TNC

Introduction

The Old School Emulation Center (TOSEC) is a retrocomputing initiative dedicated to the cataloging and preservation of software, firmware and resources for arcade machines, microcomputers, minicomputers and video game consoles. The main goal of the project is to catalog and audit various kinds of software and firmware images for these systems. To support this, the TOSEC Naming Convention (TNC) was created.

The TNC is a set of standardized rules used by TOSEC renamers to provide a consistent, clear and concise naming scheme for cataloging any image from any system. This document serves to cover and describe the entire naming convention and how it should be used.

Revisions

Revision

Date

Description

     

v1

20/07/2008

First version of this document, based on the original TNC with some updates to the naming format, mainly changes in language, media, media label, dump flags and some others.

v2

24/12/2009

Update to country and language codes. Country codes now follow the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard (2 letters, uppercased), while language codes use the ISO 639-1 standard (2 letters, lowercased). Cleared some rules in country/language flags usage, updated systems flags and dump descriptors lists. Fixed errors in Title field regarding "The" and "A" cases. The use of "+" to separate groups in dump flags was dropped.

v3

27/08/2011

Introduction rewritten to be consistent with TOSEC website and Wiki page. Forbidden Characters section revised. References to "ZZZ-UNK-" rewritten to make it clear 'unknowns' should always be avoided (as well as a return to the more strict convention of "ZZZ-UNK-" rather than "ZZZ-UNK"). Expanded examples in Version section. Expanded and gave proper descriptions to possible flags in Demo section. Year renamed to Date to better reflect the flag usage. Examples expanded in Date section, including making it clear '2000-01-0x' is an acceptable date. Added proper descriptions to Development Status Flag possibilities. Added proper descriptions to Media Type Flag possibilities. Dump Flags section greatly expanded to more accurately describe the purpose of each flag, as well as adding more examples and clarifications. Current Issues appendix moved to separate document since inappropriate to include in a published spec. Lots of general cleaning up and improvements to general language, punctuation and grammar.

v4

23/03/2015

Introduction updated to be consistent with TOSEC website and Wiki page. "ZZZ-UNK-" removed outright, this is now a TNC fail. Low ASCII only restriction lifted, all Romanised names now valid. Removed restriction of when you have a dual language flag English must come first (they should always be alphabetical like other flags). Previous [h] ambiguity now corrected. Restriction on [more info] being lower case now lifted. Further grammatical errors corrected and examples given.

       

 

Single Image Sets

Most sets are single image sets, so this is the standard used in most of the images cataloged by TOSEC members, the exception to this are the multi-image sets like compilations, etc., which use the same or a very similar scheme for the name of each image within the compilation, with some extra properties to distinguish the various images.

To be TNC complaint a set must follow a well-defined number of rules describing the image. Currently the fields used in TNC are: title, version, demo, date, publisher, system, video, country, language, copyright status, development status, media type, media label, a group of dump info flags (cracked, fixed, hacked…), and finally the more info flag.

The format should look like this example:

Title version (demo) (date)(publisher)(system)(video)(country)(language)(copyright status)(development status)(media type)(media label)[dump info flags][more info]

 

With dump info flags relative to image modifications being ordered alphabetically first (cracked, fixed, hacked, modified, pirated, trained, translated) followed by the ones related with information about the dump process in the following order: over dump, under dump, virus, bad dump, alternate, verified dump [!].

So if a set had all dump flags it would look like:

Title version (demo) (date)(publisher)(system)(video)(country)(language)(copyright)(devstatus)(media type)(media label)[cr][f][h][m][p][t][tr][o][u][v][b][a][!][more info]

 

Although it should be noted that obviously no set can have all flags at the same time because some of them are incompatible with others (e.g. you cannot have a set marked as [o] and [u] at the same time etc.)

A final note that all flags used to classify the image are separated either with ( ), or [ ] for dump info flags and more info, also the fields marked with mandatory in the next chapters are required for the minimum use of TNC in renaming a file.

All entries marked "mandatory" are required for the minimum use of TNC in renaming a file, entries contained in parentheses "( )" or square brackets "[ ]" are flags used for classifying the image.

Note: "Title (date)(publisher)" is the bare minimum required for a renamed image.

 

 

Forbidden Characters

Any characters that are disallowed within a file name in most mainstream operating systems cannot be used.

Forbidden Character Possibilities

Symbol

Description

/

Slash

\

Backslash

?

Question Mark

:

Colon

*

Asterisk

"

Quote

<

Less Than

>

Greater Than

|

Vertical Pipe

 

Title

Mandatory

The name of the software. This should match the official publisher's released title if known, or the name on the title screen (there can often be differences between the two and best judgement will need to be exercised).

In cases where the title begins with "The" or "A", it should be moved to the end of the title, and preceded by a comma. This same rule applies if the title is not in English, e.g. "De" for Dutch, "Die" for German, and "Le/La/Les" for French etc.

• "The Legend of TOSEC" would become "Legend of TOSEC, The"

• "A Legend of TOSEC" would become "Legend of TOSEC, A

 

Version

Version information is considered an extension of the filename. It should be included in all cases where it is known and verified. There are no parentheses involved, and the format should (generally) be "v x.yy ", with x being the major, and yy the minor revision. If the program uses a different approach, then this is what should be used, e.g. "Rev x", "vYYYYMMDD "etc.

Version Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The v1.0

• Legend of TOSEC, The v1.03b

• Legend of TOSEC, The Rev 1

• Legend of TOSEC, The v20000101

 

 

Demo

This field is used if a software title is a demonstration, promotional or sample version. This is the only case where there should be a space between a closing and the following opening parenthesis.

Demo Flag Possibilities

Demo Flag

Description

demo

General demonstration version

demo-kiosk

Retail demo units and kiosks

demo-playable

General demonstration version, playable

demo-rolling

General demonstration version, non-interactive

demo-slideshow

General demonstration version, non-interactive slideshow

Demo Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (demo) (1986)(Devstudio)

 

Note the space between "(demo)" and "(1986)"

 

 

Date

Mandatory

The date the software was released. If no exact year is known but the decade can be determined, then use (199x) if from the 1990's, (200x) if from the 2000's etc. If no information is available, use (19xx) or (20xx) until a year can be determined.

