Hello Roman, and thank you for your great tool!

However, i'd like to see some things added/changed in ClrMame Pro :

Progress windows - remember & restore last position; all other windows do this, why the progress windows should be excluded.

About window drag'n'drog - add support for calculating hashes of multiple files in a single ZIP/7z/RAR archive.

Scanner - add support for auditing 7z/RAR compressed ROMs. You could disable fixing errors for these until full 7z/RAR support is added.

Scanner - support for auditing sets made of archives with multiple files, like GoodMerged sets & similar. Again, fixing errors is not really needed, a simple audit is enough.

> clrmamepro 3.97b (08-Jan-2007)
> misc: moved window title information about loaded profile, set count to tooltips (when hovering over the title bar)
I ofthen check this info while scanning, to confirm the number of selected sets. After the change, this is impossible because the main window cannot be focused so the tooltip doesn't show up.
Could you add the tooltip to more windows?

More detailed error messages for 7z archives (what does "7zip error 5" means? even the filename isn'n shown)

Rebuilder (possibly bug) - i wasn't able to rebuild from a 7z archive when the "Remove matched sourcefiles" was unchecked (got "7zip error 5"). After enabling this option, the rebuilding completed without errors. I'm not sure if this specific archive got processed or was simply ignored&deleted with the rest. I later tried to reproduce this, but i can't seem to make/find another one with "7zip error 5"

And one question:
> clrmamepro 3.97a (21-Dec-2006)
> about: drag'n drop info lists rar/7z & search crc in folder supports rar/7z
How could i "search crc in folder" ?

Thanks in advance.
Keep up with the good work.

> Progress windows - remember & restore last position; all other windows do this,
> why the progress windows should be excluded.

hmm...have to look that up...theoretically it should already do that...but maybe it opens just in the middle of the current window.


> About window drag'n'drog - add support for calculating hashes of multiple files
> in a single ZIP/7z/RAR archive.

About window drag'n drop should show all crc32 values of all files in the dropped rar/7z/RAR files already.



> Scanner - add support for auditing 7z/RAR compressed ROMs. You could disable
> fixing errors for these until full 7z/RAR support is added.

It's done already but not enabled. The packer routines are generic now but I have to clean up some stuff before I enable that.



> Scanner - support for auditing sets made of archives with multiple files, like
> GoodMerged sets & similar. Again, fixing errors is not really needed, a simple
> audit is enough.

Eh?


> I ofthen check this info while scanning, to confirm the number of selected sets.
> After the change, this is impossible because the main window cannot be focused
> so the tooltip doesn't show up.
> Could you add the tooltip to more windows?

The scan results window, setinfo window is accessible and you can select the titlebar.


> More detailed error messages for 7z archives (what does "7zip error 5" means?
> even the filename isn'n shown)

Great eh? Now you know why the 7z SDK sucks. No more information is provided by 7zip.


> Rebuilder (possibly bug) - i wasn't able to rebuild from a 7z archive when the
> "Remove matched sourcefiles" was unchecked (got "7zip error 5"). After enabling
> this option, the rebuilding completed without errors. I'm not sure if this
> specific archive got processed or was simply ignored&deleted with the rest. I
> later tried to reproduce this, but i can't seem to make/find another one with
> "7zip error 5"

Interesting....will check that. If you got the file + dat, send it.


> How could i "search crc in folder" ?


In the About window dialog-> right click to see the popupmenu.


Roman Scherzer

Thanks for your fast reply :)

> > Progress windows - remember & restore last position; all other windows do
> this,
> > why the progress windows should be excluded.
>
> hmm...have to look that up...theoretically it should already do that...but maybe
> it opens just in the middle of the current window.

Yes, it opens right on top of the current window.


> > About window drag'n'drop - add support for calculating hashes of multiple
> files
> > in a single ZIP/7z/RAR archive.
> About window drag'n drop should show all crc32 values of all files in the
> dropped rar/7z/RAR files already.

I've just did some tests:
. ZIP - works :)
. RAR - works :)
. 7z - doesn't work :(
For 7z archives the output is like this:
| Path: C:\folder\archive.7z
| Name:
It probably does the calculation, but the output gets messed up somehow (i've tried also with 7z archive of a CD image and it took a lot more time than with the smaller archives)


> > Scanner - add support for auditing 7z/RAR compressed ROMs. You could disable
> > fixing errors for these until full 7z/RAR support is added.
> It's done already but not enabled. The packer routines are generic now but I
> have to clean up some stuff before I enable that.

