Author Topic: I have a few of MSX missing games...  (Read 7615 times)

Offline Snake Plissken

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I have a few of MSX missing games...
« on: February 14, 2010, 01:57:41 PM »
Hi, i have three ultra-rare japanese games that are missing from the TOSEC set. All of these games are in disk format and are made by Soft Studio Wing. Where must i send them in order to have them added to the TOSEC set?

The three games are:

白と黒の伝説・百鬼編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . hyakki hen )
白と黒の伝説・輪廻転生編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . rinnetensei hen )
白と黒の伝説・アスカ編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . asuka hen )

More info on them can be found in Soft Studio Wing Fan Club site. http://sakai.cool.ne.jp/souzuka/



Offline PandMonium

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2010, 04:37:00 PM »
Hi there,

Just sent you a PM about that.
Also i'm not sure if someone will have the time to check those sets soon so they will be added, plus they are japanese and currently nobody around can read that (mek1 did but he disappeared again). If you want to help a bit further giving us the correct details about the 3 sets they can be added much faster :)

About the system or the disk format and others i can't say much cause i don't know about it :P

Offline VG8020

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2010, 05:40:42 PM »
Hello there,

First message, so greetings to all  :D

I'm an old-school MSX fan and so much interested in what Snake Plissken is talking about. PandMonium, just one question, do you think you could point me in the right direction so that I can get in touch with TOSEC MSX database datters/makers? I can't seem to find where/who they are. No-intro dats are real fine but TOSEC dats have a great deal more detail. Maybe this way we could keep on updating the MSX dat.

Greetings,
(previously known as MSXfreak)

Offline nanonano

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2010, 05:50:46 PM »
I can do some ninja-sh*t! 8)

白と黒の伝説・百鬼編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . hyakki hen )
白と黒の伝説・輪廻転生編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . rinnetensei hen )
白と黒の伝説・アスカ編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . asuka hen )

白と黒の伝説 = (lit.) White and Black Legend (=>The legend of White and Black)
百鬼 = 100 Monster
輪廻転生 = death & rebirth
編 = version or edition
アスカ = seems to be a name

So the games are different editions about the same world? Interesting.

Offline VG8020

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2010, 06:20:43 PM »
Hi Snake,

Rare indeed... Cool!  ;D

白と黒の伝説・百鬼編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . hyakki hen )
Known as Legend of White and Black
http://msx.jpn.org/tagoo/s_check.cgi?LINE=511
1985 MSX1 tape videogame

白と黒の伝説・輪廻転生編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . rinnetensei hen )
Seeminly unknown to non-Jap MSX fandom
http://msx.jpn.org/tagoo/s_check.cgi?LINE=766
1986 MSX1 tape videogame

白と黒の伝説・アスカ編 ( shiro to kuro no densetsu . asuka hen )
Seeminly unknown to non-Jap MSX fandom
http://msx.jpn.org/tagoo/s_check.cgi?LINE=952
1987 MSX1 tape videogame

It happens I'm in the process of renaming about two thousand MSX videogames screenshots (yes!) but didn't find these.

BTW, there's one more in the series just in case you want to have the full set ;)

白と黒の伝説     総集編
known as Legend of White and Black Special
http://msx.jpn.org/tagoo/s_check.cgi?LINE=1667
1991 MSX2 disk videogame

Greetings,

« Last Edit: November 09, 2010, 06:42:55 PM by MSXfreak »
(previously known as MSXfreak)

Offline PandMonium

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2010, 06:35:44 PM »
Hi MSXfreak,
currently and AFAIK there is no one working on MSX daftiles, all our active renamers (for the disk branch) are in this forum so that's the way to contact them.
If you like and have the time to do so maybe you would like to help out by renaming /adding new rare sets to it and fixing errors you might find in the current MSX dats. :)

Offline VG8020

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #6 on: November 09, 2010, 06:47:32 PM »
Hello,

PandMonium, that's a nice suggestion so thanks. My main concern right know is... what tool are renamers using in order to do their task. I say so because I've read about TIM in the forums and a few other tools but I just don't know which one to use. I mean, one that runs under XP and that makes things easier (trying to avoid cmd line tools). That'd be the starting point. If you could point me in the right direction, I appreciate. If I should open a new thread in a different subforum, please, just let me know.

