ROM Properties Page shell extension

This shell extension adds a few nice features to file browsers for managing video game ROM and disc images.

v1.3 - The Internationalization Release

This release adds support for internationalization. Now you can have the ROM Properties fields displayed in your own native language. (Currently not supported on Windows; this will be fixed before release.)

Translators needed; file an issue if you'd like to get started on a new translation, or submit a Pull Request if you have a translation ready to go.

New systems supported include the Tiger Electronics game.com:

This release also adds support for several new texture file formats, including Khornos KTX and Valve VTF. It also adds support for ETCn-compressed textures.

See NEWS.md for a full list of changes in v1.3.

Feedback

This is a work in progress; feedback is encouraged. To leave feedback, you can file an issue on GitHub, or visit the Gens/GS IRC channel: irc://irc.badnik.zone/GensGS

Or use the Mibbit Web IRC client: http://mibbit.com/?server=irc.badnik.zone&channel=#GensGS

Installation

Currently, the ROM Properties Page shell extension is compatible with the following platforms:

• KDE 4.x
• KDE Frameworks 5.x
• XFCE (GTK+ 2.x)
• GNOME and Unity (GTK+ 3.x)
• Windows XP (and later)

On Windows, you will need the MSVC 2017 runtime:

• 32-bit: https://aka.ms/vs/15/release/vc_redist.x86.exe
• 64-bit: https://aka.ms/vs/15/release/vc_redist.x64.exe

For instructions on compiling from source, see doc/COMPILING.md .

Linux

Install the relevant .deb package, depending on what desktop environment you are using and what your CPU is. Note that you may want to install the KDE4 package even if using KDE5, since many KDE programs still use the 4.x libraries.

After installing, the plugin needs to be enabled in the Dolphin file browser:

• Close all instances of Dolphin.
• Start Dolphin.
• Click Control, Configure Dolphin.
• Click the "General" section, then the "Preview" tab.
• Check the "ROM Properties Page" item, then click OK.
• Enable previews in a directory containing a supported file type.

If installed correctly, thumbnails should be generated for the supported file type. You can also right-click a file, select Properties, then click the "ROM Properties" tab to view more information about the ROM image.

Windows

Extract the ZIP archive to a directory, then run install.exe. The installer requires administrator access, so click "Yes" if requested. In the installer, click the "Install" button to register the ROM Properties Page DLL.

Note that this will hard-code the location of the DLL files in the registry, so you may want to place the DLLs in a common location.

To uninstall the plugin, run install.exe again, then click the "Uninstall" button.

Current File Support Level

Game Consoles

System	Properties Tab	Internal Images	External Scans
NES	Yes	N/A	No
Super NES	Yes	N/A	No
Nintendo 64	Yes	N/A	No
Nintendo GameCube	Yes	Banner	Disc
Nintendo GameCube Saves	Yes	Icon	N/A
Nintendo Wii	Yes	No	Disc, Covers
Nintendo Wii U	Yes	No	Disc, Covers
Sega 8-bit (SMS, GG)	Yes	N/A	No
Sega Mega Drive	Yes	N/A	No
Sega Dreamcast	Yes	Media	No
Sega Dreamcast Saves	Yes	Icon, Banner	No
Sega Saturn	Yes	N/A	No
Sony PlayStation Saves	Yes	Icon	N/A

Handhelds

System	Properties Tab	Internal Images	External Scans
Atari Lynx	Yes	N/A	No
Nintendo Game Boy (Color)	Yes	N/A	No
Nintendo Virtual Boy	Yes	N/A	No
Nintendo Game Boy Advance	Yes	N/A	No
Nintendo DS(i)	Yes	Icon	Covers, Box
Nintendo 3DS	Yes	Icon	Covers, Box
Tiger game.com	Yes	Icon	No

Texture Formats

System	Properties Tab	Internal Images	External Scans
Sega PVR Textures	Yes	Image	N/A
Microsoft DirectDraw Surface	Yes	Image	N/A
Khronos KTX Textures	Yes	Image	N/A
Valve VTF Textures	Yes	Image	N/A
Valve VTF3 (PS3) Textures	Yes	Image	N/A

Other

System	Properties Tab	Internal Images	External Scans
Executable and Linkable Format	Yes	N/A	N/A
Nintendo amiibo	Yes	N/A	Media
Nintendo Badge Arcade	Yes	Image	N/A
Windows/DOS Executables	Yes	No	N/A

Notes:

• Internal image refers to artwork contained within the ROM and/or disc image. These images are typically displayed on the system's main menu prior to starting the game.
  • "N/A" here means the ROM or disc image doesn't have this feature.
  • "No" indicates that the feature is present but not currently implemented.
• External scans refers to scans from an external database, such as GameTDB.com for GameCube and Wii.
  • "No" indicates no database is currently available for this system.
  • Anything else indicates what types of images are available.
  • For amiibo, "media" refers to the amiibo object, which may be a figurine, a card, or a plush.
• Windows executables may contain multiple icon sizes. Support for Windows icons will be added once support for multiple image sizes is added.
• Sega 8-bit only supports ROM images with a "TMR SEGA" header.

