RomCenter 2.70 beta 2 released

[RomCenter]

Hi

Version 2.70 beta 2 released. Please report bugs in the forum.
This update includes the romcenter.exe and new datutil 2.1 from Logiqx (http://www.logiqx.com)

This release only fixes the datafile import from mame 0.84 (xml). I also change the default dir for building the datafile so you don't need to copy xml2info in the romcenter dir.
I also fix the path to english strings resources for compilation. This should remove all french messages

Installation:
- install version 2.62
- unzip and replace files in your romcenter folder

Backup your files before using this version.

Download:
- RomCenter 2.62 (2.5 MB)

- RomCenter 2.70 beta 2 (1 MB)

[Wanderer]

I also fix the path to english strings resources for compilation. This should remove all french messages

Well, not all of them

When closing a rom path, it shows a confirmation message box with the title and yes/no buttons in french.

[Ad_Enuff]

I also change the default dir for building the datafile so you don't need to copy xml2info in the romcenter dir.

Errrr....thats seems to be why RC doesnt work here.

Where should "xml2info" be? personally I would have kept it in the RC dir or at least allow users to find it by browsing.

[RomCenter]

xml2info should be in the mame directory. It is unzipped with the mame exe.

It works here.

For english string, you're right, it doesn't seem to work
Damned.....why ???? Let me trace that...

[Ad_Enuff]

xml2info should be in the mame directory. It is unzipped with the mame exe.

It works here.

For english string, you're right, it doesn't seem to work
Damned.....why ???? Let me trace that...

Ahhhh I see. Mine doesnt work because I use MAME32 and xml2info doesnt come packaged. Also baring in mind that my MAME directory is in fact C:\MAME32 rather than just MAME.

I never use the Win32 version of MAME.EXE. I prefer the GUI MAME32.EXE gives.

Can you allow to search for the file rather than hard code it into RC?

Either that or allow it to be in the RC dir as an altenate dir.

Thanks

[RomCenter]

I will include it with the rc distribution. It will be in the romcenter folder, beside datutil. Note that I don't run xml2info myself. Datutil does it. I don't have any control on that. Xml2info must be in the current folder, or on the search path. Maybe it should be distributed with datutil ?

I will run the extraction in the romcenter folder, where datutil can be found.
Until then, copy it in your mame32 folder.

Link : xml2info.zip

[Logiqx]

To be honest, I'd prefer not to distribute xm2info with my tools as I don't want to end up doing re-releases for xml2info updates or have lots of copies of xml2info on my machine. Most users of my tools can be considered quite technical so they will do something like putting xml2info in their path anyway.

In the case of RomCenter, it is slightly different because there is only the one tool and you also have inexperienced users to cater for. Just as you distribute DatUtil (rather than giving a link and making the user download it), I think that it makes sense to include xml2info with RomCenter itself.

To be honest, none of the ports should really remove xml2info anyway (or romcmp) but as they do, I guess your users would find it helpful if you distribute it with RomCenter. You need to distribute it whatever but I'd prefer not to include it in all of my tools.

Logiqx

[RomCenter]

I agree with you Logiqx.

(rather than giving a link and making the user download it)

Do you prefer I post a link to your tools ? It will be less easy to have a full install of romcenter then... but you're the author and I'll do as you want.
Also, I didn't include the datutil source to reduce the zip size. Do you want me to include it ?

[Logiqx]

I think it will be far simpler for you to include DatUtil and xml2info with RomCenter. Having two extra steps in the install could make life difficult for users.

Now that you mention the source, it is really small now so it would be nice if you can include the whole package. Would it be possible to include dutil21.zip in the RomCenter distribution and have the installation process extract datutil.exe from the ZIP (or perhaps have RomCenter do it when it can't find datutil.exe in the path)?

How about this for an idea:

<romcenter dir>/3rdparty/dutil21.zip
<romcenter dir>/3rdparty/xml2info.zip

Then either: When DatUtil loads, do a quick check to see if datutil.exe and xml2info.exe are in the path and if not, extract them into the RomCenter main directory. Alternatively, you might just choose to do this from the data file creation module. If datutil+xml2info fails, open a dialog telling the user what you are about to do then extract them from the 3rdparty ZIPs.

