[Release] Hyperspin RomManager 1.1b

[MK2k]

Here we go with a feature updated 1.1b version of HyperSpin RomManager (http://emulation-evolved.net/?q=node/13). Some of the community members requested new features to make this little app even more complete, three of the requested features are implemented into version 1.1b now.

Art Preview

Interestingly, some people rename their art files (instead of the intended rom files) with HyperSpin RomManager. To help you with the choice of the artwork files, there is now a little preview area which displays the currently selected artwork image.

http://emulation-evolved.net/images/hsrmm_04_preview_thumb.jpg


Remove matches via contextmenu

Sometimes a matched file just isn't right to the game. In order to quickly remove matches, you just highlight the rows in the table and hit the right mouse button. A context menu appears, allowing you to remove the matches for the highlighted games.

http://emulation-evolved.net/images/hsrmm_03_remove_matches.png

Directory mode

If you want to rename or copy whole directories instead of single files, tick the Directory mode checkbox and there you go.

http://emulation-evolved.net/images/hsrmm_02_directory_mode_thumb.jpg

New in Version 1.1c

Better User Interface handling
Thanks EVEGames and Bilbotorm

When browsing through the game list on the left side, you can have the file with the best match automatically selected on the right side.

This is now always done when the file list is sorted by the match column.

You can achieve this with the "Automatically scroll to best match" option checked when the list is unsorted or sorted by name.

Significant less chance of false-positive matches
Thanks Dred

After a scan, every false-positive match always had to be corrected by hand and this is more cumbersome the less files you have than expected by the database.

The chance for false-positive matches is significantly lowered with the option "Only keep best match", which, after the scan, checks for each file which game is the best match for it and removes every other match (potential false-positives).

Download

Get it from my website http://www.emulation-evolved.net

Read the readme.txt for detailed informations.

-- MK2k

[Bilbotorm]

Hi !

Congratz for the job, it's a very useful tool. Let me share your some comments.

First, if on the right pannel, i try to order DESC the math column; to see in top prio the highest rank, if i choose another game on the left list, the right pannel is messed up. it does not keep in memory the scroll position. It would be perfect that the focus on the right list remains at top position by default, when ordering desc the matches (i am not sure i am clear, it's kinda hard to explain sorry :()

Another point i would like to eventually clarify : the prefered words. So far, i tried to sort out europe zips, adding 50 points in match for example; but it does not work :( I look for (Europe); but in the match, no matter if i enter 10 or 50 points, the match after the scan remains the same :( Maybe i am doing something wrong

Thanks again anyway, i win quite some time thanks to you !!

[Dred]

Yeah love the new update but if you like to hear some suggestion or feedback i have some. =D

1. Like bilbotorm was saying. I have sorted view list based on highest matches. When you do this and select one that is at 80% match and realize your missing that paticular png or rom and select nothing instead it immediately puts you at the bottom of the list having to scroll all the way back up to the next highest match on the list. No big deal when matching 20 roms big deal when trying to match 1758 playstation roms.

2. I would like a option for the program to only match files that are a certain percentage or higher. One of the problems i am having is i only have 400 playstation pngs out of the 1758 rom xml list. So it trys to match all 400 pngs to 1700+ games. I don't really know what would be a good solution to this. Maybe an option to only match each file to the closest match once and not match the same file to 300 other potential matches?

Thats all i can think of for now.

Thanks again.

[metalthrix]

Your Software is awesome and keep the good work !!!

For now i used most to match some wheel art and game screenshot by giving Png instead of roms extension and work very good !

This is a great contribution to hyperspin comunity and you guys should be proud of it !!!

Have a nice day !!!

[EVEGames]

MK2k,
Your software is a Godsend. Thank you so much for releasing it to the community. I have not gotten around to using it for artwork files, but for getting my rom collections in synch with the XMLs from Hyper List, this is a wonderful tool.

My one feature request is, I think, related to what Bilbotorm and Dred have mentioned... I would love to see a feature where setting focus on a line item in the left panel (clicking on it) would force the right panel to automatically scroll up or down to a position where the matching rom is shown.

