A viable solution for missing Retro Achievements games in Launchbox

[Typhon]

So the Retro Achievements website has 'Ys III: Wanderers from Ys' for SNES named 'Wanderers from Ys III.' That is most unfortunate, because I realized earlier that achievements will not show up unless the game is named exactly the way it is on their page.

What this means for a user is, that if you want Retro Achievements to work properly for your entire library, you will have to go through and manually rename all of the ones that aren't working. Some of their names are pretty bad (like 'Wanderers from Ys III' ) and I'd never name it that.... but it bothers me, because I want those achievements.

Additionally, some games will not show up unless they are listed under the correct platform - Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo must be listed under NEC TurboGrafx-16, and not 'NEC PC Engine-CD' or 'NEC TurboGrafx-CD.'

So, these games should be pulling the achievements another way.

I think I've figured out a simple way to resolve this issue. Simply add the following two fields to the PlatformName.xml:
 

<RetroAchievementsTitle></RetroAchievementsTitle>
<RetroAchievementsPlatform></RetroAchievementsPlatform>

 

And then make these two fields editable within Launchbox, and then make Launchbox/Bigbox use these two fields when pulling data. This would completely solve all problems - if a user isn't seeing the game they wanted to add, they can manually make it working, without having to compromise the 'Platform' or 'Title' that they prefer.

 

So here's two examples (entries shortened to the relevant fields only:

Example 1:
 

<Game>
<Platform>Super Nintendo Entertainment System</Platform>
<RetroAchievementsPlatform><RetroAchievementsPlatform> 
<RetroAchievementsTitle>Wanderers from Ys III</Title>
<Title>Ys III: Wanderers from Ys</Title> 
</Game>

Example 2:

<Game>
<Platform>NEC PC Engine CD</Platform>
<RetroAchievementsPlatform>NEC TurboGrafx-16<RetroAchievementsPlatform> 
<RetroAchievementsTitle>Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo</Title>
<Title>Castlevania: Rondo of Blood</Title> 
</Game>

 

If the the 'RetroAchievements' fields are the same (same as 'title' and 'platform'), they could just be left blank.

 

This is a great feature, let's get it working properly, and for every game that it was intended to work for. I've made an issue for it here: https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox/issues/3722/add-and-fields-into-the-platform-xml-for

If you like this solution, please vote on it.

Edited December 31, 2017 by Typhon

[Typhon]

Guys, I am working behind the scenes to get some of these game titles fixed on the Retro Achievements end of things. Ys III is now named properly, as are a few others. But there are many games on their page that are unfixable on their end, example:

For Game Boy:

Ninja Gaiden Shadow (they have it listed as Ninja Gaiden Shadow / Shadow Warriors / Ninja Ryukenden GB)


For N64:

Star Fox 64 (currently displays as 'Star Fox v1.0,' )


I've talked with someone in the community over there, getting all of their games to adopt the same naming scheme used in the Launchbox database is just not feasible. Getting the Launchbox database to conform to their naming scheme is also not feasible. Going through your own collection to adopt the same naming scheme they use over there is always a possibility, but as in the two examples above - you don't want your games showing up like that in your collection.

I'm currently compiling a very thorough list of all of the games currently misnamed.
 

[usuallee76]

Thanks for working on that. I haven't tried it out yet as I'll have to switch all my emulators, haven't been using RA in LB.

[Typhon]

You are welcome, I am happy to contribute in such a way that benefits everyone. Retro Achievements in Launchbox is the most awesome thing to me.

And as an update, things are looking good for getting all of these games working, and providing a solution for future games that do not match up properly. I'll post another update when I have more information.
 

Edited January 4, 2018 by Typhon