need help with no intro sets merging with goodmerge

[DeathEvil]

Before I explain my problem, let me just say thank you for everyone who is involved with no-intro and maintaining dats.

Now to the problem, let say I have gba no intro set which I would like to merge using goodmerge since in my opinion its the best of both worlds (1 file per game of multiple regions, and best compression for storage). So I scan the dat with clrmame to make sure all is well. Then I download goodmerge and xmdb from datomagic as well as updated languages and settings for goodmerge to support updated tags.

i set all settings in goodmerge and when I click merge this is what I'm getting:
Error: XML loading error.
The element 'zoned' has invalid child element 'clone'. List of possible elements expected: 'bias'.

it does not specify what line or anything, so I'm stuck.

Thanks in advance,

[Rifu]

There was the same problem with i think it was with the SNES set..
I think it was because there was a clone Rom that was linked to another clone Rom and not to the parent...
I'll have a look now and see If I can find what Rom it is and fix it

edit: The error occurs because the Rom with the "Parent" flag set doesn't have the "Reg. Parent" field filled in.

The problem is with two roms:
Battletoads (Unknown) (Proto)
Diddy Kong Pilot (Unknown) (Proto)

Not sure how to fix in the DAT, but you can open the XMDB file in a text editor and find:

Code: Select all

<zoned type="deferred">
	<clone name="Battletoads (Unknown) (Proto)"/>
</zoned>

and replace with:

Code: Select all

<zoned type="deferred">
	<bias zone="E" name="Battletoads"/>
	<clone name="Battletoads (Unknown) (Proto)"/>
</zoned>

also find:

Code: Select all

<zoned type="deferred">
	<clone name="Diddy Kong Pilot (Unknown) (Proto)"/>
</zoned>

and replace with:

Code: Select all

<zoned type="deferred">
	<bias zone="E" name="Diddy Kong Pilot"/>
	<clone name="Diddy Kong Pilot (Unknown) (Proto)"/>
</zoned>

This will set those two roms as a (EUR PARENT) when merging.

edit: fixed in the DAT, just download the new 2012-04-06 XMDB file and it should work.
I'm going to test merging the GBA set now, will post back with results when its done.

[DeathEvil]

thanks so much Rifu, I will try your solution and post back.

thanks again!

[Rifu]

Code: Select all

GoodMerge 3.1.4388.2722 - 2012-04-09 6:03:21 PM
Nintendo_-_Game_Boy_Advance 2803+x091 - Using a maximum of 6736MB RAM.

<snip>

Statistics
26,005,433,094 bytes in 2,896 files were compressed into
6,961,251,988 bytes (26% of original) in 1,660 files (57% of original).
Elapsed: 2:15:01
Finished - 2012-04-09 8:18:23 PM

Merge finished with no errors using the 2012-04-09 XMDB file.

Merge Stats:
24.2gb = Uncompressed roms (2896 files)
10.3gb = Compressed t7z with a single rom per file (2896 files)
6.48gb = Merged with Goodmerge using 702mb Dictionary Size (1660 files)

Note: Optimum ultra dictionary size to use is 200MB (1967MB Max Ram). No set is bigger then 200mb.
(Biggest uncompressed set is 'Pokemon - Ruby Version' at 200mb, compressed its 6.59mb)

[DeathEvil]

Rifu, how do you go about checking which entry in the xmdb is giving goodmerge problems?
I'm having the same error when merging gb color set
Error: XML loading error.
The element 'zoned' has invalid child element 'clone'. List of possible elements expected: 'bias'.

since so far those are the only 2 sets I tried and both havd problems (well you fixed the gba xmdb), I would like to know how I can fix it myself so I don''t have to run here and bother fine folks like you every time I ran into that issue:)

update and summary thus far for merging using latest dats/xmdb:

Atari - Jaguar (2012-02-23) - OK
Atari - Lynx (2010-10-28) - OK
Bandai - WonderSwan (2010-11-26) - OK
Bandai - WonderSwan Color (2009-05-31) - OK
NEC - PC Engine - TurboGrafx 16 (2012-02-23) - OK
Nintendo - Game Boy (2012-04-08) - OK
Nintendo - Game Boy Advance (2012-04-09) - OK
Nintendo - Game Boy Color (2012-04-01) - error from first post
Nintendo - Nintendo 64 (2012-04-08) - error from first post
Nintendo - Nintendo Entertainment System (2012-04-09) - OK
Nintendo - Super Nintendo Entertainment System (2012-04-09) - OK
Sega - Game Gear (2012-04-09) - error from first post
Sega - Master System - Mark III (2012-04-09) - error from first post
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket (2012-02-28) - OK
SNK - Neo Geo Pocket Color (2012-04-02) - OK
Sega - Mega Drive - Genesis (2012-04-01) - error from first post

