it..because I don't like unfinished projects. I decided to then only put in systems I grew up with in some way or another (So like I removed odd systems I never had or wanted, like Colecovision for instance).

This streamlined the amount of things to add to LB - but still 800-3k games in a system is still way too much to actually ENJOY. 

 

So TL;DR - Does anyone use a streamlined set of systems and games, that actually becomes usable instead of just some daunting collection to stare at? I am wondering if anyone has any compiled lists or dats (like clrmame dat files) with such sets. I would really like to do something like this so my collection becomes usable and not just a huge stressful project.

 

I may just have to manually do it but that would be super tedious and stressful - I hoped there maybe was a project using CLRMAME dat files I could just streamline the process with - but also just curious what other people do as well.

Edited December 27, 2017 by newyears1978

[Lordmonkus]

For the CD based systems I only use hand selected games, same for . For cartridge based systems I use the No-Intro sets since it's just easier to grab the packs and import them. I tend to avoid the old computer side of things for the most part but I do have a small hand picked selection of Amiga stuff.

As for pre compiled lists that is kind of a personal preference things because there are games that I like and would put in a hand picked list that others wouldn't and vice versa. Doing your own hand picked sets for the consoles really isn't all that difficult and time consuming if you take it one system at a time.

For Mame though it gets to be much more complicated, again personal preference but also the 3 different rom set types (split, merged and non merged) but I have upload a batch file that you can use to copy out a hand picked set of games into a folder for easier importing. You can find it here but keep in mind it's made for use with the 182 rom split set of roms so it may or may not work exactly as expected on your rom set.

My suggestion to you is to use the playlist feature. Using Launchbox mode take it one system at a time and go through them and add games to a playlist for that system and then set up BigBox mode to load straight into Playlist view.

 

[newyears1978]

I thought about doing it all manual like that, but I was worried i would laze out. On MAME for sure...there's too much to go through.

I don't really use the old computer systems either, other than eXo sets for DOS stuff. But Commodore and such I don't mess with.

Mostly MAME, NES, SNES, Genesis, Dreamcast, Sega CD  and then real selective (mostly RPG) on newer systems like PS1 - to name a few. Shouldn't be TOO hard I guess

 

That No Filler, I saw that earlier today when searching Google..but my set is a 192 set so I was worried it might foul up. Man, 3k games in MAME set, I probably only need 50 or so of them.

 

Guess I can use a website such as Racketboy to get lists of the "best" games and under the radar stuff. I would mostly take RPG's and then all the "best" games for each system. No need to have 700 NES games.

 

I thought about using playlist mode as well, but due to limited space I want to actually remove those roms. I have all the full sets on one drive and I place my trimmed No Intro sets on another drive...I will want to actually trim those to whatever games I use.

Edited December 27, 2017 by newyears1978

[Lordmonkus]

3 minutes ago, newyears1978 said:

That No Filler, I saw that earlier today when searching Google..but my set is a 192 set so I was worried it might foul up.

Well it won't mess up your rom set, the batch file creates a folder and copies the necessary roms to it leaving the original files where they were. It should work just fine with the 192 rom set if using the split set but of course I cannot guarantee it will get everything necessary but it certainly won't mess up your rom set.

[newyears1978]

Makes sense - I will test it out. Arcade is probably the lowest Priority item - will need to try to go through my NES/SNES etc first. Going to be forever slow process.

 

I am using a Split 192 set with merged CHD's just FYI. 

Edited December 28, 2017 by newyears1978

[Lordmonkus]

I could generate some playlists of my favourites if you like and upload them but of course they may not fully match up with everything you have but I have gone through my games lists and tagged what I think are good games. I have a lot of Japan games, translated roms and some rom hacks. This of course wouldn't streamline your rom collection but it would give you an idea where to start.

And of course these would just be the games I like and think are good which is always very subjective.

[newyears1978]

Could be helpful

I am running your batch file right now, I figured I might as well. 

I think if I just go one system at a time, pick some of my favs and well known faves then use some lists of "best" games I should be good. Will try to make it fun rather than stressful. I really prefer my real consoles but I paid for LB and have all these roms so I might as well right?  

What type of games do you play? I am mostly an RPG guy

I stress out too easily LOL.

 

(Does that script copy the required BIOS/CHD/ETC?)

Edited December 28, 2017 by newyears1978

[Lordmonkus]

I got a lot of RPGs and generally the "best of" sets but there are some games I don't care too much about like the Pokemon games.

[newyears1978]

It's already a lot better now all the games I tried in a row were actually good lol

 

I just ran batch, put those in my folder with my full CHD (probably don't need them but wasn't sure)

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah, none of those games should require a CHD, I borrowed (stole) the list from here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,149708.0.html

Anyways here is a handful of platforms and my favorites or in some cases all the games I have for them. CD based systems such as the Playstation, Sega CD and TurboGrafx CD are hand picked, same with the Gameboy Advance.

Hopefully these are somewhat useful to you as a base to get you started.

