I appreciate how clearly the video explains m3u files. It's helped me a lot. I was afraid to try to run multidisk roms until I watched this tutorial. So, thank you!
I was having similar issues and like several of the commenters below it was also with Parasite Eve 2. Glad to see so many people still enjoying this game even after so many years. And thanks for you video; especially the part about the save files. Now I can keep trying for those Retro Achievements too.
This has got to be one of the most helpful videos in the Internet. Lol. Thank you for putting this together. Solved the multidisc issue, the transfer of the save states as well. Amazing!!!
Excellent video, thank you for sharing. I was copying file paths instead of the file names for the .m3u files, so it wasn't functioning properly. Backup/save strategy worked like a charm (once I realized I was in 'saves' and not 'states' folder). Cheers though, thank you so much for the vid/info!
Dude you saved me so much headache. Seriously I was also appreciative of you mentioning I can keep my old save via renaming (works even with hardcore set up as savestates don't work) now I can work to get every retroachievement in parasite eve
@@WatsonatorTV to be honest I heard it was just ok As Derek during his Happy video game nerd time said, "Parasite eve, lets make a game like Resident Evil, Parasite Eve 2, lets make Resident Evil" It has problems, but at least there is some fun if ya into that sorta thing. The third Birthday however...yeah we don't talk about that, same with the NFT game Square wants to do
Just ran into this issue with Retrobat, putting all the files into one folder and making the .m3u file then reindexing the games worked like a charm, thank you!
Just used this video to save myself from despair before I got any more than a few minutes into disk 2 of FF7. I appreciate how helpful this was! Really saved my bacon 🙏
thanks for this video! i have an Emulation device that wasn't letting me change discs unless they were logged in an m3u! also this method works great with chd files as well!
thanks so much ty ty ty omg you are a real here i was trying to play ff8 on my r36s and get stuck on all fight but with you tutorial i was able to play and save ty so much ty so so so much god bless u mate
Thank you very, VERY much. I was going crazy for nothing I was doing was working, but the manual search did the trick. Now I have perfect playlists for the multi disc games.
Thank you so much man, great tutorial! Following this I was able to resume my Parasite Eve play on a 3ds. Had to rename the savefile as you said in one comment reply and worked like a charm... Greetings from Brazil Edit: I used games in chd format, no problem at all
This is handy not just for optical disc games, but also for vintage computer games that require more than one floppy disk or cassette side. Also, I've compressed a lot of my roms, so I don't have to worry about bin/cue files.
I wanted to also mention that not all games will be in a bin/cue file format. For example, if you are doing an m3u file for a Sega Dreamcast game, it will likely be in a .chd, .cdi or .gdi format, if it is a gamecube game it might be in .nkit.iso format. This is fine, you create the file the same way but the extension will just be different. Also, for Dreamcast you will likely need to put the discs in individual folders because the Tracks files will likely have the same name and therefore cannot be next to one another. If this is the case you will want to put the m3u file up one level and direct it to the .cdi/.gdi files. this is done by including the file pathway in front of the file name (since the m3u is no longer directly next to the files you must include the file pathway). For example if you have a game called ABC123: -create a master folder called "ABC123 (USA)" -put two subfolders inside this folder and call them "ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1)" and "ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2)" -extract the .cdi/.gdi file and the bin/raw files for each disc into the corresponding subfolder -create the m3u file inside of the main folder and next to the two subfolders -since the m3u is not directly next to the .gdi/.cdi files you must include the full pathway in the text lines -The m3u will look something like this depending on where you have your files: C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast Roms\ABC123 (USA)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1 of 2).gdi C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast Roms\ABC123 (USA)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2 of 2).gdi I hope this makes sense. You need to get creative sometimes, just remember that if your m3u file is not directly next to the files it directs to, you will need to include the full pathway in the text line. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PS2 The way I have PS2 games setup is pretty much identical to the PS1 games except that instead of them being bin/cue they are all just ISO. so for example I have a big Roms database folder where I keep all of my roms and then in that folder I have it setup into different systems like this: imgur.com/jm7RDQX Then when I open up my PS2 folder it has all of my games like this: imgur.com/SKERV3z The only game I have right now that is multiple discs is Shadow Hearts Covenant, you will see it close to the top of the last pic and notice I put it in it's own separate folder, that is where the M3u file goes. If I open up that Shadow Hearts folder, it looks like this inside of it, this is how you need to setup multiple disc games: imgur.com/98wAaJq And if I double click on the m3u file it looks just like it does in the video, just like this: imgur.com/7vl4D4P
CHanging Discs on Saturn is different. You open the tray and it goes to the bios then you load the 2nd or 3rd or whatever then load the file you just saved so retroarch has issue changing discs with saturn games but I found a work around. If you make a savestate in disc one on the save screen you can load the state after booting disc 2 and then save the game while disc 2 is loaded. Then reset disc 2 and load the save file thats how I got it to work on Panzer Dragoon Saga.
@@Andronicus87 Thank you for this info, and thank you SO much for replying to my pinned comment (this will keep all of the info in one spot here for people to find).
Ive just got into retroarch through launchbox a few days ago and installed ff7,could you clarify that if i dont use your method my saves wont carry over?
@@gavinadams4572 I think the save CAN work, it may just take some finagling. Most emulators will see each disc as a separate game and use separate file and naming structures for each game, so when you go to change to your second disc and try to load your save from disc 1, it likely wont work. I THINK this can be solved by going into your saves folder in your RetroArch install directory and finding your "Final Fantasy VII (disc 1).srm" file and changing it to match the name of your disc 2. This would likely be "Final Fantasy VII (disc 2).srm" and it should then work. I have not tried this method myself though as I just used the M3U method in the video to begin with. You can do the same thing in the "states" folder if you are using save states I do believe. Also, if you already have a save from your disc 1 you can still go ahead and follow the method in the video and then change the disc 1 save in your saves folder to be the name of M3U entry you just created (probably just "Final Fantasy VII (USA)" or something like that. That way you get to keep your save but also use the M3U method. I have definitely tried this and so have other people in the comments so I know this way will work, just be sure to backup your save just in case.
thank you so much for this! you saved me. Was in the middle of playing Parasite Eve and had this issue when it asked me to swap discs. I will add that i messed up a couple times because didnt realize my files were 7z and had to be unzipped, i used 7zip to help with that and was able to get the cue files
Thank you for the kind words! I am glad you figured it out, I use winrar myself but 7zip works just as well too for .zip .7zip .rar, etc just remember this going forward because you may run into more zipped files :) Also, GREAT game choice, I just beat Parasite Eve myself a couple of months ago, I had played it a time or two back in the day but always wanted to run through it, had a lot of fun with it, I really like the gun upgrade systems. I haven't played the second yet, I might do that in the future.
Oh yes, great choice! I recently picked up the English Translation patched version and made an m3u of the two discs. I definitely need to play it, along with some other Saturn titles (I never had a Saturn back in the day so discovering all of these games is like Christmas morning).
@@WatsonatorTV You should differently play it, It's really Good! and so far, I have beaten Disc 1. and i've been enjoying the Story and the Characters in this Sega Saturn Classic! ^ ^
a small tip from me: I like to place all my single disk ps1 games and my m3u files in the same folder (Sony Playstation). and then have subfolders for each multidisk game. I then leave the m3u in the main folder and let them just point to the subfolders like this: # Resident Evil 2 (Europe) /Resident Evil 2 (Europe)/Resident Evil 2 (Europe) (Disc 1).chd /Resident Evil 2 (Europe)/Resident Evil 2 (Europe) (Disc 2).chd that is the content of my Resident Evil 2 (Europe).m3u The first line is what Launchbox will read the game as, though it is not needed - but might be good for roms where the romnaming is not what you want.
This is a great tip and actually similar to how I have it set up but never explicitly showed it in the video so thank you very much for the info as a comment so people can see it. There is a lot of good information in this comment section for people to check out. I am also going to quote myself from another comment where I show some pics of this file structure and how I have it set up on my hard drive. Your method works great for Dreamcast games too because you have to have files with the same name in different folders and there could be multiple files that are called "Track01". This has the m3u in the same folder but shows how to set up a file structure for this type of thing: "First off you have to make sure that you have the files set up correctly. I think the easiest thing to do is just create a folder database where you keep all of your game files and roms. I just have an area on one of my hard drives where I list all of my platforms like this: i.imgur.com/Ei6dGSi.png If I click on my "PSX Roms" folder it will list all of my games and have a different folder for every game. So create a new folder in here that says "Thousand Arms (USA)" and it should appear like this: i.imgur.com/OQFsmqr.png Now if you open that folder you want to put all of your bin and cue files for both CD1 and CD2 into here. There may be multiple tracks for a single Disc, this is fine, for my copy it has two different tracks for Disc 2, this is normal. After that we need to make an m3u file for it like I did in the video. This is how that folder looks and how it should look on your end too: i.imgur.com/WOgRL17.png If your folder doesn't look like that or have the files in this format then that could be what is causing the issues. You may need to re-attain the files, you can find Thousand Arms here, these are the files I am using: cdromance.com/psx-iso/thousand-arms-usa/ If you were to click on the Thousand Arms m3u file in that folder it should look like this: i.imgur.com/hc2CbUI.png Now that you have all of the formatting done, you just need to go into RetroArch and do a "manual scan" for the folder and the m3u file we just created. Make sure select "Playstation" for system name and type "m3u" for file type, like this: i.imgur.com/VZ0TumA.png And then it should show up with just a single m3u entry in your Playstation playlist afterwards like it did for me: i.imgur.com/BeZEvyE.png
One question, I'm already playing through Disc 1 of Mr Bones with save states throughout, would moving the files for disc's 1 and 2 into a single folder to create the n3u affect mednafens memory of my save states?
Hey there, I touch on this a little at the end but I probably should have gone into a little more detail. So once you have followed the video and created an m3u file and have it imported into your RetroArch it will probably now be in the playlist as "Mr Bones (USA)" or similar. Make sure you have removed any entries in your RetroArch Ps1 section that show CD 1 or CD 2 or whatever, you only need the m3u "Mr Bones (USA)" as your game launcher now. Once you are at this point you then want locate your save data locations for RetroArch (Program Files \ RetroArch \ saves AND Program Files \ RetroArch \ states). Inside of these you should find all of the save files that corresponds to your Disc 1 saves in each folder, and they will likely be called "Mr Bones (Disc 1) (USA).srm" in the saves folder and "Mr Bones (Disc 1) (USA).State1/state2/etc" in the states folder. Whichever of these saves that you want to use, you are going to rename it to match up to your new m3u entry. You are not changing the file type, just the name to match whatever it is from the m3u, im guessing it will just be "Mr Bones (USA).StateX" now without the disc tag part. That SHOULD be all you have to do as long as it matches up perfectly to the name. It has been a while since I've done it but I remember doing this for something in the past without an issue. I am not sure if it gets a little weird when you are saving using both the in game/memory card save and also using save states, but I think it's the same process for both, you would just rename the save state you have with the disc version to match up to the m3u version but keep the same file type. There might be more info on this thread here: www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/kqn6c3/saves_not_showing_up_after_creating_m3u_file_in/ Good luck.
Before I try anything that'd fail, I'd like to ask; will the m3u method work with CHD files as well? If so, I'll be able to clean up my entire file system!
It sure will, I have a lot of CHD files now after making this video and they all work just fine formatted with m3u. CHD for the win, much less file size
First of all, congratulations for the amazing video you made. I'm doing all the procedure you show for sega saturn for shining force 3 and the problem I'm facing is that when I load it starts m3u and with the 3 scripts I've made I can't skip to the next disc. As I have finished scenario 1 and want to start scenario 2 by saving from scenario 1. Can you tell me how to do it?
I have an odd issue using RA with Caprise32 for the Amstrad CPC games. Your tutorial works perfect. Thank you very much. There´s only for that paradox thing. Caprice32 doesn´t load unzipped dsk-files (the cat/bin commands are useless here also) and the files have to be unzipped to work with RA's disc-change system. Do you have any idea how to solve that issue?
Hey there, thank you so much for the kind words! I want to start out saying that I unfortunately haven't had much experience with any of the PC emulation stuff within RA. I will say that it is DEFINITELY next on my to-do list though because I am dying to try out some CPC, Atari ST, ZX spectrum, C64, etc games. Some of it does seem kinda tricky. Have you tried just creating an M3U with the zipped files as the m3u list? I know you said that the disc-change system needs them to be unzipped, but I feel like I read something in a recent update about how RA now acts differently with zipped files (very recent update actually) and it might be able to do it on the fly for you or something? I will have to look more into this and get back with you because I would likely have been in the same spot as you very soon haha.
@@WatsonatorTV Hi and thank you for your answer. Yes, I tried m3u with zipped files but that didn't work. The issue is, that RA recognize those only as an archive and doesn't realize those as 2nd discs. Instead RA tries to boot from the archives what leads to a reboot with the second disc and a complete restart of the core emulation, only with the second disc. Doesn't work. I even tried to make them mixed, 1st disc zipped and 2nd one unzipped but as said, the unzipped versions don't work at all. Very tricky and I find that behavoir of RA contradictory and utterly absurd. It doesn't make any sense at all. I hope you'll invest further in that matter, as those emulations are not too popular. If they where, there would already be a solution for it. But you'll find nothing on the internet about it. People mostly use SNES and PSP stuff only. Please keep me updated. Highly appreciated. Cheers PS. I posted a new thread on the Launchbox forum also. No answer yet. As soon there will be something useful, I'll get back to you. But expectations are very low.
For some reason renaming the text files refuses to change them from Txt files to .m3u. (And refuses to have any effect as a result). Anyone know what the issue could be? :v EDIT: nvm I figured out that sticking point. You absolutely have to select "Show file name extensions" in the "view" dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the window. Otherwise it will just segregate the file name away from the file type.
Ok so that worked for the disk change but I don't have the save file how do I get the old save from when I was just playing disk one by its self? Never mind I got thank you!
Thank you for the kind words, glad you figured it out! You should just be able to find the old save file in your RA directory that has the name of disc1 and you can change it to match the new game title of the m3u. Cheers!
How come even when I follow the guide exactly my RetroArch playlist still shows multiple discs of the same game on my playlist? Otherwise everything else works perfectly.
Nevermind! It was because instead of a space in between the CUE and m3u files I used a comma and retroarch did not like that lol. Just leaving the comment up and this reply so someone does not make the same mistake as me! Thanks for the video good sir!
@@WatsonatorTV Well I'm back. FF7 worked just fine except for one thing: saving. From googling that seems to be a problem for a lot of people. If I load the m3u it won't read the disc2 saves. When I load disc 2 directly it works. It could probably be fixed by manipulating save file names but there's 3 file types and 6 files in total and I don't even know where to begin.
Made it work by just replaying and saving again. I wonder if it was important to save at the cd switch section because after that it seems to be no problem what so ever. Thansk again for this video :)
Hmmm, I am not sure I have ever come across this. For the most part I am using CHD files now anyway since they are easier to work with and are always in just a single file per disc (also works for multiple different systems, I will likely make an updated video in the near future). Just curious which game is it? I have a pretty large collection and I kept all of my old bin/cue files so I could see if mine is like that too if I happen to have it. I would probably try to find another source if it was me. This is from the reddit roms megathread page here: r-roms.github.io/ and a large CHD library here from archive dot org: archive.org/download/chd_psx/CHD-PSX-USA/
It's on me! I like to get rid of the (USA) and such, generally... as long as it is exactly as it appears, does that still end up working? I'll find out eventually, either way haha
Hey there, I think they best way to go about that is to do everything normal and then at the very end you can go into the RetroArch playlist settings and there should be an option for each of your playlists to turn off country tags in parenthesis. To find this setting, go to the second column, down to playlists -> manage playlists -> select your list -> Label Display Mode -> Remove () content You can also try to just label it ahead of time and do the m3u file normally but not include the tags, that might also work. Cheers.
Hey there, no need to apologize! First off just double check that you have file extensions showing, at the top under "view," make sure "file name extensions" is check marked that way you aren't accidentally doing a double file extension, also under "view" you can change the layout to "details". Make sure .m3u is at the end of your file and its not something like "GameName.m3u.txt" or any type of double extension. If it just has .m3u at the end and under the "type" column for details view it should just say "M3U," if so, then you should be good even if it is technically associating the files with a media player. The reason it does this is because m3u can be used in a number of different programs and apps for different playlists for all types of media. If this bothers you though, one way you should be able to remedy this is just by right clicking any .m3u file and go down to properties. In the "general" tab there should be an option near the top that says "open with" and you can change the program here that is associated with it, just make this notepad. example image: i.imgur.com/RpnwP0I.png Let me know if for some reason you are still having any issues but that should take care of it. Cheers!
