custom game lists in atomic

[vettetekk]

I was wondering if anyone knows of various ways of quickly making a game list in atomic? First off Id like to remove all the clones. 8 ways to play the same game is too much for me  Secondly, Id like to remove all the adult, and mahjong games - the kids dont need those  !! And finally, any non working games Id like to remove as well.
I looked into the favorites list, but going through 6000 roms 1 by one might take a bit. I was wondering if anyone knows of a filter to accomplish what I requested above?
Thanks!
~V

[Havok]

There are two ways of doing this - you can use Nop's utility, however the built in Atomic one is a little easier, just not as powerful as far as custom queries go. I would start with the built in one first. To access:

Run AtomicManager.exe
Check-mark Advanced Options
Click the Advanced Tab
Click the Game List Tab
Check-mark Use predefined games list
Give it a name if you wish, or leave the default
Click the Game List Tab
First add all the games by clicking the >> Button
You should see all the roms move from the left (Available Roms) to the right (GameList)
In the center, click the drop-down under Categories File
Ignore the categories with + in the beginning
Choose the Mature.ini
Click the drop down under Select category
Choose the *Mature*
Click the Remove category button
And repeat for the other categories.
Mahjong is under Catlist.ini, Tabletop.
You might also want to remove the Quiz ones by foreign language as well.

As far as the non-working, that would be dependant on your version of Mame. Which one are you running? I can build you an ini for that fairly easily, let me know.

Also, when you're all done, make sure to check-mark the Sort option on the bottom, and then click Save, Save, Ok, and Close.

Enjoy!

 

[vettetekk]

Havok,
Thanks for the reply~!~
I am running the latest version of MAME .117 I think.
Im going to try your mehod to sort right now. That would be cool if you could get me an modified .ini!!
Much appreciated!
~~V

[vettetekk]

Oh yah,
Most importantly, I want to get rid of the clones. Any thoughts on how to do that without manually going through all games?
~V

[Havok]

Here you go, two for the price of one! Attached is a new .ini file for AtomicFE that gives you the ability to sort non-working and clones in Mame 117. (This will also work for previous versions of Mame, however the non-working will be slightly off.) Just unzip the attached file into your Metadata directory, located by default in C:\Atomicfe_v019\MetaData. Once the file is placed in that directory, you can follow the previous instructions to filter non working and clones.

Choose the NonWorking.ini, and you will have two categories: Clones and NonWorking.

Enjoy!

[Havok]

I have received a few requests for other updated categories, so here is an updated ini - it will now allow you to add\remove the following categories from\to your gamelists:

Clones
Mahjong
Mature
Non-Working

Since the nature of this file is changing, I have changed the name to UnWanted.ini - let me know if you would like any more categories added...

[vettetekk]

Havok, you are the MAN!! Thanks so much for your quick responce, and more over, your time in compiling a SWEET .ini file!! I do have one more question, and or request. Since you are so versed with AtoMic, can you tell me why my pg dwn to next letter doesnt work anymore? before on the main list it worked perfectly, but now for some reason, there are random games (diffrent letters) thrown in the list causing it to stop before the end of the "m's" for instance.  Im assuming it is sorting by the rom name, and the titles are changing to the full name which is not getting correctly alphabatized. I made sure I "sorted" the custom list, and tried checking diffrent sort by options in the FE.
What am I doing wrong?!
thanks again!!

[Havok]

Glad I could help. As far as the list not sorting right - that is a little bug with Atomic, it's not you. Only the full generated list sorts properly. You can fix it one of two ways - the order that the rom appears in the text file is the order that it will render in Atomic. So, you can just move it down the list where it should be.

I cheated when I created my game list: I used Nop's util and created a list with rom name and game name. I then sorted with Excel, and stripped out the game name column. If it's not too long a list, I would just move the position of the rom name in the list with Notepad.

Hopefully Youki fixes the sort in a newer release. Until then, it seems to only sort by actual rom name...

[vettetekk]

Whats Nops util? and where can I get it?  I think moving the entire list is gonna take time. I like the way you did it with excel, I just need to know how to get the list to an excel file.  What is the file name the custom list is under? I used the default.
Thanks again!

[youki]

that is a little bug with Atomic, it's not you

It is not a bug, it is a feature! 

