GoodSet named themes

[fata1err0r]

Can I forward a motion that all non mame themes have names that correspond to a rom in their corresponding GoodSet? I noticed all the n64 boxes are (USA).png, when all my roms are [U] [!].zip etc..... ?

[brian_hoffman]

We are using no-intro. Im working on a gba set right now and thats verified using CLRMAMEPRO and the dat "PocketHeaven_GBA_Release_List_Roms(2808)[CM]"

Prepare yourself :)

[Ego-X]

The problem with Goodsets is they haven't been updated in a long while and ironically have far too many roms that are NOT good.

The convention been used here is based on no-intro dat's which only include official releases and are still been maintained.

You can find the dat's here http://forums.no-intro.org/viewforum.php?f=3

Some of your collections will unfortunately require a little work, NES roms for eg use the sfc format now, but hey it'll keep you out of mischief for a while :D

[fata1err0r]

Damn, I just finished getting 100% of all the good sets! My obsessive compulsive rom collecting will keep me off the streets :eek:

[brian_hoffman]

you CAN make a nointro set from a goodset ya know.. Un goodmerge the roms.. D/L a no intor dat.. Use CLRMAME PRO to rename and move the files that match the dat.. Call it a day.

[fata1err0r]

Phew, what a relief :p

[joebells]

yeah no-intro is way, way better. The philosophy from the no-intro guys is to only keep the ironically "good" versions. If a game was re-released with fixes then they keep both versions. If the game was never released they will keep the prototype. They also keep the betas since it is technically a different version and sometimes there are some cool things in the betas that didn't make it to the final version. What they don't include are all the bad dumps and other useless crap. They are also named better. Plus like ego-x said no-intro is updated more. Plus you can go to their forums and see what they are doing, why they are naming how they are and such.

Cowering did alot of work and was very helpful to rom collectors with his good tools but he was so private in the way that he did it and such, and he doesn't allow dats using his info to be made and distributed anymore to verify your roms you have to use his good tools.

I had a nice little thing written up on the old forums I was going to copy and paste but it wouldn't let me into the individual threads on the board just view the main boards.

When you are using clrmamepro just use the www profiler feature and add this address http://www.no-intro.org/no-intro.zip and it'll download all the dats right from the no-intro website for you. When you go to scan a couple of them they will say they need a certain header file I think it will be atari lynx, nes and the famicom disk system. You can check the clrmamepro download folder and it might have the downloaded zip files in there. If so just open up the downloads for those systems and you'll see an xml file. Copy the xml file to the header folder in the clrmamepro directory and then restart clrmamepro and it should recognize that it has the header file now. If the zip files don't show up in the clrmamepro download folder then you can go here to download the dats you need individually http://www.no-intro.org/datset.htm

Also a few of the dats aren't kept there they have a new(nice system) that they are slowly moving their dats over to called dat-o-matic. It allows you to create custom dats that match your specifications like usa roms only or english text/speech roms only. Here is the address for that http://datomatic.no-intro.org/?page=download just choose the system you need a dat for from the drop down list choose your options and then click download. You'll have to get n64 there for sure.

the n64 is a bit of a bear too you'll possibly have to convert your n64 roms to a different format. I wrote some instructions here http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/wiki/Changing_Nintendo_64_roms_from_GoodTools_format_to _No-Intro_format that should help you I also see that clrmamepro comes with two header files for n64. you might be able to get clrmamepro to recognise them with one of the two header files.

good luck you'll have to hunt for some roms for some systems as you'll probably not end up with full sets.

[joebells]

We are using no-intro. Im working on a gba set right now and thats verified using CLRMAMEPRO and the dat "PocketHeaven_GBA_Release_List_Roms(2808)[CM]"

Prepare yourself :)

brian I am curious as to why you would use the pocketheaven when there is the better(in my opinion at least) official no-intro non numbered(or if you really want numbered for some reason you can check the numbered box but who really wants them numbered when the numbers really aren't even meaningful) release right here

http://datomatic.no-intro.org/?page=download

just choose game boy advanced from the dropdown list and then click download and it'll generate the latest dat on the fly. I personally really think that is the way to go especially since we are using no-intro for everything else why change for just one system. The numbers really are meaningless. They are supposed to be by release date but aren't quite right. Hope I don't sound rude or anything I'm really just curious and really think that the no-intro dat is better.

[brian_hoffman]

Well the short answer is my set was already named and verified to that release. I also figured that more people than me got the same set from the same location. So All they would have to do is point to thier rom directory and use the supplied gamelist and call it a day.

Hmmm...... Im not so far into this I cant start over... Ill think about it.
Whats everyone else think?

[joebells]

consistency, consistency, consistency :D

[fata1err0r]

Thanks for the good info, yeah there are a few that i seem to be missing after merging... but it feels so much cleaner to navigate my roms now.

As far as the pocketheaven released dat, i agree with joebells as far as consistency and for my ds roms i abandoned their dat for the advanscene once as it seems to be more standard. But im not sure how they compare as far as gba. I find the numbering system usefull for current games for the ds so know where im up to when trying out new ones, but for older systems its less usefull.