+- XBMC Community Forum (http://forum.xbmc.org)
+-- Forum: Development (/forumdisplay.php?fid=32)
+--- Forum: Development (/forumdisplay.php?fid=93)
+--- Thread: Games Library (Game & Emulator database + launcher) development project, help wanted! (/showthread.php?tid=40715)
- blittan - 2010-01-07 12:03
set content on rom folders sound like a pretty good idea.
it's possible to unpack the rom via python. you can even use rar format if you'd like.
- wimpy - 2010-01-07 12:58
blittan Wrote:set content on rom folders sound like a pretty good idea.
it's possible to unpack the rom via python. you can even use rar format if you'd like.
thought as much
too bad i don't know how to implement any of this into xbmc db/layout.. well i'll complete the database first anywaywould be perfect if xbmc team could "hire" a emulator coder to implement opensource emulators directly into xbmc (a)
and then together with emufreaks like myself build a scraper/db for everyone to use.on the bright side of this.. even if this doesnt work out xbmc-wize i'll finally have a nice db with loads of info to play with for myself ;P
- grassmunk - 2010-01-15 23:34
wimpy Wrote:thought as much
would be perfect if xbmc team could "hire" a emulator coder to implement opensource emulators directly into xbmc (a)
on the bright side of this.. even if this doesnt work out xbmc-wize i'll finally have a nice db with loads of info to play with for myself ;P
Probably want to check the Scenyx Forums as they're performing the same thing for retro (NES, SNES, Sega, Genesis, TG16 etc) consoles.
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=660135
They're using the Xport emulators to turn the xbox in to the best games museum. What would be nice is if someone could port Xport back to windows
since the interface is nice and it supports simply passing the rom straight from XBMC.
- wimpy - 2010-01-16 20:13
grassmunk Wrote:Probably want to check the Scenyx Forums as they're performing the same thing for retro (NES, SNES, Sega, Genesis, TG16 etc) consoles.
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=660135
They're using the Xport emulators to turn the xbox in to the best games museum. What would be nice is if someone could port Xport back to windows
Cool! Thanks for the headsup! I'll check out that thread!
It seems to be xbox-specific atm, but i hope it can be ported to work on all platforms
- Fabianius - 2010-01-23 01:54
It's nice to see progress in this part of XBMC. In my opinion it's very important to get a games library. Everybody likes some games and XBMC is the perfect solution to present them. It's always impressive to see the work of djh_, for instance he has made some mockups of the game library once.
It was a very good idea to start a database as there doesn't seem to be a free one on the internet which contains data for the most popular video game consoles. You do find a lot of stuff but the high-resolution images mostly contain a watermark.
I would really like to help you create a database which contains all the stuff needed by a scraper. I could help you present the collected data (information, poster, fanart, etc.) on an own website like TheTVDB.com. I'm pretty good in creating web applications with the aid of PHP and MySQL. Nevertheless, I don't know your target. Do you want to lobby the developers to improve the Launcher plugin or do you want to create a stuffed database which can be scraped in the future? I think that it's more important to get a filled database, so that the XBMC developers see, that they will have a working database when they finish the Launcher plugin. Perhaps the game database is even integrated natively then.
To sum up, do you want to host a game database online which could be used by XBMC in the future or is it your aim to create a database dump including graphics which can be freely downloaded and hosted by everyone?
- VictorV - 2010-01-23 13:34
blittan Wrote:set content on rom folders sound like a pretty good idea
My idea would be to split the programs into contents (as all ready done with music and videos)
Let's say:
- Files
- Applications
- Games
- Arcade Games
Making it simple to implement a library content as ebooks or bookmarks.
We want to use the external player to launch games, but it would need a GUI for configuration to become user friendly. It could for example be integrated as a virtual directory.
Code:
Programs
|
|- My game source
|- My app source
|- ...
|- Add source
|- Launchers
|- Add launcher ...
|- My launcher (context menu: edit, delete, rename ...)This would also handle a possible future implementation for configuration plugins for each launcher. Where a plugin would be a graphical front end for the launcher config-file or command line arguments
There's no problem using file extension for launching console roms as there exist commonly used naming. (super nintendo: .smc, sega genesis: .gen, atari 7800: .a78, nintendo: .nes and many more)
This isn't true with arcade roms, so there should be a way to override.
Set default launchers for sources?
As default listed items without a launcher should be handled by os, making it simple to add single executable. As for example a directory of windows shortcuts.
Custom filtering is another issue that need to be more flexible than it's done in videos and music. Every rom set need its own filter rules for directory listing based on file extension
Scrapers need to know which platform to scrape to get correct information. The easiest way to solve this is to pass all the work to the scraper, and create a scraper setting for this.
This is just my thoughts, but I've spent some hours thinking about it, and this is what I can see a fast way to a good result.
- hikaricore - 2010-01-26 02:15
I would love to finally see one of these projects come through.
Personally I'm still using mythgame as a frontend because it's the only reasonable solution for a large library. >.>
- wimpy - 2010-01-27 12:32
I've currently dropped this project and joined another project called "Xtras" over at xbox-scene.com xbox1 forums. It's a megahuge pack containing covers, titleimage/actionimage/cartridgeimage, gameplay video, manuals, guides, synopsis++ for about 20 different consoles. It's almost 100% now.
The goal is to create a retro-museum archive that frontends can use to higten the experience you get while browsing thousands of old games. showing covers, info about the game etcetc++.
When it's released in mid-march I hope someone will be able to "port" it to work for XBMC outside XBOX1 console. That would however mean to either port the xport emulators or start working on a all-in-one emulator for XBMC. I guess browsing the games (showing covers, info,roms etc) could be done in python and then launch external emulators aswell.
I noticed that me starting to code something for XBMC is not the way to go (due to my coding experience) so for now I'm helping out filling what little is left of the Xtras package.
If anyone is up for the task of creating a frontend for browsing games or a backend for creating an all-in-one emulator that can launch games from xbmc we'd be a step closer to having a game museum in XBMC.
Imagine being able to browse all these all games with all artwork etc for example in the new Confluence or Xperience skin.. *drool*
- Dannermax - 2010-01-31 18:31
Im drooling with ya buddy.. It would be a dream to be able to play all the classic games through XBMC. I am sending a little prayer to the XBMC coders, hoping someone will help port this project so it can be played in the windows version of XBMC.. just imagine...!
- VictorV - 2010-02-01 01:54
Dannermax Wrote:Im drooling with ya buddy.. It would be a dream to be able to play all the classic games through XBMC. I am sending a little prayer to the XBMC coders, hoping someone will help port this project so it can be played in the windows version of XBMC.. just imagine...!
A port is not the solution. It would be better to use xbmc skinning library and make a re-write.
But I think xbmc with a game library and launching through external emulators would be way better than the xport project and xtras over at xbox-scene. No offence tho. They are doing a great job, but collecting all the correct roms and packs of artworks are not for the masses.