@@WatsonatorTV Ok, so the type is m3u got that fixed thank you, but how do i add the cue files inside it since its now a media player? Sorry for asking again but it's been days and i really cant wait to play it again 🙈 Edit: Oh my God im super duper sorry but for some reason I didn't think I could open the notepad since it's a media player but all i had to was show more apps and pick notepad im so sorry 😭
@@elnathanmariopradana7783 No problems, happy to help! So if you have already started a save before and you then created an m3u file afterwards and you want to move that disc 1 save to the single m3u file, this is definitely do-able. You must first find your saves folder within your RetroArch install directory, I have my RA installed to a separate hard drive but for most people it is likely "C:\Program Files (x86)\Retroarch\saves" . I have an example image of mine pulled up below and the "saves" folder highlighted: i.imgur.com/3nF3Lsj.png In the saves folder you are going to find your game save as an srm file and the name of the file should be the name of your game, something like "GAMENAME Disc 1.srm". When you find the old disc 1 save, all you have to do is rename the file to be the new RetroArch m3u entry. You dont even have to open the file, just simply change the name from "GAMENAME Disc 1.srm" to be the new "GAMENAME.srm" and it MUST be the exact same name as it appears in RetroArch. Be careful to keep the ".srm" at the end so it stays the same file type. And that is it, if you changed the name the save will then work in the m3u game entry. If you have a save state instead of a traditional save, you can do the exact same method as above but instead of going to the saves folder in the RA install directory, you are going to find the "states" folder instead. Good luck!
I'm having trouble switching discs with Shenmue. I followed the steps and made a m3u file and added the .cue files, but when I enter the game it I open disc one. I get to the screen where it asks to change discs and go through the menu options to switch. It's switched to disc 2 and then I get the same message to change to disc 2. There are also .bin and .gdi files that I didn't include. I might need more help with this.
@@sashagirl38 Glad to see you got it working! I will post a little information just in case you or someone else needs it: I assume you mean Shenmue for the Sega Dreamcast. Dreamcast games with multiple discs are slightly different since the track files for each of the discs usually have the same file name and therefore cant be next to one another in a folder (or else they would overwrite each other). So you have to create different sub-folders for each disc and put the M3u file next to the subfolders and then include the whole file location in the M3U lines. I have Shenmue in my collection and this is what the folder looks like: Shenmue (Dreamcast) folder in my roms: i.imgur.com/KbSVkQA.png If I was to open one of the disc folders it would look like this: Shenmue (Disc 1) folder: i.imgur.com/vzX5uwh.png If I was to open the M3U it would look like this: Shenmue (Dreamcast) m3u file: i.imgur.com/dTdeKRO.png (obviously your locations will be slightly different, this is just where my own PERSONAL locations are, just use this for reference) If you need help importing it, just be sure to use the manual search and fill out the correct system name and core and for file type put "m3u" and it should ONLY pull in the single M3U file for your new playlist entry and not all of the other discs. I assume you did all of that correctly since you got it working, just leaving this here in case someone else has a similar issue. Unfortunately I can't check all of the in-game disc changing spots since I don't have save files at the appropriate places, It's possible that some of the disc swapping spots work a little differently sometimes.
This is likely because m3u can also be used as playlist files in media players. It actually is okay that it is associating itself like this, as long as the m3u file type is there it doesn't matter what it opens. You can just right click the m3u file and open it with whatever you want. If this is annoying you though and/or it is somehow preventing you from making the file at all then try this: Right click your start button and then click "settings", then click on "Apps". Once here click on the "Default Apps" selection on the left side. Scroll to the button and click the line that says "choose default apps by file type" it should look like this: ( i.imgur.com/RBsDfWz.png ). That might take a second to load, but once that menu is up, you are going to find the "m3u" file type on the left hand side and change the association to open with notepad, it should look like this: ( i.imgur.com/EUW2pi5.png ). Once you have that changed make sure that it saves and that SHOULD solve your issues. Hope that helps.
Unfortunately I haven't played around with Retrobat so I am not entirely sure how the disc swap process works, but I do know that they have support for M3U, so I would guess that there is definitely SOME way to swap, you might just have to explore the menus. I also saw this randomly: wiki.retrobat.org/advanced-features/batgui Which is a tool that can generate m3u files for certain platforms and do some other stuff, there might be some more info there about it. I will get back to you if I hear anything more about Retrobat and multi disc stuff.
I've done the same as in the video like 5 times and it still doesnt work , the game opened , but there is a black screen , it said that the 1 disc was loaded but nothing happened
Hmm, not sure what is going on off the top of my head but if it definitely popped up with the message that disc 1 was loaded then it seems like the m3u is working because an m3u file simply functions as a playlist director telling the program which file/disc to access and it seems like it did it's job. If I had to guess it just seems like the files themselves are having an issue for whatever reason. I get black screens quite often from PS1 games on RetroArch when i try to start them, regardless of what file types I use, even in single disc games, but usually a restart of the program will fix it next time. I would recommend maybe trying a fresh copy of the file. If you are using Bin.Cue maybe try to use it in CHD form instead, it's a smaller file type and easier to work with. What game are you trying to load by chance, I can test it out later on my end and link you to the file when I get a chance. It might be worth a shot.
Do you know how to get it to work on android? I try it, and it keeps making it a music file. Thanks for the video tutorial! Nevermind, I discovered how to make it work.
Hey there, thank you so much for the kind words and sorry about the late reply. I am glad you got it to work! I was going to say that I unfortunately haven't tried RetroArch yet on anything other than Windows. I really probably should though, that way I can tell people the difference and maybe make a separate video. Maybe you can help me then, how different was the process to get it set up on Android? (that is what I also have).
@WatsonatorTV Sorry for the late response, but the process wasn't too different. I used Notepad++ to make the .m3u file with all the .cue files in it. The only difference was that I had to play a game and scroll to the game list section to add a new game. Other than that, no problems, and it's easy!
it sure does. I will show you some example images for Night Trap on Sega CD: Image 1 is of my Sega CD games all in separate folders: i.imgur.com/mGZ4sPy.png Image 2 is the Night Trap folder containing all of the bin/cue files: i.imgur.com/QWsAP9T.png Image 3 is of the actual m3u file: i.imgur.com/EWM9USE.png So basically the same thing. If you end up trying to do Sega Dreamcast games or some other consoles, you may have to create separate folders for each of the discs since the track files might have the same name and you cant have two files next to each other with the same name (see the pinned comment at the top of the comment section that I made for more info on this). Cheers, good luck.
Hey having trouble loading the m3u files. My normal rom files (bin files) work just fine in the emulator but when i try load the m3u file retroarch immediately closes application. i followed the instructions too a t, watched other videos and still cant get the rom to load. I already felt the pain of of completing the first disc only to find my save didnt carry over lol. pls help us out, i just want to play panzer dragoon saga aha
Hey there, sorry you are having issues getting it all to work correctly. I am going to try my best to help you out here. Disclaimer though, I have only ever used RetroArch for PC and I have heard that it functions very differently for other platforms, so everything I mention here is likely only applicable for PC RetroArch (and the newest version of it too, they often update the m3u support for certain cores so make sure you have the newest version). I apologize if this gets a little long, I just want to be thorough. So first off, Sega Saturn can sometimes look a little different than other platforms for it's multiple disc games because a lot of times each of the cue files and discs have multiple track files that go along with them. I have noticed some cores load from the bin directly and others use the cue files. I actually have Panzer Dragoon Saga in my collection and I just tested my m3u to make sure it's still working, so I will start out by showing you images of how I have the file structure set up on my hard drive, starting from the top (click on the image links as you see them and follow along with me). I first have all of my ROM files setup in a portion of my hard drive where I list all of the platforms like this: i.imgur.com/LZNtS7j.png If I then click on Sega Saturn, it shows my collection of Saturn games within individual folders like this: i.imgur.com/dBzBnX7.png Next, if I go into the Panzer Dragoon Saga folder, it looks like this: i.imgur.com/sEYBPGO.png Now that last image is important. Make sure that your files look like this within your Panzer Dragoon Saga folder. I guess it is possible that files from different sources could have been ripped differently and therefore your folder MIGHT look different, but I am fairly certain it should look like mine. If it doesn't, I would recommend maybe starting fresh with a new copy of PDS, I am pretty certain I obtained mine from: cdromance.com/ Okay next, if I was to double click on the m3u file, it looks like this: i.imgur.com/hUKDvgq.png Of course like I said in the video, if your Panzer Dragoon Saga file is named differently, it should match with the file name (though it should probably be the same anyway if you download the same ROM I am using from above). Then if I was going to do a direct manual import of this M3U file for Panzer as the new title in RetroArch, the manual scan screen should look like this: i.imgur.com/2gZQz15.png The top line of course being the file path for wherever you have the m3u file located. If I then hit start at the bottom, it would import the M3U file as the new item in the Sega Saturn Playlist, thus having a single "Panzer Dragoon Saga" listed without having a bunch of discs: i.imgur.com/vcFMROb.png If everything I posted above makes sense and you definitely had your m3u file formatted the same way already and imported it like this, I would at least try with a fresh copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga from the website I posted, and maybe also make sure you have the newest RA installed (and like I said this info is only for PC, I have no experience with the other versions). It is also worth mentioning that I am using the Beetle Saturn core for Sega Saturn, NOT any of the other cores RA has available (not sure if all of them work with m3u, but I know Beetle Saturn does so double check you are using BEETLE SATURN for your core). Beyond this I am not too sure what else could be causing the problem, hopefully seeing how I have mine set up has shed some light on the issue for ya. I also wanted to mention that if you still have your save file from the first disc you may still be able to use it. I only mention it briefly in the video at the end, but RetroArch stores your saves in a folder and if you go into these files manually with notepad you can actually change the game name from whatever it says to match with the new M3U file title and then it should read the save just fine, I have had to do this before myself. Anyway, let me know how it goes. Good luck.
@@zorbatheprince I have a Twitter and Instagram, should be linked at the bottom of the video description in all of my videos. My apologies if I don't respond right away, I usually check my YT more often.
@@WatsonatorTV it says that you cant be messaged on twitter, cant seem to contact you through instagram either. and dont feel like youre in a rush. anytime works man
Absolutely it does, I have both of these in my collection, let me show you what the folders look like and the m3u files below: Panzer Dragoon Saga in the folder: i.imgur.com/kTORXi7.png M3U file from the folder above: i.imgur.com/QYOTXBe.png My Lunar SSS is actually only a single .bin but I think that's because I have a fan ENG translation or something. I also wanted to show you what it looks like if you have track files that have the same exact file name and therefore can't be next to each other in a folder. Sometimes this is how it is for Sega Dreamcast games. I will use Skies of Arcadia for that example: Skies of Arcadia folder: i.imgur.com/sTBuOn4.png folder for Disc 1: i.imgur.com/LOYUVD7.png folder for Disc 2: i.imgur.com/jE88ETQ.png m3u file: i.imgur.com/BCRORRh.png Hope this helped, when you go to import the m3u file just be sure to do the manual scan and select the appropriate console and type "m3u" as the filetype, it should only pull in the single m3u file and not all of the individual discs. Gonna "heart" this comment so more people can see it, thanks for asking! Edit: Oh here is my Lunar SSS for PSX instead of Saturn if you'd like to see that: Lunar SSS for PS1 in folder: i.imgur.com/3JRpIGH.png Lunar SSS for PS1 m3u: i.imgur.com/51KVLGS.png
Hey there, and yes it should work for most file types: Not all games will be in a bin/cue file format. For example, if you are doing an m3u file for a Sega Dreamcast game, it will likely be in a .cdi or .gdi format, if it is a gamecube game it might be in .nkit.iso format. This is fine, you create the file the same way but the extension will just be different. Also check out either the video description or the pinned comment I have in the comments of this video if you need to, I give an example of Dreamcast and PS2 games since they work a little different and may require creating subfolders. Cheers
Hmmm, I am not sure about that. I have a pretty big library of around 200 Saturn games and about half of them are in CHD format and the other half are bin/cue format, I've never seen ONLY a bin before. My Deep Fear is bin/cue check it out: i.imgur.com/NExinIu.png (Deep Fear files in the folder) i.imgur.com/NExinIu.png (m3u of Deep Fear) I would maybe just try another source, I generally get all of my Saturn from here now: archive.org/details/chd_saturn The link I gave is for CHD files, for any multidisc games in CHD you just use the chd files it gives you so if you get Deep Fear from that page the m3u would look like this: Deep Fear (USA) (Disc 1) (Unl).chd Deep Fear (USA) (Disc 2) (Unl).chd Cheers Edit: As a followup I also wanted to add that a cue file is actually very similar to an m3u file and is basically just text that you can create yourself. So if you know what is supposed to go in the cue you can probably just type it out in a notepad and then change the file type to "cue". That MIGHT work if you were dead set on keeping the file you already downloaded, I think it would be easier to just get a different copy of the game though.
I have started this painfull convertion , but I am still quite unhappy with this. It is still a mess of roms files and folders. I would like a single file per game period. How we cannot have in 2023 a file format which includes multi discs + multi versions (pal , ntsc, Japan usa) into a simple file (compressed or not )? All of this is still a bandaid and we cannot easily handle games roms.
A new file type would definitely be a welcome change. I guess I look at everything a different way though. I personally love tinkering around with files and setting up my own file database how it works for me and getting everything in order, it's a rather enjoyable process to me. To each their own I guess, I'll admit I'm probably a unique situation. I can also see where you are coming from though, if you aren't into that kind of thing and you just want to sit down and play a game, but you have to basically learn how file types work and how different emulators function and how the naming schemes all work, I get it. I think it's one of the reasons I made these videos in the first place, to try to make it a bit easier for the people that DON'T like this kind of thing. I wish I could simplify it more for ya. I think if you start from the ground up with a good file structure though, that makes sense to YOU, everything can be pretty straight-forward. I basically only use RetroArch and because I have a well kept database, everything just falls into place with a single entry and I never have to worry about searching for games or stressing out about versions or where my rom hacks are, etc. And anytime you add in a new file it's super easy to just drag and drop wherever it belongs and then re-import in RA. But ya it can take a little effort to get everything in order and develop your file collection in such a way to begin with and can see how some people would NOT be interested. As far as the different versions go and having multiple copies of the same game (PAL, JP, NTCS), that can definitely be a bit annoying, but in my eyes I just see them as a separate game entirely usually, since most of the time the different versions correlate to an actual disc or cart that exists in the wild, so that really doesn't bother me and in a lot of cases I see it as a necessity because they all act differently and in certain situations I may prefer one over the other (speed runs, PAL being slightly different aspect ratio, etc). I agree that having them all under one title and then choosing the version after that would be pretty awesome. But yeah I definitely hear what you are saying and would be all for a change, but in the meantime I'm fairly happy with how I have my files set up, no headaches or painful processes here, I am going to post some collection images below for anyone that cares to see how I have everything formatted on the back end, more examples in other comments: Roms folder that I have allocated on a hard drive: i.imgur.com/jmWKhZm.png Sega Saturn example folder: i.imgur.com/zjn8nuv.png Example Saturn game with m3u: i.imgur.com/nEC7SS9.png NES example folder: i.imgur.com/eBoZa13.png TLDR: I hear what you are saying but I would disagree with the statement that "we cannot easily handle games roms" because everything comes pretty easy once you understand it all and correctly structure everything. But if you aren't interested in understanding it all in the first place and you just want to play games, it can definitely be overwhelming at the very least.
@@WatsonatorTV thanks for the answer, this has nothing to do with you and your video which was well done , just the need to whine this is because I have more than 3k games that need to be unzip and be consolidated as m3u. Need to write a script.... Etc...
@@jonathanmegevand3266 I didn't take anything personally, and I honestly agree with a lot of what you said, some changes would definitely be welcomed! Considering how far everything else has come you would think there could be some advances.
Bit of a late comment, but if you ever do get around to answering this comment I'd like to ask. When i add the .m3u suffix, instead of opening a text file, it opens a media player application. Was wondering if you could help in getting around this. Thanks again, W video.
Hey there thank you for the kind words, I should be able to help you out with that. The reason it's trying to open it with a media player is probably because m3u files can be used with just about ANY file type and a lot of times they are used with media/music for playlists and stuff with media players. This SHOULD just be a general windows association thing and you can likely get around it in a couple of ways. First off, go to "view" at the top of your window and make sure that you have the box checked that says "show file name extensions," that way in the file type column you can double check that it is absolutely an m3u file. From here you can right click the file and then go to "open with" and select notepad or wordpad or microsoft word or any program like this. To get it to keep the association, you can right click the file, go down to "properties" and in the general tab towards the top, there should be a box that says "opens with" and a button to change which program it will open with. Finally you can also go into your windows settings and select the category that says "Apps". In here select "default apps" on the left side. Scroll down near the bottom and click the line that says "choose default apps by file type" and in here you can find m3u files and select which program you would like to associate with this specific file type going forward (notepad or whatever), that way you dont have to do it for every single m3u file you have. You may not have to do this last step, it might automatically start associating all m3u files once you change one of them, but if not you can do this. Hope that helps, cheers!
@@SlightlyBurntToast5689 It does need the tag, exactly like it has it on the database, BUT there is a setting in RetroArch to turn them off once you have them all in your list so that you dont have to see things in parenthesis or brackets. You can find some good stuff on "The Archive" which would be this: archive.org/ There is the reddit main rom thread too that will likely link back to some things on archive: www.reddit.com/r/Roms/comments/m59zx3/roms_megathread_40_html_edition_2021/ If I am looking for one offs I go here a lot: cdromance.org/ and sometimes: vimm.net/
I had no idea about this. I'm 40 hours into FF8 and just got to Galbadia on Disc2...went to load up disc 2 later today and the saves are not on the memory card. Only disc1 saves are showing up. Now I have no idea what to do or how to get it back. I'm pretty annoyed.
