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[RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - Printable Version

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[RELEASE] Rom Collection Browser - Browse and launch emulator game ROMs - malte - 2010-03-17



Current stable version (Kodi Krypton & Leia): 2.2.4
Matrix compatible version: Matrix branch
Current development version (Matrix only): Current Git version
Changelog

Project homepage (Github)
FAQ
Documentation
XBMCNerds thread (german forum)
Support thread for RetroPlayer integration


Note: If you want to use solo mode you have to install the RCB service addon. It should be installed automatically with RCB, otherwise you'll find it in the category "Services" of the Kodi repo.
Since release 2.2.0 there is a supplement addon called "Rom Collection Browser widget". This can be used to get your games on Kodis home screen. More info how to install and configure the widget can be found here.

Features

Game Import / Scraping
  • scan your rom folders and import games to local database
  • scrape artwork and game info from various online sources
  • import local available data (descriptions, artwork, videos)
  • results from all different scrape processes can be mixed together
  • supports background scraping
  • two scraping modes: "Automatic: Accurate" and "Interactive: Select Matches"
  • create local nfo files while scraping (option to reimport local files without scraping online)
  • create scrape result files (missing artwork, missing descriptions, possible mismatches)
  • import options dialog: select Rom Collection and scraper on every game import

Game Browsing
  • filter games by console, genre, year, publisher and first character
  • automatic video playback in video window
  • game details page
  • select RCB skin independent of your Kodi default skin
  • available skins: Estuary, Confluence, Night, Simplicity
  • mark games as favorites
  • search games by name (or part of the name)
  • configurable image placing (choose filetype for background, gamelist, etc.)
  • fully skinnable UI: already skinned for Confluence, Night and Carmichael (other skins will use the Confluence look and feel)
  • dedicated MAME views to display cabinets and marquees

Game Launching
  • launch roms and standalone games in solo or non-solo mode (solo mode quits XBMC and relaunches it when you quit the emulator)
  • supports direct launching of savestate files
  • detect games in zip and 7z archives and ask user which game to load
  • support loading multiple roms at once (e.g. with uae)
  • store game launch count in db
  • restore viewstate when returning to RCB


RCB scrapes data from these sites (don't forget to visit, register and contribute!): Good ressource for game videos and artwork:


Screenshots

Screenshot Gallery


If you have any problems running this script please report your error here including a Kodi log file.

Have fun with it!

malte

____________________________
Donations for this addon gratefully accepted.

- gobbledigook - 2010-03-18

this looks like a fantastic plugin Smile

thanx for all your hard work!! i will check this out on my ubuntu box a bit later on and let you know how i get on Smile

- Eldorado - 2010-03-18

Without being able to try this yet, so just going from the screenshots.. is the browsing of roms done by scrolling side to side?

How about listing just the Game/Rom names as a top down list on the left or right hand side of the screen allowing page up/down functionality, and on the opposite side showcase the cover graphic and all other game information. This way you could see 20-30 game names at a time depending on font size etc.

Some of us have rather LARGE collections of ROMS.. much larger than movie collections. Scrolling side to side with only 4 games showing at a time would take forever for me to get to the M's...Smile

The selection items at the top of the screen seem to take up a good deal of screen real estate.. as they are (I'm assuming) a way to search & filter, maybe can they be put off into a side/top menu that hides away? This would give you more room to show case the box art and in-game screen shot, as well as all the other info

Just throwing out some ideas!

The coming soon Doom screenshot looks great!

Thanks for the hard work done, I've been waiting for awhile for a games library that has a emulator functionality such as this!

- malte - 2010-03-18

gobbledigook Wrote:i will check this out on my ubuntu box a bit later on and let you know how i get on
great! really would like to get some feedback.

Eldorado Wrote:How about listing just the Game/Rom names as a top down list on the left or right hand side of the screen
This is planned for version V0.5 or later. I woud like to implement this as an additional view so you can choose which one you prefer.

Eldorado Wrote:as they are (I'm assuming) a way to search & filter, maybe can they be put off into a side/top menu that hides away?
Yes, they are a way to filter. I like the idea to hide them, they are really wasting space. If I find out how this can be done I will try to add this. Actually the UI is just a very quick and loveless hack. In one of the next iterations I will spend more time in cosmetics. But any input regarding this is welcome.

- gobbledigook - 2010-03-19

hey there!

