Author Topic: Merged collection doesn't work  (Read 8115 times)

cassette

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 170
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
Merged collection doesn't work
« on: January 21, 2019, 05:22:24 AM »
Hey guys. I'm trying to set up a merged collection for my favorite games. To keep it simple I've started with a wii u.sub and a gamecube.sub file, listing each one game. The problem though is that they aren't retrieved correctly, and I can't launch them. The documentation says your settings.conf can be empty for a merged collection, but mine shows an empty merged collection if that's the case. The collection only shows games if inside the settings.conf file I add "list.includeMissingItems = true" - but if I do this retrieve no metadata from the hyperlists (so Smash Bros. for Wii U is named "cross_f"), and launching them does nothing.

So if anyone has a working merged collection please tell me how your file structure looks like.

Pieter Hulshoff

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1534
  • Karma: +46/-14
    • View Profile
    • Towel 42
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2019, 06:45:54 AM »
The names of the .sub files need to match the names of the collections. The names in the .sub files need to match the names of the roms.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

cassette

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 170
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2019, 08:18:29 AM »
Alright thanks! So it's case sensitive. My collection is GameCube so "gamecube.sub" wasn't matching it properly. It retrieves the metadata now, but they still don't launch. I have a settings.conf that says

Code: [Select]
list.romHierarchy =
list.includeMissingItems =
list.extensions =
list.menuSort =
launcher =
media.artwork_front = %BASE_MEDIA_PATH%/%ITEM_COLLECTION_NAME%/front
media.screenshot    = %BASE_MEDIA_PATH%/%ITEM_COLLECTION_NAME%/screenshot
media.video         = %BASE_MEDIA_PATH%/%ITEM_COLLECTION_NAME%/video

I tried adding a Sega Genesis games, to test out how it handled 3 launchers. RetroArch and Dolphin didn't open at all and I stayed on RetroFe when launching. When opening the Wii U game Cemu opened but didn't open the game. These are all working launchers when entering the individual collections.

When I look at the log it says:

[2019-01-21 05:14:01] [WARNING] [Launcher] Checking to see if "M:/Media/Games/Platform\Wii U\Turbo.rpx" exists  [No]
[2019-01-21 05:14:01] [WARNING] [Launcher] Could not find any files with the name "Turbo" in folder "M:/Media/Games/Platform\Wii U\
[2019-01-21 05:14:01] [INFO] [Launcher] Attempting to launch: "C:\Program Files\Cemu\cemu.exe" -f -g ""
[2019-01-21 05:14:01] [INFO] [Launcher]      from within folder: C:\Program Files\Cemu
[2019-01-21 05:14:08] [INFO] [Launcher] Completed

It seems to be trying to look for the file in the wrong folder. The Turbo.rpx file is located in "Wii U\Mario Kart 8\code". GameCube and Sega Gensis games are also inside folders so they fail because of it too. If I use "Mario Kart 8\code\Turbo" as the name of the game on Wii U.sub it works when launching, but obviously then it retrieves no metadata because there's no match.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2019, 08:21:51 AM by firewater »

jonny555

  • Guest
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2019, 01:42:16 PM »
Your log says it's looking for turbo in the wii u folder
When it should be looking in the wii u\Mario kart 8\code folder

cassette

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 170
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2019, 08:34:38 PM »
Yeah. So is that a bug or something wrong on my end?

jonny555

  • Guest
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2019, 09:32:10 PM »
I don't think but could be wrong is the .sub will work like that because the games or extension are in there game folders

How do you normally launch Mario kart when there in there own folders with launcher.conf and settings.conf in that collection

I had this with a list of pc games in there own folders wouldn't find the individual  .exes in there folders

cassette

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 170
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2019, 09:58:45 PM »
Yes all my games are in subfolders. For example, "Sega Genesis > Sonic The Hedgehog 3 > Sonic The Hedgehog 3.zip". It's unusual with games like that, but I keep it as a standard because for certain systems like PlayStation or Dreamcast it's a must to use subfolders due to the way those files work, unless you want to convert bin/cue to chd. Not to mention how messy a folder for those system would look without subfolders.

