Ask yourself, if Nintendo was to made a HD storage menu for Wii games (and it was not channel based), how would it look... like the Wii Shop maybe?
In a not too distant future when Wii will be an emulated system, it will be managed on PC with the same tools used for MAME and other emulators.
We could start now with the USB Loaders, and the same file could be used by emulator front-ends later.
The idea of titles.txt http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=148687 is basically the first step of building such a database, and the next logical step is to expand it to a .dat file in XML or .csv format.
It can start as .csv because it's easy to edit for anyone with notepad and could be stored on the Wiki, and then can be converted to XML later if needed.
My idea about regional covers (having a single pack of covers including all languages variants by adding a simple language tag in filenames) is about the same principle of having a richer experience for everyone, instead of everyone having a special "French pack", "German pack", or every new user renaming his games just for himself on WBFS.
Together we will have more fun with "wewanttoplay.dat".
No one will really have to manage this database if it's accessible as a Wiki,
and the idea is not incompatible with an update feature from USB Loaders, it may be possible to download it directly from GBAtemp's Wiki page
No USB Loader mod author is forced to support the database fully from the start, supporting .csv format instead of the current titles.txt would only be a matter of changing the delimiter to ";" instead of " = " and use the first column (english title).
There already is an offlinelist XML for Wii made by PsyKos http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=53203 but it doesn't seem to contain Game ID, maybe it can be merged or used as a better starting point.
Benefits:
- see information about games in USB Loaders such as:
Game ID
official titles including all localized titles in German, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch, the displayed title (and cover) could change depending on user setting for a game
checksum of .iso in MD5 or CRC
checksum on WBFS, could be used to verify installed games on the Wii
date of release
publisher
age rating
number of players
accessories: wiimote/wiimote+nunchuck/balance board/motion plus. avoid plug-the-nunchuck nag screens
short controls list: fire with A, jump with B
short description
* User settings such as parental block belong to the auto-save file or in another file linked to the titles.txt database by game ID, not directly in the database
the database would store any required information about a game, setting.cfg would only store personal preferences (custom title that overrides official proper title,language,video mode,star rating)
example in .csv format
ID;title_EN;title_FR;title_DE;title_ES:title_IT;title_NL;MD5 or CRC;date;publisher;age rating;players;nunchuck;balance board;motionplus
RENP;Sonic And The Black Knight;Sonic et le Chevalier Noir;Sonic und der Schwarze Ritter;Sonic y el Caballero n****;...;...;db5d9791019e23f1e1677255fab612b8;2009;Sega;12;4;Y;N;N
All opinions are welcome
- Lustar
In a not too distant future when Wii will be an emulated system, it will be managed on PC with the same tools used for MAME and other emulators.
We could start now with the USB Loaders, and the same file could be used by emulator front-ends later.
The idea of titles.txt http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=148687 is basically the first step of building such a database, and the next logical step is to expand it to a .dat file in XML or .csv format.
It can start as .csv because it's easy to edit for anyone with notepad and could be stored on the Wiki, and then can be converted to XML later if needed.
My idea about regional covers (having a single pack of covers including all languages variants by adding a simple language tag in filenames) is about the same principle of having a richer experience for everyone, instead of everyone having a special "French pack", "German pack", or every new user renaming his games just for himself on WBFS.
Together we will have more fun with "wewanttoplay.dat".
No one will really have to manage this database if it's accessible as a Wiki,
and the idea is not incompatible with an update feature from USB Loaders, it may be possible to download it directly from GBAtemp's Wiki page
No USB Loader mod author is forced to support the database fully from the start, supporting .csv format instead of the current titles.txt would only be a matter of changing the delimiter to ";" instead of " = " and use the first column (english title).
There already is an offlinelist XML for Wii made by PsyKos http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=53203 but it doesn't seem to contain Game ID, maybe it can be merged or used as a better starting point.
Benefits:
- see information about games in USB Loaders such as:
Game ID
official titles including all localized titles in German, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch, the displayed title (and cover) could change depending on user setting for a game
checksum of .iso in MD5 or CRC
checksum on WBFS, could be used to verify installed games on the Wii
date of release
publisher
age rating
number of players
accessories: wiimote/wiimote+nunchuck/balance board/motion plus. avoid plug-the-nunchuck nag screens
short controls list: fire with A, jump with B
short description
* User settings such as parental block belong to the auto-save file or in another file linked to the titles.txt database by game ID, not directly in the database
the database would store any required information about a game, setting.cfg would only store personal preferences (custom title that overrides official proper title,language,video mode,star rating)
example in .csv format
ID;title_EN;title_FR;title_DE;title_ES:title_IT;title_NL;MD5 or CRC;date;publisher;age rating;players;nunchuck;balance board;motionplus
RENP;Sonic And The Black Knight;Sonic et le Chevalier Noir;Sonic und der Schwarze Ritter;Sonic y el Caballero n****;...;...;db5d9791019e23f1e1677255fab612b8;2009;Sega;12;4;Y;N;N
All opinions are welcome
- Lustar
