[SOFT] New Scraper in the works

[Folly]

@kiro

Somehow my categories are not recognised by your script so I can't select them in the systems menu.
This is an example of such category from the es_systems.cfg :

<system>
  <name>shooter</name>
  <fullname>shooter</fullname>
  <path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/shooter</path>
  <extension>.cmd .zip .7z  .CMD .ZIP .7Z </extension>
  <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh 0 _SYS_ shooter %ROM%</command>
  <platform>shooter</platform>
  <theme>shooter</theme>
</system>

Indeed, changing it to <platform>arcade</platform> doesn't help also.

[kiro]

@Folly yes, it will not recognize such 'custom' categories...maybe I should think on way to imrpove this. As I said this should not matter if the checksums are found in the DB. Maybe I should think of an alternative here... Let me have a think this weekend

[Folly]

@kiro

If you can do all of that it would definitely be an improvement ;-)

[Folly]

@kiro

Hi,

Scanning on the arcade directory still gives me videos with the .png extension in the video directory, though some are good with .mp4.
I have .png files in the folders images and marquees, so that seems to be OK.

After this discovery I tried archimedes again.
This is good, no videos with .png extension.

So there still seems to be an issue with videos called .png in the videos directory for other systems.

[kiro]

@Folly thanks! The fact that there are still .PNG files in the video directory might be due to them still being there from previous scraps. Try using the "cleanmedia" option or --cleanmedia if running from command line. Let me know how it goes.

[Folly]

@kiro

I removed all files manually.
Now I am also using your retroscraper-rpie which does the same.
I am seeing the files being added in the file-explorer.
So definitely an issue.

I also noticed that there are many videos that will not display, sound on the other hand is played though.
Could it be that some codecs are missing ?
I tried some files in VLC and gave me black screen but sound is there.

[kiro]

@Folly thanks, I'll have a look when I'm back home on Monday, I might need to revalidate the videos. Will also check about the PNG thing, definitely strange.

[Folly]

@kiro

If I can implement the setup somehow in my script then your retroscraper-rpie would probably be easy enough to add in my script.
I will have to think about it some time.

[kiro]

@Folly thanks! I actually do have a script which is running (installation goes fine as well as execution) based on scraper.sh script. My only concern right now is that output is buffered, so it seems (only seems) as if the scraper freezes.
But thanks for the offer, definitely we can talk about doing something together.

[Folly]

@kiro

I just did atari7800, although it also has the .png video issue, all videos and pictures are good.
I must say if something is recognised then recognition seems to be perfect.
I do not see that with other scraper methods.
I also notice that the scraping is very fast, much faster that other scrape methods.
Really nice !!!

[Folly]

@kiro

For your information.
I am testing your retroscraper-rpie now in my Debian11-x86_64 in VMWARE.
Looks like the .png problem for videos doesn't occur there.
Also the gamelist.xml contain the correct naming for the videos (.mp4)
So this problem could be specific for the RPI/raspbian/raspbian version.

ALL video seem to be playing correctly in emulationstation in my VM, although, for some videos, emulationstation seems to give errors like this :

[src/libmpg123/layer3.c:2184] error: part2_3_length (1408) too large for available bit count (1368)

Could it be that some videos are not that compatible or have some corruption ?

[kiro]

@Folly hi, videos are being fixed as we speak, it will need some time. PNG issue should be independent from platform (after all is running the same code) let me know if you encounter this problem again.

[Folly]

@kiro

I just scraped some on my RPI4 with both scrapers (normal and rpie)

For archimedes all videos are named *.mp4, so for this system that's good and all videos seem to play now.
However I discovered a new problem.
The last 2 games that are recognised and for which media is downloaded are not added to the gamelist.xml.
I checked older gamelists and they also miss these.

For arcade(shooter category),arcade(pinball category) and atari7800 the .png problem still remains.
Here I also checked If something was missing in atari7800.
The last 4 games that are recognised and for which media is downloaded are not added to the gamelist.xml.
For arcade(shooter category) the last 3 games were missing.
For arcade(pinball category) the last 3 games were missing.

