If I got it right, an imported game in the playlist that matches a database entry will be added to the Explore menu. What bugs me is that some of the games won’t be added to the Explore list while others do.
E.g. for “Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System”
“Akumajou Densetsu (Japan)” will be added
“Akumajou Dracula (Japan)” won’t be added
Both of them are imported via Manual Scan. Both of them have correspondent database entry, yet they have different results.
Any thoughts?
I have both Densetsu and Dracula variants on the NES set and they also appear when searching with Explore. So they are not really handled differently, there is probably something else going on. But both are imported with the automatic Scan functionality, not Manual.
If I had a guess, you have imported both games at a different day, with a specific setting not set the same. And its when you import manually, you can select “System Name”. Make sure both entries have the same System Name applied to it, which also determines which database to use. You can actually see which database is assigned to it by going into the game entry in the Playlist > Akumajou Dracula (Japan) > Information > Database Entry. If there is no Database Entry, then its unknown to RetroArch.
You can also open the playlist file on the drive and search for the entry manually to see what db_name is assigned to it. Lookup in your RetroArch directory > playlists > Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System.lpl and open it in an editor and then search for these entries. In example its this one for me:
{
"path": "/home/tuncay/Emulation/Roms/nes/nes_nointro/Akumajou Dracula (Japan).nes",
"label": "Akumajou Dracula (Japan)",
"core_path": "DETECT",
"core_name": "DETECT",
"crc32": "04379750|crc",
"db_name": "Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System.lpl"
},
They’re both imported at the same time under the same settings via Manual Scan.
{
"path": "F:\\Games\\ROMs\\Nintendo FC\\Konami\\Castlevania\\Akumajou Densetsu (Japan).zip",
"label": "Akumajou Densetsu (Japan)",
"core_path": "DETECT",
"core_name": "DETECT",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System.lpl"
},
{
"path": "F:\\Games\\ROMs\\Nintendo FC\\Konami\\Castlevania\\Akumajou Dracula (Japan).zip",
"label": "Akumajou Dracula (Japan)",
"core_path": "DETECT",
"core_name": "DETECT",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System.lpl"
},
Here they don’t have accurate crc32 since they’re manually scanned.
The Densetsu one is in the Explore list, while the Dracula one is not.
Hmm would the games appear if you unzip it? I know there is another “maybe related” issue with CHD files. It is a wild guess, but could you try to unpack the Rom from the Zip and manually import again for testing? You could rename the current playlist file as a backup and then rename it back after the test import.
{
"path": "F:\\_temp\\temp\\Akumajou Densetsu (Japan).nes",
"label": "Akumajou Densetsu (Japan)",
"core_path": "DETECT",
"core_name": "DETECT",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System.lpl"
},
{
"path": "F:\\_temp\\temp\\Akumajou Dracula (Japan).nes",
"label": "Akumajou Dracula (Japan)",
"core_path": "DETECT",
"core_name": "DETECT",
"crc32": "00000000|crc",
"db_name": "Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System.lpl"
}
If they’re manually imported as unzipped .nes file, both of them are listed in the Explore
Alright, then it looks like a similar issue to me as I had with CHD files. Just in case you don’t know what it is, CHD is a compressed file format for CD like game formats. And importing them are sometimes wrongly recognized, as something in RetroArch trips it up.
And from how it looks like, the problem you have with these specific Zip files seems similar in its nature, where the Zip files are not recognized correctly. For whatever reason. If this is the case here, then I have no solution for you. Maybe, just maybe repackage the unzipped .nes file into a .zip file again. Because there are many ways to create Zip files and maybe, just maybe RetroArch don’t like the one you have.
So my suggestion is to unzip and zip it again, and import it again. Maybe it works then. The alternative would be to leave those files unzipped, which are problematic. Or do it like me, unzip them all!