Making premade gamelist.xml with xtra media collections

Used2BeRX

@meleu Hey meleu. Did you say that the script is set to look for CUE files when doing CD systems like Sega CD, Turbografx CD and PSX?

I just discovered that the Pi Zero amazingly seems to play Sega CD games perfectly (at least the few that I tried). There is no way I could fit them all on the small SD card I had, but I'm going to copy over a bunch of txt files that are renamed to the exact CD/synopsis names I have with a .CUE extension and run your script to get the gamelist.xml entries and the path and box front info in them.

Then I was going to put a few games on there at a time and test out that they're all working right. :)

Used2BeRX

@Used2BeRX Wow.... I don't believe it, but every single game for both the SegaCD and the TurboGrafx CD that I've tried works just fine on a Pi Zero! I've had this thing for months and didn't even bother testing either of those systems. Mainly because I didn't have the proper images (mine were ISO/MP3/CUE).

Also, since the Pi Zero struggles with NES and SNES emulation unless you're using quicknes and pisnes, I didn't think there was any way that a 500MB+ CD based game was going to have a chance on this system.

So... Once I get everything properly renamed, here's what I'm going to do....

I'm going to copy all of the CUE sheets to a mirrored folder layout.
I'm going to copy these mirrored layouts to the proper place that the folder synopsis TXT files are assuming the games will be.
If the script is set up right and it will look for .CUE files on SegaCD and Turbo Grafx CD, the gamelist.xml should add all of these games even if the BIN or ISO is not there.
Then I'll be able to do groups of games to test to make sure they're all working.

As far as I know, there is no compatibility spreadsheet for the Pi Zero and Sega CD/TurboGrafx CD.... correct guys?

Let me know if you're interested. I'll make sure the spreadsheet doesn't have anything linking to any roms or anything like that on it. I copy and pasted this stuff from an old spreadsheet of ours from about a decade ago, so there may be some identifying things in there that I will make sure to remove before giving this to you.

I'd say if a game is marked as working on the Pi Zero that there shouldn't be any problems with it on any Pi that's more powerful. :)

meleu

@Used2BeRX please, consider learning the basics of github and then create a repository for your synopsis text files there. I think it would be useful for the community (and would make me recover the will to work on that script :) ).

Used2BeRX

@meleu How would they be useful to the community by themselves?

I'm not arguing the point, I'm just curious where you're going with that, and why that would make you recover the will to work on the script :)

EDIT: Knowing what you have in mind would also help me plan a way to present the information. I don't have any idea what you think could be done with these files alone, so if you let me know what you're thinking I could plan it better than just throwing everything up haphazardly.

Used2BeRX

@meleu Hey meleu.

I did what I said I was going to do and after naming everything correctly to match the synopsis and artwork, I uploaded all of the .CUE files to the Pi Zero for both the TurboGrafx CD and the Sega CD.

PC Engine/Turbo CD works perfectly! 100% match on the first try without having to edit any of the synopsis files. :)

But the Sega CD didn't find any of the .CUE files. (It did find the artwork though).

I was wondering if you forgot to add .CUE file search to segacd or possibly you added that code to the genesis/megadrive by mistake??

meleu

@Used2BeRX I'm away from my main computer (where I have the synopsis.txt), but the searching for .cue happens if the Media: CD in the text files, no matter what is in the Platform: field.

Can you check if your segacd synopsis files have Media: CD?

By the way, this is the line of code responsible for that:
https://github.com/meleu/used2betxt/blob/master/Used2BeTXT.sh#L183

Used2BeRX

@meleu Ahhh. I see. Is there a way I can temporarily alter that real quick?

I just checked both the Sega CD and the PSX synopsis files and, of course, they have Media: Compact Disc.

I was wondering if I could do a quick alteration to include both CD or Compact Disc until you get a chance to put it in your official script so when I make an update in the future it's still in there.

BTW... you didn't answer my question about what you were thinking with the synopsis files on github. I still have some alterations I want to make before I would put them up there, but I wanted to know what your plans would be with them.

Now that I know your script doesn't make case sensitivity an issue anymore like MetaX did, I am getting tired of looking at everything on my end IN ALL CAPS!!!!! :)

I'm going to take a day or so to Bulk Rename everything to CaMeL CaSe, re-upload everything to the pi and re-run the script for all of the systems. So I wouldn't even think about uploading the synopsis files until I do that first.

meleu

@Used2BeRX said in Making premade gamelist.xml with xtra media collections:

@meleu How would they be useful to the community by themselves?

I thought that those files (that Xtras stuff) from the XBox community were popular, then I thought it would be useful for those guys who are willing to migrate to RetroPie. But TBH I have no idea how popular it is.

why that would make you recover the will to work on the script :)

Because it would benefit the community. :)

EDIT: Knowing what you have in mind would also help me plan a way to present the information.

Well, to be honest I don't have a clear idea of what to do next. I have some ideas, but not a clear one.

Anyway, having those files easily available on github (and not those obscure mega/sendspace links) would increase the chance to involve people to do something with that info.

What I found most valuable in your files was the synopses for hacks and homebrews, maybe those descriptions should be submitted to some of the popular databases.

