Mesen ROM Folders

[Lahrs]

I'm trying out Mesen for the first time, and despite multiple Google searches, I can't find the answer to my question. Is it possible to set multiple ROM paths for each system, or do I have to put all of my ROMS (NES, SNES, etc) into one folder?

[JoeViking245]

20 minutes ago, Lahrs said:

Is it possible to set multiple ROM paths for each system, or do I have to put all of my ROMS (NES, SNES, etc) into one folder?

Mesen is an emulator. vs. NES, SNES etc. are consoles (platforms).  For sanity's sake, you should put your console-specific ROMs in their own respective folder.  Then import those into their respective platforms (consoles).  Then if you choose to use Mesen as their emulator, in the Associated Platforms section (when you edit your Mesen emulator in LaunchBox) add those platforms and check the 'default emulator' check box.

I'm not personally familiar with Mesen, so not sure if there's any Custom Command-line parameters necessary for the platforms.

[Lahrs]

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

For sanity's sake, you should put your console-specific ROMs in their own respective folder.

Although all of my ROMS are sorted in their individual folders by systems, and most ROMS within their own folder inside of that, I'm in the process of moving and redoing my entire collection to a new HD and associated emulators. Other than Main Brand (Nintendo, Sega, etc) - Console Name - ROMS, is there any better way to do it? I figure my file paths are optimal, but since I'm already doing the work, maybe there is a better way.

Edited June 9 by Lahrs

[JoeViking245]

48 minutes ago, Lahrs said:

is there any better way to do it?

That's pretty subjective.  

I have mine in G:/Games/name_of_platform/roms.ext

For me, it's seems I'd just be digging all that much deeper if I added one more level.  And I don't mind a tall layer of folders. 

 But do what makes best sense in our mind for finding/sorting/updating/adding-to etc.

Organization is key.  As long as you can follow it.   

 

[fromlostdays]

I keep my roms in individual subfolders as well. I'm not sure about launching through Mesen directly, but this is one of the many places Launchbox shines.

In the launchbox rom import, go to "Add Files" navigate to the folder that contains all the individual game folders, and just do a search up top for the file extension, in other words for nintendo search ".nes", this will find all of your games in their subfolders, then select all the games (control + A), and then import like normal. 

This will import every game in their individual folder into launchbox. So with the below example, on import navigate to "nintendo entertainment system"
Then just search for ".nes", select all and import:

/nintendo entertainment system/super mario 2/super mario 2 (USA).nes

If that's what you're asking about.

Then just set mesen as your emulator. You could potentially do this with nes game folders nested in multiple different locations, if you wanted, but I don't see the function.

The reason I personally use individual game subfolders, in case anyone asks, is that I set all my emulators to save savefiles and states into content directory, as well as screenshots etc. I also keep multiple versions (regionals, hacks, translations) in the same folder with the game, and I take the tags off the folder name.

So the folder Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Mario 2/

Might have inside it:

Super Mario 2 (USA).nes

Super Mario 2 (Japan).nes

Super Mario 2 (USA).sfc

Super Mario 2.state

Super Mario 2 (Hack).nes

etc.  

Just personal preference. 

Edited June 10 by fromlostdays

[Lahrs]

11 hours ago, fromlostdays said:

The reason I personally use individual game subfolders, in case anyone asks, is that I set all my emulators to save savefiles and states into content directory, as well as screenshots etc. I also keep multiple versions (regionals, hacks, translations) in the same folder with the game, and I take the tags off the folder name.

So the folder Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Mario 2/

Might have inside it:

Super Mario 2 (USA).nes

Super Mario 2 (Japan).nes

Super Mario 2 (USA).sfc

Super Mario 2.state

Super Mario 2 (Hack).nes

etc.  

Just personal preference. 

Is this a feature of Launchbox or specific emulators? That looks like an ideal setup.

[fromlostdays]

To simplify this, think of Launchbox as "path to emulator, path to rom". It's just the front end.

The way I use Launchbox is to have it memorize the "path to rom" to my individual rom folders. Emulators typically (retroarch aside) don't try to act like a front end, and when launching a game from within the emulator you often have to manually put in the path with some exceptions.

That said, the way I have everything setup requires 2 elements:

1. The organization of roms etc. into folders (for which I used a small program called File2Folders and a program called Bulk Rename Utility to accomplish)
2. The saving of screenshots/save files into content directory (which is emulator specific)

I'm being careful with my words because I set all of this up a long time ago and things may have changed, and also because there's a thousand different emulators out there, but lets take Dolphin for example. Dolphin saves gamecube saves into a virtual "memory card". You can change the default location of that memory card, but as far as I know, there's no way to set it to save an individual per game memory card into content directory. In other words the second element of my setup doesn't work for all systems.

It will, however, work for all systems for which you use Retroarch. Retroarch lets you control where saves / screenshots etc. are dumped, and you can tell it to dump them in the content directory. Some emulators naturally dump this stuff into content directory, and some don't. The content directory for me isn't "Nintendo Entertainment System" continuing the above example. The content directory is "Super Mario 2" folder in the Nintendo Entertainment System folder, so everything works.

I'm not exactly sure I'm addressing your question, so let me know if I'm not understanding you, and if I have, hope this helps. I think what you're ultimately asking is do I set this up through launchbox, and the answer is no. Beyond importing the roms, the screenshot and save file paths have to be set in each emulator.