The <Favourites> virtual launcher allows you to have a carefully curated list of Favourite ROMs. AEL management of Favourite ROMs is very robust and allows you to keep your Favourites up to date even if you rename ROMs, update ROM sets (this is important now that MAME is updated once per month) or update your emulator version.

NOTE Favourites is only available for ROMs and not standalone launchers.

Adding ROMs to Favourites

You can add ROMs to Favourites from any ROM launcher, [Browse by …] virtual launcher, or ROM Collection.

To add a ROM to Favourites, select that ROM, open the context menu and click on Add ROM to AEL Favourites. A confirmation window will show up and then click Yes. If the ROM is already in Favourites, a confirmation window will ask wheter the current ROM in Favourites should be replaced or not.

Understanding Favourite ROMs

Favourite ROMs are separated entities from the ROMs in your launchers and are stored in a separated database. Favourite ROMs also include some metadata from their launcher, like the launching application, args, etc. If you delete a Favourite ROM from its original launcher the Favourite ROM will launch, providing the ROM is still in the same path and that the emulator executable exists. The parent ROM is the original ROM you used to create the Favourite from. The parent launcher is the original launcher of the parent ROM.

A Favourite ROM will have the same metadata and artwork/assets as the parent ROM at the time of creation. However, you can edit both the metadta and artwork of a Favourite ROM and the parent ROM will not be affected at all. Also, Favourite ROM assets/artwork are stored in a special directory different from the artwork directories of the parent launcher.

When Favourite ROMs are displayed, a status tag is added at the end of the ROM name,

• [OK] Both the parent launcher and the parent ROM exist.

• [Unlinked ROM] The parent launcher of the ROM is OK. Also, the ROM file name stored in the database can be found. However, the parent ROM fingerprint cannot be found in the parent launcher ROM database. You reach this situation if you deleted the parent ROM from the parent launcher.

  NOTE Every time a ROM is added to a launcher, AEL creates a unique ROM fingerprint (romID). This ROM fingerprint is different even if you add the same ROM to the same launcher again!

• [Unlinked Launcher] The parent launcher of the Favourite ROM cannot be found. Note that if the parent launcher cannot be found then the parent ROM does not exist in the database either.

• [Broken] ROM filename does not exist. ROM is unplayable. Note that the parent ROM is also unplayable.

You can play both Unlinked ROMs and Unlinked Launcher ROMs if the ROM file exists and you have not changed your emulator/launcher executable. However, it is recommended to keep all your favourites linked (OK status) because this allows to copy launcher information, metadata and assets from the parent. For example: you can change the launching application in the parent launcher because you installed a new version of your emulator. Later, you can use AEL to update the launching information of your Favourite ROM with the launcher info from the parent ROM.

Checking Favourite ROMs

To check your Favourite ROMs, open the context menu in any Favourite ROM, click on Manage Favourite ROMs, Check Favourite ROMs. This will refresh the Favourite ROM tags.

Repairing Favourite ROMs (batch)

AEL is capable of repairing Unlinked/Broken ROMs. This may be useful, for example, if a new version of MAME is out, you replace your MAME ROMs, and it happens that a ROM you have in favourites has been renamed.

Note that the repairing options from the Manage Favourite ROMs will process all your Favourite ROMs in a batch. To do so, open the context menu in any Favourite ROM, click on *Manage Favourite ROMs. You have the following options for repair:

• Repair Unlinked Launcher/Broken ROMs (by filename) This will compare each UL/Broken Favourite against all the ROMs in all your launchers. A new parent ROM will matched if the filenames (including the full path) match.

  This option is ideal if you accidentally deleted a launcher, then recreated it again and you did not change the directory where ROMs are stored. If you have several launchers/emulators pointing to the same ROMs directory, it may happen that the wrong launcher is matched.

• Repair Unlinked Launcher/Broken ROMs (by basename) Same as the above, but only the ROM filename (no full path) will be used for matching.

  Note that this is more prone to errors because it may happen that you may have a ROM with the same name on different platforms.

• Repair Unlinked ROMs The parent launcher exists and all the ROMs currently in that launcher will be searched by basename.

When you click on any of these options, you will be asked about the way Favourite ROMs must be repaired when a match is found:

1. Relink and update launcher info Just update the ROM/launcher fingerprint, ROM filename and all the ROM launcher information: launcher app, launcher arguments, etc.

   Metadata and asset/artwork of the Favourite ROM won’t change.

2. Relink and update metadata Same as 1 and also copy metadata from parent ROM to Favourite ROM. Favourite ROM artwork will be kept.

3. Relink and update artwork Same as 1 and also copy artwork from parent ROM. Favourite ROM metadata remains untouched.

4. Relink and update everything Same as 1 and also copy artwork and metadta. Favourite ROM will be totally refreshed with the new parent ROM.

Relinik/Repairing Favourite ROMs (individual ROM)

To relink/repair a Favourite ROM, open the Favourite ROM context menu, then click on Edit ROM in Favourites, Manage Favourite ROM object…. You have the following relink/repair options:

1. Choose another parent ROM (launcher info only) First you will choose the new parent launcher among all launchers in AEL. Then, you will choose a new parent ROM in that launcher. ROM/Launcher fingerprints will be updated and the filename of the parent ROM and the launcher information will be refreshed.

   Metadata and artwork of your Favourite ROM will be left unchanged.

2. Choose another parent ROM (update all) Same as 1, but Favourite ROM metadata and artwork will be updated with the parent.

3. Copy launcher info from parent ROM Only works for linked Favourite ROMs.

4. Copy metadata from parent ROM Only works for linked Favourite ROMs.

5. Copy assets from parent ROM Only works for linked Favourite ROMs.

6. Copy all from parent ROM Only works for linked Favourite ROMs.