Suggestion for expanded PNACH filenames

[dlanor]

Suggestion for expanded PNACH filenames

NB: This post is primarily intended for PCSX2 developers,
since only they can handle code contributions properly.
(Though others are free to use it too, of course.)

A few days ago I made a modification to PCSX2 that allows greater freedom in the naming of PNACH files, to improve human recognition of their contents by allowing arbitrary description strings after the CRC in each filename, while still maintaining full compatibility to traditionally named PNACH files. I then posted about this first in one thread, and a day later in another, expecting at least some kind of response (positive or negative), but I've seen no replies at all on this matter. Possibly my choice of threads was incorrect for this kind of code contribution, which is why I'm now posting about it again, this time in a separate thread to improve the chances of some developer noticing it.
(I'd have preferred posting in the dev subforum, but evidently I'm not allowed to do that...)

I don't want to double-post (probably a violation of site rules), so here I'll just post links to the two other posts I mentioned above, as well as a link to the first post's attachment (a diff file for "Patch.cpp" holding all modifications).

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-Pat...#pid263592
http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-Wid...#pid263646
http://forums.pcsx2.net/attachment.php?aid=40391

I would really appreciate it if some PCSX2 coders would take a look at this code, and I hope that it will be considered for inclusion in the main project branch. But even if not, I'd still appreciate some feedback on your views on this issue.

Best regards: dlanor

[pgert]

Your idea is an improvement, I'll give you that, but not enough to get hysteric.
I for one don't get why the CRC should be the filename; the serial-code would be more user friendly.
How about adding that option?
Besides, as I have understood it, CRC's can be the same for different discs; discs that might have no relation.
Serial-codes however, are positively disc-unique, yes?

[dlanor]

Your idea is an improvement, I'll give you that, but not enough to get hysteric.

Who's hysteric ?

Making a new post in a more suitable thread, in order to ensure that a code improvement is noticed by the right people, has nothing to do with hysteria. It's just a better way to inform those people.

I for one don't get why the CRC should be the filename; the serial-code would be more user friendly.

I agree that it would be, but it's not really my place (as a newcomer to PCSX2 coding) to completely disrupt established project policy...

In any case, if you also read my linked posts you should see that my proposed change does allow any string at all to be inserted after the CRC code, including Sony's game ID code strings, though it is still the leading CRC code that is used by the emulator to decide what PNACH file to load.

How about adding that option?

Using Sony's game IDs to determine which PNACH to load would be quite simple, but it would completely break compatibility with all released PNACH files, requiring every user to rename them. That's why I instead suggest adding such info strings as optional 'wildcards' in addition to the CRC code, which is still used for loading the proper file.

Besides, as I have understood it, CRC's can be the same for different discs; discs that might have no relation.

Theoretically that is true, but for any disc pair the risk of such CRC coincidence is slightly less than one in four billion (1:2^32), so even with a large collection of discs it is not likely to happen. (Though it can do so.)

Serial-codes however, are positively disc-unique, yes?

They are intended to be, but I've read of a few cases where a game program was modified to fix bugs and then re-released using the same game Serial-code as for the original release. And if such program modifications added address offsets to the program code and/or its variable areas, then the PNACH patches made for the original can be expected to fail with the bug-fixed program (and vice versa).

But for the large majority of games, those codes are indeed unique.

Best regards: dlanor

[vsub]

That way of naming is just like OPL and ISO's.
I think it's good idea because you can name the cheats,not wondering which one was for the game you want(I have ways to find the pnach file I want but it's still a nice feature)

Also a converter from old names to the new can be easily done...if it's actually needed(I'm already doing something like that with my Multi Converter...get the game title by reading the "gametitle=" line from the pnach file)