Edit :
For the system with videos named as .png for some videos only sound is available.

[kiro]

@Folly hi, thanks for the testing, can you give me a game name for the 7800 for which videos are downloaded as PNG? I cannot reproduce the issue.

Just for clarity, the games that are not in the gamelisy, have the proper extension? (Recognized one)? I'm sure yes but better be safe 🙂

[Folly]

@kiro

Do you need some sha1sums ?
Here is one :

sha1sum 'Choplifter (1987) (Atari).a78'
6457dd40aeadb9733602c4ad3498780ebd7bf0d1  Choplifter (1987) (Atari).a78

Looks like these games are missing :

'Water Ski (1988) (Froggo).a78'
'Winter Games (1987) (Atari) [!].a78'
'Xenophobe (1989) (Atari) [!].a78'
'Xevious (1987) (Atari).a78'

This is the output of my videos folder for atari7800 :

'3D Asteroids (1987) (Atari) (Prototype) [a1].png'
'3D Asteroids (1987) (Atari) (Prototype).png'
'Ace of Aces (1988) (Atari).png'
'Alien Brigade (1990) (Atari) (CC2 Hack).png'
'Alien Brigade (1990) (Atari) [!].png'
'Asteroids (1987) (Atari).png'
'Ballblazer (1987) (Atari-Lucasfilm).png'
'Barnyard Blaster (1988) (Atari) [!].png'
'Basketbrawl (1990) (Atari).png'
'Beef Drop 7800 (Oct 30-Rev 08) (2004) (CC2 Hack).png'
'Centipede (1987) (Atari).png'
'Choplifter (1987) (Atari).png'
'Commando (1989) (Atari).png'
'Crack'\''ed (1988) (Atari).png'
'Crossbow (1988) (Atari) (CC2 Hack).png'
'Crossbow (1988) (Atari).png'
'Dark Chambers (1988) (Atari).png'
'Desert Falcon (1987) (Atari).mp4'
'Desert Falcon (2004) (Atari) (HSC Hack) [a1].mp4'
'Desert Falcon (2004) (Atari) (HSC Hack).mp4'
'Dig Dug (1987) (Atari).png'
'Donkey Kong (1988) (Atari).png'
'Donkey Kong Jr (1988) (Atari).png'
'Double Dragon (1989) (Activision) [!].mp4'
'F-18 Hornet (1988) (Absolute) [!].mp4'
'Fatal Run (1990) (Atari).png'
'Fight Night (1988) (Atari).png'
'Food Fight (1987) (Atari).png'
'Galaga (1987) (Atari).png'
'Gato (198x) (Atari) (Prototype) [a1].mp4'
'Gato (198x) (Atari) (Prototype) [a2].mp4'
'Gato (198x) (Atari) (Prototype).mp4'
'Hat Trick (1987) (Atari).png'
'Ikari Warriors (1989) (Atari).png'
'Impossible Mission (1987) (Atari) [a1].mp4'
'Impossible Mission (1987) (Atari) [f1].mp4'
'Impossible Mission (1987) (Atari) [!].mp4'
'Jinks (1989) (Atari).png'
'Joust (1987) (Atari).png'
'Karateka (1987) (Atari).png'
'Klax (1992) (Atari) (Prototype) [a1].mp4'
'Klax (1992) (Atari) (Prototype) [f1].mp4'
'Klax (1992) (Atari) (Prototype).mp4'
'Klax (2004) (Impossible Level 1 Hack).mp4'
'Klax (2004) (Impossible Level 2 Hack).mp4'
'Klax (2004) (Impossible Level 3 Hack).mp4'
'Kung Fu Master (1989) (Absolute) [!].png'
'Mario Brothers (1988) (Atari).png'
'Mat Mania Challenge (1989) (Atari).png'
'Mean 18 Golf (1988) (Atari) [!].png'
'Meltdown (1990) (Atari).png'
'Midnight Mutants (1990) (Atari).png'
'Motor Psycho (1990) (Atari).png'
'Ms. Pac-Man (1987) (Atari).png'
'Ninja Golf (1990) (Atari).png'
'One-on-One Basketball (1987) (Atari).png'
'Pete Rose Baseball (1989) (Absolute) [!].png'
'Pit Fighter (1992) (Atari) (Prototype) [a1].png'
'Pit Fighter (1992) (Atari) (Prototype) [a2].png'
'Pit Fighter (1992) (Atari) (Prototype).png'
'Planet Smashers (1990) (Atari).png'
'Pole Position II (1987) (Atari).png'
'Rampage (1989) (Activision) [!].mp4'
'RealSports Baseball (1988) (Atari).png'
'Rescue on Fractalus (1984) (Atari) (Prototype) (CC2 Hack).png'
'Rescue on Fractalus (1984) (Atari) (Prototype).png'
'Robotron 2084 (1987) (Atari).png'
'Scrapyard Dog (1990) (Atari).png'
'Sentinel (1988) (Atari) [!].png'
'Summer Games (1987) (Atari) [!].png'
'Super Huey UH-IX (1989) (Atari).png'
'Super Skateboardin'\'' (1989) (Absolute) [!].png'
'Tank Command (1988) (Froggo) [!].png'
'Title Match Pro Wrestling (1989) (Absolute) [!].png'
'Tomcat - The F-14 (1989) (Absolute) [!].png'
'Touchdown Football (1988) (Atari).png'
'Tower Toppler (1988) (Atari) [!].png'
'Tubes (2004) (Bruce Tomlin).png'
'Tubes (Nov 3) (2004) (Bruce Tomlin).png'
'Tubes (Nov 3-Signed) (2004) (Bruce Tomlin).png'
'Water Ski (1988) (Froggo).png'
'Winter Games (1987) (Atari) [!].png'
'Xenophobe (1989) (Atari) [!].png'
'Xevious (1987) (Atari).png'