If more complete date information is known, then this can be shown using the format YYYY-MM-DD.

Also note that 19xx-MM and 19xx-MM-DD are allowed when only month or month and day are known, this can happen in things like magazines and other monthly publications where year is unknown. Additionally, if the exact day in the month is not known, but the day can be narrowed down to part of the month, then 19xx-MM-Dx is also acceptable.

Date Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (19xx)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (200x)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (199x)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (2001-01)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986-06-21)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (19xx-12)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (19xx-12-25)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (19xx-12-2x)

 

 

Publisher

Mandatory

The publisher field contains the company name(s) of the software's publisher(s). If this is unknown or if desired, the developer's company name(s) or programmer's name(s) can also be used.

In cases where none of these are known, a hyphen (-) is used. If more than one name is required, separate names with a space hyphen space (" - ")

As a general rule, do not include extra company notations such as Ltd, PLC, Inc. unless they are absolutely necessary in the company name.

If individual person names need to be used, these should be entered in the format "Surname, First name" or "Surname, Initials".

Multiple publishers should be in alphabetical order.

Publisher Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(-)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Ultrafast Software)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1987)(U.S. Gold)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1988)(Delphine - U.S. Gold)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (2001)(Smith, Robert)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (2001)(Smith, R.)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (2001)(Smith, R. - White, P.S.)

 

 

System

This field is reserved for collections that require multiple system support, such as Amiga, which could require (A500), (A1000) etc., to address compatibility issues.

System Flag Possibilities

System Flag

Description

+2

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

+2a

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

+3

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

130XE

Atari 8-bit

A1000

Commodore Amiga

A1200

Commodore Amiga

A1200-A4000

Commodore Amiga

A2000

Commodore Amiga

A2000-A3000

Commodore Amiga

A2024

Commodore Amiga

A2500-A3000UX

Commodore Amiga

A3000

Commodore Amiga

A4000

Commodore Amiga

A4000T

Commodore Amiga

A500

Commodore Amiga

A500+

Commodore Amiga

A500-A1000-A2000

Commodore Amiga

A500-A1000-A2000-CDTV

Commodore Amiga

A500-A1200

Commodore Amiga

A500-A1200-A2000-A4000

Commodore Amiga

A500-A2000

Commodore Amiga

A500-A600-A2000

Commodore Amiga

A570

Commodore Amiga

A600

Commodore Amiga

A600HD

Commodore Amiga

AGA

Commodore Amiga

AGA-CD32

Commodore Amiga

Aladdin Deck Enhancer

Nintendo NES

CD32

Commodore Amiga

CDTV

Commodore Amiga

Computrainer

Nintendo NES

Doctor PC Jr.

Nintendo NES

ECS

Commodore Amiga

ECS-AGA

Commodore Amiga

Executive

Osborne 1 & Executive

Mega ST

Atari ST

Mega-STE

Atari ST

OCS

Commodore Amiga

OCS-AGA

Commodore Amiga

ORCH80

???

Osbourne 1

Osborne 1 & Executive

PIANO90

???

PlayChoice-10

Nintendo NES

Plus4

???

Primo-A

Microkey Primo

Primo-A64

Microkey Primo

Primo-B

Microkey Primo

Primo-B64

Microkey Primo

Pro-Primo

Microkey Primo

ST

Atari ST

STE

Atari ST

STE-Falcon

???

TT

Atari ST

TURBO-R GT

MSX

TURBO-R ST

MSX

VS DualSystem

Nintendo NES

VS UniSystem

Nintendo NES

System Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(A500)

 

 

Video

The video field is only used in cases where the images cannot be classified by countries or languages, but for example only the PAL or NTSC video formats they were released in.

Video Flag Possibilities

Video Flag

Description

CGA

?

EGA

?

HGC

?

MCGA

?

MDA

?

NTSC

?

NTSC-PAL

?

PAL

?

PAL-60

?

PAL-NTSC

?

SVGA

?

VGA

?

XGA

?

Video Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(PAL)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(NTSC)

 

 

Country

This field is used to classify the country or region of origin. The codes used are defined by the international ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard where possible.

Country/Region Flag Possibilities

Country/Region Flag

Description

AE

United Arab Emirates

AL

Albania

AS

Asia

AT

Austria

AU

Australia

BA

Bosnia and Herzegovina

BE

Belgium

BG

Bulgaria

BR

Brazil

CA

Canada

CH

Switzerland

CL

Chile

CN

China

CS

Serbia and Montenegro

CY

Cyprus

CZ

Czech Republic

DE

Germany

DK

Denmark

EE

Estonia

EG

Egypt

ES

Spain

EU

Europe

FI

Finland

FR

France

GB

United Kingdom

GR

Greece

HK

Hong Kong

HR

Croatia

HU

Hungary

ID

Indonesia

IE

Ireland

IL

Israel

IN

India

IR

Iran

IS

Iceland

IT

Italy

JO

Jordan

JP

Japan

KR

South Korea

LT

Lithuania

LU

Luxembourg

LV

Latvia

MN

Mongolia

MX

Mexico

MY

Malaysia

NL

Netherlands

NO

Norway

NP

Nepal

NZ

New Zealand

OM

Oman

PE

Peru

PH

Philippines

PL

Poland

PT

Portugal

QA

Qatar

RO

Romania

RU

Russia

SE

Sweden

SG

Singapore

SI

Slovenia

SK

Slovakia

TH

Thailand

TR

Turkey

TW

Taiwan

US

United States

VN

Vietnam

YU

Yugoslavia

ZA

South Africa

In the case of two countries being required, both are given, alphabetised and separated by a hyphen:

For example: (DE-GB) - Released in Germany and the United Kingdom

For example: (DE-FR) - Released in France and Germany

For example: (EU-US) - Released in Europe and the US

 

Country Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(JP)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(DE)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(DE-FR)

 

 

Language

The language used in the software. The codes used are defined by the international ISO 639-1 standard.

Language flags usage has to obey a few basic rules for reasons of enforced simplicity:

English is seen as the default language, in other words when no language or country flag is used it is taken that the software is in English or is language neutral.