Great! In the meantime, is there some commandline option/etc. to enable that? Or it's a compile-time switch?


> > Scanner - support for auditing sets made of archives with multiple files, like
> > GoodMerged sets & similar. Again, fixing errors is not really needed, a simple
> > audit is enough.
> Eh?

ROM folder consisting of multiple archives; Each archive contains multiple files like in MAME; But the DAT file specifies each of these files as a separate set.
A quick solution could be to treat each rom file as if it was sitting uncompressed in the rom folder and ignore the presence of the archives and their names. I.e. the file i/o routine transparently decompresses the file and provides the uncompressed data to the scanning routines, but presents it as a file in the rom folder (and hides the fact that it was actually a compressed file)
Really, haven't you heard about the GoodMerge program?


> > I ofthen check this info while scanning, to confirm the number of selected
> sets.
> > After the change, this is impossible because the main window cannot be focused
> > so the tooltip doesn't show up.
> > Could you add the tooltip to more windows?
> The scan results window, setinfo window is accessible and you can select the
> titlebar.

LOL, didn't know that it's already done :)


> > More detailed error messages for 7z archives (what does "7zip error 5" means?
> > even the filename isn'n shown)
> Great eh? Now you know why the 7z SDK sucks. No more information is provided by
> 7zip.

Aren't these codes` descriptions available anywhere ?


> > Rebuilder (possibly bug) - i wasn't able to rebuild from a 7z archive when the
> > "Remove matched sourcefiles" was unchecked (got "7zip error 5"). After
> enabling
> > this option, the rebuilding completed without errors. I'm not sure if this
> > specific archive got processed or was simply ignored&deleted with the rest. I
> > later tried to reproduce this, but i can't seem to make/find another one with
> > "7zip error 5"
>
> Interesting....will check that. If you got the file + dat, send it.

As i said, the file got deleted by the rebuilder. It was a file i made specifically to test 7z support in ClrMamePro.
I've tried to make another one, but they all come up error-free.
I'll look around to see if i can find another suitable file on my drives.


> > How could i "search crc in folder" ?
>
> In the About window dialog-> right click to see the popupmenu.

Didn't knew that either, thanks. I've somehow forgot that there is a menu, and assumed that a right click is only for changing buttons look.
But i got a problem here. After i type the CRC and press OK, ClrMamePro crashes:

In reply to:

---

CMPRO caused an invalid page fault in
module CMPRO.EXE at 01cf:004d2e0c.
Registers:
EAX=00000000 CS=01cf EIP=004d2e0c EFLGS=00010202
EBX=00000000 SS=01d7 ESP=009ab074 EBP=009ab334
ECX=005521ef DS=01d7 ESI=00000000 FS=86b7
EDX=81af4f84 ES=01d7 EDI=005d7620 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
8b 00 83 e8 10 50 e8 29 1b f4 ff 83 c0 10 83 c4
Stack dump:
9ac7b5ef 009aba30 00000000 009ab6e8 00000101 bff7b9ae 81aff4e4 00000000 009aba30 014e0870 00571b24 005d6ee8 009ab334 005d6ee8 004237c5 014e0861

---

Does the fact that i use Win98SE affect this somehow?



[EDIT] I've managed to make another "error 5" files, here's the link:
http://uploaded.to/?id=508ona
7z and DAT files included inside the archive.
I think i understood what happens.
If the source folder contains a file in both compressed and uncompressed form (with same names), the uncompressed file is used for rebuilding and both files get deleted. I'm not sure yet what checks are performed on the archive.

> Yes, it opens right on top of the current window.

just checked the source, yes width/height is remembered but position is always 'center'. Guess that can be changed for the next version

> . 7z - doesn't work :(

Works fine here. Maybe the 7z is not 'standard'. Probably it lists an error (if there would be an error window). No calculation is done. If an archive is read, it only lists the TOC (table of contents) in that window.


> Great! In the meantime, is there some commandline option/etc. to enable that? Or
> it's a compile-time switch?

No.


> Really, haven't you heard about the GoodMerge program?

Heard yes but never seen it or used it. The scanning procedure is already well defined, so you have to change the datfile to match your needs. When I did Good* datfiles in the past I always put out 2 dats per version. One set separated and one with all roms in one set.


