RomCenter

This program comes with no warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event will I be liable for any damages resulting from the proper or improper use of this software.
YOU USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK.

If you find any mistakes, you don't understand something or something is missing in this document, feel free to mail me.
I remind you that you are not allowed to distribute roms with emulators.

- Multi emulator support (thru data files). Mame and Raine provided. More to come...
- Change emulator from the main window
- New audit option window with examples. (No new options yet...)
- Current roms list statistics. (green, yellow and red flag in status bar)
- No more error messages during zip scan.
- Complemented crc handled.
- New 'no good dump known' engine.
- Faster zip scan
- Audit engine improved
- Auto mame version detection removed (now on-demand)
- You can now change directory in 'export NeoGeo' option when disk D is not defined.
- Repeated zip errors messages corrected
- Error messages are in English now

- Added rom move to the repair engine.
- Merge error when no roms are available
- File no found when no emulators are selected and building mame data file
- No good dump roms with crc of 00000000 not detected (stupid bug, sorry for that)
- Crater raider bug
- Locomotion bug
- Crazy kong display error
- Emulation path correctly set in new mame data files
- Wait cursor during data building process.
- Wait cursor while option checking
- Status bar font problem fixed
- Build button is default button in mame import dialog
- Drag & drop of files with more than 67 character.
- Repairing write protected roms
- Unknown rom file line for directories in drag & drop report.
- Mame.dat data file line doesn't appear in dropdown list
- Emulator executable display is not updated ofter a mame import
- Left list refreshed after clicking on update button.
- Don't merge if there are nothing to merge.
- Jpg pictures used in html report (for non microsoft browser)
- '.' can be used in data files names
- Support for roms long file names.

- 12 html reports available.
- 2 html graphical statistic pages
- Merge process improved (less zip problems)
- Error messages during repair process are collected and displayed at the end
- Unknown roms and files are no more deleted, they are moved to an external directory.
- Now, RomCenter doesn't delete ANY files.
- Some audit optimization
- Unreadable zip files are moved to the RomCenter Badfiles directory.
- More stable zip dll available
- Automatic roms refresh before any audit operation.

- Neo Geo game filter added.
- Neo Geo export tool.
- Flag problem corrected
- 'Play game' button added to contextual menu
- Roms with no good dump known management improved. That correct mame35 b12 flags.
- Write protected roms and zip are correctly handled
- Roms merging process improved.
- Color gradient in windows title...
- Some other bugs corrected

- 'No good dump known' roms are now shown with three special flags.
- They are correctly handled during merging and repairing process.
- You can now run games directly from RomCenter
- Some bugs corrected

- Audit engine created. It handles multiple directories, including read only devices. It is also more accurate.
- New mame roms extractor. It works with latest mame betas and should work for every new releases. It is also faster.
- Repair engine rewritten. It handles multiple directories and read only devices.
- Reports are now displayed thru notepad.
- Audit report available.
- No more crash if you choose Mame32.exe as mame executable (error message displayed instead).
- Merge engine rewritten to handle multiple directories
- tested with vr32mame, neomame etc...
- Link in about box now works
- Hang when mame roms directory doesn't exist corrected
- Error when mame path include spaces corrected
- 'Games not found' on latest mame betas corrected (due to mame inconsistencies)

- PKZIP and PKUNZIP are no more needed.
- Full 32 bits supports thru zipdll.dll and unzdll.dll
- Progress informations improved
- Zip error handler improved
- Faster scanner (file input)
- Some other minors problems fixed.

Mame ! Everybody knows today this incredible multi arcade machine emulator. It supports new games everyday, and more and more roms are needed. It supports more than 1200 games, and more than 15000 roms ! Authors try now to merge them in sets, correct bad roms, and add missing roms. But you, how do you know exactly which one are good, bad, missing or no more needed ? When a rom is missing in a game, are you sure it is not already there, but in another set? RomCenter will do all that, and more, for you. It helps me a lot, and now, I release it to public for free. RomCenter's core is a database which holds a hierarchical view of mame supported games based on sets/clones/roms. RomCenter manages for you your mame roms directories. If you get new roms, drag and drop them on RomCenter, see what is inside, and merge them in your mame roms directory. They will be analyzed, renamed, spread and sorted for you, and to check if a game is really working, run it !

Now, RomCenter supports other emulators like Raine, and more are coming... And if yours is not supported, you can do it yourself !

RomCenter features:
- Multi emulator support thru external files
- Multiple roms directories per emulators
- Dynamic mame roms retrieval.
- Basic front end function
- Rom merging, renaming and spreading
- 'No good dump known' compatible
- Incomplete games and sets detection
- Useless rom files filtering
- Zip files scanner (drag & drop)
- Html reporting
- Professional interface with sensitive tool bar and contextual menus
- Resizable split window
- 32 bits zip support for fast performances
- and more (hot tracking, mouse wheel support...)

