The Export menu, at the right of the action bar, is available after a simulation or a sort, and as soon as a DAT file is chosen for the filtered DAT of the catalog. Its first entries export the results of the last run; the last one, under a line, only needs the DAT. Each is enabled only when its export is possible, and the menu itself when at least one of them is. No export is ever written over the DAT read: choosing its file as the target is refused, so that the DAT stays whole.
Saves the result of the last run:
.json): every file with its
status, reason, title, checksum and target path, plus the statistics;
suited to scripts and archiving..csv): the same table, to open in
a spreadsheet.Generates a DAT file listing the ROMs of your source the last run kept, so that other ROM managers (ClrMamePro, RomVault, Igir...) can check your sorted collection:
.xml), the most widely
supported format;.dat).A file identified by the DAT takes its size and checksums from the DAT, without being read again; the checksums of the other files are computed while exporting. With a MAME DAT, each kept set is written as its machine in the DAT (ROMs, disks, parent and BIOS), without reading the archives; a merged set is written with the clones whose ROMs its archive holds. The message at the end counts the files of the DAT as a ROM manager does: a ROM that MAME lists several times in a machine under the same name counts once. While the export runs, a progress bar shows the files already written, and Stop export stops it without writing anything. The entry is available once at least one file is kept.
The DAT follows the check boxes of the table: while some games are unchecked (Sorting part of the simulation), it only describes the checked games and the MAME sets they need, the same files as Sort Selection would write. With every game checked, it describes the whole simulation.
Lists the ROMs of the DAT that are missing from your collection. It requires a DAT and a finished run. Three formats are offered:
.txt): a short header (DAT name
and version, counts) then one missing ROM name per line;.csv): to open in a
spreadsheet;.xml): a standard
DAT holding only the missing ROMs, grouped by game with their parent /
clone relations. Load it in another ROM manager to look for exactly what
you lack.ROMs of games recognized only by the name of a CHD (see Naming conventions and DAT files) are neither found nor missing: they are not listed.
Generates the DAT of the games of the catalog (the DAT file chosen at the Collection step) that your settings keep, without a simulation and without reading the source: the filters, the languages and countries, the 1G1R and, for MAME, the machine filters, the categories, the ratings and the volume are applied to the games of the DAT as they would be to a complete collection named after it. Load the result in a ROM manager (ClrMamePro, RomVault, Igir...) to build or check a collection of the games you want only: RomSieve itself never rebuilds a set.
The two DAT exports describe different things:
| DAT of your collection | Filtered DAT of the catalog | |
|---|---|---|
| Needs | A finished run | A DAT file |
| Describes | The files of your collection that the run kept (the checked games only, if some are unchecked) | The games of the DAT your settings would keep |
| 1G1R winner | The best version among those you have | The best version in the DAT |
With the same settings and a complete collection, both keep the same games. Otherwise they differ: the same settings do not choose among the same versions. For instance, with the priorities FR, then EU, then US, and a source that only holds Zelda (USA), the DAT of your collection names Zelda (USA) and the filtered DAT of the catalog Zelda (France), which you do not have; a game missing from your source is only in the latter. The filtered DAT of the catalog thus describes the collection to reach, to load in a ROM manager, and the DAT of your collection what you have. A few settings have no effect on the filtered DAT of the catalog:
Each game is written whole, with all its ROMs (and the tracks of a
disc). A MAME set is written as its machine of the DAT, like a
non-merged set: the sets it needs (devices whose ROMs it does not list)
are kept with it. A relation to a game left out (the parent of a kept
clone, the BIOS of a kept game) is removed, the game then standing
alone. The header of the DAT keeps its name, followed by " (RomSieve)",
and its version. The format follows the extension chosen:
.xml for Logiqx XML, .dat for ClrMamePro (the
DATs of MAME software lists are written into a folder: see below). The
footer shows the step under way, and Stop export stops
it without writing anything; when the settings keep no game, no file is
written.
With MAME
software lists, one list or a folder of lists, the DAT of your
collection and the filtered DAT of the catalog ask for a
folder, not a file: a DAT per list is written at its
root, named after the list (megadriv.xml,
gamegear.xml...), as a ROM manager keeps them in its
DatRoot and as MAME looks for them. The header of each DAT
holds the name of the list alone: RomVault names the folder of a DAT
after its header, and MAME only finds the software of a list in the
folder of that name.
hash
folder, or the output of mame -getsoftlist), the DATs are
written as MAME software lists, the format MAME reads
in its hash folder: each software kept is copied as it is
from the file of MAME, with its parts, data areas and features, and a
clone whose parent is left out loses its cloneof. The
folder can be given to MAME as its hashpath. Otherwise
(SabreTools DATs), they are written in Logiqx XML. The ClrMamePro format
is not offered for the lists: it would lose what MAME needs.hash folder..xml) is written as a fixdat per list that lacks something,
named fixDat_<list>.xml, into the folder of the file
you choose. The Miss List names each software with its list
(gamegear/shinobi).romsieve-cli run writes the same exports with
--report, --miss-list and
--fixdat, and
romsieve-cli dat --output <file> the filtered DAT of
the catalog (a folder for MAME software lists): see Command line.