Roms into subfolders

[firewater]

I do have them all in CHD + m3u (not the case of this game though, as it doesn't support disc-swapping), but that doesn't help because they're still inside the "Gran Turismo 2" folder, which is what it's trying to load (so for example, if I rename the folder to "Gran Turismo 2 TEST FOLDER WHATEVER" and rebuild the romlist, that's what the game selection amounts to). What I was hoping is that it would read, for example, "Final Fantasy VII (Disc 1).chd", "Final Fantasy VII (Disc 2).chd", "Final Fantasy VII (Disc 3).chd", "Final Fantasy VII (Disc 4).chd", and "Final Fantasy VII.m3u" from a "Final Fantasy VII" folder, and I'd use the filter to filter out games with "(Disc", so that I'd only have the .m3u on the romlist. But instead it adds, and tries to load, the directory itself.

To be clear - the reason I have them in folders is not because they're multi-part games, it's because it's just the way I organize files. I understand a majority don't use folders, but from my point of view (and to make a comparison) it'd be really odd to have a "Michael Jackson" folder, with 100 loose mp3 files inside. They would display just fine, as the "Album" aspect goes on the metadata of each mp3, but the literal file structure would be all over the place for my taste. So I "can" take them out and put them all under "PlayStation", but man do I not want to do that...

So where does that leave me? I feel like there's a workaround lying somewhere in splitting, or rather, merging my PlayStation display from two displays, one with disc games, one without... I'll look into it when I have time. But regardless I pray to the dev gods that recursive search is added... someday

[progets]

I do have them all in CHD + m3u (not the case of this game though, as it doesn't support disc-swapping), but that doesn't help because they're still inside the "Gran Turismo 2" folder, which is what it's trying to load (so for example, if I rename the folder to "Gran Turismo 2 TEST FOLDER WHATEVER" and rebuild the romlist, that's what the game selection amounts to). What I was hoping is that it would read, for example, "Final Fantasy VII (Disc 1).chd", "Final Fantasy VII (Disc 2).chd", "Final Fantasy VII (Disc 3).chd", "Final Fantasy VII (Disc 4).chd", and "Final Fantasy VII.m3u" from a "Final Fantasy VII" folder, and I'd use the filter to filter out games with "(Disc", so that I'd only have the .m3u on the romlist. But instead it adds, and tries to load, the directory itself.

To be clear - the reason I have them in folders is not because they're multi-part games, it's because it's just the way I organize files. I understand a majority don't use folders, but from my point of view (and to make a comparison) it'd be really odd to have a "Michael Jackson" folder, with 100 loose mp3 files inside. They would display just fine, as the "Album" aspect goes on the metadata of each mp3, but the literal file structure would be all over the place for my taste. So I "can" take them out and put them all under "PlayStation", but man do I not want to do that...

So where does that leave me? I feel like there's a workaround lying somewhere in splitting, or rather, merging my PlayStation display from two displays, one with disc games, one without... I'll look into it when I have time. But regardless I pray to the dev gods that recursive search is added... someday

I'm not sure I understand your problem. If you're using .chd files why do you have loose mp3 files? Those mp3 files should be inside your .chd files. If you placed all the files under "PlayStation" as you suggest, you should just have .chd files and some .m3u files for your multi-disc games.

Regardless of how you store your files I think that "Gran Turismo 2" is a unique setup since it needs to load disc 2 independent of disc 1. This can be done with a simple game exception and/or an manual modification to your romlist.

Post your emulator.cfg for PlayStation. If AM is trying to load a directory instead of the file it's because of your argument in this file.


Update - I just remembered that a .chd conversion can't use compressed audio files (like mp3), you need to have the audio files in an uncompressed format (like .wav). I even point this out in my other post (http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2290.msg15513#msg15513) that you've seen. Maybe, because of this, you still need the .mp3 files?

[firewater]

Sorry maybe I didn't explain it clearly. What I mean is that my file structure is a standard that I use for everything - music, books, etc, which is that every title goes under a folder. Even if it's a NES game - I have "Nintendo Entertainment System (folder) > Super Mario Bros. (folder) > Super Mario Bros.zip". Basically under no circumstance I'd want to have "NES > Super Mario Bros.zip" as a loose file. So I was making a comparison with music, were you normally wouldn't have the songs of an artist loosely dumped into the artist's folder, but instead would put them into their corresponding albums. It would work regardless, since the information that music players read comes not from the file structure, but from the metadata on the mp3 themselves, wherever they're placed - yet most would find it preferable to have the songs under a corresponding album folder still.

Another reason I have all systems in folders is because some platforms have games stored in folders no matter what (Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U), and it makes sense to me that if some are, all should be (so, a standard). The sole system I have with non-foldered, loose files, is arcade, because of how MAME is distributed and updated, there's no way around it - they have their own standard and I have to use it if I want to play arcade games.

So as you say, if I placed everything under "PlayStation" without folders it would read the .chd and .m3u files properly, and it would work. But I really don't want to do it like that. It's obviously a bit on an OCD thing, but I feel like I should have my file structure, and work the programs from there, rather than the other way around (after all, I went ahead with this structure also because it had been supported so far by other programs I used)

Here's my .cfg for PlayStation:

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.4.1
#
executable           C:\Program Files\RetroArch\retroarch.exe
args                 "[romfilename]\[name].chd" -L "cores\mednafen_psx_libretro.dll"
rompath              M:\Media\Games\Platform\PlayStation
romext               <DIR>
system               Sony PlayStation
info_source          thegamesdb.net
artwork    flyer           M:\Media\Games\Metadata\PlayStation\cover
artwork    snap            M:\Media\Games\Metadata\PlayStation\video;M:\Media\Games\Metadata\PlayStation\screenshot

[rand0m]

You can make links of files in a single folder and use that in rompath.

