Redump Forum

Like it or hate it - we've switched the naming to No-Intro's convention.

Comments from staff:

After careful considerations and several votings we've decided to change to the No-Intro naming convention. No-Intro has promised to come with a new version of their convention soon, so chances are that this will lead to some more changes. If you find any issues with the current naming or have any suggestions/corrections/additions, please post them in the forum.

Nice.  I've always liked the No-Intro naming convention.  Although I've seen they can't seem to make up their mind on some of the version naming.  From Rev A, to Rev 1, to v1.0, back to Rev 1, back to Rev A...  My poor HDD cries everytime they change it, lol.

Are the serials being totally removed though?  Some people don't want the serials gone, like, for PSX since they are so used to it.  And will PSP naming be identical now?  They (no-intro) seem to have stopped updating the PSP dats.  Maybe because of the so often rumored merge?

Good riddance. Serials are neither unique nor accurate, two things that make serials useful. I have yet to be informed of any significant data in the serial that can't be conveyed in a far more apparent form in the rest of the filename. I also prefer No-Intro's explicit region labeling as opposed to cryptic single-letter codes.

I, for one, welcome our new No-Intro naming overlords.

a lot of games have the same version with different serials so i can understand that choice. as long as there is a unified naming convention i am happy

How on earth are we going to rename everything, when most of it is in compressed format.

And all my PAR's are totally useless now as they use the old names.

I wouldn't have minded the switch if it was done along time ago, but to do it when we have 7000+ dumps, is a total nightmare.

Renaming for the next month was not on my agenda.

Ouch tossEAC.  You don't really have to redo the QuickPars if you don't want to.  Of course, they wouldn't match the dumps 100% but at least they will match the hashes which is what's really important.  After that you could just rename whatever you needed to recover.

Of course, it's always good to have everything 100%.  But if I were you, I wouldn't make it a priority right now.  Maybe leave it for when you have some free time or something.

Please continue the discussion about the region and language tags in the general forum. Thanks

initial versions such as v1.0 should not be visible in .dat, i guess

The Official No-Intro Convention 2007-10-30 wrote:3.5 Version
Optional
This flag shows the version (vX.XX) or revision (Rev X) of the game. It is put in
parentheses. Revision is used instead of version when applicable. Numbers
and/or letters can be used depending on the system or program approach.
The flag is only added if the version/revision is greater than the initial release.
Source is usually ROM header or cartridge stamps.

hopefully it can be done from db code instead of renaming every time

and (Demo) (Taikenban) should change to (Sample) i guess

The Official No-Intro Convention 2007-10-30 wrote:3.6 Development and/or Commercial Status
The flag (Sample) is added to samples, demos, instore demos, etc.

though (Demo) seems to be used a lot more often in no-intro .dats than (Sample) but definitely not (Taikenban)

also there are (Genteiban) and alike flags in no-intro .dats
i.e. 'Additional' flag describing release or edition as i understand it
but they do only appear when those files are different
e.g.
"Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss (Japan)"
"Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss (Japan) (Genteiban)"
"Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss (Japan) (Rev 1)"
so for example instead of
"King of Fighters '96, The (Japan)"
"King of Fighters '96, The (Japan) (Alt)"
2nd one would have to be
"King of Fighters '96, The (Japan) (Doukonban)"

The Official No-Intro Convention 2007-10-30 wrote:3.7 Additional
Optional
This flag will be only added if it is required to differentiate between multiple
releases. It is put in parentheses. Additional information can be added here
(ex. Rumble Version, Doritos Promo)

this does not apply well to redump.org though, since for example final 'Original' edition can be similar to later one
https://redump.info/discs/system/psx/regi … asoukyoku/
https://redump.info/discs/system/psx/regi … evolution/
https://redump.info/discs/system/psx/regi … ch/tekken/

also as it is now, relation with bonus media is unclear
for example:
"Akumajou Dracula X - Gekka no Yasoukyoku (Bonus CD) (Japan)"
"NOeL - La Neige (Bonus CD) (Japan)"
"NOeL - Not Digital (Bonus CD) (Japan)"
those do not come with all editions
(also 'Bonus CD' doesn't hit any no-intro flags, btw, i don't know, maybe it should be moved to 'Special'?)
would you add edition to those records only, like
"NOeL - Not Digital (Bonus CD) (Japan) (Limited Edition)"
they would stand out from actual game CDs, IMHO
"NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Disc 1)"
"NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Disc 2)"
since those have no editions at all

