Updating paths in bulk after migrating to a NAS

[Jackdefjam]

Hey Guys, 

I recently purchased a NAS, which I keep in the basement to reduce noise and heat in my office. Previously, I stored my LaunchBox collection on an external drive, with games organized by platform under F:/Launchbox/Ressources/. Now I moved the games and other content to a dedicated drive on my NAS, mapped to L:/Games/. I would prefer to preserve my existing configuration, as I have manually configured many directories and entries, including those for comics, magazines, and other content. My LaunchBox configuration files and media including playlists, XML files, cover images, and videos remain in their original locations. Only the games and other launchable content have been moved.

Is there a straightforward way or a plugin to update the paths for all platforms in bulk without having to rescan or reimport everything?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[JoeViking245]

38 minutes ago, Jackdefjam said:

Only the games and other launchable content have been moved.

Is there a straightforward way or a plugin to update the paths for all platforms in bulk without having to rescan or reimport everything?

For the games in a given platform, it depends on how you have the games stored for that platform.

If the games' ROM files were in a single folder e.g. F:\LaunchBox\Resources\Games\SNES\*.sfc, then:
-  In LaunchBox, select you NES platform then select all games
    (click one, then press Ctrl+A)
-  Tools < File Management < Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games...
-  follow the prompts

 

If the games' ROM files were in individual subfolders per-game within the platforms folder, e.g.
    F:\LaunchBox\Resources\Games\SNES\Frogger (USA)\Frogger (USA).sfc
    F:\LaunchBox\Resources\Games\SNES\Goof Troop (USA)\Goof Troop (USA).sfc

The above method won't work.

 

The "easy fix" for this is the edit the platform xml file(s).  e.g. L:\LaunchBox\Data\Platforms\Super Nintendo Entertainment System.xml

In there, do a bulk Find (F:\LaunchBox\Resources\Games\) & Replace (L:\Games\)

If you changed the platforms' folder name (e.g. from SNES to Super Nintendo Entertainment System), account for that in your find and replace.

[Jackdefjam]

Thank you so much for your prompt and detailed help. Both methods worked!

[Noah Thompson]

Glad the XML edit path worked for you. Worth noting for anyone reading later: the "Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games" option only handles flat per-platform folders, so the per-game subfolder layout really does need the find-and-replace in the platform XMLs. If you ever rename a platform folder during a future move, remember the paths in those XMLs will no longer match, so it's best to do the rename and the replace in the same pass. Also back up the Data\Platforms folder before editing, just in case.

[JoeViking245]

11 minutes ago, Noah Thompson said:

Worth noting for anyone reading later: the "Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games" option only handles flat per-platform folders, so the per-game subfolder layout really does need the find-and-replace in the platform XMLs.

Not sure why you'd repeat something that was stated in the provided Solution. But agreed it's notable.

14 minutes ago, Noah Thompson said:

If you ever rename a platform folder during a future move, remember the paths in those XMLs will no longer match, so it's best to do the rename and the replace in the same pass

Not sure why you'd repeat something that was stated in the provided Solution. But agreed it's notable as well.

 

14 minutes ago, Noah Thompson said:

Also back up the Data\Platforms folder before editing, just in case.

Not bad advice.  But note, if you have Backups enabled in LaunchBox, which it is by default, you'd already have this covered and have the ability to restore a backed-up xml file. Just in case.