I tried this last night on my ubuntu server install, unfortunatly it didn't work!! i tried the test scenario, just to get a feel... but when i click on the script i get a little box at teh bottom left hand corner saying "script failed to start: Rom Collection Browser" or similar! i have checked the permissions and made sure that the applaunch.sh file was executable Sad

i followed the nstructions as per the docs page... but will double check this eve and let you know how i get on Smile the config.xml file looks fairly simple to follow in order to customise... but will get the test scenario working first Smile

- malte - 2010-03-19

Uh, thats bad. Sounds like a basic error...

Is it the first time you want to launch it or did you already import something and now receive this error?

If it is the first time you launch it, "applaunch.sh" should not be the problem. It is only used when you start an emulator in solo mode.

Are you already using an "autoexec.py" to start something automatically while launching XBMC? RCB tries to backup your original "autoexec.py" and needs write access to your scripts directory. But I think this only happens when you already launched an emulator in solo mode.

Please try this again and have a look at your xbmc log file. You should get an error message at the end of the file. Please post it here.

regards,
malte

- malte - 2010-03-22

I have finished V0.4 now.

New features:
- Game info view: support for more image types, more detailed game info and videos (see 2nd screenshot in opening post)
- configurable image placing: you can configure the file types that are shown in the different image controls
- dynamic image types: you can define your own image types (e.g. ingame screenshots, title screenshots, ...) and use this categories to configure image placing

Please view documentation for more info about how to update from previous version or how to install from scratch.

- TioSolid - 2010-03-22

Im currently using MaximusArcade to launch my roms and I can say that an internal plugin is very very welcome. Keep the nice work!

- AoOs - 2010-03-22

Good work, man.

Here is the original topic:
http://209.85.135.132/search?q=cache:UH4HuUdhiJgJ:forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php%3Ft%3D71180+nes+emulator+xmbc+forum+aoos&cd=1&hl=da&ct=clnk

Google cached.

- malte - 2010-03-23

Hi AoOs,

thanks for the hint and for bringing in the google cache idea.

I have found my old thread here (but I hope I have all information here in the new one):
http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:1YJdlYCliLEJ:forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php%3Fp%3D521548+site:forum.xbmc.org+xbmc+rom+collection+browser&cd=4&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de

For your Request Thread: I think this should work with RCB but depends on your NFO file format. Is there an "official" or already known NFO file format or did you think about creating your own one? I am planning to add support for xml description files in a later release and it would be nice to have some real world input files.

regards,
malte

- garyi - 2010-03-23

I wish just basic instructions could be provided, where do I put the roms for instance?

Secondly I have launched it but there appears to be no way back, I can navigate around the plugin but there is no menus or anything to quit it.

- gobbledigook - 2010-03-23

have you tried escape? or double/triple right-click?

- malte - 2010-03-23

garyi Wrote:I wish just basic instructions could be provided, where do I put the roms for instance?

I was hoping the documentation about setting up the test scenario (http://code.google.com/p/romcollectionbrowser/wiki/Main#Setup_test_scenario) is as basic as possible. It is not done with just putting the roms somewhere. You have to tell this script where it can find your roms and where to look for additional data by editing the config.xml file. Most properties in this file should be self explanating and the rest is explained in the projects wiki.

garyi Wrote:Secondly I have launched it but there appears to be no way back

You can use any button that is associated with a cancel dialog or close action to exit the script. With a keyboard it will be the escape key like gobbledigook suggested.

- AoOs - 2010-03-24

malte Wrote:Hi AoOs,

thanks for the hint and for bringing in the google cache idea.

I have found my old thread here (but I hope I have all information here in the new one):
http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:1YJdlYCliLEJ:forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php%3Fp%3D521548+site:forum.xbmc.org+xbmc+rom+collection+browser&cd=4&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de

For your Request Thread: I think this should work with RCB but depends on your NFO file format. Is there an "official" or already known NFO file format or did you think about creating your own one? I am planning to add support for xml description files in a later release and it would be nice to have some real world input files.

regards,
malte

Too keep it as simple as possible: the format that XBMC herself (yes, it's a she) uses would be appropriate.

Try exporting your movie library (a good backup anyway) seperately. You will end up with altered NFOs in your movie directories, which are formatted by XBMC.

We could reuse the tags for publisher, year, and make our own tag for developers.

My wish is that your plugin will follow the current skin the user has applied (in my case Aeon65). I could make flags (I'm a former professional graphic designer) for all the developers and publishers - just to make it really crisp -- but only for the Aeon skins.

- BORIStheBLADE - 2010-03-24

Nice work! when I get a chance I will have to try it out.