Versatile C++ game scraper: Skyscraper

muldjord

Skyscraper version 2.2.0 released! And it's a big one!!! https://github.com/muldjord/skyscraper

Completely rewrote how artwork is handled. Now uses '~/.skyscraper/artwork.xml' for everything.
Implemented 'wheel' and 'marquee' media types and rewrote EVERYTHING to make use of them. :D (this was a damn long rewrite!!!!)
Added 'wheel' and 'marquee' media types to local dabatase
Added 'nocovers', 'noscreenshots', 'nowheels' and 'nomarquees' options to allow user to disable caching of those resources locally.
Added 'noresize' option to disable resizing artwork resources when saving them to localdb. NOTE! This it NOT directly related to how artwork is rendered. Check the artwork documentation if you want to disable them when exporting the frontend artwork.
Added support for 'fba' platform

Check this quick and dirty video for a rundown of most of the new features:

AnalogHero

@muldjord Thanks for the update. Played around with artwork.xml but couldnt get it to work.

What am i doing wrong? Try to get the Screenshot in the middle, cover to the left as it was before and wheel to the bottom right.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- This is the default 'artwork.xml' file that exports a screenshot composited from the cover and screenshot artwork and the wheel file. Please check 'artwork.xml.example' for a more thorough example of the possibilites. Also be sure to check the full artwork documentation at https://github.com/muldjord/skyscraper/blob/master/ARTWORK.md -->
<artwork>
  <output type="screenshot" width="640" height="400">
    <layer resource="cover" valign="bottom" y="-15" height="200">
      <shadow distance="10" softness="10" opacity="75"/>
        <layer resource="wheel" valign="bottom" align="right" x="5" y="5">
           <shadow distance="10" softness="10" opacity="75"/>
    </layer>
    <layer resource="screenshot" align="right" valign="top" width="520" height="390"/>
  </output>
  <!-- delete the next line to disable 'wheel entirely -->
  <output type="wheel" width="350"/>
  <!-- delete the next line to disable 'cover' entirely -->
  <output type="cover" height="390"/>
  <!-- delete the next line to disable 'marquee' entirely -->
  <output type="marquee" width="350"/>
</artwork>

muldjord

@analoghero Your xml is a bit messed up. You're missing a </layer> node after the first shadow node. You're basically nesting a layer inside another layer, which isn't possible.

Also, you have x="5" and y="5" on your second layer. That would move it out of frame. The coordinates are measured from top-left. So if you want to move it upwards to the left, you need to have x="-5" and y="-5" instead.

Here, I've corrected it for you. And I've also disabled shadow for the wheel since it doesn't work well with png's that have transparency at the moment (it works, but it looks like shite. I will fix this in the next release). I've centered the screenshot and I've also removed the last output nodes. There's no need for them if you don't use them. All they'll do is take up space.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<artwork>
  <output type="screenshot" width="640" height="400">
    <layer resource="cover" valign="bottom" y="-15" height="200">
      <shadow distance="10" softness="10" opacity="75"/>
    </layer
    <layer resource="wheel" valign="bottom" align="right" x="-5" y="-5"/>
    <layer resource="screenshot" align="center" valign="top" width="520" height="390"/>
  </output>
</artwork>

SammyBoy

@muldjord Thank you for the update I have small favour to ask and that is if you can allow pc roms to be scraped.

muldjord

@sammyboy Sure, it will be in the next release :)

SammyBoy

@muldjord Thanks

SammyBoy

@muldjord Sorry for bothering you so much but I have 2 more questions the first one is can I create something close to this picture: https://goo.gl/images/psZJoR
My second question is can you change where your scraped files go using the simple mode twice for the same platform?
Thank you for your patience and replies.

muldjord

@sammyboy Yes, you can creates something very similar to that, please read the documentation. Simple mode is, as per the notice when running it, only meant for first time scrapings. For second time scrapings, if you wish to change the output folder for media, use 'Skyscraper -p [platform] -o [folder name] -s localdb'. Check all available command line flags with 'Skyscraper --help'.

SammyBoy

@muldjord Thank you for your reply.

AnalogHero

@SammyBoy With the artwork.xml muldjord posted for me, you can create a similar result.

SammyBoy

@analoghero what would you need to edit in artwork.xml file to get the cover to get it down a bit more? - so it looks like this https://goo.gl/images/psZJoR
I don't care if it's a box (I would rather it isn't) and I'm presuming for the wheel all you need is to add the layer resource and output type.
Thank you for reading my long message.

muldjord

@sammyboy I appreciate your interest in Skyscraper but please read the documentation. What you want is explained right here for 'x' and 'y' attributes. I know it's easier to just ask, but pretty much everything is already documented. If you feel the documentation is missing something, let me know.

SammyBoy

@muldjord I'm sorry I've been asking many questions but the truth is I should have read the wiki first. But thanks to your help I'm pretty positive that the scrapings will turn out good. Thanks for all your help and I'll keep the any unnecessary questions out the way.

muldjord

@sammyboy I don't mind questions if it helps develop the documentation. And I can understand if it seems daunting to get into how Skyscraper works. So if you find something in the documentation that needs further explaining please let me know.

SammyBoy

@muldjord OK I've got it.

AnalogHero

@muldjord @SammyBoy Forgot to mention that there is an error in the artwork.xml. One ">" is missing after "layer"

SammyBoy

@muldjord can you also add ports in the next skyscraper release. As well as this can you give me an estimated time of the next skyscraper release? Thanks

muldjord

@sammyboy Ports won't be supported for the time being. Next release is imminent. :) Check the next post

muldjord

Removed for clarity. Check next release post 2 posts further down.

SammyBoy

@muldjord Can you implement ports for the next update and do I need to delete the old skyscraper files in order to update to 2.2.5? As well as this could I manually allow ports to be scraped if I added ports to the platform.pp file and compiled skyscraper?