ROM Naming Conventions

[Riffman81]

So up until a few weeks ago, I had been using COMPLETE No-Intro ROM sets for use in my arcade cab and HTPC (cab running HyperSpin, the HTPC running GameEx). I realized by using these full ROM sets that I had quite a bit of HDD space being used by games I didn't play or by large amounts of Japanese titles unplayable due to the fact I don't read Japanese. So I switched over to using sets built directly from HyperList .dat files. Re-acquired quite a bit of disk space by doing this which also forced me to audit all of my video snaps and artwork packs from EmuMovies.  I had multiple videos/artwork for the same game, so by simplifying my ROM collections, I simplified my video/artwork collections as well. 

 

My question is more about the naming convention used by HyperList. I realize it's based off of the "No-Intro" standard, but I noticed the SNES ROMs dropped the language tags (En, Ja, etc) tacked on the original No-Intro ROM file, while other sets (GBA, etc) left the language tags intact. Just curious as to why certain sets dropped the language tags, and others kept the original No-Intro naming scheme.

 

I went ahead and removed all the language tags from every ROM set I converted using HyperList. To me, language tags are redundant and are hard on the eyes when looking in folders at large collections of ROMs. The GBA set is an example of this... I tried archiving the my original GBA No-Intro set on duel-layer DVD's (as i have done with all my ROM sets) and the program I was using said the file names were "too long" or "had too many characters" and suggested renaming. So I went through and removed language tags and was finally able to archive the set in case I ever have HDD failure or some other problem resulting in loss of data.

 

I know that new databases are being worked on. Will HyperList be dropping language tags and using a "standard" naming convention for all it's "ROM sets" ?? Personally, using a naming scheme with game title and region (USA, Japan) sounds like the way to go, keeps things consistent IMO.

[brolly]

HyperList official naming has been No-Intro style without the language tags since a long time.

We try to keep it as simple as possible basically GAME_NAME (REGION) (EXTRA) (MEDIA #)

Where extra is usually for prototype or licensing tags when applicable.

 

About your question, you're totally right and that's because the current XMLs are basically a mess since no one really cared to follow the naming schema when doing them (apart from other problems like missing games and dupes).

I mentioned this problem countless times, but whoever was in charge of HyperList by that time didn't care, so problem persisted kept growing.

Anyway they have all been redone now, but for the time being are only available within the HS Project, when/if we get a new HyperList version they will be uploaded there.

 

[Riffman81]

Thanks for the Info Brolly. Like I said, I only removed the language tags from my sets, I kept everything else as-is. I suppose this had something to do with my OCD wanting everything to be consistent!

[Nologic]

I still think HyperSpin is going about it the wrong way...I still believe full dumping DAT names should be used...then pretty truncated No-Intro names displayed in HyperSpin.

 

I view the current situation as an unnecessary layer of abstraction...causing more leg work than necessary.

[brolly]

What are full dumping DAT names?

 

[Rooster]

Actually I like to see a format like Tosec but with only Title, Manufactuer and Year as far as region goes it could be made into a list or optional. This way when the FE runs the info is already displayed and with speech on it is read that way also.For example:

 

Mario Kart DS (USA) (En,Fr,De,Es,It)

 

Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)(2004)  or  Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)(2004)[uSA]

With a little scripting

String  MADE BY (String in Colon) RELEASED IN (Variable in colon)  truniciated or [string in brackets]

It should read (Speech on would say)

Mario Kart DS Made by Nintendo Released in 2004

 

also with the tags it woud be easier to sort or make a list of games based on that info
Now I would like to see this as it is more proper without getting locked into some kind of environment to make it work also it will require a little more work on the datters to divide the sets into regions.