This shell extension adds a few nice features to file browsers for managing video game ROM and disc images.
This release was originally focused on adding metadata for file browsers, but it ended up expanding to lots of things, including Xbox and Xbox 360 disc images and executables.
Other file formats added in this release include Wii WADs, encrypted Wii save files, Mach-O binaries, Neo Geo Pocket (Color) ROM images, and iQue Player metadata and ticket files.
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.
See NEWS.md for a full list of changes in v1.4.
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
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)
- MATE (1.18+; GTK+ 3.x)
- Windows XP (and later)
On Windows, you will need the MSVC 2015-2019 runtime:
- 32-bit: https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vc_redist.x86.exe
- 64-bit: https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vc_redist.x64.exe
For instructions on compiling from source, see doc/COMPILING.md .
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.
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.
| System | Properties Tab | Metadata | Internal Images | External Scans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NES | Yes | No | N/A | No |
| Super NES | Yes | No | N/A | No |
| Microsoft Xbox (XBE) | Yes | Yes | Icon | No |
| Microsoft Xbox 360 (XEX) | Yes | Yes | Icon | No |
| Microsoft Xbox 360 (STFS) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Microsoft Xbox Game Discs | Yes | Yes | Icon | No |
| Nintendo 64 | Yes | Yes | N/A | No |
| iQue Player ticket files | Yes | Yes | Icon, Banner | No |
| Nintendo GameCube Discs | Yes | Yes | Banner | Disc, Covers |
| Nintendo GameCube Banners | Yes | Yes | Banner | No |
| Nintendo GameCube Saves | Yes | Yes | Icon | N/A |
| Nintendo Wii Discs | Yes | Yes | No | Disc, Covers |
| Nintendo Wii WADs | Yes | Yes | Yes* | Title, Covers |
| Nintendo Wii Saves | Yes | No | Yes | N/A |
| Nintendo Wii U | Yes | No | No | Disc, Covers |
| Sega 8-bit (SMS, GG) | Yes | Yes | N/A | No |
| Sega Mega Drive | Yes | No | N/A | No |
| Sega Dreamcast | Yes | Yes | Media | No |
| Sega Dreamcast Saves | Yes | No | Icon, Banner | No |
| Sega Saturn | Yes | Yes | N/A | No |
| Sony PlayStation Saves | Yes | Yes | Icon | N/A |
* Internal images are only present in Wii DLC WADs.
| System | Properties Tab | Metadata | Internal Images | External Scans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atari Lynx | Yes | No | N/A | No |
| Neo Geo Pocket (Color) | Yes | Yes | N/A | No |
| Nintendo Game Boy (Color) | Yes | Yes | N/A | No |
| Nintendo Virtual Boy | Yes | No | N/A | No |
| Nintendo Game Boy Advance | Yes | No | N/A | No |
| Nintendo DS(i) | Yes | Yes | Icon | Covers, Box |
| Nintendo 3DS | Yes | Yes | Icon | Covers, Box |
| Tiger game.com | Yes | Yes | Icon | No |
| System | Properties Tab | Metadata | Internal Images | External Scans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sega PVR/GVR/SVR Textures | Yes | Yes | Image | N/A |
| Microsoft DirectDraw Surface | Yes | Yes | Image | N/A |
| Khronos KTX Textures | Yes | Yes | Image | N/A |
| Valve VTF Textures | Yes | Yes | Image | N/A |
| Valve VTF3 (PS3) Textures | Yes | Yes | Image | N/A |
| Microsoft Xbox XPR Textures | Yes | Yes | Image | N/A |
| System | Properties Tab | Metadata | Internal Images | External Scans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atari 8-bit SAP audio | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Atari ST SNDH audio | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| CRI ADX ADPCM | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Commodore 64 SID Music | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Game Boy Sound System | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo 3DS BCSTM and BCWAV | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo Sound Format | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo Wii BRSTM | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo Wii U BFSTM | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Portable Sound Format | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Super NES SPC Format | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| Video Game Music | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A |
| System | Properties Tab | Metadata | Internal Images | External Scans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executable and Linkable Format | Yes | No | N/A | N/A |
| ISO-9660 Disc Images | Yes | No | No | |
| Mach-O Binaries | Yes | No | N/A | N/A |
| Nintendo amiibo | Yes | No | N/A | Media |
| Nintendo Badge Arcade | Yes | No | Image | N/A |
| Windows/DOS Executables | Yes | No | 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.
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.
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.
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
- @GerbilSoft: Main developer.
- @DankRank: Contributor, bug tester.
- @CheatFreak: Bug tester, amiibo support.
- @DankRank: Russian, Ukrainian
- @NullMagic2: Brazilian Portuguese
[This list is incomplete; if you think you should be listed here, file an issue.]
- @Tpot-SSL: Assistance with the game.com implementation.
- GBATEK: Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo DSi technical information.
- WiiBrew: Wii homebrew and reverse engineering. Used for Wii and GameCube disc and file 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.
- Low Level Bits: Parsing Mach-O Files for Mac OS X Mach-O binary information.
- Free60.org Wiki archive for Xbox 360 technical information.
- Xenia Project for Xbox 360 technical information.
- Xbox Dev Wiki for Original Xbox technical information.
- .XBE File Format by Caustik for information about the Original Xbox .XBE executable format.
- Cxbx-Reloaded for Original Xbox technical information, including XPR pixel formats.
- iQueBrew for iQue Player technical information.