GameBase
Documentation
© 1999-2004 James Burrows
Main
Contents
Getting Started
What is GameBase?
GameBase is "The Universal Retro-Gaming Frontend". Put simply, GameBase does the following: -
1.
Manages all your emulated games and music files, for virtually any system.
2. Lets you play them in your own customised list of emulators and music players.
3. Lets you create your own emulated game and music databases.
4. Lets you import RomCenter v2.00 datafiles (with optional TOSEC parser)
5. Provides a simple scripting engine enabling the support of hundreds of emulators
and music players.
6. Allows extensive customisation of emulators at the per-game level.
7. Lets you store mp3's, game maps, covers, reviews etc. per game.
8. Features GB-Style and MAME style picture engines, along with zoom facility.
9. Provides easy switching between emulated systems and databases.
10. Features an advanced filtering view system to help find the games you want
quickly!
11: Supports a variety of compressed game formats (zip, lha etc.).
12. Has the ability to re-zip games after playing them
Requirements
You will need an IBM compatible PC with a 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows. This software should work on all 32-bit Windows versions, (it has been tested on Windows 95, NT, ME and XP). Please let me know if you find that GameBase runs with problems on any of these platforms.
You will also need the Visual Basic 6 runtime library. You can download them from the GameBase website. Most Microsoft Windows platforms nowadays already have these runtimes installed as standard, so you probably won't need to download and install them.
First Things First!
OK! So you've downloaded and installed the GameBase Frontend and you want to know what to do next!
Firstly, you will need to decide which computer/console/arcade systems you want GameBase to manage for you, and download the respective emulators, music players, game and music files.
Configuring GameBase
Create your
first Database
Before you start using GameBase, you will need to run the GB-Toolbox to create
your first database. To create this database, click on the "File"
menu and select "New Gamebase...". Give the database a name
so it can be created, then fire up the GameBase frontend to get started. You
can also use the GB-Toolbox to import RomCenter
v2.00 datafiles. If the datafiles use the TOSEC
naming convention (TNC v1) then GameBase will extract info from the game filenames
and store them in the relevant fields in your database (e.g. Year, Publisher,
Cracker etc..).
Setting your
Options
Still before you start using GameBase, you will need to set up your Options
via the Tools menu in the main GameBase window. In here you should set your
game paths, picture paths, music path, music players and other settings. Game
paths and picture paths are searched in the order that you specify them in the
Options window.
IMPORTANT: Verifying
which files you have
Once you have set up your paths, you will also need to run the verify tool (if
your database isn't empty) to determine which files you have available from
those listed in your GameBase database. To run this tool, select "Verify
Available Files..." from the Tools menu in the main GameBase window. Currently,
files are only scanned by filename - CRC-32/filesize scanning is planned for
a future release of GameBase.
Configuring GEMUS
GEMUS (GameBase EMUlator Script) is the system GameBase uses to setup and run games in their emulators. You must setup at least one emulator with GEMUS if you want to play any of your emulated games. This is not as daunting as it sounds, in fact it is very easy, takes only a small amount of time and is quite self-explanatory. Click here to learn how GEMUS works.
Using GameBase
Playing Games
To play games with the default emulator, left-click the "Play Game"
button in the main GameBase window. Right-clicking this button displays a list
of available emulators for you to choose from. To learn how to use a specific
emulator for each game, see the GEMUS Guide.
Playing Music
To play tunes with the default music player, left-click the "Play Music"
button in the main GameBase window. Right-clicking this button displays a list
of available music players for you to choose from.
Running Extras
If there are any Extras setup for the currently selected game, you can run them
by clicking the "Extras" button in the main GameBase window and selecting
the desired Extra from the list.
Identifying
Games and Music
Although it's name suggests that only games are supported, GameBase also supports
music. Due to the fact that many computer emulated tunes belong to games but
many don't (e.g. demo tunes/intro tunes), GameBase manages this by splitting
it's own database into 2 tables. Firstly there is a Games table,
where all games and their respective info is stored (including the game's music
tune file). Secondly there is a Music table, where all music tunes that
do not belong to a game are stored.
So what does all this mean to you? Well, in GameBase you can view items from the Games and Music tables seperately or together in the same list! Items in the list are identified by their icon:
| The item is a Game from the Games table, and it has an attached game file and music file. | |
| The item is a Game from the Games table, and it has an attached game file only. | |
| The item is a Game from the Games table, and it has an attached music file only. | |
| The item is a Tune from the Music table. | |
| (no icon) The item is a Game from the Games table, and it has neither a game file nor a music file attached. |
When you click on a Game item, the game's info will appear under the list of items in a tabbed display and any pictures will appear to the right of the list.
When you click on a Tune item, the tune's info will appear under the list of items and the tune author's photo (if one exists) will appear to the right of the list.
Dragging and
Dropping Game and Tune items
You can drag/drop game and music files from the main list of items into another
program or Explorer window.
Dragging a Game
item with the left mouse-button will drag/copy the game's Game
File.
Dragging a Game item with the right mouse-button will drag/copy
the game's Music File.
Dragging a Tune item with the right mouse-button will drag/copy
the tune's Music file.
Tip: You could use drag/drop to add tunes into a music player's playlist window,
for example.
The "Views"
Engine
GameBase manages it's list of games and music tunes in what it calls Views.
Directly beneath the list of games and tunes is the View Selector. With
the View Selector you can choose which games/tunes are displayed in the main
list. There are 3 Default Views, but you can also create your own Custom
Views to filter the games and tunes however you like!
The Default
Views
There are 3 default views in GameBase. These are: -
1. <All Games>
This view will always contain all the games in the database (i.e. the full Games
table).
2. <All Music>
This view will always contain all tunes in the database (i.e. the full Music
table, and all games from the Games table that have a music tune linked
to them).
3. <Favourite
Games/Music>
This view will contain games and tunes from both the Games and Music
tables that you have marked as your favourites. You can mark a game/tune as
a favourite from the Edit menu in the main GameBase window.
Creating your
own Custom Views
The little button to the left of the View Selector lets you add/edit/remove
what GameBase calls Custom Views. These are filtered lists of games/tunes
that you can create yourself. E.g. you could create a view with all games that
you can actually play (you have the game-file), or all tunes from a certain
composer etc..
The "Quick"
View
In addition to Custom Views, there is also the Quick View, which can
be set or changed from the View Selector button or by pressing CTRL+Q in the
main GameBase window. This special kind of view is similar to a Custom View
but works slightly differently in two ways.
1. You can create temporary Custom Views quickly by filtering games/tunes from the database by a single specific field.
2. By clicking on a field-link (the hyperlinks in the details under the main game/tune list), all items in the database that match the current value of the clicked field will be displayed in the list. This newly created view will overwrite the currently selected Quick View.
Editing Fields
Generally, right-clicking any field-links in the game/tune details under the
main list will open up a new window where you can change that field's value.
To change the game or music file attached to the current game or tune, click
the relevant cell in the status-bar at the far bottom of the GameBase window.
The first cell is the game file cell, the second cell is the music file cell.
When the selected item is a tune from the Music table the game file cell
is not shown, so the first cell becomes the music file cell.
You can also edit specific fields for ALL games or tunes in the current view in one operation. You can select to do this for the majority of database fields from the Edit menu in the main GameBase window. Note: when you perform batch-update operations like this on the database, they cannot be undone, so make sure the changes you are making are correct!