On the other hand if a country flag is used, we assume that the software language is the official country language, so there is no need to use "(JP)(ja) ", "(DE)(de)" or "(PT)(pt)" only the country code. Conversely, software released in Japan but using English language should be "(JP)(en)" for example.

 

Language Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio) - set uses English language or is language neutral..

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(pt) - set is in Portuguese.

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(JP) - set released in Japan and in Japanese.

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(JP)(en) - set released in Japan and in English.

 

In the case of two languages being required, both are given, separated by a hyphen:

For example: (en-fr) Contains English and French versions

For example: (es -pt) Contains Spanish and Portuguese versions

For example: (de-fr) Contains Deutsch and French versions

 

When two languages are used they should be alphabetically ordered.

 

In cases of more than two languages or countries being required, (Mx) is used to represent multiple languages, where x is the number of languages:

 

For example: (M3) for 3 languages, so "Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(M3)"

For example: (M4) for 4 languages, so "Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(M4)"

 

Language Flag Possibilities

Language Flag

Description

ar

Arabic

bg

Bulgarian

bs

Bosnian

cs

Czech

cy

Welsh

da

Danish

de

German

el

Greek

en

English

eo

Esperanto

es

Spanish

et

Estonian

fa

Persian

fi

Finnish

fr

French

ga

Irish

gu

Gujarati

he

Hebrew

hi

Hindi

hr

Croatian

hu

Hungarian

is

Icelandic

it

Italian

ja

Japanese

ko

Korean

lt

Lithuanian

lv

Latvian

ms

Malay

nl

Dutch

no

Norwegian

pl

Polish

pt

Portuguese

ro

Romanian

ru

Russian

sk

Slovakian

sl

Slovenian

sq

Albanian

sr

Serbian

sv

Swedish

th

Thai

tr

Turkish

ur

Urdu

vi

Vietnamese

yi

Yiddish

zh

Chinese

 

Further Language Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(de)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(pt)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(de-fr)

 

 

Copyright Status

This field is used to denote the copyright status of software if applicable. If the software has been realised to the Public Domain by the copyright holder or if it is Freeware or Shareware for example, this is the place to note it.

If a Shareware title is registered, -R is appended to the field. This can also be used for Cardware and Giftware titles.

 

Copyright Status Flag Possibilities

Copyright Flag

Description

CW

Cardware

CW-R

Cardware-Registered

FW

Freeware

GW

Giftware

GW-R

Giftware-Registered

LW

Licenceware

PD

Public Domain

SW

Shareware

SW-R

Shareware-Registered

 

Copyright Status Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(PD)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(FR)(SW)

 

 

Development Status

This field is for marking alpha, beta, preview, prototype or pre-release versions of software titles.

Development Status Flag Possibilities

Development Flag

Description

alpha

Early test build

beta

Later, feature complete test build

preview

Near complete build

pre-release

Near complete build

proto

Unreleased, prototype software

Development Status Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(beta)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(proto)

 

Media Type

This field is used if the software spans more than one optical, diskette, tape or file. Note that apart from the normal possibilities (Disk, Disc, Tape …), "Side x of y" is also allowed.

Media Type Possibilities

Media Types

Description

Disc

Optical disc based media

Disk

Magnetic disk based media

File

Individual files

Part

Individual parts

Side

Side of media

Tape

Magnetic tape based media

For example, where there are 9 or less disks, the format of "(Disk x of y)" is used, if there are 10 or more disks then (Disk xx of yy) should be used, there can also be the case where more than one volume is grouped in a single image, so something like (Part 1-2 of 3) is also allowed.

Media Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(File 1 of 2)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(File 2 of 2)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disc 1 of 6)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disk 06 of 13)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Side A)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Side B)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Tape 2 of 2 Side B)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Side 1 of 2)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Part 1-2 of 3)

 

 

Media Label

If the disk label is required, this field should contain it. This field is always the last flag using ( ) brackets, just before any existent [ ] flags.

This is mainly used when a "Save Disk", "Program Disk", "Scenery Disk" etc. might be requested by the software when running. For example (Disk 2 of 2) is not useful by itself when the program asks you to "Insert Character Disk".

Media Label Flag Examples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(Disk 3 of 3)(Character Disk)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disk 1 of 2)(Program)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disk 2 of 2)(Data)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disk 2 of 2)(Disk B)

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Bonus Disc)

 

 

 

Dump Info Flags

This is the 'alphabet soup' used to describe the nature, quality and condition of the particular image of the software (not the software as a whole). This is where images that are bad, alternates, cracks, hacks, trainers, fixes, translations, etc. are noted.

Note: These flags use square brackets [ ]

As noted at the start of Single Image Sets chapter, the order of those flags is important and should be kept correct. The order should always be:

•[cr][f][h][m][p][t][tr][o][u][v][b][a][!]

 

Please note that whenever a "group" is used in a dump flag, the alteration could also be done by single persons. Renamers should be aware that taking the group they're in (if known) is preferable.

Cracked - [cr]

The original software has been deliberately hacked/altered to remove some form of copy protection.

The variants are:

[cr] - Cracked

[cr Cracker] - Cracked by Cracker (group or person)

Fixed - [f]

The original software has been deliberately hacked/altered in some way to 'improve' or fix the image to work in a non-standard way, e.g. 'fixing' a software that is supposed to run in PAL to run on a NTSC system.

The variants are:

[f] - Fixed

[f Fix] - Fix/amendment added

[f Fixer] - Fixed by Fixer (group or person)

[f Fix Fixer] - Fix added by Fixer (group or person)

 

In cases where there is more than one Fix or Fixer, they can be separated like the group names in other dump flags, for example, [f Fix1 group1 - Fix2 group2] - fix1 was made by group1 and fix2 was made by group2.

 

Some examples of fixes:

NTSC = Fixed for NTSC

copier = Fixed for game copiers

Note: Renamers must try to use fix descriptions already used before, e.g. if "copier" is already in use then there is no need to use "copier" in one set and "game copier" in another (if they represent the same thing).

 

Hacked - [h]

The original software has been deliberately hacked/altered in some way, such as adding an intro or changing in game sprites or text.