I backed up my saves just in case...and then proceeded to rename the .srm file from (USA) (DISC 2).srm to match the name of the .m3u file. Now it won't even recognize there are any saves. Also if there are multiple .srm files (disc 1), (disc2)...then I assume you can only have the one .srm file for the .m3u. I'm using SwanStation btw.
@@unrealengine5-storm713 Hey there, so I was going to comment and recommend doing what it appears you have already tried in your follow up comment. For RetroArch this is exactly how you do it, rename the old disc save to match the title of the m3u and it will then be loadable. I will admit though that I have never used SwanStation and I have no idea if it is any different or how it handles saves and m3u. I would assume it would be the same or very similar to RetroArch but I can't say for certain. As for your second question I am still a bit iffy on how this all works myself. For example I recently started playing Koudelka which is a 4 disc PS1 game. I started out using the m3u and I have been saving using both save states and the normal hard saves in game. I have multiple memory card saves for this game at multiple points throughout the playthrough on different discs. If I go into my Retroarch save files though, there is only a single Koudelka.srm file, so I am not sure if its all consolidated into that one file or what. I also see a LDCI file and a MCR file for the game (Koudelka.ldci and Koudelka.mcr respectively). I believe one of these files is responsible for noting what disc you are on. I am sorry I don't have a better answer for you but it seems like you have tried what I would recommend doing, you might have better luck on the libretro discord ( discord.com/invite/libretro-184109094070779904 ) or swanstation forums.
@@WatsonatorTV I appreciate your response and I can see your attention to care in the comments. Unfortunately I have not been able to get the previous save files to work using this method. I could start a game from scratch and save that way but I would prefer to continue my progress. I feel 99% certain I have correctly followed the instructions about the naming conventions in order to get the emulator to recognize the save files with the new setup. Without driving myself to insanity trying to get the saves to work, I have simply reverted to using the previous method for this playthrough. Thank you for the video and your feedback. Now I know how to more effectively approach multidisc games in RetroArch.
@@unrealengine5-storm713 thank you for the kind words! At 40 hours in no one can blame you there haha! At least it might help ya out in the future and with sorting your library. cheers Edit: I'm also going to keep this instance in mind and see if I can figure it out some time
Hey there. So I should have gone into this more in the video but I talk about it in a pinned comment here so I am just going to paste that info here: I wanted to also mention that not all games will be in a bin/cue file format. For example, if you are doing an m3u file for a Sega Dreamcast game, it will likely be in a .cdi or .gdi format, if it is a gamecube game it might be in .nkit.iso format. This is fine, you create the file the same way but the extension will just be different. Also, for Dreamcast you will likely need to put the discs in individual folders because the Tracks files will likely have the same name and therefore cannot be next to one another. If this is the case you will want to put the m3u file up one level and direct it to the .cdi/.gdi files. this is done by including the file pathway in front of the file name (since the m3u is no longer directly next to the files you must include the file pathway). For example if you have a game called ABC123: -create a master folder called "ABC123 (USA)" -put two subfolders inside this folder and call them "ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1)" and "ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2)" -extract the .cdi/.gdi file and the bin/raw files for each disc into the corresponding subfolder -create the m3u file inside of the main folder and next to the two subfolders -since the m3u is not directly next to the .gdi/.cdi files you must include the full pathway in the text lines -The m3u will look something like this depending on where you have your files: C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast Roms\ABC123 (USA)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1 of 2).gdi C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast Roms\ABC123 (USA)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2 of 2).gdi I hope this makes sense. You need to get creative sometimes, just remember that if your m3u file is not directly next to the files it directs to, you will need to include the full pathway in the text line. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PS2 The way I have PS2 games setup is pretty much identical to the PS1 games except that instead of them being bin/cue they are all just ISO. so for example I have a big Roms database folder where I keep all of my roms and then in that folder I have it setup into different systems like this: imgur.com/jm7RDQX Then when I open up my PS2 folder it has all of my games like this: imgur.com/SKERV3z The only game I have right now that is multiple discs is Shadow Hearts Covenant, you will see it close to the top of the last pic and notice I put it in it's own separate folder, that is where the M3u file goes. If I open up that Shadow Hearts folder, it looks like this inside of it, this is how you need to setup multiple disc games: imgur.com/98wAaJq And if I double click on the m3u file it looks just like it does in the video, just like this: imgur.com/7vl4D4P _______________________________________________________ I hope that helped you out. To answer your question more directly, no you don't want to create any files. You can view the m3u as a type of playlist file, all it is doing is telling the program what order to arrange the discs so you only want to list the disc data in the m3u (be it a cue file or iso, or something else).
I'm using emulation station on steam deck and it doesn't recognise the M3U file? Looking on my computer, it still tags it as a Text Document rather than an M3U file, is that the problem? I've named it 'Koudelka.m3u'
Hey there. So right off the bat I will say that I only have experience with RetroArch on Windows and I know that the different versions and forks of the program for different systems and platforms all behave a little differently, so it could just be a different process for SteamDeck which I am unsure of. If it is definitely supposed to be the same for SteamDeck and Windows though, double check the M3U file on your computer. You said that it is still being tagged as a Text Document so this MIGHT be the issue. It depends if the actual file type is a text document and it's something like "Koudelka.m3u.txt" or if it's just opening the M3u file with a text reader and its still truly an M3u file. If its the first example then that definitely wont work, if it's the latter then it should still work just fine. So in order to check this, I would go up top in your window and make sure under view that you have "file name extensions" checked. Also up top under view, change the view type to "details". That way in the "file type" column you can see what it truly is (we of course want it to say M3U file). You can also right click the file and click on "open with" and then click on notepad or something that way it always opens with notepad, but that doesnt necessarily mean it's a text document (like how I have it in the video). I actually have a copy of Koudelka in my collection so I will paste some images of what my Koudelka folder looks like and the m3u file inside of it: Koudelka in my PS1 collection: i.imgur.com/0gn5kRU.png If I open the Koudelka folder (note that in the "type" column it labels it as M3U and not a text doc): i.imgur.com/b1TToSs.png If I double click on the Koudelka.m3u file: i.imgur.com/AMuuGjB.png If you have the file extensions on you will be able to tell if there is some type of text document file extension at the end and remove it. Beyond just double checking it to make sure that it is an M3u file truly and not a text document, I would see if anyone out there has some info on RetroArch in SteamDeck and see if it's all supposed to work the same as I am unsure myself. You might have some luck on the SteamDeck reddit or EmulationStation/RetroArch reddits. I am going to do some research on how M3U works with other handhelds in the meantime since I just got a Miyoo Mini Plus. Hopefully in the future I will do a separate video on RetroArch for other platforms. Good luck to ya.
Oh and one more thing (make sure to read the longer comment first), when you go to import the game in RetroArch I usually do the manual scan and then be sure to select Playstation for the console type and then under the file type just use "m3u" and it should ONLY pull in the m3u file to your playlist and none of the discs. I am not sure if EmulationStation has a manual import like this or not.
As another comment a day later, I also wanted to leave you with this link. This RUclips channel is great for handheld emulation stuff and he has a new video on a steam deck emulation guide, highly reccomended: ruclips.net/video/Y5r2WZAImuY/видео.html
This is Awesome! I'm sure this is going to work on my Retro Handheld as well because I'm running Batocera on it and it uses Retroarch cores for emulation. Also, any idea if this is going to work on Duckstation standalone?
Hey there! I honestly don't have TOO much knowledge on any recent handheld emulation. I used to have a hacked PSP running some emulators but I don't think I ever had RetroArch on it and it's been at least 14 years since I've played around with it. If it is using RetroArch cores though then I would certainly think it should work with m3u files. As far as Duckstation goes, I read some information that says Duckstation DOES indeed support m3u files, but you must make sure it is updated because I believe it is a feature that has only recently been adopted within the last couple of years. I know some other programs will automatically create m3u files if it notices multi disc games, such as Launchbox. I also read this: "Known Retroarch cores that have m3u support are mednafen-saturn-libretro, mednafe-psx-libretro, and flycast-libretro."
Hmmm. I am unsure about this. Are you definitely on the most up to date version for PC? I know that the versions on Steam or for Android and consoles all act very differently and I don't have much experience with these. If you are positive you are on the most up to date PC version, you can also go into your User Interface -> Menu Item Visibility and make sure that any of the disc or load options werent turned off somehow. Other than that the only other thing I can think of is just starting over with a fresh copy of RetroArch.
@@WatsonatorTVno, i'm on a retro box console i bought recently. The console uses retroarch and has preinstalled múltiple games and emulators. It all world fine, except that in Saturn, the discs option doesn't appear.
So an m3u is just a playlist file basically and it can be associated with any program and sometimes it will be associated with a media player or something, but as long as the file type is still m3u then that is all that matters. M3u can be used for any type of song or video file or rom or picture or whatever, this doesn't mean that is a video file or a "media file", it's still an m3u playlist file. As long as the actual file has the .m3u extension at the end, it will work just fine and it won't matter what it associates with. You can always just right click and "open with" a specific program, such as notepad, to edit it. If this is annoying you though and/or it is somehow preventing you from making the file at all then try this: Right click your start button and then click "settings", then click on "Apps". Once here click on the "Default Apps" selection on the left side. Scroll to the button and click the line that says "choose default apps by file type" it should look like this: ( i.imgur.com/RBsDfWz.png ). That might take a second to load, but once that menu is up, you are going to find the "m3u" file type on the left hand side and change the association to open with notepad, it should look like this: ( i.imgur.com/EUW2pi5.png ). Once you have that changed make sure that it saves and that SHOULD solve your issues. Hope that helps. But remember to keep in mind that all that matters is the file type and not the association or the icon that displays or what program opens with it.
Question 1: So I have a save of disc one of FF7 that I'm trying to transfer to my m3u file but for some reason it just won't transfer, because whenever I change the name of the bin file to match the name of the m3u version of FF7, it won't let me open it... Question 2: Disk 1 is called "Final Fantasy VII [Disc1of3] [U] [SCUS-94163].7z" disk 2 is called "Final Fantasy VII [NTSC-U] [Disc2of3] [SCUS-94164].zip" and disc 3 is "Final Fantasy VII [NTSC-U] [Disc3of3] [SCUS-94165].zip" Is disc one compatible with discs two and three since it's named different? Question 3: If they are compatible, then when I put those file names in the m3u file, do I need to put them in order of disc number, or the order of which they appear in my new FF7 folder? In my case, the numbers are out of order and I'm not sure what order I put them in... Sorry for all the questions, but this would really help out a lot to have the answers to...
Hey there, I will try my best to help you out. 1) If you created a save in RetroArch you will want to look in your RetroArch Install Directory and then locate both the "saves" folder and the "states" folder (for me this is E:\Programs and Games 2\RetroArch\saves and E:\Programs and Games 2\RetroArch\states but for you it might be on your C drive in program files or something along these lines). If you are trying to convert a memory card save, you need to find the corresponding .SRM file in the "saves" folder and if you are trying to convert a state save then you need to find the corresponding .state file. If you created a save in a different program, possibly on android or in DuckStation or another standalone emulator, it should also be compatible, you will just have to find wherever the save file is. So you shouldn't be needing to change the name of any bin files, this could be where the issue here is. So for example if you made a save in RetroArch, there should be an SRM file in the "saves" folder called something like "Final Fantasy VII [Disc1of3] [U] [SCUS-94163].srm" and you just need to change that to be whatever the new M3u title is and make sure to keep the file extension the same on the end. (might end up being something like "Final Fantasy VII (USA).srm" or whatever the new m3u title is called). 2) As long as the files were correctly together when the rom was created it shouldn't matter what the actual names are. So I would go into each zip and pull out all the of the bin and cue files from each zip archive and put them all together next to one another in a folder like this: i.imgur.com/CI3rwbr.png . Make sure that inside the m3u that it has all of the cue files listed, not the bin files, like so: i.imgur.com/iwtqDUD.png It is okay if yours are long titles and look different, as long as everything is copied correctly and spelled right. 3) You want to put it in order of Disc, remember that folder order can change all the time based on how you decide to sort it (alphabetical, or by size, or by file type, etc). If i was in your shoes I might look to download a new copy just so you know for a fact that it works together. You can get another in the bin/cue format if you want, but a good file type I have been using for disc games is .CHD because it is just a single file for each disc and usually the file types are smaller. You can find it here: archive.org/download/chd_psx/CHD-PSX-USA/ If you end up getting the CHD version, you should still be able to bring in your old save file using the method above. You will create the m3u the same way but the folder will look something like this: i.imgur.com/Mp9QrHd.png and the actual m3u will look like this: i.imgur.com/EoeLrlR.png I wish I had done this video using CHD as examples because that is what a lot of people are starting to use instead of bin/cue but the process is the same either way. Hope this helps, I will try to respond in a timely matter if you still need help.
@@WatsonatorTV Thank you for the feed back, I finally got it to work! After downloading new iso folders and making sure the srm file was the same name as the m3u file, the second disk loaded up and I can now continue the game! Very helpful video!
I'm sure it is, that's pretty tiny! Edit: I made this when I really had no idea how to edit and I have gotten at least a little better so I definitely want to do a more up to date version in the future. In the meantime, there is a lot of good information in the description and in the comments if you need to see something in writing.
Hey there, I also have a Miyoo Mini Plus and the steps for that are going to be a little different and required a bit of figuring some stuff out. Let me link you to the thread I posted on the Miyoo Reddit where I was figuring out how to do multi disc games: www.reddit.com/r/MiyooMini/comments/1382nz5/m3u_formatting_for_separate_folders_help_please/ There you will see what I went through and how I ended up getting it to work, it's a little tricky, I hope this helps because It has been a while since i've done it. Good luck.
I am pretty sure it does. I myself use the standalone Duck Station on Windows and I know that it works with that. I'm not positive about the android version but most likely.
Hey there, as of a couple of years ago DuckStation does indeed have support for M3U files. I have a large list of M3U files that are linked to a bunch of CHD file roms and DuckStation did a great job of pulling all of those in for me when I scanned my PSX folder. This was on PC though. I will say that I do not have any experience using DuckStation on android but I have heard that this does indeed work. You might want to check out some other sub reddits or discords because I personally haven't used it on android. I would start by just creating the m3u files on a PC and then see if you can create a stand alone folder that houses all of our m3u and rom files, but again I'm not too certain. Good luck, sorry I wasn't of more assistance.
does this work on duckstation also? I set it up but when I went to change disc it showed me all 6 (because the game had a cue/bin file for four disc) files.
Hey there. Yes it does indeed work with Duckstation, I also use it. I recently had to move my giant rom library over to a new external hard drive so my Duckstation was empty until just now. You comment led me to go ahead and add the new PS1 rom location folder and when it scanned it too brought in all of my m3u files but also the bin/cue, isos, chd, etc. It does a good job of finding all of the file types that it can associate with so you might just have to go through and manually delete the entries that say like "Disc 1, Disc 2, etc" and just keep the main entries for multi-disc games with the m3u files. Alternatively, you could keep your M3U files in a separate folder from your other games and do a scan ONLY for m3u file types and not the other file types and it would likely only bring in the m3u files that way and not a bunch of duplicates. I am not as familiar with Duckstation but I do believe this is possible. And if you happen to use retro achievements I can confirm that the m3u file will work just fine for multidisc games with achievements also in Duckstation (saw it pop up when I tried a few multidisc games through it just now).
Also here is an image of Final Fantasy VIII running on the m3u file after I added my library fresh again. I didn't even remove the disc 1, disc 2, disc 3, Disc 4 files in my library yet either, I was just running the m3u and when I go to change disc everything seems to be in order: i.imgur.com/zDJBuen.png
@@WatsonatorTV the folder being separate should indeed work. I followed this guide last night and it located the files as one file but also added multiple copies of the game -as it saw multiple files since the m3u folder was in with the original as well - so setting the folder by itself should do the trick. Thanks again for the very thorough response. I'll definitely check this out and reply back if any issues. Also.. subbed! Lol keep up the great work!
I'm having a similar issue as another person in this thread while trying to convert a save file from legend of dragoon on the PC (after completing the first disc and trying to move to disc 2). I have the m3u file along with a copy of the save file in the save directory in Retroarch. I've tried saving it as all the different file types like mcd, mcr, srm, and bsv with nothing working. I've even tried beetle PSX HW and reARMEd cores and couldn't get the save file to populate in game. I'm using 1.15.0 version of retroarch if that matters. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing wrong.
Hey there, I should have gone into the details slightly more in the video but I didn't want to make it too long. So I think if I am understanding correctly, you already started a playthrough of Legend of Dragoon when you had it divided up on multiple discs and you are at the part where you go from disc 1 to disc 2. So once you have followed the video and created an m3u file and have it imported into your RetroArch it will probably now be in the playlist as "Legend of Dragoon (USA)". Make sure you have removed any entries in your RetroArch Ps1 section that show CD 1 or CD 2 or whatever, you only need the m3u "Legend of Dragoon (USA)" as your game launcher now. Once you are at this point you then want to go into wherever your save data location is for RetroArch (Program Files \ RetroArch \ saves), it sounds like you have already located this. Inside of here there should be a save file that corresponds to your Disc 1 save and it will likely be called "Legend of Dragoon (Disc 1) (USA).srm". This is the file that you are renaming to now match up to your new m3u entry. You are not changing the file type, just the name to match whatever it is from the m3u, im guessing it will just be "Legend of Dragoon (USA).srm" now without the disc tag part. That SHOULD be all you have to do as long as it matches up perfectly to the name. It has been a while since I've done it but I remember doing this for something in the past without an issue. I am not sure if it gets a little weird when you are saving using both the in game/memory card save and also using save states, but I think it's the same process for both, you would just rename the save state you have with the disc version to match up to the m3u version but keep the same file type. There might be more info on this thread here: www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/kqn6c3/saves_not_showing_up_after_creating_m3u_file_in/ Good luck.
