Create/Save Package files containing Hakchi rom data for easy export/import

[erroneus0]

People spend a long time getting games to work, updating information such as player count (1,2,co-op) Date, box art, command line configurations for other emulators and more. It would be useful if that work could be shared as an export-import package to make things easier for people who aren't quite so technical or become frustrated by a lot of trial and error.

Once a game configuration has been tweaked, we should be able to export the game as some sort of package file which contains the game and all other details which can be shared. It may even be useful to export those details without the games if that's a concern. Being able to build and share collections is a very useful feature. Can it be done?

[Shoothimnow]

This would be great, especially with the "Demo" videos. Worst comes to worst, we could always resort to a dropbox/mediafile/google drive repository and manually grab. But a collection from other people would be fantastic.

[erroneus0]

I think I have observed numerous youtube videos attempting to be "how to" videos which ended in degrees of failure when it came to using other emulators and especially MAME. MAME should be simple, but it's not. It's about using the right emulator and the right command line arguments and the right BIOS files.

Such a system should be able to check for and validate dependencies as well -- "I'm sorry, but this package requires X to be installed, would you like to continue? would you like to install it now?" For wide and general distribution, no game ROMs should be included but it should always be an option for personal use right? The "public sharing" form should, however, maintain MD5 or other hash values of ROMs known to work though... you know, breadcrumbs for people to get what they need.

All of this trial and error shouldn't be necessary -- once someone has something that works, it should be shareable.

[erroneus0]

Thanks for all the title changes :) It all means the same to me but I'm sure the clarification is useful for others. I only hope it gets implemented because this feature could really help in taking out the guess-work for a lot of people. Imagine importing a "game config file" and never having to wonder if it will work? Or imagine importing a "game config file" and being told "you need to install the following dependencies to make this work." I would absolutely love it.

To add to the request is game save states. I think it would be great to also be able to package personal games packages to include the export of the game, the config data and game saves. I ask this because I am considering reloading my son's SNES mini removing some games he never plays and adding other games he wants to play. The problem starts with the fact that I will first want to recover his saved games in a way in which they can be restored. It's ruin his day to need to start over on Yoshi's Island, for example.