Datmaker 2.0

[ryckster]

Hello everyone. First time poster long time forum reader here. I don't know if this has been done before but I have made a small utility and would like to share it with the community. Dat Maker 2.0 is a program that creates custom dat files of your roms. It is based on Izaram's Datmaker. I found myself using his utility very often while configuring for Dragon King. The original Datmaker used the filename for the value in the description entry in the datfiles. I wanted a quick way to change the description of the roms in the datfiles instead of doing it manually. From here Datmaker 2.0 was born.

It improves on Izaram's program with a cleaner interface and new rom description options. You can tell it to remove 'good suffixes' and file extensions from dat game description entries. You can also replace strings, eg. change underscores for spaces so that "super_trooper_(U).zip" shows up as "super trooper (U).zip". I found this to be very useful on goodtool-renamed roms.

The program was written in visual basic and is open-source for anyone who would like to improve on it. I've only tested it under windows 2000. Some extra testing would be appreciated. Let me know how it goes.

You can get it at http://www.geocities.com/usefulhere/datmaker20.html.

[ryckster]

I'm bumping this up to let people know of my new free utility. Let me know if you find any bugs.

[lucindrea]

i'll look at it when i get home tonight ... i must say the bigest headache of configuring DK for emulators NOT mame has allways been the game names ending up somthing like Game.name_uk!  in the dat and hence the fe , i'll mess with your little program and see how it works.

[Howard_Casto]

You guys ever look at the misc utilities on my site? 

Mess-ed.  It requires you to install mess (not to actually use it)  but the result are your console roms compared to mess's database.  It fixes strangely named roms, although the is a revision number and should never be removed from the rom name itself. 

Also you can use it as a simple dat generator for non-mess roms.  As this one is written by me, it works slightly better than izrahm's  in terms of naming things better, ect. 

I wasn't going to mention it and steal your thunder, but since you bumped your own thread (I HATE THAT!)  I did.   

[ryckster]

* sarcasm * Of course, heaven forbid Izaram does something better than you. * sarcasm *

Plug away man, my utility is something completely different than yours.

Datmaker is a dat creator, not a rom renamer. It was never meant it to replace the list creating abilities of MAME or MAME-based engines like MESS. It offers the option of removing good suffixes from the dat's description field, so they don't show up in front end lists. You can leave them alone if you want. Is just a simple utility for non-mame roms and it doesn't bother you with extra downloads.

[Howard_Casto]

* sarcasm * Of course, heaven forbid Izaram does something better than you. * sarcasm *

Plug away man, my utility is something completely different than yours.

Datmaker is a dat creator, not a rom renamer. It was never meant it to replace the list creating abilities of MAME or MAME-based engines like MESS. It offers the option of removing good suffixes from the dat's description field, so they don't show up in front end lists. You can leave them alone if you want. Is just a simple utility for non-mame roms and it doesn't bother you with extra downloads.

Actually I'm quite proud of Izaram... that was his very first application ever!  But it's old at this point and I wanted to change some of the things that you found annoying as well. 

Mess-ed is a dat creator AND a rom renamer, but you can use it as just a dat creator even with non-mess roms. Dk itself offers the option of removing good suffixes.. turn on TurncateRoms in the frontend.ini  Mess-ed doesn't bother you with extra downloads either if you are just using it for what you are talking about. 

So basically they are the same, mine just does more. 

I feel bad that you've done all that hard work on yours.  Still, it's nice to see loyal dk supporters actually doing something for the fe rather than complaining to me about how it doesn't work on their system.

[ryckster]

Yeah, who would want that. It must take such a toll on you to help out people who are not as 'special' as you think you are. They must be so lucky to have you.

Datmaker was never meant to be rom renamer. It was designed to help people with non-mame roms. If you have bothered to read the documentation you would have known that (but people hardly RTFM right? Yourself included). If someone wants to add that feature to Datmaker 2.0, they have access to the code. I don't see you making DK open source, do you? Of course not, who would pay attention to you then?

I don't know why you bring your front end into this, but that said, my utility program doesn't crash like your front end does. It doesn't require extra downloads like yours.

[ryckster]

Just bumping this one last time to let people know about my datmaker utility. Jealous egotistical programmers aside, your comments are appreciated. 

[TheGatesofBill]

ryckster, you seriously need to tone it down a bit. I just read through this thread, and you are coming off as an ---uvula---. Also, you bitched at Howard_Casto for asking things that he never asked. And while I really appreciate open source software, keeping the source closed is the coder's decision, and bitching at them isn't going to do anything. And bumping the same topic is just lame. If nobody cares, just let the thread die. Bump it again with information of a new release or a legitimate reply, thats it.

[ryckster]

He don't scold me for not giving in into Howard's egotistical comments. He started by belittling others work over his. Ban me if you want, but he deserved it.

[TheGatesofBill]

Maybe you should actually read the posts in this thread, because you clearly have no idea what people have said in it. Anyways, if you can't take some criticism, never release anything, because no matter what it is, people will say something negative. It happens, you can either get all whiny about it, or you could take the negative comments as suggestions and work them into your program. Howard said his does more things, so maybe you should add the features that yours lacks in comparison with his. If you did that, than it sounds like yours could be a decent alternative to his, especially since, as you said, it doesn't require any extra downlaods. Also, just to clear up any confusion, I am not a moderator, I cannot ban you. Even if I could, you haven't done anything that warrants a ban.

[jcroach]

You guys ever look at the misc utilities on my site?