The Languages and 1G1R page of the Selection step decides which languages and countries you want, and whether RomSieve keeps a single release of each game.
The page follows the order of the reasoning: at the top, Start from a profile fills everything in one click (see Quick presets); in the middle, two frames say which languages and countries you want; at the bottom, the One version per game (1G1R) frame says how one release of each game is chosen.
Two side-by-side frames, Priority Languages and Priority Countries and Regions, show your choices in order of priority, as numbered chips: chip 1 is preferred, then chip 2, and so on.
Add a language / Add a country, at the top right of the frame, opens a search by name or code: click a result, or press Enter to add the first one. The added entry goes to the end of the list.
The cross of a chip removes it from the list.
To change the rank of a chip, drag it onto another chip, or right-click it: Move to first, Move up, Move down or Remove. With the keyboard, a selected chip moves with Ctrl+arrows, goes first with Ctrl+Home and is removed with Delete.
The ↺ button next to it restores the default list.
Languages use two-letter codes (en, fr,
de, ja...); m stands for
multilingual releases (M3, or several
languages).
Countries use two-letter codes (FR, US,
JP...) and regions: EU (Europe),
WO (World), AS (Asia), SCAN
(Scandinavia), LA (Latin America)...
Under the chips of each frame:
A collection often holds many releases of the same game: several regions, revisions, alternate dumps, cracked and clean versions... With One version per game (1G1R), the box in the title of the bottom frame, RomSieve groups the releases of each game and keeps only the best one; the others are Excluded, with the reason (for instance 1G1R: Game (Europe).zip retained (FR preferred over EN)).
The releases of a game are grouped by their title (normalized: articles, accents, roman numerals...) and their system, and with a DAT by its parent / clone relations. Enabling 1G1R also enables the language filter, on which it relies.
| Preset | Languages | Countries | Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | fr > multilingual > en | FR, EU, WO, US, GB, CA, AU, JP | PAL |
| Multilingual Europe | multilingual > fr > en > de > es > it | EU, WO, FR, GB, DE, ES, IT, US, AU, JP | PAL |
| USA | en > multilingual | US, WO, CA, EU, GB, AU, JP | NTSC |
| Japan | ja > en | JP, AS, WO, US, EU | NTSC |
The Start from a profile buttons, at the top of the page, replace the languages, the countries and the 1G1R settings; their tooltip describes them. A preset enables 1G1R and fills the lists; adjust them afterwards as you like. The France, USA and Japan presets also prefer single-language releases.
The candidates are compared criterion by criterion; the first criterion that tells them apart decides. A candidate is a whole release of a game: all the disks of the same multi-disk edition compete together, and the release's properties are read from its first file (disk 1). The information comes mostly from the file name, parsed according to its convention (TOSEC, No-Intro or Redump), and from its extension; the DAT is only used for parent / clone relations. A MAME set is described by its machine in the DAT (description, year, manufacturer, emulation status), and a software of a MAME list by its entry in the DAT of the list (description, year, publisher, support by MAME). A criterion on which the candidates are tied, for instance because their names say nothing about it, lets the next one decide.
Each convention has its own order of the criteria, made of the only criteria that can separate two of its releases: a No-Intro name carries no date, a cartridge has a single file, a MAME board is neither PAL nor NTSC... A release follows the order of its convention; a release whose convention is not known follows the order of TOSEC.
The reason shown for an excluded release names the deciding criterion (for instance version v1.2 > v1.0, or version v1.0 > no version against a name without a version number, which comes after all the others).
Language (priority rank): the release whose
language ranks highest in your Priority Languages wins. The
languages are those of the name ((fr),
(En,Fr,De), M3...). When the name gives none,
they are deduced from the country: (France) means
fr, (USA) and (Europe) mean
en, (Japan) means ja... A name
with neither language nor country counts as English. The m
code (multilingual) matches a multilingual release that contains at
least two of your languages (one if your list only has one), or whose
name does not detail its languages (M3). A release in none
of your languages comes after all the others.
Complete set: a set with all its disks present
wins over an incomplete set on the same media; for MAME, a set that has
all its ROMs and CHDs. The expected number of disks comes from the name
((Disk 1 of 3)) or, failing that, from the highest disk
number found ((Disc 1), (Disc 2)...). This
criterion only separates releases on the same type of media: if no
complete set exists on floppy disks, it does not penalize the floppy
releases.
Amiga chipset (AGA machine): no effect until the
Amiga machine option of the Filters page is set to
Amiga 1200, 4000, CD32 (AGA). With this machine, the
AGA and OCS versions of a game are one game, and the AGA version
((AGA), (A1200)...) wins over a version that
runs on both families ((OCS-AGA), (ECS-AGA)),
which wins over a version fixed for AGA ([f AGA NOMAD]),
which wins over an OCS / ECS version (no chipset mark). The chipset
comes from the TOSEC name.
