Ultimate Artwork Scraping Guide for RetroPie (using any PC). Works with anything! (2019)

As promised, the most effective way (I know of) scraping roms. Super easy to use, please let me know if any questions.
1) Sign up to ScreenScraper for its resources
www.screenscra...
2) Download and extract to mimic RetroPie
mega.nz/#!0XJl...
3) Download the tool
www.skraper.net/
Here is an In depth how to use correctly for HyperPC: • Ultimate Scraping Artw...
For RaspberryPi or ODroid Users: • Ultimate Scraping Artw...
Bum-Bum-Bum!

[@PlushBanshee]

lol back again looking for guides and found you for a second time dude you are on top of all this!

[@JorgeRodriguezTri]

Excellent Guide - thank you so much! Completes the EmulationStation PC install nicely.

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

I will always love these kind of comments, thank you for taking the time to do this. I appreciate it alot.

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Argh! One thing I forgot to mention in the video is that you can SET your locations to boxart/snap/wheel etc (you don't have to rename them). At the point 9:25 if you tick 'Use specific configuration' you can manually set the locations for each type of scrape via 'output folder'. You can also highlight one, and use the left and right arrows to change the type of wheel etc. I'm such an idiot lol! It automatically adjusts the gamelist.xml file for you, so its even LESS work than what I made it out to be. If whoever made this app miraculously watches this video, please message me. I have some suggestions for improvements. :) Please watch the part 2 videos in the description because it covers some of the extra features of the tool.

[@zergmare7]

So the software generates a game list AFTER it is done scraping correct? How does retropie know where the gamelist is and where the scraped items are? Do I have to go back into the retropie config and work that all out? Also I am having this run through atari 2600 but my media found is only about 52% what am I doing wrong? Also, can I plug my external hdd with my roms on it into the pc and scrape it there? I did this for atari 2600 but when I plugged it into my pi nothing happened

[@arcticular]

Thanks this tutorial was really helpful.

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Thanks buddy! I appreciate that. :)

[@mrbigjonstud]

thanks for the guide, worked perfectly !!!

[@aLiKi04]

Awesome videos.

[@costantinod1864]

Thanks a lot! exactly what I was looking for!!!

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mne2ZJSOoq-qeLM

[@SmithKarkarov]

Thanks it really helpfull. But for retropie, after done scraping, what files i must copy to SDcard?

[@therock40359]

If I stop the scraper and start it again, does it re-download everything or does it skip over already scraped roms?

[@robinthompson5711]

Hello Mate, Just wanted to say thanks. For the first time since ive got my retro console something actual worked first time with basically no fuss. I scraped all my snes games (about 850) videos and box art with little problems (some of the videos aren't working, they are just static). I didnt need the mimic tool, just used the configs tool and the skraper. Plugged my hard drive from my console in to my laptop. WIth the system ive got I didnt need to change any folder names etc either. Ill look in to why a few of the videos don't work. Anyway cheers, great video.

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Glad it worked, and congrats! Thanks for the nice comment. If anyone else was/has had trouble just remember to keep trying. It is hit and miss, but when it's hit, its definately worth it!

[@michaelhanna3285]

Can you please elaborate on how to add this to Raspberry Pi/retropie? I'm sorry if it should be obvious, but I could use a little more clarification. You just said that you can "dump the xml file anywhere you want on a pc to a device anywhere and it will just work". But without a visual aid, I just want to make sure i understand what you mean. Can I just copy/paste the xml into the retropie on the network on my pc? What about the media folders? Should they be moved into specific directories on the pi through the PC over network?

[@CloudOmegaVII]

He is not helping you.

[@jmorales09]

Yeah this is a shit tutorial

[@FDCAFOK]

Thanks for this.

[@edneyhelenedossantos1875]

Thank you so much, fantastic!

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Thanks Edney. Hope you got what you were looking for!

[@WARHERO388]

I put the configs folder in the same place as where the rom folder sits and I select it and the skraper does not find it and wont let me click the next button ):

[@Ditronus.]

The scraper errors on every system during the scraping process, saying the servers are too busy to handle request with unregistered people. Yet, I cant go to their site and register. Even the link you have says "site not responding." Is the site down nowadays?