[progets]

@firewater - I understand your desire to use sub folders. Do you still need help launching "Gran Turismo 2 Disc 2" or are we talking about what might work best for your setup having everything in folders?

To fix your "Gran Turismo 2 Disc 2" issue you could try this (assuming your AM emulator is called "PlayStation"):
1. Create a folder called M:\Media\Games\Platform\PlayStation\Gran Turismo 2 Disc 2
2. Create an text file in the new directory called M:\Media\Games\Platform\PlayStation\Gran Turismo 2 Disc 2\Gran Turismo 2 Disc 2.m3u and add entry like this

Code: [Select]

"M:\Media\Games\Platform\PlayStation\Gran Turismo 2\Gran Turismo 2 (Disc 2).chd"
3. rebuild your romlist
4. creating a folder called \AttractMode\romlists\PlayStation
5. create a text file called \AttractMode\romlists\PlayStation\Gran Turismo 2 Disc 2.cfg and add an entry like this

Code: [Select]

Custom Arguments "[romfilename]\[name].m3u" -L "cores\mednafen_psx_libretro.dll"


[firewater]

Alright so I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and make some exceptions to my file structure. I'll make a folder with .lnk files and problem solved. It's not ideal but I don't have enough patience to go with more intricate methods that support my usual file structure. If any dev is reading this, please do support romlist search inside directories. I'm aware that EmulationStation and RetroFE both handle game-adding like this, with a setting were you choose to enable it or not for the given folder. If you think it like that, it's worth considering it on the basis that it seems to be commonplace and not just some fringe petition from an OCD guy.

Once again thanks a lot to both of you for helping me and everyone constantly, that's very kind of you and builds up an excellent archive for future google searches of other clueless folks.

[progets]

If you want to try to get a feature added to AM you should create a ticket here https://github.com/mickelson/attract/issues.

You could write a script that recursively looks into folders and creates all your .lnk file or even creates your AM romlist directly.

You could use middleware like RocketLauncher http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2401.msg16418#msg16418 with AM to add all sorts of additional features (like sub directory support).

[grayfish]

Just wanted to share what was working for me.
OS is Windows 10, i'm using Retroarch for emulation and attract-v2.5.1-win64 as frontend.

Code: [Select]

executable           D:\Emulators\RetroArch_1.7.7\retroarch.exe -L D:\Emulators\RetroArch_1.7.7\cores\mednafen_psx_hw_libretro.dll
args                 "[romfilename]\[name].cue"
rompath              D:\roms\ps1
romext               <DIR>
artwork    flyer           $HOME/Playstation 1/boxart
artwork    marquee         
artwork    snap            $HOME/Playstation 1/videos;$HOME/Playstation 1/snap
artwork    wheel     

The first 4 rows are the important ones.  (the rest is not yet configured, just got ps1 games to boot from AtractMode through RetroArch)

Note:
-I'm using the full path to the emulator, and since retroarch uses Cores I also describes the path to the core folder as an absolute path ("Full path").
-I'm not using the "-m" in front of my argument (row 2, "args").
-As "romext" i'm setting the value "<DIR>".

This works for me, hopefully it helps somone else.
(Not sure if using this thread was a good Idea, but since i found it when i searched for a solution I figured somone else will probably find it if they have the same problem...)

[snupello]

hello !! i have problem with dreamcast emulator configurations. (DEMUL)
I have Roms into subfolders, rom are .gdi

where am I wrong ??


# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.5.1
#
executable           Z:\Dreamcast\demul07_111117\demul.exe
args                 -run=dc -image="[rompath]\[name]\[name].gdi"
workdir              Z:\Dreamcast\demul07_111117\
rompath              Z:\Dreamcast\demul07_111117\roms
romext               <DIR>;gdi
exit_hotkey          Escape
artwork    flyer           $HOME/Dreamcast/boxart
artwork    marquee         
artwork    snap            $HOME/Dreamcast/videos;$HOME/Dreamcast/snap
artwork    wheel           

[rand0m]

remove <Dir> in romext and check, also I think workdir line is not needed.

[Firefoxian]

e.g. zsnes:
if folder-name and romfilename are identical (C:\attract\EMU\zsnes\roms\mygame1234\mygame1234.smc)

Code: [Select]

executable           C:\attract\EMU\zsnes\zsnesw.exe
args                 -m "[romfilename]\[name].smc"
rompath              C:\attract\EMU\zsnes\roms\
romext               <DIR>

set as rom-extension <DIR>
and set as argument for zsnes -m "[romfilename]\[name].smc"

just adjust config to dreamcast arguments.

this was a good start for me, but does not factor in different rom types (for those that may have multiple). consider emulating with retroarch and using m3u files
args                 -m "[romfilename]\[name].m3u"
In this system, you can use many types of files like zip, iso, smc all under the same wheel/emulator. Look up https://forums.libretro.com/t/multi-disc-for-sony-playstation-and-sega-saturn-using-m3u-files/14161
One other thing that works for multiple rom types (in folders) under one wheel is to set up multiple emulators and then use "generate rom list" to combine them into one for a display. Both ways take some setting up.

also, a tip i'll note here is that [romfilename] and [rompath] add an extra / to the end which can mess up any  build. most of the time the /\ effective command line cancels itself out, but some emu's apparently don't like that. I I used a relative path like: args                 -m "..\roms\snes\[name]\[name].m3u"