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Your first sync

A sync puts games on this device. You choose which ones by making a sync set: a platform, a collection or a smart collection from your RomM library. This page walks through one small set from start to finish. Sync sets covers everything else they can do.

Before you start

Set a disk limit if this drive holds other things. Choose Disk space on the main menu, step Limit RomMBat to with Left and Right, then choose Save at the bottom. Without a limit, RomMBat fills the drive until only the amount under Always leave free remains. Disk space explains both numbers.

On a new install, the platform list starts empty. Nothing on the controller fills it yet (#325). Before you make a platform sync set, run this once from a terminal in your RetroBat folder while the server is reachable:

emulators\rommbat\rommbat-agent.exe platforms list

A collection sync set does not need it, because RomMBat asks RomM for collections directly.

Make a sync set

  1. On the main menu, choose Sync sets.
  2. Press Start for the menu, and choose New set.
  3. On What it holds, press Accept and choose a platform, a collection or a smart collection.
  4. Choose the platform or collection.
  5. Choose Create set, the last row.

RomMBat names the set after what you chose, so you type nothing. If another set already has that name, the new one adds its folder or its kind, such as Arcade (fbneo) or SNES (Platform). A set that holds exactly what another one does is refused, and the message names that set. It then asks RomM which games are in the set straight away, which on a large library can take a few minutes. Press Back and choose Stop to stop early: what it found so far is kept, and the next check carries on from there. When it finishes, press Accept to reach the set.

Sync it

On the new set, press the left face button for Sync now, or choose it from the Start menu. The sync screen shows which step it is on, the game it is downloading with a progress bar, how many are done, how much of your disk limit is used, and any problems as they happen. In order, a sync:

  1. sends any saves and playtime waiting to go up;
  2. asks RomM which games are in the set now;
  3. fetches the BIOS files those systems' emulators read, when your RomM library has them;
  4. downloads the games;
  5. fetches their artwork and writes EmulationStation's game lists;
  6. tells EmulationStation to reload, so the games appear.

The first sync also adds RomMBat to EmulationStation's menu and sets up the hooks that send your saves and playtime back.

When it finishes, the title changes to Synced and the footer to Done. A sync that stopped or could not finish says so in its title instead. Press Accept to leave. If some games could not come down, the screen says why, and syncing again picks up where it left off.

Stopping part way

Press Back during a sync, and choose Stop, to stop it. Keep syncing is selected first, so a stray press changes nothing. The game being downloaded at that moment is removed completely, and every game that finished before it stays, with its artwork and its place in EmulationStation's list. Nothing is left half-done. Press Accept to leave the screen.

Play

Go back to EmulationStation. Your games are in their system's list, with artwork. Saves you make go back to RomM when you next open or quit EmulationStation, which How saves sync explains.