An example:
You are using RomManager to manage your NES romset. Your roms are already in pretty good shape compared to the NES XML, so after the initial scan, RomManager's (quite impressive) matching logic mostly chose correct matches. You find a bad match in the "A"s, and you correct the match in the right panel. You continue scrolling through the matches in the left panel, confirming that everything looks good, and now you find another mismatch somewhere in the "C"s. But you have not touched the right panel since the "A"s (a hundred roms ago), so now you must manually scroll down in the right panel, until you get to the "C"s, and find your correct rom match. What I'd like to see happen is, when you click on the mismatched rom on the left panel, the right panel automatically zooms down to the "C"s and shows the rom that RomManager thinks is the match. In most cases, this will put you in the general vicinity of the true correct match, and speed up the correction process greatly.

Again, just a suggestion, great application, thanks again for creating it and sharing it. :congrats:

-EVEGames

[MK2k]

HyperSpin RomManager has been updated with even more features requested by the you guys. This time with better user interface handling and a far less chance of false-positive matches in the scan engine.

Better User Interface handling
Thanks EVEGames and Bilbotorm

When browsing through the game list on the left side, you can have the file with the best match automatically selected on the right side.

This is now always done when the file list is sorted by the match column.

You can achieve this with the "Automatically scroll to best match" option checked when the list is unsorted or sorted by name.

Significant less chance of false-positive matches
Thanks Dred

After a scan, every false-positive match always had to be corrected by hand and this is more cumbersome the less files you have than expected by the database.

The chance for false-positive matches is significantly lowered with the option "Only keep best match", which, after the scan, checks for each file which game is the best match for it and removes every other match (potential false-positives).

Download

Get Version 1.1c from my website http://emulation-evolved.net

Still a few open questions I don't want to let unanswered:

Bilbotorm: I can't retrace your issue with the preferred words, can you give me a list of some of the files and a part of the xml file as well as your preferred word list?

Dred: Your issue with removing matches from the left list and having a different game selected afterwards. Sorry, I didn't work on that for this version, expect a fix on version 1.1d. If you didn't already knew, you can multi-select games on the left side by holding CTRL and clicking the rows (for individual selection) or SHIFT and clicking the rows (for selecting a range) this applies especially to your request of removing matches that weren't a certain percentage of match score or higher.

cheers

-- MK2k

[EVEGames]

:party:
:congrats::congrats::congrats::congrats::congrats: :congrats::congrats:
:party:

[EVEGames]

MK2k, just wanted to chime back in now that I have used your latest release, and I can report that the new features work exactly as described. Not only are the User Interface changes a big plus and a time-saver, but this change to minimize false-positives...I've only tried it with one system so far, but after doing 6 systems with the previous version, I can say that the quality of the matches has been GREATLY improved by this latest change. Like an order of magnitude better. Very impressive stuff. :beer:

-EVEGames

[MK2k]

Glad the new improvements work :)

[EVEGames]

MK2k,
Just want to report something minor that I have noticed with the software.
In a false-match situation, even after you have Deselected All, some kind of link persists to that initial bad match. It's hard to explain without an example...

Working on a Sega Genesis romset. Scrolling through the result set, and I notice that Hard Ball III got a false match to Bare Knuckle III. I click on Hard Ball III, the right panel zooms up to the "B"s to show that Bare Knuckle III is currently selected as the match. I click Deselect All. So far, so good.
So now in the left panel, I see that Hard Ball (part 1) got a TRUE match, so I click on Hard Ball, and the right panel zooms down from the "B"s to the "H"s, and shows me that the Hard Ball rom is properly selected, and I also see that I DO have a Hard Ball III rom in my set, so this is good, I can now fill in the correct match on Hard Ball III.

::Here comes the "something minor" that I noticed::

I click on Hard Ball III in the left panel, which currently shows no rom match (because I already deselected the false match previously), and I am expecting to be able to simply mouse over to the right panel and select the correct match, which is already showing, and move on. But to my surprise, when I click on Hard Ball III in the left panel, the right panel jumps back up to Bare Knuckle III. It has no checkmark next to it, but the program remembered that initial false match, and even after I deselected it, some kind of "link" remained.
So no big deal, I just had to scroll down to the "H"s again and choose the right rom, and went on my merry way. But just as an FYI, I wanted to report that back to you. :)

Thanks,
-EVEGames

[Halfaworldaway]

Great tool and i use it a lot, the only gripe i have with it is when you have a large set of roms to go thru, for example Gameboy Advance, when you click on "Deselect all" the main list always moves to the bottom, making it difficult to keep track of where you are.