The variants are:

[h] - Hacked

[h Hack] – Description of hack

[h Hacker] – Hacked by (group or person)

[h Hack Hacker] – Description of hack, followed by hacker (group or person)

 

Note: Renamers must try to use hack descriptions already used before, e.g. if "intro" is already in use then there is no need to use "intro" in one set and "scene intro" in another (if they represent the same thing).

 

Modified - [m]

The original software has been hacked/altered in some way (but not deliberately), e.g. if you dumped an original UNTOUCHED floppy disk (say it is a game for some microcomputer), the image would also be original/clean. If the floppy disk had been played/loaded (BUT NOT WRITE PROTECTED), then the disk might have an additional file saved back to it such as a saved game, or saved high score table. If you then re-dumped it, the image would no longer be original/clean, and a [m] flag would be appropriate.

The variants are:

[m] - Modified (general hack)

[m Modification] - Modification added

Note: Renamers must try to use modified descriptions already used before, e.g. if "high score" is already in use then there is no need to use "high score" in one set and "hiscore" in another (if they represent the same thing).

Pirated - [p]

The software is not legally licensed or violates some international IP.

The variants are:

[p] - Pirate version

[p Pirate] - Pirate version by Pirate (group or person)

Trained - [t]

The original software has been deliberately hacked/altered to add cheats and/or a cheat menu.

The variants are:

[t] - Trained

[t Trainer] - Trained by trainer (group or person)

[t +x] - x denotes number of trainers added

[t +x Trainer] - Trained and x number of trainers added by trainer (group or person)

Translated - [tr]

The original software has been deliberately hacked/altered to translate into a different language than originally published/released.

If it is a partial translation, not fully complete, "-partial" should be appended to the language code. Also note that the language codes used in this flag are the same used in language flag.

Some of the variants are:

[tr] - Translation

[tr language] - Translated to Language

[tr language-partial] - Translated to Language (partial translation)

[tr language Translator] - Translated to Language by Translator (group or person)

[tr language1-language2] - Translated to both Language1 and Language2.

[tr language1-partial-language2-partial Translator] - Partially translated to both Language1 and language2 by Translator (group or person).

Note: Translator name is not allowed if language isn't identified too ([tr Translator] not allowed).

 

Over Dump - [o]

The image is damaged (duplicated data or too much data).

The variants are:

[o] - Over Dump (too much data dumped)

 

Under Dump - [u]

The image is damaged (missing data).

The variants are:

[u] - Under Dump (not enough data dumped)

Virus - [v]

The image is damaged from the infection of a virus.

The variants are:

[v] - Virus (infected)

[v Virus] - Infected with virus

[v Virus Version] - Infected with virus of version

Note: Renamers should try to always using the same virus names, for example don't use "VirusXPTO1", "virusxpto1" and "Virus XPTO1" with different images for the same virus.

Bad Dump - [b]

The image is damaged. This is a general 'damaged/bad' flag, to be used when the type of damage does not fit into any of the other 'damaged' categories. It is likely this image will not work properly, or not at all.

The variants are:

[b] - Bad dump (incorrect data dumped)

[b Descriptor] - Bad dump (including reason)

 

Some examples of descriptors:

corrupt file = Image contains a corrupt file

read-write = Image has a read/write error

Note: Renamers must try to use bad dump descriptions already used before, e.g. if "read-write" is already in use then there is no need to use "read-write" in one set and "read-write errors"" in another (if they represent the same thing).

Alternate - [a]

An alternate ORIGINAL version of another ORIGINAL image, e.g. if a game was released, then re-released later with a small change (and the revision/version number is not known).

 

The variants are:

[a] - Alternate version

[a Descriptor] - Alternate (including reason)

 

Some examples of descriptors:

no title screen = Game has no title screen, the non [a] image does

readme = Only a readme file is different from a non [a] image

Known Verified Dump - [!]

Image has had multiply person/multi dump verification to confirm it is a 100% repeatable and correct dump. This is currently only used in the TOSEC-ISO branch.

The variants are:

[!] - Verified good dump

Dump Flags Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[b]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[f]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[f NTSC]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[u]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[tr fr]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[tr de-partial someguy]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[h Fairlight]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[m save game]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[o]

 

In case where multiple images exist that need the same dump info flags, the flag is numbered as follows:

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a2]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a3]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a4]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[b]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[b2]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[b3]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr2]

 

There is no [n1], so for example you will need to have a [b] for a [b2] to exist. When dealing with flags that can contain more information, be sure to not add numbers if it is not necessary to remain unique. If, for example, the cracking group can be used to distinguish between different files, use that instead:

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr PDX]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr TRSi]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr2]

 

Instead of:

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr2 PDX]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr3 TRSi]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr4]

 

A dump info flag can only be used once (except in the case of compilations). So, if something was hacked by PDX, then hacked again by TRSi, do not use:

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[h PDX][h TRSi]

 

Instead, use one of the following, depending on how the program was altered.

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr PDX][h TRSi]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[h PDX - TRSi]

 

Note: When various groups or person names are used in the same flag, they must be separated using space-hyphen-space, e.g. " - ".

 

More Info

This field contains any miscellaneous information about the image that is not covered by any of the prior flag fields.

Note: These flags use square brackets [ ], and should always be the last flag.

Note: It is possible for a file to have more than one [more info] flags, although commas can be used to separate items also. When adding an alternate name, prefix the name with 'aka'.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• [aka House of TOSEC]

• [Req TRS-DOS]

• [source code]

 

Full filenames could look like:

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)[data disk]

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)[Req Super-BASIC][docs]

 


Multi Image Sets

The multi-image sets generally represent compilations and other kind of sets that have more than one software image, as the single sets format doesn't work when you want to describe and catalog a set with two different programs.

The idea is to use the standard TNC single image sets format for each of the images and group them together with " & ".

The format for multi-program images is as follows:

• Title1 (year)(publisher)[flags] & Title2 (year)(publisher)[flags] & Title3 (year)(publisher)[flags]

 

Representing a set made of 3 images (Title1, Title2 and Title3) and all the corresponding flags grouped together using " & ".

 

Some Multi Image Sets Samples

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)[a][more info]

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio)(preview) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)(PD)[cr]

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio)[h] & Amigos (demo) (1987)(Mr. Tosec)[tr fr]

 

 

Global Flags

Using the above scheme for multi-image sets may turn into a problem, large compilations or images with lots of flags or big names will end up having an enormous length, possibly hitting the maximum length for a filename (255 chars). A partial solution to these problems are the global flags.

