LaunchBox Adding DreamCast Track Files As Separate Entries

[ChristopherNeff]

I hope this is in the right section, and I'm sorry if this has already been asked before in the past, but when I import any DreamCast games into LaunchBox that has track files, the track files get imported as separate entries into LaunchBox that has no images, any metadata or info.

If you go to play any of them, it shows the DreamCast Bios boot but instead of the animation it just shows the logo instantly.

With some of the files, it goes to the main bios menu that has the options to play a game, configure the memory cards and controllers, an audio track player, and settings.

With the other files, it shows a Naomi logo and says it can't play it and that it's not an acceptable game for the main board or something, and RetroArch says something about missing files and MAME, which is weird because DreamCast has nothing to do with MAME.

It's the FlyCast Core, and it's updated to the latest version, as is RetroArch itself, BTW.

Then I have to manually delete them one by one from LaunchBox by right clicking and selecting delete. If I ever update my metadata either, those entries will come back and I will have to delete them individually all over again.

My questions are:

1. By deleting them from LaunchBox, will that mess anything up and make it so the DreamCast games won't boot or play, or at least won't play properly or have missing music or sound tracks or anything like that?

2. Is there any option that I can select or even am supposed to select during the actual import process that will make it so the track files won't be added as separate entries or will combine them into one or something? Kind of like how the importer allows you to combine multi-disc games into a single entry in LaunchBox and then you just right click it to select which disc you want to play.

3. If there is an option like that and I'm missing it, then will that make it so the DreamCast games won't boot or play, or at least won't play properly or have missing music or sound tracks or anything like that? Do I need to combine the files somehow? 

Thanks.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Christopher Neff

[Lordmonkus]

The best way to import is to only import the main file you need to load such as the cue file or gdi file, it depends on the format your disk images are in. The best way to do that is to use your Windows file manager and navigate to the folder where your disk images are and use the search function and type in something like
*.cue
or
*.gdi
This will then only show those file types, select all and drag into Launchbox to begin the import process.

Removing the track files from Launchbox will not break the games as long as you never enabled the delete file when removing from Launchbox option which is off by default.

[ChristopherNeff]

1 hour ago, Lordmonkus said:

The best way to import is to only import the main file you need to load such as the cue file or gdi file, it depends on the format your disk images are in. The best way to do that is to use your Windows file manager and navigate to the folder where your disk images are and use the search function and type in something like
*.cue
or
*.gdi
This will then only show those file types, select all and drag into Launchbox to begin the import process.

Removing the track files from Launchbox will not break the games as long as you never enabled the delete file when removing from Launchbox option which is off by default.

The way I imported them is with the import Rom wizard in LB and then I simply selected my DC folder, and chose to allow LB to move it into its own folder which is called Games and configure it however it needed to and it took care of everything for me.  It's Gauntlet Legends and it's CDI and GDI BTW. The reason it's both is because I ended up with two of the same rom with different file extensions and so LB ended up importing both of them into a single entry so I would just right click and select which one I want to play. What that means is that I have no idea which one the track files actually belong to, either the CDI, or the GDI one. The track files are in BIN format BTW.

[neil9000]

49 minutes ago, Christopher Neff said:

The way I imported them is with the import Rom wizard in LB and then I simply selected my DC folder, and chose to allow LB to move it into its own folder which is called Games and configure it however it needed to and it took care of everything for me.  It's Gauntlet Legends and it's CDI and GDI BTW. The reason it's both is because I ended up with two of the same rom with different file extensions and so LB ended up importing both of them into a single entry so I would just right click and select which one I want to play. What that means is that I have no idea which one the track files actually belong to, either the CDI, or the GDI one. The track files are in BIN format BTW.

Just delete the platform but keep the media, then re-import the correct way as Lordmonkus stated, and when you get to the media download page of the import wizard uncheck it all.

[ChristopherNeff]

1 hour ago, neil9000 said:

Just delete the platform but keep the media, then re-import the correct way as Lordmonkus stated, and when you get to the media download page of the import wizard uncheck it all.

I think that worked. But, I have to ask, why are we required to do it that way in order for it to work? When I imported all my PSONE games (which are all BIN and CUE files BTW) to LB the normal way, it didn't add the BIN and CUE files as separate entries. It combined them both together into one entry automatically. The actual files themselves are still separate BIN and CUE files, but LB still made only one entry out of them both. Why doesn't it do that for DC track files as well?

Also, now that I did it the way Lord Monkus said to do it, if I ever have to re add any metadata again in the future, it won't automatically add the track files back as separate entries again will it?