Good dump (verified first): a verified dump
([!] in TOSEC) wins over a dump without a mark, which wins
over a bad dump ([b], (Bad Dump)), a
virus-infected one ([v]), an overdump ([o]) or
an underdump ([u]). Every dump of a Redump DAT is verified,
and a MAME ROM marked baddump is the best dump known: their
orders do not have this criterion.
Original release: the original release wins over
a modified one. From the least to the most penalized: fixes
([f]), re-releases ((Virtual Console),
(Switch Online)...), translations ([tr],
[T-En]), alternate dumps ([a]), cracks
([cr]), trainers ([t], [t +2]),
modified releases ([m]), hacks ([h],
(Hack)), pirate releases ([p],
(Pirate)), development versions ((alpha),
(beta), (proto), (preview)...)
and extended ADFs; each additional flag costs more, and
[a2], [cr3]... come after [a],
[cr]. For MAME, a bootleg or a hack loses to the original
set; for a software of a MAME list, a pirate release, a hack, a crack, a
trained release or a prototype loses to the retail release.
MAME emulation (driver status): a machine whose
emulation is good wins over an imperfect emulation,
which wins over a preliminary one. The status comes from the
DAT made by mame -listxml. For a software of a MAME list,
it is its support by MAME (supported, then partially,
then unsupported), which only the hash files of MAME
give.
Country / region (priority rank): the release
with a country ranked highest in your Priority Countries &
Regions wins. The countries are those of the name
((France), (Europe),
(USA, Europe), (FR)...); UK and
GB are equivalent. A release with no country in your list,
or no country at all, comes after the others.
Preferred video standard: compares the releases
to the standard chosen on the line of the criterion:
Any (no effect), PAL (50Hz / Europe)
or NTSC (60Hz / USA, Japan). A release of the chosen
standard wins over an unknown one, which wins over one of the other
standard. The standard comes from the name ((PAL),
(NTSC)) or, failing that, from the countries:
USA, Japan, Canada,
Brazil, Korea... are NTSC;
France, Germany, Europe,
Australia... are PAL. A release from countries of both
standards suits both preferences.
Preferred media type: compares the TOSEC
releases to the media chosen on the line of the criterion (floppy disks,
tapes, cartridges, CD images, hard drive and WHDLoad;
Any: no effect). A release on the chosen media wins.
The media is deduced from the extension (.adf,
.d64, .st... for floppy disks,
.tap, .tzx, .cdt... for tapes,
.crt, .rom... for cartridges,
.iso, .cue, .chd... for CDs,
.lha, .hdf for hard drives), otherwise from a
mention in the name ((Disk 1 of 2), (Tape),
(Cart)).
Format fidelity: on the same media, the image format most faithful to the original wins, based on the extension:
.ipf, .stx,
.g64, .scp, .fdi (and
(sps) images) > .adf, .d64,
.dsk, .st, .msa,
.img > .dms, .dmz;.chd > .cue,
.gdi > .cdi, .mds,
.ccd, .nrg > .iso;.tzx, .cdt, .pzx,
.uef > .tap, .cas,
.t64, .k7 > .wav,
.voc;.lha, .hdf >
.vhd > .hdz;.crt, .nes, .sfc,
.gb, .gbc, .gba,
.md, .gen, .smd >
.rom, .smc, .a26,
.pce, .sms, .gg... >
.bin.An unknown extension is placed at the middle level.
One or several languages: follows the choice on
the line of the criterion. With A single language (the
default), a single-language release wins over a multilingual one
(M3, (En,Fr,De)); with Several
languages, the reverse.
Country speaking the chosen language: prefers
the release whose country speaks the selected language. For a French
speaker, a French release from (France) wins over a French
release from (USA). A release from a European or world
region (Europe, World,
Scandinavia) in a European language of your list comes
next, like a release whose country speaks another of your languages, or
a release with no country; a release from a country speaking none of
your languages comes last. Canada counts for English and French, Belgium
for French, Dutch and German, Switzerland for German, French and
Italian.
Latest version: the release with the highest
number wins (v1.2 before v1.1,
v1.10 before v1.9, v1.0a before
v1.0). The number comes from the version field of a TOSEC
name, from (v1.1) in No-Intro, or failing that from a
v… or r… found in the name. A release with no
number comes after any numbered release.
Latest revision: the highest revision wins:
(Rev 2) before (Rev 1), (Rev B)
before (Rev A), or (PRG1) before
(PRG0). A release with no revision comes after.
Latest date: the most recent date in the name
wins ((1991-03-12) before (1990)), in TOSEC
names, where the date is mandatory, and in MAME descriptions (the date
of a prototype of a software list, prototype 19940420). An
incomplete date (19xx, 1990-xx) loses its
unknown parts: 1990-05 wins over 1990, and
19xx counts as no date.