I launch Mario Kart 8 from Cemu from that "code" subfolder from the Wii U collection just fine with this launcher.conf:
Code: [Select]
executable = C:\Program Files\Cemu\cemu.exe
arguments = -f -g "%ITEM_FILEPATH%"
And this is my settings.conf for Wii U:
Code: [Select]
list.romHierarchy = true
list.includeMissingItems = true
list.extensions = rpx
list.menuSort = true
launcher = cemu
media.artwork_front = %BASE_MEDIA_PATH%/%ITEM_COLLECTION_NAME%/front
media.screenshot    = %BASE_MEDIA_PATH%/%ITEM_COLLECTION_NAME%/screenshot
media.video         = %BASE_MEDIA_PATH%/%ITEM_COLLECTION_NAME%/video

Pieter Hulshoff

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1534
  • Karma: +46/-14
    • View Profile
    • Towel 42
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2019, 07:41:53 PM »
RetroFE can scan recursively, but it's off by default, and can be turned on per collection. Scanning directories takes time, hence the default off setting.

cassette

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 170
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2019, 02:57:13 AM »
Could you test if that works for merged collections too? All my collections have "list.romHierarchy = true" on their settings.conf, and I've made a settings.conf for this merged collection just including "list.romHierarchy = true" too, but the log shows that it's still looking for just the main directory.

jonny555

  • Guest
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2019, 07:26:36 PM »
Hi could you tell us where the default setting is or updated
Docs please

Pieter Hulshoff

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1534
  • Karma: +46/-14
    • View Profile
    • Towel 42
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2019, 07:42:53 PM »
Hi could you tell us where the default setting is or updated
Docs please
http://www.retrofe.nl/wiki/doku.php?id=settings.conf

cassette

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 170
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2019, 05:18:24 AM »
After extensive testing I'm sure there's a bug with merged collection and recursive search. I'll illustrate it with an example were I'm using the launcher below for a PlayStation collection.

Code: [Select]
arguments = "%ITEM_DIRECTORY%\%ITEM_NAME%\%ITEM_NAME%.chd" -L "cores\mednafen_psx_libretro.dll"
Opening Tekken, located in "Games\System\PlayStation\Tekken\Tekken.chd" from the PlayStation collection:
Code: [Select]
[2019-01-26 01:57:59] [INFO] [Launcher] Checking to see if "M:/Media/Games/System\PlayStation\Tekken\Tekken.chd" exists  [Yes]
[2019-01-26 01:57:59] [INFO] [Launcher] Attempting to launch: "C:\Program Files\RetroArch\retroarch.exe" "M:/Media/Games/System\PlayStation\Tekken\\Tekken\Tekken.chd" -L "cores\mednafen_psx_libretro.dll"
[2019-01-26 01:57:59] [INFO] [Launcher]      from within folder: C:\Program Files\RetroArch
It does not load, as the directory is wrong.

Opening it from a merged collection:
Code: [Select]
[2019-01-26 02:10:22] [WARNING] [Launcher] Checking to see if "M:/Media/Games/System\PlayStation\Tekken.chd" exists  [No]
[2019-01-26 02:10:22] [WARNING] [Launcher] Checking to see if "M:/Media/Games/System\PlayStation\Tekken.m3u" exists  [No]
[2019-01-26 02:10:22] [WARNING] [Launcher] Could not find any files with the name "Tekken" in folder "M:/Media/Games/System\PlayStation\
[2019-01-26 02:10:22] [INFO] [Launcher] Attempting to launch: "C:\Program Files\RetroArch\retroarch.exe" "M:/Media/Games/System\PlayStation\\Tekken\Tekken.chd" -L "cores\mednafen_psx_libretro.dll"
It loads the game. Also notice how the "checking to see" lines have different results, even though it's the same argument used for both collections.

My conclusion is that merged collections remove 1 level for the folder structure when loading a game. This is also why when using "%ITEM_FILEPATH%" as argument, the merged collection doesn't work, because it removes the subfolder the game is located in.

Pieter Hulshoff

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1534
  • Karma: +46/-14
    • View Profile
    • Towel 42
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #12 on: January 26, 2019, 06:18:34 PM »
Another item on my todo list then I guess... I’m planning some major development time soon anyway in order to support several single board computers, so I’ll slide this issue in as well.

Agent47

  • Global Moderator
  • Full Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 160
  • Karma: +7/-41
    • View Profile
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #13 on: January 26, 2019, 06:41:43 PM »
Are you planning to work on other requested features or are you solely concentrating on SoC compatibility/optimizations?

Pieter Hulshoff

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1534
  • Karma: +46/-14
    • View Profile
    • Towel 42
Re: Merged collection doesn't work
« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2019, 08:29:37 PM »
Are you planning to work on other requested features or are you solely concentrating on SoC compatibility/optimizations?

I don't think there's a lot of compatibility involved; if the libraries are there, then it should work very quickly. I just envision adding more features in order to accommodate people who are working with these boards to set up emulation platforms. As such, I plan to have a look at all requested features, and see in which order I can add them. I'm also hoping I'll get some programming help from the people involved with these projects.