This is not working for my RG556. I've done this over and over and I still have multiple files in ES-DE. It's bugging the hell out of me. Funny thing though is that on my RG35xxH I only see the one entry. and that works perfectly. Same files. Only difference is my 35 uses batocera and my 556 uses ES-DE. Please help!
Hey there, I wish I had a solution for you but unfortunately I have no experience with that device. I will say though, I do have a Miyoo Mini Plus which uses the Onion OS and it requires a very specific method that I had to research and figure out. it took asking around the miyoo mini sub reddit to learn everything and I would guess that your device might be in a similar boat. Basically I had to configure the m3u files on my PC and then move all of the files onto the SD card into a very specific folder location. I also had to completely change the way I typed the file pathway within each and every m3u file and use a backslash instead of a forward slash to denote levels (or maybe it was vice versa). I can post the thread that explains everything but it will likely not help for your specific device and I would recommend seeing if you can find a sub reddit or discord dedicated to your OS or your device (at least that is likely what I would do in this situation).
@@WatsonatorTV Thank you so much for answering so quickly. There are many suggestions on reddit on how to do it but there's a lot of variation. What's strange is that by changing my theme it has changed the number of visable files so the issue I'm having fixes in that regard. I'll have to play around it seems. There's other file extensions to try. CHD, PBP. I guess I'll have to learn as I go. Thank you so much. I did learn a lot from your video and it worked for some files. Peace.
@@WatsonatorTV The strange thing is that both devices use retroarch and both are using emulation station. It's so odd. I've also noticed that some themes show all the files but some show only one. The RG556 is very new and is android based and the RG35xxh is linux. I'm still a novice but I'm learning more all the time. Thank you for your suggestions and advice. Your video did help me with some of my files.
Hey there. I mention this towards the end of the video and I said it pretty quickly so you might have missed it: If you have already begun a file the old way, in order to keep your same save, all you have to do is go into your RetroArch saves folder (probably C:\Program Files\RetroArch\saves and find your old save (it is probably called something like "Final Fantasy (USA) (Disc 1).srm" and all you have to do is rename it to match your new game title/m3u (probably change it to "Final Fantasy (USA).srm" or whatever your m3u was renamed to. You can see some other people in the comments doing this also. Hope that helps. Cheers. Edit: You probably want to back up your old save before renaming it too just in case.
I don't have any experience with Project Eris, however I do have a playstation mini somewhere around my house so I might have to play around with it in the future. After looking around a bit, it appears that Project Eris might be able to create it's own m3u file if the bin/cue files are named correctly. I saw this thread on Reddit, maybe it will help, I couldn't find much more info: www.reddit.com/r/classicmods/comments/ipcy53/multi_disc_game_question_for_project_eris/
hmm, that's odd. So after following the video and you get to a spot in your game where it tells you that you need to swap to disc 2, you swap over and then it immediately tells you to switch back? Something must have gone wrong somewhere. I can try my best to help out more but I'm not sure where to start. Are you using the newest RetroArch on Windows? I don't think these steps will work the same if it's not Windows. Also what game are you playing specifically? I might have it myself and can try to see how mine works and then send you some images of how I have the game set up.
@@WatsonatorTV I'm playing Sakura Wars English patched for the Sega Saturn. I'm using the most recent RetroArch for Windows. I got to my spot and at first disc 2 wasn't working, so I went to go fix that, and by the time i was done, i lost my spot :') I'll try again.
@@catenigma6352I too have Sakura Wars English patched for Saturn. I haven't yet played it but I do have it in my collection and I will take a look and make sure mine works. As far as saves go, the great thing about emulators is that they have a feature called "state saves" which will save the exact spot you are in at any moment and you can have multiple state saves in various slots and resume them at any time. for RetroArch you must pull up the RetroArch game menu when you have a game running, this is F1 key on the keyboard but also if you are using like a Playstation controller it should be the home button. I think I set mine to be select + start to pull it up. Anyway in this menu you will see the option to state save and state load and change the state slot. When using emulators I rarely even use the normal save method that a game has and just stick to state saves, it makes everything quick and easy and you don't have to worry about losing data or progress. So in the meantime I would maybe read a tutorial or 2 on the basics of RetroArch to make sure you know how the state saves work. If you are running the game through a correctly made m3u file, you should be able to state save with it and switch discs when you need to without any issues. I will take some screenshots later of my file structure and my Sakura Wars m3u file so you can make sure yours looks the same.
Hey there, I only have experience running RetroArch on Windows. BUT I just got my Miyoo Mini Plus in the mail and it has RetroArch so I am going to do some research. It is likely that the Anbernic and the Miyoo will function similarly. I am not sure about the SteamDeck though.
Hmm, unfortunately I have no experience at all with emulation on the PS Classic or Autobleem so I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction, I wouldn't know where to start to help. I did a bit of research though and apparently the emulator DOES support m3u files. I am going to list a few threads that MIGHT have some more information, I think PS classic has their own reddit page and Autobleem actually has their own discord too so maybe there are folks there who could help you more than I could. Some random threads I saw: gbatemp.net/threads/ps1-classic-and-multi-disc-games-with-autobleem-help.544699/ old.reddit.com/r/PlaystationClassic/comments/aelpnm/game_ini_setup_for_discs_multiple_tracks/ PS classic reddit: www.reddit.com/r/PlaystationClassic/ Autobleem discord: discord.com/invite/pCNR7P8 Good luck, sorry I can't assist you more, but apparently the people in the autobleem discord are quite helpful.
When i go to edit the m3u file it changes it to not open a text document only media player, will it work to add the .cue files as .txt document and then change it to a .m3u file?
Hey there, I think I can help with that. First off just double check that you have file extensions showing, at the top under "view," make sure "file name extensions" is check marked that way you aren't accidentally doing a double file extension, also under "view" you can change the layout to "details". Make sure .m3u is at the end of your file and its not something like "GameName.m3u.txt" or any type of double extension. If it just has .m3u at the end and under the "type" column for details view it should just say "M3U," if so, then you should be good even if it is technically associating the files with a media player. The reason it does this is because m3u can be used in a number of different programs and apps for different playlists for all types of media. If this bothers you though or you cant figure out how to open it with a notepad, one way you should be able to remedy this is just by right clicking any .m3u file and go down to properties. In the "general" tab there should be an option near the top that says "open with" and you can change the program here that is associated with it, just make this notepad. example image: i.imgur.com/RpnwP0I.png Once you have it associated with notepad you should just be able to go into it and start typing. If you wanted to start with a .txt file and type it out and THEN change it to M3U, I think this would also work, just be super careful you aren't double file typing or something. Let me know if for some reason you are still having any issues but that should take care of it. Cheers!
Correct, for the most part it should work the same way since all of those tracks are labeled within the cue file and the m3u contains the cue. I can't think of an example now but I definitely have some games that have a long list of .bin tracks. BUT, One thing you have to watch out for is if you have multiple discs that use the same name for tracks. For example a lot of dreamcast roms will have CD1 and a list of tracks like "Track01," "Track02," etc but CD2 will also have tracks with the exact same names "Track01," "Track02," and so on. So these files can't exist next to each other since they have the exact same file name. If you have a case like this you can just have individual folders for each of the CDS and then keep the M3u next to these folders. When you do this, you will need to make sure to include the entire file pathway label for each of the cue files rather than just the file name (since it will have to find it within the folder rather than being directly next to it). I give some picture examples in the pinned comment if you'd like to see it.
Yes it should because it uses RetroArch cores I do believe. I've noticed a lot of other programs making sure they can use it too like Duckstation. I don't know the details but Batocera should be good to go, saw some others in the comments mention that too.
So those are linking to the individual discs or cue files, you can remove all of the entries in your list that say "DISC" in the title. After you create the M3u file like I did in the video, you need to do a manual search for M3U type of files and it will then show the M3U file that does not have "disc" in the title. So to answer your question, you don't really change the title at all. You create an M3U file so in this case it would say "Final Fantasy VII" or whatever FF you are using and then when you do a manual search for the M3u file it will then appear in RA as "Final Fantasy VII". If your search pulled in the disc entries again just remove them, all you need is the M3U entry now.
Hello! I'm using a retropie and I'm playing FF7. I made the m3u playlist, but when I try to change discs, I'm not able to change the disc index. It just stays at '1.' What would be the cause of this?
Never mind, I figured it out. I guess it won't let you change the disc index until you open the disc tray. But I was still having issues with the second disc not playing - it was just giving me a black screen. It turned out the rom for the 2nd disc was messed up, but a new extraction from the same .zip file fixed the issue for some reason.
@@awfulfalafelwafflerofl2800 So glad you got it working. This will be good info for me going forward as I have never actually used RetroPie. I did a little googling on the subject and it seems the process might be a tad different too, I am glad you figured it out though as I was not sure.
This method will work basically the same for all systems that have m3u support within RetroArch, sometimes the file extensions will be different though. In the case of Saturn games it should be the exact same though. I will post a couple of pictures for examples. Here is my Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn game) rom folder with the m3u file inside of it: i.imgur.com/ddbv0Fk.png And here is the actual m3u file if I was to open it: i.imgur.com/yLtS5Fs.png You may also want to check the pinned comment on this video for another example with other platforms. Cheers!
Sooo like a dummy I started playing Grandia without making the m3u previously. I tried making it now so I can switch to Disc 2, but it won't load the memory card from Disc 1; it thinks there's no save file when I insert Disc 2 since it mistakes it as an entirely different game. Also made the m3u, and when I load that: same issue, or it will register only disc 1/2 (can't figure out how to load 2 through this). Is there something I can do in this circumstance? And also worth noting, the game can't load from Disc 1 from the main load menu, either, giving it a gray lock saying "wrong disc".
Yes there should be a way to fix this. I briefly mention this at the very end of the video where I say "if you are onboard with M3U but you have already begun a game using the old method..." but I will go ahead and elaborate on it a bit more here because I only touch on it a little bit. So I think it makes sense that nothing can load for you on your Disc 1 because it is reading it is a fresh game with no prior saves on it yet. You should be able to switch to Disc 2 by just going to the menu like I did in the video with Metal Gear Solid (of course this won't matter yet because you don't have your save files, you should be able to swap back and forth between discs though like I show in the video even if you don't have saves). So in order to get your save, what you will want to do is go into your RetroArch install directory, wherever that may be, it will likely be something like "C:\Program Files\RetroArch" or wherever you might have it installed. Inside this folder is a folder called "saves" that houses all of your save files for every game you have ever saved in your RetroArch history. So in here there should be a file that corresponds to your old Grandia save. Make a backup of this and other save files that are important just in case and put them somewhere safe. Now what you want to do is find the file that corresponds to your Grandia save (it should be a .srm file that has the name from your old disc 1) and you are going to actually rename that file to correspond to the new filename of your M3U file. It has to be the exact same name, copy and paste the text if you can. For example you might be changing "Grandia Disc 1 (USA).srm" to just say "Grandia (USA).srm" if the name of your M3U is "Grandia (USA).m3u" . So now when you load up the game it should have your old save file in play if everything was done correctly and there isn't any weird version issues. I know that RetroArch now adds some other files that end in ".ldci" which will remember what disc you were on last time you used the game. There is more info on this here if you would like some further reading or where I learned how to do this: www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/kqn6c3/saves_not_showing_up_after_creating_m3u_file_in/ www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/hujw1n/unable_to_load_saves_in_multidisc_games_using/
Hello there. Unfortunately, I have never owned an iOS product or had any need to really do anything outside of PC RetroArch so I am completely in the dark myself. I definitely get asked a lot though so in the future I might try to learn some about it and maybe download an iOS emulator or something and see if I can make a followup video for that. I have a Miyoo Mini Plus and the process is very different and requires you to create the m3u files on a PC or whatever first and then move them over to the SD card in a specific way and in a specific location, so I am not sure if something like that has to be done or not. Sorry I can't help in the meantime but this is definitely something I might look into more in the future and if I ever see some good information or a video out there I will update this page. Also, I believe that the RUclipsr Retro Game Corps is releasing a RetroArch guide for iOS this week and hopefully he will cover this topic. This is his page here: www.youtube.com/@RetroGameCorps/featured
Great tutorial! Just one problem, when I rename the .txt file as a .m3u, there is no option to open the new file type in notepad, it simply tries to open it in media player, is there anyway to get around this?
Hey there, thank you for the kind words! Sometimes Windows will associate file types with weird programs when they can't even run them for whatever reason, not sure why. But you should be able to right click the file and highlight "open with" and it should bring up a list of programs, you can click notepad, if you don't see it listed there should be a spot where you can click "more apps" or something like that and find it. Alternatively you can also right click the file and go to "properties" and then under the "general" tab near the top I believe there is an "open with" section and a button nearby to change its association to a different program/app. Also I believe other notepad apps will work if you happen to have like notepad++ or something like that. I am unsure about something like Microsoft Word, it probably wouldn't work though as it tends to want to save the file as a word file.
I personally have very little experience myself but I am fairly certain that the android version does indeed have support for m3u files and as far as I know you should be able to swap discs the same way as in the example. The overall file structure and locations and everything might work slightly different though and you may need to create the m3u file somewhere else and import it possibly and keep all of the files together when moved to the android device. I personally have a Miyoo Mini handheld emulator that runs on a custom version of RetroArch and it has m3u support but it requires a very round about way to work and I had to get creative with the file pathways and make sure I had everything in a very specific location, I don't THINK you will have to go through all of that but maybe. I will let you know if I hear more about this. I will try to make a video example in the future.
I appreciate how clearly the video explains m3u files. It's helped me a lot. I was afraid to try to run multidisk roms until I watched this tutorial. So, thank you!
I was having similar issues and like several of the commenters below it was also with Parasite Eve 2. Glad to see so many people still enjoying this game even after so many years. And thanks for you video; especially the part about the save files. Now I can keep trying for those Retro Achievements too.
Have to give it a try!
This has got to be one of the most helpful videos in the Internet. Lol. Thank you for putting this together. Solved the multidisc issue, the transfer of the save states as well. Amazing!!!
Excellent video, thank you for sharing. I was copying file paths instead of the file names for the .m3u files, so it wasn't functioning properly. Backup/save strategy worked like a charm (once I realized I was in 'saves' and not 'states' folder). Cheers though, thank you so much for the vid/info!
Dude you saved me so much headache. Seriously I was also appreciative of you mentioning I can keep my old save via renaming (works even with hardcore set up as savestates don't work)
now I can work to get every retroachievement in parasite eve
Great choice, I just beat the first one myself, I NEED to play Parasite Eve 2, heard it was great.
@@WatsonatorTV to be honest I heard it was just ok
As Derek during his Happy video game nerd time said, "Parasite eve, lets make a game like Resident Evil, Parasite Eve 2, lets make Resident Evil"
It has problems, but at least there is some fun if ya into that sorta thing. The third Birthday however...yeah we don't talk about that, same with the NFT game Square wants to do
thanks for showing this. I didn't know I could scan both m3u and cue files at the same time and they'd combine.
Most helpful tutorial there is, thank you bruv!
Just ran into this issue with Retrobat, putting all the files into one folder and making the .m3u file then reindexing the games worked like a charm, thank you!
Just used this video to save myself from despair before I got any more than a few minutes into disk 2 of FF7. I appreciate how helpful this was! Really saved my bacon 🙏
I just did this on my iPad and it worked thank you for this, I knew it’d let me make a .m3u playlist
thanks for this video! i have an Emulation device that wasn't letting me change discs unless they were logged in an m3u! also this method works great with chd files as well!
thanks so much ty ty ty omg you are a real here i was trying to play ff8 on my r36s and get stuck on all fight but with you tutorial i was able to play and save ty so much ty so so so much god bless u mate
Thank you very, VERY much. I was going crazy for nothing I was doing was working, but the manual search did the trick. Now I have perfect playlists for the multi disc games.
You can manually edit the playlist file in notepad ;)
Leaving a comment here so that I remember which video I used
My likes consist of nothing more than the most helpful videos for my use case. Glad to say this is one of them for me!
Just leave a like on this video or save it to watch for later or any playlist
Don't forget.
Thank you so much man, great tutorial! Following this I was able to resume my Parasite Eve play on a 3ds. Had to rename the savefile as you said in one comment reply and worked like a charm...