so i hope those editions are added later after all - it's the only way to fully describe record, imho

about those Bonus CDs / Editions
there were:
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (v1.0) (Disc 1)
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (v1.0) (Disc 2)
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (v1.0) (Disc 3)
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (v1.1) (Disc 1)
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (v1.1) (Disc 2)
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (v1.1) (Disc 3)
and
NOeL - La Neige (Bonus CD) (Japan)

which tells little, since v1.x is an artificial separator not related to any characteristics of medium - worst option, imho

i've changed those to:
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (Disc 1..3)
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (Special Edition) (Disc 1..3)

NOeL - La Neige (Bonus CD) (Japan) comes only with Special Edition
so since it's last CD of this specific game from specific region & specific edition
and (Bonus CD) is clearly an flag, not part of the title but first flag according to no-intro should be region
imho it would have to be:
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (Special Edition) (Bonus CD) <- this syntax is not possible in current db
or
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (Special Edition) (Disc 4) <- this is

also similar case to this is with Photo Genic, i just haven't added Special Edition yet

but then ther's also:
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Disc 1)
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Disc 2)
NOeL - Not Digital (Bonus CD) (Japan)
again Bonus CD comes with Special Edition only this time game CDs of both editions match, so:
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Disc 1)
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Disc 2)
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Special Edition) (Disc 3) <- doesn't make much sense anymore, imho.

also ther's:
Dungeon Creator (Japan) (Disc 1)
Dungeon Creator (Japan) (Disc 2) (Memory Bank Disc)
it's Limited Edition, ther's also Original (not currently in DB) not having 2nd CD
and most likely it will match with CD1 of LE

so i think it would have to be:
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Original, Special Edition) (Disc 1)
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Original, Special Edition) (Disc 2)
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Special Edition) (Bonus CD)
and
Dungeon Creator (Japan) (Original, Limited Edition)
Dungeon Creator (Japan) (Limited Edition) (Bonus CD) (Memory Bank Disc)
respectively

if (Disc X) flag would be used for bonus media, records like last one would mess up
it would seem like 2nd CD of Original exists but isn't dumped yet:
Dungeon Creator (Japan) (Original, Limited Edition) (Disc 1)
Dungeon Creator (Japan) (Limited Edition) (Disc 2) (Memory Bank Disc)

but as i mentioned this, in my opinion best syntax, is not currently possible
and generally squeezing everything in 'Version (datfile)' field won't work imho

no-intro defines those flags:
Title (Region) (Languages) (Version) (Devstatus) (Additional)(Special) (License)
currently we use:
Region
Languages
Version
Devstatus (Demo, Promo, etc.)
Additional (Editions, Rings, Serials, etc.)
License (Unl - e.g. Game Guru is unlicensed silver)

curently 'Version (datfile)' can hold only one of those flags at a time
so i'd say sooner or later we'll run into problems,
and i think db needs structural changes to be able to handle no-intro at all
and of course it would be better if db would output those flags to .dat automatically (well, as much as possible)

edit:
btw we could drop 'CD' from Bonus CD and go with just (Bonus), it would attain more general meaning then,
similar to (Demo), (Promo), etc.
and also we could add names for Bonus media in 'Disc title' field, maybe
i.e. it would be:
NOeL - La Neige (Japan) (Special Edition) (Bonus) (Prelude)
Sentimental Journey (Japan) (Bonus) (Parallel Seasons)
Akumajou Dracula X - Gekka no Yasoukyoku (Japan) (Whatever Edition) (Bonus) (Music Collection)
Nostalgia 1907 (Japan) (Bonus) (In North Atlantic Sea)

Clap clap!

This is the chaos that will be and why I don't agree with the change. Who cares if Bonus CD is in a Limited Edition or not? It's archived in DB, what else do you need? So why not adding even dates (please in this case insert also "A.D.", it's more cool!), company and so on like tosec shit?

Themabus, this oddity again?

so i think it would have to be:
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Original, Special Edition) (Disc 1)
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Original, Special Edition) (Disc 2)
NOeL - Not Digital (Japan) (Special Edition) (Bonus CD)
...

And so we have to write a poem? Why not adding even the birth date of Publisher's dog as I said?