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Yeah the sites down at the moment. I'm not associated with them, so no idea when it's gonna be back online sorry!

[@mickalehartley]

Still down... Now off to find a different tutorial. Any recommendations?

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

@@mickalehartley Yeah it appears to be down. I don't really have any alternatives, but I will try and come up with a solution. What systems are you scraping, and have you renamed any of the roms?

[@mickalehartley]

@NeighbourhoodTechie Thanks for the response! I am scraping nes and snes on this pi build.A while back I had re-named all of the file names manually to exactly match the game names. I tried ETA primes method using skyscraper but a TON of errors were populated stating “no such file name found.” Any help is appreciated! Update, skyscraper seemed to work well for mostly all of the snes files but unfortunately only worked for a handful of the nes files.

[@MobileDecay]

I wish this actually worked in Linux. Too bad they want you to run the Windows version in Wine and it doesn't even work. Just crashes. It's so much better when people support the os natively instead of relying on hacky work arounds. Good thing i have windows dual booted on my machine. Silly not being able to use linux to scrape linux. 😡

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

I remember one guy saying there was no Windows 32bit version either, they probably developed it using 64bit Windows modules that arn't easy to port over. Yeah it really is ashame, because its such a good program.

[@mikaelsvensson7295]

old video, but your part 2 download got no link working.

[@JustBCA]

Actually. I take this back. When I choose my rom folder by following your lesson very closely, i click on the system i wanna scrape and it finds nothing at all. I dont have very many games. Maybe 8 that Im doing on a test build, so It should recognize them, but for some reason it does not.

[@farazasadi]

i dont know why when i press scrap button nothing gonna happend, i config it just like tutorial but it doesnt download artbox or anything else

[@ccheww]

close your eyes and imagine Stewie griffin is talking

[@eminemremix3736]

Hi There... Great tutorial, Do you happen to know how to create a "Custom Mix File" to use with scraper?? If so PLEASE create a video on how to do it I have been trying to create a "Custom Mix File" to use in Scraper (JSON user provided Mix option with Wreck It Ralph) - I have tried various guides, forums etc. I even tried to edit a file slightly but nothing works. I am using the "Generic" option as I am scraping artwork for SimpleMenu on the RG350 / Pocket Go 2 and RetroFW 2.2 handhelds. I am tring to create something similar to Recal Box v2 - All offset to the left with Clear Wheel Art at the top where a Marquee would normally go, Screenshot in the middle and Marquee at the just under the Sreenshot. Then another one with the BoxArt options where the Marquee would be... I hope this makes sense but if not please see the "rough" mock up below. boards.dingoonity.org/ingenic-jz4760-devices/help-with-'creating-a-custom-mix-file'-for-scraping-artwork-for-simplemenu/

[@jedijoe1089]

thanks for doing this m8 easy to follow tutorial i use attractmode great front end you got a sub from me great work m8t.

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Thanks alot Joe, I'm glad you managed to get it setup how you wanted it. :)

[@jedijoe1089]

It works fine on windows 11 it only works brill only depending how the ROMs are named and depending on the skraper media library.

[@d-apps2699]

Thank you very much for this video, but on Skraper, the screen with "..downloading resources..." takes a lot of time? Because mine it takes forever and never download...

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

You do mean before you get into the scraping right? When you first launch it? Yeah it does. It took a long time for me to a point I just cut the video. I would recommend closing EVERYTHING (to stop other things consuming CPU resources) and make sure you're not downloading anything. If it keeps failing just completely delete it and redownload it/open it from scratch.

[@d-apps2699]

@@NeighbourhoodTechie Thank you :) I am waiting, Is it possible to scrap videos from the games too? media.discordapp.net/attachments/472665843327565824/617469180051980480/unknown.png?width=296&height=344

[@ekombat2149]

how do you have the overlay tab i dont have that is there a way to get that? at 9:16

[@3fingerChuck]

Does the odriod scrape setup also work for OGA running EMUelec?

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Hi, not too sure never tried it. If it's just a location that stores files, then just move them to wherever emuelec wants them (it should work).

