Game not showing: how to convince LB to add a game even when it doesn't know what it is?

[DaveC1964]

So there is this C-64 game called "AlleyKat" and LB refuses to display it in the list.  When I import games it shows in the import list but then doesn't show in the game list.  I assume because it doesn't recognize the name.  It "helps me out" by ignoring it but now I can't play it.  If I go in and rename it to Alley cat is shows as a different game with the wrong box art but at least shows up.  Is there a way I can keep LB from deciding what is a game and what isn't and list it anyway?  If the file is in the import folder I want to see it.

[damageinc86]

I've added games not in the launchbox database before.  Just add it manually and don't look it up in the database.  Add your own artwork.  point it to your own emulator, rom file as usual, etc.

[DaveC1964]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:46 PM, damageinc86 said:

I've added games not in the launchbox database before.  Just add it manually and don't look it up in the database.  Add your own artwork.  point it to your own emulator, rom file as usual, etc.

The problem is that I don't know which games LB is hiding from me.  It could be hundreds.  In order for me to know I would have to call up a directory and audit games one by one.  That would be insanely time consuming.  I wish they would just give me the option to display everything in the ROM folder I choose even if they don't think I should see it.

[damageinc86]

3 minutes ago, DaveC1964 said:

The problem is that I don't know which games LB is hiding from me.  It could be hundreds.  In order for me to know I would have to call up a directory and audit games one by one.  That would be insanely time consuming.  I wish they would just give me the option to display everything in the ROM folder I choose even if they don't think I should see it.

I guess I don't understand what is happening.  Can't you just click the "add" button to any one of your platforms and add any game you choose?  I've added Commander Keen hacks to my MS-DOS platform, and launchbox has no idea what they are, so I just manually type all the info in and add all my artwork.  It doesn't disappear afterwards.  Odd.

[damageinc86]

Maybe there's a "display hidden" option somewhere?

[DaveC1964]

18 hours ago, damageinc86 said:

I guess I don't understand what is happening.  Can't you just click the "add" button to any one of your platforms and add any game you choose?  I've added Commander Keen hacks to my MS-DOS platform, and launchbox has no idea what they are, so I just manually type all the info in and add all my artwork.  It doesn't disappear afterwards.  Odd.

What is happening is that there are games not in the LB database so it just doesn't show them.  Every file I have in a directory is a game ROM.  LB tries to "help me out" by not showing a file that it doesn't know as a game.  The problem is that their database is not 100% or sometimes a game doesn't match their pattern so it is like it isn't even shown.  The one example I gave is a C-64 game called AlleyKat.  Since it is not in their database it doesn't show up at all.  I litterlly had ro rename as Alley Cat to have it show up.  It shows with the wrong box art ffrom a different game but at least it shows.  I am sure there are other games that don't show as well because there is no database entry.   We need an option to show all files even if not recognized so that nothing is missing.  If some games are hidden and not selectable it kind of makes LB useless for loading all of our games.  Clicking the add button is not practical because how do I know what to add?  If there are 50 games not showing out of 800 how would I know which ones don't show?  As I said I would have to compare what is in the directory to what is shown in LB then manually add 50 or so games.  That would be extremely time consuming to do.

Edited December 28, 2023 by DaveC1964

[damageinc86]

Is there any other system that you've ran into this problem with?  I've never tried importing commodore 64 stuff, so I don't have any experience there.  And I've only manually added a handful of games at a time.  Yes, I understand the time consuming part.  I'm actually going through my gameboy cart art filling in gaps, and it's taken a few 4 hour sessions to get to the letter D.  Maybe someone else knows more about using the audit function and the import function in a better way than I do.  I've never ran into the problem of launchbox importing the roms initially, but then when the import is done, it's not there.  Every single time I've ever imported, the rom/game entry still shows up in launchbox when I'm finished.  It just has no artwork because the database didn't have that entry to link it to any artwork.  So I can quickly scan that platform, see the entries that are just text, and go investigate that entry more to see if it was a spelling error, or if it really isn't in the LB database.  Then I can assign it my own artwork if I have it.  It's never disappeared after the import for me.  So that is the odd part.  Sorry I couldn't be of any real help.

[Retro808]

When you say "not showing a file" or that it is hidden can you clarify exactly where you mean. As there is a difference in 

1: Not showing in the list of games to import when inside the Import Wizard.  

and 

2: Not showing in your C64 LB platform after being imported. In this case hidden usually means you have one of the “Hide Games Missing” options checked under the View menu in LB. If you have any of those checked just change the drop-down box under the search box in the left side of LB to "Games Missing Media". You then get a list of filters and can see hidden games. 

LB is file agnostic and does not know nor care if it is a game file or not. It imports what you tell it. With exception to the Mame Full Rom set importer and/or ticking the box the "Use Mame Metadata" when importing. If a game is not in our LB Games DB it will still get imported just not have any metadata or images. LB does not compare if a game is in our DB to determine if it should import/show the game. 

I do not have C64 games imported so I did a test with a few roms and AlleyKat (I hope is the same game you are referring to). It imported using the name the rom file was named and pulled no metadata or images from our DB since it is not there.  

 

 

[DaveC1964]

It showed up in the import list but didn't show up in the game grid (was using a boxes grid theme).  It just wasn't there, at all even with blank metadata.  There are indeed other games with no box art but do show.   I renamed it to "Alley Cat" and it showed up but understandably with the wrong box art.  I am using the Android version. For some reason this game confuses LB.  Who knows what other games are not showing, I didn't audit the list.

Edited December 30, 2023 by DaveC1964

[Mock]

just connect you android device to a computer and access this path /Main Storage/LaunchBox/Data/Platforms here you can view the xml file at see what is going on

it should be said the way lauchbox fetches file names something is really wrong. as the file names from this list not always match the file system.

[Retro808]

9 hours ago, DaveC1964 said:

It showed up in the import list but didn't show up in the game grid (was using a boxes grid theme).  It just wasn't there, at all even with blank metadata.  There are indeed other games with no box art but do show.   I renamed it to "Alley Cat" and it showed up but understandably with the wrong box art.  I am using the Android version. For some reason this game confuses LB.  Who knows what other games are not showing, I didn't audit the list.

Ah crap my bad. Android bit me again. I have not messed with Android much so I cannot help much. Well, it is not really like I helped at all.