Important - Read me first

RECALBOX Compatibility Lists

paradadf — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 10:11:00 GMT

I just added one more tab called bestList where duplicates between both lists get filtered to have the best possible and minimal list. Of course, we need people to test the roms for this to be useful!

[Tutorial] DATutil

Nachtgarm — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 07:00:23 GMT

Introduction

Since there are always questions coming up about how to create "filtered" DAT files from an original DAT file, I'll explain below on how to do that with the command line tool DatUtil on an Example.

Scroll to the end for the most common used strings

Description

DatUtil is a command line tool, which lets you edit and adjust DAT files in several different ways. It can handle DAT files of any size, which makes it more comfortable and more usable than DatWorkshop Pro

Example

You want to create a DAT file which ONLY includes NeoGeo Games.
Additional, this file shall ONLY include the parent roms (no Clones).
In this example we're using the "MAME - ROMs (v0.176_XML).dat"

Content

The tool comes with a readme.txt, which is, in my humble opinion, quite unclear.

In the following, you can see the important partof the readme.txt:

Defaults:
fix merging (used to be the -m option)
remove duplicate ROMs/disks/samples

Saving:
-f output format (listinfo, listxml, romcenter2, delimited, sublist, etc)
-q always use quotes around strings (only applies to listinfo output)
-k keep as much information as possible from the source file
-j Nebula Jukebox - only load Z80 and Sample ROMs from romdata
-o output to file
-a append to file
-t test mode - no data file is actually saved (just loaded and cleansed)

Header text:
-A author
-V version
-C category
-R ref name
-F full name (i.e. description)
-T date
-E e-mail
-H homepage
-U url
-O comment
-M merging (none, split or full)
-P packing (zip or unzip)
-N nodump (obsolete, required or ignore)

Game selection:
-g individual game selection. use the @ symbol to specify a file of names
-c include clones (for use with the -g option)
-G select games from a specified sourcefile. The @ method is also supported
-S select games using substring of description. The @ method is supported
-! changes the -g, -G, -S options (including the -c option) to exclude games
-r remove clones

Cleansing:
-l lower case game names and ROM names
-s sort games by parent (sorted by parent name then game name)
-i include missing information from a 'reference' data file
-I Incorporate games from a 'supplement' data file
-X fix merging off (do not use unless you understand the consequences!)
-D remove duplicate ROMs/disks/samples (as above in terms of usage)
-p prune (remove) ROMs, disks and/or samples (e.g. '-p disk,sample')

MD5/SHA1:
-x Calculate SHA1/MD5 when scanning files or ZIPs in a directory
-m Use MD5 checksums rather than SHA1 (e.g. when using -x, -m can be used)

Information:
-v Verbose logging
-d Show debug messages

Instructions on an example

Copy the MAME - ROMs (v0.176_XML).dat into the DatUtil directory
Open CMD as administrator
Within CMD change into the DatUtil directory
4.Execute the following command: datutil.exe -g neogeo -c -r -f generic -A Nachtgarm -C "Standard DatFile" -F NeoGeoOnlyNoClones -R NeoGeo_only_NO_clones -V "1.0" -o NeoGeoOnlyNoClones.dat "MAME - ROMs (v0.176_XML).dat"

The result will be a new .datwith the name NeoGeoOnlyNoClones.dat, which then can be opened in ROMulus, or clrmamepro.
Included are 159 Games and one Bios.

Here's an excerpt of the created file:




	
		NeoGeo_only_NO_clones
		NeoGeoOnlyNoClones
		Standard DatFile
		1.0
		Nachtgarm
	
	
		2020 Super Baseball (set 1)
		1991
		SNK / Pallas
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
[...]

Explanation of the string:

datutil.exe = The command to execute the tool
-g = individual game or system selection. In our case neogeo
neogeo = see above
-c = Includes all games (the readme is a bit confusing here). If you don't use this option, only the NEOGEO bios will be found
-r = removes all clones
-f = determines the format of the new DAT. In our case generic
-A = determines the author. In our case Nachtgarm
-C = determines the DAT type (Category). In our case "Standard DatFile". Note the " ", which are necessary, due to the blanks
-F = determines the name (Description) of the DAT within a ROM manager. In our case NeoGeoOnlyNoClones
-R = determines the name, which is displayed within a ROM manager. In our case NeoGeo_only_NO_clones
-V = determines the version of the DAT file. In our case "1.0". Note the " " here too, due to the full stop
-o = determines the new file name. In our case NeoGeoOnlyNoClones.dat

Most used strings

Each of the following strings expects the original DAT to be placed in the same directory as the tool datutil.exe

Create a DAT file which includes ONLY NEO-GEO Games (including their clones)

datutil.exe -g neogeo -c -f generic -C "Standard DatFile" -o NewFileName.dat "OriginalFile.dat"

Create a DAT file which includes ONLY NEO-GEO Games (without their clones)

datutil.exe -g neogeo -c -r -f generic -C "Standard DatFile" -o NewFileName.dat "OriginalFile.dat"

Create a DAT file which includes PARENTS ONLY (without NEO-GEO and without clones)

datutil.exe -g neogeo -c -! -r -f generic -C "Standard DatFile" -o NewFileName.dat "OriginalFile.dat"

[How To] Screenscraper

paradadf — Sat, 27 Aug 2016 21:10:04 GMT

If you use the Universal XML Scraper and you are not getting all box textures, screenshots, game descriptions (synopses), or anything else for your rom collection, this tutorial is for you. I will briefly explain some of the features ScreenScraper.fr has and how you can yourself add missing data/media or modify it if necessary. "All roads lead to Rome" - There are other ways to find games, I will just explain one of them!