Logiqx

[Wanderer]

If i may: i believe it would be nice if everything was included in RC installation, however as a user i cannot expect from Eric to release an updated installation of RC everytime DatUtil or XML2Info are updated so IMO it would be simpler if there were somewhere (probably in the preferences dialog) 2 settings: DatUtil's path and XML2Info's path.

It wouldn't be a problem if they existed in the installation too. The installation program could do a check: if the two paths mentioned before do contain a current (or greater) version of the two utils, the installation would not install them, otherwise it would put them somewhere under RC and automatically change the path settings to point to them (the newer versions). That way, the user would have the two utils everywhere he wanted and the installation program would reinstall them if they were old versions.

[Wanderer]

...IMO it would be simpler if there were somewhere (probably in the preferences dialog) 2 settings: DatUtil's path and XML2Info's path.

Now that i think about it again, XML2Info may change at some point in the future but still remain compatible with existing versions of DatUtil. How would a plain user know that in order to use the new XML2Info provided with MAME? Perhaps instead of a XML2Info path, DatUtil could accept a MAME/XML2Info path as parameter. That way RC could have a MAME path in its preferences and pass it as a parameter to DatUtil which would try to find XML2Info in there. Now, if a user thinks he can maintain different versions of XML2Info manually, he could go and change the relevant path in RC. For most of the users though, the MAME/XML2Info path should point to the MAME dir which should always contain the latest version of XML2Info.

[Guest]

xml2info should be in the mame directory. It is unzipped with the mame exe.

It works here.

For english string, you're right, it doesn't seem to work
Damned.....why ???? Let me trace that...

Ahhhh I see. Mine doesnt work because I use MAME32 and xml2info doesnt come packaged. Also baring in mind that my MAME directory is in fact C:\MAME32 rather than just MAME.

I never use the Win32 version of MAME.EXE. I prefer the GUI MAME32.EXE gives.

Can you allow to search for the file rather than hard code it into RC?

Either that or allow it to be in the RC dir as an altenate dir.

Thanks

[bryces]

On the French, you still see it if you get an application error too.

[Guest]

Avertissement
Some files in rom paths changed. Paths content must be refreshed before any operation.

Refresh now?

Oui, Non.


Not just french with english, but french with broken english =/

[KingHanco]

See the screenshot.

Seem like the RomCenter 2.62 to beta 2 doesn't like these 2 roms parts that I keep on downloading everywhere to fixs the roms problems.

This is an error that need to be fixs before doing anything else.

It not cool to keep on getting bad errors without the RomCenter fixs.

I using the FBA 029498.

Btw: These roms does play well though.

[Ad_Enuff]

Seem like the RomCenter 2.62 to beta 2 doesn't like these 2 roms parts that I keep on downloading everywhere to fixes the roms problems.

This is an error that need to be fixes before doing anything else.

Errrr KinHanco, I'm sorry to say this but its your ROMS! NOT Romcenter!

What RC is telling you is that BOTH the examples you have given above are incorrect as they have WRONG CRC's. Look again, you will see 2 different CRC's. The CRC's are very very similar but if you look very carefully you will notice they aren't the same at all.

Therefore, you will need to download the correct rom to cure this.

[KingHanco]

Seem like the RomCenter 2.62 to beta 2 doesn't like these 2 roms parts that I keep on downloading everywhere to fixes the roms problems.

This is an error that need to be fixes before doing anything else.

Errrr KinHanco, I'm sorry to say this but its your ROMS! NOT Romcenter!

What RC is telling you is that BOTH the examples you have given above are incorrect as they have WRONG CRC's. Look again, you will see 2 different CRC's. The CRC's are very very similar but if you look very carefully you will notice they aren't the same at all.

Therefore, you will need to download the correct rom to cure this.

That can't be the problem because I gotting those all over the internet.

These are the same ones that is winkawaks 150 is using and I don't have any errors on that one. The numbers are the same also. I can show you the prouf.

