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UGGM - A open source GUI tools to shrink and index DC games for GDEmu v0.6.2

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Louhike

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Jun 22, 2020
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UGGM (Ugly DGEmu Games Manager) is a Windows open source GUI tool to sync games between you SD card and a folder on your PC. You can shrink the games when you copy, and you create an index for GDMenu to avoid the "loading..." at the start. It's an early version as we're only two people testing it for now, so I don't consider it stable for now. I recommend to avoid using with a SD card which contains for which you have no backups on your PC.

It looks like that:
capture1.png

Files are also renamed to be sure it's supported by GDEmu and SC Card Maker.

Some features are lacking compared to SD Card Maker from MadSheep:
  • Only GDI are supported.
  • You cannot set "Force VGA" (but you can still do it through GDEmu).
  • You cannot sort the games youself.
  • You cannot edit the menu index content.
But I plan to add those in the coming weeks.

On the technical side, it's written on C#, the interface is in .NET. I use gditools from FamilyGuy (who was quite helpful) to shrink the games. I use cdi4dc from Sizious and mkisofs.exe to rebuild the menu index (as SD Card Maker). It's not multiplaform for now but it's something I'm planning.

You can find the latest (early) releases here: https://github.com/Louhike/Ugly-GDEmu-Games-Manager/releases
Code is here: https://github.com/Louhike/Ugly-GDEmu-Games-Manager

You're welcome to participate in the projet or to give feedback.
 
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sonik

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Hi!
I've made a similar app. Yours have more options so I might drop mine and starting using yours :)
Two things that I do like in my app is the option to import game name from IP.BIN or Game Directory (good for TOSEC dumps), and the option to sort the game list.
Feel free to take a look and borrow some ideas:

In time, would be good to have a database of the games that works after shrinking. If you plan on doing this I can help with the testing.
 
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FamilyGuy

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BTW, I don't know if you do that already, but you can move and shrink a game at the same time using GDIShrink to save some time.

I had planned to make a similar program myself in Python, but I'm just so very busy currently.
If your program can be made to run easily on Linux, I could probably contribute in the not-so-near future.

Cheers!
 
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Louhike

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Jun 22, 2020
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Hi!
I've made a similar app. Yours have more options so I might drop mine and starting using yours :)
Two things that I do like in my app is the option to import game name from IP.BIN or Game Directory (good for TOSEC dumps), and the option to sort the game list.
Feel free to take a look and borrow some ideas:

In time, would be good to have a database of the games that works after shrinking. If you plan on doing this I can help with the testing.

I didn't know your soft, I'll check that, thanks! And yes, making a database so people know if it will work or not is a great idea. I would like to work on that soon.

BTW, I don't know if you do that already, but you can move and shrink a game at the same time using GDIShrink to save some time.
Yes, I'm already using GDIShrink and it does save quite some time!

I do plan on making the program multiplatform but I'm trying to finish some features first.
 

RightspriteRetro

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Nov 9, 2020
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This seems like a great alternative, I not a tec genuis at all , i had a quick attempt and it froze. If game art updating can be managed with the same app that would be good also no loading sounds great. will be here keeping an eye for updates.

All the best.
 

Louhike

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Jun 22, 2020
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I just made an update to the tool. I'll copy paste the message I made on Dreamcast Talk.

For those using the tool and having the error "Cannot manage CDI with something else than two sessions." with some CDI files, it just has been fixed with the new 0.7.2 : https://github.com/Louhike/Ugly-GDEmu-G ... sion_0_7_2.

For those interested on technical details, the header address is different according to the version of the CDI format. For later versions, it was a value you had to subtract from the total length of the file, but for older versions, it was the address directly. I was afraid it would take a long time to fix (hence why I didn't touch the tool for 4 months...), but it was actually quite simple!
I'm considering making a wiki about the technical info I found while making the tool as I had some difficulties to find it (and for some of it, it was trial and error).

The next updates I intend to make are:
  • The ability to rename/sort games
  • Improve error handling while shrinking
  • Convert GDI tools on .NET/C# to improve performance (as I have to call the script through a compiled windows executable for now) and come closer on my goal to make the tool crossplatform!


Do not hesitate to contact me or post a message if you have a bug or have a suggestion to improve the tool! If you want to take part in the project, I'll be happy to help you.
 

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