Make ES use scarped images and gamefiles on external USB HDD

[weirdocollector]

Hi !

Is it possibile to make Emulastionstation use scraped images and XML gamefiles placed on the same external USB HDD on which roms are located ?

I'd like to scrape the roms on my PC with a separate tool and then use the files on my external USB HDD, in order to save space on the micro SD Card.

[herb_fargus]

@weirdocollector yes there's an option with sselphs scraper in the setup script to scrape to the rom folder instead of the default or you can learn how to use the command line and join them manually:

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/scraper

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Take-and-Scrape-Your-Own-Screenshots

[weirdocollector]

Thanks, but if I've read correctly the wiki, ES expects the image files and the XML gamefiles to be in directories that are located on the SD Card.

Do I just use the scraper as you described, or do I have to change some configuration in order to say to ES that the files are on the USB HDD?

[weirdocollector]

OK, I've managed it !

I'm using this scraper:

https://github.com/Universal-Rom-Tools/Universal-XML-Scraper

It scrapes images on PC using screenscraper.fr, and creates the gamelist XML file, letting you to specifiy in it the directories in which ROMs and images should be located.

As an example, here follows an entry from the gamelist XML file for an Atari2600 ROM:

<game id="13992" source="ScreenScraper">
	<path>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/atari2600/Adventure.bin</path>
	<name>Adventure</name>
	<desc>A graphic dungeon quest inspired by the old mainframe game of the same name, Adventure is a graphic adventure where you use your joystick to wander around, collecting keys to explore castles, labyrinths and everything in between, whilst slaying anything that moves (i.e. Dragons &amp; Co.) to get treasures. The game has 3 difficulty settings:1. Level 1 (Easiest)2. Level 2: The Kingdom is larger than Level 1, containing secret rooms and hidden items to add difficulty.3. Level 3 (Hardest): Similar to Level 2 but all objects/items are placed randomly throughout the Kingdom.Gameplay revolves around picking up (and dropping) items, hacking your way though dragons, finding keys to open the castle gates and using magic (i.e. reincarnation) in case you get swallowed by failing-to-follow-their-diet-plan-dragons.</desc>
	<image>/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/atari2600/images/Adventure-image.jpg</image>
	<rating>0.75</rating>
	<releasedate>19800000T000000</releasedate>
	<developer>Sears, Roebuck and Co.</developer>
	<publisher>Atari</publisher>
	<genre>Adventure</genre>
	<players>1</players>
	<crc32>A6DB4B3A</crc32>
	<md5>157BDDB7192754A45372BE196797F284</md5>
	<sha1>E07E48D463D30321239A8ACC00C490F27F1F7422</sha1>
</game>

I then put the images into:

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/atari2600/images (this directory is mounted on my external USB HDD)

and the gamelist.xml file into:

/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/gamelists/atari2600

rebooted my PI, and voilà...

[herb_fargus]

@weirdocollector many ways of doing it. If you mount your rom folders proper you can use sselphs scraper to generate the xmls too

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive

Glad you got it sorted

[andyc]

Can you post commands used to mount external USB HDD. I'm running roms off usb and made folder structure on USB. /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/atari2600/images but retropie doesn't use them. So I assume it must be that I didn't mount it.