Enter screenscraper.fr, select your language, subscribe (if you haven't yet) and log in. You can enter IRC and chat for further help.

Lets assume you scraped your PSX games and some data/media for Street Fighter EX2 Plus was missing and you want to add them. Go to GAMES and select the PSX (PlayStation 1) icon.

You will see the gamelist in alphabetical order and to find out which data/media is missing (or not) click on ▼ Infos/medias missing and/or MORE INFOS .

You will get a detailed view showing important information missing.

And a complete list of everything what is missing. (You realized the sad faces?)

Lets select letter S and navigate until we find our game. Hopefully, the game is listed... otherwise, go the IRC and ask (nicely) to add it.

Found it! http://screenscraper.fr/gameinfos.php?gameid=19530

When you enter the game, you will see all the information related to it. It looks like this. (This screenshot is in french because to capture everything I used a web service and couldn't choose the language)

For this tutorial we will only talk about the marked spots, but you can make suggestions to add or modify anything you consider appropriate.

Only the release date (A) in France/Europe is on the database. The synopsis in English (B) is missing as well. There is no screenshot (D) either. Lets add the release date for the US, the English description and a (good) screenshot. You can use google to try to find all the missing data/media. I will be using gamesfaq.com data to fill sections A, B and D in this example, but you rarely find everything in one place/source. Look for data in your own language respectively and of course, needless to say, try to find good quality data!
The source http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/914346-street-fighter-ex2-plus looks like this.

You have the game description that we need (B) on the left (synopsis), there is an Images tab to look for the missing screenshoot (D) on the top and if you click on the date on the top-right you will find the different release dates for every region (our missing release data in the US (A)!!!). Following that link brings you to a site like this.

There you can find the US release data that we wanted: 30/12/1999 (in ScreenScraper you need to write the date in the format DD/MM/YYYY)

Now we can go to the images for the missing screenshot (D).

If you don't find a good screenshot here, look somewhere else or take one yourself. Follow the instructions (read below the missing media itself) given on ScreenScraper for every media you upload and please, don't forget to give the source.

Back to ScreenScraper, scroll down a bit until you find this.

Select the type of information you want to enter, write the release date you found before, give your source and click SEND.

Lets do the same with the description.

To upload a screenshot, you do it on the top of the website. You can either choose a local image from your computer or give an url address from the image.

After you submit you propositions and until they are validated, they will be in a moderation queue.

I noticed a mistake with the country of the box texture (E). The country of the image displayed is USA and not Europe. So, lets correct that

To correct it, you need to scroll all the way down to the comments and (if applicable) use one of the hashtags, depending on the issue. Then hit enter to send it.

Finally, if all the data/media is present on the database and you still don't get your game scraped, I recommend you to take a look at the associated roms (C).

In this case, there is only one rom associated to this game on the database and if yours doesn't match the CRC or MD5 hash (you find them on the missing.txt file after you scraped a directory), or the filaname is different, it won't get scraped. Go into IRC, ask for help and share your missing.txt file with them, so your roms reach the database.

That's all! After your contributions have been validated, you will be able to get all the data the next time you scrape that game! ScreenScraper and all of us need your help to have the best possible game database ever! Thanks in advance for your contributions!!!

Before posting

digitaLumberjack — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 12:52:02 GMT

Hi,

Before you post your issue, make sure you do the following first:

Read the manual
Search the forum for an identical issue
Please do not re-post already solved topics. Just provide the link to the thread, or the tutorial, where the problem was solved.

If none of the above helps, we'll need additional info to help you, just copy paste and fill the following :

Board model:
Recalbox version (build) :
Hardware (Micro SD, Power Supply, etc.):
Controller(s):

If your problem is game related

Which Game:
Emulator used:
Is the problem reproducible (how):

if you gamepad or your encoder usb related :

Plug your hardware directly into the usb ports of raspberry and ONLY YOUR GAMEPAD
Indicate how to reproduce the problem if possible

Forum rules

digitaLumberjack — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 12:46:30 GMT

Welcome on recalbox forum.

Please respect those rules :

Respect each other
Do NOT ask for, or post links to copyrighted bios
Do NOT ask for, or post links to copyrighted roms
DO NOT POST youtube links to copyrighted roms and bios
DO NOT POST recalbox non unofficiel images with coyrighted roms and bios

Messages will be deleted and locked
In case of repetition your sanction will be banishment

Thank you.