> LOL, didn't know that it's already done :)

Well...I'm currently not satisfied either that the progress window doesn't show the tooltip, too. I added the code but it simply doesn't work for that window...currently I don't know why.


> Aren't these codes` descriptions available anywhere ?

Not that I know of...have to check the SDK again....but as I said: 7z sucks ;)


> As i said, the file got deleted by the rebuilder. It was a file i made
> specifically to test 7z support in ClrMamePro.
> I've tried to make another one, but they all come up error-free.
> I'll look around to see if i can find another suitable file on my drives.

Was it rebuilt when it was removed from the source? If not, that smells like an issue. Have to check that.


> But i got a problem here. After i type the CRC and press OK, ClrMamePro crashes:
> that i use Win98SE affect this somehow?

Bug. I will fix this.

> [EDIT] I've managed to make another "error 5" files, here's the link:
> http://uploaded.to/?id=508ona
> 7z and DAT files included inside the archive.
> I think i understood what happens.
> If the source folder contains a file in both compressed and uncompressed form
> (with same names), the uncompressed file is used for rebuilding and both files
> get deleted. I'm not sure yet what checks are performed on the archive.

ok..I will check...I've downloaded the file. Thanks.


*edit* some 7z codes I've found:

#define SZ_OK (0)
#define SZE_DATA_ERROR (1)
#define SZE_OUTOFMEMORY (2)
#define SZE_CRC_ERROR (3)

#define SZE_NOTIMPL (4)
#define SZE_FAIL (5)

#define SZE_ARCHIVE_ERROR (6)



Roman Scherzer

> ok..I will check...I've downloaded the file. Thanks.


I don't get any 7z error when rebuilding the 7z files.


Roman Scherzer

> Works fine here. Maybe the 7z is not 'standard'. Probably it lists an error (if
> there would be an error window). No calculation is done. If an archive is read,
> it only lists the TOC (table of contents) in that window.
I've tried some more 7z files, also made several more just for the test. None of them worked.
Could you send me some small 7z file which works for you, please?

> Heard yes but never seen it or used it. The scanning procedure is already well
> defined, so you have to change the datfile to match your needs. When I did Good*
> datfiles in the past I always put out 2 dats per version. One set separated and
> one with all roms in one set.
Maybe some hybrid mode, to check these as one multi-archive set and ignore archive names would do it.

> Well...I'm currently not satisfied either that the progress window doesn't show
> the tooltip, too. I added the code but it simply doesn't work for that
> window...currently I don't know why.
Why not add the info to the title of progress window instead of a tooltip?


> Was it rebuilt when it was removed from the source? If not, that smells like an
> issue. Have to check that.
I've done some more tests.
Seems that the "remove source files" option doesn't matter, so i turned it off.
On the first rebuild only the uncompressed files are recognised, the archives are skipped.
On the next rebuilds, when the rom is already available in the rom folder, both compressed and uncompressed files are recognised.
I've changed the name of the archive and it's still recognised.
I've also replaced the archive with another one containing the same file but hex-edited to mace the hashes not match. In this case ClrMamePro correctly finds that it's not the same file and skips it.


> Bug. I will fix this.
So, that makes it two reasons for a quick bugfix release :)


> ok..I will check...I've downloaded the file. Thanks.
DOH! I've misreaded this as "I can't download the file" and mailed it to you already, sorry.
...or... did you just edited your post? :P


> *edit* some 7z codes I've found:
>
> #define SZ_OK (0)
> #define SZE_DATA_ERROR (1)
> #define SZE_OUTOFMEMORY (2)
> #define SZE_CRC_ERROR (3)
>
> #define SZE_NOTIMPL (4)
> #define SZE_FAIL (5)
>
> #define SZE_ARCHIVE_ERROR (6)
That's much better than sole numbers. Still errors 5 and 6 are not very clear, but anyways it's better than before.
Thanks.

> > ok..I will check...I've downloaded the file. Thanks.
>
>
> I don't get any 7z error when rebuilding the 7z files.
>
>
> Roman Scherzer
>

Huh, strange. Ghosts in my PC? ;)

I'll try the same on my laptop.

[EDIT] Same problem on the laptop. CMP v3.97a

> I've tried some more 7z files, also made several more just for the test. None of
> them worked.

www.clrmame.com/test.7z

most likely your 7zip files use a not supported compression method, be sure you've used LZMA method.


