Romcenter

Version 3.00 beta 1 released

This is a beta version released for testing.
Backup your files before using it.

Here is the first beta version of romcenter 3. This version is already quite stable, but some bugs may remain.
If you spot something strange, please drop a line in the forum.
No more important features will be added until the final version.

Your previous databases will be updated to the new version.

Bugs fixed:
- Added icons in treeview
- Full sample handling (3 modes: split/merge/unmerge)
- New database node grouped by main/clones
- Background color for merged roms
- Move document folder to windows AppData location
- Possibility to change AppData path (path in startup.ini)
- 'Reload path': unload and reload a rom path
- Add some infos from dat header in database
- Save screen position, size and toolbar
- 'Auto resize' option to automaticaly adjust columns width
- Choice to move delete files/roms in recycler or folder
- Delete file and roms (shell option)
- Change location of statistics colored bar
- 'Rezip' added in contextual menu
- Add more infos in status bar
- Log for rezip
- Miss/have games report
- Miss roms report with separated bios, disks, samples, roms
- Caesar info page link
- Autodetect devices (detect a new drive is avail) option
- Improve read only device detection
- File extensions calculated by plugins are handled

Features added:
- Sometimes unable to run mame games (-rp param)
- Change sort order when sorting columns
- Speed up 'refresh db status'
- Wrong number of files displayed in log when refreshing a path
- Rezip bug with non-zipped files
- Attempt to fix a read only device
- Clear log button
- 'run game' shortcut (enter)
- Delete file from treeview

Reports bugs and comments in the dev forum.
How to install it:
- unzip in a directory
- run rc300b1.exe
You can install this version over the previous one.

Enjoy

Great news. Thanks Eric.

I have an installation question. Since RC is more portable now than in the past, do you think a "zipped" RC version is possible (without the installer - like the alpha releases)? Settings (which now are placed in AppData folder - great) could exist in the zip under a "data" or "settings" folder and the user could arrange them as he likes.

Also, i really like the "startup.ini" implementation. Full freedom!

Yes, since no registry or external dll are used, you can easily build a zipped version. Simply add all installed files, and all appdat content to the zip, and set the startup.ini to the correct data path and that's it.

RomCenter wrote:Yes, since no registry or external dll are used, you can easily build a zipped version.

I was thinking more of you releasing such a version, along with the "installer" one. There may be people who prefer to simply unpack files instead of installing them (i'm one of them! ). It's not a big deal, if you think such a package would be useful, it would be welcomed.

Thanks for the update.

I believe there are some issues with this build, pls. see my findings below:

- Upgrade of 3.00a7 didn't work properly. After having installed b1 I saw that the ini's are not stored in the same location as before. I remember seeing a note that it can be configured, but where? After a bit of struggling I decided to completely remove 3.00a7 and start over.

- When trying to change from split to merge mode (both roms and bios files), the following message appears (after "rebuilding and reordering ..."):

multiple rows in singleton select
At procedure 'P_UPDATEGAMEROMID'
At procedure 'P_REFRESHSTATUS'
At procedure 'P_CHANGEMODE'

--> The problem: any changes in preferences that were done before will not be applied. Hence, you simply cannot use merge mode in b1 since the default is always split. Maybe it can be set in the INI directly? Could you post some documentation where those settings are stored?

- Downgrading from b1 to a7 doesn't work since there will be some SQL errors (not that I'd expect it to work, but just to mention it here for completeness)

- The installer package contains DatUtil 2.32 whereas there is a newer version 2.33 of Nov2007 on Logiqx's web site

This is it for now, regards
Davy

davy wrote:Thanks for the update.

I believe there are some issues with this build, pls. see my findings below:

- Upgrade of 3.00a7 didn't work properly. After having installed b1 I saw that the ini's are not stored in the same location as before. I remember seeing a note that it can be configured, but where? After a bit of struggling I decided to completely remove 3.00a7 and start over.

Ini file move to "userappdata" windows directory. But you can put it elsewhere by editing the file romcenter/startup.ini

- When trying to change from split to merge mode (both roms and bios files), the following message appears (after "rebuilding and reordering ..."):

multiple rows in singleton select
At procedure 'P_UPDATEGAMEROMID'
At procedure 'P_REFRESHSTATUS'
At procedure 'P_CHANGEMODE'

--> The problem: any changes in preferences that were done before will not be applied. Hence, you simply cannot use merge mode in b1 since the default is always split. Maybe it can be set in the INI directly? Could you post some documentation where those settings are stored?

I tried what you did, but didn't have any problem. The correct template database version should be 3.0085 (in the log window).
I created a 0.122u6 db, and switch to merge mode whithout errors.
Did you use vista ? Which dat are you using ?
Preferences should work correctly. Maybe the problem comes from db error...

