.SMS, .GG and .SG ROM files not correctly detected

[Former user]

Original [issue 228](https://code.google.com/p/genplus-gx/issues/detail?id=228) created by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T08:15:54.000Z:

What steps will reproduce the problem? 1.Loading other roms than mega cd or megadrive 2. 3.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead? loading master system roms etc...resluts in black screen. Megadrive mega cd work.

What version of the emulator are you using (official, SVN revision,...)? latest 1.7 with mega cd support

Please provide any additional information below (Emulator settings, Console setting,...) Wii, auto video settings component cables.

[Former user]

Comment # 1 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-02T09:15:52.000Z:

Definitively does not happen for me, can anyone else confirm this ?

Is it with non-zipped files only ? If they are zipped, try to open them under windows and verify there is only one file in there and this is a valid ROM file. Make sure console hardware option in system setting is set to AUTO.

[Former user]

Comment # 2 originally posted by amzoschke on 2012-07-02T13:46:03.000Z:

Happens for me with game gear games only. MS and SG roms work fine for me. I tried the GG games zipped, unzipped, with and without bios and it always boots to black screen. I can get them to boot if I switch console hardware from AUTO to SMS, but the colors are messed up (one game was totally green, another had bright yellow and pink). Game Gear games booted with 1.6 and still boot with wiimednafen. Let me know if there's any more info I can provide.

[Former user]

Comment # 3 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-02T13:58:37.000Z:

Weird color with gg games on sms hw is expected, that's because they only work properly on game gear hw with extended color palette. Better set console hardware to GG instead.

Anyway, it seems like bad system auto-detection with some specific files. This is normally working with file extension (.gg -> game gear hw, .sms -> master system hw, etc) What is the exact filename (also verify that "hide known extension" option is disabled if you are using windows) and where is it stored (complete path) ?

[Former user]

Comment # 5 originally posted by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T14:05:46.000Z:

Seems that the hardware auto function is'nt working properly. I can only loader SMS roms when I set it manually to SMSII. Megadrive and mega cd work fine on auto setting.

Also gg, sg 1000 etc roms do not work on auto. have to set hardware manually. I also have an isseu wich could be a hbc isseu. Genplus-GX does'nt show up in the HBC. Strange that my forwarder can load it nevertheless, and Wiiexplorer can see the app fine and load it.

1.6 genplus gx works fine with all roms. I'm loading roms from usb and app is on sd. Using clean install of genplus gx to be sure..

[Former user]

Comment # 6 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-02T14:14:18.000Z:

Yes, that's why i am asking for exact filename (including hidden extension if any) and filepath, so i xan figure why auto detection works with some files and not others (works perfectly fine for me). Genesis hardware is selected by default if system could not have been detected from file extension so i suspect the problem comes from this. Sega CD images are detected differently (file extension does not matter) so they would be fine too.

HBC not seeing the emulator is definitively not a problem coming from me, as hbc does not even care what is in the application, just look for a boot.dol + meta.xml + icon.png in the /apps/xxxx directory. You are probably missing one of these files or they are not named correctly.

[Former user]

Comment # 7 originally posted by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T14:24:45.000Z:

I have a folder on my root HDD:

Genplusgx--> Megadrive1---->separate zipped roms Megadrive2---->separate zipped roms Mastersystem-->separate zipped roms Gamegear------>separate zipped roms SG-1000------->separate zipped roms Is there a folder limit?

[Former user]

Comment # 8 originally posted by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T14:27:52.000Z:

Markup of the provided .xml file is .xsl

[Former user]

Comment # 9 originally posted by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T14:30:33.000Z:

<long\_description>This is a SG-1000, Master System, Game Gear, Mega Drive / Genesis & Sega/Mega CD emulator base...

Space is not allowed on line 8 windows tells me, is this related?

[Former user]

Comment # 10 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-02T14:43:50.000Z:

Really ? Oops...

To answer your question, folder limit is not the problem and is the same as file limit per folder i.e 1000

What i really need is the full name incl. extension of a file that does not work

[Former user]

Comment # 11 originally posted by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T14:44:42.000Z:

edited the .xml now it shiows in hbc. removed spaces and &

[Former user]

Comment # 12 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-02T14:52:52.000Z:

Yes, i now remember & were not working and i had to xhange it in previous versions, i guess i should have tested the xml file after quickly re-adding it...

