Scraping MS-DOS games

Efriim

@gordonfreemanjr
Is there a way to rename a folder in /roms/pc/ to load as if it were a single file config?
Something like: /roms/pc/arkanoid.dos

I think there was some method do this for scummvm games.

quicksilver

@gordonfreemanjr said in Scraping MS-DOS games:

Thanks to your other post I just found out, that Screenscraper scans whole file names, therefore it won’t work with .conf files.

You can use skyscraper to scrape your .conf files using screenscraper as the source. You just need to name it 100% the same as how it is listed in the screenscraper database. The .conf extension won't matter. For example mario is missing needs to be named like this: Mario is Missing! (1992).conf in order to be found in the screenscraper database. You can look up the exact name that is needed by searching for the game on screenscrapers website then once you click on the name of the game, click on the roms/isos tab to see what the exact name should be.

gordonfreemanjr

@quicksilver Ok, so I get it with Mario is Missing. But Batman Returns?

https://www.screenscraper.fr/romsinfos.php?plateforme=135&alpha=B&numpage=1
https://www.screenscraper.fr/rominfos.php?romid=763503

It seems that the <official> Screenscraper name for Batman Returns is just Batman Returns. Yet, it’s not scraping.

muldjord

@gordonfreemanjr It's called Batman Returns.pc it seems like. ScreenScraper expects an exact filename match. Your file was called .conf right? That's not a match. :)

EDIT: I suggest using some other source. If you've run out of TheGamesDB requests you'll have to wait a month though. As @mitu tested it works fine with TheGamesDB, so I'm guessing you've simply run out of requests and that's why it won't work with TheGamesDB.

Only way to use ScreenScraper as source is to rename all of your files to match exactly one of the files listed under connected roms for each game. And it has to be a 100% match, including the suffix of the file. That's how ScreenScraper works with filename matching.

sirhenrythe5th

Maybe i am very wrong, but what i did with those hard-to-scrape games (MS-DOS, Amiga, some Arcade-Games and so on...): i opened the options menu for this game in the gamelist and choosed "edit metadata".
Then i started scraping this game with the result that no data was found.
After that i choosed the "manual input" and typed in logical names.
In Example: when the scraper did not find anything for "Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Wizards (VGA remastered / DOS)" i just typed in "Larry" or "Leisure".
After that i could choose a Larry-Game out of 8 known.
Of course you cant scrape dozens of games in a row, but in the end this way might be faster than changing dozens of filenames.

gordonfreemanjr

@muldjord I see. I was just referring to what @quicksilver wrote about using Screenscraper as a source nevertheless.

@sirhenrythe5th said in Scraping MS-DOS games:

Maybe i am very wrong, but what i did with those hard-to-scrape games (MS-DOS, Amiga, some Arcade-Games and so on...): i opened the options menu for this game in the gamelist and choosed "edit metadata".
Then i started scraping this game with the result that no data was found.
After that i choosed the "manual input" and typed in logical names.
In Example: when the scraper did not find anything for "Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Wizards (VGA remastered / DOS)" i just typed in "Larry" or "Leisure".
After that i could choose a Larry-Game out of 8 known.
Of course you cant scrape dozens of games in a row, but in the end this way might be faster than changing dozens of filenames.

I guess the built-in scraper is offline these days, no?

sirhenrythe5th

@gordonfreemanjr both? you can change between screenscraper and The GamesDB-Scraper also for single-scraping.

gordonfreemanjr

@sirhenrythe5th I meant the preset scraping engine withing Emulation Station. Or is it not what you've meant?

sirhenrythe5th

@gordonfreemanjr it is what i meant, but there are two scrapers to select within the ES-Menu.
When the "GamesDB Scraper" is down (what happens quite often) i use to change to the "Screenscraper".

gordonfreemanjr

@sirhenrythe5th Got it now. Indeed it works. Not for all DOS games, right now the hit ratio is roughly at the 40-50% level, but it’s better than before. Thanks!

quicksilver

@gordonfreemanjr Batman Returns (1992).conf worked for me on skyscraper with screenscraper set as the source. On the second link you posted you can see there is a "filename" tab, if you click on it you can see other filename aliases.