- Downgrading from b1 to a7 doesn't work since there will be some SQL errors (not that I'd expect it to work, but just to mention it here for completeness)

No, downgrading is not supported.

- The installer package contains DatUtil 2.32 whereas there is a newer version 2.33 of Nov2007 on Logiqx's web site

Thanks it will be fixed in next beta.

This is it for now, regards
Davy

Thank you for writing this report.

Ini file move to "userappdata" windows directory. But you can put it elsewhere by editing the file
romcenter/startup.ini

Thanks for the info. Maybe there could be another dialog in the settings which lets one edit it from the UI?

multiple rows in singleton select

I tried what you did, but didn't have any problem. The correct template database version should be 3.0085 (in the log window).

I tried it again, and it failed again.

I created a 0.122u6 db, and switch to merge mode whithout errors.
Did you use vista ? Which dat are you using ?
Preferences should work correctly. Maybe the problem comes from db error...

For the latest try I created a 0.123 db and switched to merge mode with the same error (log window results attached).
I use WinXP SP3 RC1 (maybe that's the problem ). Don't think the db is the problem since this time I recreated a new one instead of an upgrade.

After the error which can be seen in my previous post or the attachment, the settings are reset automatically to the default values. Maybe you can store the settings before you try to reorder the db structure for the merge mode?
The settings which get lost due to "my" problem are especially the split/merge settings and the path to the emulator.
E.g. the emulator cmdline params are kept.

Another thing I noticed in 3.00b1 is, that roms are marked as "Game is not playable" in case that samples are missing. From my experience this is not correct, since most of the games are playable. So from my understanding there should be a new icon maybe containing a clef or similar.

Thank you for writing this report.

I rather should say thank YOU for keeping it real and developing such a great tool for fun times...

davy wrote:

Ini file move to "userappdata" windows directory. But you can put it elsewhere by editing the file
romcenter/startup.ini

Thanks for the info. Maybe there could be another dialog in the settings which lets one edit it from the UI?

Hmmm, this could prove to be messy. If RC gives the user the ability to change the settings path from the UI, it would have to take into account many things, such as:

- When the user changes the location, should RC move the settings files too, copy them or do nothing?
- If it does and the files already exist, should it ask for "overwrite" or do it automatically?
- If the user replies "no" in the above "overwrite" question, he'll end up with different versions of settings. Do you think he will remember which one is the "proper" one after a couple of days?

Anyway, this is an advanced setting for most users and will probably not be changed more than once per RC installation, so it might be better if it didn't show up in the UI - that might complicate things for the standard user. A note in the help might be enough.

Also, something minor i noticed after a very quick run of RC. If the settings path does not exist at all, several errors occur:

- More than one warning messages upon startup (one should be enough) and when selecting "Preferences".
- A GPF when "About" is selected.
- An "unexpected error" message and a GPF when closing RC.
- Several menu entries are enabled, which shouldn't be: (Fix file, Remove useless files, Shell operations, Close DB, Tools, Report, etc)

If the default path does not exist, it could ask the user if it should create it or exit.

OK I didn't see this change from the programmatic way, just usability-wise.

Anyway regarding the SQL statement issue I mentioned earlier, some more input:
- workaround for the settings not being saved: just set everything BEFORE you add any rom pathes and then EXIT and RESTART RC.
- the error happens only when I add one specific rom path of mine. I was not able to track the error down to specific rom or CHD files.
Is there kind of a debug mode and/or log file where I could try to find out more details?

Thx

The beta 2 version is almost ready. I still have some troubles with samples managment which is quite complex...
Wait the new beta and try again with it.
If I have time, I will include a debug function which export the db. You then could send me the zipped file.

All fix problems seems fixed now. All tests are succesfull.
Unfortunatly, I won't have much time this week. So expect a release maybe next week.

I think that I have found a bug, if you use the New -> Load game list from a Datfile function and the dat file contains roms entries with big sizes (by example a DVD image, the importer aborts telling that the number corresponding to the size in the romcenter 2 datfile is not a valid int. This is the corresponding line in the original datfile

I updated all database and rc source to handle large files. It is now ok (in beta 2).

RomCenter wrote:I updated all database and rc source to handle large files. It is now ok (in beta 2).

Great... I can't wait too test... this is my favorite rom manager, i been using it for years...

Thanks

Beta 2 is coming this week.

Great!

How do you reset the bios without going into the bios of the computer? I have a computer i was messing with the bios and changed the settings too the wrong ones so now it won't boot up at all. Is there a way to reset the bios.
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gegewali wrote:How do you reset the bios without going into the bios of the computer? I have a computer i was messing with the bios and changed the settings too the wrong ones so now it won't boot up at all. Is there a way to reset the bios.

Sorry. Not the proper forum or post to ask this kind of questions. In any case, i don't think this what you ask is possible.