kdc_git_repo

Advanced Emulator Launcher

Advanced Emulator Launcher

Multi-emulator front-end and general application launcher for Kodi. Includes offline scrapers for MAME and No-Intro ROM sets and also supports scrapping ROM metadata and artwork online. ROM auditing for No-Intro ROMs using No-Intro or Redump XML DAT files. Launching of games and standalone applications is also available.

Kodi forum thread

More information and discussion about AEL can be found in the Advanced Emulator Launcher thread in the Kodi forum.

Documentation

A User’s Guide, some tutorials and guides to configure emulators can be found in the Advanced Emulator Launcher Wiki.

Installing the latest released version

Follow this link and download the ZIP file of the version you want. Use this ZIP file to install the addon in Kodi.

Installing the latest development version

It is important that you follow this instructions or Advanced Emulator Launcher won’t work well.

1) In this page click on the green button Clone or Download –> Download ZIP

2) Uncompress this ZIP file. This will create a folder named plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher-master

3) Rename that folder to plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher

4) Compress that folder again into a ZIP file.

5) In Kodi, use that ZIP file (and not the original one) to install the plugin in System –> Addons –> Install from ZIP file.

6) You are done!

or

and take a look at the config files:

and bios files:

Credits to TOXYNTH.

Advanced Emulator Launcher metadata and artwork data model

Category metadata labels

Metadata name AEL name setInfo label Type
Title m_name title string
Genre m_genre genre string
Plot m_plot plot string
Rating m_rating rating string range 0 to 10
Trailer s_trailer trailer string
    overlay int range 0 to 8

Categories asset labels

Asset name AEL name setArt label setInfo label
Thumb s_thumb thumb  
Fanart s_fanart fanart  
Banner s_banner banner  
Flyer s_flyer poster  
Trailer s_trailer   trailer
Extrafanart extrafanart extrafanart1  
Extrafanart extrafanart extrafanart2  

Launcher metadata labels

Metadata name AEL name setInfo setProperty Type
Title m_name title   string
Year m_year year   string
Genre m_genre genre   string
Plot m_plot plot   string
Studio m_studio studio   string
Rating m_rating rating   string range 0 to 10
Trailer s_trailer trailer   string
Platform platform   platform string
    overlay   int range 0 to 8

Launchers asset labels

Asset name AEL name setArt label setInfo label
Thumb s_thumb thumb  
Fanart s_fanart fanart  
Banner s_banner banner  
Flyer s_flyer poster  
Trailer s_trailer   trailer
Extrafanart extrafanart extrafanart1  
Extrafanart extrafanart extrafanart2  

ROMs metadata labels

Metadata name AEL name setInfo setProperty Type
Title m_name title   string
Year m_year year   string
Genre m_genre genre   string
Plot m_plot plot   string
Studio m_studio studio   string
Rating m_rating rating   string range 0 to 10
Trailer s_trailer trailer   string
Platform platform   platform string
    overlay   int range 0 to 8

ROMs asset labels

Asset name AEL name setArt label setInfo label MAME mapping for MAME views
Title s_title title/thumb   title
Snap s_snap snap   snap
Fanart s_fanart fanart   fanart
Banner s_banner banner   marquee
Clearlogo s_clearlogo clearlogo   clearlogo
Boxfront s_boxfront boxfront   cabinet
Boxback s_boxback boxback   cpanel
Cartridge s_cartridge cartridge   pcb
Flyer s_flyer poster   flyer
Map s_map map    
Manual s_manual     manual
Trailer s_trailer   trailer trailer
Extrafanart extrafanart extrafanart1   extrafanart
Extrafanart extrafanart extrafanart2   extrafanart

Launchers/Categories artwork supported by plugins

Plugin Thumb Fanart Banner Poster Trailer
AL YES YES NO NO NO
AEL YES YES YES YES YES
HL YES YES YES YES ???
IARL ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

Console ROMs asset availability

Artwork site Title Snap Fanart Banner Boxfront Boxback Cartridge Flyer Map Manual Trailer
EmuMovies YES YES NO NO YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
HyperSpin Media NO NO <1> YES YES NO YES <1> <1> NO NO
No-Intro YES NO NO NO YES YES YES NO NO YES NO
Retroarch YES YES NO NO YES NO NO NO NO NO NO
TheGamesDB <2> <2> YES YES YES YES NO NO NO NO YouTube
GameFAQs <2> <2> NO NO YES YES NO NO NO NO NO
MobyGames <2> <2> NO NO YES YES YES NO NO NO NO
GiantBomb <3> <3> <3> <3> YES <3> <3> NO NO NO YouTube