An initial configuration program is included with the Windows version of rom-propreties 1.0. This allows you to configure which images will be used for thumbnails on each system. The functionality is available on Linux as well, but the UI hasn't been ported over yet. See doc/rom-properties.conf.example for an example configuration file, which can be placed in ~/.config/rom-properties.

External Media Downloads

Certain parsers support the use of external media scans through an online database, e.g. GameTDB.com. This is enabled by default, but you can customize which scans are downloaded for which systems by running the configuration program, rp-config.exe.

Downloaded images are cached to the following directory:

• Linux: ~/.cache/rom-properties/
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\rom-properties\cache

The directory structure matches the source site, so e.g. a disc image of Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be downloaded to ~/.cache/rom-properties/wii/disc/US/RSBE01.png. Note that if the download fails for any reason, a 0-byte dummy file will be placed in the cache, which tells the shell extension not to attempt to download the file again. [FIXME: If the download fails due to no network connectivity, it shouldn't do this.]

If you have an offline copy of the GameTDB image database, you can copy it to the ROM Properties Page cache directory to allow the extension to use the pre-downloaded version instead of downloading images as needed.

Decryption Keys

Some newer formats, including Wii disc images, have encrypted sections. The shell extension includes decryption code for handling these images, but the keys are not included. To install the keys, create a text file called keys.conf in the rom-properties configuration directory:

• Linux: ~/.config/rom-properties/keys.conf
• Windows: %APPDATA%\rom-properties\keys.conf

The keys.conf file uses INI format. An example file, keys.conf.example, is included with the shell extension. This file has a list of all supported keys, with placeholders instead of the actual key data. For example, a keys.conf file with the supported keys for Wii looks like this:

[Keys]
rvl-common=[Wii common key]
rvl-korean=[Wii Korean key]

Replace the key placeholders with hexadecimal strings representing the key. In this example, both keys are AES-128, so the hexadecimal strings should be 32 characters long.

NOTE: If a key is incorrect, any properties dialog that uses the key to decrypt data will show an error message instead of the data in question.

Unsupported File?

If you have a file that you believe should be supported by ROM Propeties, or would like to see support added for a new type, file an issue on GitHub: https://github.com/GerbilSoft/rom-properties/issues

Credits

Developers

• @GerbilSoft: Main developer.
• @DankRank: Contributor, bug tester.
• @CheatFreak: Bug tester, amiibo support.

Translators

• @DankRank: Russian, Ukrainian
• @NullMagic2: Brazilian Portuguese

Other Contributions

[This list is incomplete; if you think you should be listed here, file an issue.]

• @Tpot-SSL: Assistance with the game.com implementation.

Websites

• GBATEK: Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo DSi technical information.
• WiiBrew: Wii homebrew and reverse engineering. Used for Wii and GameCube disc format information.
• GameTDB: Database of games for various game consoles. Used for automatic downloading of disc scans for Wii and GameCube.
• Pan Docs: Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Super Game Boy technical information.
• Virtual Boy Programmers Manual: Virtual Boy technical information.
• Sega Retro: Sega Mega Drive technical information, plus information for other Sega systems that will be supported in a future release.
• PS3 Developer wiki for information on the "PS1 on PS3" save file format.
• Nocash PSX Specification Reference for more information on PS1 save files.
• amiibo.life: Database of Nintendo amiibo figurines, cards, and plushes. Used for automatic downloading of amiibo images.
• 3dbrew: Nintendo 3DS homebrew and reverse engineering. Used for Nintendo 3DS file format information.
• SMS Power: Sega 8-bit technical information.
• Puyo Tools: Information on Sega's PVR, GVR, and related texture formats.
• Badge Arcade Tool: Information on Nintendo Badge Arcade files.
• Advanced Badge Editor: Information on Nintendo Badge Arcade files.
• HandyBug Documentation: Information on Atari Lynx cartridge format.
• Khronos KTX File Format Specification: Information on the Khornos KTX texture file format.
• Valve Texture Format: Information on the Valve VTF texture file format.
• nocash SNES hardware specifications: Super NES and Satellaview BS-X technical information.
• Homebrew Development Kit for the Tiger game.com by @Tpot-SSL: game.com technical information.