Add PC - Windows Games

Metropolis Launcher supports PC - Windows games by launching their executables. You can add executables with the following file extensions: .exe, .lnk, .bat, .cmd.

It is strongly recommended that you create a directory (e.g. "D:\Game_Links\") and create for each game:

- A link file (.lnk extension) to the game's executable

- Rename the link file to the game's name

Metropolis Launcher adds games by their executable's file name. Many Unreal Development Kit based games come with the executable named UDK.exe - a good reason to organize games the way described above.

Here are the steps on how to add PC - Windows games to Metropolis Launcher:

1. Open the Rom Manager

   - by pressing the Rom Manager button on the Settings page, or

   - by using the context menu (right click) on the main list in the Games & Emulation Main Screen and clicking the Open Rom Manager ... menu item.

2. Select Platform = PC - Windows

   The Rom Manager will show a (possibly empty) list of imported files on the left and the MobyGames Database for PC - Windows games on the right.

3. In the (empty) file list: open the context menu (right click) and choose the Add Games (Files) ... menu item

4. Browse to your Game_Links directory (or any location of the game's executable) and select one or more executables

5. The Tag Parser opens up

   The to be added executables of your choice may contain tags, for example:

   - attributes in parentheses: Antichamber (De).lnk

   - version information prepended by a "v": Beat Boxing Turbo v1.1.lnk

   The Tag Parser scans all the tags and you can map one or more attributes to those tags.

   If a tag is newly added, the font of the tag will be written in bold. Else it will be in normal font weight. Please have a closer look at the newly added tags - Metropolis Launcher will have analyzed them and added appropriate attributes by itself.

   If the Tag Parser does not find any tags in the chosen executable file names, you will be prompted with a message and the Tag Parser will be closed afterwards.

6. The games will be analyzed and added

   Metropolis Launcher shows a progressbar of the import process. When it is finished you will be prompted with an information on

   - how many games have been added

   - how many of these games have been mapped to game info (in the PC - Windows case, Metropolis Launcher is not able to automatically map games to game info)

   - how many duplicates have been ignored (you will have a duplicate if you re-add a game that is already added)

7. Press the Save button

   After successfully adding games, press the Save button to save your changes.

8. (Optional - but really useful) Link your games to their respective game info in the MobyGames Database

   With generic emulated games and DOSBox games, Metropolis Launcher is able to automatically find game info from the MobyGames Database for individual games. This is not the case with PC - Windows games (yet). So you have to link the MobyGames info to the games yourself. However, this is really easy:

For each game in the file list (on the left):

8.1. Select the game

8.2. Select the appropriate game entry in the MobyGames Database and perform a double click on either side

8.3. Read and accept the information about linking games and replacing game names

8.4. Your game entry is now linked to the MobyGames information

     Games that are linked to MobyGames information profit hugely from the data provided by mobygames.com, for example genre, number of players supported, multiplayer game modes, description etc.

Dont' forget to press the Save button after linking games with game infos.

Note: You can also use the Add Games (Directory) ... menu item. Every .exe, .lnk, .bat or .cmd file within the chosen directory will be treated as a single game and added to the main list. It is not recommended to use this option for the location of all your installed games, because setup.exe's and the likes would also be added then.