> Maybe some hybrid mode, to check these as one multi-archive set and ignore
> archive names would do it.

not in the near future.

> Why not add the info to the title of progress window instead of a tooltip?

Because that's the reason why I removed it...I don't like it there ;)


> On the first rebuild only the uncompressed files are recognised, the archives
> are skipped.

Maybe because the 7z is bad when trying to decompress the file.

> On the next rebuilds, when the rom is already available in the rom folder, both
> compressed and uncompressed files are recognised.

Hmm..guess I need both files from you again...I can't reproduce that here at the moment.


> > Bug. I will fix this.
> So, that makes it two reasons for a quick bugfix release :)

Fixed it already...


> That's much better than sole numbers. Still errors 5 and 6 are not very clear,
> but anyways it's better than before.

Changed the output to show the upper names...no big gain..but anyway.


Roman Scherzer

> www.clrmame.com/test.7z
This one doesn't work too :)


> most likely your 7zip files use a not supported compression method, be sure
> you've used LZMA method.
I'm sure (for most of files) they were LZMA.


> > Maybe some hybrid mode, to check these as one multi-archive set and ignore
> > archive names would do it.
>
> not in the near future.
Hmm, does the Dir2Dat function support such sets (7z too, not only ZIP) ?


> Because that's the reason why I removed it...I don't like it there ;)
Guess i'll have to accept it as is.



> Maybe because the 7z is bad when trying to decompress the file.
7-Zip tested it fine.


> Hmm..guess I need both files from you again...I can't reproduce that here at the
> moment.
You deleted the files already? Should i send them again?

> > > Bug. I will fix this.
> Fixed it already...
Nice:)

> Changed the output to show the upper names...no big gain..but anyway.
This way it at least gives some clues where to look for errors.

> > www.clrmame.com/test.7z
> This one doesn't work too :)

www.clrmame.com/test.jpg works perfectly fine here. No idea why it doesn't work for you.


> I'm sure (for most of files) they were LZMA.

Just tested other methods...and they don't produce errors either.

> Hmm, does the Dir2Dat function support such sets (7z too, not only ZIP) ?

Dir2Dat reads rar/7z and zip.


> > Because that's the reason why I removed it...I don't like it there ;)
> Guess i'll have to accept it as is.

well...I'm still on the hunt for a solution for the progress window (which now remembers its position by the way 8)).

> You deleted the files already? Should i send them again?

Make one folder which represents the rebuilder source (compressed and uncompressed files).



Roman Scherzer

> Make one folder which represents the rebuilder source (compressed and
> uncompressed files).
Check your mail.

btw. shouldn't the statistics window remember its position too ?

> btw. shouldn't the statistics window remember its position too ?

well...I guess you'll find several windows which doesn't support saving of positions....mainly popups...


Roman Scherzer

Hello again, Roman :)

I've tried to create a DAT file for a GoodMerged set as you suggested, but got some problems while auditing.

The scanner says that all sets are wrong-named, but the names are fine. The rom folder is consisting of 7-zipped sets. If the "fix name" option is enabled, all 7z archives get renamed to *.zip (only rename, no recompressing). Is this by design, or it is a bug?

I've rebuilt the roms to a new folder and auditing it went fine.
Then i've converted all *.zip files in this new folder to RAR archives, scanned it, and again got the "wrong-name" problem.

Do you have any advices on this?
I'd also like to know what are the most proper Dir2Dat settings for GoodMerged sets (a screenshot maybe?)
Note that all this was done on WinXP (guess 13days uptime is too much for my laptop, huh), so the Win98 7-Zip issue doesn't apply.


So far for the problems, now some suggestions for future ClrMamePro versions :)

About the setinfo tooltip/title. I think the best solution would be to leave this info only on the "Scan Results" and "Set Information" windows, and make it a tooltip for the rest of the windows. Would you like it this way?

For the "Settings" window - would it be possible to add some small checkbox/button to make it stay always on top (for easy drag'n'drop).

Dir2Dat "Force Zipping" setting - could you add a third "As is" option, which should force un/zipping for each set according to the current status of source files while creating the DAT ?

Thanks in advance.