Lordmonkus Favorites Playlists.7z

[newyears1978]

Ha, I had been reading that page, it does say

	The following CHDs are needed:
jojo
kinst
kinst2
mace
sfiii3
hyperath
nagano98
blitz
gauntdl
gauntleg
	

 

Guess I can delete all the rest. I thought CHD games would be some of the better games..but I guess not?

So I have never used Favs in LB, I guess I can import this in some how - will check it out! Thanks!

Edited December 28, 2017 by newyears1978

[Lordmonkus]

Ahh yes, I guess some games do ask for the CHD files, the CPS3 games I play using FBA and you can get away without the CHD files and the other games I don't bother with.

[Lordmonkus]

1 hour ago, newyears1978 said:

So I have never used Favs in LB, I guess I can import this in some how - will check it out! Thanks!

Just dump the playlist files in the \LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\ folder and start up Launchbox, the games should be there but I am fairly certain you will already have to have the games imported in the first place. Like I said before with my playlists, they aren't a magic bullet to organizing your games but if you have the full no intro sets already it should give you a smaller list of games to check out to help narrow your list.

It would be nice if @Jason Carr could implement a feature where you click a button to export a playlist into a plain list of games or even copy out games from your collection into a folder for building a streamlined collection of roms for import.

[newyears1978]

Great idea

 

I started making manual lists using your lists, because I wanted to actually delete all the roms I am not using. I ended up doing SNES last night first and have about 200 games..much better than 750 - thanks!

[Zombeaver]

I hand-pick everything in my library. I'm really into physical game collecting too, and I take the same approach to my digital library as I do to physical - no filler. There are enough good games out there that I'll never need to touch some of the awful garbage. For that matter, I'll never be able to play every single good game ever made, so why in the world would I want to waste my time on the bad ones? I want to have collections that I can randomly pick anything out of it and it be something worth playing, rather than having a bunch of junk to sift through. Life's too short to have to put up with Mary Kate & Ashley games.

After 2+ years of working on it, I've got 41 platforms in my library and, between those, I'm right around 4000 games. I'm still adding things, but they're always things that I've seen something for beforehand (a video, screenshots, reviews, whatever) and come to the conclusion that it's something I'd be interested in before adding it to my library.

[newyears1978]

52 minutes ago, Zombeaver said:

I hand-pick everything in my library. I'm really into physical game collecting too, and I take the same approach to my digital library as I do to physical - no filler. There are enough good games out there that I'll never need to touch some of the awful garbage. For that matter, I'll never be able to play every single good game ever made, so why in the world would I want to waste my time on the bad ones? I want to have collections that I can randomly pick anything out of it and it be something worth playing, rather than having a bunch of junk to sift through. Life's too short to have to put up with Mary Kate & Ashley games.

After 2+ years of working on it, I've got 41 platforms in my library and, between those, I'm right around 4000 games. I'm still adding things, but they're always things that I've seen something for beforehand (a video, screenshots, reviews, whatever) and come to the conclusion that it's something I'd be interested in before adding it to my library.

Yeah exactly. You have 10k games, yeah it sounds cool but you never actually use 90% of that..most the time I get overwhelmed and just stop even messing with it. Exactly why I am wanting to hand pick stuff. The only reason I didn't hand pick without asking is because I could miss some "hidden gems"

Gonna get there.

 

Sadly I had to sell my physical collection when times got rough a few years ago, so now I only have flash carts on my actual systems and emulation. Maybe some day I will recollect.

[Lordmonkus]

I agree with the premise of having a curated collection but for time and energy savings with the cart based systems I just grab the full no-intro sets and import them and then go through and tag the good ones as a favorite and they show at the top of my list. Then if I really wanted to go crazy I can refine it further by creating playlists and adding games as needed.

Cart based collections are relatively tiny and easy to store and then when you come across a game you think might be good you have it to try out instead of having the possible problem of having to go look for it and the site you used to use not being there anymore. It's also much easier to go through a collection and get rid of the obvious trash if you wanted then to try and compile a list of stuff you do or might want.

I guess I fall somewhere in the middle on the collection spectrum, I certainly do not want to have 50 - 80 thousand games but I also have more than a few thousand, my setup right now sits on about 11,500 games. Playlists are very helpful is further organization and makes things easy to find when I want.

Now my HTPC setup is a different story, because of hard drive space limitations I do have a curated setup on that with around 2500 games but even there with some of the cart based systems I have full sets just because they are so small and I can't be bothered to purge it.

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

with the cart based systems I just grab the full no-intro sets and import them

Agreed but I personally just import the USA roms, then any that I know were pal exclusive. I have all the games on my drive I just don't import them to launchbox, and I purposely do not import the JAP games unless there is a really good reason to like battle gaidan tetris on snes.

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah, I have all my Japan and translated roms all thrown in the pile as well, but those are hand picked rather than full collections.

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

Agreed but I personally just import the USA roms, then any that I know were pal exclusive. I have all the games on my drive I just don't import them to launchbox, and I purposely do not import the JAP games unless there is a really good reason to like battle gaidan tetris on snes.

And I say that as a person not from the USA, I'm a PAL territory person but the USA games run faster so that's what I import as primary, then I mop up other regions.