Most DOS games playlist entries I scan will have either have on or both of these two problems:
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The scanner will grab the wrong file and label it as if it is the correct one. Example: Scanning the Doom folder will create “Ultimate Doom, The” but will actually grab dwango.exe.
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The scanner will grab the correct file and label it incorrectly. Example: The Keen Dreams executable is labeled as “Rescue Rover”. Meanwhile, there are two correctly labeled “Keen Dreams EGA” entries created that actually point to unrelated bat files in the Keen Dreams directory.
How does this scanner work? It is totally able to correctly identify the game from information in random bat and exe files, so now all it needs to do is check for the correct executable. But instead it just stops there and substitutes those files for the actual game.
What kind of information do the databases use to determine what game a file belongs to? I previously assumed an entry would contain a list of possible exe file names of the game as means of identification and the official release title to go along with it.
But judging from the results of most scans it now seems to me more like it disgregards the given name and extracts some information from within the file and then creates an entry pointing to it, even if that file is called “help.bat”. That’s why the only games that work are those that only have on executable, like all other keen games. But even if you remove all nonessential bat and exe files from games structured like doom, it will still not detect the actual game exe.
Is there anything you can do to make life for the scanner easier? Or a way to find out what versions of a game are stored in the database so you can get that specific versions?