Rominator v5.3 released

[Opium]

Rominator v5.3 released
Advanced zip detection & bug fixes

GBAtemp regular Hankchill just doesn't stop. He's been hard at work releasing yet another update to his popular ROM management application, Rominator. This release sees more bug fixes and new additions like advanced zip detection, that allows games to be detected inside of zip's with multiple files.

[title:changelog]
[FIX] Fixed error 1023 when editing the name of a list (double clicking), and then creating a new list. The new list did not register in the database; this has been resolved.

[+] Revamped the way Smart Lists work. Now you can have as much criteria as you want, so for example you can search for games from regions USA and Europe, instead of being limited to 1.

[FIX] Fixed a bug that would not remove the .nds file after rZipping it. My bad.

[+] Advanced Zip Detection. Your game can have multiple files in it and it will still be recognized, so for those collectors who keep original Zips that has all the NFO's and images, it'll find the Zip file. However, if there is over about 20 files in the zip, it will have to be manually identified. Please make sure only 1 NDS file is in the zip though.

[FIX] Fixed an identification bug that would sometimes cause Rominator to not save the identified information of a Zip.

[FIX] Fixed a problem where flash cards would multiply in the dropdown list of the Rom Queue.

[+] Smart Lists can now be edited, so you are free to modify the criteria anytime!

[+] I can't believe nobody pointed this out! Publisher has now been added to the Details!

[FIX] Netherlands in the Region Filter under Statistics has been fixed. If you disable it and leave the statistics, and come back, it will now stay disabled.

[+] Zipped games can now be flashed from the Rom Queue in the Toolbox

[+] Zipped games can now be used in the Rom Validator in the Toolbox

*A new Easter Egg has been added. See if you can find it!*
First clue: Haxx0ring won't help you

Thanks again to hankchill for keeping up the great work! You can download the application locally from GBAtemp below.

Download (Windows)

Download (Mac OS X)

Download (Linux)

 

[JPH]

Nice job, hanky!
This is a really great ROM manager application and has a lot of different options.
You fellers should try it out, works on 3 different OS

Keep up the good work

 

[leetdude_007]

Would it be feasible to extract the icon from zipped nds files or would that take too long for large ROM collections? Great program, even if that never happens!

edit: nvm. you have to ID the rom to get the icon. I have questioned a demigod and this is what I get...

 

[Nomearod]

Does it work in Linus this time?

 

[El Bastardo]

I'm currently using "OfflineList" together with the "Advanscene" ROM DATs and their pictures (boxarts etc.).

Convince me why I should use this instead (I'm always looking for better things).

Important for me is the auto update feature of the ROM lists and the auto download feature of the images so which ROM lists does this program use and does it also feature an image auto downloader??

 

[raz--]

Great ! But when do you plan to implement subdirectories scanning ?

 

[12345]

Hank,

Thanks for addressing the .zip file problem I had previously.. I know it simply wasn't for me, but it certainly seemed to address the issue at the right time. This application is excellent and I'm fully using it now over the traditional method of dragging, and dropping, etc. through Explorer.

A very intuitive application. I just wish more programs for other systems, and even other forms of media can do something similar.



Cheers!

 

[hankchill]

Would it be feasible to extract the icon from zipped nds files or would that take too long for large ROM collections? Great program, even if that never happens!

edit: nvm. you have to ID the rom to get the icon. I have questioned a demigod and this is what I get...

I'm glad my telepathic message was able to reach you well

Does it work in Linus this time?

You mean Linux, right? I'm working with the makers of the compiler I use to try and find out exactly why Rominator broke. I'll probably be installing a distro of Linux on my Macbook to see if there's anything that can be done to fix it.

I'm currently using "OfflineList" together with the "Advanscene" ROM DATs and their pictures (boxarts etc.).

Convince me why I should use this instead (I'm always looking for better things).

Important for me is the auto update feature of the ROM lists and the auto download feature of the images so which ROM lists does this program use and does it also feature an image auto downloader??

Read the User's Guide and tell me if it's right for you.
Clicky Clicky

Rominator does include auto-updates, and auto-image downloading for the games you've got (Just click on the game in your list, and presto, you've got the image). Included as well is a Box Art Manager so you can choose to download 'em all if you want

I'm not going to convince you to switch, you choose to use what meets your needs. If I was selling the software, then I would convince you

QUOTEGreat ! But when do you plan to implement subdirectories scanning ?

