How to Set Up Rom Collection Browser XBMC (Kodi)

This tutorial will be as quick as possible to set up Rom Collection Browser in XBMC (Kodi) to launch all your favorite emulators. I will walk through all the emulators I have installed. I was disappointed a resource wasn’t available when I was putting together my install.

Here’s a video of my Rom Collection Browser setup that is several months old, but give you an idea.

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Set Up Rom Collection Browser in XBMC (Kodi)
Emulator Parameters in Rom Collection Browser
Add Gameplay Videos to Rom Collection Browser
Tips for Your Rom Collection Browser Setup

Steps to Set Up Rom Collection Browser in XBMC (Kodi)

First, I’m not going to show you where to download the emulators nor Roms. Brief research will lead you to the source. I will touch on nuances with each emulator. You’ll need the emulators and roms before you start this tutorial for settin up Rom Collection Browser in XBMC (Kodi). This is set up on a Windows machine.

Enable Rom Collection Browser

1. Download XBMC if you haven’t already
2. Install Rom Collection Browser. Settings > Add ons > Get Add Ons > XBMC.org Add Ons > Program Add Ons > Rom Collection Browser
3. Enable Rom Collection Browser

Your file structure for both emulators and roms is important. You’ll want each emulator, or console, in its own folder and the applicable roms within these folders:

The blanket approach to linking your emulators to Rom Collection Browser is immediately following with each platform’s specifics broken out below:

1. Open Rom Collection Browser and hit “c” for your context menu (or right click)
2. Choose “add rom collection”
   
3. In most situations, select “scrape game info and artwork online”
4. Select the applicable console
5. Map to your emulator, which on Windows machines will be the .exe file in your emulator download. Note, you must have already mapped your file location via file manager.
6. Map to your applicable roms folder, which is hopefully well organized with all aggregated into one “rom” folder within the emulator’s folder.
7. Leave default parameters and file masks for now and reference console-specific info below:

Parameters, file masks and other nuances is where this can get painful, but the below settings have worked well for me. Note that you can use the great information available for each console via Advanced Launchers help.

*Note that the above resource is no longer hosted. You can find what’s left of it in the Way Back Machine if interested.

Emulator Parameters in Rom Collection Browser

Below values are entered in the menus found by hitting c to bring up your context menu while in Rom Collection Browser and selecting add or edit rom collection and toggling the applicable platform.

 Nintendo:

Rom File Mask: *.zip,*.nes

Emulator Params: “%ROM%”

Nuances: None

SNES:

Rom File Mask: *.zip,*.smc,*.sfc

Emulator Params: -fullscreen -F -D -L libretro-git-snes9x-next-x86_64dll “%ROM%”

^Presuming you’re using the same emulator and haven’t made any changes to names!

* Note that Ferret commented and volunteered the below parameters that worked in his situation:

-fullscreen “%ROM”

Nuances: None

Sega Genesis:

Rom File Mask: *.zip,*.bin,*.cue,*.iso,*.32x,*.smd

Emulator Params: “%ROM%”

Nuances: None

Nintendo 64:

Rom File Mask: *.z64,*.zip,*.n64

Emulator Params: “%ROM%”

Nuances: None

Playstation:

Rom File Mask: *.iso,*.bin,*.cue

Emulator Params: -nogui -loadiso “%ROM%”

*If your Emulator is launching, but not your roms try the below params:

*Alternate Emulator Params: -nogui -loadbin “%ROM%”

Nuances: If you quit this emulator with alt f4 the sound will keep playing. You must use escape

Playstation 2:

Rom File Mask: *.iso,*.bin,*.mdf,*.nrg

Emulator Params: -nogui -loadiso “%ROM%”

Nuances: You must use escape and not alt f4 again

Gamecube:

Rom File Mask: *.iso,*.zip,*.elf,*.dol*.wad*.gcm

Emulator Params: /B –exec= “%ROM%”

Nuances: As with all of these, settings at the emulator kick in upon launch; this is extremely important with Dolphin for Gamecube

Dreamcast:

Rom File Mask: *.cdi,*.gdi

Emulator Params: -config imagereader:defaultimage=”%ROM%”

Nuances: If you want to use controllers, plural, you will need to do a hack, which can be found here.