In cases where there are identical multi-program images, use a hyphen as a separator after the last title entry in the image, followed by any dump info flags specific to the entire image.

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio)[a] & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)[a]

Could be expressed like:

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)-[a]

 

If needed renamers can compress even more flags relative to all images and not only the dump info flags, please note that you should try to have at least year and publisher flags represented separately for each image.

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio)(PD)(Disk 1 of 2)[a] & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)(PD)(Disk 1 of 2)[a]

Could be expressed like:

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)-(PD)(Disk 1 of 2)[a]

 

If for any reason using this you can't came up with a small enough length and are forced to compress it a bit more, you can also put the year and publisher after the hyphen if they apply for both, please note that this is should only be used as a last resort since it will generate some weird file names that are difficult to parse, the hyphen "-" will appear between title (+ version) and year flag, using " & " to separate only titles, versions and possibly demo flags.

• Paradroid 90 (19xx)(-)[h] & F.O.F.T. (19xx)(-)[h] & Black Lamp (19xx)(-)[h] & QED v2.05 (19xx)(-)[h]

Could be expressed like:

• Paradroid 90 & F.O.F.T. & Black Lamp & QED v2.05-(19xx)(-)[h]

 

Please note that this is not recommended and strongly discouraged. It is only used once or twice till now in all TOSEC sets, the use of this scheme makes it impossible to easily parse each image title name since & usage is generally allowed in other flags (like title), there is no way to know if for example "Tom & Jerry & Other" are three separate titles (Tom/Jerry/Other) or only two (Tom & Jerry/Other, etc.).

Tosec Naming Convention (2008-07-20)

TNC - the format explained

 

Introduction

TOSEC, or The Old School Emulation Center, is a group of people dedicated to the preservation of games and other programs for home computer and console systems. The main goal of the group is catalog and correctly rename all possible kinds of software images for those systems, to archive this TNC was created.
The TNC or TOSEC Naming Convention is the set of rules used by TOSEC renamers trying to provide a clear, concise and consistent naming scheme for cataloging any image of any system. This document serves to cover and describe the entire naming convention and how it should be used.

 

Revisions Table

Date

Description

20/07/2008

First version of this document, based on the last TNC with some updates to the naming format, mainly changes in language, media, media label, dump flags and some others.


Single Image Sets

Almost all sets are single image sets and so this is the standard used in most of the images cataloged by TOSEC members, the exception to this are the multi image sets like compilations, etc., which use the same or a very similar scheme for the name of each image within the compilation, with some extra properties to distinguish the various images.
To be TNC complaint a Set must follow a well defined number of rules describing the image, currently the fields used in TNC are: title, version, demo, year, publisher, system, video, country, language, copyright status, development status, media type, media label, a group of dump info flags (cracked, fixed, hacked…), and finally the more info flag.
The format should look like this example:


• Title version (demo) (Year)(Publisher)(System)(Video)(Country)(Language)(Copyright status)(Development status)(Media Type)(Media Label)[Dump info flags][more info]

 

With dump info flags relative to image modifications being ordered alphabetically first (cracked, fixed, hacked, modified, pirated, trained, translated) followed by the ones related with information about the dump process in the following order: overdump, underdump, virus, baddump, alternate, gooddump (!).
So if a set had all dump flags it would look like:


• Title version (demo) (Year)(Publisher)(System)(Video)(Country)(Language)(Copyright)(Devstatus)(Media Type)(Media Label)[cr][f][h][m][p][t][tr][o][u][v][b][a][!][more info]

 

Although you should note that obviously no set can have all flags at the same time because some of them are incompatible with others (e.g. you can’t have a set marked as [o] and [u]at the same time, or [cr] and [!] etc.)
A final note that all flags used to classify the image are separated either with ( ) or [ ] for dump info flags and more info, also the fields marked with mandatory in the next chapters are required for the minimum use of TNC in renaming a file.
All entries marked "mandatory" are required for the minimum use of TNC in renaming a file, entries contained in parentheses "( )" or square brackets "[ ]" are flags used for classifying the image.


Note: "Title (Year)(Publisher)" is the bare minimum required for a renamed image.

Forbidden Characters

Symbol

Description

;

Semicolon

éç

Accents, High ASCII, Double byte characters

?

Question Mark

#

Hash -> now allowed?

*

Asterisk

/

Slash

\

Backslash

 


Title

Mandatory

The name of the software program. This should match the official publisher's released title if known, or the name on the title screen if not known (there can often be differences between the two).
In cases where the title begins with the word "The", it should be moved to the end of the filename, and preceded by a comma. This same rule applies if the title is non-English, "De" for Dutch, "Die" for German, "Le/La/Les" for French, etc. etc. Don't do this if the title starts with "A"!


• “The Legend of TOSEC" would become "Legend of TOSEC, The"
• "A Legend of TOSEC Members" would stay "A Legend of TOSEC Members"

 

If you cannot make out any information regarding a title name, "ZZZ-UNK-{FILENAME}" is used in place of the unknown title. ie. "ZZZ-UNK-" is put in front of the filename. "ZZZ" to make sure these files are grouped together at the end of all lists, "UNK" for UNKnown.
Please note that we use a dash - instead of, like the Good-tools, an underscore _


• ZZZ-UNK-TOSEC1

 

Renaming a file to ZZZ-UNK- should be a last resort, and unrenamed files should not be prefixed with this simply to make the databases larger (i.e. to contain more files)
Only the so-called "Low ASCII" characters should be used. NO accents please. We know that this rule is kind of old-fashioned, but the fact is that many people will have problems with these characters.

 


Version

 

Version information is considered an extension of the filename. It should be included in all cases where it is known. There are no parentheses involved, and the format should (generally) be "v x.yy ", with x being the major, and yy the minor revision. If the program uses a different approach, use that instead.

Version Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC v1.0, The
• Legend of TOSEC v1.03b, The

 


Demo

 

This field is used if a software title is a demonstration version. This is the only case where there should be a space between a closing and the following opening parenthesis!