Greetings from Brazil
Edit: I used games in chd format, no problem at all
I really appreciate your help. I was apprehensive how to start the Drive 2 game disc 2
This is handy not just for optical disc games, but also for vintage computer games that require more than one floppy disk or cassette side. Also, I've compressed a lot of my roms, so I don't have to worry about bin/cue files.
dude, you are a life saver, thank you
I wanted to also mention that not all games will be in a bin/cue file format. For example, if you are doing an m3u file for a Sega Dreamcast game, it will likely be in a .chd, .cdi or .gdi format, if it is a gamecube game it might be in .nkit.iso format. This is fine, you create the file the same way but the extension will just be different. Also, for Dreamcast you will likely need to put the discs in individual folders because the Tracks files will likely have the same name and therefore cannot be next to one another. If this is the case you will want to put the m3u file up one level and direct it to the .cdi/.gdi files. this is done by including the file pathway in front of the file name (since the m3u is no longer directly next to the files you must include the file pathway).
For example if you have a game called ABC123:
-create a master folder called "ABC123 (USA)"
-put two subfolders inside this folder and call them "ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1)" and "ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2)"
-extract the .cdi/.gdi file and the bin/raw files for each disc into the corresponding subfolder
-create the m3u file inside of the main folder and next to the two subfolders
-since the m3u is not directly next to the .gdi/.cdi files you must include the full pathway in the text lines
-The m3u will look something like this depending on where you have your files:
C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast Roms\ABC123 (USA)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1 of 2).gdi
C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast Roms\ABC123 (USA)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2 of 2).gdi
I hope this makes sense. You need to get creative sometimes, just remember that if your m3u file is not directly next to the files it directs to, you will need to include the full pathway in the text line.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PS2
The way I have PS2 games setup is pretty much identical to the PS1 games except that instead of them being bin/cue they are all just ISO. so for example I have a big Roms database folder where I keep all of my roms and then in that folder I have it setup into different systems like this:
imgur.com/jm7RDQX
Then when I open up my PS2 folder it has all of my games like this:
imgur.com/SKERV3z
The only game I have right now that is multiple discs is Shadow Hearts Covenant, you will see it close to the top of the last pic and notice I put it in it's own separate folder, that is where the M3u file goes. If I open up that Shadow Hearts folder, it looks like this inside of it, this is how you need to setup multiple disc games:
imgur.com/98wAaJq
And if I double click on the m3u file it looks just like it does in the video, just like this:
imgur.com/7vl4D4P
CHanging Discs on Saturn is different. You open the tray and it goes to the bios then you load the 2nd or 3rd or whatever then load the file you just saved so retroarch has issue changing discs with saturn games but I found a work around. If you make a savestate in disc one on the save screen you can load the state after booting disc 2 and then save the game while disc 2 is loaded. Then reset disc 2 and load the save file thats how I got it to work on Panzer Dragoon Saga.
@@Andronicus87 Thank you for this info, and thank you SO much for replying to my pinned comment (this will keep all of the info in one spot here for people to find).
You can also use cdmage to combine all bin files.
Ive just got into retroarch through launchbox a few days ago and installed ff7,could you clarify that if i dont use your method my saves wont carry over?
@@gavinadams4572 I think the save CAN work, it may just take some finagling. Most emulators will see each disc as a separate game and use separate file and naming structures for each game, so when you go to change to your second disc and try to load your save from disc 1, it likely wont work.
I THINK this can be solved by going into your saves folder in your RetroArch install directory and finding your "Final Fantasy VII (disc 1).srm" file and changing it to match the name of your disc 2. This would likely be "Final Fantasy VII (disc 2).srm" and it should then work. I have not tried this method myself though as I just used the M3U method in the video to begin with. You can do the same thing in the "states" folder if you are using save states I do believe.
Also, if you already have a save from your disc 1 you can still go ahead and follow the method in the video and then change the disc 1 save in your saves folder to be the name of M3U entry you just created (probably just "Final Fantasy VII (USA)" or something like that. That way you get to keep your save but also use the M3U method. I have definitely tried this and so have other people in the comments so I know this way will work, just be sure to backup your save just in case.
thank you so much for this! you saved me. Was in the middle of playing Parasite Eve and had this issue when it asked me to swap discs. I will add that i messed up a couple times because didnt realize my files were 7z and had to be unzipped, i used 7zip to help with that and was able to get the cue files
Thank you for the kind words! I am glad you figured it out, I use winrar myself but 7zip works just as well too for .zip .7zip .rar, etc just remember this going forward because you may run into more zipped files :) Also, GREAT game choice, I just beat Parasite Eve myself a couple of months ago, I had played it a time or two back in the day but always wanted to run through it, had a lot of fun with it, I really like the gun upgrade systems. I haven't played the second yet, I might do that in the future.
@@WatsonatorTV yea it’s my first time playing and I’m loving it! Gonna def try the second one soon
Man you did me a great help, this video is an internet useful tool
Incredibly helpful, thank you.
oh man, this is sooooo helpful! it works on my iPhone by the way...
Did you use GAMMA emulator?
Thank you so much for helping me out with this!
now i can fully finish Sakura Wars on the Sega Saturn!
Oh yes, great choice! I recently picked up the English Translation patched version and made an m3u of the two discs. I definitely need to play it, along with some other Saturn titles (I never had a Saturn back in the day so discovering all of these games is like Christmas morning).
@@WatsonatorTV You should differently play it, It's really Good!
and so far, I have beaten Disc 1. and i've been enjoying the Story and the Characters in this Sega Saturn Classic! ^ ^
Thanks dude, used it for retro handheld.
I thank you from Argentina
a small tip from me: I like to place all my single disk ps1 games and my m3u files in the same folder (Sony Playstation). and then have subfolders for each multidisk game.
I then leave the m3u in the main folder and let them just point to the subfolders like this:
# Resident Evil 2 (Europe)
/Resident Evil 2 (Europe)/Resident Evil 2 (Europe) (Disc 1).chd
/Resident Evil 2 (Europe)/Resident Evil 2 (Europe) (Disc 2).chd
that is the content of my Resident Evil 2 (Europe).m3u
The first line is what Launchbox will read the game as, though it is not needed - but might be good for roms where the romnaming is not what you want.
This is a great tip and actually similar to how I have it set up but never explicitly showed it in the video so thank you very much for the info as a comment so people can see it. There is a lot of good information in this comment section for people to check out. I am also going to quote myself from another comment where I show some pics of this file structure and how I have it set up on my hard drive. Your method works great for Dreamcast games too because you have to have files with the same name in different folders and there could be multiple files that are called "Track01". This has the m3u in the same folder but shows how to set up a file structure for this type of thing:
"First off you have to make sure that you have the files set up correctly. I think the easiest thing to do is just create a folder database where you keep all of your game files and roms. I just have an area on one of my hard drives where I list all of my platforms like this:
i.imgur.com/Ei6dGSi.png
If I click on my "PSX Roms" folder it will list all of my games and have a different folder for every game. So create a new folder in here that says "Thousand Arms (USA)" and it should appear like this:
i.imgur.com/OQFsmqr.png
Now if you open that folder you want to put all of your bin and cue files for both CD1 and CD2 into here. There may be multiple tracks for a single Disc, this is fine, for my copy it has two different tracks for Disc 2, this is normal. After that we need to make an m3u file for it like I did in the video. This is how that folder looks and how it should look on your end too:
i.imgur.com/WOgRL17.png
If your folder doesn't look like that or have the files in this format then that could be what is causing the issues. You may need to re-attain the files, you can find Thousand Arms here, these are the files I am using:
cdromance.com/psx-iso/thousand-arms-usa/
If you were to click on the Thousand Arms m3u file in that folder it should look like this:
i.imgur.com/hc2CbUI.png
Now that you have all of the formatting done, you just need to go into RetroArch and do a "manual scan" for the folder and the m3u file we just created. Make sure select "Playstation" for system name and type "m3u" for file type, like this:
i.imgur.com/VZ0TumA.png
And then it should show up with just a single m3u entry in your Playstation playlist afterwards like it did for me:
i.imgur.com/BeZEvyE.png
8:19 it’s 12:58 aeris just died (duh) but now I have to change the disc!!?!?
Thanks for the help 🎉😂
Nooo Aeris!!! Sucks losing such a good healer!
Thank you a great explanation!
Thanks!
a big thank you :) that helped me a great deal !
Thank you!! This helped me lots👍👍👍
Legendary info, thanks a lot
Great video! Thanks a lot!
fam just made tutorial intros bearable just like how Caddicarus makes sponsorship segments bearable
I had trouble starting disc 2 saves up from fresh. I fixed this by inserting disc 1, loading up my save game. Then waiting for it to ask for disc 2.
One question, I'm already playing through Disc 1 of Mr Bones with save states throughout, would moving the files for disc's 1 and 2 into a single folder to create the n3u affect mednafens memory of my save states?
Hey there, I touch on this a little at the end but I probably should have gone into a little more detail.
So once you have followed the video and created an m3u file and have it imported into your RetroArch it will probably now be in the playlist as "Mr Bones (USA)" or similar. Make sure you have removed any entries in your RetroArch Ps1 section that show CD 1 or CD 2 or whatever, you only need the m3u "Mr Bones (USA)" as your game launcher now. Once you are at this point you then want locate your save data locations for RetroArch (Program Files \ RetroArch \ saves AND Program Files \ RetroArch \ states). Inside of these you should find all of the save files that corresponds to your Disc 1 saves in each folder, and they will likely be called "Mr Bones (Disc 1) (USA).srm" in the saves folder and "Mr Bones (Disc 1) (USA).State1/state2/etc" in the states folder. Whichever of these saves that you want to use, you are going to rename it to match up to your new m3u entry. You are not changing the file type, just the name to match whatever it is from the m3u, im guessing it will just be "Mr Bones (USA).StateX" now without the disc tag part. That SHOULD be all you have to do as long as it matches up perfectly to the name.
It has been a while since I've done it but I remember doing this for something in the past without an issue. I am not sure if it gets a little weird when you are saving using both the in game/memory card save and also using save states, but I think it's the same process for both, you would just rename the save state you have with the disc version to match up to the m3u version but keep the same file type.
There might be more info on this thread here: www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/kqn6c3/saves_not_showing_up_after_creating_m3u_file_in/
Good luck.
That's interesting, I thought m3u files were only for IPTV
Before I try anything that'd fail, I'd like to ask; will the m3u method work with CHD files as well? If so, I'll be able to clean up my entire file system!
It sure will, I have a lot of CHD files now after making this video and they all work just fine formatted with m3u. CHD for the win, much less file size
First of all, congratulations for the amazing video you made. I'm doing all the procedure you show for sega saturn for shining force 3 and the problem I'm facing is that when I load it starts m3u and with the 3 scripts I've made I can't skip to the next disc. As I have finished scenario 1 and want to start scenario 2 by saving from scenario 1. Can you tell me how to do it?
Thank you.
I have an odd issue using RA with Caprise32 for the Amstrad CPC games. Your tutorial works perfect. Thank you very much. There´s only for that paradox thing. Caprice32 doesn´t load unzipped dsk-files (the cat/bin commands are useless here also) and the files have to be unzipped to work with RA's disc-change system. Do you have any idea how to solve that issue?
Hey there, thank you so much for the kind words! I want to start out saying that I unfortunately haven't had much experience with any of the PC emulation stuff within RA. I will say that it is DEFINITELY next on my to-do list though because I am dying to try out some CPC, Atari ST, ZX spectrum, C64, etc games. Some of it does seem kinda tricky.
Have you tried just creating an M3U with the zipped files as the m3u list? I know you said that the disc-change system needs them to be unzipped, but I feel like I read something in a recent update about how RA now acts differently with zipped files (very recent update actually) and it might be able to do it on the fly for you or something?
I will have to look more into this and get back with you because I would likely have been in the same spot as you very soon haha.
@@WatsonatorTV Hi and thank you for your answer. Yes, I tried m3u with zipped files but that didn't work. The issue is, that RA recognize those only as an archive and doesn't realize those as 2nd discs. Instead RA tries to boot from the archives what leads to a reboot with the second disc and a complete restart of the core emulation, only with the second disc. Doesn't work. I even tried to make them mixed, 1st disc zipped and 2nd one unzipped but as said, the unzipped versions don't work at all. Very tricky and I find that behavoir of RA contradictory and utterly absurd. It doesn't make any sense at all.
I hope you'll invest further in that matter, as those emulations are not too popular. If they where, there would already be a solution for it. But you'll find nothing on the internet about it. People mostly use SNES and PSP stuff only.
Please keep me updated. Highly appreciated. Cheers
PS. I posted a new thread on the Launchbox forum also. No answer yet. As soon there will be something useful, I'll get back to you. But expectations are very low.
Thanks
THANK YOU!!!
thank you so much
For some reason renaming the text files refuses to change them from Txt files to .m3u. (And refuses to have any effect as a result). Anyone know what the issue could be? :v
EDIT: nvm I figured out that sticking point. You absolutely have to select "Show file name extensions" in the "view" dropdown menu in the upper right corner of the window. Otherwise it will just segregate the file name away from the file type.
yup!!
Do you know how to do this on Bizhawk on changing the disc i am still trying to figure it out.
Ok so that worked for the disk change but I don't have the save file how do I get the old save from when I was just playing disk one by its self? Never mind I got thank you!
Thank you for the kind words, glad you figured it out! You should just be able to find the old save file in your RA directory that has the name of disc1 and you can change it to match the new game title of the m3u.
Cheers!
Works for android lemudroid too (instead of .cue i just used .bin)
How come even when I follow the guide exactly my RetroArch playlist still shows multiple discs of the same game on my playlist? Otherwise everything else works perfectly.
Nevermind! It was because instead of a space in between the CUE and m3u files I used a comma and retroarch did not like that lol. Just leaving the comment up and this reply so someone does not make the same mistake as me! Thanks for the video good sir!
Didn't work on Abe's Exoddus but I changed to Duckstation and that worked
Good information, thank you!
@@WatsonatorTV Well I'm back. FF7 worked just fine except for one thing: saving. From googling that seems to be a problem for a lot of people. If I load the m3u it won't read the disc2 saves. When I load disc 2 directly it works. It could probably be fixed by manipulating save file names but there's 3 file types and 6 files in total and I don't even know where to begin.
Made it work by just replaying and saving again. I wonder if it was important to save at the cd switch section because after that it seems to be no problem what so ever. Thansk again for this video :)
What happens if disk 1 has .bin and .cue but disk 2 only has .bin and no .cue file?
Hmmm, I am not sure I have ever come across this. For the most part I am using CHD files now anyway since they are easier to work with and are always in just a single file per disc (also works for multiple different systems, I will likely make an updated video in the near future).
Just curious which game is it? I have a pretty large collection and I kept all of my old bin/cue files so I could see if mine is like that too if I happen to have it.
I would probably try to find another source if it was me. This is from the reddit roms megathread page here:
r-roms.github.io/
and a large CHD library here from archive dot org:
archive.org/download/chd_psx/CHD-PSX-USA/
It's on me! I like to get rid of the (USA) and such, generally... as long as it is exactly as it appears, does that still end up working? I'll find out eventually, either way haha
Hey there, I think they best way to go about that is to do everything normal and then at the very end you can go into the RetroArch playlist settings and there should be an option for each of your playlists to turn off country tags in parenthesis.
To find this setting, go to the second column, down to playlists -> manage playlists -> select your list -> Label Display Mode -> Remove () content
You can also try to just label it ahead of time and do the m3u file normally but not include the tags, that might also work. Cheers.
@@WatsonatorTV Appreciate you! :)
Sorry for asking but my txt file turns into a media player when I change the format to m3u, can you help me please?
Hey there, no need to apologize! First off just double check that you have file extensions showing, at the top under "view," make sure "file name extensions" is check marked that way you aren't accidentally doing a double file extension, also under "view" you can change the layout to "details". Make sure .m3u is at the end of your file and its not something like "GameName.m3u.txt" or any type of double extension. If it just has .m3u at the end and under the "type" column for details view it should just say "M3U," if so, then you should be good even if it is technically associating the files with a media player. The reason it does this is because m3u can be used in a number of different programs and apps for different playlists for all types of media. If this bothers you though, one way you should be able to remedy this is just by right clicking any .m3u file and go down to properties. In the "general" tab there should be an option near the top that says "open with" and you can change the program here that is associated with it, just make this notepad. example image:
i.imgur.com/RpnwP0I.png
Let me know if for some reason you are still having any issues but that should take care of it.
Cheers!
@@WatsonatorTV Ok, so the type is m3u got that fixed thank you, but how do i add the cue files inside it since its now a media player? Sorry for asking again but it's been days and i really cant wait to play it again 🙈
Edit: Oh my God im super duper sorry but for some reason I didn't think I could open the notepad since it's a media player but all i had to was show more apps and pick notepad im so sorry 😭
@@WatsonatorTV One more thing, i swear, now that the game is working, how do i get the save from my disc 1 to my all disc content?
@@elnathanmariopradana7783 No problems, happy to help! So if you have already started a save before and you then created an m3u file afterwards and you want to move that disc 1 save to the single m3u file, this is definitely do-able.
You must first find your saves folder within your RetroArch install directory, I have my RA installed to a separate hard drive but for most people it is likely "C:\Program Files (x86)\Retroarch\saves" . I have an example image of mine pulled up below and the "saves" folder highlighted:
i.imgur.com/3nF3Lsj.png
In the saves folder you are going to find your game save as an srm file and the name of the file should be the name of your game, something like "GAMENAME Disc 1.srm". When you find the old disc 1 save, all you have to do is rename the file to be the new RetroArch m3u entry. You dont even have to open the file, just simply change the name from "GAMENAME Disc 1.srm" to be the new "GAMENAME.srm" and it MUST be the exact same name as it appears in RetroArch. Be careful to keep the ".srm" at the end so it stays the same file type. And that is it, if you changed the name the save will then work in the m3u game entry.
