android BIG NEWS...Then END of renaming softlists

[sonkun]

On 6/23/2017 at 9:01 AM, brentg said:

Well as a little tester - I went down the hash file renaming route and they work fine( on RA in both windows and Android).  Not really a viable option as it would mean renaming of all graphics & videos within hyperspin.

Doesn't look like CMD is broken nothing reported anyways.  Plus I have tried most retroarch variants and still crashing.  CMD is still listed as accepted filetype in the latest mame git info screen too.

 

Are there a few android users out there with this working?  I would love to go this route so I can carry on with the "standardized" hyperspin graphics naming and xml's.

 

thanks

 

Brent

Your post just gave me a good idea, I actually have a few systems setup using the softlist method such as Atari 5200, SNK Neo Geo CD to name a few and right now I've recently been backing up stuff using the MEGA site which gives anyone that signs up free 50GB and I'm already uploading all my Hyperspin softlist media there. I've already been working on a project with thatman84 to rename a lot of these softlist systems and some have already been uploaded to the Hyperspin server but you have to be a paid member to access those folders. This method I'm doing now will allow anyone to get their hands on these folders after I upload them all and make a public link accessible for all to use which brings me to my next question. thatman84 would it be ok to post up a link? Maybe it can even be stickied or something after I'm done.

[thatman84]

@sonkun I don't have any authority around here to answer those questions maybe @agent47 could shine some light.

the stuff we don is actually on the EmuMovies FTP.....I doubt it's to big an issue because it's such a pain for android users although I guess the "official" chain of command would like it to stay within their remit but they may overlook it as it's such an android pita.

so long as there are NO games in your link

[sonkun]

34 minutes ago, thatman84 said:

@sonkun I don't have any authority around here to answer those questions maybe @agent47 could shine some light.

the stuff we don is actually on the EmuMovies FTP.....I doubt it's to big an issue because it's such a pain for android users although I guess the "official" chain of command would like it to stay within their remit but they may overlook it as it's such an android pita.

so long as there are NO games in your link

That's right it's the EmuMovies FTP, been a while and yes there's absolutely zero roms included, only the media files. I'll pm you a link so you can check everything out first.

[thatman84]

31 minutes ago, agent47 said:

Let me preface this by saying I have no knowledge about the official handling of file storage here.

Not really sure why you would need permission as long as it's just media. Generally mega/dropbox/etc links are discouraged because they will eventually go down and the uploaders disappear turning it in to another one of the many "please reupload", "where can I get these" threads which already exist. But, since it's not new content it would be a waste of space to upload them here or on EM so in this case an external link may be preferred. Especially since apparently storage/bandwidth is now an issue around here.

I still think the better way to go about this project would be to create map files that could be utilized by 3rd party apps, EM, or frontend sync apps directly like I mentioned when you first started this. Otherwise you're wasting space hosting duplicate media no matter where you host it, but that's up to you.

I guess it sounds simple with the remap files.....but still lost on me. Circo was cool with the files being on the FTP. 

I now have the cmd batch file creator you helped with so does the job for me so i am cool. Although not many people seem to have any luck with that method

[sonkun]

41 minutes ago, agent47 said:

Let me preface this by saying I have no knowledge about the official handling of file storage here.

Not really sure why you would need permission as long as it's just media. Generally mega/dropbox/etc links are discouraged because they will eventually go down and the uploaders disappear turning it in to another one of the many "please reupload", "where can I get these" threads which already exist. But, since it's not new content it would be a waste of space to upload them here or on EM so in this case an external link may be preferred. Especially since apparently storage/bandwidth is now an issue around here.

I still think the better way to go about this project would be to create map files that could be utilized by 3rd party apps, EM, or frontend sync apps directly like I mentioned when you first started this. Otherwise you're wasting space hosting duplicate media no matter where you host it, but that's up to you.

Like that thatman84 said I am also lost on this method, shouldn't be hard to learn though. As far as posting a link and it expiring I believe that will not be the case in this case, as I've created a personal account on MEGA so the link that I have in mind would be from my personal MEGA Cloud Drive. I'm still fairly new on using that site but I believe as long as you have an account with them and never cancel it, any and all links a user posts anywhere should work indefinitely.  I think the only time a link expires is when someone uploads something there as a non member.

