How can I edit rom name / description?

[¸Bero1707]

On my retroarch playlists some rom names are messy especially for rom hacks leaving author name in the rom name or sometimes names are totally changed so I don't reconize what game it is until I open that rom.
As far as I understand these names work like tags for music files so what software do I need to change some names and will this affect the ability to load old savestates for these games?



I found N64 rom renamer: http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/791/

If anybody knows something like this for NES roms that would be really helpful.

[divitorobert]

Some hacks lack well defined paths and this may be the cause of your problems, try turning off the verify sets in your settings.

[¸Bero1707]

I wouldn't call call it a problem per se but I would like to see some tutorial on how to edit ROM properties such as name, description region and other in hex editor since I don't think there's simple program to do that.
Thank you!

[Zorlon]

Download Links:
Links are hidden from guests. Please register to be able to view these links. for NES maybe??

P.S. plenty of simple tools for doing this

[¸Bero1707]

Download Links:
Links are hidden from guests. Please register to be able to view these links. for NES maybe??

P.S. plenty of simple tools for doing this

Thank you for your response!

I believe this tool is for editing NES sound files only (NFS) but I want to edit NES files (and FDS also).
Is there something for that?

[Zorlon]

Sorry wrong tool try looking through that site though

Not at my pc to check at the moment

[¸Bero1707]

Sorry wrong tool try looking through that site though

Not at my pc to check at the moment

No problem. Check when you have time, no hurry.
I was trying to find with no luck.

[Zorlon]

Just HEX edit, search for the text string with HxD, then you can replace it

I don't think it will make much difference as RetroArch uses a database to compare against, RetroArch does not use internal names at all

I guess you could edit the database though instead https://forums.libretro.com/t/editin...b-files/3571/2

You might get away with just a text edit though ofd the rdb files with something like notepad, use the search feature

Or the lpl Playlist file, notepad is fine though with large lists it may seem a bit slow to edit with, there are better options than notepad

EDIT

Editing the playlist seems the quickest and easiest option for what you want

[¸Bero1707]

Just HEX edit, search for the text string with H, then you can replace it

I don't think it will make much difference as RetroArch uses a database to compare against, RetroArch does not use internal names at all

I guess you could edit the database though instead https://forums.libretro.com/t/editin...b-files/3571/2

You might get away with just a text edit though ofd the rdb files with something like notepad, use the search feature

Or the lpl Playlist file, notepad is fine though with large lists it may seem a bit slow to edit with, there are better options than notepad

EDIT

Editing the playlist seems the quickest and easiest option for what you want

Yes I know I can edit RetroArch playlist and that's best solution for now but I wouldn't mind learning how to edit those properties in hex editor.
There are a lot of tutorials on how to edit in game text but none for properties.
If there is that would be helpful. I can't find the text string in H. Probably need some extra steps. There are few ROMs I'd like to edit. Not too many.

[Zorlon]

If you have something that actually reads that then just use the search string option, RetroArch does not evenm look at that kind of information it looks at the crc and the size only, not all the NES games even have the game name inside the rom

Super Mario Bro. 3 has the string SUPER MARIO 3 at address 3FFF3 this is not part of the header and is not a set location for an internal rom name

More than likely there is no string to find for the game you are looking at



If you have nothing that reads the information for you to be able to find it and edit it with any kind of editor then why edit it in the first place, do you have something that is telling you the rom has an internal name? (RetroArch does not)

SNES roms and a number of other systems have internal ROM names and they are always in the same location and part of the header, but only a few NES games actually have an internal name and not at the same location so there is not dedication area that an internal rom name should be stored and has nothing to do with the games header

Changing those strings may have odd effects with NES games as NES roms as stated do not have a set Internal name location and the names you find may serve another purpose



To sun it up
Most systems do have rom headers with a set location for an Internal Rom Name, NES system roms do not


P.S. I done a lot of digging just to find out that there is no internal rom name (Not a set location anyway I am aware that some of the games did have there name in the rom, but you can not class that as an internal rom name as it is not part of a header and is not in a set location specified for that purpose) and still beyond me why anyone would edit something that is not read in the first place, the later did not take long to find out just why it was not read, answer was there is not one to read

[¸Bero1707]

You have the point and you are right. Thank you!
Well can I make RetroArch to use filenames instead (like history playlist)? That would be perfect actually.
Or if there's some other program I can use to generate playlists. That would be even better because RetroArch doesn't add some no-intro ROMs with certain cores like FDS (I found that out on libretro forum)

[Zorlon]

Playlists are easy to edit and add to, any text editor would do just fine as far as a dedicated program there isn't one I already looked into that, but just looking at the layout you can see how easy it is to edit, just copy a full entry and paste it back then edit the file and and name of the game and any other info

It's a way of adding new content new rom dump or new hack whater it may be anything that is not already in the RetroArch database files

RetroArch only looks at it's database files (it actually ignores the file names) then adds the games scanned into it's playlists using the name in the database for the game, you could manually add a few extra games if you wanted that are not in the Retroarch local database (The database files to be honest from looking at them I would not edit manually they would have to be done correctly I linked the info for that before)

[¸Bero1707]

Since they use names from database this would be very useful for MAME ROMs since their filename name must be unchanged but as far as I know there's now way of adding them to library except manually but I have a ton of these and it wouldn't be worth that much effort.

BTW I think adding compressed (7zip, zip) ROMs to library (by scanning) is not possible either. Or is it?
And can I create separate archive for every ROM file with 7zip. It's very easy with Winrar but RAR is not supported in RetroArch as far as I know.

[Zorlon]

WinRAR can do that with both the rar format and zip format

if you use something like clrmamepro you can use 7zip as well and do an entire rom set in 7z files (one rom per 7z file, I tend to do that for storage myself especially for large sets) just don't do that with anything that uses folders, I made that mistake before and you will end up loosing files as folder structures are not supported when compressing like that and they are normally only used when dupe file names are used (Not an issue for your standard rom sets), still the best way if you are not sure what you are doing then do a small backup batch to test with

Don't know what RetroArch supports fully or not, not a fan myself, I can honestly say I don't emulate games to play on my PC, I will either own the system or I use another console to emulate through

But the first time I tested RetroArch I could not get anything to work until I extracted it first, that was a GD-Rom based game though not a Cart Rom chip

I use Rom auditing software differently to most clrmamepro for verifying and sorting, compressing ect just the normal use, but I use RomCenter (and other rom sorting/viewing software) as a front end not for emulators though but I direct it to 7-zip to extract to, for use with flash carts ect instead, games from older systems like Master system or NES I tend to like more on a handheld they just look so nice on a small screen vs a large one, even as a kid I sometimes played on a hand held portable TV, though not the same as a handheld console

EDIT looks like RetroArch by default does not support compressed files, not looked into it that much but extra files may allow it to read compressed roms

[¸Bero1707]

I love RetroArch because it's one place for all emulators I need and it's very customizable yet simple. I can access it's menu without ever touching anything but controller and I can resume every game exactly where I left off no matter what platform it's from. Talking about handheld devices I'm even thinking about getting PS Vita for that reason because RetroArch is there too and I don't even have interest in Vita library. And it does support compressed files just can't add them to library as far as I know.

Maybe that 7zip question is topic for another discussion but I would like to get separate archives for each files if that's possible. Maybe by adding some parameter.
Thanks for quick responses and I'll start new discussion about 7zip sometime soon.