Subdirectory Scanning will make it to the next version, I promise

It's going to take some extra recoding for it, but shouldn't be too hard as I already know how I'm going to do it

QUOTE

Thanks for addressing the .zip file problem I had previously.. I know it simply wasn't for me, but it certainly seemed to address the issue at the right time. This application is excellent and I'm fully using it now over the traditional method of dragging, and dropping, etc. through Explorer.

A very intuitive application. I just wish more programs for other systems, and even other forms of media can do something similar.

I know that Zip is something a lot of people wanted, so it was only fair to fix the issues with it

It is getting better, so if you find any other issues, just let me know.

All it takes is a committed developer to their community

Regards,
--Henry

 

[knocturnal]

Thanks for the zip support. My only issue with it was when I did the auto rename files function it renamed all of my zips but took away the .zip extension. Thankfully I had my set backed up on an external hard drive so I didn't have to go through and add .zip to 447 files. When this happens if you try to copy a game over the program will either crash or slowly copy the file over, unziped.

Again my poor 100 gig laptop appreciates all the space it can take with being able to zip the roms up. You've earned a cookie

 

[hankchill]

Thanks for the zip support. My only issue with it was when I did the auto rename files function it renamed all of my zips but took away the .zip extension. Thankfully I had my set backed up on an external hard drive so I didn't have to go through and add .zip to 447 files. When this happens if you try to copy a game over the program will either crash or slowly copy the file over, unziped.

Again my poor 100 gig laptop appreciates all the space it can take with being able to zip the roms up. You've earned a cookie

.........

...

Ah crap!

I'll fix this for today

--Henry

 

[Nomearod]

Does it work in Linus this time?

You mean Linux, right? I'm working with the makers of the compiler I use to try and find out exactly why Rominator broke. I'll probably be installing a distro of Linux on my Macbook to see if there's anything that can be done to fix it.


Regards,
--Henry

Yes, I was talking about Linux. Sorry the typo.

If you're going to try a distro, I'd recommend Ubuntu. It's by far the most used and, IMHO, the best. However, the newer releases don't have a PPC version. Check this forum

 

[El Bastardo]

Read the User's Guide and tell me if it's right for you.
Clicky Clicky

Rominator does include auto-updates, and auto-image downloading for the games you've got (Just click on the game in your list, and presto, you've got the image). Included as well is a Box Art Manager so you can choose to download 'em all if you want

I'm not going to convince you to switch, you choose to use what meets your needs. If I was selling the software, then I would convince you

OK I invested some time, downloaded the app and read the guide and must say... I'm really positively impressed.
This treasure does really much and in a comfortable way.

It, as far as I can see, only lacks snapshots from ingame (title screen shot and ingame shot) next to the boxart (but that's not so important right now) and the save file manager only supports *.sav files (yet maybe) and not the new *.0 files the new M2DS Real uses.
But overall I think I will give it more time and check everything out.



Some more comments: I have a large collection and use the ZIP format for them. The initial scanning is huge but then it works quite well.
It took some time to "identify" all zips to get the icons in the cache file.

In this progress I found a bug: Some files made problems I think it's due to their very long file names. Examples are:

0789 - Gamics Series Vol. 1 - Yokoyama Mitsuteru - San Goku Shi - Dai 1 Kan - Touen no Chikai (J).zip
0888 - Gamics Series Vol. 1 - Yokoyama Mitsuteru - San Goku Shi - Vol. 2 - Ryofu no Matsuro (J).zip

The program gave me a halt error when I try to identify these.
So I tried to trick it for now: I deleted the file, drag and dropped an unzipped version of it in the manager to get the icon then deleted the nds entry and redragged the zip file in and voila the icon was already cached!!

 

[hankchill]

Yes, I was talking about Linux. Sorry the typo.

If you're going to try a distro, I'd recommend Ubuntu. It's by far the most used and, IMHO, the best. However, the newer releases don't have a PPC version. Check this forumÂ

I'm not worried about a PPC version

MacBook's have Intel Core 2 Duo chips in them, and I will be 'emulating' Ubuntu with VMWare Fusion.

OK I invested some time, downloaded the app and read the guide and must say... I'm really positively impressed.
This treasure does really much and in a comfortable way.

Glad you like

My goal has been simplicity, namely Drag & Drop.

It, as far as I can see, only lacks snapshots from ingame (title screen shot and ingame shot) next to the boxart (but that's not so important right now) and the save file manager only supports *.sav files (yet maybe) and not the new *.0 files the new M2DS Real uses.
But overall I think I will give it more time and check everything out.

Yes, currently screenshots has not been implemented, however I will most likely do something about that for a later version... I just have to find a spot to put them...maybe underneath the game details?

