Skip to content

19_gamepak_boxart.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
110 lines (87 loc) · 4.58 KB

19_gamepak_boxart.md

File metadata and controls

110 lines (87 loc) · 4.58 KB
Raw

Metadata and Game Art

Commercial Game Metadata and Game Art

To use commercial N64 game art images and ROM metadata, place your files within the sd:/menu/metadata/ folder.

Tip

As a starting point, here is a link to the latest, supported menu metadata: Metadata link, just extract the zip to the sd:/menu/ folder.

Itterating through game art images

When added, extra images will be used if available to itterate:

  • boxart_front.png (DEFAULT)
  • boxart_back.png
  • boxart_top.png
  • boxart_bottom.png
  • boxart_left.png
  • boxart_right.png
  • gamepak_front.png
  • gamepak_back.png

Supported image sizes

Files must be in PNG or JPEG format and use the following dimensions:

  • American/European N64 boxart sprites: 158x112
  • Japanese N64 boxart sprites: 112x158
  • 64DD boxart sprites: 129x112
  • GamePak front and back sprites: 158x112
  • Boxart top/bottom spines: 158x22
  • Boxart left/right spines: 112x22

Metadata and Images will be loaded by directories using each character (case-sensitive) of the full 4-character Game Code (as identified in the menu ROM information):
i.e. for GoldenEye NTSC USA (NGEE), this would be sd:/menu/metadata/N/G/E/E/boxart_front.png.
i.e. for GoldenEye PAL (NGEP), this would be sd:/menu/metadata/N/G/E/P/boxart_front.png.

To improve compatibility between regions (as a fallback), you may exclude the region ID (last matched directory) for GamePaks to match with 3-character IDs instead:
i.e. for GoldenEye, this would be sd:/menu/metadata/N/G/E/boxart_front.png.

On the ROM load screen, you can cycle through available images using the D-pad left/C-pad left and D-pad right/C-pad right buttons. The menu will display any available images from the list above, skipping images that don't exist.

External Homebrew ROM Metadata and Game Art

ROMs that use the "Advanced Homebrew ROM Header" Game ID (xEDx), and DO NOT contain embedded metadata are matched using a folder that uses the "Game Title" as contained within the ROM: e.g. sd:/menu/metadata/homebrew/{game title}/boxart_front.png

Embedded ROM Metadata

This menu aims to fully support ROM's that contain embedded metadata as specified in the spec The Metadata should be shown correctly but included images may not yet work as expected, especially if too large for the available memory.

Rom information metadata

To show certain (metadata) information on the N64 ROM information screen, add a .meta file in the same directory as the game ROM file with the same ROM filename (but excluding the ROM extension i.e. [.z64, .v64, .n64] ) Although the filename is .meta, its content is based on an ini file.

Tip

As a starting point, here is a link to the latest, menu metadata: Metadata link, which requires regular and independent updates.

Tip

A rom called my N64 game rom.z64 will load Rom information metadata from my N64 game rom.meta.

and the following content under the file content header:

Warning

The line endings must be LF.

[meta]

Examples of the "key=values" are:

ROM minimum age rating

The minimum age rating of the game.

In future, this can be used for content filtering.
Any number can be used and the menu will try to align it with the ESRB ratings, i.e.:

  • age-rating=0 :- No age rating defined
  • age-rating=1 :- Everyone
  • age-rating=10 :- Everyone 10+
  • age-rating=13 :- Teen
  • age-rating=17 :- Mature
  • age-rating=18 :- Adults Only

an example for an age rating of "Everyone 10+" would be:

[meta]
; Self-certified age rating for the game. This is a number
; identifying the minimum suggested age for a player (0-18).
; This allows readers to provide some kind of content filtering
; capability. You can follow ESBR/PEGI guidelines to get
; some suggestions on this.
age-rating=10

an age-rating=11 or age-rating=12 would also match the 10+ rating, where as age-rating=13 would be matched as "Teen".

ROM release date

The release date of the game. This will not yet be shown in the menu.

[meta]
; Release date of the game. Use YYYY-MM-DD format.
release-date=2025-11-04

ROM Short description

A short description with a length of 120 characters.

[meta]
; Short description of the game, to be displayed in
; menu or ROM managers. Suggested maximum length is
; 120 chars.
short-desc=Shoot your way to the heaven, fighting against birds and aliens