Demo Flag Possibilities

Demo Flag

Description

demo

?

demo-kiosk

?

demo-playable

?

demo-rolling

?

demo-slideshow

?

Demo Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (demo)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (demo-playable)

Or complete:

• Legend of TOSEC, The (demo) (1986)(Devstudio)
Note the space between "(demo)" and "(1986)”

 


Year

Mandatory
The year the program was released or, if this is unknown, the on-screen release year (like with the title, these may differ). If no exact year is known but the decade can be determined, use (199x) if from the 1990's, (197x) from the 1970's, etc. If no information is available, use (19xx) or (20xx) until a year can be determined.
If more complete information is known, then this can be shown using the format YYYY-MM-DD.
Also note that 19xx-MM and 19xx-MM-DD are allowed when only month or month and day are known, this can happen in things like magazines and other monthly publications where year is unknown.

Year Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (19xx)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (200x)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (199x)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (2001-01)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986-06-21)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (19xx-12)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (19xx-12-25)

 


Publisher

Mandatory

The publisher field contains the company name of the software's publisher. If this is unknown the developer's company name or programmer's name can be used.
In cases where none of these are known, a dash (-) is used. If more than one name is required, separate names with a space hyphen space (" - ")
As a general rule, do not include extra company notations such as Ltd, PLC, Inc. unless they are absolutely necessary in the company name.
If individual person names need to be used, these should be entered in the format "Surname, First name" or "Surname, Initials".

Publisher Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(-)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Ultrafast Software)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1987)(U.S. Gold)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1988)(Delphine - U.S. Gold)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (2001)(Smith, Robert)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (2001)(Smith, R.)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (2001)(Smith, R. - White, P.S.)

 


System

 

This field is reserved for collections that require multiple system support, such as Amiga, which could require (A500), (A1000) etc., to address compatibility issues.

System Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(A500)

 


Video

The video field is only used in cases where the images cannot be classified by countries or languages, but for example only the PAL or NTSC video formats they were released in.

Video Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(PAL)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(NTSC)

 


Country

This field is used to classify the country of origin. Some systems will have a standard country, and this should be omitted from the individual entries and a comment should be placed in an included text file or comment field of a .dat to reflect this.

In the case of two countries being required, both are given separated by a hyphen:
Ex: (De-GB) Released in Germany and the United Kingdom
Ex: (De-Fr) Released in France and Germany
Ex: (Eu-US) Released in Europe and the US

Country Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(Jp)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(De)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(De-Fr)

 

 


Language

The language used in game.
Some systems will have a standard language, and this should be omitted from the individual entries, for example, Atmos Oric is predominantly a French system, so in an Atmos Oric database only non-French software would need this field entering. Typically, English only titles do not require marking as such.
In cases of more than two languages or countries being required, (Mx) is used to represent multiple languages, where x is the number of languages.
Ex: (M3) for 3 languages
Ex: (M4) for 4 languages
Ex: "Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(M3)"

In the case of two languages being required, both are given separated by a hyphen:
Ex: (en-fr) Contains English and French versions
Ex: (es -pt) Contains Spanish and Portuguese versions
Ex: (de-fr) Contains Deutsch and French versions

When 2 languages are in use they should be alphabetically ordered, if one is English then it always comes first [eg. (en-xx)].

Language Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(de)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(pt)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(de-fr)

 

Copyright Status


This field is used to denote the copyright status of software if applicable. If the software has been made available to the Public Domain by the copyright holder or is Freeware or Shareware etc., this is the place to note it.

If a Shareware title is registered, -R is appended to the field. This can also be used for Cardware and Giftware titles.

 


Copyright Status


This field is used to denote the copyright status of software if applicable. If the software has been made available to the Public Domain by the copyright holder or is Freeware or Shareware etc., this is the place to note it.
If a Shareware title is registered, -R is appended to the field. This can also be used for Cardware and Giftware titles.

Copyright Status Flag Possibilities

Copyright Flag

Description

CW

Cardware

CW-R

Cardware-Registered

FW

Freeware

GW

Giftware

GW-R

Giftware-Registered

LW

Licenceware

PD

Public Domain

SW

Shareware

SW-R

Shareware-Registered

If an item of software is classified by the author as a kind of copyright status not included above, this can be marked in the [more info] field.

Copyright Status Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(SW-R)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(Fr)[postcardware]

 


Development Status

This field is for marking alpha, beta, preview, prototype or pre-release versions of software titles.

Development Status Flag Possibilities

 

Development Flag

Description

alpha

?

beta

?

preview

?

pre-release

?

proto

?

Development Status Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(beta)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(proto)

 


Media Type

This field is used if the software spans more than one CD/GD-ROM/DVD, diskette, tape or file. Note that apart from the normal possibilities (Disk, Disc, Tape …), “Side x of y” is also allowed.

Media Type Possibilities

Media Types

Description

Disc

CD/DVD/ ???

Disk

?

File

?

Part

?

Side

?

Tape

?

For example, where there are 9 or less disks, the format of "(Disk x of y)" is used, if there are 10 or more disks then (Disk xx of yy) should be used, there can also be the case where more than one volume is grouped in a single image, so something like (Part 1-2 of 3) is also allowed.
In cases where double sided tapes or disks are involved, the "Side A/B" entry is also included.

Media Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(File 1 of 2)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(File 2 of 2)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disc 1 of 6)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disk 06 of 13)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Side A)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Side B)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Tape 2 of 2 Side B)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Side 1 of 2)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Part 1-2 of 3)

 


Media Label

 

If the disk label is required, this field should contain it. This field is always the last flag using ( ) brackets, just before the [ ] flags.
This is mainly used when a "Save Disk", "Program Disk", "Scenery Disk" etc. might be requested by the software when running. For example, (Disk 2 of 2) is not useful by itself when the program asks you to "Insert Character Disk".

Media Label Flag Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(Disk 3 of 3)(Character Disk)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disk 1 of 2)(Program)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disk 2 of 2)(Data)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Disk 2 of 2)(Disk B)
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)(Bonus Disc)

 


Dump Info Flags

 

This is the 'alphabet soup' used to describe the nature, quality and condition of the particular image of the software (not the software as a whole). This is where images that are bad, alternates, cracks, hacks, trainers, fixes, translations, etc. are noted.
Note: These flags use square brackets [ ]
As noted at the start of Single Image Sets chapter, the order of those flags is important and should be kept correct, in few lines that order should always be:


•[cr][f][h][m][p][t][tr][o][u][v][b][a][!]