You’ll also need to edit your NullDC.cfg file found in the same directory as the .exe. Open this with Notepad or other editor and change the below values:

Emulator.AutoStart=1
Emulator.NoConsole=1
AutoHideMenu=1
Fullscreen=1
PatchRegion=1
LoadDefaultImage=1
DefaultImage=default.gdi
LastImage=C:\Sega Dreamcast\*.cdi

The “LastImage” value being the directory housing your Dreamcast roms.

Game Gear:

Rom File Mask: *.zip,*.bin*.gg

Emulator Params: “%ROM%”

Nuances: Both handheld systems use emulators for primary consoles. Leave the emulator in the folder for Genesis, but reference it for this and separate out the Game Gear roms

Game Boy:

Rom File Mask: *.gba,*.gb*.gbc*.zip

Emulator Params: “%ROM%”

Nuances: Handheld nuance.

Game Boy Advanced:

Rom File Mask: *.gba,*.gb*.gbc*.zip

Emulator Params: “%ROM%”

Nuances: Handheld nuance. The same as Game Boy, but separate out the folders!

MAME:

Rom File Mask: *.zip

Emulator Params: “%ROM%”

Nuances: MAME will be your most painful. You will need bios files for each console (example, Neo Geo). Make the call not to rename any rom or bios files to save effort. Download a bulk pack of bios files. to quit MAME you will also need to hit escape and then enter to exit MAME.

In your rom collection import settings menu change your “max folder depth” from 99 to 0. This is to avoid XBMC crawling your BIOS files and importing a bunch of junk. Under the launch games settings select “do not extract zip files.” MAME roms stay zipped

Add Gameplay Videos to Rom Collection Browser

1. Before you add your videos strongly consider following the step in RCB tips for closing and reopening XBMC (Kodi) when your emulator runs to avoid having your video audio loop in the background after your emulator launches.
2. You will need the videos as they will not be populated through Rom Collection Browser via any database. Grab your videos from YouTube or the excellent source EmuMovies.com.
3. You can save these movies anywhere, but I recommend adding them in a folder neighboring your game artwork folder so that each console is separate to keep things organized.
4. If you use EmuMovies desktop client it should scan your rom folder for each console and name the movie files appropriately. If you get these files in a different fashion or if you experience any issues make sure that the movie file has the same name as the rom file minus the extension. Ex: game.mov game.zip
5. Now that all the files are on your local machine we will point to them. Open XBMC (Kodi) and Rom Collection Browser. Enter your context menu (right click or “c”) > Edit Rom Collection > Select your Rom collection you have the video files for. You will have to do each individually.
6. Go to “Import Game Data” > Toggle “Media Type” until you get to “Gameplay” > Set the path to the applicable folder on your machine under “Media Path”
7. If you do not see “Gameplay” in the previous step then go to “Add Media Path” > “Gameplay (Video)
8. Media File Mask should read %GAME%.* and this will work as long as your video file names reflect your rom names.
9. Save Config
   
10. You’re done, but note that you will only see videos in two views – panel and wide, so don’t start troubleshooting if you’re not seeing them in the wall views.

Tips for Your Rom Collection Browser Setup

• Set up XBMC to close and reopen when you launch roms via Rom Collection Browser. This is extremely important if you plan to use videos and not static images. It’s also frees up CPU resources for less powerful rigs. Go to Rom Collection Browser – Right click or hit “c” for context menu – “Open Addon Settings” – “Launch Games” – Check “Use VB Script in Solo Mode (Windows Only):
  

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You can customize this setup to no end, but this is the basics for getting your launchers started. Thanks for checking out my post on how to set up Rom Collection Browser in XBMC (Kodi).