[Rifu]

Rifu, how do you go about checking which entry in the xmdb is giving goodmerge problems?
I'm having the same error when merging gb color set
Error: XML loading error.
The element 'zoned' has invalid child element 'clone'. List of possible elements expected: 'bias'.

since so far those are the only 2 sets I tried and both havd problems (well you fixed the gba xmdb),
I would like to know how I can fix it myself so I don''t have to run here and bother fine folks like you every time I ran into that issue:)

The Error happens because one of the roms parent/clone fields in the DAT file is missing.
It is best you report it here so I can find the Roms that have this data field missing and fix it

I've just fixed the missing data for:
Nintendo - Game Boy Color
Nintendo - Nintendo 64
Sega - Game Gear
Sega - Master System - Mark III
Sega - Mega Drive - Genesis

For the datters, If you are adding a Rom as a Parent with the 'P' flag, you need to fill in the 'REG PARENT' field just below it.
In that field you need to type in something like: (EUR PARENT) or (USA PARENT) or (JPN PARENT)
depending on the region of the rom, this is needed so goodmerge knows what region the rom is.
You can use multiple values also, if the Rom has 2 regions like (USA, Japan)
you just need to separate them with a space like this: "(USA PARENT) (JPN PARENT)"

If you want to find what roms are causing the problem, open the XMDB in a hex-editor and search for this:
"3C7A6F6E 65642074 7970653D 22646566 65727265 64223E0D 0A093C63 6C6F6E65 206E616D 653D22"
The Rom name that is to the right of the resulting search is the Rom that has the missing data.

Make sure you search multiple times as there may be more then 1 Rom that has missing data.

[DeathEvil]

That's awesome Rifu, now I know how to manage it on my own but will still post it here to benefit others. I find it quite strange that those sets were not reported before; perhaps not that many users are using no-intro + goodmerge? I love it for storing roms on media:)

on a side note, amiga could use xmdb, but I'm sure it's time consuming...
I'm really curious if I could fit complete merged nds on a dual layer bluray, but won't try it for now since you said it's still not up to date.

again, thanks so much for prompt help Rifu!

[DeathEvil]

virtual boy xmdb needs a check too:)

[xuom2]

Yeah, great help Rifu. About P/C and zxxx NDS ROMS, I will write you when it's fixed.
DeathEvil: if you understood the logic, I could give you an access to Dom and you could help us fixing P/C...

[Rifu]

Virtual Boy XMDB fixed

I'm really curious if I could fit complete merged nds on a dual layer bluray, but won't try it for now since you said it's still not up to date.

The last time I merged NDS was about a year ago, it was around 75gb total using 702mb dictionary size.
A lot of new roms have been added since then, I estimate it to be around 100gb merged now.
Full un-merged set when 7zipped is 154gb, when uncompressed to NDS files its 330gb.

[DeathEvil]

xuom2, I would welcome the opportunity to give back, but my vacation is near the end, and I simply will not have the time to contribute at the level you would expect from no-intro staff.

Rifu, thanks for satisfying my curiosity, I think I will get one of those new bluray XL 100gb disc just for the nds set:)

best regards

[Rifu]

I've just uploaded the updated NDS Parent/Clone file to Dat-o-Matic (2012-04-10)

I'm doing a test merge at the moment, Its currently at 100 sets and its going along fine.
I'm not going to do a full merge as it would take my computer a long time to do.
(Maybe when I get a new computer with 16gb RAM I'll merge the NDS set as a CPU/Memory Burn-In test )

Would like to see the resulting size of an NDS merge and what size dictionary was used.

edit: Pokemon Black just finished compressing and on my old AMD 6000+ (3ghz) CPU it took 7 minutes, 36 seconds

[DeathEvil]

sweet work on the nds parent clone Rifu:) I will test as soon as I get my romset complete (have NDS USA set only for the moment). I bet it will take a while even on my i7@4.6Ghz to merge that bad boy:)

regards

[Maleficium]

I was using GoodTools and GoodMerge for quite some time but now I'm "rebuilding" my games collection with the No-Intro sets.
There's updated xmdb files for the these sets or the older ones does the job ? Or there's any other way to merge the games ?

Thanks for any help.