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+---- Thread: Games Library (Game & Emulator database + launcher) development project, help wanted! (/showthread.php?tid=40715)
- sho - 2009-05-02
Great, I would suggest that you should be able to completely flatten the library nodes, so you only see the "executable" items.
I believe most users will only install a handful of apps, so all the browsing required would just be a hassle.
Flatten using the video logic would just flatten anything below Software/Programs and Games.
Maybe both should be allowed (toggled in settings?)
- marlboroman1 - 2009-05-03
The library implementation should be the same structure as the video library for consistence
So the top level could be
Games
Apps
Recently add Games
Recently add Apps
Game saves
Plugins
For next level down your outline would be fine but like the video library having “All Titles” as one of the category options. Would good for people who want all their games or programs in one place it may help skinners well as I’m sure a lot of skins will want have games and a programs entry in the home menu.
I think that Rand Al Thor point about genres or categories for apps is true an existent but don’t see how its different from library mode in general the default categories try compliant with upnp stranded. In the case apps a stranded categories would have to be created this may be hard without a lot user input so perhaps we should use some else’s. These are the default categories form ubuntu apps menu it looks good to me I think the more generalised the better.
Accessories
Graphics
Internet
Office
Sound and video
Limitation on extensions. - burnout - 2009-05-03
Are you going to limit the extensions to .exe/.lnk or will there be any way for us users to modify which extensions we can add to the library ?
Cause when i used the "Launcher Plugin" i modified it to be able to add ".z64" ".n64" and so on, Because "Project 64" didnt work with the plugin. And i had the ".z64" and ".n64" configured to auto launch with "Project 64".
Then as a temporary solution i added all games as favorites so i could easily reach them without the need of going to Programs>Plugins>Launcher>"Insert N64 game here"
So i could just go Favorites>"Insert N64 game here"
Just wanted to add that as a temporary solution. ^^
So i'll say that we need the addable? extensions types to be configureable, so you can add more that just .exe/.lnk .
Keep up the good work Leo2 !
- natethomas - 2009-05-03
First off, Leo, you are awesome and there's a decent chance I'm not worthy to sit at your feet.
Second, I should note that I've not had an opportunity to play with the branch (nor have any idea how to do so), so if the following has already been dealt with, feel free to ignore.
Burnout brings up an interesting point. At present, two types of computer based games exist. Games specifically written for the computer, such as Half-Life 2 or Unreal Tournament, and games of the emulator variety.
All computer based games have individual folders and exe files.
All emulators games share a single exe per platform and have individual romsets (except dos games and scummvm games, which are, once again, folder based, but in a very specific manner).
I'm not sure what exactly the short term or initial goals are, but it seems a great deal more natural to initially attempt to create a program scraper that only scrapes game designed for the computer, wherein each one has its own folder and exe. Such a solution would work well in conjunction with a program scrape of non-game programs, such as Firefox.
The next step becomes a bit less certain. Scraping romset games would not be difficult, I imagine. It would be a simple question of looking up file names, similar to how videos are currently scraped. Identifying the appropriate platform would also be relatively simple, as roms typical indicate the platform either within the name of the file or with the extension.
Thus, creating a library of roms should not be completely impossible, particularly if a library of traditional games exists.
The tricky part lies in figuring out what happens when a person clicks on a rom game. Should it act like a double click, where XBMC simply allows Windows to figure out what to do with the rom and how to launch it? Or should XBMC act as a connector, "dropping" the rom onto the appropriate emulator's exe file?
If the first, I would suppose the programming would be relatively simple, as XBMC would not have much to do beyond what it does with exe files. If the second, the programming would become more involved. XBMC would either have to ask the user where the emulator program was for the specific platform, or, if we wanted to get really crazy, it could ask the user whether it should download an appropriate emulator program.
All of this may be quite a bit beyond the current goals, but it's at least worth thinking about.