I haven't tried RomCenter on 486, but it should work (slow). Tell me if you try.

You need:
- Zipdll.dll and Unzipdll.dll. They are available for download on the home page. Copy these dll to your windows\system directory. (winnt\system32 on NT)
- Some disk space to temporary store roms.
- Data files for any emulator (some are provided).
- Emulator if you want to play games.

- Unzip RomCenter.
The following files will be installed:
- RomCenter.exe : Main executable
- RomCenter.htm : Html documentation (this document)
- rcdoc\... : Documentation files
- datas\... : Emulators data files

You also need zipdll.dll and unzdll.dll. They are available for download on the home page.
Copy these dll to your windows\system directory. (winnt\system32 on NT)

- Check you have zipdll.dll and unzdll.dll to your windows\system directory. (winnt\system32 on NT)
- Run RomCenter.exe
- RomCenter will load with Raine roms (default).
- Create mame data file with the menu 'files/import mame game'
- You can change emulator with the drop down menu
- Select roms directories in the option window.
- Press the audit button to clean your roms directory.
- Drag & drop new roms zip in the dropping zone
- Click merge to install these roms in the emulator
- Select a game and press play if you want to test it etc...

If RomCenter seems to hang, display the dos console window from the task bar, open the top left system menu, choose properties and check the bottom check box.
Close it manually. It will now close automatically.

When you run RomCenter for the first time, it load mame roms list.
The main window appears and you are ready to manage your roms with RomCenter.

The main window is cut in four parts:
- The files dropping zone (upper left)
- The general infos area (upper right)
- The Zip content area (lower left)
- The merged rom area (lower right)

You can clear the zip content roms area by pressing the clear button.
The file dropping zone is used to import zipped roms in RomCenter. Simply drag files from a directory and drop them in dropping zone.
The general infos area displays informations on the current emulator version and games supported.
The zip content area displays roms which have been recognized in files dropped in dropping zone.
The output rom area shows roms already installed for the emulator. Note that the list shows games which are virtually available (i.e.: the roms are present). The list can report that a game is working, although the emulator report a missing rom. (for example, the rom may be in the wrong set).

RomCenter supports multiple emulators. This is done thru data files (some are provided and mame is build in). You can switch between emulators with the main window drop down menu. RomCenter load new data and display the roms list.
Parameters like roms directories are defined for each emulator. Go to the option window to select your roms paths. Emulator executable is asked when you run a game, and you can change it in the option menu.
You can make your own data files to manage other emulators. See appendix A for more infos. Also, RomCenter can build mame data files. See chapter 3.7.

Drag and drop a zip file into the dropping zone. RomCenter scans zip files, and then shows the result in the zip content window. You can set the filter to 'all' or 'new'.
- 'All' displays all roms detected in zip files.
- 'New' only shows roms which are not available in the output area (in fact the roms directory).

A red flag shows you that all roms are missing.
A yellow flag shows you that some roms are missing.
A green flag shows you that all roms are available, and the game is playable.
If the flag is crossed, some roms have 'no good dump known'.

The scanning result is available in a report. Press the report button to display it.
Scanning errors are not displayed. Check them in the report.

If you want to copy previously scanned roms in the roms directories, simply press the merge button, and roms will be copied at their right places with their right names. If you manually copy roms to the roms directory, you will need to refresh the output window to take them into account. No roms are deleted in the merging process. This process can take a lot of time. I will go further in optimization in later release, but for now, if you have a huge number of roms to copy, manually copy them to the roms directory and do a repair with RomCenter.

Merging roms follows these rules:
- Roms are copied in their sets if it is available and write-enable.
- If set doesn't exist, it is created in the first write-enabled directory.
- If set exist on a read only device, a second set is created in the first write-enabled directory.

Some mame roms are known as 'no good dump known'. It's mean that these roms weren't available at mame release date. These files are handled correctly in RomCenter. If one is met during the merging process, it is supposed to be good and is merged in sets.

Note: You can safely run an audit with all options on, because no disk operation will be performed until you read the report, and confirm the process.

RomCenter includes a fast roms repairing engine. It can spread roms in all sets where they are needed, rename them and move unknown files. To repair your roms directories, simply click the audit button. Choose if you want to move roms and/or files :

- Move unknown roms: All unknown roms found in zip files will be move. This include all text files, executable files... They are not deleted, but moved in the file 'badroms.zip' located in the RomCenter directory.

WARNING: - The mame directory itself is often in the mame roms paths. If you have original mame zip file here, content will be moved.

