hiding bios file.

movisman

Hi,

I was trying to hide this also, but did not have any luck (I did not wish to merge the BIOS files into each zip), however I was able to send the BIOS file to the bottom of the gamelist by using some special characters which places it after Z.

For example this is what I added to my gamelist.xml for Arcade:

<game>
	<path>./neogeo.zip</path>
	<name>Ω Neo Geo BIOS File - Do Not Run Ω</name>
	<image>/home/pi/.emulationstation/downloaded_images/arcade/neogeo-image.png</image>
</game>

I downloaded a nice NeoGeo BIOS logo, and stuck Omega signs either side of the friendly name to send it to the bottom. There are plenty of other characters you can use if you want something else, they are easily found on the web. You don't need characters at the end, just the beginning. I just chose to do it this way.

Not a solution, but a workaround which is fine for me and is better than having it stuck in the middle of the gamelist with no logo.

BenWlson

I haven't tried this, but you could try renaming all your rom files from *.zip to *.ZIP, and then tell EmulationStation to only show *.ZIP files in es_systems.cfg. Then it should ignore the lowercase neogeo.zip.

chatjack

I found a solution for Windows. Should work with a shellscript in a similar way on linux. I moved the bios file outside the roms-folder and wrote a batch file, that copies the bios file into the rom-folder before starting and deletes it after quit.

@echo off
copy C:\Users\Gaming\.emulationstation\roms\neogeo.zip C:\Users\Gaming\.emulationstation\roms\neogeo\
C:\Users\Gaming\.emulationstation\systems\retroarch\retroarch.exe -f -L C:\Users\Gaming\.emulationstation\systems\retroarch\cores\fbalpha_libretro.dll %1
del C:\Users\Gaming\.emulationstation\roms\neogeo\neogeo.zip

The entry in the es_systems.cfg looks like this.

<system>
	<name>neogeo</name>
	<fullname>Neo Geo</fullname>
<path>C:\Users\Gaming\.emulationstation\roms\neogeo</path>
	<extension>.ngc .zip</extension>
	<command>C:\Users\Gaming\.emulationstation\neogeo.bat "%ROM_RAW%"</command>
	<platform>neogeo</platform>
	<theme>neogeo</theme>     
</system>

Hope that helps.

Melvin.FoX

I just put the files from neogeo.zip to every NeoGeo game. That's maybe not the most elegant way to manage this issue but definitely it's easiest.
Just take all files from neogeo.zip and just copy them to every neogeo bios game. Remember to use proper romset :)

hooperre

@BenWlson Has this been attempted? Seems like a fairly permanent work around.

Melvin.FoX

@hooperre as it runs linux then it should :) linux is case sensitive in matter of managing files.

hooperre

@Melvin.FoX Right. It seems like a simple fix.

Conversely, if you changed neogeo.zip to .ZIP the bios wouldn't be recognized, correct? A shame, because that would save the hassle of changing future files and allow making a one time only change.

Would I be able to use this to ignore unwanted dosbox files? Ie. Can I just have dosbox recognize .exe files, change unwanted files to .EXE and have them run appropriately in dosbox if they're only called in dosbox? Or should I just remove .exe all together and create .sh files for each program?

Melvin.FoX

@hooperre I am pretty sure that mame will handle all the files but I am not sure if you shouldn't do it other way. I mean to name all games as .ZIP because you run it with script where %ROM% is replaced with proper name while bios files are searched for .zio but that's only theoretical.
I am really into that simple solution :) You will just make few moves with copying that files and that's all.
Have you tried to unpack wll the files and put it in roms folder loose (unpacked)?

meleu

@chatjack said in hiding bios file.:

I found a solution for Windows. Should work with a shellscript in a similar way on linux. I moved the bios file outside the roms-folder and wrote a batch file, that copies the bios file into the rom-folder before starting and deletes it after quit.

@echo off
copy C:\Users\Gaming.emulationstation\roms\neogeo.zip C:\Users\Gaming.emulationstation\roms\neogeo
C:\Users\Gaming.emulationstation\systems\retroarch\retroarch.exe -f -L C:\Users\Gaming.emulationstation\systems\retroarch\cores\fbalpha_libretro.dll %1
del C:\Users\Gaming.emulationstation\roms\neogeo\neogeo.zip

The entry in the es_systems.cfg looks like this.

<system>
<name>neogeo</name>
<fullname>Neo Geo</fullname>
<path>C:\Users\Gaming.emulationstation\roms\neogeo</path>
<extension>.ngc .zip</extension>
<command>C:\Users\Gaming.emulationstation\neogeo.bat "%ROM_RAW%"</command>
<platform>neogeo</platform>
<theme>neogeo</theme>
</system>

Hope that helps.

You can do it even simpler using runcommand-onstart.sh. ;-)

Nismo

I have my romset in 7z and the bios files in zip, then deleted .zip from es_systems.cfg.

That's all.

Melvin.FoX

@meleu that's also some option. In linux it would be like:

sudo cp /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/neogeo.zip /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/emulator_name/neogeo.zip
emulator run script
sudo rm /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/emulator_name/neogeo.zip

Capeman

Find the es_settings.cfg file in the opt/retropie/configs/emulationstation folder (or close by, Im not sure of the exact structure off the top of my head)

Open it and adjust the setting:
gamelist-only = "false"
to TRUE

This will show ONLY games that have been previously played or scraped in emulation station. Any game that has not been scraped will be hidden. Just make sure your scraping is complete, then go into your gamelist.xml file and delete the entry for neo-geo.zip or the syscard for pce and they will disappear.

ONLY USE THIS IF YOU HAVE SCRAPED EVERY SYSTEM. This is emulation station wide, any game that does not have meta data in the gamelist.xml for that system will disappear, even if they are in the games folder.

Melvin.FoX

A lot of good solutions comes on the forum. It's a shame that apart from the wiki there is nothing like a knowledge base that You can dig thru finding solutions (so good answers will be marked as connected to a topic).

meleu

@Capeman said in hiding bios file.:

Open it and adjust the setting:
gamelist-only = "false"
to TRUE

You cand do it through the emulationstation main menu. The option is called "parse gamelists only".

MeltedCactus

@meleu I've wanted to hide the neogeo.zip file from my game list as well and I've found a pretty simple solution. While it isn't perfect, it is easy. Within emulationstation, select the neogeo.zip file and choose to edit this games metadata. Once in there, just delete the name. The file will still be in there, but it will now "disappear" from the list. You will still be able to chose it from within emulationstation, but it will show as if nothing is highlighted. This is the simplest solution I have found.

Swagman89

@Melvin-FoX Feel free to add any of these solutions to the wiki yourselves! It's easily editable by anyone!

Capeman

@MeltedCactus Where does it fall on the alphabetical order list? does it stay in N or does it shoot to the top or bottom?

MeltedCactus

@Capeman It shoots to the top.

nitrofurano

@nismo said in hiding bios file.:

I have my romset in 7z and the bios files in zip, then deleted .zip from es_systems.cfg.
That's all.

and what about the reverse thing, having all bios in .7z instead, and keeping all roms in .zip? ;)

lostless

Hey all, Ive found the easiest solution to this issue. Just unzip the neogeo.zip file and put the now neogeo folder into your Neo Geo games folder. since none of the files in the bios are .zip, the whole folder is hidden. The bios doesn't have to be zipped up.