Game description file location

mitu

@majorocd said in Game description file location:

It seems strange that they are in 2 different locations.
Is there a way to set them all to the same location?

It's not strange, it's just an alternate location. Having the gamelist.xml in the ROM folders allows you to copy the ROM folder from a system to another and transfer all the metadata. EmulationStation defaults to using one location, but if it finds a gamelist.xml in the system's folder, it will load that instead.

If you wish to keep then in the same place, then just move the gamelist.xml.

MajorOCD

@mitu

Thank you again!

I have all my game files (ROMs) on an external SSD.
How can I tell which ones are on the SSD and which ones are on the SD card?
I would like to have everything on the SSD so it is easy to transfer to another system.
Should I move them from "/home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists" to "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms" or vice-versa?
I would like to have everything on the SSD, so if I have to re-image the SD card, I won't have to re-scrape, etc.

mitu

How can I tell which ones are on the SSD and which ones are on the SD card?

Look it up in each folder/system and see where gamelist.xml is.

I would like to have everything on the SSD, so if I have to re-image the SD card, I won't have to re-scrape, etc.

Which scraper did you use ? Depending on the options used during scraping, the artwork (images/videos) might be on the sdcard, instead of the rom folders.

MajorOCD

@mitu

Which scraper did you use ? Depending on the options used during scraping, the artwork (images/videos) might be on the sdcard, instead of the rom folders.

I used the ones that come with RetroPie ( thegamesdb and screenscraper)
What options would affect where the files would go?
I think I got all the files moved to the SSD.
Is there anything else I should know to make sure all my data is saved on the external SSD and not on the SD card?

I would like to add that your input has always been very helpful in the past (and present) and I appreciate everything you do to help this forum.

mitu

@majorocd said in Game description file location:

I used the ones that come with RetroPie ( thegamesdb and screenscraper)

This means you've used only the EmulationStation's internal scraper.

What options would affect where the files would go?

This is an option for the external scrapers (Skyscraper or Scraper), if you haven't used them, then all artwork is saved in $HOME/.emulationstation/downloaded_images. See https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Scraper/#where-are-my-scraped-media-and-metadata-saved.

I think I got all the files moved to the SSD.

Moving just the gamelist.xml might not be enough, since the referenced media would still be in $HOME/.emulationstation/downloaded_images, which is still on the sdcard. They can be backed up from \\retropie\configs\all\emulationstation\downloaded_images.

MajorOCD

@mitu

"$HOME/.emulationstation/downloaded_images" doesn't seem to exist.
However "/home/pi/.emulationstation/downloaded_images" is there.
And it seems to have all the images in the respective system folders.

"/home/pi/RetroPie/configs" also does not seem to exist.
If I create "/home/pi/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/downloaded_images" and move all the data to this folder, would it work, or would I have to redirect it to this folder?

mitu

@majorocd said in Game description file location:

"$HOME/.emulationstation/downloaded_images" doesn't seem to exist.
However "/home/pi/.emulationstation/downloaded_images" is there.

$HOME is expanded automatically to /home/pi if you're using the command line, so they're the same.

"/home/pi/RetroPie/configs" also does not seem to exist.

That's normal, why it should be ? I didn't mention it.

If I create "/home/pi/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/downloaded_images" and move all the data to this folder, would it work, or would I have to redirect it to this folder?

No, it won't work, /home/pi/retropie/configs (Linux folder) is not the same as \\retropie\configs (file share). \\retropie\configs is a file share that shows the contents of /opt/retropie/configs.

MajorOCD

@mitu
So do you know if it is possible to move /opt/retropie/configs to the SSD?

MajorOCD

@mitu
By the way, I think I got confused because I didn't realize you were referencing samba shares.
For some reason, samba is not working on mine, so I am using WinSCP.

mitu

@majorocd said in Game description file location:

So do you know if it is possible to move /opt/retropie/configs to the SSD?

Not without a reinstall and without re-formatting the SSD to ext4.

If you wish to keep the artwork on the SSD, you'd have to either

copy the downloaded_images folder on the SSD and then make a symlink from $HOME/.emulationstation to it. When moving the SSD to a new system, you'd have to re-create the symlink there, so the downloaded_images points to the SSD folder.
move the downloaded_images folder on the SSD and adjust the paths in each gamelist.xml file to point to the new location. Useful if you don't want to add new games and/or scrape again.