[sanchezmike01]

Renaming is a major pain in the ass but that's how I've always done it...the worst are systems with over 100 games which I had 2 rename...currently renaming tomy tutor...lolz...I tried the cmd files and like others it didnt work for me and  I have a copy of every core for android and have tried with damn near every recent mame core

[simmousm]

I'm also running into problems with Atari 5200 on my Nvidia Shield TV (2017) using the cmd file method.

I have the following folder structure for my roms:

Hyperspin
- Roms
  - Amstrad GX4000
    - CmdFiles
  - Atari 5200
    - CmdFiles

In Atari 5200.ini:

[exe info]
path=
rompath=/sdcard/Hyperspin/Roms/Atari 5200/CmdFiles
userompath=true
exe=com.retroarch/com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture
romextension=cmd
parameters=cores/mame_libretro_android.so
searchsubfolders=true
pcgame=false
winstate=HIDDEN
hyperlaunch=true

In the /sdcard/Hyperspin/Roms/Atari 5200/CmdFiles I have my .cmd files set up as follows:

a5200 -cart "/sdcard/Hyperspin/Roms/Atari 5200/Activision Decathlon, The (USA).a52"

When I try and launch an Atari 5200 game from HyperSpin I get the RetroArch stopped error. I also have a similar setup for Amstrad GX4000 which works perfectly. The difference is that Amstrad GX4000 doesn't require a bios file but Atari 5200 does. This leads me to believe that the error is something to do with loading the bios file. 

I have tried putting a5200.zip in my Atari 5200 roms folder, in the CmdFiles folder under it, in my Retroarch system/mame/roms folder, in an a5200 folder under that. I have also tried with and without mame.ini files. I'm pretty sure the a5200.zip file is ok because I've tested it with mame64.exe on my laptop and it seems to work fine there.

I've even tried connecting to my Shield using adb and running logcat to see if I can spot anything in the trace, but it doesn't show anything useful.

In order to get this method working do I need anything in RetroArch/system/mame/mame.ini or a file in the RetroArch/system/mame/ini folder? I feel I'm missing out something obvious but I can't figure out what. Could someone who has the cmd file method please share the contents of their system/mame folder so I can check if anything is missing from there?

 

[simmousm]

Finally got Atari 5200 working with cmd files...

Since I had Amstrad GX4000 set up, I was able to get into the MAME core options within RetroArch. There I needed to switch on the "Read Configuration" setting.

I then needed an a5200.ini file in my RetroArch/system/mame/ini folder with the rompath set to the directory containing my a5200.zip file. In my case this was  /sdcard/Hyperspin/Roms/Atari 5200.

So, it seems that the "secret sauce" to get cmd files working is to switch on the "Read Configuration" core option, and have a system-specific ini file pointing at the folder where the bios zip file can be found.

[thatman84]

Um im sure i tested it by deleting my a5200.ini....i tried it so many ways i must oc lost track

Awesome you sorted it...

Tfanks for posting back with the fix

[simmousm]

I think I'm going to go down the renaming route after all. I'm finding that a lot of Atari 5200 games aren't working with the cmd file method.

The issue seems to be related to differences in the a5200.xml hash file. The games that work have this data:

<feature name="slot" value="a5200" />

The games work that don't have this:

<feature name="slot" value="a5200_2chips" />

I can't figure out how to pass this on the command line, so I think it's better to rename the files so that they can pick up the data they need from the MAME softlist.

I'm a software developer so it shouldn't be too hard to write an application that will take a HyperSpin XML file, a MAME softlist, a set of ROMs and related artwork and do the renaming automatically. In cases where both XML files have CRC values it should be possible to use that to automatically map the names, otherwise it can use fuzzy matching on the descriptions to do the mapping. Once the mapping has been set up it will then be easy enough to rename the ROMs, artwork and output a modified HyperSpin XML file. Once I have a working application I'll see about getting it uploaded to the "ROM/Database/Renaming tools" section of the download area to share it with the community here.

[thatman84]

Yeah i have not properly tested because its out of my relms. Making a renaming app or learning all the mame commands for every mess system is to much for me

Was kinda hoping someone would drop in with a renaming app.

If you get one working that would be awesome

 

Fyi there are a bunch of renamed sets on the emumovies ftp and @sonkun may give you a link to his ones he has on mega

[thatman84]

7 hours ago, simmousm said:

I think I'm going to go down the renaming route after all. I'm finding that a lot of Atari 5200 games aren't working with the cmd file method.

