Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player
(3574)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
For many years now we have had a feature to allow users to put in ram addresses for a game. These can be viewed, and displayed on Game pages.
The problem is that this is not a sustainable feature and the complexity it adds to the site is not worth the value we get from it (extra tables, code, and the sheer volume of potential addresses that could exist). Instead, we can just upload .wch files (ram addresses pre-date the user file system). Also sites like data crystal exist for exactly this kind of purpose.
I will add support for linking .wch userfiles from game pages to give addresses the same visibility. Also, I am working on a script that will generate BizHawk watch files from existing ram addresses, for systems it supports. For non-biz systems, I'll convert to an equivalent .wch file, or just put them on the game resource page manually if no applicable file.
I think removing this feature frees up a lot of complexity and will allow us to focus on higher priority changes in the future.
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2178
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
I never understood how to use that feature, so I personally won't miss it. I just used the userfiles way when I wanted to share .wch files, and the bonus of that is that you can also share useful example movie files and lua scripts as well for anything that's useful to explain on a game page.
Will RAM addresses of value be exported to .wch files and uploaded to userfiles or somewhere else before they are removed?
Yes, I wrote a program that pulls the values from the database and makes .wch files that I can upload, so I will do that
I previously reported incorrect Edit links for some of the addresses. Note that I did not check every single one, and IDK if the cause of that has been determined and fixed. Is there going to be some verification process to make sure that the pulled values actually match up with the correct games?
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player
(3574)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
Dacicus wrote:
adelikat wrote:
Yes, I wrote a program that pulls the values from the database and makes .wch files that I can upload, so I will do that
I previously reported incorrect Edit links for some of the addresses. Note that I did not check every single one, and IDK if the cause of that has been determined and fixed. Is there going to be some verification process to make sure that the pulled values actually match up with the correct games?
I'll do my best. If the game can be determined from the data, then it will all go where it needs to go. Probably what you are seeing is a bug in the code not the data, we will have to see.
While I personally found the RAM watch feature had a lot of potential, given a few tweaks, I understand if its value is not worth the complexity. Use the opportunity to get rid of old bloat if it presents itself.
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player
(3574)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
Dacicus wrote:
[
I previously reported incorrect Edit links for some of the addresses.
I managed to create and upload .wch files automatically to TASVideoAgent's account: https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/ForUser/TASVideoAgent
And I confirmed each of the examples you mentioned are fine. The data was good, the UI code (that I want to delete for a reason) was the problem.
Emulator Coder, Site Developer, Site Owner, Expert player
(3574)
Joined: 11/3/2004
Posts: 4754
Location: Tennessee
Done! No more ram addresses on TASVideos. I was able to create .wch files (in the formats compatible with the given systems) and upload them to the TVA account. No data was lost.
I also added the ability for game pages to list ram watch files that are connected to the game, giving these files some visibility.