[KingHanco]

// Alpha Mission II / ASO II - Last Guardian

{"007-p1.bin", 0x080000, 0x5b266f47, 0x10}, // 0 68K code
{"007-p2.bin", 0x020000, 0xeb9c1044, 0x10}, // 1

{"007-s1.bin", 0x020000, 0x85ec9acf, 1}, // 2 Text data

{"007-c1.bin", 0x100000, 0x8fba8ff3, 1}, // 3 Sprite data
{"007-c2.bin", 0x100000, 0x4dad2945, 1}, // 4
{"007-c3.bin", 0x080000, 0x68c2294e, 1}, // 5
{"007-c4.bin", 0x080000, 0x7d588349, 1}, // 6

{"007-m1.bin", 0x020000, 0x28dfe2cd, 0x10}, // 7 Z80 code

{"007-v1.bin", 0x100000, 0xcd5db931, 2}, // 8 Sound data
{"007-v2.bin", 0x100000, 0x63e9b574, 2}, // 9

// 3 Count Bout / Fire Suplex

{"043-p1.bin", 0x080000, 0xeb2714c4, 0x10}, // 0 68K code
{"043-p2.bin", 0x080000, 0x5e764567, 0x10}, // 1

{"043-s1.bin", 0x020000, 0xc362d484, 1}, // 2 Text data

{"043-c1.bin", 0x200000, 0xbad2d67f, 1}, // 3 Sprite data
{"043-c2.bin", 0x200000, 0xa7fbda95, 1}, // 4
{"043-c3.bin", 0x200000, 0xf00be011, 1}, // 5
{"043-c4.bin", 0x200000, 0x1877e5c0, 1}, // 6

{"043-m1.bin", 0x020000, 0x3377cda3, 0x10}, // 7 Z80 code

{"043-v1.bin", 0x200000, 0x63688ce8, 2}, // 8 Sound data
{"043-v2.bin", 0x200000, 0xc69a827b, 2}, // 9

There isn't anything wrong with the roms set and I got those at different places. It been hour looking last night and gotting the same errors on the roms.

It your RomCenter problem.

That bug need to be kill.

I don't know where that you got the idea the CRC is wrong when it is correct on winkawaks 150!!!

Your beta version crash when loading the winkawaks 150.

These won't be playable if those CRC are wrong.

[Ad_Enuff]

That can't be the problem because I gotting those all over the internet.

Errr I'm sorry but it IS the problem! Final Burn is requesting roms with specific CRC's. The roms you have are wrong for the emulator your using. Just because Kawaks works with your roms, it doesnt mean Final Burn should.

Nor does it prove that the roms are in fact correct. Some emulators dont check CRC's before loading them and playing them. As long as they are present it works.

May I make a suggestion? You need to use MAME32 (version 0.89u6). MAME currently is THE best emulator and most accurate emulator for NEOGEO. So much so that it even emulates teh horrid garbage that displays on start up.

Kawaks and Final Burn are great, but for real arcade emulation there is only one emulator that does 100% and thats MAME( or MAME32).

I would download a DAT file for MAME and then recheck your ROMS. If it says your roms are bad then, then I am right and your wrong!

MAME sets the standards that all other emulators follow.

[KingHanco]

Ok. I can change the driver back onto the old driver on FBA. Those do well on RomCenter. Your problemy right on that one. There might be an error on FBA checking like you said.

That can't be the problem because I gotting those all over the internet.

Errr I'm sorry but it IS the problem! Final Burn is requesting roms with specific CRC's. The roms you have are wrong for the emulator your using. Just because Kawaks works with your roms, it doesnt mean Final Burn should.

Nor does it prove that the roms are in fact correct. Some emulators dont check CRC's before loading them and playing them. As long as they are present it works.

May I make a suggestion? You need to use MAME32 (version 0.89u6). MAME currently is THE best emulator and most accurate emulator for NEOGEO. So much so that it even emulates teh horrid garbage that displays on start up.

Kawaks and Final Burn are great, but for real arcade emulation there is only one emulator that does 100% and thats MAME( or MAME32).

I would download a DAT file for MAME and then recheck your ROMS. If it says your roms are bad then, then I am right and your wrong!

MAME sets the standards that all other emulators follow.

