Downloaded images

[Gaz70]

Just trying to understand how downloaded images work.

For MAME I have four versions of Track & Field.

Is it correct that LB will download just 1 image and point the other 3 at this (to avoid multiple downloads of a single file?)

The main reason for asking is that I want to rename each of those 4 versions. T&F NA, T&F NZ, T&F Centuri etc. When I do that however the images disappear. I am assuming because of the fact that the "name" has changed.

Is there any way around this? As far as I can see at the moment the only way I can fix this is to download the images 4 times - which obviously isn't ideal.

Is there a trick that I'm missing?

[JoeViking245]

4 hours ago, Gaz70 said:

Is it correct that LB will download just 1 image and point the other 3 at this (to avoid multiple downloads of a single file?)

No. Each game added to LB will have its own image(s).

When you have parent/clone games that are not combined, or import a game again or just somehow have 2 games with the exact same name, the image file filename for the individual games will be the_game_title.the_games'_guid-01.png.  Here it adds the [dot] game_guid number after the [duplicated] Title to distinguish it for that game.

At least that's what's supposed to happen.  And just now testing, I had 3 games with the same title and their respective image files had the guid in their filenames. I edited one of the games and changed only the Title and clicked ok to save and close and the image file (for that one game only) got renamed to the_new_title-01.png.

 

4 hours ago, Gaz70 said:

As far as I can see at the moment the only way I can fix this is to download the images 4 times - which obviously isn't ideal.

LB does not store data of each games' associated images and videos like it does for its metadata (Notes, etc.).  Essentially, it grabs the associated images (and videos) on-the-fly.

So there really isn't a way to have games with different Titles share one image.

 

A note on image filenames, typically they're named after the games Title. But can also be name after the games ROM filename. e.g.

• Donkey Kong-01.png
• Donkey Kong.7eb50c8d-472b-40b6-b47d-69bb8cf355b1-01.png
• dkong-01.png

[Gaz70]

59 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

No. Each game added to LB will have its own image(s).

This is not my experience. Have you confirmed that the image is still there by going in to edit the properties? (because there also seems to be an issue with caching.)

I have 4 versions of Track and Field. When I imported them they all had an image.

I renamed 2 of them (adding "New Zealand" to one and "Centuri" to the other). The one I called Centuri, the images disappeared.

If I edit Metadata/Media on the New Zealand One, the images are there. For the Centuri one the images have disappeared.

What's also interesting is that the 2 remaining ones do still show images (screenshot) BUT if I edit the metadata/media the images have in fact disappeared for those  as well - hence I refer to some sort of caching issue. The image is still bizarrely displayed despite the metadata not having the images showing.

So my interpretation is:

If I have 4 games called "Track and Field" it fetches the image and calls it "track & field-01.jpg" and saves it in the relevant LB folder.

Because the other 3 games have the exact same name (in the "Title" field) it uses that image.

If I rename one of the games to "Track & Field (New Zealand)" it takes the image it downloaded and renames it to "Track & Field (New Zealand)-01". This then breaks it for the other 3 games because the name is now different.

This is my experience through testing.

As to why the image is still showing for the other two games is another mystery. It must be cached somewhere.

So the only way I can see to resolve this if I change the "Title" of the game is to re-download the images for each version

 

 

[JoeViking245]

30 minutes ago, Gaz70 said:

If I have 4 games called "Track and Field" it fetches the image and calls it "track & field-01.jpg" and saves it in the relevant LB folder.

This may be because of how they were imported or added to your collection. I don't know.

 

36 minutes ago, Gaz70 said:

As to why the image is still showing for the other two games is another mystery. It must be cached somewhere.

That'd make sense.  You can select one game, then press Ctrl+A (to select all) then press F5 to refresh the images to find out for sure.

 

37 minutes ago, Gaz70 said:

So the only way I can see to resolve this if I change the "Title" of the game is to re-download the images for each version

I believe you are correct.

 

Here's what I was going off of in my tests.  3 games, same Title, separate images. 
The one with the red arrow is the one I changed the Title to (added "mame").
The image filename 'was' similar to the two below it before I changed the Title.
After changing the Title, LB renamed the file to match the [new] Title.

[Gaz70]

46 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

That'd make sense.  You can select one game, then press Ctrl+A (to select all) then press F5 to refresh the images to find out for sure.

This is interesting. I had closed down LB more than once and reopened it and the images remained. However pressing F5 cleared them. I would have expected them to disappear on shutdown.

Here's what I was going off of in my tests.  3 games, same Title, separate images. 
The one with the red arrow is the one I changed the Title to (added "mame").
The image filename 'was' similar to the two below it before I changed the Title.
After changing the Title, LB renamed the file to match the [new] Title.

So out of interest, in your picture you have 2 other versions of Behind Enemy Lines. If you right-click either the first or the second, then edit metadata, then go to Media > Images .... are there any images showing now?

I also note that you have some icons underneath your games. What are those out of interest? Are these multiple versions for the same emulator?

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Gaz70

[JoeViking245]

40 minutes ago, Gaz70 said:

So out of interest, in your picture you have 2 other versions of Behind Enemy Lines. If you right-click either the first or the second, then edit metadata, then go to Media > Images .... are there any images showing now?

Yes, when editing the individual games, the other 2 do have and show their own images.

 

41 minutes ago, Gaz70 said:

I also note that you have some icons underneath your games. What are those out of interest? Are these multiple versions for the same emulator?

These are Custom Badges I made. These 3 games actually all point to the same ROM file but are setup to use different emulators (as depicted by the badges).

Normally you would just have the one game, then right-click and select Launch With and choose an emulator. 

But this is on my test-build and I set it up the way I did while I was still testing and comparing between the 3 emulators.  The 3 emulators are the model2 emulator, SM2-Emu and MAME.

 

You can create your own custom badges using JayJay's app.