AEL artwork policy

ROM artwork storage

  1. Asset directory may be the same as the ROMs directory.
ROMs directory         ~/ROMs/SNES/Super Mario World (Europe).zip
Artwork directory      ~/Artwork/SNES/
Created automatically  ~/Artwork/SNES/titles/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/snaps/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/fanarts/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/banners/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/boxfronts/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/boxbacks/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/cartridges/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/flyers/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/maps/Super Mario World (Europe).png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/manuals/Super Mario World (Europe).pdf
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/trailers/Super Mario World (Europe).mpeg
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/extrafanart/Super Mario World (Europe)/fanart1.png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/extrafanart/Super Mario World (Europe)/fanart2.png
                       ~/Artwork/SNES/extrafanart/Super Mario World (Europe)/fanart3.png

Launcher/Category artwork storage

  1. Category name SEGA. Each category will have a subdirectory with same name to store extrafanart.

  2. Launcher name SNES (Retroarch bsnes balanced). Each launcher will have a subdirectory to store extrafanart.

Artwork directory  ADDON_DATA_DIR/asset-categories/
                   ADDON_DATA_DIR/asset-categories/SEGA/fanart1.png
                   ADDON_DATA_DIR/asset-categories/SEGA/fanart2.png
                   ADDON_DATA_DIR/asset-categories/SEGA/fanart3.png

Artwork directory  ADDON_DATA_DIR/asset-launchers/
                   ADDON_DATA_DIR/asset-launchers/SNES (Retroarch bsnes balanced)/fanart1.png
                   ADDON_DATA_DIR/asset-launchers/SNES (Retroarch bsnes balanced)/fanart2.png
                   ADDON_DATA_DIR/asset-launchers/SNES (Retroarch bsnes balanced)/fanart3.png

Importing AL stuff into AEL

TODO

Multidisc support

ROM scanner implementation

1) If the ROM scanner finds a multidisc image belonging to a set, for example Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 3).cue.

* The filename corresponds to the basename of the set.
 
* The ROM basename is added to the `disks` list.

* Asset names will have the basename of the set `Final Fantasy VII (USA)`.

    filename = '/home/kodi/ROMs/Final Fantasy VII (USA)'
    disks = ['Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 3).cue']

2) If the ROM scanner finds another image of the set then:

* The basename is added to the `disks` list.

* `disks` list is reordered so ROMs have consecutive order.

* `filename` points to the first image of the set.

* Metadata/Asset scraping is only done for the first ROM of the set.

    filename = '/home/kodi/ROMs/Final Fantasy VII (USA)'
    disks = ['Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 1).cue', 'Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 3).cue']

3) ROMs not in a set have an empty disks list.

4) This implementation is safe if there are missing ROMs in the set.

5) Al launching time, users selects from a select dialog of the basenames of the roms of the set which one to launch.

Naming conventions

TOSEC Naming Convention

Organisation Name example
TOSEC Final Fantasy VII (1999)(Square)(NTSC)(US)(Disc 1 of 2).cue
  Final Fantasy VII (1999)(Square)(NTSC)(US)(Disc 2 of 2).cue
Trurip Final Fantasy VII (EU) - (Disc 1 of 3).cue
  Final Fantasy VII (EU) - (Disc 2 of 3).cue
  Final Fantasy VII (EU) - (Disc 3 of 3).cue
Redump Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 1).cue
  Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 2).cue
  Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 3).cue

TOSEC/Trurip/Redump image formats

TOSEC Redump Trurip
cue,iso,wav cue,bin cue,img,ccd,sub

AL subprocess module hack

listitem.setInfo() overlay values and effects

listitem.setInfo('video', {'overlay' : 4})

Kodi Krypton Estuary displays a small icon to the left of the listitem title that can be changed with the overlay property value. Overlay values are defined in GUIListItem,

enum GUIIconOverlay { ICON_OVERLAY_NONE = 0,
                      ICON_OVERLAY_RAR,
                      ICON_OVERLAY_ZIP,
                      ICON_OVERLAY_LOCKED,
                      ICON_OVERLAY_UNWATCHED,
                      ICON_OVERLAY_WATCHED,
                      ICON_OVERLAY_HD};

Development environment

  1. Installed the packages kodi and kodi-visualization-spectrum in Debian.

  2. Kodi can be run from the command line in windowed mode.

  3. Created a basic package for AEL and install it from zip file.

  4. Once installed, addon code is located in ~/.kodi/addons/plugin.addon.name

  5. Once installed, addon can be developed in place. A repository can be cloned in ~/.kodi/addons/plugin.addon.name.

Installing the addon from github

It is very important that the addon files are inside the correct directory ~/.kodi/addons/plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher.

To install the plugin from Github, click on Clone or download – Download ZIP. This will download the repository contents to a ZIP file named plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher-master.zip. Also, addon is packed inside directory plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher-master.

This ZIP file should be decompressed, the directory renamed to plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher, and packed into a ZIP file again. Then, install the ZIP file.