Table des matières

Scraping your Roms with ARRM

Scraping your Roms with ARRM

Before embarking on your first scrape with ARRM, I invite you to read the previous paragraphs (Application settings, and Presentation of the interface) in order to understand the mechanism of ARRM.

The various ARRM options must be set before continuing.

Video Tutorial

How to scrape with ARRM from Just Jamie

View video from Just Jamie

How to use ARRM from Rapster's Tech Hangout

ARRM demonstration starts at 17 minutes

View video from Rapster's Tech Hangout

The video below is from the old version of ARRM. Since then, the interface has changed but you will find some features

Watch video

Since version 1.9.0.3 beta 11 you can only scrape missing media (artworks) by checking no media only in the Scrape Options tab. Only missing media (artworks), checked in the Images options tab will be recovered.
In the scrape engines, only these missing media (artworks) will be presented and selectable. See: Scrape only missing Artworks (media)

Before going any further, remember to read these two important pieces of information:

The Multi-System scraper

To activate this mode, simply select more than 1 system in the list of systems present on your Frontend

When multiple systems are selected, the View button changes to a 'Multi Systems' button. Since version 1.9.1.3 Beta 9.
This mode works with all scrape engines available in ARRM.

Automatic assignment of a template

If you want ARRM to apply a different template depending on the system, remember to check the Auto Template box. ARRM relies on the file %appdata%\Nexouille Soft\arrm\database\template_association.txt (which you can modify via the template selection interface) in order to determine which template to apply to which system.

To choose your template, see this section: Choose Template

Apply a global filter to process only certain Roms

You can process only certain Roms, for example those for which you do not have a description or no boxart. To apply this global filter, before clicking on the “Multi Systems” button, you must enter the filter/query in the textbox Global Filter

The searched strings must be surrounded by single quotes (') and not by double quotes (“) If a search string contains a single quote ('), you must put two single quotes in the query

Examples:

description_rom is null or boxart_rom is null
favorites_rom=true and (image_rom is null and manual_rom<>'')

The available fields for conditions are:

adult_rom
arcadesystemname_rom
core_rom
description_rom
developer_rom
emulator_rom
famille_rom
favoris_rom
nomjeu_rom
gametime_rom
genreid_rom
genre_rom
hash_rom
cache_rom
kid_rom
lang_rom
lastplayed_rom
md5_rom
mode_rom
playcount_rom
players_rom
publisher_rom
rating_rom
ratio_rom
region_rom
fichier_rom
rotation_rom
temporary_rom
annee_rom
bezel_rom
boxart_rom
boxback_rom
cartridge_rom
extra1_rom
fanart_rom
image_rom
manual_rom
map_rom
marquee_rom
mix_rom
screenshot_rom
thumbnail_rom
titleshot_rom
video_rom
wheel_rom

Launching the scrape

When you press the Multi Systems button, a pop-up will appear, asking you to choose the scrape engine you want:

ARRM will treat each of the selected systems and will take care of:

Load the existing gamelist.xml, or create a new one with the roms found
Will search the selected database for game information
Will apply the different options chosen in the settings
Will save the gamelist.xml once searches are complete for a system
Will switch to the next system

At any time you can stop the scrape, by pressing the button Stop

When all systems have been processed, a summary appears showing the number of games found per system and the time spent.

The Mono-System and games scrape

To choose your Mix model (template), see this section: Choose Template

ARRM lets you scrape an entire system, or just certain games in a system.

To do this, you must select only 1 system in the systems screen:

Click on the 'Display' button to display the found Roms. ARRM loads the existing gamelist.xml and checks for the existence of the Roms files. If the file does not exist, the Rom will not appear in the database. And conversely if a game is present on the disc but not present in the existing gamelist.xml, it will be added to the Database.

Once the Database is filled with the found Roms, you can

apply filters on the Database to process only certain roms

If you want to scrap only the ROMs that do not have an image or a description, you just have to check, in the Filters tab: Image, Description, without, or then click on the Filter button.
Roms without image or description will be displayed in the database.
You will be able to select them and launch a scrape on these Roms.
At the end of the scrape, click on No Filter to remove the filter and find all your roms, then save your gamelist via the button Create gamelist.xml

Select all or part of the elements of the Database

Execute actions on selected items

Launch a scrape using one of the scrapers offered. You can stop a scrape at any time by pressing the 'Stop' button

See on the wiki the specifics for

When you have finished with the manipulations of the Database, remember to save its content in the gamelist.xml by clicking on the 'Create gamelist.xml' button

You can also consult a report after each operation by clicking on the button 'View Log'

Scrapes not found are listed in log files located in %appdata%\Nexouille Soft\Arrm\temp , in the format:

_missing_arrm_%SYSTEM%_%SCRAPE_DATABASE%.txt

example: _missing_arrm_ZXSPECTRUM_screenscraper.txt

Recover data following a crash during scraping

ARRM has a data recovery system when an application crash occurs. When loading a system, if ARRM detects that a crash has occurred, it offers to restore the information recovered up to the moment of the crash.

See wiki: Recover gamelist.xml after ARRM crash

You can also retrieve the data through the use of cache: How to use ARRM cache