Filtering Games/Game Lists/Catver.ini/Front End *found a good FE for me*

[Mark70]

I've been looking and looking for an easy to use front end to filter games and create games lists.

I've tried Mamewah, 3darcadeFE, AtomicFE, etc...

None of these seem to be able to do what I need.  I'm hoping for suggestions from others who want to do the same.

One big problem seems to be that I can't find an up to date Catver.ini file (mame 1.04)

I would like to be able to easily make a favourite games list by playing the game normally, deciding if I like it, exiting the game to the front end and choosing an add for favourites lists option.

I would like to be able to have games sorted by category.

I would like to be able to filter out the mature titles


Basically what I want is Mamewah with more game list and sorting options.

I suppose I could plough through Mamewah's .lst file but still that would only give me the full list and one other list which must be called "filtered"

Can anyone tell me what they're doing?

[Rok]

Theres a program out there that lets you block and/or delete many catagories of mame files, one being adult material.

[Mark70]

Yes mame content manager.  I'm sure it's a wonderful program.

The problem is that, every content management program I've come across relies on catver.ini for the category information in the romset and I haven't been able to find a catver.ini newer than Jan 2005.

[Havok]

I would like to be able to easily make a favourite games list by playing the game normally, deciding if I like it, exiting the game to the front end and choosing an add for favourites lists option.

AtomicFE can do that, right in the FE - press a button and it's added to your favorites list. I have just started to play around with it, so I'm not an expert on it yet but I think that's the FE I'm going to use.

Check out the support forum here:
http://spaceinvaders.7.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=13&sid=bb6ac5c9926a810351956be1ed10058e

Youki, the developer is quite active there...

[Mark70]

Thanks, I'll look back at that and see, but I though when I had it going, that atomicfe also used catver.ini

[Buddabing]

FYI there's an unofficial catver file that is current.

Link to file

[Mark70]

I just tried that new catver with MCM.  Doesn't work.

There's a file called ZipDLL.dll with MCM.  I assume this helps MCM see zip archives.  I have my roms in TorrentZip format.  Is it possible that this file can't find the different zip format.

Does anyone know enough about .dll files to be able to tell?

[Minwah]

There's a file called ZipDLL.dll with MCM.  I assume this helps MCM see zip archives.  I have my roms in TorrentZip format.  Is it possible that this file can't find the different zip format.

AFAIK the zip format is standard and therefore shouldn't be a problem.  However I have heard of problems even unzipping files with things like WinRar.  Personally I use WinZip for zipping/unzipping - never had any probs with that.

[Mark70]

The torrent zip format is not standard.  The people who created torrent zip changed regular zip format so that every archive created would be the exact same regardless of where it was created.

I'm sure from the torrent portion of the name it's obvious why it was created, but I doubt that I'm supposed to discuss that here.

So, because this is something that was created to be specifically different than standard zip format, that's why I was wondering if MCM was having trouble seeing the zip files.

[Mark70]

I've finally found a front end that works well, filters well, and allows me to create a favourites list very easily.  It's also customizable to a certain amount.

GameEx.  It's the front end for me.  It ties in seamlessly with Windows media and has it's juke box function set up so that if you had songs listed in WMP, it uses the same playlists etc.  The documentation is extensively commented and easy to figure out, plus it has wizzard like configuration if you don't want to edit INI files.

Second is Mamewah.  I like it a lot.  Mamewah's layout editor is unparalleled for ease of use.  If mamewah had better filtering and game list functions I'd use it.


I also tried: Turbomame, game extender, mame32, and a few others.

[ahofle]

Not to sidetrack this thread, but while we are on the subject of catver.ini, has anyone found a good file with categories like 'kids games' or 'girls kids games' and 'boys kids games'?  For example, the girls category would have games like Trog, bubble bobble, and Rodland.  The only category I saw remotely similar was 'Spouse', but it was mostly pacman and tetris type games.  When my nieces come over, it would be nice to select a cat like that and let them have at it. 

[Minwah]

If mamewah had better filtering and game list functions I'd use it.

As a matter of interest, what would you improve on the filtering?  Just more available fields?

[Wetworks]

If mamewah had better filtering and game list functions I'd use it.

As a matter of interest, what would you improve on the filtering?  Just more available fields?

I would like 70's 80's 90's 00's does Maewah do this Minwah?

[Havok]

If mamewah had better filtering and game list functions I'd use it.

As a matter of interest, what would you improve on the filtering?  Just more available fields?

I would like to see the ability of the front end to use custom lists.Would Mamewah be able to setup multiple custom lists setup in a tree?

For example: I would like to start with say 4 basic custom lists, like Games A, B, C and D. Then, when I select one of the 4 basic lists, link to another custom list which actually has the games I put in there - not just filtered by category.

[Minwah]

I would like 70's 80's 90's 00's does Maewah do this Minwah?

Yes you can filter on any year(s) you like.

For example: I would like to start with say 4 basic custom lists, like Games A, B, C and D. Then, when I select one of the 4 basic lists, link to another custom list which actually has the games I put in there - not just filtered by category.

Yes you can do this too...you can individually add/remove games to/from any custom list.  Also you can use as many custom lists as you want (well, up 2 billion something!).

[Havok]

I would like 70's 80's 90's 00's does Maewah do this Minwah?

Yes you can filter on any year(s) you like.

For example: I would like to start with say 4 basic custom lists, like Games A, B, C and D. Then, when I select one of the 4 basic lists, link to another custom list which actually has the games I put in there - not just filtered by category.

Yes you can do this too...you can individually add/remove games to/from any custom list.  Also you can use as many custom lists as you want (well, up 2 billion something!).

Cool! I'll check it out...

[Mark70]

I would like 70's 80's 90's 00's does Maewah do this Minwah?

Yes you can filter on any year(s) you like.

For example: I would like to start with say 4 basic custom lists, like Games A, B, C and D. Then, when I select one of the 4 basic lists, link to another custom list which actually has the games I put in there - not just filtered by category.

Yes you can do this too...you can individually add/remove games to/from any custom list.  Also you can use as many custom lists as you want (well, up 2 billion something!).

The fault is probably mine.  This is what I did.  I sent one game to the filtered list.  That created a second .lst file with one game in it.  I then copied that file and gave it the next consecutive number to see if mamewah would have anther list in the list options.... no luck.  I was going to use that perl script that showed up in one of my other threads about this but for a non programmer to figure all of this out, it was easier to find a front end where it works by default.