[Halfaworldaway]

Another thing i have thought about this tool is if a rom file is already matching the xml for 100% then it should not show up as a possible match for a another missing rom file, it should be discounted as a possibility.

[MK2k]

Halfaworldaway: This is not entirely correct, take for example an emulator accepting multiple romfiles in a 7z, the 7z is the "RomFile" in the RomManager and you want to list some of them in the wheel, then you need to link this file to more than one game in the DB. Or you want to manage artwork with HSRMM and have the same screenshot for different versions of a game, same situation.

Thanks for the little user handling problem, it will be taken care of in the next version.

[Halfaworldaway]

Halfaworldaway: This is not entirely correct, take for example an emulator accepting multiple romfiles in a 7z, the 7z is the "RomFile" in the RomManager and you want to list some of them in the wheel, then you need to link this file to more than one game in the DB. Or you want to manage artwork with HSRMM and have the same screenshot for different versions of a game, same situation.

Thanks for the little user handling problem, it will be taken care of in the next version.

Keep up the good work.

[EVEGames]

Great tool and i use it a lot, the only gripe i have with it is when you have a large set of roms to go thru, for example Gameboy Advance, when you click on "Deselect all" the main list always moves to the bottom, making it difficult to keep track of where you are.

I don't have that problem, Halfaworldaway, Deselect All never makes my lists jump, either in the left or right panel... could it be because of the column you are sorting on in the right panel?

[kd5]

Will have to try this out, not a big fan of clrmame.

[haxman]

I really like this program, keep up the good work :).

One feature request, would it possible to just rename the files without having to copy the output files to another directory and thus take up 2x as much hard drive space?

[MK2k]

Renaming is against my own policy to not alter anything by the program (or a bug in the program). If you have trouble with hard disk space, big hard disks are incredibly cheap these days, consider getting a new one. I know that copying instead of renaming also takes more time but still it's better to take more time into account instead of losing beloved files due to a mistake or a wrong decision.

[rob3d]

Renaming is against my own policy to not alter anything by the program (or a bug in the program). If you have trouble with hard disk space, big hard disks are incredibly cheap these days, consider getting a new one. I know that copying instead of renaming also takes more time but still it's better to take more time into account instead of losing beloved files due to a mistake or a wrong decision.

This a great program but I think that's a bit unfortunate.

I'm not really concerned about hard disk space but the fact that I'm trying to separate correctly named No-Intro roms from GoodRoms that have no equivalent (Hacks and PD roms).

The current method leaves no way to separate clean results from leftovers that I would like to keep, unless I go through 1 by 1 and delete all the duplicates.

An alternative would be to have your program generate a batch file that reverses the process much like FatMatch does. Your program already generates a log of all processes that have occurred so generating a reversal batch would be very simple. Then you could add an "option" to delete source roms leaving no duplicates. Again that would be optional, so your policy would remain intact and users would have the ability to fix any "wrong decision" they may have made along the way using the "reverseRenamebat" file.

It really is a great program and ultimately all of its features are up to you, but I can tell you the option to delete or move the source roms instead of copy would have been very helpful to me today.

Just a thought. Thanks.

[MK2k]

I will think about that.

[checa]

This software looks great! I wish this came out earlier so I didn't have to learn how to edit the .xml files for each database...I'll try it out once I'm ready to switch

[mamalon]

Bravo !! bravo !!! braviiiiiiiisimo!!! :dancing2:

[eddykill]

This a great program but I think that's a bit unfortunate.

I'm not really concerned about hard disk space but the fact that I'm trying to separate correctly named No-Intro roms from GoodRoms that have no equivalent (Hacks and PD roms).

The current method leaves no way to separate clean results from leftovers that I would like to keep, unless I go through 1 by 1 and delete all the duplicates.

An alternative would be to have your program generate a batch file that reverses the process much like FatMatch does. Your program already generates a log of all processes that have occurred so generating a reversal batch would be very simple. Then you could add an "option" to delete source roms leaving no duplicates. Again that would be optional, so your policy would remain intact and users would have the ability to fix any "wrong decision" they may have made along the way using the "reverseRenamebat" file.

It really is a great program and ultimately all of its features are up to you, but I can tell you the option to delete or move the source roms instead of copy would have been very helpful to me today.

Just a thought. Thanks.

I would also like this "option"
Great Program... :top: