Manually added game into gamelist.xml, changes not showing in ES.

theWinterDojer

I'm on 4.2.10 and after using Selph's scraper there were a few titles that didn't have images so I added them manually. First put the images into the downloaded_images folder, and then created the entry in the XML file (if missing). This worked great for all the missing games except one, it's a prototype called 'Shooter" for the SNES.

Here is the difference between this game and the others that were successfully changed:

Before editing the gamelist.xml file, I changed the name through the "Edit Metadata" option in ES. Whenever I overwrite the gamelist.xml on my Pie and reboot, the changes to Shooter I made in the gamelist.xml (Should now just be "Shooter") are reverted to what I had originally changed it to with Edit Metadata: "Shooter (Proto)". When I go back to the XML file, the entry I added is missing once again. I even deleted the metadata (which also deletes the game), re-added it, uploaded the new gamelist, and it's still reverting back.

Is there any issue with first changing something in ES and then manually editing the XML file? Here is the syntax I used:

<game>
<path>./S/Shooter (USA) (Proto).sfc</path>
<name>Shooter</name>
<desc></desc>
<image>~./downloaded_images/shooter.png</image>
<rating></rating>
<releasedate></releasedate>
<developer></developer>
<publisher></publisher>
<genre></genre>
<players></players>
</game>

The image path may be incorrect because I'm doing it from memory, but it is correct in my XML file.

herb_fargus

@thewinterdojer you can't make edits to XML while emulationstation is still running.

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/EmulationStation/#editing-es-configs

theWinterDojer

@herb_fargus I made the changes to the XML file after quitting Emulation Station. I was saying that before I did that, I changed it inside Emulation Station first with the edit metadata option. This was the only game I did that for, all the others worked, so I was wondering if there was an issue with first changing it in ES and then editing the XML.

Daistaar

@thewinterdojer Only thing I see that stands out is that the first <game> tag is missing as close carrot and that description is missing a close carrot and slash </. I understand that might not be how it is in the actual XML though. Might be better pasting what's actually there instead of rewriting it here.

theWinterDojer

@daistaar Yea I apologize, it is definitely correct in the XML file, I'll fix it here and when I get home paste the actual syntax. I have XML syntax checker with Notepad ++ so it screams at me if anything is wrong.

pjft

You could check if per chance there's no gamelist.xml under the ~/.emulationstation/<something whose name I can't remember now>/<system name>

It might be that ES is reading it from there rather than from where you think it is reading it from.

theWinterDojer

@pjft I'm overwriting the gamelist in /home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists/EMULATOR_NAME/gamelist.xml, could there be a gamelist somewhere else that is conflicting with this?

I should also add, that when I entered the image path using Edit Metadata in the ES menu, the image showed up, but there is still no entry for it in the XML file after I save.

pjft

@thewinterdojer ...that one sounds about right, unless you have a gamelist in the actual ROM folder (the system path, not the /S subfolder).

theWinterDojer

@pjft I turned that option off to save the images in the same folder as the ROMs. It's a strange issue, and difficult to explain, I hope how I wrote it is comprehendible.

pjft

@thewinterdojer Nevermind the option.

Do you have a gamelist in the ROM folder or not? :)

theWinterDojer

@pjft There is no gamelist.xml that I can see in the ROM folder. From my understanding if I make a change using the built in scraper, it will update the gamelist in /home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists/EMULATOR_NAME/ correct?

pjft

To the best of my knowledge, it will update the existing loaded gamelist. If none is in use, it will create one in that folder you mention. If it had loaded a gamelist from a particular path, it will update that original path on save.

I may be wrong, though, but I'm reasonably confident that that's what it does.

theWinterDojer

@pjft That is what I thought as well. It's weird because for some games that couldn't be scraped, that also were not in the gamelist, I created an entry for them and it showed up just fine. It's this particular game that's the problem, and for some reason I think it's because I edited it in ES first. I will do some more testing when I get home.

pjft

@thewinterdojer That shouldn't be the case, unless it is storing a gamelist in some other path.

If you can remove the gamelist and reload ES, and see if that game still shows metadata, that will tell you if there's info coming from any other gamelist.

You can also search for gamelist.xml files in your Pi, and that will hopefully give you a hint of whether you're overlooking something.

I'm not an expert in Linux command line, but I expect

$ find / -type f -name gamelist.xml

might yield some results, assuming this is the correct syntax.

theWinterDojer

@pjft Good idea, I'm going to remove the gamelist, reboot and see if the names change back to the rom titles. Thanks for the suggestion! If they do change back, and I'm using the correct gamelist, there has to be an error in my syntax somewhere. I was a bit sleepy last night so it's possible I overlooked something.

Ecks

Universal XML Scraper works a lot better i find than using the Selph's scraper.

theWinterDojer

@ecks How so? Between scraping with screenscraper and thegamesdb.net I've been able to get them all scraped except a few, which I just did manually.

Ecks

@thewinterdojer said in Manually added game into gamelist.xml, changes not showing in ES.:

@ecks How so? Between scraping with screenscraper and thegamesdb.net I've been able to get them all scraped except a few, which I just did manually.

For certain games when using the default scraper i was unable to get games artwork like Pac Man as an example but with using UXS i was able to get the artwork and all also NES titles such as an example G.I. Joe was only able to get the artwork with UXS as well and not with the default scraper.

theWinterDojer

@pjft Just wanted to follow up and let you know I solved it. When I edited the meta data in ES it created a separate entry for the game in the XML file rather than overwriting the current one. So I ended up having 3 or 4 entries in the gamelist for the same game and they were all trying to step on one another. I'm not sure how ES decides which one to use but once I cleared them all up except one, it worked as intended. Thanks for the suggestions! Also, how do I mark this as solved?

herb_fargus

When I edited the meta data in ES it created a separate entry for the game in the XML file rather than overwriting the current one

I would think it should overwrite the game you're editing rather than creating a new entry. That may be a bug...