 

Please note that wherever "Group" is used in the above table, the alteration could also be done by single persons, but renamers should be aware that taking the group they're in (if known) is always better.

 


Cracked – [cr]

 

Copy protection removed.
The variants are:
[cr] – Cracked
[cr Cracker] – Cracked by Cracker (group or person)

 

 


Fixed – [f]

 

Hack added for extra functionality.
The variants are:
[f] – Fixed
[f Fix] – Fix added
[f Fixer] – Fixed by Fixer (group or person)
[f Fix Fixer] – Fix added by Fixer (group or person)

In cases where there is more than one Fix or Fixer, they can be separated like the group names in other dump flags, for example, [f Fix1 group1 + Fix2 group2] – fix1 was made by group1 and fix2 was made by group2.

Some examples of fixes (complete list of all used fixes will be provided later):
NTSC = Fixed for NTSC
copier = Fixed for gamecopiers
save = hiscore save function added

Note: Renamers must try to use fixes already used before if they fit for the situation, this means that if “copier” is already defined there is no need to use “copier” in one set and “gamecopier” in another (if they represent the same thing, off course).


Hacked – [h]

General hack, some examples are adding some intro or changing/adding some text.
The variants are:
[h] – Hacked (general hack)
[h Hacker] – Hacked by Hacker (group or person)

 


Modified – [m]

 

General hack. (?)
The variants are:
[m] – Modified (general hack)
[m Modification] – Modification added
[m Modifier] – Modified by Modifier (group or person)
[m Modification Modifier] – Modification added by Modifier (group or person)

This flag is similar to Fix [f], the same rules apply.
Note: Renamers must try to use modifications already used before if they fit for the situation.

 


Pirated – [p]

 

Non-licensed release.
The variants are:
[p] – Pirate version
[p Pirate] – Pirate version by Pirate (group or person)

 


Trained – [t]

 

Trainers added, the ROM has been hacked adding up extra functionality that lets you use cheats in game.
The variants are:
[t] – Trained
[t Trainer] – Trained by Trainer (group or person)
[t +x] – x denotes number of trainers added
[t +x Trainer] – Trained and x number of trainers added by Trainer (group or person)

 


Translated – [tr]

 

Translated from its original language to other, if it is a partial translation, not fully complete, “-partial” should be appended to the language code. Also note that the language codes used in this flag are the same used in language flag.
Some of the variants are:
[tr] – Translation
[tr language] – Translated to Language
[tr language-partial] – Translated to Language (partial translation)
[tr language Translator] – Translated to Language by Translator (group or person)
[tr language1-language2] – Translated to both Language1 and Language2.
[tr language1-partial-language2-partial Translator] – Partially translated to both Language1 and language2 by Translator (group or person).

Note: Translator name is not allowed if language isn’t identified too ([tr Translator] not allowed).

 

 


Over Dump – [o]

Too much data was dumped, making it bigger than it would be expected / needed.
The variants are:
[o] – Overdump (too much data dumped)

 


Under Dump – [u]

 

Not enough data dumped.
The variants are:
[u] – Underdump (not enough data dumped)

 


Virus – [v]

 

Virus infected image.
The variants are:
[v] – Virus (infected)
[v Virus] – Infected with Virus
[v Virus Version] – Infected with Virus of Version

A list of all virus used in current TOSEC db will be provided later, renamers should try to use always the same names, for example don’t use “VirusXPTO1”, “virusxpto1” or “Virus XPTO1” in different images for the same virus.

 


Bad Dump – [b]

 

Incorrect data dumped, probably this image will not work properly, or at all.
The variants are:
[b] – Bad dump (incorrect data dumped)
[b Descriptor] – Bad dump (including reason)

Some examples of descriptors:
corrupt file = Image contains a corrupt file
read-write = Image has a read/write error

A list of all currently used descriptors will be available later, the same thing said to Virus flag applies here so please try to use an already defined descriptor if it fits your needs, don’t invent new ones when it is not needed.

 


Alternate – [a]

 

An alternate version of the software with small differences like the readme files, etc.
The variants are:
[a] – Alternate version
[a Descriptor] – Alternate (including reason)

Some examples of descriptors:
highscore = Only a highscore table entry is different from a non [a] image
readme = Only a readme file is different from a non [a] image

 


Known Good Dump – [!]

 

Verified good dump.
The variants are:

[!] – Verified good dump

 

 


Dump Flags Samples

• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[b]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[tr fr]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[tr de-partial someguy]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[h Fairlight]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[o]

 

In case where multiple images exist that need the same dump info flags, the flag is numbered as follows:


• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a2]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a3]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[a4]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[b]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[b2]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[b3]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr2]

 

There is no [n1], so, for example, you will need to have a [b] for a [b2] to exist. When dealing with flags that can relay more information, be sure to not add numbers if it is not necessary to remain unique. If, for example, the Cracking Group can be used to distinguish between different files, use that instead:


• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr PDX]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr TRSi]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr2]

Instead of:
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr2 PDX]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr3 TRSi]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr4]

 

A dump info flag can only be used once (except in the case of compilations). So, if something was hacked by PDX, then hacked again by TRSi, do not use:


• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[h PDX][h TRSi]

 

Instead, use one of the following, depending on how the program was altered.


• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr PDX][h TRSi]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[h PDX - TRSi]

For a co-operative crack from both Paradox and TRSI, use:
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)(US)[cr PDX + TRSi]

 

Note: When various groups or person names are used in the same flag, them must always be separated using “ - “ or “ + “, according to each case, never with &, “-“ or “+”!

 


More Info

 

This field contains any miscellaneous information about the image that is not covered by any of the prior flag fields. Notes in the [more info] field should be lowercased unless capitalization is necessary.
Note: These flags use square brackets [ ]
Note: This should always be the last flag.
Note: It is possible for a file to have more than one [more info] flags, although commas can be used to separate items also.
Examples include, but are not limited to:


• [docs]
• [EEPROM]
• [SF2TURBO.BIN] (Old '8.3' capitalized DOS names)
• [req TRS-DOS]
• [data disk]
• [source code]

Full filenames could look like:
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)[data disk]
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)[req Super-BASIC][docs]

 

Also, please keep in mind that this flag is not to be used to specify the system this game/ application should be run on, in general. It's ok to use this for exceptions or minimal system specs though.