- Move unknown zip files: All zip files which don't match rom set name will be moved . They are not deleted, but moved in the directory 'badfiles' located in the RomCenter directory.

All roms are scanned, and checked. Then, if some problems are detected, RomCenter displays a report and ask you if you want to repair.
The repairing engine follows these rules:

- Roms are copied in their sets if it is available and write-enable.
- If set doesn't exist, it is created in the first write-enabled directory.
- If set exist on a read only device, a second set is created in the first write-enabled directory. (This feature is supported by mame, and your game will work).

- Only on zip per set (except when a read only device is used)
- All roms are at the same level in the zip (no subdirectories)
- if possible, Roms names will match rom names of the main clone
- Neo-Geo bios files are moved to neogeo.zip archive, and removed from all NeoGeo games

Note: To use this feature, you need mame 0.34 or better ( mame must support the -listinfos option). Neomame and others derivatives are also working but mame32 doesn't.

RomCenter has a built-in engine to create mame data files from mame executable.
To create a new data file:

- Install your mame version
- Run RomCenter and click the menu File/Import mame games.
A file selector appears.
- Select your mame.exe
A window appears, showing the mame version.
- Give the name you want to give to the new data file. This name will appear in the emulator drop down menu of the main window.
RomCenter scans mame and load roms list.

This process is needed only one time per mame version. you can make as many data files you want.

- Export NeoGeo sets (files menu) (mame only)
This tool allows you to move or copy NeoGeo sets into a directory. You can choose to export all sets, or only working sets (with a green flag).

RomCenter includes a wide variety of reports (available thru report menu), and you should find what you need. If you don't, send me an e-mail. Some report are only available with mame.
These reports are in html and are displayed using your preferred browser. They are stored in c:\temp\ and the name is RomCenterReport.htm

To optimize disk space, NeoGeo bios files are removed from all NeoGeo games and put in a new set called neo-geo. This set is needed for every NeoGeo games to work. As a side effect, RomCenter will report that a NeoGeo game is complete, even if the bios files are missing. This is not a bug.

Some games supported by mame are not playable due to bad rom dump; They are known as 'no good dump known' roms, and their crc is always '00000000'. RomCenter relies on their names to identify these roms and it can only detect them if they are in their correct zip archives.
For example, if pacman.rom has no god dump known, it is only detected if it is in the pacman.zip archive.

New complemented crc are detected with their crc. They are displayed with a crossed icon only when the file is available.

To uninstall RomCenter, delete RomCenter executable, doc and games.dat file, and remove the entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/SOFTWARE/ROMCENTER in the registry.

You can reach me at ebolefeysot@bigfoot.com. Send me bugs, ideas, new features you like to see, greetings, phonecards etc...

Emuspain	www.emuspain.com
Retrogames	www.retrogames.com
Emu xpress	home2.swipnet.se/~w-28929/
PC Arcade	www.emuclassics.com/pcarcade/
Sys 2064	sys2064.emulationworld.com/
Emulatronia	www.emulatronia.com/
Emu camp	www.emucamp.com/
EmuLocos	www.emulocos.emunintendo.com/
Arcade @ home	www.arcadeathome.com/
Zophar domain	www.zophar.net
DreamScape	members.home.net/baxtrom
Daves video games classics	davesclassics.warzone.com

First, I want to thank all people who write me. Thank you very much for the support.

This chapter goal is to allow you to create your own data files to manage your favorite emulator roms

[CREDITS] (Textual informations (not used yet)))
Author=Eric Bole-Feysot - ebolefeysot@bigfoot.com
Version=1.0 - 01 aug 1999 (Version of this file)
Comment=Please report any errors to ebolefeysot@bigfoot.com
[DAT]
version=1.60 (Version of the data file structure. Don't change)
[EMULATOR]
refname=raine (Generic name of the emulator)
version=Raine v 0.24a (Version of the emulator)
exe=d:\arcade\raine\raine.exe (Emulator executable)
playcmd=-nogui -game (Command line options to run game)
romspaths=d:\arcade\raine\ziproms\;f:\raine\;d:\download\emul\raine\; (Roms paths)
[GAMES] (roms list)
¬64Street¬64th Street¬64Street¬64th Street¬64th_04.rom¬98f83ef6¬N¬N¬
...
Format is
¬set dos name¬set full namet¬clone dos name¬clone full name¬rom name¬rom crc¬N¬N¬
The last fields 'N' are only used in mame. Do not change them.

Good luck, and feel free to send me your data files to include them in future releases.

	-Have an emulator which provide a crc list of supported roms (e.g. mame or Raine)
	-Have the roms. You can then open them with winzip and get the crc displayed for each rom.. (If you don't see them, go in the WinZip option and check the crc display box).