Differences

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--- directory_dir2dat_guide [2023/04/25 19:31] – hiccup
+++ directory_dir2dat_guide [2025/02/05 20:31] (current) – hiccup
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Directory Dir2Dat Guide ======
-Todo: see if romvault is a suitable replacement
+todo: document how to use RomVault for this, as that is a much better option - it represents directories using special <dir> tags. It lets you create dats by scanning the contents of the ROMRoot, and then right clicking the ROM root and choosing "Save full dat". You can also do the same using ToSort, but to do that you need to have a blank .dat in the DATRoot.
+----
+**Old guide**
+//This method should no longer be used, as it does not properly distinguish between empty files and folders.//
-**Warning: there currently is no dir2dat tool that properly distinguishes between empty files and folders. As a workaround, you should use store the output of
-`dir /s` (if you are using Windows) or `ls -R` (if you are using Linux) alongside the datfile.**
 If the "ROM" consists of of multiple directories, you will want to use the "dir2dat" function of [[https://mamedev.emulab.it/clrmamepro/|clrmamepro]] with the following settings in the "Options" section.
@@ Line 26: / Line 30: @@
 You can test this setup is working correctly by hashing the contents of {{ :test_dir_structure.zip |this zip}} and comparing the datfile that clrmamepro creates with {{ :test_dir_structure.dat.zip |this pre-made datfile}} . Currently there is no solid solution for "directory hashing" that supports SHA256, so you can leave that hash type out.
-There will also be a top-level entry called "Default" with a single empty folder, which should be ignored/deleted.
+There will also be a top-level entry called "Default" with a single empty folder, which should be deleted, or noted as to be ignored.