Used2BeRX

@meleu I literally replied to you about 3 seconds before you replied. I did talk about what you just talked about, as well as had a question regarding the script. :)

meleu

@Used2BeRX said in Making premade gamelist.xml with xtra media collections:

I was wondering if I could do a quick alteration to include both CD or Compact Disc until you get a chance to put it in your official script so when I make an update in the future it's still in there.

I like to follow a principle that says:
The software should adapt to humans, not vice versa.

That's why I am constantly asking to not change your files. :)

I'll make the script recognize Compact Disc as CD, so no need to change your files.

EDIT: no rush to post your files to github, but consider posting when you think it's ready! :-)

Used2BeRX

@meleu Of course :)

I was asking if there was a way I could temporarily alter your script so I could re-run it on my end right now since you were away from it yourself.

Just to be sure though, keep the CD in there as well as Compact Disc. The CD works perfect for TurboGrafx CD.

BTW... if you want to share any of your ideas that you mentioned you might have for the synopsis and what not, feel free to let me know what they are.

I would like to share this with people, but as you can imagine it's a daunting task. If sharing roms wasn't a problem I could just make some huge SD card images and be done with it. Since that's not an option there's about 100 times more work on my end to try to figure out a way to make this work for other people.

meleu

@Used2BeRX

I was asking if there was a way I could temporarily alter your script so I could re-run it on my end right now

Not exactly in the script, but you can replace every Compact Disc by CD in the synopsis with sed. Do the following:

change the directory to where the synopsis are placed:

cd /path/to/segacd/synopsis

sed can do the magic:

sed -i 's/Compact Disc/CD/' *.txt

(that .txt is case sensitive, so it can be .TXT on your end)

meleu

@Used2BeRX don't mind about the sed stuff above. I already changed the script. Please --update and test it.

Used2BeRX

@meleu Wow, that's a cool trick. I literally changed over 100 entries for the `Famicom Disk System~ by hand the other night. It took me about 20 minutes.

I'm just a big dumb donkey. I like to surround myself with smart people. :)

I'm not going to change anything. I've got some other stuff to do and I'm just going to turn in early after I can get some file transfers cued up to my thumb drives so I can start testing the Sega CD and Turbo CD games tomorrow hopefully. I'll just wait until you can change the script.

meleu

@Used2BeRX said in Making premade gamelist.xml with xtra media collections:

I'll just wait until you can change the script.

I already changed the script. We are posting almost at the same time! :-)

Used2BeRX

@meleu Heh.. yeah, I saw that, but I had already moved my keyboard to the Pi to update and run it.

100% success rate with boxart on Sega CD cue files. :)

Now I have to figure out how to use a USB stick on the Pi for CD testing. I had all the images for the Sega and Turbo CD in ISO/MP3 format and it just just a little over 50 GB. Now that they're all in BIN/CUE and ISO/CUE they're over 150GB!!!!

I'll be doing that and in between re-casing everything like I said I would. AFter that I should be able to look into github.

Thanks again man.

meleu

@Used2BeRX said in Making premade gamelist.xml with xtra media collections:

Wow, that's a cool trick. I literally changed over 100 entries for the `Famicom Disk System~ by hand the other night. It took me about 20 minutes.

It's just a little bit of an example of the power of Linux shell tools. That's why I said that it would be easier to get what you wanted to do directly on Linux. :)

Maybe one day your old computer will become useless to run Windows and you'll try Linux. When it happen you'll say "Wow! This system is fast even on this old computer! Look how fast it boots up!"

Used2BeRX

@meleu

Maybe one day your old computer will become useless to run Windows and you'll try Linux. When it happen you'll say "Wow! This system is fast even on this old computer! Look how fast it boots up!"

That day might be soon. Windows 10 is terrible. It does have some cool features that earlier windows didn't have, but the search function is crippled to uselessness and other useful things have been stripped out or changed.

For example, last night before being able to get CD images on my USB to test on the Pi, I had to delete a lot of stuff off of a 64GB stick. There were tons of files since it was a backup I was using for Xtras before I got my 2TB drive. It took almost an hour to delete the files on the stick!!!!!! That is unacceptable, and it never would have happened on Windows XP or earlier.

They're trying to cater to the smartphone/tablet crowd now, and old dogs like me are being pushed out. If it keeps going this way I'll probably stop using Windows out of necessity.

meleu

@Used2BeRX said in Making premade gamelist.xml with xtra media collections:

They're trying to cater to the smartphone/tablet crowd now, and old dogs like me are being pushed out

"old dogs" with a Windows XP background are exactly the Linux Mint target audience. You should give it a try when you have a chance. ;-)

Used2BeRX

@meleu I originally started out with DOS and 3.1. I remember being resistant to upgrading to XP from Windows 98 at the time, but XP really was a great system.

I think it's been all downhill for M$oft ever since Vista. Every new OS seems to be worse than the previous.

Once I get an actual job I'm going to get a new computer and I'm going to turn this rig into a full fledged Linux PC.

I just figured out how to direct a symbolic link to the USB drive and I was amazed that when done properly it will benefit from all of the Xtras in the gamelist.xml. Linux is pretty kick ass.