Edited March 24, 2022 by Christopher Neff

[Retro808]

4 hours ago, Christopher Neff said:

I think that worked. But, I have to ask, why are we required to do it that way in order for it to work? When I imported all my PSONE games (which are all BIN and CUE files BTW) to LB the normal way, it didn't add the BIN and CUE files as separate entries. It combined them both together into one entry automatically. The actual files themselves are still separate BIN and CUE files, but LB still made only one entry out of them both. Why doesn't it do that for DC track files as well?

Also, now that I did it the way Lord Monkus said to do it, if I ever have to re add any metadata again in the future, it won't automatically add the track files back as separate entries again will it?

LB does not know which files an emulator needs to run so it just imports files it sees in the folder you point it to. For the PSone import you should not have imported both the bin and cue files, the bin files as useless to LB. So those extra entries it added into one file will not launch a game. You would just import the cue file. So you really should remove those bin files from the LB import.

Why LB did not import the DC tracks into a single file is because the track files are not named after the rom file. LB knows to combine files when they are named the same. In the case of .bin and .cue file games those files are both named after the rom. So LB knows it can combine them. Games that would have a rom file named after the game and then audio tracks named something like track01 will not get merged since LB cannot match the name. It all has to do with file naming.

[ChristopherNeff]

4 hours ago, Retro808 said:

LB does not know which files an emulator needs to run so it just imports files it sees in the folder you point it to. For the PSone import you should not have imported both the bin and cue files, the bin files as useless to LB. So those extra entries it added into one file will not launch a game. You would just import the cue file. So you really should remove those bin files from the LB import.

Why LB did not import the DC tracks into a single file is because the track files are not named after the rom file. LB knows to combine files when they are named the same. In the case of .bin and .cue file games those files are both named after the rom. So LB knows it can combine them. Games that would have a rom file named after the game and then audio tracks named something like track01 will not get merged since LB cannot match the name. It all has to do with file naming.

"For the PSone import you should not have imported both the bin and cue files, the bin files as useless to LB. So those extra entries it added into one file will not launch a game. You would just import the cue file. So you really should remove those bin files from the LB import."

Wait, I'm confused. Why does that matter though? They DO play in LB and in RA. So, why would I need to redo the PSONE imports when they play perfectly? The bin files are useless? I thought they are both needed to launch a game, because I'm pretty sure that if I deleted the BIN files from my folder, the CUE files by themselves would not be able to play anything.

So, if I simply renamed the track files to the same name as the main ROM file, then would LB merge them all into a single entry? Does the file name matter, as in can changing it to something else mess anything up?

[Retro808]

8 minutes ago, Christopher Neff said:

Wait, I'm confused. Why does that matter though? They DO play in LB and in RA. So, why would I need to redo the PSONE imports when they play perfectly? The bin files are useless? I thought they are both needed to launch a game, because I'm pretty sure that if I deleted the BIN files from my folder, the CUE files by themselves would not be able to play anything.

I think you misread what I stated. I said they are useless to LB as you only need the .cue file to launch a game. I also advised to remove them from LB, not from your game folder. Of course you need to keep them in the game rom folder as the emulator needs them to be there.

4 hours ago, Retro808 said:

For the PSone import you should not have imported both the bin and cue files, the bin files as useless to LB. So those extra entries it added into one file will not launch a game. You would just import the cue file. So you really should remove those bin files from the LB import.

 

8 minutes ago, Christopher Neff said:

So, if I simply renamed the track files to the same name as the main ROM file, then would LB merge them all into a single entry? Does the file name matter, as in can changing it to something else mess anything up?

You do not need those files in LB at all. So why would you even bother renaming them or importing them. Only the emulator needs all those extra audio files or .bin files. They never need importing into LB at all.

[ChristopherNeff]

4 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

I think you misread what I stated. I said they are useless to LB. If you click a bin file in LB it will not launch a game. I also advised to remove them from LB, not from your game folder. Of course you need to keep them in the game rom folder as the emulator needs them to be there.

 

You do not need those files in LB at all. So why would you even bother renaming them or importing them. Only the emulator needs all those extra audio files or .bin files. They never need importing into LB at all.

Okay. Thanks. So, for PSONE, if I don't remove the BIN parts from LB, and just leave them as is, can that cause problems or something? Is that why I had to manually edit each PSONE entry and point it to the CUE file? Because they were all pointing at the BIN file by default at first. So, since it's all working anyway now, is there still a point in removing the BIN files from LB or re-importing them the right way? Is it just for Hard Drive space purposes or something? Or, can it lead to actual problems down the road?

Edited March 24, 2022 by Christopher Neff