Versatile C++ game scraper: Skyscraper

muldjord

Skyscraper 2.0.0 released: https://github.com/muldjord/skyscraper

Back to basics: Removed several web sources. Now only allows the ones I have explicit permission to use.
Properly implemented official API for 'arcadedb' module
Added scraping module info to output per result but only when using '--verbose'
Added check for unreasonably bad scraping runs, making Skyscraper exit if 30 of 30 files miss from the get-go

We're back in business! As promised Skyscraper has been brought back online. I have removed most of the scraping modules. They will be put back in if I get permission to use them.

Please let me know if you run into problems with this release. I've only done some minor testing myself and everything seems to work well. :)

AnalogHero

@muldjord Nice to see you back in business. Will try it out asap!

muldjord

Currently implementing region support for the 'screenscraper' module. User can define region with '-r' in next release. For instance '-r jp' or '-r de'. ScreenScraper will then make use of this and use the correct rom name, date, description and so on. It will default back to 'wor' and then 'us' if the specified region doesn't exist in the data. Still trying to figure out if I should also let user define language, since region and language aren't the same thing.

BladeHunter

@muldjord Is there a way I can private message you or something?

muldjord

@BladeHunter I prefer just to have it on here, so I can check it when I have the time. I have a million projects going on at the same time, and having private messages popup between them sortof muddles my workflow. :D Unfortunately I don't see any private messaging functionality on these forums.

BladeHunter

@muldjord yeah I'm surprised there is no pm function. I really don't want to post my comment on here (you will understand why when I talk to you) can you drop me a line at please? I don't need anything from you but I have a comment which will help you :) if you want me to post my comment here I will but I'm not overly comfortable with it.

muldjord

@bladehunter said in Versatile C++ game scraper: Skyscraper:

****@gmail.com

I've "PM'ed" you.

Used2BeRX

@bladehunter said in Versatile C++ game scraper: Skyscraper:

...can you drop me a line at ****@.com please?

Man... take that down lol. 8 hours of bots just got your email. I hope it was a junk account.

I second the motion to have a PM feature on this board. That would be pretty sweet. I thought there might have been one but I just hadn't figured out how to use it yet. :)

herb_fargus

@used2berx there will never be a PM feature on this forum. All it would end up being is people sharing romsites.

Used2BeRX

@herb_fargus Yeah. You're probably right. ;)

Kind of sucks that it's hard to collaborate with people you meet here on things without putting your email address up for the world to see though.

Too bad there isn't an in-between solution. Unless there is? Do you have any suggestions on that?

herb_fargus

@used2berx collaboration on code is best done on github imo

Used2BeRX

@herb_fargus Cool. I have an account there but haven't looked into it much. Thanks.

BladeHunter

@used2berx said in Versatile C++ game scraper: Skyscraper:

@bladehunter said in Versatile C++ game scraper: Skyscraper:

...can you drop me a line at ****@.com please?

Man... take that down lol. 8 hours of bots just got your email. I hope it was a junk account.

I second the motion to have a PM feature on this board. That would be pretty sweet. I thought there might have been one but I just hadn't figured out how to use it yet. :)

Hehehe it's my junk account :). I have taken mine out but it's still quoted in muldjords post, it's not a big issue for me :).

muldjord

@BladeHunter Censored :)

hi-ban

@muldjord is there any option to scrape the box art image without adding any effect?

I mean, without any drop shadows or effects. Without creating any kind of composition of box+screenshot. Just the raw image as it comes from the source.

Panther7

If you need any legal help (based on prior posts), feel free to PM me. I am a lawyer and would be willing to help you out.

muldjord

@hi-ban Yes, please read the readme at github, it's all in there.

@Panther7, Thank you, appeciate the sentiment. No need though, and there's no need for further elaboration on that point. I was simply asked to take out support for certain web sources and I complied promptly.

The new version 2.0.0 only has support for modules I have acquired permission to use.

At the end of the day, we're all here to support retro gaming. Some do it by creating game databases, some do it by creating emulator capable distributions and frontends. And some of us write tools to ease the flow and usage of game information to make it all a little bit more enjoyable.

Skyscraper is free and open source and was developed in my spare time to help fellow retro'ers. This still holds true for the new version.

hi-ban

@muldjord i already read the readme. It just shows how to load a config ini files, but it does not explain what the parameters from the config ini files exactly do.
Also, there is no config or parameter for "dont-modify-image-at-all".
And if you dont load any config at all, then the scraper applies the "small boxart and big screenshot" parameters as default.
I cannot seem to find any way to make the scraper just take the raw image file without autto-editing it or processing it at all.

By the way, the screenscraper.fr scraper is grabbing the wrong boxart images. Instead of grabbing the "Case: front" images, it's grabbing the "Case: texture" images instead.

Panther7

Had a chance to toy with it. Seems really powerful, but it could REALLY use some sort of interface. It would do it wonders for usability.

muldjord

@hi-ban The screenscraper has been fixed in the version I am working on. The boxart image will always be modified in some way to resize it to fit EmulationStation or whatever frontend you are using. But you can set the size of it using the ini parameters, just do like this:
finalImageWidth="281"
finalImageHeight="375"
coverWidth="281"
coverHeight="375"
coverX="0"
coverY="0"
coverShadowEnabled="false"
screenshotEnabled="false"

Set the widths and heights to whatever you want the cover size to be. There's no way of telling Skyscraper to not manipulate it somehow. But by using the above config, you can sortof trick it into doing so.