[grnt]

I have a few shows that feature double episodes. The problem with this is the second "episode" in the list is always redundant because it is simply playing the same file over again. I realise that this keeps this consistent but because the file is correctly labelled as a multi-episode file is there anyway to have Kodi name the file "Episode 1 & 2" or ignore the second one altogether?

I was reading about custom file names in the wiki

4.4 Using custom file names

Could this be used in any way to help with this sort of thing?

[jjd-uk]

If the episodes were aired as separate episodes and are listed as such on the online sites we scrape for info such as thetvdb.com, then a file which contains multi-episodes will always have multiple entries in the Library views. What you can do is create bookmarks so it starts playback at the correct point in the file, for example:

A file "Example show - S01E01E02E03"

You can create bookmarks for episode 2 and episode 3 to start at the relevant point in the file.

See Bookmarks#How-to_set_episode_bookmarks (wiki) for how to do this.

[pkscout]

I do wish there was a way to have the library show a single file, double episode item as one item. Why, because much of what I have is stuff recorded off of TV that I watch then delete. I have to know in advance (or notice on the timeline bar) that the thing I'm watching has two episodes so that I don't stop the playback at the end of the first episode and delete it. I've done that a couple of times and then obviously gotten a playback error when trying to watch the next episode. Thank goodness I do daily backups of my media drive.

[shad]

I've tried to solve the issue described in this topic several times and failed everytime so far. There are a lot of requests like this in different forums etc. covering a timeframe of quite some years now, which makes apparent, that there is a more or less common use case not covered by Kodi.

Neither bookmarks are ideal, nor splitting the multi part episode file into several single episode files, because there is often not really a scene that can be used for the cut. Plus it creates not necessary breaks when watching.

The simpliest would be an option in Kodi or via an .nfo file to simply mark the second entry for one two-episodes-file as "hidden". Scrappers and saving data wouldn't have to be touched. Just the data representation would have to be adjusted a bit. With another .nfo file namig the first entry like "<episode_name> 1 & 2" or something (that works already) one could indicate that it's a multi part episode / file.

More elegant solution would be to really combine contents of each part into one (plots, runtime etc.) - wouldn't be possible with everything and would require more work.

For me the first solution with just hidding redundant entries would be perfectly enough and definitely better than no solution at all.

Could this be considered, please?

[Karellen]

The simpliest would be an option in Kodi or via an .nfo file to simply mark the second entry for one two-episodes-file as "hidden". Scrappers and saving data wouldn't have to be touched. Just the data representation would have to be adjusted a bit. With another .nfo file namig the first entry like "<episode_name> 1 & 2" or something (that works already) one could indicate that it's a multi part episode / file.

More elegant solution would be to really combine contents of each part into one (plots, runtime etc.) - wouldn't be possible with everything and would require more work.

For me the first solution with just hidding redundant entries would be perfectly enough and definitely better than no solution at all.

You can already do that.
Open your nfo file. Delete the second batch of episode data. Edit the first episode data to whatever you like so it indicated there are two episodes there.

[shad]

Thank you for your feedback...

First I've tried this:
I've extracted the <tvshow> section from the videodb.xml file exported by Kodi after scraping that tv show.
I've saved that part in a new tvshow.nfo (correct location, UTF-8, correct first line) and
- edited the number of total episodes (reduced by one)
- removed the <episodedetails> section of the last episode, which was supposed to be the second part of the multi part episode
- edited the title of the episode, which became the last one now: "<title> Part 1&2". Name of the video file at this point: "S01E10-E11 <title> Part 1&2.mkv"

Then I updated the library and it's still the same as before (two entries for the multi part episode, both titles from TMDB), as if the nfo file isn't being applied. Not sure why.

Then I've extracted the <episodedetails> section and saved it as "S01E10-E11 <title> Part 1&2.nfo". This one got applied, but I still had one episode too much, while the title of the two last episodes was the one from the nfo file.

I had to rename my video file to "S01E10 <title> Part 1&2.mkv" to have just one entry in the database. So this would work.

I was curious why the first solution with the tvshow.nfo wasn't working, so I've tried it with the renamed video file. This time I had just one entry in the database and the correct number of total episodes, but the title was still the original one from TMDB, i.e. tvshow.nfo still wasn't recognized. Any idea why just for my understanding?

[Karellen]

First I've tried this:
I've extracted the <tvshow> section from the videodb.xml file exported by Kodi after scraping that tv show.
I've saved that part in a new tvshow.nfo (correct location, UTF-8, correct first line) and
- edited the number of total episodes (reduced by one)
- removed the <episodedetails> section of the last episode, which was supposed to be the second part of the multi part episode
- edited the title of the episode, which became the last one now: "<title> Part 1&2". Name of the video file at this point: "S01E10-E11 <title> Part 1&2.mkv"

Then I updated the library and it's still the same as before (two entries for the multi part episode, both titles from TMDB), as if the nfo file isn't being applied. Not sure why.

I wouldn't be doing it this way. It sounds like you exported to a Single File, which we don't recommend.

Export your library to Separate Files, which will create an nfo file next to each media item. Best not to export artwork, so answer no, and answer yes to Overwrite existing files, so it can delete any old nfo files that may be sitting there and replace them.
Open the episode nfo file and delete the second batch of <episodedetails>.
Delete the show from your library, and then rescan it so the changes take effect.

Editing the tvshow.nfo won't affect your episodes. You need to edit the episode nfo.

I recommend setting up a Portable Install if you are using Windows. This can be your test bed, and you can mess around with it as much as you want, and it won't affect your main install.
https://kodi.wiki/view/Portable_mode