[steve1977]

I know I can use this via addons, but prefer to do it manually until the games library will be implemented.

What arttwork is supported for games? How to name it?

[Wintermute0110]

I know I can use this via addons, but prefer to do it manually until the games library will be implemented.

What arttwork is supported for games? How to name it?

Since there is no games library, the only way to display artwork now is using addons.

About artwork naming: the non-written agreement is to name images or trailers or manuals like the ROMs, with different extensions. This agreement is followed by most frontends and downloadable artwork collections.

Addons: if you use IAGL it will use online artwork. In RCB, you can use the scrapers to download artwork or use locally available artwork. If you use AEL or AML, currently you can only use locally available artwork. In AEL the scrapers currently don't work and AML doesn't have scrapers.

Note that in the AEL and AML threads you have links where you can download full artwork collections. As an example, a complete MAME artwork collection is about 50 GB.

[goldsac]

I know I can use this via addons, but prefer to do it manually until the games library will be implemented.

What arttwork is supported for games? How to name it?

Since there is no games library, the only way to display artwork now is using addons.

About artwork naming: the non-written agreement is to name images or trailers or manuals like the ROMs, with different extensions. This agreement is followed by most frontends and downloadable artwork collections.

Addons: if you use IAGL it will use online artwork. In RCB, you can use the scrapers to download artwork or use locally available artwork. If you use AEL or AML, currently you can only use locally available artwork. In AEL the scrapers currently don't work and AML doesn't have scrapers.

Note that in the AEL and AML threads you have links where you can download full artwork collections. As an example, a complete MAME artwork collection is about 50 GB. 

I've been holding back on doing all my artwork naming for this very reason - I want to be sure of things, so I don't end up having to do it all again, and again, and..

Good to hear that there is some understanding a-brewing, though. Question: When naming, say, a logo, which would be considered correct according to your understanding:

1. Black Belt (USA, Europe).png
or
2. Black Belt (USA, Europe)-logo.png

I personally vie for option 2, as it leaves the option for other PNG files which don't happen to be a logo. Plus, it would be consistent with the way Kodi's video library nomenclature works. Either way, I can't wait for the games library to become a thing; it's going to be beautiful.

[Wintermute0110]

@goldsac Approach 1) is correct and approach 2) is wrong. Approach 1) is how the Libretro artwork collection is organised, and many others like ProgrettoSNAPs. For example, this is how I keep my ROMs organised (if you use Windows change /home/kodi/ with E:/):

Code:

/home/kodi/AEL-ROMs/sega-genesis/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).zip
...

And this is the artwork:

Code:

/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/banners/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).png
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/boxbacks/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).png
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/boxfronts/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).png
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/cartridges/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).png
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/clearlogos/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).png
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/fanarts/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).png
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/flyers/
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/manuals/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).pdf
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/maps/
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/snaps/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).png
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/titles/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).png
/home/kodi/AEL-assets/sega-genesis/trailers/Sonic the Hedgehog (Europe).mp4

Yes, scheme 2) is how Kodi organises artwork for media, but games are not media. For example, suppose that Kodi chooses scheme 2) for the games database. A user has a No-Intro SNES collection, about 2500 ROMs. All artwork collections are organised as 1), so if you download the artwork collections then you will need to rename 2500 X number_of_asset_files. You say: Sure, but Kodi can use the scrapers to download all the artwork with the correct name. OK. Now, the size of a MAME artwork collection (including manuals) is 50 GB. 50 GB! And we are talking just about one platform (arcade).

Scheme 2) works OK for small collections, maybe a 100 Movies, or ROMs, or whatever. But when we are talking about games there are about 200.000 items out there. If the database designers choose scheme 2) instead of 1) that would be a fatal mistake, in my opinion.

Once Kodi gets the games database, the final results is going to be pretty similar to what you can get currently with addons! Kodi has a modular design, so a Python addon can provide the same metadata and artwork (even more by extending Kodi default capabilities). When Kodi has the games DB certainly game loading is going to be faster, but the visuals pretty much the same. This is a sample of what you can get right now combining AEL with Lyrebird skin