For a colecovision database, don't use:
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)[Colecovision]
• Continued legend, The (1987)(Devstudio)[Adam]

But make a dat called "Coleco Colecovision" and call the files:
• Legend of TOSEC, The (1986)(Devstudio)
• Continued legend, The (1987)(Devstudio)[Adam]

 

In other words, only use the [more info] flag for 'special' cases, or use it for the system it needs at least (this could also be used in the case of Commodore Amiga with flags like [KS3.1], meaning Kickstart 3.1 is required).

 

 

 


Multi Image Sets

The multi image sets generally represent compilations and other kind of sets that have more than one software image, as you can imagine the single sets format doesn’t work when you want to describe and catalog a set with two different programs.
The idea is to use the standard TNC single image sets format for each of the images and group them together with “ & “.
The format for multi-program images is as follows:


• Title1 (year)(publisher)[flags] & Title2 (year)(publisher)[flags] & Title3 (year)(publisher)[flags]

 

Representing a set made of 3 images (Title1, Title2 and Title3) and all the corresponding flags grouped together using “ & “.

Some Multi Image Sets Samples

 

• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)
• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)[a][more info]
• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio)(preview) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)(PD)[cr]
• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio)[h] & Amigos (demo) (1987)(Mr. Tosec)[tr fr]

 

Global Flags

 

Using the above scheme for multi image sets may turn into a problem, large compilations or images with lots of flags or big names will end up having an enormous length, making it look bad and possibly hitting the maximum length for a filename (255 chars). A partial solution to these problems are the global flags.
In cases where there are identical multi-program images, use a dash - character as a separator after the last title entry in the image, followed by any dump info flags specific to the entire image.


• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio)[a] & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)[a]
Could be expressed like:
• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)-[a]

If needed renamers can compress even more flags relative to all images and not only the dump info flags, please note that you should try to have at least year and publisher flags represented separately for each image.


• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio)(PD)(Disk 1 of 2)[a] & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)(PD)(Disk 1 of 2)[a]
Could be expressed like:
• Amidar (19xx)(Devstudio) & Amigos (1987)(Mr. Tosec)-(PD)(Disk 1 of 2)[a]

 

If for any reason using this you can’t came up with a small enough length and are forced to compress it a bit more, you can also put the year and publisher after the dash if they apply for both, please note that this is should only be used as a last resort since it will generate some weird file names that are difficult to parse, the dash “-“ will appear between title (+ version) and year flag, using “ & “ to separate only titles, versions and possibly demo flags.


• Paradroid 90 (19xx)(-)[h] & F.O.F.T. (19xx)(-)[h] & Black Lamp (19xx)(-)[h] & QED v2.05 (19xx)(-)[h]
Could be expressed like:
• Paradroid 90 & F.O.F.T. & Black Lamp & QED v2.05-(19xx)(-)[h]

 

Please note that this is totally misadvised and is only used once or twice till now in all TOSEC sets, the use of this scheme makes it impossible to easily parse each image title name since & usage is generally allowed in other flags (like title), there is no way to know if for example “Tom & Jerry & Other” are 3 separated titles (Tom / Jerry / Other) or only 2 (Tom & Jerry / Other, etc.).

 


Current Problems & Issues

  • Dump info flag – [f]: (also happens in [m] flag!)

Acceptance of both [f Fix] and [f Fixer] formats makes it impossible to easily know if in [f Text], the Text represents a fix or the fixer name. (accepted – use defined descript.)

  • Separation of groups / publishers:

Separation using “ - “ and “ + “ may cause problems if there are cases of publisher/group names using “ - “, although this isn’t verified yet, probably its not a problem since almost all groups using “-“ or “+” don’t use spaces too, the problem now is the huge number of existing sets where renamers separated groups with only “-“, “+” or even “ & “ and “&”.

  • Version flag (vx.yy):

This field can became problematic due to its weak format, it’s after the title and starts with “v” but if the version is made by a letter for example, and not started with numbers it may be ignored and treated as title or vice versa. Example: “Title 1 vA” is very hard or simply impossible to automatically know if vA is part of the name or version A.

  • Media Label flag:

Media label flag is now independent from media type (as in, it can be used even when media type flag doesn’t exist) makes it possible for any typo or unidentified flag separated with ( ) brackets to be identified as media label (since media label is defined as any text between ( ) at the end of the ( ) flags, also other similar problem is the case of some image originally labeled as “Pt”, “de-fr”, “preview” or any other valid value for one of the flags that appear before media label. As expected those will be parsed wrongly. Example: “Title (19xx)(-)(preview)”, if preview is a media label it will obviously be parsed wrongly as development status flag.

  • Dump info flag – [v]:

There is no standard defined on how to represent the virus version so that info could be separated, something similar to version flag should be used “Friday 13 v1.5” for example, instead of “Friday 13 1.5”. Also I suppose there could be more than one virus in one set so they must also be separated with “ - “.

  • Multi image Sets:

Even that this is a complicated subject with no easy solution, the broken part is obviously the one already pointed earlier, about contracting all flags to the end having only titles put together with “ & “, this scheme should be avoided or a better solution (if one exists) to separate titles should be defined. Demo flag can also be a global flag?

  • Groups order in flags! Important to define an order for crackers, virus, … grouped with “ - “, in cases order doesn’t matter they should be alphabetically to avoid having different versions. Ex: Title (19xx)(-)[h Ze – Hu] or Title (19xx)(-)[h Hu – Ze].
  • Rule when more than 1 publisher is used? Avoiding (publ1 – publ2) and (publ2 – publ1)
  • Flag descriptors! (a/b/f descriptors…), try use lowercases except when needed (ex. PAL)? First letter always capital? (issue: [a savegame] vs [a Savegame]). Re: lowercase

Which more flags accept descriptors not described in tnc? [m Modification Modifier] allowed???? Others???