If you have a save state instead of a traditional save, you can do the exact same method as above but instead of going to the saves folder in the RA install directory, you are going to find the "states" folder instead.
Good luck!
@@WatsonatorTV Thank you so much for helping me, im currently playing disc 2 and now i know how to change to disc 3, thank you so muchhh 😭😭
thanks!
I'm having trouble switching discs with Shenmue. I followed the steps and made a m3u file and added the .cue files, but when I enter the game it I open disc one. I get to the screen where it asks to change discs and go through the menu options to switch. It's switched to disc 2 and then I get the same message to change to disc 2. There are also .bin and .gdi files that I didn't include. I might need more help with this.
Nevermind I got it working, there was too much disc options.
@@sashagirl38 Glad to see you got it working! I will post a little information just in case you or someone else needs it:
I assume you mean Shenmue for the Sega Dreamcast. Dreamcast games with multiple discs are slightly different since the track files for each of the discs usually have the same file name and therefore cant be next to one another in a folder (or else they would overwrite each other). So you have to create different sub-folders for each disc and put the M3u file next to the subfolders and then include the whole file location in the M3U lines. I have Shenmue in my collection and this is what the folder looks like:
Shenmue (Dreamcast) folder in my roms: i.imgur.com/KbSVkQA.png
If I was to open one of the disc folders it would look like this: Shenmue (Disc 1) folder: i.imgur.com/vzX5uwh.png
If I was to open the M3U it would look like this: Shenmue (Dreamcast) m3u file: i.imgur.com/dTdeKRO.png
(obviously your locations will be slightly different, this is just where my own PERSONAL locations are, just use this for reference)
If you need help importing it, just be sure to use the manual search and fill out the correct system name and core and for file type put "m3u" and it should ONLY pull in the single M3U file for your new playlist entry and not all of the other discs. I assume you did all of that correctly since you got it working, just leaving this here in case someone else has a similar issue.
Unfortunately I can't check all of the in-game disc changing spots since I don't have save files at the appropriate places, It's possible that some of the disc swapping spots work a little differently sometimes.
I just can't get this to work every time I make the m3u file it pulls up my media player and I can't put any text in.
This is likely because m3u can also be used as playlist files in media players. It actually is okay that it is associating itself like this, as long as the m3u file type is there it doesn't matter what it opens. You can just right click the m3u file and open it with whatever you want. If this is annoying you though and/or it is somehow preventing you from making the file at all then try this:
Right click your start button and then click "settings", then click on "Apps". Once here click on the "Default Apps" selection on the left side. Scroll to the button and click the line that says "choose default apps by file type" it should look like this: ( i.imgur.com/RBsDfWz.png ).
That might take a second to load, but once that menu is up, you are going to find the "m3u" file type on the left hand side and change the association to open with notepad, it should look like this: ( i.imgur.com/EUW2pi5.png ). Once you have that changed make sure that it saves and that SHOULD solve your issues.
Hope that helps.
TY MAN
Using Retrobat. If I'm not using Retroarch for whatever reason, is the disc swap process the same or different?
Unfortunately I haven't played around with Retrobat so I am not entirely sure how the disc swap process works, but I do know that they have support for M3U, so I would guess that there is definitely SOME way to swap, you might just have to explore the menus.
I also saw this randomly: wiki.retrobat.org/advanced-features/batgui
Which is a tool that can generate m3u files for certain platforms and do some other stuff, there might be some more info there about it.
I will get back to you if I hear anything more about Retrobat and multi disc stuff.
I've done the same as in the video like 5 times and it still doesnt work , the game opened , but there is a black screen , it said that the 1 disc was loaded but nothing happened
Hmm, not sure what is going on off the top of my head but if it definitely popped up with the message that disc 1 was loaded then it seems like the m3u is working because an m3u file simply functions as a playlist director telling the program which file/disc to access and it seems like it did it's job. If I had to guess it just seems like the files themselves are having an issue for whatever reason. I get black screens quite often from PS1 games on RetroArch when i try to start them, regardless of what file types I use, even in single disc games, but usually a restart of the program will fix it next time.
I would recommend maybe trying a fresh copy of the file. If you are using Bin.Cue maybe try to use it in CHD form instead, it's a smaller file type and easier to work with. What game are you trying to load by chance, I can test it out later on my end and link you to the file when I get a chance. It might be worth a shot.
Do you know how to get it to work on android? I try it, and it keeps making it a music file. Thanks for the video tutorial!
Nevermind, I discovered how to make it work.
Hey there, thank you so much for the kind words and sorry about the late reply. I am glad you got it to work! I was going to say that I unfortunately haven't tried RetroArch yet on anything other than Windows. I really probably should though, that way I can tell people the difference and maybe make a separate video.
Maybe you can help me then, how different was the process to get it set up on Android? (that is what I also have).
@WatsonatorTV Sorry for the late response, but the process wasn't too different. I used Notepad++ to make the .m3u file with all the .cue files in it. The only difference was that I had to play a game and scroll to the game list section to add a new game. Other than that, no problems, and it's easy!
Does this work for sega cd and 32x cd?
it sure does. I will show you some example images for Night Trap on Sega CD:
Image 1 is of my Sega CD games all in separate folders: i.imgur.com/mGZ4sPy.png
Image 2 is the Night Trap folder containing all of the bin/cue files: i.imgur.com/QWsAP9T.png
Image 3 is of the actual m3u file: i.imgur.com/EWM9USE.png
So basically the same thing. If you end up trying to do Sega Dreamcast games or some other consoles, you may have to create separate folders for each of the discs since the track files might have the same name and you cant have two files next to each other with the same name (see the pinned comment at the top of the comment section that I made for more info on this).
Cheers, good luck.
Hey having trouble loading the m3u files. My normal rom files (bin files) work just fine in the emulator but when i try load the m3u file retroarch immediately closes application. i followed the instructions too a t, watched other videos and still cant get the rom to load. I already felt the pain of of completing the first disc only to find my save didnt carry over lol. pls help us out, i just want to play panzer dragoon saga aha
Hey there, sorry you are having issues getting it all to work correctly. I am going to try my best to help you out here. Disclaimer though, I have only ever used RetroArch for PC and I have heard that it functions very differently for other platforms, so everything I mention here is likely only applicable for PC RetroArch (and the newest version of it too, they often update the m3u support for certain cores so make sure you have the newest version). I apologize if this gets a little long, I just want to be thorough.
So first off, Sega Saturn can sometimes look a little different than other platforms for it's multiple disc games because a lot of times each of the cue files and discs have multiple track files that go along with them. I have noticed some cores load from the bin directly and others use the cue files. I actually have Panzer Dragoon Saga in my collection and I just tested my m3u to make sure it's still working, so I will start out by showing you images of how I have the file structure set up on my hard drive, starting from the top (click on the image links as you see them and follow along with me). I first have all of my ROM files setup in a portion of my hard drive where I list all of the platforms like this: i.imgur.com/LZNtS7j.png
If I then click on Sega Saturn, it shows my collection of Saturn games within individual folders like this: i.imgur.com/dBzBnX7.png
Next, if I go into the Panzer Dragoon Saga folder, it looks like this: i.imgur.com/sEYBPGO.png
Now that last image is important. Make sure that your files look like this within your Panzer Dragoon Saga folder. I guess it is possible that files from different sources could have been ripped differently and therefore your folder MIGHT look different, but I am fairly certain it should look like mine. If it doesn't, I would recommend maybe starting fresh with a new copy of PDS, I am pretty certain I obtained mine from: cdromance.com/
Okay next, if I was to double click on the m3u file, it looks like this: i.imgur.com/hUKDvgq.png Of course like I said in the video, if your Panzer Dragoon Saga file is named differently, it should match with the file name (though it should probably be the same anyway if you download the same ROM I am using from above).
Then if I was going to do a direct manual import of this M3U file for Panzer as the new title in RetroArch, the manual scan screen should look like this: i.imgur.com/2gZQz15.png The top line of course being the file path for wherever you have the m3u file located. If I then hit start at the bottom, it would import the M3U file as the new item in the Sega Saturn Playlist, thus having a single "Panzer Dragoon Saga" listed without having a bunch of discs: i.imgur.com/vcFMROb.png
If everything I posted above makes sense and you definitely had your m3u file formatted the same way already and imported it like this, I would at least try with a fresh copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga from the website I posted, and maybe also make sure you have the newest RA installed (and like I said this info is only for PC, I have no experience with the other versions). It is also worth mentioning that I am using the Beetle Saturn core for Sega Saturn, NOT any of the other cores RA has available (not sure if all of them work with m3u, but I know Beetle Saturn does so double check you are using BEETLE SATURN for your core).
Beyond this I am not too sure what else could be causing the problem, hopefully seeing how I have mine set up has shed some light on the issue for ya. I also wanted to mention that if you still have your save file from the first disc you may still be able to use it. I only mention it briefly in the video at the end, but RetroArch stores your saves in a folder and if you go into these files manually with notepad you can actually change the game name from whatever it says to match with the new M3U file title and then it should read the save just fine, I have had to do this before myself.
Anyway, let me know how it goes. Good luck.
@@WatsonatorTV do you have a social media i can message you through?
@@zorbatheprince I have a Twitter and Instagram, should be linked at the bottom of the video description in all of my videos. My apologies if I don't respond right away, I usually check my YT more often.
@@WatsonatorTV it says that you cant be messaged on twitter, cant seem to contact you through instagram either. and dont feel like youre in a rush. anytime works man
Does this also work with games that have multiple .bin files.... ie. Lunar silver star story, or panzer dragoon saga?
Absolutely it does, I have both of these in my collection, let me show you what the folders look like and the m3u files below:
Panzer Dragoon Saga in the folder: i.imgur.com/kTORXi7.png
M3U file from the folder above: i.imgur.com/QYOTXBe.png
My Lunar SSS is actually only a single .bin but I think that's because I have a fan ENG translation or something.
I also wanted to show you what it looks like if you have track files that have the same exact file name and therefore can't be next to each other in a folder. Sometimes this is how it is for Sega Dreamcast games. I will use Skies of Arcadia for that example:
Skies of Arcadia folder: i.imgur.com/sTBuOn4.png
folder for Disc 1: i.imgur.com/LOYUVD7.png
folder for Disc 2: i.imgur.com/jE88ETQ.png
m3u file: i.imgur.com/BCRORRh.png
Hope this helped, when you go to import the m3u file just be sure to do the manual scan and select the appropriate console and type "m3u" as the filetype, it should only pull in the single m3u file and not all of the individual discs. Gonna "heart" this comment so more people can see it, thanks for asking!
Edit: Oh here is my Lunar SSS for PSX instead of Saturn if you'd like to see that:
Lunar SSS for PS1 in folder: i.imgur.com/3JRpIGH.png
Lunar SSS for PS1 m3u: i.imgur.com/51KVLGS.png
Thanks for this. Would this work for any file type (like .chd, etc)?
Hey there, and yes it should work for most file types: Not all games will be in a bin/cue file format. For example, if you are doing an m3u file for a Sega Dreamcast game, it will likely be in a .cdi or .gdi format, if it is a gamecube game it might be in .nkit.iso format. This is fine, you create the file the same way but the extension will just be different.
Also check out either the video description or the pinned comment I have in the comments of this video if you need to, I give an example of Dreamcast and PS2 games since they work a little different and may require creating subfolders.
Cheers
@@WatsonatorTV Oh, excellent. The written description explains it perfectly. Thanks again.
What about saturn games without cue files? A download a deep fear that just have the bin files! What can i do?
Hmmm, I am not sure about that. I have a pretty big library of around 200 Saturn games and about half of them are in CHD format and the other half are bin/cue format, I've never seen ONLY a bin before.
My Deep Fear is bin/cue check it out:
i.imgur.com/NExinIu.png (Deep Fear files in the folder)
i.imgur.com/NExinIu.png (m3u of Deep Fear)
I would maybe just try another source, I generally get all of my Saturn from here now:
archive.org/details/chd_saturn
The link I gave is for CHD files, for any multidisc games in CHD you just use the chd files it gives you so if you get Deep Fear from that page the m3u would look like this:
Deep Fear (USA) (Disc 1) (Unl).chd
Deep Fear (USA) (Disc 2) (Unl).chd
Cheers
Edit: As a followup I also wanted to add that a cue file is actually very similar to an m3u file and is basically just text that you can create yourself. So if you know what is supposed to go in the cue you can probably just type it out in a notepad and then change the file type to "cue". That MIGHT work if you were dead set on keeping the file you already downloaded, I think it would be easier to just get a different copy of the game though.
Does this work with .chd files?
@@ironcheese4736 it sure does! I have since changed most of my files to .chd myself.
@@WatsonatorTV Thanks! JUST got finished getting a game set up :)
I have started this painfull convertion , but I am still quite unhappy with this. It is still a mess of roms files and folders. I would like a single file per game period. How we cannot have in 2023 a file format which includes multi discs + multi versions (pal , ntsc, Japan usa) into a simple file (compressed or not )? All of this is still a bandaid and we cannot easily handle games roms.
A new file type would definitely be a welcome change. I guess I look at everything a different way though. I personally love tinkering around with files and setting up my own file database how it works for me and getting everything in order, it's a rather enjoyable process to me. To each their own I guess, I'll admit I'm probably a unique situation. I can also see where you are coming from though, if you aren't into that kind of thing and you just want to sit down and play a game, but you have to basically learn how file types work and how different emulators function and how the naming schemes all work, I get it. I think it's one of the reasons I made these videos in the first place, to try to make it a bit easier for the people that DON'T like this kind of thing. I wish I could simplify it more for ya.
I think if you start from the ground up with a good file structure though, that makes sense to YOU, everything can be pretty straight-forward. I basically only use RetroArch and because I have a well kept database, everything just falls into place with a single entry and I never have to worry about searching for games or stressing out about versions or where my rom hacks are, etc. And anytime you add in a new file it's super easy to just drag and drop wherever it belongs and then re-import in RA. But ya it can take a little effort to get everything in order and develop your file collection in such a way to begin with and can see how some people would NOT be interested.
As far as the different versions go and having multiple copies of the same game (PAL, JP, NTCS), that can definitely be a bit annoying, but in my eyes I just see them as a separate game entirely usually, since most of the time the different versions correlate to an actual disc or cart that exists in the wild, so that really doesn't bother me and in a lot of cases I see it as a necessity because they all act differently and in certain situations I may prefer one over the other (speed runs, PAL being slightly different aspect ratio, etc). I agree that having them all under one title and then choosing the version after that would be pretty awesome.
But yeah I definitely hear what you are saying and would be all for a change, but in the meantime I'm fairly happy with how I have my files set up, no headaches or painful processes here, I am going to post some collection images below for anyone that cares to see how I have everything formatted on the back end, more examples in other comments:
Roms folder that I have allocated on a hard drive: i.imgur.com/jmWKhZm.png
Sega Saturn example folder: i.imgur.com/zjn8nuv.png
Example Saturn game with m3u: i.imgur.com/nEC7SS9.png
NES example folder: i.imgur.com/eBoZa13.png
TLDR: I hear what you are saying but I would disagree with the statement that "we cannot easily handle games roms" because everything comes pretty easy once you understand it all and correctly structure everything. But if you aren't interested in understanding it all in the first place and you just want to play games, it can definitely be overwhelming at the very least.
@@WatsonatorTV thanks for the answer, this has nothing to do with you and your video which was well done , just the need to whine this is because I have more than 3k games that need to be unzip and be consolidated as m3u. Need to write a script.... Etc...
@@jonathanmegevand3266 I didn't take anything personally, and I honestly agree with a lot of what you said, some changes would definitely be welcomed! Considering how far everything else has come you would think there could be some advances.
Bit of a late comment, but if you ever do get around to answering this comment I'd like to ask. When i add the .m3u suffix, instead of opening a text file, it opens a media player application. Was wondering if you could help in getting around this. Thanks again, W video.
Hey there thank you for the kind words, I should be able to help you out with that.
The reason it's trying to open it with a media player is probably because m3u files can be used with just about ANY file type and a lot of times they are used with media/music for playlists and stuff with media players. This SHOULD just be a general windows association thing and you can likely get around it in a couple of ways. First off, go to "view" at the top of your window and make sure that you have the box checked that says "show file name extensions," that way in the file type column you can double check that it is absolutely an m3u file. From here you can right click the file and then go to "open with" and select notepad or wordpad or microsoft word or any program like this. To get it to keep the association, you can right click the file, go down to "properties" and in the general tab towards the top, there should be a box that says "opens with" and a button to change which program it will open with.
Finally you can also go into your windows settings and select the category that says "Apps". In here select "default apps" on the left side. Scroll down near the bottom and click the line that says "choose default apps by file type" and in here you can find m3u files and select which program you would like to associate with this specific file type going forward (notepad or whatever), that way you dont have to do it for every single m3u file you have. You may not have to do this last step, it might automatically start associating all m3u files once you change one of them, but if not you can do this.
Hope that helps, cheers!
@@WatsonatorTV was as simple as changing it in the properites "open with" setting. Thanks for responding at 1:30am😅.
