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Shared Network drive for ROMs?
CM:
um3k, Did you run into many issues with emulator DLL registration, directx, etc differences between your main PC and your arcade when you simple mirrored the arcade FE amd emulator program files over (as opposed to being natively installed on the cabinet)?
um3k:
For things that had a dedicated "install" routine, I performed it locally on the arcade, but then sync'ed from my PC from then on. In my case, the only things I needed to do an "install" for were MameWAH and GameEX. All of my emulators are basically "portable" to any directory and store their configuration in config or ini files in their directories. I did notice that MameWAH stores the "last selected" menu item in its config files so after I sync, the arcade defaults to the last selected items from the PC. Not a big deal.
One thing that I did set up was a few reverse sync's for things like the nvram and cfg directories, so that local configs and high scores from the arcade are brought back to the PC so they are not overwritten. There's also some files in GameEX that control the information for "last played" and "number of times played" for the games that I keep from the arcade.
SavannahLion:
um3k , are you using the freeware or the Pro version of xxcopy? How much better is it than Microsoft junk?
I haven't tried xxcopy before. I've dealt with Microsofts xcopy and their god awful file handling and I just never wanted to screw around with something that was even remotely compatible. Dealing with xcopy was such a bad experience for me, I actually resorted to Perl to get what I wanted done.
um3k:
I'm using the freeware version. The main difference between the free and non-free versions is that the freeware version nags you in two places: when you access a remote computer using a UNC path and it warns you when using the /clone option since this deletes files on the destination that are not on the source. Both of these warnings are passed just by pressing the "any" key, but this prevents you from having an automated / scripted solution. I am always running it interactively after I make changes anyway, so it doesn't bother me. You can turn off both of these prompts in the non-freeware version. I think there are also some advanced features that are only available in the non-free version, but I don't seem to be using any of them.
The batch has a bunch of lines that look like this:
xxcopy /clone /ff G:\Mame \\arcade\G\Mame
Then you get output that looks like this:
C:\WINDOWS>xxcopy /clone /ff G:\Mame \\arcade\G\Mame
XXCOPY == Freeware == Ver 2.93.1 (c)1995-2006 Pixelab, Inc.
\\ARCADE, a server (networked computer) is being accessed.
You have the XXCOPY Freeware version for a stand-alone computer.
If you access the remote disk on a regular basis, you may consider
acquiring a license for XXCOPY-PRO license (for 2 computers).
Press any key to continue . . .
##### WARNING!!! ##### WARNING!!! ##### WARNING!!! ##### WARNING!!! #####
Make sure Source (G:\\Mame) and Destination (\\arcade\G\mame)
are correct.
This command will delete extra files/directories in the destination!
Press Ctrl-C to abort, any other key to begin deleting/copying file(s).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Directories processed = 177
Total data in bytes = 0
Elapsed time in sec. = 70.14
Action speed (MB/min) = 0
Files examined = 22922
Files copied = 0
Exit code = 100 (No files were found to copy)
SavannahLion:
I dunno. I'm really debating with myself to try out xxcopy. The experience with xcopy was that bad. Not to mention, I might have to set it up as a CRON job (or whatever Windows calls it). I'll just earmark this as something to look into further after I get the living room, bedroom, garage, shed <snip> all done.
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