[@JustBCA]

Will the media folder need to be renamed for Portable Emulation station?

[@bunkerweist91]

does it work for windows 7 32bits? I mean x86 version.

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Afraid not. I couldn't find a decent one for 32bit, it might be worth reinstalling windows 10 onto your laptop though since Windows 7 is losing support soon. Its not too hard to do, just back everything up first. If I did a tutorial on it, would that be of any use?

[@matculver6610]

Exactly the tutorial I was looking for! Everything went smoothly until I finished scraping though - all my images are blank white (10-15kb) and my videos are all corrupt (1kb). Any idea what I'm doing wrong??

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Hi Mat, did you ever get around it? There's been a few problems with screenscraper, so this site has been very hit and miss recently. I would suggest rerunning it again, it took me 2 weeks to reply but maybe the site has resolved their issues now. What are you scraping?

[@elliotdavies3557]

Ye thanks neighbourhood techie im a subscribed now and will try this with the skraper as the built in 2 on the xu4 don't get everything

[@josepablitoaurar7051]

Its so complicated i dont get it

[@clblev]

When I scrape it says scrape aborted and stops

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Sometimes this happens, I would try again in a couple of days. It might be under heavy load.

[@clblev]

@@NeighbourhoodTechie It said it was overloaded but has been working fine since yesterday hoping to scrape all my games. Thanks

[@qweenzgrimyest]

bro your the man!

[@JReese2013]

It won’t let me validate the login on Skraper

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Hi Jon, try another browser. Sorry for delay, but if your details are correct and you've used another browser you may need to contact support. This site is hit and miss, so try again when you read this. Thanks.

[@d-apps2699]

I was wondering, I am just downloading game screenshots, if I just copy all screenshots to the emulationStation folder "/home/pi/.emulationstation/downloadedimages/"system name"", it will work right? So I don't need to make any changes in the .xml file, because I already have .xml files from all console generated for emulationstation on my retropie , already have my rom list and it loads from that default location to read covers?

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

I don't think it will work. Im making another video today covering this exact topic, you're better copying all the roms off your pi onto your PC, scrape them all (as they are) then copy all the newly created folders and the generated xml onto the pi alongside your roms. I would ditch your old artwork/game list. Just rescrape the lot.

[@d-apps2699]

@@NeighbourhoodTechie Actuaçly it worked but I will lose the game info since I don't use gamefile.xml generated by Skraper. I copied the .xml to it's folder and the media folder to my roms. All scraped now. Thanks

[@kittyflin40]

your link needs a decryption key?

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Hi dave, which link is that?

[@kittyflin40]

@@NeighbourhoodTechie never mind changed browser and it worked

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

@@kittyflin40 perfect Dave, thanks for replying with the fix. No doubt you weren't the first, and won't be the last person that has this problem!

[@TheJacka45]

Cant open skraper its saying that I need a 32 bit version

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Hi TheJacka45, I don't think this app has a 32bit version at this moment in time. You've given me another idea for a video though, on how to install Windows 10 64bit. For now you'll have to find a 64bit PC or laptop, sorry!

[@TheJacka45]

@@NeighbourhoodTechie thanks for the reply. Besides this skraper could you recommend a decent scraper for rpi 4 zipped roms running unofficial retropie?

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

@@TheJacka45 I will have a look around tomorrow night and get back to you. The scraped art is all the same for Pi3 and 4, so we'll just need to find you a tool that works with 32bit. It might not be as fancy or intuitive though. :(

[@TheJacka45]

@@NeighbourhoodTechie I appreciate it. Thank you. Right now I'm trying universal XML scraper so scratch that off the list. Hopefully it works for me

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

@@TheJacka45 How did it go with universal XML? Did you have any success?

[@elliotdavies3557]

Painful slow on 1 thread you have been warned people lol

[@NeighbourhoodTechie]

Oh nice, it's back up. Yeah, i donated to get the full threads and scraped everything I had. My other videos show you have to save the scraped images/xml onto your PC.

[@ИгнатМирзализадэ]

Only for 64x windows version =(