In fact, in my mind at the begining, for userlist you build the list as you want  and Atomic should not decide to sort for you , And if really you want the list sorted , you do it yourself.

but i agree , the ability to let Atomic sort for you the custom list will help a lot of user...  I will implement that in the next version.

[Havok]

Whats Nops util? and where can I get it? 

He's a member of this board. Here's a link to his util:

http://www.waste.org/~winkles/ROMLister/

You can create custom queries - I used this to create some of my custom game lists in Atomic, as well as using it to create the UnWanted.ini file. (with a little massaging) To create a game list that you can sort, choose the csv option and select description and romname. That way you can import the csv file into Excel, and sort by game name. Once you have it sorted, you delete the column with the game name.

What is the file name the custom list is under? I used the default.

It will be C:\AtomicFE_v019\GameList.Txt.

but i agree , the ability to let Atomic sort for you the custom list will help a lot of user...  I will implement that in the next version.

 

[vettetekk]

thanks for the info. I downloaded the program and the necessary files for the input (catver and such), and when I do the csv output, it wont let me filter out the clones. I get a 6500 rom listing of the name and description. Id like to utilize the ini you came up with after the filter has been applied and sort those roms. this is having me sort all of them. Also, once in the excel file, how do I get both columns to sort by the game description? 
thanks!!

[NOP]

hi,

couldn't help myself from jumping in here.

The CSV output of romlister isn't really built for filtering, it's just a way of pulling the data out of the xml file and reformatting it.

What you want to do (if you're still after your original query) is to use the quick-find wizard at the top of the utility to tell romlister what kind of monitor orientation you want, plus the # of buttons you have and your joystick type.  Since you want to filter out all the clones, click the no clones button.  Now you also want to filter out both mature and mahjong games.  The dropdown box for category can filter out 1 category, but not two at once, but this is easy to overcome.

On the dropdown box, select mature, then hit the NOT checkbox.

When you're working in the quick-find wizard, you may have have noticed the text on the bottom of the screen is changing-that's the command that gets passed into the engine that searches and filters your roms.  Now that you've got "not mature" added as your criteria, you'll see that it says "& !mature" somewhere in that text string.  Since you want to add not mahjong into there too, just type in "& !mahjong"

Then select an atomicFE output type, select the file checkbox, and hit the GO button.  If things go well, romlister will then spit out a listing for you that has all the criteria you want, all in one swell foop.

If not, well, that's what we're here for. 

-jeff!

[Havok]

Thanks for chiming in Nop - and thanks again for your utility... 

The thing that is an issue right now is that Atomic only sorts custom lists by actual rom name - which, since they only use the 8.3 naming convention, means some games appear out of order in a custom Atomic game list. (Youki will be fixing this in the next version release) However, until then, we need a way to sort the games by name so they appear properly in alphabetical order.

Here's where outputting a rom name and then a game name are beneficial: it would allow a sort with Excel by the "real" name of the game by that column, and then when completed, be discarded.

Is there a way to output results with a rom name and a game name together per line?

[NOP]

well, you could try this:

1) tweak your search parameters to get the list down to what you want.
2) save the search results as an xml file
3) load that new xml file back into romlister
4) use the csv output to pull whatever data you want from the trimmed down xml file.

That should get you rom name and game name on the same line, then it'd be a matter of sorting it in excel.

theoretically that should do it.  your money back if it doesn't!

-jeff!

[Havok]

That's what I was thinking, I'll have to try it. Thanks for the help - your checks in the mail...

 

[youki]

Hi Havok , vettetek

Could you try this exe :

http://www.atomicfe.com/divers/AtoMic.exe

Replace the existing one.

With this version, if you select "game list sorted by game name" it should sort your  game list.

If you add game in your  game list, you will have to purge "generated gamelist" ,if you want the game appear.

Let me know if it works for you.  If yes, i will update the patch.

Thanks

[Havok]

It works!

 

[vettetekk]

Thanks for your hard work so quickly youki!!! And again Kudos to you on a fine front end. Now I just have to learn how to work it!! LOL!!

[Havok]

By popular request, I have created another file for monitor orientation. This will allow you to filter by Horizontal or Vertical, based on Mame 117u2. Follow instructions above to enable for your Atomic installation...

[youki]

Thanks Havok!