Looking for help with Don's Hyperlist Generator

[thegh0st81]

I'm using Don's Hyperlist Generator and when I select MAME for the wheel and put in the MAME.xml from hyperlist, it gives the generate button and I can hit that then scan and then of course filter for duplicates etc... when I try NES for example, using the NES xml downloaded from here, or any other system aside from MAME, it doesn't give that generate button, only the scan button.  When I hit scan, it doesn't let me filter what I want.  For example, if I select YES for GAME, the list gets emptied.

[thegh0st81]

figured out part of the problem but still having issues:

I can scan the games but it only shows 16 NES games as having themes, even though I have successfully used hypersync to add themes to practically all of them.  If I'm in hyperspin I can go to NES and see hundreds of themed games.  But when I go to the list, and put YES for 'Theme' it only lists 16.

[wesfranks]

I'm using Don's Hyperlist Generator and when I select MAME for the wheel and put in the MAME.xml from hyperlist, it gives the generate button and I can hit that then scan and then of course filter for duplicates etc... when I try NES for example, using the NES xml downloaded from here, or any other system aside from MAME, it doesn't give that generate button, only the scan button.  When I hit scan, it doesn't let me filter what I want.  For example, if I select YES for GAME, the list gets emptied.

Welcome gh0st81, let me try to answer your questions. By the way, creepy pic dude.

I see from your second post that you are making some headway with your issue and moved on to a second topic, but just in case I can clarify something, I'll reply as if you were still stuck with the problem in the first post.

Don's Hyperlist Generator- MAME: Don's HyperTools are closely tied in with your HyperSpin install as you can see in the "INI settings" of the List Generator. Since it knows what files HyperSpin has access to, it can also access that information in this case to filter and then export a MAME xml. The information contained in the "HyperSpin Source XML" is needed for exporting a properly formatted HyperSpin XML with all the metadata that HyperSpin uses both in the background (global clone exclusion) and in the per rom theme presentation (information in the lower left corner) depending on your HS settings. If you view any HyperSpin XML in a text editor, you will see a standard set of metadata for each rom. But to filter a list of roms, Don's gives you a lot more options. This is where the "Generate" button comes into play.

When you hit "Generate", Don's Tools calls on your mame.exe to create a mamelist.xml file. The information in this file is much more extensive and contains information, most of which is only useful to MAME devs and people smarter than me. But it also contains information such as genre, manufacturer, ratings and controls that is useful for paring your HyperSpin MAME.xml to game types that you would want to be on your setup. But first, the most important filter is- what roms are in your roms folder, in this case MAME. You do not want games listed in your XML and ,therefore, on your MAME wheel that you do not have. That is what the "Scan" button does- presents a table with only your available roms and tabbed at the top with the additional options provided by the mamelist.xml for each rom. For my "Scan" results, the default option is "Don't Add" in the export column. Time to add some roms. BTW- I borrowed this method from another HS user.

Since MAME begins with over 8000 roms, the most efficient method is to begin from a fully populated list with all games listed and then search for mamelist.xml attributes that you do not want and exclude games globally in groups. Keyboard shortcut CTRL-a selects all files--->mouse right click- and "add selected to output list". This selects all the games in the table and adds them (initially) to your output list. But we are not done. For my "arcade" setup I have a two player control panel, dedicated 4-way joystick, spinner, and trackball- no paddle or positional  <Controls> joysticks. I don't want- clones<radio select button>, mahjong, fruit, trivia, quiz, bootleg, proto, casino, gambling, or playchoice <Description>. Also, while exposing Samantha Fox in a rousing game of Breakout is "titillating", my young nephew has access so I also filter- sex <Description> and also- sex <Ratings>. Exclude- 3 to 20 <Players>. In the Search pane to the left of the games table, I enter each word individually in the search field that I have listed and bracketed "< >" here. The games which fall under the search parameter typed in, remains listed in the table. I then CTRL-a to select all remaining---->mouse right click and "remove selected from all list (Don't Add)". This, of course removes the selected games from your output list. Clear the search field and move on to the next word for games I do not want- select all and remove selected from the output list. A final exclusion is- preliminary <Emulation> which is code for games that do not currently work. I do have a list of a few "clones to keep" and Playchoice that I then go back and add individually. After a final look at the games in the Export----->Output List column, I click the "Export Output List" button which creates the XML to be saved and placed in Database/MAME folder for use in HyperSpin. That's it.

As to the lack of the "Generate" button in NES or other console systems, as you have probably guessed by now, it's a MAME thing. MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) covers machines with highly varied electronic hardware, control/button schemes and other variables. It takes a mamelist.xml to keep track of them all.

 

 

OK, long-winded as usual. But I had to say all that to say this (I hate it when someone says that to me)- there is an easier way. It is admirable that you are tackling Don's HyperTools, but it does have its limits and with some tools can hose your romsets. So if you insist, always have backups of your original XMLs and especially your roms. Also, to add new roms to your XML you will have to repeat this process every time MAME updates. If you want to go the easy route since you are Platinum and have access to the FTP, use Brolly's filtered list (vanilla MAME, I believe) or Jumpstile's (compiled MAMEUIFX and filtered XMLs), updated for each version of MAME. To globally filter MAME clones, in your HyperSpin folder HyperHQ.exe---->Wheel Settings (tab)---->"Choose A Wheel" (dropdown menu)- select MAME---->Navigation/Themes (tab), Wheel Filters- select "Parents Only".

[wesfranks]

figured out part of the problem but still having issues:

I can scan the games but it only shows 16 NES games as having themes, even though I have successfully used hypersync to add themes to practically all of them.  If I'm in hyperspin I can go to NES and see hundreds of themed games.  But when I go to the list, and put YES for 'Theme' it only lists 16.

To my knowledge, HyperSync currently only syncs 16 NES themes.

 

Just for grins, you can navigate to your "HyperSpin/Media/NES (your foldername)/Themes" folder. Mine has 16 unique themes for specific NES games. It also contains a 17th "default" theme. The default NES system theme has a background, system name logo and video border. When you are browsing your NES wheel in HyperSpin, those global assets in the default theme blends with unique cartridge, box art, and video so that it presents as a different per game theme. But when you filter by theme, it only shows 16 games.

 

That being said, guaranteed there are more than 16 NES game themes. Maybe even the entire set. They have just not been approved and released yet. With all of the changes going on around here, it's just a matter of time.

[thegh0st81]

To my knowledge, HyperSync currently only syncs 16 NES themes.

 

Just for grins, you can navigate to your "HyperSpin/Media/NES (your foldername)/Themes" folder. Mine has 16 unique themes for specific NES games. It also contains a 17th "default" theme. The default NES system theme has a background, system name logo and video border. When you are browsing your NES wheel in HyperSpin, those global assets in the default theme blends with unique cartridge, box art, and video so that it presents as a different per game theme. But when you filter by theme, it only shows 16 games.

 

That being said, guaranteed there are more than 16 NES game themes. Maybe even the entire set. They have just not been approved and released yet. With all of the changes going on around here, it's just a matter of time.

 

 

 

Thank you for the incredibly helpful responses.  So is there no easy way to filter out games that don't have themes?  I don't like that most of my games look all fancy when scrolling through the wheel then you come across some games that have the default font.  Atari 2600 is especially bad (wtf is up with only a fraction of the games having themes?  Thought the 2600 was popular!)