Confused about XMLs, Datfiles, Media and just about everything else. Guidance needed.

[Clutz450]

I've been around for a while and have tried setting up HyperSpin multiple times over the years but always get discouraged and give up.  I have been collecting romsets from all over the place and have multiple USB Hard Drives full of them.  My biggest problem has always been finding the best or official xml database to use.  I would usually go to HyperList and download from there but I've been reading how those listed there still need work.  I saw there was a section in the forums dedicated to updating all the database xmls.  So it makes me wonder where I should get the most correct and up to date xml.  

 

So let's say I do get the best database xml file for the system I want to set up.  How do I find and rename the correct roms to match?  I've been using clrmamepro for years and have gotten pretty good with it.  But it requires a datfile and I don't see many datfiles being released along with the xml files.  When looking inside the xml file I do see that some have the crc data in them which makes me think that I should be able to somehow use that xml file to scan my roms and get everything matching 100%.  But not all xmls have that crc data in them and even if they did I have no idea how I can use that xml file to scan and/or rebuild my rom sets to match HyperSpin.

 

So now lets say I have the best xml with all my roms matching perfectly.  Now I want to have the media that goes with it.  I've used HyperSync before and it seems very convenient and easy.  However I have read that HyperSync takes database xml files from HyperList and if it does that it would overwrite the better one that I obtained from somewhere else.  I have been readin up on HyperBase Live but from what I understand that is still a beta and shouldn't be used on my official HyperSpin setup.  

 

I'm not a complete noob when it comes to all this but all the information is just so confusing to me and I don't know where to go to get the correct information.  If at the very least someone can tell me where to get the most up to date, best and/or official database xml files for each system and what I need to get those roms rebuilt with the best rom and renamed to match the database that would be a big help.  I could at least start getting all my roms set up correctly and then move on from there once that is done.  I just don't want to go through all the trouble of renaming and moving all my roms if I'm doing it wrong and feeling like I've done all this work for nothing.  Thanks in advance for your help.

[Clutz450]

Thank you for your reply.  I will check out those dev XMLs and post further questions about any issues those databases may have in their appropriate threads.  I don't know if you would know the answer to this but is there any reason why datfiles aren't released along with the xml databases?  I know you said clrmamepro is overkill but for those of us who already understand how to use it I feel like it would be very helpful to have.  Plus I just recently found and started reading up on RomVault which seems way easier to use but also needs datfiles to work.  Just an idea.  But at the very least I think the dev xmls and Don's Rename Roms app is where I will start and hope for the best.  Thanks.

 

By the way, I really appreciate how people in the community realized that the databases need work and has taken it upon themselves to fix it.  The dedication of this community is one of the main reasons why I keep coming back here to see how much progress has been made and see if maybe this will be the time I can have my perfect set up. 

[Clutz450]

I get that the xmls don't care about the specific dumps but for someone who is trying to build their own HyperSpin rom set based off of the xml, a dat that went along with it would be very helpful.  I could just use that dat to go through all of my roms and a majority (f not all) of the work would be done for me.  And for the few roms that it couldn't find because I didn't have the exact dump that they used then I could just either find the same one that I have in my set and manually rename it or see if I can find that exact dump.  Also, isn't most of these databases based off of the No-Intro sets anyway (I haven't done cd sets yet so I can't remember what those sets are based off of).  Again, not trying to change how you guys do business here.  I just think that a dat released along with the xml whenever updates are made would be a great idea.