Bug and undesired behaviour with updating metadata?

[Rinusch]

When I update my metadata for games, LB doesn't respect my previously configured alternate name for games. For example, I have the game ‘Out of this world’ for the Sega Genesis which I’ve configured to show under the European name ‘Another world’. I found that some meta data in my collection was not correct anymore (e.g. release type) and I wanted to correct that. So I updated meta data (and media) for all Genesis games, and selected the option ‘download and replace all existing metadata and media‘ (because otherwise the release type wouldn’t be updated).
Immediately after this, the game’s name has been ‘restored’ to the default name ‘Out of this world’. So far for the undesired behaviour, as far as you don’t consider this a bug at least as this is strictly not only overwriting meta data, but also overwriting ‘meta meta data’ (preferences about meta data) if you like :-).

What’s worse (here is the sure bug), the game then cannot be found under the name ‘another world’ anymore. If I look up the game and open the game details, that alternate name is just gone!
Only once I repeat the process and again update the metadata, the correct data is restored again. So if people update once after having set personal preferences , it can seriously impact their collection as if you don’t know the (in this case) non European name for a game anymore, you may not even be able to find the game anymore in a large collection!

After 2 updates, the end result is that my meta data has been updated but my naming preferences (which can equate to a big amount of time) for all updated games are lost and need to be repeated.

Any ideas/insights?

[JoeViking245]

6 hours ago, Rinusch said:

selected the option ‘download and replace all existing metadata and media‘

The is essentially the same as when you first import the games.  It reads the games filename to associate the title within the platform you're importing to. It will also attempt to get the games Region if there are brackets or parenthesis in the filename.

So if the filename was "Out of this World.zip" or even "Out of this World (Europe).zip" (which would be incorrect and you should never see), it will import (replace in you scenario) the metadata matching the game "Out of this World". 

Whereas "Another World.zip" or "Another World (Europe).zip" will 'import' "Another World" as well as the alternate name "Out of this World".  And with or without (Europe) in the filename, the region will be set to Europe.

Bottom line here is, LaunchBox is using the resources it has available (the ROM filename and platform) to find the best (proper) match.

 

6 hours ago, Rinusch said:

my naming preferences (which can equate to a big amount of time) for all updated games are lost and need to be repeated.

Any ideas/insights?

There's a plugin that can help with that.

 

[Rinusch]

Thanks for your reply @JoeViking245.

My rom files don't contain region information between brackets.

The issue is quite different (and I think unrelated) though: Whereas LB adds the game with the full list of known alternate names during first import, LB just removes the alternate name I had configured (in this case) after the metadata update.
Actually...it deletes it, it doesn't know the game by that name anymore afterwards!
OnIy when I update my mediadata for the second time, it adds the alternate name in question back to its list again.

I think you should be able to reproduce it if you try it for  yourself. This seems to be a very nasty bug to me!

[JoeViking245]

On 9/26/2026 at 2:59 AM, Rinusch said:

I think you should be able to reproduce it if you try it for  yourself.

I did the following steps and was unable to reproduce it removing the Alternate Names.

• Imported D:\Games\Out of this world.zip into Sega Genesis
• In Alternate Names, selected Another World and clicked Set Selected Name as Title
  • Another World was removed and Out of this world was added
• Back in the Metadata section
  • The Title was changed to Another World 
  • Europe was 'inserted' into the Region field
• Clicked OK to save and close
• Tools < Download < Update Metadata and Media for Selected Games...
  • Checked Search for game information in the local metadata database (recommended)
  • (no images)
  • Selected - Yes, download and replace all existing metadata and media

The Title got changed to Out of this world
Europe was still in the Region field (this could be considered a bug)
Alternate Names contained Another World 

Assuming you did all the same steps (except maybe you imported multiple games), it's this last thing that's different.

 

A 2nd test doing all the same steps except selecting Yes, but do not replace any existing fields or media (recommended), as expected nothing changed.  And Alternate Names [still] contained Out of this world.

Note in both of these tests, the game had the LaunchBox DB ID #32809 assigned.

 

If the steps I took are different, let me know.