ROMdb - EmulationStation Scrapper

Introduction

ROMdb - EmulationStation Scrapper is a small console program written in Python that obtains meta-data information and screenshots for your ROMs from ROMdb website in a format compatible with EmulationStation front-end.

Requirements

Usage

python romdb_es_scrapper.py platform rom_path dat_path xml_path img_dir

• platform Alias of the platform for the ROMs to be scrapped in ROMdb. The full list can be seen at https://romdb.geeklogger.com/documentation/platforms-aliases-and-dats. e.g. for Playstion games you would use ps1.

• rom_path Path of the ROMs that are going to be scrapped; wildcards are accepted. So you could use /home/john/street fighter.zip for just one ROM or /home/john/snes/*.zip to scan all zip files into one directory.

• dat_path Path of the dat file used to scan the ROMs. ROMdb website uses No-Intro and Redump dats. e.g. /home/john/ps1.dat.

• xml_path Path of the gamelist.xml file to be created that will be read by EmulationStation. e.g. /home/john/.emulationstation/gamelists/ps1/gamelist.xml.

• img_dir Path of the directory to save the screenshots downloaded from ROMdb. The scrapper will automatically create sub-directories inside for each platform. e.g. /home/john/screenshots/ would automatically create /home/john/screenshots/ps1 directory for ps1 games if that platform is selected.

The program includes a folder with sample ROMs (they are just a set of .txt files with the proper name) and a .dat file to see a working example. Execute:

python romdb_es_scrapper.py mdr-32x sample_data/roms/*.txt sample_data/dats/Sega_32X_20190417.dat sample_data/results/gamelist.xml sample_data/results

It should obtain the information and download the screenshots for the seven included fake-ROMs to the folder sample_data/results.