[Ad_Enuff]

Go here and download the latest RC DAT file for MAME 0.89

http://www.logiqx.com/Dats/Neo-Geo/Neo-Geo.shtml

This is the latest DAT to verify your NEOGEO roms you have. If it shows up problems then you will know that you will have to scour the NET for the lastest MAME versions of your problematic roms.

MAME is the only emulator that actually has enough resources to dump and verify the roms it uses. Everyone else has to bow down to MAME and use its CRC's and dumps. Unless of course the emu is using pirate dumps of the latest warez.

[KingHanco]

Btw: I just found out that FBA only uses the Mame roms and some of the winkawaks roms as well. But not all the winkawaks roms works on the FBA.

Sorry that I causes problem here.

If winkawaks CRC roms won't work on FBA then I will always go back to FBA CRC roms settings or Mame CRC roms settings.

I thought that all roms in CRC will work on all arcade programs. I was wrong.

[Logiqx]

A lot of renaming and redumping happens with arcade ROMs and the emulators cannot keep in step (especially when their authors do not have enough time to keep updating them).

ROMs therefore need maintaining for specific emulators or alternatively, the supplement dats that I produce can be used to maintain minimal sets that are required in addition to the standard MAME ROMs.

[KingH]

When a new beta version will be out?

[RomCenter]

I will try to spend some time on it, so, a new release could happen soon.

[KingH]

I will try to spend some time on it, so, a new release could happen soon.

Don't give up. I beleave that you can work on it when you gotting the time.

===============================================

On the beta 2. WinKawaks 1.53.dat won't work on it right. Somehow it can't find the roms and backout. It cameup a screen with a bunches of numbers though. I don't know what it is.

===============================================

Now as for the RomCenter 2.62 and FinalBurn Alpha 0.2.95.23.dat. There are 2 errors.

1 - sfa.zip and sfar2.zip isn't missing any roms on the roms screen part on the RomCenter 2.62.

2 - On the Gamesdatabase it shows it is missing on the sfa.zip and sfar2.zip

It is the sfzex.03b / 505a1b4a / 512.0kb.

But the beta 2 shows it all there on both screen.

[Ad_Enuff]

Now as for the RomCenter 2.62 and FinalBurn Alpha 0.2.95.23.dat. There are 2 errors.

You must upgrade to the latest 2.70 beta 2 before posting bugs and errors.

RomCenter 2.62 is no longer supported.

[KingH]

Now as for the RomCenter 2.62 and FinalBurn Alpha 0.2.95.23.dat. There are 2 errors.

You must upgrade to the latest 2.70 beta 2 before posting bugs and errors.

RomCenter 2.62 is no longer supported.

Well I already post the errors on the beta 2.

I waiting on the next fixes release. (Beta 3)

No rush though.

[Ad_Enuff]

Well I already post the errors on the beta 2. I waiting on the next fixes release. (Beta 3)

No rush though.

I dont see the point of posting bugs/errors comparing RC 2.62 and RC 2.70 BETA 2.

We need to know NEW bugs in teh new version so as tehy can be fixed in BETA 3/RC 2.71.

If your not happy with RC and its quickness in terms of support etc, may I suggest clrMAMEpro found here: http://www.clrmame.com which does the same job and works 100%.

You can find all DATS here: http://www.logiqx.com/ aswell on the clrMAMEpro website.

[Guest]

That can't be the problem because I gotting those all over the internet.

Errr I'm sorry but it IS the problem! Final Burn is requesting roms with specific CRC's. The roms you have are wrong for the emulator your using. Just because Kawaks works with your roms, it doesnt mean Final Burn should.

Nor does it prove that the roms are in fact correct. Some emulators dont check CRC's before loading them and playing them. As long as they are present it works.

May I make a suggestion? You need to use MAME32 (version 0.89u6). MAME currently is THE best emulator and most accurate emulator for NEOGEO. So much so that it even emulates teh horrid garbage that displays on start up.

Kawaks and Final Burn are great, but for real arcade emulation there is only one emulator that does 100% and thats MAME( or MAME32).

I would download a DAT file for MAME and then recheck your ROMS. If it says your roms are bad then, then I am right and your wrong!

MAME sets the standards that all other emulators follow.