Genesis Flashback HD (2018) Game Manager

[DoctorEvil8]

Since the allgames.ini file can utilize subfolders (needed for multi-disc Sega CD games), is there a way to implement sub folder control in the app? This might be useful to organize the games on the SD card. I.e. Game Gear games into a folder, Master System into another. Or even just helping organize the games overall. Currently, if I have a subfolder, the app cannot see the images inside the sub-folder.

 

[dcuk7]

I will look at adding better file system support in the next version. There will be a UI change so this will be a good time to implement such features.

 

[fixingmytoys]

wish my flashback had the sd card i think i have the 2017 one , the one before the 2018 with sdcard wish i could ad a sd card and run this mine

 

[dcuk7]

Hi guys. New version uploaded. Complete re-design. Please let me know your feedback.

Many more features coming over the next few weeks.

 

[Doggfather79]

Possibly in the wrong place but is there anyway to fill the screen on genesis FB (I know it's awful stretching and not my cup of tea either) I have an autistic son who loves retro games but can't bare black bars at the sides of the image. I have managed to eliminate this on the NES & SNES classics via retroarch and on the PSC via autobleem I just can't find any answers on how to do it on genesis flashback or Atari fb9. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dcuk7]

@Doggfather79 There is no way to make the screen stretch to widescreen on the Flashback HD but if you have the newer 2018 model you can choose a background in the settings and it will fill the screen with that background. There are a couple of nice colourful ones that blend in fairly well so this might be enough to remove the distraction of the black bars.

 

[esmith13]

I LOVE this app!! Thank you so much for your hard work on it.

IMHO, it needs 4 additional features:

1) Support for .md Genesis roms (using .zip is a workaround to get .md files on the SD card with your tool but still should be supported unzipped as well)
2) A "Batch Import" mode
3) The ability to remember a different last used browse path for the game rom and the game image (so in a manual game add you can jump right to your rom folder for the next rom and right to your box art folder for the next image)
4) An option to check a box and have the "Game Name" and "Sort Name" automatically be truncated as soon as a "(", "[", or "{" is seen in the name to help remove tags commonly found in rom names like "(USA)" or "[b1]" and the like.

BONUS FEATURE
5) Ability to read in XML database offered on HyperSpin's website to pull the Genre and Release year for every game from all supported systems (Genesis.xml, MasterSystem.xml, GameGear.xml, Sega32x.xml, and SegaCD.xml)

For batch imports may I suggest a method?
Let's assume you have a folder on your PC for "Genesis Roms". In that folder you have all your Genesis roms in a specific format (all .bin, .md, or .zip). You also have images for the roms in the same folder named identically in whatever image format you support (jpg/png/etc).
When you start the batch import, you would simply have to point to that folder with the roms & images and then set parameters for Save Location and Platform. Your app would then import all the games and pull images that matched in location and name automatically for box art (if found) and supply a generic if not found (like a question mark icon or blank box image). Other settings that are per-game could then be set one by one.

 

[dcuk7]

Hi @esmith13. Thank you for those suggestions. I will look to add suggestions 1 & 3 to the next version of the app (which may be available over the weekend, time-permitting).

Number 4 and 5 I will have an attempt at and see how it goes. Good ideas though

As for the batch import option, I have actually built a separate app that does exactly as your idea suggests. It basically creates an all-games.ini from a folder full of roms and a separate folder full of images, then does all the neccessary conversions/renaming. I will have another look at this as you are right it would be a useful feature in the main app.

 

[esmith13]

... I have actually built a separate app that does exactly as your idea suggests. It basically creates an all-games.ini from a folder full of roms and a separate folder full of images, then does all the neccessary conversions/renaming. I will have another look at this as you are right it would be a useful feature in the main app.

Thank you for your time, great work and response!

Have you by chance made that separate app available for use or testing yet? I think that is a good idea as well. Reminds me of scripted apps like Gengal for RetroPie which would independently generate gamelist.xml files to get quick and dirty bulk imports done.

 

[dcuk7]

That app was built quickly as a test for my ideas. I may look at tidying it up and maybe releasing it separately as it should only take a couple hours of work to get it to a finished state.

 

[Mr_White]

Quick question; is there anyway to keep the stock games when updating & adding titles? I've just added a few titles to test and when I power up the Flashback, it only shows the titles I added. TIA

 

[dcuk7]

New version released 0.3.1.

As ever I am already hard at work on the next version but wanted to get something out this weekend as the suggestions by @esmith13 are pretty good quality-of-life features that were worth getting out asap.

@Mr_White due to the way the system is designed, the custom firmware basically tells the system to ignore the rom folder on the device and instead use the rom folder from the SD card. There is no way right now to use the built-in games with your own games when using the mount_sd.ini trick.

 

[esmith13]

Deleted - redundant.

 

[Mr_White]

Thanks for the swift response @dcuk7 and greatly appreciate all the effort on the Game Manager app, top work!

 

[esmith13]

New version released 0.3.1.

As ever I am already hard at work on the next version but wanted to get something out this weekend as the suggestions by @esmith13 are pretty good quality-of-life features that were worth getting out asap.

Just a heads up that while the last used rom path is now remembered, the last used artwork path is not. It keeps defaulting back to wherever the last rom was grabbed from. Also, I'm not sure if this works with or against your intentions, but in my case I created sub folders to the 'roms' folder (gen, gg, sms & scd or 32x) and place my games in the sub folders accordingly. It would be nice if the 'save location' in your software defaulted to the last used path for that specific field as well. Ideally, if it goes with your intentions, the 'Genre' and 'Save Location' could be linked, so that having a Genre of 'Genesis' would default automatically to '/roms/gen' or similar.

If my comments/suggestions are becoming a pain, please let me know. I truly appreciate all your hard work and vision with this app and don't mean to step on toes or come off disrespectful or ungrateful. My only intent is to help, if that's OK of course.

 

[PsyKos]

Thanks for the software and yes, a batch import would be very usefull!!!

 

[spinal_cord]

Am I the only one who can't get this to work? I updated the firmware, removed the firmware file, added a couple of roms but none show on the screen.

 

[Mr_White]

Am I the only one who can't get this to work? I updated the firmware, removed the firmware file, added a couple of roms but none show on the screen.

Are you using the game manager app to add the ROMs? If you're just dropping them on to the SD card after updating the firmware, the ROMs will nerd to be in a folder called "Game" and then can be found in the SD card portion of the menu...HTH

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Another question to the group; is there the ability to change the names of the menu titles (Bonus Games, Sega Games etc.)? Wondering if they could be renamed to the different systems this device runs...

 

[spinal_cord]

Are you using the game manager app to add the ROMs? If you're just dropping them on to the SD card after updating the firmware, the ROMs will nerd to be in a folder called "Game" and then can be found in the SD card portion of the menu...HTH

Yes, using the game manager, If I don't have the SD card in, then it shows the original games, but with the SD card, i get nothing. I followed the instrustions exactly.

 

[dcuk7]

Hi @spinal_cord, can you post the contents of your all-games.ini file here and maybe a screenshot of the folder containing the games and box art? It will help us figure out what is going on. Thanks.

@esmith13 Your feedback is very much appreciated. I am noticing the bug with the last used paths myself. It seems like Windows overrides my settings. I will continue to work on this. Folder support is tricky. To do what you suggest would mean I would have to have the app enforce folder names so it would work correctly on everyones system. I will have a play with this idea though.