Greetings,

(previously known as MSXfreak)

Offline PandMonium

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2010, 07:10:43 PM »
Well, the goal is to rename setfiles (the zips) and sometimes the romfiles too (files inside), depending on each set. That said renamers are free to use any tool as long as it produces correct dats.
Long ago there was a part of tim called "renamers tool" where you could insert information on a form for each of the desired flag and it would generate the complete setname for you (and rename the zip too i think). Although this may sound useful, especially for newcomers, the renamers never used it since it introduced a lot more steps to rename something so they just rename sets directly (renaming the zip/files or even editing the datfile itself.

To generate datfiles most use one of the tools you named (most use clmpro, TIM is outdated). The process consists in indicating the folder where the sets are, adding the header details to the program (datfile name, authors, version, category and such), a few more details and pressing "create".

This was just a brief introduction, current renamers use anything they feel comfortable, some their own tools, others renaming the setfiles or directly on datfiles. You may want to check their opinion or tips since i don't rename much (or anything) myself.

An example:
Start with a datfile (eg. MSX MSX2+ - Various (TOSEC-v2009-09-01)) and all its sets.

Checking the existent sets for mistakes, to fix one i could:
1) Edit the respective zipfile (and the file inside it if needed), then i would need to generate the datfile again.
2) Open the original datfile on any *decent* text editor and edit the correct entry (make sure you don't break or rename anything wrong here), update headers.

To add a new set it is simply a process of renaming it and adding it to the correct folder + generating the datfile (or alternatively creating the entry manually, in this case this isn't a great option since you need to get the crcs/md5 and so on).

That's it, got it? The process is simple, just playing with the sets, renaming the files and generating the dats, moving them or separating them in different categories (folders) and creating the respective new dats to replace the older ones and so on (for example, MSX MSX2+ - Various probably could/should be split into various folders: Games, Demos, ...).


So, what do you think about the process? My main suggestion to anyone starting is to take a look at TOSEC Naming Convention first, try to create a small test datfile with 2 or 3 sets and later doing an update to it just to get how it works. It shouldn't be anything hard at all.

Offline VG8020

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2010, 11:10:48 PM »
Hello Pandmonium,

I read your post yesterday but prefered to do some testing before writing back. Thank you for your kind and explanatory post. Much informative. I'm using both TIM and manual editing. First TIM to see how it does the renaming. Once I understand how it works, I do manual editing much more confidently. I use TIM to generate the .dat too. So I'm on my way now :) I'm doing something different by making a dat out of the MSX videogames translations that have been released (mostly from Japanese to English or French). Just to begin getting the hang of it. I think I'll be posting a message sooner or later related to TOSEC naming conventions and my doubts about renaming translation images.

Greetings,

edit: BTW, any idea about why I keep getting "Error in database: nº 1 (SQL error or missing database) select * from companies order by companies_name;" in TIM? It's just every time I click on any file in the renamer...  :-[
« Last Edit: November 10, 2010, 11:14:05 PM by MSXfreak »
(previously known as MSXfreak)

Offline PandMonium

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2010, 11:09:07 AM »
Hi MSXfreak, no idea, i don't try TIM for long. Which version are you using? TIM was REALLY broken on the last "official" version, i did a lot of fixes to it but never released it, still it was way broken and the update was not a simple exe change, i would advice you not to use it because it sucks and even the renamer tool is bad because it doesn't completely follows TNC anymore.

There should probably be a small, sepparated tool or webpage to help newcomers with the renaming and to clear any doubts one might have, unfortunately i didn't have the time yet to do so. I have a small tool where you can check a tnc setname (a string) for errors but nothing similar to renamer tool.
You might PM TKaos, i think he has a TIM version that works, probably some of the latest, never released betas if you still want to use it.

As for the rest, i think your plan is good. Don't start working with big dats if you're not confortable, start by learning how a TNC is constituted, what each part means. Then learn how the datfiles work, how you can create them with several tools and how they are constituted (just open one in any decent text editor), edit a few details, scan and so on.
Any doubt you might have i'm sure someone here will help you out, in no time you will be a bit more comfortable with all that and start renaming.

Offline Aral

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Re: I have a few of MSX missing games...
« Reply #10 on: November 13, 2010, 11:12:31 PM »
I am currently looking at MSX as well as a few other systems as i am checking my TOSEC-PIX boxes and manuals against the game files.  Please PM me to discuss :)