The issue seems to be related to differences in the a5200.xml hash file. The games that work have this data:

<feature name="slot" value="a5200" />

The games work that don't have this:

<feature name="slot" value="a5200_2chips" />

I can't figure out how to pass this on the command line, so I think it's better to rename the files so that they can pick up the data they need from the MAME softlist.

I'm a software developer so it shouldn't be too hard to write an application that will take a HyperSpin XML file, a MAME softlist, a set of ROMs and related artwork and do the renaming automatically. In cases where both XML files have CRC values it should be possible to use that to automatically map the names, otherwise it can use fuzzy matching on the descriptions to do the mapping. Once the mapping has been set up it will then be easy enough to rename the ROMs, artwork and output a modified HyperSpin XML file. Once I have a working application I'll see about getting it uploaded to the "ROM/Database/Renaming tools" section of the download area to share it with the community here.

So i was testing this again on PC and to get the games to launch you require the hash a5200.xml and also the a5200.hsi file in your hash folder in this location

Retroarch/system/mame/hash

I will test it on the shield soon

 

Edit

Launching all games to title screen except black screens on these

Bounty bob sttikes back

Frisky Tom

Joust

Star wars the arcade game

Star wars return of the jedi (crash)

Out of 88 cmd files and games.

Using the a5200.ini and plain cmd file.

Found out you can also skip the mame/5200 ini files by adding the path to your a5200.zip bios file in the cmd file.

Add 

-rp "/path/to/bios"

To the end of the cmd file, replacing my above example for your specific path

[simmousm]

I was finding that games with the "a5200_2chips" attribute would display the initial Atari logo but then go to a black screen after that. I didn't have the a5200.xml/a5200.hsi files in place though.

I've been working on the renaming app over the weekend and I'm not too far away now, just need to do some more testing on it so hopefully I'll be in a position to get it uploaded soon.

[simmousm]

I've done some more testing of the renaming app and I'm happy enough to release it. So far I've used it to rename both my Amstrad GX400 and Atari 5200 ROMs and artwork and everything seems to be working as expected. You can find the application here:

 

[brentg]

I am so on the fence here guys.

I started out on the renaming route but like you have ran into difficulties on some of the extra "tags" required - Acorn Atom for example needs different ramsize setup - Sord M5 behaves incorrectly using just standard -cart and a5200 issues to name a few.  I think the CMD route would only work if one size fits all, but if its needed to modify (like I am doing from time to time) each CMD to be game specific then it would be quicker going softlist route.  I am looking forward to trying out your renamer simmousm to see if it makes my mind up

 

Multi disk games are an issue for me so hoping the renamer picks up the multi disks and renames accordingly.

 

Brent

[brentg]

Ok simmousm - tried renamer and worked brilliantly on single disk games but fell over for me on multiple disks.

It zipped and renamed the fist disk in series but errored as already existed for the remaining ones

It needs to be able to collate the disk 2,3,4 or side A,B etc into the singular zip with the softlist name - example below from apple2gs

	<software name="crylmsn2">
		<description>The Cryllan Mission 2088 - The Second Scenario</description>
		<year>1990</year>
		<publisher>Victory Software</publisher>

		<part name="flop1" interface="floppy_3_5">
			<dataarea name="flop" size="819264">
				<rom name="cryllan mission 2088 - the second scenario, the (1990)(victory software)(disk 1 of 3)(program).2mg" size="819264" crc="60dfaab9" sha1="2a092c62e646fb0d4c95aa3ed447974466c5b11e" offset="0x0000" />
			</dataarea>
		</part>
		<part name="flop2" interface="floppy_3_5">
			<dataarea name="flop" size="819264">
				<rom name="cryllan mission 2088 - the second scenario, the (1990)(victory software)(disk 2 of 3)(system).2mg" size="819264" crc="d91daec2" sha1="fe74fe350e8e24720b17213e37b75af48c47ce58" offset="0x0000" />
			</dataarea>
		</part>
		<part name="flop3" interface="floppy_3_5">
			<dataarea name="flop" size="819264">
				<rom name="cryllan mission 2088 - the second scenario, the (1990)(victory software)(disk 3 of 3)(outdoor).2mg" size="819264" crc="9e1169d6" sha1="93d9a0c808d4d37ab5704325f66370bf22600374" offset="0x0000" />
			</dataarea>
		</part>
	</software>