As for the Save files, I would need to learn the structure on how they work for each card... Because I only have an R4, I only know .sav

QUOTE

Some more comments: I have a large collection and use the ZIP format for them. The initial scanning is huge but then it works quite well.
It took some time to "identify" all zips to get the icons in the cache file.

In this progress I found a bug: Some files made problems I think it's due to their very long file names. Examples are:

0789 - Gamics Series Vol. 1 - Yokoyama Mitsuteru - San Goku Shi - Dai 1 Kan - Touen no Chikai (J).zip
0888 - Gamics Series Vol. 1 - Yokoyama Mitsuteru - San Goku Shi - Vol. 2 - Ryofu no Matsuro (J).zip

The programgives me a halt error when I try to identify these.
So I tried to trick it for now: I deleted the file, drag and dropped an unzipped version of it in the manager to get the icon then deleted the nds entry and redragged the zip file in and voila the icon was already cached!!

I think it may have to do with the long filenames. The Zip support is still being worked on, but I'm doing everything I can to stabilize it. The good thing is, as you mentioned here, is that once inserted, it's auto-cached

Side note: I fixed the bug with renaming the zip. I also added subdirectory scanning up to 5 levels of directories. I'm gonna check a few more bug reports from users and see what I can fix for today

--Henry

 

[El Bastardo]

Yes, currently screenshots has not been implemented, however I will most likely do something about that for a later version... I just have to find a spot to put them...maybe underneath the game details?

As for the Save files, I would need to learn the structure on how they work for each card... Because I only have an R4, I only know .sav

I think it may have to do with the long filenames. The Zip support is still being worked on, but I'm doing everything I can to stabilize it. The good thing is, as you mentioned here, is that once inserted, it's auto-cached

Hehe don't try to make too much at once I know how hard software developing and debugging can be (do it myself at work) but glad to hear that you have this points on your to do list.


As for the save files the newcards do use extensions called "*.0", "*.1" etc. but these files are just like the *.dat files the other M3 cards (and also other cards) use.
I know this because the M3 renamer tool renames the older .dat files to the now used .0

And in fact you can convert .sav files to .dat files so technically it's possible to support all of them and there are already farious tools out that do the converting so maybe you could "borrow" from one of these

!!

 

[hankchill]

Hehe don't try to make too much at once I know how hard software developing and debugging can be (do it myself at work) but glad to hear that you have this points on your to do list.


As for the save files the newcards do use extensions called "*.0", "*.1" etc. but these files are just like the *.dat files the other M3 cards (and also other cards) use.
I know this because the M3 renamer tool renames the older .dat files to the now used .0

And in fact you can convert .sav files to .dat files so technically it's possible to support all of them and there are already farious tools out that do the converting so maybe you could "borrow" from one of these

!!

You know just as well as I do then that a To-Do list never ends

For every 1 thing you do on the to-do list, 3 more things pile on

I'll have to do my research between the different cards, because what I can do is set up Flash Card Types, so if it's set to 'R4', it'll grab the '.sav' files, or for M3 DS Real it will grab '.0', '.1' and so on. I'll research

Side note: Updated to v5.3.1. Fixed the zip rename, added 5 level subdirectory scanning, fixes a couple other errors.

 

[El Bastardo]

You know just as well as I do then that a To-Do list never ends

For every 1 thing you do on the to-do list, 3 more things pile on

Yeah the what I call "snowball principle". You start with one branch of the tree and it diversifies bigger and bigger... .



The problem with the Identify error of ZIPs has definitely something to do with long file names. I tested it again.
And another interface related bug: When I'm in the library and try to mass select files with a combination of left clicking and holding [Shift], more file than I wanted to are selected.
E.g. I tried to mark the files between no. 1200 and 1300 and some files above in the 550s were also selected.
Maybe because I highlighted them earlier?!


Another error handling bug: Say I have a ZIP file in my library. Now I unzip the very same file so the .nds is in the same folder and press refresh. I get a message that the file can not be found the this message window stays.
All I can do is use the windows task manager to firce the whole exe to shutdown.


Last question: Which release list does the app use I mean there are some different out there like advanscene, pocketheaven, nointro etc.
As I said before I used the advanscene including all the xxxx releases!!

 

[Deletable_Man]

 

[hankchill]

 

[lil-devil]

i gotta error after updating

Error:
Rominator has encountered an error: Error Code 1035

Error:
Rominator has encountered an error: Error Code 1034

 

[hankchill]

Try this: Hold Shift while opening Rominator. Tell me what happens.