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Should The Compat List Go Online?

Should The Flash Compatibility List Go Online??


  • Total voters
    15

Low Lines

New member
I have had the request thrown at me several times now, about having some kind of auto update for the Compatibility List. Now I agree that it would be a great idea that whenever you load up the list (provided you are connected to the net) you will have an up-to-date database. It would be possible to do this with the Downloadble Version, but I'm just asking if anyone thinks it should become an online Database?? This would allow me to add things like Boxart and perhaps Screenshots and other media that might be useful.:bouncy:

This in no way means it is going to happen (but who knows??), I would just like to know if people think it's a good idea.

(This is my first every poll, so I hope I've done everything right!!)
 

sigloiv

New member
It sounds like a great idea to me. It could be a heck of a lot like Mame32 with the boxart and so forth...
 

spotanjo3

Moderator
Moderator
Yes yes! Go for it...it will be nice when this emu is playable like mame32 because I do collected boxart and so forth as well. :D

I vote yes!
 

Cyberman

Moderator
Moderator
I suggest you use the Release ID (#) for the index and you should require a CRC/MD5 code for the game ID. If they don't know what these are then, maybe they shouldn't be submitting compatibilty information.

As for weather online or not.. just provide a link to it, if you need hosting space ASK (nicely) Martin. He can provide web space for it.

Cyb
 
OP
L

Low Lines

New member
That would be the other thing, what other information should be added to it??

So far I've got,

Name,
Country/Region,
Rom Size,
Official Release Date,
Genre,
Number of Players,
Publisher,
Developer,
Serial,
Internal Name,
Multiplayer Info (such as if it can link up with one or multiple copies of the game)

I also will have the CRC/MD5 to and perhaps a list of all the release IDs since there can be several releases of the same game.
Is there anything else that should be included?? Bare in mind that all that I have said is not currently in download release. I want the fields to be decided ASAP, because it's a hassle to add another field later on.

Things such as emulator compatibility could be done in a separate XML or something, and could be called by perhaps using the serial or which ever piece of information would find it best. That way the list could be used for other emulators (just a thought) with little problems.


And I'm pretty sure the "zip" file isn't corrupted, maybe there was just an error whilst downloading it, but if other people get the same problem, I'll upload it again.
 

Cyberman

Moderator
Moderator
I recomend a description field and comment field.
The description field is just good for a reminder of what the game is! I know when I look at the Japanese games my mind goes blank from there names LOL.

Cyb
 
OP
L

Low Lines

New member
Here's My Plan

Yeah, I've been thinking about trying to simplify that problem, particularly with the Japanese games.
My idea at the moment is to group all versions of the same game (ie US, EUR, JAP) into one item in the list and giving them their own tab page when you select that game. Items in the list would display like this,

Example:
Super Mario 64 DS (E)(J)(U)

And when they get selected, you would be able to choose which region version you would like to look at by selecting the appropriate tab. This probalby sounds complicated, but it's the easiest way I can think of that would make recognising games easier. Plus having a boxart image, would help cos most country regions tend to have a similar cover.

This is still just an idea, and I'm working on it at the moment, I may post a screenshot or something later, to give you a better idea at what I'm talking about. But I'll take your advice about the Descriptions and comments fields, though with something like that I would need help from others due to the large number of games that are out there.:bouncy:
 

spotanjo3

Moderator
Moderator
Okay..good luck! NDS deserves it! :D

By the way, for this iDeaS 1.0.0.6 Compatibility List

Go there, Low Lines... because I tested Resident Evil DS (J) already. :)
 

sigloiv

New member
I would personally want to be the roms to be sorted by release # (or have an option for them to be sorted that way). Many rom packages and rom collectors organize their roms by release # (including me).
 
OP
L

Low Lines

New member
RockmanGames,
Hey where are you getting your information??(About new dumps being released) cos wherever it is, it seems more up-to-date than my sources.

Oh and with having a release number (as such) should this include nuked roms? Because some games have more than one release (meaning a different release number) and that might mean having duplicate games in the list, should I leave nuked games out??

Also, BioHazard - Deadly Silence (J) has been added to the list, it's down as ingame.
 
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spotanjo3

Moderator
Moderator
Low Lines said:
RockmanGames,
Hey where are you getting your information??(About new dumps being released) cos wherever it is, it seems more up-to-date than my sources.

Oh and with having a release number (as such) should this include nuked roms? Because some games have more than one release (meaning a different release number) and that might mean having duplicate games in the list, should I leave nuked games out??