Where do you get your roms?
Also Do it does need the region like (USA)
@@SlightlyBurntToast5689 It does need the tag, exactly like it has it on the database, BUT there is a setting in RetroArch to turn them off once you have them all in your list so that you dont have to see things in parenthesis or brackets.
You can find some good stuff on "The Archive" which would be this: archive.org/
There is the reddit main rom thread too that will likely link back to some things on archive: www.reddit.com/r/Roms/comments/m59zx3/roms_megathread_40_html_edition_2021/
If I am looking for one offs I go here a lot:
cdromance.org/
and sometimes:
vimm.net/
I had no idea about this. I'm 40 hours into FF8 and just got to Galbadia on Disc2...went to load up disc 2 later today and the saves are not on the memory card. Only disc1 saves are showing up. Now I have no idea what to do or how to get it back. I'm pretty annoyed.
I backed up my saves just in case...and then proceeded to rename the .srm file from (USA) (DISC 2).srm to match the name of the .m3u file. Now it won't even recognize there are any saves. Also if there are multiple .srm files (disc 1), (disc2)...then I assume you can only have the one .srm file for the .m3u. I'm using SwanStation btw.
@@unrealengine5-storm713 Hey there, so I was going to comment and recommend doing what it appears you have already tried in your follow up comment. For RetroArch this is exactly how you do it, rename the old disc save to match the title of the m3u and it will then be loadable. I will admit though that I have never used SwanStation and I have no idea if it is any different or how it handles saves and m3u. I would assume it would be the same or very similar to RetroArch but I can't say for certain.
As for your second question I am still a bit iffy on how this all works myself. For example I recently started playing Koudelka which is a 4 disc PS1 game. I started out using the m3u and I have been saving using both save states and the normal hard saves in game. I have multiple memory card saves for this game at multiple points throughout the playthrough on different discs. If I go into my Retroarch save files though, there is only a single Koudelka.srm file, so I am not sure if its all consolidated into that one file or what. I also see a LDCI file and a MCR file for the game (Koudelka.ldci and Koudelka.mcr respectively). I believe one of these files is responsible for noting what disc you are on.
I am sorry I don't have a better answer for you but it seems like you have tried what I would recommend doing, you might have better luck on the libretro discord ( discord.com/invite/libretro-184109094070779904 ) or swanstation forums.
@@WatsonatorTV I appreciate your response and I can see your attention to care in the comments. Unfortunately I have not been able to get the previous save files to work using this method. I could start a game from scratch and save that way but I would prefer to continue my progress. I feel 99% certain I have correctly followed the instructions about the naming conventions in order to get the emulator to recognize the save files with the new setup.
Without driving myself to insanity trying to get the saves to work, I have simply reverted to using the previous method for this playthrough.
Thank you for the video and your feedback. Now I know how to more effectively approach multidisc games in RetroArch.
@@unrealengine5-storm713 thank you for the kind words! At 40 hours in no one can blame you there haha! At least it might help ya out in the future and with sorting your library. cheers
Edit: I'm also going to keep this instance in mind and see if I can figure it out some time
what if the ROM i installed dont have the .cue file? i create one?
Hey there. So I should have gone into this more in the video but I talk about it in a pinned comment here so I am just going to paste that info here:
I wanted to also mention that not all games will be in a bin/cue file format. For example, if you are doing an m3u file for a Sega Dreamcast game, it will likely be in a .cdi or .gdi format, if it is a gamecube game it might be in .nkit.iso format. This is fine, you create the file the same way but the extension will just be different. Also, for Dreamcast you will likely need to put the discs in individual folders because the Tracks files will likely have the same name and therefore cannot be next to one another. If this is the case you will want to put the m3u file up one level and direct it to the .cdi/.gdi files. this is done by including the file pathway in front of the file name (since the m3u is no longer directly next to the files you must include the file pathway).
For example if you have a game called ABC123:
-create a master folder called "ABC123 (USA)"
-put two subfolders inside this folder and call them "ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1)" and "ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2)"
-extract the .cdi/.gdi file and the bin/raw files for each disc into the corresponding subfolder
-create the m3u file inside of the main folder and next to the two subfolders
-since the m3u is not directly next to the .gdi/.cdi files you must include the full pathway in the text lines
-The m3u will look something like this depending on where you have your files:
C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast Roms\ABC123 (USA)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 1 of 2).gdi
C:\Roms\Sega Dreamcast Roms\ABC123 (USA)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2)\ABC123 (USA) (Disc 2 of 2).gdi
I hope this makes sense. You need to get creative sometimes, just remember that if your m3u file is not directly next to the files it directs to, you will need to include the full pathway in the text line.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PS2
The way I have PS2 games setup is pretty much identical to the PS1 games except that instead of them being bin/cue they are all just ISO. so for example I have a big Roms database folder where I keep all of my roms and then in that folder I have it setup into different systems like this:
imgur.com/jm7RDQX
Then when I open up my PS2 folder it has all of my games like this:
imgur.com/SKERV3z
The only game I have right now that is multiple discs is Shadow Hearts Covenant, you will see it close to the top of the last pic and notice I put it in it's own separate folder, that is where the M3u file goes. If I open up that Shadow Hearts folder, it looks like this inside of it, this is how you need to setup multiple disc games:
imgur.com/98wAaJq
And if I double click on the m3u file it looks just like it does in the video, just like this:
imgur.com/7vl4D4P
_______________________________________________________
I hope that helped you out. To answer your question more directly, no you don't want to create any files. You can view the m3u as a type of playlist file, all it is doing is telling the program what order to arrange the discs so you only want to list the disc data in the m3u (be it a cue file or iso, or something else).
I'm using emulation station on steam deck and it doesn't recognise the M3U file? Looking on my computer, it still tags it as a Text Document rather than an M3U file, is that the problem? I've named it 'Koudelka.m3u'
Hey there. So right off the bat I will say that I only have experience with RetroArch on Windows and I know that the different versions and forks of the program for different systems and platforms all behave a little differently, so it could just be a different process for SteamDeck which I am unsure of. If it is definitely supposed to be the same for SteamDeck and Windows though, double check the M3U file on your computer. You said that it is still being tagged as a Text Document so this MIGHT be the issue. It depends if the actual file type is a text document and it's something like "Koudelka.m3u.txt" or if it's just opening the M3u file with a text reader and its still truly an M3u file. If its the first example then that definitely wont work, if it's the latter then it should still work just fine. So in order to check this, I would go up top in your window and make sure under view that you have "file name extensions" checked. Also up top under view, change the view type to "details". That way in the "file type" column you can see what it truly is (we of course want it to say M3U file). You can also right click the file and click on "open with" and then click on notepad or something that way it always opens with notepad, but that doesnt necessarily mean it's a text document (like how I have it in the video).
I actually have a copy of Koudelka in my collection so I will paste some images of what my Koudelka folder looks like and the m3u file inside of it:
Koudelka in my PS1 collection: i.imgur.com/0gn5kRU.png
If I open the Koudelka folder (note that in the "type" column it labels it as M3U and not a text doc): i.imgur.com/b1TToSs.png
If I double click on the Koudelka.m3u file: i.imgur.com/AMuuGjB.png
If you have the file extensions on you will be able to tell if there is some type of text document file extension at the end and remove it. Beyond just double checking it to make sure that it is an M3u file truly and not a text document, I would see if anyone out there has some info on RetroArch in SteamDeck and see if it's all supposed to work the same as I am unsure myself. You might have some luck on the SteamDeck reddit or EmulationStation/RetroArch reddits. I am going to do some research on how M3U works with other handhelds in the meantime since I just got a Miyoo Mini Plus. Hopefully in the future I will do a separate video on RetroArch for other platforms. Good luck to ya.
Oh and one more thing (make sure to read the longer comment first), when you go to import the game in RetroArch I usually do the manual scan and then be sure to select Playstation for the console type and then under the file type just use "m3u" and it should ONLY pull in the m3u file to your playlist and none of the discs. I am not sure if EmulationStation has a manual import like this or not.
As another comment a day later, I also wanted to leave you with this link. This RUclips channel is great for handheld emulation stuff and he has a new video on a steam deck emulation guide, highly reccomended: ruclips.net/video/Y5r2WZAImuY/видео.html
This is Awesome! I'm sure this is going to work on my Retro Handheld as well because I'm running Batocera on it and it uses Retroarch cores for emulation.
Also, any idea if this is going to work on Duckstation standalone?
Hey there! I honestly don't have TOO much knowledge on any recent handheld emulation. I used to have a hacked PSP running some emulators but I don't think I ever had RetroArch on it and it's been at least 14 years since I've played around with it. If it is using RetroArch cores though then I would certainly think it should work with m3u files.
As far as Duckstation goes, I read some information that says Duckstation DOES indeed support m3u files, but you must make sure it is updated because I believe it is a feature that has only recently been adopted within the last couple of years. I know some other programs will automatically create m3u files if it notices multi disc games, such as Launchbox.
I also read this: "Known Retroarch cores that have m3u support are mednafen-saturn-libretro, mednafe-psx-libretro, and flycast-libretro."
The "disc control" doesn't appear in my retroarch...
Hmmm. I am unsure about this. Are you definitely on the most up to date version for PC? I know that the versions on Steam or for Android and consoles all act very differently and I don't have much experience with these.
If you are positive you are on the most up to date PC version, you can also go into your User Interface -> Menu Item Visibility and make sure that any of the disc or load options werent turned off somehow.
Other than that the only other thing I can think of is just starting over with a fresh copy of RetroArch.
@@WatsonatorTVno, i'm on a retro box console i bought recently. The console uses retroarch and has preinstalled múltiple games and emulators. It all world fine, except that in Saturn, the discs option doesn't appear.
Whenever I change the txt doc to m3u it changes it to a media file
So an m3u is just a playlist file basically and it can be associated with any program and sometimes it will be associated with a media player or something, but as long as the file type is still m3u then that is all that matters. M3u can be used for any type of song or video file or rom or picture or whatever, this doesn't mean that is a video file or a "media file", it's still an m3u playlist file. As long as the actual file has the .m3u extension at the end, it will work just fine and it won't matter what it associates with. You can always just right click and "open with" a specific program, such as notepad, to edit it.
If this is annoying you though and/or it is somehow preventing you from making the file at all then try this:
Right click your start button and then click "settings", then click on "Apps". Once here click on the "Default Apps" selection on the left side. Scroll to the button and click the line that says "choose default apps by file type" it should look like this: ( i.imgur.com/RBsDfWz.png ).
That might take a second to load, but once that menu is up, you are going to find the "m3u" file type on the left hand side and change the association to open with notepad, it should look like this: ( i.imgur.com/EUW2pi5.png ). Once you have that changed make sure that it saves and that SHOULD solve your issues.
Hope that helps.
But remember to keep in mind that all that matters is the file type and not the association or the icon that displays or what program opens with it.
@@WatsonatorTV I have not tried this yet, but I’ll give it a shot thanks man
Question 1: So I have a save of disc one of FF7 that I'm trying to transfer to my m3u file but for some reason it just won't transfer, because whenever I change the name of the bin file to match the name of the m3u version of FF7, it won't let me open it...
Question 2: Disk 1 is called "Final Fantasy VII [Disc1of3] [U] [SCUS-94163].7z" disk 2 is called "Final Fantasy VII [NTSC-U] [Disc2of3] [SCUS-94164].zip" and disc 3 is "Final Fantasy VII [NTSC-U] [Disc3of3] [SCUS-94165].zip"
Is disc one compatible with discs two and three since it's named different?
Question 3: If they are compatible, then when I put those file names in the m3u file, do I need to put them in order of disc number, or the order of which they appear in my new FF7 folder? In my case, the numbers are out of order and I'm not sure what order I put them in...
Sorry for all the questions, but this would really help out a lot to have the answers to...
Hey there, I will try my best to help you out.
1) If you created a save in RetroArch you will want to look in your RetroArch Install Directory and then locate both the "saves" folder and the "states" folder (for me this is E:\Programs and Games 2\RetroArch\saves and E:\Programs and Games 2\RetroArch\states but for you it might be on your C drive in program files or something along these lines). If you are trying to convert a memory card save, you need to find the corresponding .SRM file in the "saves" folder and if you are trying to convert a state save then you need to find the corresponding .state file.
If you created a save in a different program, possibly on android or in DuckStation or another standalone emulator, it should also be compatible, you will just have to find wherever the save file is.
So you shouldn't be needing to change the name of any bin files, this could be where the issue here is. So for example if you made a save in RetroArch, there should be an SRM file in the "saves" folder called something like "Final Fantasy VII [Disc1of3] [U] [SCUS-94163].srm" and you just need to change that to be whatever the new M3u title is and make sure to keep the file extension the same on the end. (might end up being something like "Final Fantasy VII (USA).srm" or whatever the new m3u title is called).
2) As long as the files were correctly together when the rom was created it shouldn't matter what the actual names are. So I would go into each zip and pull out all the of the bin and cue files from each zip archive and put them all together next to one another in a folder like this: i.imgur.com/CI3rwbr.png . Make sure that inside the m3u that it has all of the cue files listed, not the bin files, like so: i.imgur.com/iwtqDUD.png It is okay if yours are long titles and look different, as long as everything is copied correctly and spelled right.
3) You want to put it in order of Disc, remember that folder order can change all the time based on how you decide to sort it (alphabetical, or by size, or by file type, etc).
If i was in your shoes I might look to download a new copy just so you know for a fact that it works together. You can get another in the bin/cue format if you want, but a good file type I have been using for disc games is .CHD because it is just a single file for each disc and usually the file types are smaller. You can find it here: archive.org/download/chd_psx/CHD-PSX-USA/
If you end up getting the CHD version, you should still be able to bring in your old save file using the method above. You will create the m3u the same way but the folder will look something like this: i.imgur.com/Mp9QrHd.png and the actual m3u will look like this: i.imgur.com/EoeLrlR.png
I wish I had done this video using CHD as examples because that is what a lot of people are starting to use instead of bin/cue but the process is the same either way.
Hope this helps, I will try to respond in a timely matter if you still need help.
@@WatsonatorTV Thank you for the feed back, I finally got it to work!
After downloading new iso folders and making sure the srm file was the same name as the m3u file, the second disk loaded up and I can now continue the game!
Very helpful video!
as someone still playing in a 1360 x 768 monitor is very hard to see something in this video
I'm sure it is, that's pretty tiny!
Edit: I made this when I really had no idea how to edit and I have gotten at least a little better so I definitely want to do a more up to date version in the future. In the meantime, there is a lot of good information in the description and in the comments if you need to see something in writing.
Please help me. I did the steps till 4:24. Now I want to import ob my handheld miyoo mini plus (Onion v 4.3). What should I do? :(
Hey there, I also have a Miyoo Mini Plus and the steps for that are going to be a little different and required a bit of figuring some stuff out.
Let me link you to the thread I posted on the Miyoo Reddit where I was figuring out how to do multi disc games:
www.reddit.com/r/MiyooMini/comments/1382nz5/m3u_formatting_for_separate_folders_help_please/
There you will see what I went through and how I ended up getting it to work, it's a little tricky, I hope this helps because It has been a while since i've done it.
Good luck.
@WatsonatorTV Thank you very very much!!! Finally after tons of videos in RUclips it works 😃😃
One question, does this method work for the Android duck station emulator?
I am pretty sure it does. I myself use the standalone Duck Station on Windows and I know that it works with that. I'm not positive about the android version but most likely.
Does this apply to DuckStation on android devices? Please reply.
Hey there, as of a couple of years ago DuckStation does indeed have support for M3U files. I have a large list of M3U files that are linked to a bunch of CHD file roms and DuckStation did a great job of pulling all of those in for me when I scanned my PSX folder. This was on PC though.
I will say that I do not have any experience using DuckStation on android but I have heard that this does indeed work. You might want to check out some other sub reddits or discords because I personally haven't used it on android. I would start by just creating the m3u files on a PC and then see if you can create a stand alone folder that houses all of our m3u and rom files, but again I'm not too certain.
Good luck, sorry I wasn't of more assistance.
does this work on duckstation also? I set it up but when I went to change disc it showed me all 6 (because the game had a cue/bin file for four disc) files.
Hey there. Yes it does indeed work with Duckstation, I also use it. I recently had to move my giant rom library over to a new external hard drive so my Duckstation was empty until just now. You comment led me to go ahead and add the new PS1 rom location folder and when it scanned it too brought in all of my m3u files but also the bin/cue, isos, chd, etc. It does a good job of finding all of the file types that it can associate with so you might just have to go through and manually delete the entries that say like "Disc 1, Disc 2, etc" and just keep the main entries for multi-disc games with the m3u files.
Alternatively, you could keep your M3U files in a separate folder from your other games and do a scan ONLY for m3u file types and not the other file types and it would likely only bring in the m3u files that way and not a bunch of duplicates. I am not as familiar with Duckstation but I do believe this is possible.
And if you happen to use retro achievements I can confirm that the m3u file will work just fine for multidisc games with achievements also in Duckstation (saw it pop up when I tried a few multidisc games through it just now).