[Former user]

Comment # 14 originally posted by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T15:13:59.000Z:

lol,

The files show from genplus, .zip upon loading them I get black screen for sms, gg, sg 1000, when the setting is on auto. Changing harware to sms gets gg and master system roms working( .zip ) SG 1000 has to be set to sg1000 in the hw option. I'll let you know what's inside .zip files.

gamegear = .gg Megadrive = .gen SG1000 = .sg Master system = .sms

So typically this would be a path:

usb:/genesis/master\_system/alf.zip

[Former user]

Comment # 15 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-02T18:33:26.000Z:

Have you tried if it does the same when loading from sd ?

Now that i think.about it, there were some changes for better portability between 1.6.0 and 1.7.0 and as a result upper-case file extension (like .GG instead of .gg) won't be detected anymore. This could be an explanation to your problems. Could you upload one of the problematic files somewhere (not here but on file sharing website for example) ?

[Former user]

Comment # 16 originally posted by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T18:55:43.000Z:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/13773490/Choplifter%20%23%20SG-1000.zip

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/13773490/A.L.F.%20%23%20SMS.zip

[Former user]

Comment # 17 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-02T19:36:50.000Z:

See, the problem is exactly what i thought. Those roms have .SMS and . SG extensions. Renaming the extension to .sms and .sg will make them work (and probably same to .gg for the original issue reporter). I guess i will add uppercase support back in next version, i naively thought all ROM files were properly named nowadays (ALF \#SMS.SMS really ? Wow)

[Former user]

Comment # 18 originally posted by hielke79 on 2012-07-02T20:27:27.000Z:

Great! I agree, the naming of those files is really strange. Hopefully the next revision won't take long.

Anyway awesome job on the mega cd support, thank you for the efforts!

[Former user]

Comment # 19 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-06T09:45:47.000Z:

[Former user]

Comment # 20 originally posted by superballena on 2012-07-07T00:31:24.000Z:

Speaking of incorrectly detected games, I've just found out that the Game Gear version of Chase H.Q. is not properly detected as a "Game Gear game using SMS compatibility mode".

[Former user]

Comment # 21 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-07T08:45:53.000Z:

If the ROM has been altered or is not the good dump, it won't be recognized as i am using an internal database based on CRC (GG and SMS ROM files does not any header infos to distinguish them). I am using CRC infos from Meka gamelist which is the most accurate database available. Chase HQ is definitively on the list and was properly recognized last time i checked.

[Former user]

Comment # 22 originally posted by superballena on 2012-07-07T19:22:39.000Z:

I've checked it and indeed, it was a bad dump, hence why it wasn't being recognized by the database.

...In any case, I can't help but feel that, even though there's no way to recognize these special cartridges due to the lack of a header, looking for the checksum in a list feels a bit hackish.

Currently, it seems like any SMS ROM that isn't in MEKA's list doesn't enter SMS compatibility mode, which would be inaccurate since the only way to connect one of those cartridges to a Game Gear is through the adapter, which always enables that mode. Also, this list will have to be constantly updated each time a new Game Gear prototype that uses this mode is unearthed, which wouldn't be too practical.

Since the cartridges for these games are actuallt SMS ROMs using a built-in SMS adapter, wouldn't it be cleaner and just more accurate to rename the files as ".sms" and put the emulated Game Gear in SMS mode when loading any SMS ROM, disregarding a hardcoded list of games?

I mean, just like the Mega Drive emulator does with SMS ROMs. If it's ".sms", it enters the proper mode, else it won't.

[Former user]

Comment # 23 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-07T19:41:02.000Z:

It already does that: load any .sms ROM files while system is set to Game Gear will enable Game Gear SMS compatibily mode.

The database is mostly there for documenting games using specific feature and in this case for detecting those specific games if their extension is .gg and prevent people reporting their "game gear" games run with weird colors. I see nothing hackish with using it, it does not restrict anything, only makes user life easier for some games, other games not in database are still handled normally.

[Former user]

Comment # 24 originally posted by superballena on 2012-07-07T20:09:46.000Z:

Oh, I see. I just got confused since the Chase HQ ROM I loaded appeared with the usual garbled colors you get when trying to force an SMS ROM on a Game Gear emulator, but that was because its extension was ".gg".

I'll just change the extension of all those, then. Thanks for having already implemented the automatic mode switch!

[Former user]

Comment # 25 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-07-15T15:42:47.000Z:

fixed in r694