 

But the single rom sets and artwork all flew thru - i disabled the final crc check against mame when it renamed otherwise it failed on all

Let me know if you want any more information or anything to test and i will happily oblige

 

Brent

 

[simmousm]

Thanks for the info Brent. It's currently only reading the <software> element and the first <rom> element. It shouldn't be too hard to get it to support multiple <rom> elements. For the mapping purposes I'd probably still read this as a flat list so it can be easily mapped to HyperSpin, but change the display name so that the MapTo column would show something like "The Cryllan Mission 2088 - The Second Scenario #1",  "The Cryllan Mission 2088 - The Second Scenario #2" etc. where multiple roms for a software item exist.

The ROM copying will need to be a little smarter too - it currently just creates a zip file using the MAME short name and the rom name for the file inside it. What it will need to to is check if a zip file exists and if it does add the ROM to it rather than trying to create the zip file again.

I think I have enough info to look into this so it shouldn't be too hard for me to look into providing a fix for this.

[sanchezmike01]

5 hours ago, brentg said:

I am so on the fence here guys.

I started out on the renaming route but like you have ran into difficulties on some of the extra "tags" required - Acorn Atom for example needs different ramsize setup - Sord M5 behaves incorrectly using just standard -cart and a5200 issues to name a few.  I think the CMD route would only work if one size fits all, but if its needed to modify (like I am doing from time to time) each CMD to be game specific then it would be quicker going softlist route.  I am looking forward to trying out your renamer simmousm to see if it makes my mind up

 

Multi disk games are an issue for me so hoping the renamer picks up the multi disks and renames accordingly.

 

Brent

What issues are u having with Sord M5?....theres only a handful of games and they all load and play good

[simmousm]

New update to the renamer app posted. It will now handle multi-disk sets.

When a MAME software item has multiple <rom> elements these will be shown on the mapping tab as "Game Name #1" "Game Name #2" etc. so you can select the correct file. During renaming it now handles storing multiple ROM files per zip file.

Since MAME puts the disk numbers in brackets e.g. (disk 1 of 3) it means that currently these are seen as ROM tags and are ignored in the fuzzy name mapping. This means that you won't get an exact match and the top match in the MapTo drop-down might not the disk you'd expect. The fuzzy name matching currently just strips out anything in either round or square brackets. Maybe it needs to leave in any tags starting with "disk" so that they'll match up better.

[brentg]

Just as another observation on testing.....

My A5200 collection renames all files to correct zip but also renames from the a52 extension to bin within the zip

 

I will also download and try your latest update simmousm - thanks for that

 

Brent

[brentg]

10 hours ago, sanchezmike01 said:

What issues are u having with Sord M5?....theres only a handful of games and they all load and play good

On the Sord M5 - i get it working using softlists, but for me when i try CMD files i got....

RetroArch [libretro ERROR] :: parse path failed! path=/storage/5ACA0207CA01E05D/mamecmd/Sord M5/.
RetroArch [libretro INFO] :: Game name: m5, Game description: m.5 (Japan)
Error: unknown option: -cart

The System says it supports the following format

Media devices

cassette ("cassette") cassette     cass              wav, cas

cartridge ("cartslot") cartridge    cart              bin, rom

 

All files are in bin format - so thats where i stopped

[sanchezmike01]

Sounds like a path issue...do u use cmd for other systems?

[simmousm]

11 hours ago, brentg said:

Just as another observation on testing.....

My A5200 collection renames all files to correct zip but also renames from the a52 extension to bin within the zip

 

I will also download and try your latest update simmousm - thanks for that

 

Brent

The a5200.xml file specifies filenames with a .bin extension so that's the name it uses when it adds the file to the zip. It will use the name from the <software> element for the name of the zip file and the name from the <rom> element for the names of the files contained within.

[thatman84]

I believe .a52 are .bin in disguise anyway so you should not have any problems changing that extension. I have come across a few posts where certain extensions can be swapped out with no ill effects. Just cant remeber the details

[simmousm]

They do seem to be interchangeable in the case of Atari 5200 files. I started off with .a52 files and they still passed the CRC checks and worked perfectly in the MAME core after being renamed to .bin and zipped up.