Super GameBase in the works (SNES)

[Retro-Nerd]

Originally Posted by Belgarath

Remember there's also GameBasePlayer which is a replacement for the GameBase frontend and doesn't have the 320x200 limitation.

http://gbplayer.xiik.net/

Yep, that's true. The unscaled shots looks fine with the GameBasePlayer. Just forgot about it. Once again.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Belgarath

Remember there's also GameBasePlayer which is a replacement for the GameBase frontend and doesn't have the 320x200 limitation.

http://gbplayer.xiik.net/

Really have to try this now Thanks for the info Belgarath

[DamienD]

Nice idea / work so far Retroplay

I really should have done something like that when I created my SNES DVD. Speaking of which, I should probably update it with latest emulators / front-end

[Retroplay]

I was contacted by AAG regarding a GameBasePlayer profile at GB64 forum.
Does anybody have some nice SFC/SNES themed backdrops?

[andy]

Retroplay, just to add to your options, IrfanView will do batch conversions too.

It's nice to see your work-in-progress (thanks for sharing!) and I'll try to follow how things are going with it. Good luck!

[Anubis]

Me like your project!

Can't wait for beta version. (goes and finds his no-intro SNES set )

[Retroplay]

Thanks for all the positive responses, it really helps motivating me even more.
Now, I have a question regarding the GB frontend, SNES emus and ips patching on-the-fly.
If a game have more than one translation, say german, swedish, spanish etc., how exactly do I setup a working config?
As you probably know Snes9x, ZSNES etc need to have the ips patch in the same folder as the game with an identical name.
That makes it impossible for me to have more than one translation for a game, unless I apply the patch to the games.
If I do it this way I could always create a 7zip archive containing all patched games to save space.
Any thoughts on this?

[TCD]

Just a thought : What about putting all translations (if there is more than one) in the dir, but with an additional suffix (for example .en for english, .fr for french or .de for german). Then copy the wanted file to <filename>.ips before starting the emulator. I don't know if you can trigger that with Gemus, but I think that would be the easiest way.

[Retroplay]

If I change the suffix the emulator don't see the patch.
Also not all patches are ips files, some are in Ninja format which can't be applied in emulators on-the-fly.
Maybe the best solution would be to apply a given rom with the different patches available for it, then create a 7zip archive.
Something like this

Chrono Trigger (Translated).7z/
Chrono Trigger (Italian).sfc
Chrono Trigger (German).sfc
Chrono Trigger (Russian).sfc

Just like a goodmerged set, however the question is does GB even support 7z archives ?

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

If I change the suffix the emulator don't see the patch.

What I meant is something like this :

Chrono Trigger.smc
Chrono Trigger.ips.de
Chrono Trigger.ips.fr

If the german version is chosen you copy 'Chrono Trigger.ips.de' to 'Chrono Trigger.ips' and then start the emulation. If the english version is chosen you would delete 'Chrono Trigger.ips' if it exists.
I don't think Gamebase supports 7-Zip, but maybe you can trigger a batch file that does that. Belgarath should know if that is possible

[Retroplay]

Aah like that, yes that should be doable, however it still won't work with non ips patches tho.
This really makes me wonder just how many man hours Belgarath and the GB64 team spent on their respective projects, I mean it's ALOT of work.

[Belgarath]

yeh you can run batch files with gemus and for 7z support you can use 7za.exe which is a command line version of 7zip

[Retro-Nerd]

Rename the original rom and use this copy for other translations, then you don't have problems. You could do a dat file then for the correct names.

[Belgarath]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

Aah like that, yes that should be doable, however it still won't work with non ips patches tho.
This really makes me wonder just how many man hours Belgarath and the GB64 team spent on their respective projects, I mean it's ALOT of work.

I worked on GB Amiga pretty much every day for a full year before the first release.

[TCD]

Just looked at the Gemus doc and Run_Program shouid make it possible to add (almost) any functionality by calling command line programs. For example '7za.exe' like Sir Belgarath said

[Belgarath]

I've just knocked this up for ips files

it's very rough and ready though and assumes several things

all patches must reside is a Patches directory in the same directory as the database
all the english patches are in a subdir called English, all french in French etc etc.
all patches have been renamed to match the romname

oh and the games directory has been added as a second extras path

If VersionComment CONTAINS(English)
Set_CFG_Item(%dbpath%\ips.bat||copy||||"%dbpath%\patches\english\%gamefilenoext%.ips" "%gbgamepath%\rezip\")
Run_Program(%dbpath%\ips.bat||||wait)
Add_CLP(%gamepathfile%)
Run_Emulator()

Else

Add_CLP(%gamepathfile%)
Run_Emulator()

End If

you then add an extra, call it english ver but point it to the original rom then for the version comment you put english.

this will unzip the game, and unzip the corresponding patch to gamebases temp dir
oh and you must let gamebase unzip the games rather then using the emus native zip support

oh and the batch file will be automatically created.

edit: I don't expect you to use this as like i said it's rather rough, but it shows the sort of thing you can do.

[Retro-Nerd]

@RP

I see another problem for on-the-fly IPS patching. Some fan translations needs a rom with a header, some works only without a header.

[TCD]

If you want I can set a Gemus script for 7-Zip support up Retroplay. It could also have a switch if it should instead use the IPS method Thanks for the example Belgarath The VersionComment seems the right place to store the information.

[Retroplay]

Great
As I'm just starting to learn this GB scripting thingie this is much appreciated.
Thanks alot.

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

@RP

I see another problem for on-the-fly IPS patching. Some fan translations needs a rom with a header, some don't.

Yeah I guess I have to add pre patched versions of those that require headers like I have to add pre patched games with the Ninja (ups) patches.

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

If you want I can set a Gemus script for 7-Zip support up Retroplay.

Sure go ahead.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

Sure go ahead.

Okay, I'll make one tomorrow. I will also add some comments so you can enhance (and fix ) it yourself.