My thanks also goes out to Leo, been wanting this nativly in XBMC for a long time now - Gamester17 - 2009-05-03
sho Wrote:If the plan is to go beyond games/emulators (which would be the way to go IMHO), then setting contents is probably unavoidable.Perhaps also separate 'native' games on the real platform XBMC run on from the emulator games/ROMS?
Categories could be (but not limited to):
-Programs
would read metadata from the binaries, name, icon etc. OR nfo file plus tbns, local Fanart etc.
(similar to the Music Video nfo scraper)
-Games, would allow scraper selection. I assume native games and emulators could benefit from different scrapers.
Categories under the Programs section could then be (but not limited to):
- Applications (Utility Applications like Firefox, Thunderbird, Microsoft Word, etc.)
- Games ('native' games, meaning PC games if XBMC for example runs on Windows)
- Arcade (for Emulators/ROMS) with under here defaults to categories by the hardware game-console platform it is emulating?
I also like the idea of it reading metadata 'native' games and programs to get get name, icon, etc. if possible?
[EDIT]: PS! @leo, have you also read this wiki article? http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Games_Library_Ideas
...will you be taking over from Awen to continue along the lines of this concept (or in its theory?)?
- JustinAiken - 2009-05-09
I'm just a user, not a developer, but I just want to say that these ideas are awesome.... what I've wanted from the very beginning!
- lestat1977uk - 2009-05-10
Leo this looks amazing, truely what is missing from XBMC, when are we likley to see it?
- leo2 - 2009-05-11
Gamester17 Wrote:Perhaps also separate 'native' games on the real platform XBMC run on from the emulator games/ROMS?1.
Categories under the Programs section could then be (but not limited to):
- Applications (Utility Applications like Firefox, Thunderbird, Microsoft Word, etc.)
- Games ('native' games, meaning PC games if XBMC for example runs on Windows)
- Arcade (for Emulators/ROMS) with under here defaults to categories by the hardware game-console platform it is emulating?
I also like the idea of it reading metadata 'native' games and programs to get get name, icon, etc. if possible?
[EDIT]: PS! @leo, have you also read this wiki article? http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Games_Library_Ideas
...will you be taking over from Awen to continue along the lines of this concept (or in its theory?)?
I think the category should be Applications & Games only.
The emulators should be transparent to the user and he wouldn't have to know whether the game is native or it runs using an emulator.
2.
I Think that icon's extraction from the exe files is useless, because a game with title and small icon won't look good in the library skins that includes fanart, big thumbnail, description and more.
I've read the ideas in the link that you provied, there some nice ideas and some of them already implemented in the gamelibrary branch. but I think we need to complete the base support before expanding to all of the ideas there.
Getting it to compile - TheQuestor - 2009-05-11
I've been trying for days to get the gamelibrary branch to compile. and so far it has failed miserably. I've tried it with the build.bat, VS2003 and VS2008 Express and all 3 pretty much fail with the same issue.
2>Application.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "public: __thiscall CGUIWindowProgramNav::CGUIWindowProgramNav(void)" (??0CGUIWindowProgramNav@@QAE@XZ) referenced in function "public: virtual long __thiscall CApplication::Initialize(void)" (?Initialize@CApplication@@UAEJXZ)
Somewhere I am missing an external or something, and since the readme doesn't say anything about this branch I am at a loss. I've set up the build enviroment the same as I do for my Win32 branch, and Xbox branch of my nightly builds and still nothing.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Craig
- spiff - 2009-05-11
urr.. fix the vs project files
- TheQuestor - 2009-05-11
spiff Wrote:urr.. fix the vs project files
you must practice vagueness. I know it is an art hard mastered, but master it you have. I congratulate you sir
With that said, maybe you can help me figure out what to fix and where?
TIA.
Craig
- spiff - 2009-05-11
add GUIWindowProgramNav.cpp/h to the project
- TheQuestor - 2009-05-11
spiff Wrote:add GUIWindowProgramNav.cpp/h to the project
worked like a charm, thank you!!!!!
Craig
- plight - 2009-05-28
Any news on the game library front?
- panzaeron - 2009-06-04
Same question: some news about this project?
