Hacking Wii.dat project: expand titles.txt, expand your GUI

[ttabbal]

For checksums, I would go with MD5. It's very will known and harder to get hash collisions with.

For ratings, I think it would be better to just have separate codes for each one, personally. That way people could deal with situations like OFLC without issue. And we could add to the list simply by adding another allowed value to the XSD. Perhaps as an attribute?

M ??

 

[zorglub07]

Isn't the game ID be the same for each region? So PAL/NTSC would share the same section of XML code... my mistake if it differs. RSPE01 is Wii Sports in every region, right?That raises a tough question!
The first character of the game ID is always R, then two characters for game name, one for region (J for Japan, E for North America, P for PAL, U for UK, F for France, S for Spain, K for Korea), two for publisher (Nintendo is 01)
RSPE01 = Wii Sports NTSC-U
RSPJ01 = Wii Sports NTSC-J
RSPP01 = Wii Sports PAL

The problem with adding all versions to the same section is that in many cases the title is different
"Wario Land: The Shake Dimension" for PAL
"Wario Land: Shake" for NTSC-J
"Wario Land: Shake It!" for NTSC-U

and in some rare case, the publisher seems to be different too :
RNHE41 = No More Heroes NTSC-U (ubi soft)
RNHJ99 = No More Heroes NTSC-J (victor)

That's why it seems easier to treat different versions of the same game as different entries in the list.
We could have a single entry, with the two characters "SP" to identify a game, then child sections for each needed region with , but as nice as it would be, I'm not so sure splitting the game ID is a good idea. It would be less confusing for users to just type the game ID they read from the WBFS managers.
It's the same old problem, is the added complexity worth it?
What would make it easy to decide was if there was a known case of two different games sharing the same two letters for game name, with a different code for region or publisher.

QUOTE(ttabbal @ Apr 24 2009, 04:28 PM) For checksums, I would go with MD5. It's very will known and harder to get hash collisions with.
For ratings, I think it would be better to just have separate codes for each one, personally. That way people could deal with situations like OFLC without issue. And we could add to the list simply by adding another allowed value to the XSD. Perhaps as an attribute?
M ??

MD5 it is then, it seems to be the popular choice for Wii.
About ratings, you're probably right, I wanted to leave only one possible field to fill by the user so that people wouldn't start filling PEGI ratings for a NTSC game, but that may be too confusing.

In encouraging news, dimok said he was interested so here's the updated summary of USB Loader-related authors who showed interest in the new XML format:
- Configurable USB Loader (oggzee, the author that implemented titles.txt in the beginning)
- Coverflow USB Loader (Don Killah and Cdreams)
- WBFS Manager (AlexDP)
- libwiigui GUI Loader (dimok, nIxx, cyrex, hungyip etc)

 

[McHaggis]

Ahh my mistake then. You're absolutely right, games should be separated by game id and regions should not be merged.

Everything seems to be shaping up nicely now.

 

[Knocks]

There is no way to identify the publisher from the game ID.

It looks like this file will include a lot of information, which will slow down the loader. Would it be possible to make a simple script to trim the unnecessary information based on user preferences? For example, if you are a French speaker, you can run the script and delete all information in languages other than English and French (and Japanese if you want). You can enjoy a leaner XML without sacrificing anything you don't want.

 

[zorglub07]

I think it would be nice if this database could also by used as a base for the future No-Intro dat.

There is already an Offlinelist dat for Wii, but even though it uses XML it's purpose is to be a catalog of releases with images.
The dats used by No-Intro use the MAME listinfo format, it doesn't support many fields but there is a tool made by logiqx, datutil, that can convert between all the various formats, MAME listinfo or MAME listXML to genericXML and back.
It is interesting to note that listinfo output has been removed from MAME and only listXML remains so maybe list XML will be used for future dats?

MAME listinfo format (CM or clrmamepro) used by No-Intro:

game (
ÂÂÂÂname "Super Mario Advance 2 - Super Mario World (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es)"
ÂÂÂÂdescription "Super Mario Advance 2 - Super Mario World (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es)"
ÂÂÂÂrom ( name "Super Mario Advance 2 - Super Mario World (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es).gba" size 4194304 crc FCFEF343 md5 F877B87F140945AD93CFCE50411507C0 sha1 199A5A01BD3F56FBA9A701062EDBCF57E1528A0C )
)

converted to generic XML:
CODE
ÂÂÂÂSuper Mario Advance 2 - Super Mario World (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es)
ÂÂÂÂ
MAME listXML:
CODE
ÂÂÂÂSuper Mario World (Nintendo Super System)
ÂÂÂÂ1991
ÂÂÂÂNintendo
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ

If we make small ajustments to match the MAME listXML naming scheme here's the latest draft:
CODE

ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂNintendo
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂSega
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂRENP08
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂSonic And the Black Knight
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂJoin the Arthurian legend and fight in a brand new quest... are your worthy?
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂSonic et le Chevalier Noir
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂSonic und der Schwarze Ritter
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂSonic y el Caballero n****
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂSonic e il Cavaliere Nero
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂBB721BD0
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ2009
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
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The drawback is that we now have to add two redundant attributes ( and

 

[Knocks]

There have been reports that it's not consistent, but those discussions had to do with cover art rather than a comprehensive database of all known dumps. For the purposes of this project, you might as well include all the information you can obtain. The main dat file can be used by a game management utility, and on the Wii side you can generate something less bloated to avoid delays in startup, etc.

 

[zorglub07]

As I recall, the confusion/inconsistencies about game covers started when someone renamed the USA cover pack by changing the region letter from the game ID to make a PAL cover pack... some games didn't match because the publisher was different for NTSC and PAL. That's when removing the last two digits seemed like a good idea, so that covers would match the games.
One of the advantages of trying to be compatible with the MAME listXML format, is that the main XML element for each game will contain the full name, including version number, which allows for multiple versions (1.0, 1.1) of the same game with the same game ID.

If the publisher's code from the game ID is consistent (and it should unless there was a mistake by Nintendo or the publisher), adding the publisher will only add to the bloat factor. (actually, I'd like to call the file "bloatii.xml"

) The publisher field could remain as optional, and the loaders would still have the info from the ID if the publisher field is missing. Maybe it should only be included if the code is known to be wrong, I really don't know...
The format is XML so it will be easy for people who want a faster loading time to remove the content they don't need. As you said, a script could be made.

About the project's long term goal, I'm not sure it will be used by No-Intro or redump.org, because all checksums would need to be verified, twice.
If there is no way to tell if a checksum has been confirmed, there is little use in the long run. Maybe it could still be useful to them as a point of reference, I'm not sure. To be able to confirm checksums such a project needs an official maintainer and not a wiki-like access for everybody, or a forum with a team reviewing new entries. There are already such sites, and I think it would be best to join forces. The idea is to get a more complete database, instead of having on one hand the checksum oriented dats and on the other hand the game collection oriented databases (Offlinelist, and online game lists).
Ideally, there could be different groups, working on the same database... I'd like to avoid starting a separate project.
If it is a separate project and it is picked up at some point as a way to add more information to their dat, it will have been useful to some extent, but if it is part of a bigger project it will be useful right from the start, supported by more people and with a content growing faster.
I'll try to see if there is interest from those groups in going in this direction, and if not this will just be another project.

 

[dj_skual]

hello guy
your project is very good
i just seen your file is now use in usbloadergx
i'm interesting to find information on how manage easy the .xml file and participate about this project
thank for your work

 

[supagusti]

hello guy
(.....) i just seen your file is now use in usbloadergx (.....)

I didn't found that - can u post a link ?