> The scanner says that all sets are wrong-named, but the names are fine. The rom
> folder is consisting of 7-zipped sets. If the "fix name" option is enabled, all
> 7z archives get renamed to *.zip (only rename, no recompressing). Is this by
> design, or it is a bug?

Hmmm...most likely the datfile includes the archive extensions in the setname which is wrong. I'd have to see the datfile and the way you stored the sets.



> About the setinfo tooltip/title. I think the best solution would be to leave
> this info only on the "Scan Results" and "Set Information" windows, and make it
> a tooltip for the rest of the windows. Would you like it this way?

The problem currently is: As soon as the progress window appears, you won't be able to see the tooltips anywhere. I have currently no clue why they won't work when the progress window appears. I don't like the info in the title line because it's usually too long. Maybe I should add a statusbar or something.


> For the "Settings" window - would it be possible to add some small
> checkbox/button to make it stay always on top (for easy drag'n'drop).

Settings? Why do you want to keep that open all the time? How often do you drop folders in there?


> Dir2Dat "Force Zipping" setting - could you add a third "As is" option, which
> should force un/zipping for each set according to the current status of source
> files while creating the DAT ?

Force Zipping is a header entry only. It was created by Logiqx telling cmpro to not zip sets because the belonging emulator doesn't support zipped sets, so they had to be in an unzipped way. (Similar for force merging). So you don't have to use this setting.


Roman Scherzer

> Hmmm...most likely the datfile includes the archive extensions in the setname
> which is wrong. I'd have to see the datfile and the way you stored the sets.

I don't see archive extensions in the datfile, besides if they were included they would be "7z", not "zip"
Check your mail, please.


> The problem currently is: As soon as the progress window appears, you won't be
> able to see the tooltips anywhere. I have currently no clue why they won't work
> when the progress window appears. I don't like the info in the title line
> because it's usually too long. Maybe I should add a statusbar or something.

Maybe they don't work because the progress window doesn't have a static title, i've seen this behavior on other programs, when the title changes the tooltip timer resets.


> Settings? Why do you want to keep that open all the time? How often do you drop
> folders in there?

Sometimes, after each audit ;)


> Force Zipping is a header entry only. It was created by Logiqx telling cmpro to
> not zip sets because the belonging emulator doesn't support zipped sets, so they
> had to be in an unzipped way. (Similar for force merging). So you don't have to
> use this setting.

Would it be too much trouble for you to make it a set-specific entry, please? Explanation in the mail.

Will be away for the weekend...so I doubt I can look at it before monday evening or somethng. Maybe a quick look later at the extensions issue...but don't count on it.


Roman Scherzer

> Will be away for the weekend...so I doubt I can look at it before monday evening
> or somethng. Maybe a quick look later at the extensions issue...but don't count
> on it.

Take your time, rest well and have a nice weekend.

Well..the answer for your reported issue is easy:
Do not scan 7z files. As mentioned before the scanner isn't yet able to do that. The generic packer routines already read the 7z archives but the set name compare takes the .7z extension into account which it shouldn't and so it says it's wrongly named. And fixing the name will end with all named .zip because the scanner sees the file is an archive but only supports zip, so it adds .zip.

As I said: Don't scan 7z files.

The dats look ok..but they need a little bit cleaning (like should it really include "5200 2.01 Merge.log" etc...) And you don't need to add a manufacturer tag.

Enjoy the weekend
Roman



Roman Scherzer

> Well..the answer for your reported issue is easy:
> Do not scan 7z files. As mentioned before the scanner isn't yet able to do that.
> The generic packer routines already read the 7z archives but the set name
> compare takes the .7z extension into account which it shouldn't and so it says
> it's wrongly named. And fixing the name will end with all named .zip because the
> scanner sees the file is an archive but only supports zip, so it adds .zip.
>
> As I said: Don't scan 7z files.

O.K. i'll think of some workaround.

> The dats look ok..but they need a little bit cleaning (like should it really
> include "5200 2.01 Merge.log" etc...) And you don't need to add a manufacturer
> tag.

Well, this was a generic testing for the ClrMamePro-GoodMerged combination, so the additional files were really needed. About the manufacturer tag, probably i just forgot to turn it off.
The real test would be the set i mentioned in my last mail to you. Currently it needs 12 datfiles (13 for previous version) , one for each subfolder and one for the whole thing.


> Enjoy the weekend
> Roman

Thanks, same to you
Emo