Also here is an image of Final Fantasy VIII running on the m3u file after I added my library fresh again. I didn't even remove the disc 1, disc 2, disc 3, Disc 4 files in my library yet either, I was just running the m3u and when I go to change disc everything seems to be in order:
i.imgur.com/zDJBuen.png
@@WatsonatorTV the folder being separate should indeed work. I followed this guide last night and it located the files as one file but also added multiple copies of the game -as it saw multiple files since the m3u folder was in with the original as well - so setting the folder by itself should do the trick. Thanks again for the very thorough response. I'll definitely check this out and reply back if any issues. Also.. subbed! Lol keep up the great work!
I'm having a similar issue as another person in this thread while trying to convert a save file from legend of dragoon on the PC (after completing the first disc and trying to move to disc 2). I have the m3u file along with a copy of the save file in the save directory in Retroarch. I've tried saving it as all the different file types like mcd, mcr, srm, and bsv with nothing working. I've even tried beetle PSX HW and reARMEd cores and couldn't get the save file to populate in game. I'm using 1.15.0 version of retroarch if that matters. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing wrong.
Hey there, I should have gone into the details slightly more in the video but I didn't want to make it too long.
So I think if I am understanding correctly, you already started a playthrough of Legend of Dragoon when you had it divided up on multiple discs and you are at the part where you go from disc 1 to disc 2. So once you have followed the video and created an m3u file and have it imported into your RetroArch it will probably now be in the playlist as "Legend of Dragoon (USA)". Make sure you have removed any entries in your RetroArch Ps1 section that show CD 1 or CD 2 or whatever, you only need the m3u "Legend of Dragoon (USA)" as your game launcher now. Once you are at this point you then want to go into wherever your save data location is for RetroArch (Program Files \ RetroArch \ saves), it sounds like you have already located this. Inside of here there should be a save file that corresponds to your Disc 1 save and it will likely be called "Legend of Dragoon (Disc 1) (USA).srm". This is the file that you are renaming to now match up to your new m3u entry. You are not changing the file type, just the name to match whatever it is from the m3u, im guessing it will just be "Legend of Dragoon (USA).srm" now without the disc tag part. That SHOULD be all you have to do as long as it matches up perfectly to the name.
It has been a while since I've done it but I remember doing this for something in the past without an issue. I am not sure if it gets a little weird when you are saving using both the in game/memory card save and also using save states, but I think it's the same process for both, you would just rename the save state you have with the disc version to match up to the m3u version but keep the same file type.
There might be more info on this thread here: www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/kqn6c3/saves_not_showing_up_after_creating_m3u_file_in/
Good luck.
This is not working for my RG556. I've done this over and over and I still have multiple files in ES-DE. It's bugging the hell out of me. Funny thing though is that on my RG35xxH I only see the one entry. and that works perfectly. Same files. Only difference is my 35 uses batocera and my 556 uses ES-DE. Please help!
Hey there, I wish I had a solution for you but unfortunately I have no experience with that device. I will say though, I do have a Miyoo Mini Plus which uses the Onion OS and it requires a very specific method that I had to research and figure out. it took asking around the miyoo mini sub reddit to learn everything and I would guess that your device might be in a similar boat.
Basically I had to configure the m3u files on my PC and then move all of the files onto the SD card into a very specific folder location. I also had to completely change the way I typed the file pathway within each and every m3u file and use a backslash instead of a forward slash to denote levels (or maybe it was vice versa).
I can post the thread that explains everything but it will likely not help for your specific device and I would recommend seeing if you can find a sub reddit or discord dedicated to your OS or your device (at least that is likely what I would do in this situation).
@@WatsonatorTV Thank you so much for answering so quickly. There are many suggestions on reddit on how to do it but there's a lot of variation. What's strange is that by changing my theme it has changed the number of visable files so the issue I'm having fixes in that regard. I'll have to play around it seems. There's other file extensions to try. CHD, PBP. I guess I'll have to learn as I go. Thank you so much. I did learn a lot from your video and it worked for some files. Peace.
@@WatsonatorTV The strange thing is that both devices use retroarch and both are using emulation station. It's so odd. I've also noticed that some themes show all the files but some show only one. The RG556 is very new and is android based and the RG35xxh is linux. I'm still a novice but I'm learning more all the time. Thank you for your suggestions and advice. Your video did help me with some of my files.
@@WatsonatorTV I think I figured it out. I wasn't naming the folder properly. naming it [game].m3u did the trick. Thanks for the insight.
I just did this and now it seems my save file was erased?? Is this something you have to do before starting the game or?
Hey there. I mention this towards the end of the video and I said it pretty quickly so you might have missed it: If you have already begun a file the old way, in order to keep your same save, all you have to do is go into your RetroArch saves folder (probably C:\Program Files\RetroArch\saves and find your old save (it is probably called something like "Final Fantasy (USA) (Disc 1).srm" and all you have to do is rename it to match your new game title/m3u (probably change it to "Final Fantasy (USA).srm" or whatever your m3u was renamed to.
You can see some other people in the comments doing this also. Hope that helps.
Cheers.
Edit: You probably want to back up your old save before renaming it too just in case.
@@WatsonatorTV oh my god thank you I'm sorry that's my bad. Man, I was worried
Do I have to keep the individual disc folders as well
Nope, once you have everything together in a single folder you can get rid of the others.
@@WatsonatorTV thank you, I had troubleshooted last night and found that out
Any idea if this would work with project eris
I don't have any experience with Project Eris, however I do have a playstation mini somewhere around my house so I might have to play around with it in the future.
After looking around a bit, it appears that Project Eris might be able to create it's own m3u file if the bin/cue files are named correctly.
I saw this thread on Reddit, maybe it will help, I couldn't find much more info:
www.reddit.com/r/classicmods/comments/ipcy53/multi_disc_game_question_for_project_eris/
this helped me, but the game tells me to switch disc 2 with disc 1 whenever I load disc 2. I just want to continue the game :(
hmm, that's odd. So after following the video and you get to a spot in your game where it tells you that you need to swap to disc 2, you swap over and then it immediately tells you to switch back? Something must have gone wrong somewhere.
I can try my best to help out more but I'm not sure where to start. Are you using the newest RetroArch on Windows? I don't think these steps will work the same if it's not Windows. Also what game are you playing specifically? I might have it myself and can try to see how mine works and then send you some images of how I have the game set up.
@@WatsonatorTV I'm playing Sakura Wars English patched for the Sega Saturn. I'm using the most recent RetroArch for Windows. I got to my spot and at first disc 2 wasn't working, so I went to go fix that, and by the time i was done, i lost my spot :') I'll try again.
the game doesn't let you save a specific spot, it saves by chapters. And I'm new to emulating so yeah
@@catenigma6352I too have Sakura Wars English patched for Saturn. I haven't yet played it but I do have it in my collection and I will take a look and make sure mine works.
As far as saves go, the great thing about emulators is that they have a feature called "state saves" which will save the exact spot you are in at any moment and you can have multiple state saves in various slots and resume them at any time. for RetroArch you must pull up the RetroArch game menu when you have a game running, this is F1 key on the keyboard but also if you are using like a Playstation controller it should be the home button. I think I set mine to be select + start to pull it up. Anyway in this menu you will see the option to state save and state load and change the state slot.
When using emulators I rarely even use the normal save method that a game has and just stick to state saves, it makes everything quick and easy and you don't have to worry about losing data or progress.
So in the meantime I would maybe read a tutorial or 2 on the basics of RetroArch to make sure you know how the state saves work. If you are running the game through a correctly made m3u file, you should be able to state save with it and switch discs when you need to without any issues.
I will take some screenshots later of my file structure and my Sakura Wars m3u file so you can make sure yours looks the same.
Hello is it working with steamdeck (emustation) and Anbernic RG353V?!?
Hey there, I only have experience running RetroArch on Windows. BUT I just got my Miyoo Mini Plus in the mail and it has RetroArch so I am going to do some research. It is likely that the Anbernic and the Miyoo will function similarly. I am not sure about the SteamDeck though.
Will this work with the PS classic running Autobleem 1.0? I'm trying to run Policenauts and I'm having some difficulties to run it properly.
Hmm, unfortunately I have no experience at all with emulation on the PS Classic or Autobleem so I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction, I wouldn't know where to start to help. I did a bit of research though and apparently the emulator DOES support m3u files. I am going to list a few threads that MIGHT have some more information, I think PS classic has their own reddit page and Autobleem actually has their own discord too so maybe there are folks there who could help you more than I could.
Some random threads I saw:
gbatemp.net/threads/ps1-classic-and-multi-disc-games-with-autobleem-help.544699/
old.reddit.com/r/PlaystationClassic/comments/aelpnm/game_ini_setup_for_discs_multiple_tracks/
PS classic reddit: www.reddit.com/r/PlaystationClassic/
Autobleem discord: discord.com/invite/pCNR7P8
Good luck, sorry I can't assist you more, but apparently the people in the autobleem discord are quite helpful.
When i go to edit the m3u file it changes it to not open a text document only media player, will it work to add the .cue files as .txt document and then change it to a .m3u file?
Hey there, I think I can help with that. First off just double check that you have file extensions showing, at the top under "view," make sure "file name extensions" is check marked that way you aren't accidentally doing a double file extension, also under "view" you can change the layout to "details". Make sure .m3u is at the end of your file and its not something like "GameName.m3u.txt" or any type of double extension. If it just has .m3u at the end and under the "type" column for details view it should just say "M3U," if so, then you should be good even if it is technically associating the files with a media player. The reason it does this is because m3u can be used in a number of different programs and apps for different playlists for all types of media. If this bothers you though or you cant figure out how to open it with a notepad, one way you should be able to remedy this is just by right clicking any .m3u file and go down to properties. In the "general" tab there should be an option near the top that says "open with" and you can change the program here that is associated with it, just make this notepad. example image:
i.imgur.com/RpnwP0I.png
Once you have it associated with notepad you should just be able to go into it and start typing. If you wanted to start with a .txt file and type it out and THEN change it to M3U, I think this would also work, just be super careful you aren't double file typing or something.
Let me know if for some reason you are still having any issues but that should take care of it.
Cheers!
how would this work for games that have multiple .bin files for separate tracks? would it just work the exact same?
Correct, for the most part it should work the same way since all of those tracks are labeled within the cue file and the m3u contains the cue. I can't think of an example now but I definitely have some games that have a long list of .bin tracks.
BUT, One thing you have to watch out for is if you have multiple discs that use the same name for tracks. For example a lot of dreamcast roms will have CD1 and a list of tracks like "Track01," "Track02," etc but CD2 will also have tracks with the exact same names "Track01," "Track02," and so on. So these files can't exist next to each other since they have the exact same file name. If you have a case like this you can just have individual folders for each of the CDS and then keep the M3u next to these folders. When you do this, you will need to make sure to include the entire file pathway label for each of the cue files rather than just the file name (since it will have to find it within the folder rather than being directly next to it). I give some picture examples in the pinned comment if you'd like to see it.
Does M3U work with Batocera?
Yes it should because it uses RetroArch cores I do believe. I've noticed a lot of other programs making sure they can use it too like Duckstation. I don't know the details but Batocera should be good to go, saw some others in the comments mention that too.
How do you change the game title? It still shows in my playlist as Final Fantasy (USA) Disc 1 but its all 3 discs
So those are linking to the individual discs or cue files, you can remove all of the entries in your list that say "DISC" in the title. After you create the M3u file like I did in the video, you need to do a manual search for M3U type of files and it will then show the M3U file that does not have "disc" in the title.
So to answer your question, you don't really change the title at all. You create an M3U file so in this case it would say "Final Fantasy VII" or whatever FF you are using and then when you do a manual search for the M3u file it will then appear in RA as "Final Fantasy VII". If your search pulled in the disc entries again just remove them, all you need is the M3U entry now.
Hello! I'm using a retropie and I'm playing FF7. I made the m3u playlist, but when I try to change discs, I'm not able to change the disc index. It just stays at '1.' What would be the cause of this?
Never mind, I figured it out. I guess it won't let you change the disc index until you open the disc tray. But I was still having issues with the second disc not playing - it was just giving me a black screen. It turned out the rom for the 2nd disc was messed up, but a new extraction from the same .zip file fixed the issue for some reason.
@@awfulfalafelwafflerofl2800 So glad you got it working. This will be good info for me going forward as I have never actually used RetroPie. I did a little googling on the subject and it seems the process might be a tad different too, I am glad you figured it out though as I was not sure.
What about for Saturn games?
This method will work basically the same for all systems that have m3u support within RetroArch, sometimes the file extensions will be different though. In the case of Saturn games it should be the exact same though. I will post a couple of pictures for examples.
Here is my Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn game) rom folder with the m3u file inside of it: i.imgur.com/ddbv0Fk.png
And here is the actual m3u file if I was to open it: i.imgur.com/yLtS5Fs.png
You may also want to check the pinned comment on this video for another example with other platforms.
Cheers!
Sooo like a dummy I started playing Grandia without making the m3u previously. I tried making it now so I can switch to Disc 2, but it won't load the memory card from Disc 1; it thinks there's no save file when I insert Disc 2 since it mistakes it as an entirely different game. Also made the m3u, and when I load that: same issue, or it will register only disc 1/2 (can't figure out how to load 2 through this).
Is there something I can do in this circumstance? And also worth noting, the game can't load from Disc 1 from the main load menu, either, giving it a gray lock saying "wrong disc".
Yes there should be a way to fix this. I briefly mention this at the very end of the video where I say "if you are onboard with M3U but you have already begun a game using the old method..." but I will go ahead and elaborate on it a bit more here because I only touch on it a little bit.
So I think it makes sense that nothing can load for you on your Disc 1 because it is reading it is a fresh game with no prior saves on it yet. You should be able to switch to Disc 2 by just going to the menu like I did in the video with Metal Gear Solid (of course this won't matter yet because you don't have your save files, you should be able to swap back and forth between discs though like I show in the video even if you don't have saves).
So in order to get your save, what you will want to do is go into your RetroArch install directory, wherever that may be, it will likely be something like "C:\Program Files\RetroArch" or wherever you might have it installed. Inside this folder is a folder called "saves" that houses all of your save files for every game you have ever saved in your RetroArch history. So in here there should be a file that corresponds to your old Grandia save. Make a backup of this and other save files that are important just in case and put them somewhere safe. Now what you want to do is find the file that corresponds to your Grandia save (it should be a .srm file that has the name from your old disc 1) and you are going to actually rename that file to correspond to the new filename of your M3U file. It has to be the exact same name, copy and paste the text if you can. For example you might be changing "Grandia Disc 1 (USA).srm" to just say "Grandia (USA).srm" if the name of your M3U is "Grandia (USA).m3u" .
So now when you load up the game it should have your old save file in play if everything was done correctly and there isn't any weird version issues. I know that RetroArch now adds some other files that end in ".ldci" which will remember what disc you were on last time you used the game.
There is more info on this here if you would like some further reading or where I learned how to do this:
www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/kqn6c3/saves_not_showing_up_after_creating_m3u_file_in/
www.reddit.com/r/RetroArch/comments/hujw1n/unable_to_load_saves_in_multidisc_games_using/
@@WatsonatorTV Thank you for your in-depth response and help, it worked!
Does this apply to IOS as well? Very desperately want to play MGS.
Hello there. Unfortunately, I have never owned an iOS product or had any need to really do anything outside of PC RetroArch so I am completely in the dark myself.
I definitely get asked a lot though so in the future I might try to learn some about it and maybe download an iOS emulator or something and see if I can make a followup video for that.
I have a Miyoo Mini Plus and the process is very different and requires you to create the m3u files on a PC or whatever first and then move them over to the SD card in a specific way and in a specific location, so I am not sure if something like that has to be done or not.
Sorry I can't help in the meantime but this is definitely something I might look into more in the future and if I ever see some good information or a video out there I will update this page. Also, I believe that the RUclipsr Retro Game Corps is releasing a RetroArch guide for iOS this week and hopefully he will cover this topic. This is his page here:
www.youtube.com/@RetroGameCorps/featured
Great tutorial! Just one problem, when I rename the .txt file as a .m3u, there is no option to open the new file type in notepad, it simply tries to open it in media player, is there anyway to get around this?
Hey there, thank you for the kind words! Sometimes Windows will associate file types with weird programs when they can't even run them for whatever reason, not sure why. But you should be able to right click the file and highlight "open with" and it should bring up a list of programs, you can click notepad, if you don't see it listed there should be a spot where you can click "more apps" or something like that and find it. Alternatively you can also right click the file and go to "properties" and then under the "general" tab near the top I believe there is an "open with" section and a button nearby to change its association to a different program/app.
Also I believe other notepad apps will work if you happen to have like notepad++ or something like that. I am unsure about something like Microsoft Word, it probably wouldn't work though as it tends to want to save the file as a word file.
@@WatsonatorTV this totally fixed it!! you’re amazing and absolutely deserve more subs
Does this work on android version
I personally have very little experience myself but I am fairly certain that the android version does indeed have support for m3u files and as far as I know you should be able to swap discs the same way as in the example.
The overall file structure and locations and everything might work slightly different though and you may need to create the m3u file somewhere else and import it possibly and keep all of the files together when moved to the android device.
I personally have a Miyoo Mini handheld emulator that runs on a custom version of RetroArch and it has m3u support but it requires a very round about way to work and I had to get creative with the file pathways and make sure I had everything in a very specific location, I don't THINK you will have to go through all of that but maybe.
I will let you know if I hear more about this. I will try to make a video example in the future.