Edit :
The gamelist.xml contain the video filenames mentioned above.
*.png or *.mp4

[kiro]

@Folly thanks, very helpful, will have a look tomorrow.

[Folly]

@kiro

If I can I will test the same in my VMWARE tomorrow.
I suspect it will run fine in that VM.

[kiro]

@Folly if it works in the VM then I'm really lost🤣...the code is the same and it is getting the information from the same backend API...so there's no reason for it to behave differently

[Folly]

@kiro

Yes, one would think so.
Could it be some version issue for python3 ?

BTW.
I am fully updated on the pi4.

[Folly]

@kiro

Just tested atari7800 in my VM with retroscraper-rpie.
I see the same issues, so I replicated the problem here.
So that's basically a good thing.

I also noticed now that game-specific retroarch config files are generated in the roms directory while not using the option --bezel.
Adding the option --bezel will give the same results as without this option.
One would assume that a bezel folder is created containing the bezel images when adding this option.

In the VM the program doesn't always go back to the cli command prompt, after saying :
SCRAPPING ENDED --- Thank you for using retroscraper!!
(I have to press ctrl+c sometimes)

Multiple tries ended differently with the same romset :

Game : Tubes
Game : Tubes
Game : Tower Toppler
Game : Tubes
Game : Water Ski
Game : Xenophobe
SCRAPPING ENDED --- Thank you for using retroscraper!!

Game : Tubes
Game : Tubes
Game : Tubes
Game : Water Ski
Game : Winter Games
SCRAPPING ENDED --- Thank you for using retroscraper!!

To be secure I added the .local/bin path as it complained earlier with the setup.

pi@Bullseye-VM:~$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
pi@Bullseye-VM:~$ PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
pi@Bullseye-VM:~$ echo $PATH
/home/pi/.local/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games

Still the same results.