Also, BioHazard - Deadly Silence (J) has been added to the list, it's down as ingame.

I am going to pm you now because I am not sure if it is allowed to mention in here for a link. I am going to test some more so make sure you go and check it over compability list ok ? ;)
 
OP
L

Low Lines

New member
Another little decision I'm making here, again regarding the release numbers. If I disclude NUKED roms the numerical order will look as if it's misisng games.

Example:

0004 - Feel the Magic - XY/XX (U)
0006 - Polarium (U)

Now I have been carefully going through every release dump and some of these NUKES have good reason for being NUKES. Mostly it's just Golden Sun Team (all their dumps appear to be NUKES), but there are some others that may have bad sectors or have been incorrectly dumped using certain tools. Now for those who wish to "collect" NDS roms, should go and get Rom Center and the latest update of PocketHeaven's NDS .dat file (I'm not going to provide a link because I've provided it at least 5 times now in just about every NDS forum I've posted in). But I'm going to stick just with games that have been declared to have anything wrong with them, if that's okay??
For starters, I think this is going to be a more detailed and specific list than most compatibility lists normally are. I mean, I honestly would not have cared what the CRC code of my games were, or at least until I began helping out with the NDS.
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Actually I'm not too sure anymore (I hate it when things get complicated) should I continue just doing the goodRoms??? Or Should I do all the numbered released games (despite some of them being down as NUKED, according to PocketHeaven)?? Or should I just do the whole lot (including NUKES and everything??). It was much simpler when it was just, GAME, COUNTRY and HOW'S IT RUN ON THE EMU. And now there's all this detail and stuff...
Which direction should I take??
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I'm sorry if I keep changing my mind, but all of the above will be scratched, because this was a compatibility list, not a rom database. What I have been originally trying to do was an overall playability for games on iDeaS, none of this rom release number and CRC crap. I agree it's all very important and all that, but a compatibility list shouldn't need any of that stuff (or at least mine won't) I'm sure if someone went and got every Super Mario 64 DS (U) rom and tried it on iDeaS (or any emulator at that) they would probably get the same results, unless of course the rom was a bad dump. But if anyone is going to use such information casually as CRC and release number (and whatever other information they choose) I don't see why I should have all that detailed information for it. A lot of people would not even know what a CRC is anyway so what use would it be to them??

Another thing that I'm pretty sure of is that most compat lists only get as detailed as the SERIAL number as such, ie ckemu's Dolphin Compat List. So why should the one I'm constructing be anymore complicated??

I'm going to stick with what diablow said (not pinning anything on him at all of course) and keep it simple, for that was what I originally planned. Sorry if I sound grouchy or anything, I've just been the net for the past 3-4 days (on roughly 6 hour periods) trying to collect data on NDS games, and I'm finding it difficult to create a list that will adequetly hold all that information I was going to include. So what I'll do is if anyone asks, I just direct them to a place such as PocketHeaven.com where they can figure out which roms are the ones they should be using because that is what places like PocketHeaven were designed for, not for people like me to just use all their info and make a mirror of all their hard work.

I'm very pleased with all the effort with testing that has gone into the NDS, particularly with RockmanGames who has continued to increase the number of tested games on iDeaS...GREAT JOB!!

Besides, people think the compatibility list is good as it is, it already has 300 ORIGINAL games in its database and if I went included all the others, there would be something like 400+ which would only be duplicates and hacks of the originals. Who honestly wants more than one of a kind??

I think that's all I've got to say, sorry again for sounding grouchy or anything, but too much of a good thing isn't always such a good thing...
 
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sigloiv

New member
Hey, sounds great to me. I don't believe that anyone is in a situation to complain here, especially since you have done so much with the Flash frontend and the XML and everything.

Also, if there's anything in particular you need testing, I would love to help out. :)
 
OP
L

Low Lines

New member
sigloiv,
thanks, that's just the sort of thing I like to hear.:bouncy:

With the testing, Rockmangames pretty much has a hand on it at the moment, here's checking all the time so I doubt any other help with testing games is needed until maybe the next iDeaS release or something, but if anything comes up, I'd be sure to let you know...

Whoops!! With the release numbers, I didn't realise that the ones that were down as nuked, were actually re-released later on down the list. Meaning all games with a release number are NOT bad dump, my miss-interperatation of things, sorry. But I'm still not going to include it anyway...
 
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