Match existing media assets to newly added games

[huh123]

I have a couple games that I am replacing with identical (in term of hash) files named differently.

Example: Game_A.zip being replaced with Game_A.7z or Game-A.zip.

These game entries already have media assets downloaded from LB to them. I'd rather not have to redownload all of these media assets, but I'm struggling to find an easy, automatic way to remove the old files, add the new ones and have the new ones "take over" any existing entry (and media assets) within Launchbox. I tried removing one old file, adding a new one, and doing a remove/add scan, but this ended up redownloading new copies of the same media assets.

 

Any help is appreciated!

[sundogak]

Might try this: 

make a backup, then open up the XML file in the \\LaunchBox\Data\Platforms\NAME_OF_YOUR_PLATFORM.xml  and search for the game name.  Under <Application Path> entry you can then edit the file name to the changed one.  The metadata should all then be the same. Media "should" match unless media was matched to the ROM/File name (typically LB names media via game name). 

Note: When messing with DATA XML files, make sure the backup XML is NOT kept in the Data folder or can cause LB weirdness. Only the actual Data XML files LB needs should be in that folder. 

[huh123]

On 7/15/2022 at 8:59 PM, sundogak said:

Might try this: 

make a backup, then open up the XML file in the \\LaunchBox\Data\Platforms\NAME_OF_YOUR_PLATFORM.xml  and search for the game name.  Under <Application Path> entry you can then edit the file name to the changed one.  The metadata should all then be the same. Media "should" match unless media was matched to the ROM/File name (typically LB names media via game name). 

Note: When messing with DATA XML files, make sure the backup XML is NOT kept in the Data folder or can cause LB weirdness. Only the actual Data XML files LB needs should be in that folder. 

Thanks for the idea! Based on this though, there's no way to automate this (for example, I can't remove the old files, drop the new ones in the platform's game folder, and have LB automatically pair the game to existing media assets)? I have a ton of files I'm replacing this way. Having to replace every file name for each per-exisisting game entry will be tedious and time consuming.

[Jason Carr]

If you import games on Android, and then delete the platform and re-import, it should keep any media files you previously downloaded without re-downloading any of them. However, there is a known issue where that will not always work if you exported from the desktop app instead of importing on Android. Sometimes it will re-download some of the media in that case.