Release: CaVE Database Manager v1.3.7

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

I just released CaVE v1.3.7, to coincide with the NSO GEN/MD v2.0 app.

Nothing about this NSO app warranted a CaVE update instead of just a database update, but I had a few fixes and additions coded and... it didn't look good for anyone wanting to lift a finger and test it as a Discord only release. Thumbs up emotes are the extent of anything anyone there wants to do now.

Changes:

Fixed an issue with the "Add Stock Games" list.
Added a new Update Database option.
  This option simply updates the strings.lng of the current database to the selected version.
Added a .srm 2 cartridge.sram option to the Tools menu for N64.
  This converts a Retroarch .srm that contains save data (not save STATE data) to a save file that NSO can use. It tries to automatically detect what type of save data the game uses, and output that as cartridge.sram.
Added a Help option to the Help menu that displays a setup guide and FAQ.

To explain the fixes... The issue with the Add Stock Games list was with either PAL games not being listed there after deleting them from the main list, SP titles not being listed or both. I forget.

The Update Database option does what I said. The longer explanation is, most of the time Nintendo doesn't update anything in the strings files other then metacomment stuff or online related stuff. But a couple versions ago they updated something to display a message related to saving, and well... I couldn't ignore it anymore. All this does is... if you originally made your custom database with say NSO-N64 v1.0, the strings.lng would still be mostly a v1.0 string.lng. This option lets you update it. This was needed after I dropped the automatic update detection stuff in favor of allowing users to remove stock games.

The .srm to .sram feature is a little out of no where. It was something I was thinking about, and someone asked me for help converting some at the right time enough for me to quickly code it. This feature is designed to convert a Retroarch .srm, which as far as I know contains space for EEPROM, MEMPACK, SRAM and FLASH saves. But not all of that space is used with each game. So in order to make a cartridge.sram that NSO can use, the correct bytes have to be parsed out. A cartridge.sram for NSO-N64 is just... whatever format the game uses. More likely whatever is specified in the config. My code tries to auto detect the type that is used and output that, but... I have no clue if it will hold up. Thats why I wanted others to test it. But oh well.

The Help option is just the setup guide and FAQ... not included with CaVE itself. My hope is that, since people keep asking the same questions over and over. Questions covered in those... maybe the fact that they were on my website only was keeping people from finding them. So I hope to see less of these questions asked now.

Finally... I think I'm done with CaVE 1.0. Done in the sense that... I won't be adding to it anymore. I still plan to create database updates as needed, and update the app itself if Nintendo breaks something. Bug fixes here and there too... But I just wont be working on anything truly new.

I was looking forward to working on it again back before N64/Genesis app came out. But the excessive frenzy by users to ignore all the things I needed help with, and obsess over the things I didn't need help with and was looking forward to working on... on my own. Now combined with the zero F's given whenever I release a new feature that I would otherwise figure would be a hit (preset database, and I guess now the sram conversion). Well... the reception just makes it not fun...

I'm working on CaVE v2.0. THAT is where I get fun, as... while I do post screenshots and updates to my Discord channel for any who may care... that is a project I work on primarily for myself.

That project is going well, and I am enjoying it. I have no pressure to work on it fast. I get to try and learn new things... and the further I go, the more I feel its a project that truly should exist. In fact, I may need to slow it down a bit as... at this pace it may be ready far sooner than I planned.