How do you manage you Retropie Romsets?

[Everett1954]

Hi,

 

As I have many emulation systems, I have gathered a ton of roms. There are many duplicates, hacks, misspellings, PAL etc.. All in different formats, ZIP, .bin etc.

 

The only way I see of cleaning them up is manually.

 

Does anyone have any better suggestions?

 

Also, I know what (U) (E) and (J) stand for but what about roms with (a1) (B2) (!) mean?

 

How did you clean up yours and what was the results.?

[Flojomojo]

I don't use this, but it would help you understand how and why they're sorted this way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoodTools

[+Gemintronic]

I think it's generally a no-no to talk about ROMz. So, I'll talk from my experience backing up my own cartridges.

 

Basically, you want to differentiate between backup attempts. Depending on your device, cart condition and luck your output file may be different. Sometimes a particular backup will work better on one emulator or another. So, I get adding a (a1) or b2) or whatever to the end of your personal backups.

[Keatah]

E1954, no.. Naming conventions are a little-discussed bane of backups. There are so many possibilities and variations. Everyone thinks their's is the best. There is no established procedure or method.Can't give any suggestions because what works for me may or may not work for you.

[Keatah]

Basically, you want to differentiate between backup attempts.

 

There should only be one correct output file. Either it matches the contents or it does not. Differences = errors.

[+Gemintronic]

If you're backing up, say, a weird Asian unlicensed game with a funky mapper you may have better luck with one dumper than another. There is no perfect dump in some cases. Thus alternates are (a1), (a2) etc..

 

If you're darned sure it was the best, most reproducible backup then put a ! on it.

 

These are just the conventions I'm familiar with and use myself. There's no right answer.

[mr_me]

I just leave the names according to the goodtools standards, including the few wrong names. Can they be contacted to suggest changes for their database? Some roms may not be in their database and aren't named by the tools.

 

I thought a/a1/a2 indicate known rom variations eg. running rom changes or updates.

[NE146]

I never understood what was the point of having (B) roms. I mean..by definition, they're BAD I end up deleting them if I find them (del *[b*, etc.)

 

I have a hard time with roms too to be honest.. I have so many various collections of them dating back to the mid 90's, and while I like having "complete" sets w/goodtools on my computer or on Everdrive carts, for other purposes like for the xbox, wii, or the retropie setups, I like having relatively pruned sets where I don't care about PAL, or dups, or alternates. As much as possible, I just want one single entry of Pitfall to show, yknow what I mean. Easier said than done a lot of times. The "no-intro" sets are a pretty good step in the right direction, but you'll still probably find things you'd want differently.

Edited February 18, 2017 by NE146

[Flojomojo]

There are some very nice curated sets of ROMs built just for the Everdrive. I think they were compiled by someone who goes by the name Smokemonster.

[+TwentySixHundred]

Standard codes
Good code Meaning of code Explanation
[!] Verified good dump The ROM is an exact copy of the original game; it has not had any hacks or modifications.
[a] Alternative version The ROM is a copy of an alternative release of the game. Many games have been re-released to fix bugs or to eliminate Game Genie codes.
Bad dump A ROM image which has been corrupted because the original game is very old, because of a faulty dumper (bad connection) or during its upload to a release server. These ROMs often have graphic errors or sometimes don't work at all.
[f] Fixed dump A fixed dump is a ROM that has been altered to run better on a flashcart or an emulator.
[h] Hacked ROM The ROM has been user modified, with examples being changing the internal header or country codes, applying a release group intro, or editing the game's content.
[o] Overdumped ROM The ROM contains more data than the original game. This extra data is useless and doesn't affect the game at all; it just makes the ROM bigger.
[p] Pirated version A dump of a pirated version of a game. These ROMs often have their copyright messages or company names removed or corrupted. Also, many ROMs contain "intro" screens with the name and symbols of the pirate group that have released them.
[t] Trained version A trainer (special code which executes before starting the actual game) has been added to the ROM. It allows the player to access cheats from a menu or ingame.
[!p] Pending dump This is the closest dump to the original game to date, but the proper ROM is still waiting to be dumped.
Country codes
Country code Country
(A) Australia
(As) Asia
(B) Brazil
© Canada
(Ch) China
(D) Netherlands (Dutch)
(E) Europe
(F) France
(G) Germany
(Gr) Greece
(HK) Hong Kong
(I) Italy
(J) Japan
(K) Korea
(Nl) Netherlands
(No) Norway
® Russia
(S) Spain
(Sw) Sweden
(U) United States
(UK) United Kingdom
(W) World
(Unl) Unlicensed
(PD) Public domain, free software and freeware
(Unk) Unknown country
Universal codes
Code Meaning of code
(NG-Dump Known) No good dump has been found
(REVXX) Revision number (00 is earliest)
(VX.X) Version number (1.0 is earliest)
(M#) Multilanguage; # of languages (selectable by a menu)
[T+XXX] Most recent translation
[T-XXX] Obsolete translation
??-in-1 Pirate multicart
(Vol #) Official multicart
(GCN) GameCube rip
(VC) Games from Nintendo Wii Virtual Console (mostly LCD/epilepsy patches)
[h#C] Hacked internal cartridge information
[h#+#C] Hacked internal cartridge information; #th variant
[hI] Hacked dumping group intro
[hIR] Hacked dumping group intro removed
[M] Mono-color game
(Alpha) Alpha version
(Beta) Beta version
(Prototype) Prototype version
(Pre-Release) Pre-release version
(Kiosk Demo) Demonstration version available at Kiosks
(Hack) ROM hack
(Menu) Multicart menu, unselectable options
ZZZ_UNK Unclassified ROM
BIOS Copy of console's basic in/out system
(N64DD) Nintendo 64DD ROM
(##MBit) ROM size in megabits
(##k) ROM size in kilobits
(19XX) Release year (20th Century)
(20XX) Release year (21st Century)
(Atmos) Atmos ROM (GoodOric only)
(Telestrat) Telestrat ROM (GoodOric only)
[R] RSID format (GoodPSID only)
(old) Old version
[R-XXX] Language
(SC-3000) SC-3000 cartridge (GoodSMS only)
(SG-1000) SG-1000 cartridge (GoodSMS only)
(SF-7000) SF-7000 cartridge (GoodSMS only)
(GG2SMS) Master System mode (GoodGG only)
(Cart) Cartridge format
(Adam) ADAM version (GoodCol only)
(Compilation) The ROM is a dump of a compilation
(Ch-Trad) Pirate traditional Chinese game
(Ch-Simple) Pirate simple Chinese game
[f#C] Hack, only cart name is changed
[f#+#C] Hack, only cart name is changed; #th variant
(PAL) European TV Display Standard
(NTSC) American or Japan TV Display Standard

All the ROM codes i can find at the moment

Edited February 23, 2017 by Tony The 2600

[Everett1954]

Thanks Tony, very helpful info.

[keepdreamin]

I just dragged over the Everdrive packs for the systems available.