Most disks (incomplete set): between two
releases whose disks are not all there, the one with the most distinct
disks or parts found wins (Disk 1, Disk 2...
or Side A, Side B).
Parent rather than clone: with a DAT, the parent
release of a game wins over its clones (the DAT's cloneof
attribute). Without a DAT, every release counts as a parent and this
criterion decides nothing. TOSEC DATs describe no clone: the order of
TOSEC does not have this criterion.
and always last, the name itself: the shortest file
name wins, since a name loaded with mentions usually describes a variant
(the disk role mentions (Intro), (Game),
[bootable] and [non-bootable] are not
counted), then the first file name in character code order, so that the
result never depends on the order of the files on disk.
| Criterion | TOSEC | No-Intro | Redump | MAME | MAME lists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language (priority rank) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Complete set | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| Amiga chipset (AGA machine) | 3 | ||||
| Good dump (verified first) | 4 | 2 | |||
| Original release | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| MAME emulation (driver status) | 3 | 4 | |||
| Country / region (priority rank) | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| Preferred video standard | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | |
| Preferred media type | 8 | ||||
| Format fidelity | 9 | 6 | |||
| One or several languages | 10 | 6 | 7 | 7 | |
| Country speaking the chosen language | 11 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
| Latest version | 12 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 9 |
| Latest revision | 13 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
| Latest date | 14 | 9 | 11 | ||
| Most disks (incomplete set) | 15 | 11 | |||
| Parent rather than clone | 10 | 12 | 4 | 12 |
An empty cell is a criterion that cannot separate two releases of the convention: it is not in its order. In the "country first" mode, the country moves to the top of the orders of TOSEC, No-Intro, Redump and the MAME lists.
The Change the order… button, on the Order of the criteria line, opens the panel of the orders. Settings for: TOSEC, No-Intro, Redump, MAME or MAME lists chooses the order shown: the one of the convention of your collection, or any other, which is kept for your other collections. Select a criterion and move it up or down, or restore the default order. Under the list, a sentence names the criteria of the other conventions, which this one does not have.
The criteria that compare the releases to a preference have it on their line, in a drop-down list: Preferred video standard, Preferred media type and One or several languages. A quick preset changes them too.
The order is the only setting of the order of the language and the country: their places also say which of the two comes first, the language and country filters included. The sentence next to the button recalls it (Language comes before country. or Country comes before language.). Moving the country above the language in the order of TOSEC, No-Intro, Redump or the MAME lists does the same in the others; the order of the MAME sets keeps its own. Restoring the default order keeps the language or the country first, as in the current order.
The criteria that have no effect on the collection you are sorting are greyed out and in italics in the list. Hover over a criterion to see what it compares and, when it is greyed out, why it has no effect. RomSieve only greys out a criterion when it is certain that it separates no versions:
After a simulation, each criterion shows on its right the number of games it decided: those in which it set the kept version apart from at least one other version. A game counts once for each criterion that discarded one of its versions; a game with a single version, or whose version was chosen by hand, is counted by none. A greyed-out 0 marks a criterion that decided nothing in this collection. The numbers follow the versions chosen by hand and disappear as soon as a setting changes, the order of the criteria included, since they would describe another sort: run the simulation again.
Click a number to see those games: the Results step opens and the table only shows the games decided by that criterion: for each one, the kept version and the versions this criterion discarded (not those another criterion discarded). A band above the table recalls it; its Show all button removes the filter. This filter combines with the search and the status chips: with the "Kept" chip, the table only shows the kept versions.
By default, the order of the MAME sets keeps the parent chosen by the MAME developers, unless it is incomplete, a bootleg or a hack, or less well emulated than a clone; the language, the country, the version, the revision, the date and the country speaking the chosen language only separate clones whose parent is absent or left out.
To prefer the versions of your region (a USA or
Japan clone rather than a World parent), put
the language or the country above Parent rather than clone.
Changing this order does not change which of the language or the country
comes first for the other collections. Priority countries keep their
filtering effect: without a priority language, a set from a country of
your list always wins over a set from another country.
The software of a MAME software list are cartridges, disks and tapes released by region: their order is close to that of No-Intro, the language first. A software that lacks a ROM loses to a complete one, as a MAME set does, and a software MAME supports better wins over the others when the DAT says so (hash files of MAME). The parent chosen by MAME only separates what nothing else does; with a SabreTools DAT, which names no parent, Parent rather than clone is greyed out.
Every 1G1R option is in its frame, below the box that enables it. While 1G1R is off, they stay in sight but greyed out, and the frame says that every version that passes the filters is kept.
TOSEC names, on the right, only acts with the TOSEC convention, or while it is not known yet. With another convention, it stays in sight but greyed, a sentence says why, and it keeps its value.
If RomSieve does not keep the release you want, right-click the release in the simulation table and choose Keep this version as 1G1R winner: see The simulation table.