Total DOS Collection naming convention. Originally based off what TOSEC is doing here: http://www.tosecdev.org/tosec-naming-convention Although some things were modified and a few new tags/flags were added into the mix to properly represent DOS gaming. Changes to the naming convention will occur over time. While the naming convention may not be perfect for every conceivable situation, it is important that it is consistent across the archive so that if and when changes are made, changes can be automated when possible to avoid re-working filenames by hand. The basic format for the naming convention is as such: Game Name, The (Year)(Publisher) [Genre].zip You'll notice that it looks a lot like this list from mobygames: http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/dos/list-games/ This is no coincidence. TDC attempts to tie game titles, year of release, publisher, and genre to mobygames. Tying this data to the mobygames database allows 1:1 lookups for game info, which can assist in fleshing out the overall TDC archive (screenshots, tech info, etc) ==Titles== The full title is mandatory for all games. "Quest for Glory 2" <-- No! "Quest for Glory II- Trial By Fire" <-- Yes! TDC typically uses the title as available on box covers or media (CD, floppy, cartridge) which aligns with what mobygames also typically uses. Games that were never published on physical media obviously do not have box covers to use the title from, so the title screen is used in these cases. There are of course even some games that have no title screen and no box cover, so we fall back onto any available documentation supplied to best attempt to accurately describe the title. Sometimes the title screen does not reflect the title used on the box or floppy (sometimes none of them agree!). The existing database that is used internally for TDC has fields for box_title, screen_title, tranlated_title, and transliterated_title so multiple titles can be tracked. Since the archive in TDC exists of zipped contents representing a particular release of a title, we have to choose something to name the file, so box or title is most commonly used. Game titles may also change between countries- please use whatever is in the box whenever possible to align with mobygames. If there is no box or media label, then the title screen used. ¿Dónde está Carmen Sandiego_ ¡Búscala por todo el Mundo! (Es) (1991)(Brøderbund Software, Inc.) [Adventure, Educational].zip Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego_ v2.2 (1991)(Brøderbund Software, Inc.) [Adventure, Educational].zip 魔法世紀 (Zh) (1993)(Softstar Entertainment Inc.) [Role-Playing (RPG)].zip (see section on translated and transliterated titles further down) A game's title also can change entirely between different releases from different countries. TDC wants to collect ALL of them of course, so each one uses whatever the title screen says. For example, these are technically the same game: Wall Street Manager (De) (1993)(Interplay Productions Ltd.) [Strategy, Simulation].zip Rags to Riches (1993)(Interplay Entertainment Corp.) [Strategy, Simulation][!].zip or Stunt Track Racer (1989)(MicroProse Software, Inc.) [Action, Racing - Driving].zip Stunt Car Racer (1995)(Futura Games, MicroProse Ltd.) [Action, Racing - Driving][!].zip or Supremacy- Your Will Be Done (1991)(Virgin Interactive Ltd.) [Strategy].zip Overlord (1991)(Virgin Interactive, Inc) [Simulation].zip However, these were released as separate, distinct titles in their respective countries and even released by different publisher names. This is one place where TDC and Mobygames can vary, as Mobygames lumps games such as the above under a single entry. On Moby, look under the "releases" tab in the main summary to display the different countries and publishers. In cases like these, be sure to use the title local to the region it was published in, as well as the publisher. Sometimes the publisher is very similar in both regions, as the with the Supremecy/Overlord example above- it can sometimes be just an Inc v Ltd. that distinguishes them. Colons in titles Anytime a colon is used in the game title, it must be represented as a "- " (see Maniac Mansion above for an example). Since a colon cannot be represented in a DOS/Windows platform, this representation allows a colon to be symbolically placed at that location. On platforms that do support a colon in a filename, a search/replace could restore the proper naming convention. Dashes in titles If a dash is used in the title, then it shall be represented as " - ". 4D Sports - Boxing (1991)(Mindscape International Ltd.) [Action, Strategy, Sports].zip Question Marks, asterisks, and other illegal characters in titles or publishers The Windows file system, which is an extension of the DOS file system, does not allow for certain characters to be used in filenames: \ / : * ? " < > | Some titles contain illegal characters to be represented in files. Q*Bert, Carmen Sandiego?, etc. Anytime a "?" character is needed, simply replace it with an underscore. An asterisk or slash character can be replaced with a "-" instead. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego_ v1.2 (1986)(Brøderbund Software, Inc.) [Adventure, Educational][!].zip In the database, these titles can be fixed back to being titles and not filenames for usage where there are no operating system limitations. Best efforts will be required to replace illegal characters without losing information. "M/S software" or "D/Generation" can easily be substituted to "D-Generation" or "M-S Software" while still maintaining a high degree of accuracy. Thankfully no one (yet!) has published a work that contains mostly illegal characters such as "/\/\ A >< | /\/\ U /\/\ Chaos (2025)(DOGE Bros, Inc.) [Action].zip ==Publishers== The full publisher name is mandatory for all games. This includes all punctuation. 3-D Helicopter Simulator (1987)(Sierra) [Action, Simulation].zip <-- No! 3-D Helicopter Simulator (1987)(Sierra On-Line, Inc.) [Action, Simulation].zip <-- Yes! Sometimes a game is published in a different country by a different publisher, possibly with language changes. We prefer to track this information as accurately as possible. Mobygames has a "releases" section where this information can sometimes be located. Maniac Mansion- Day of the Tentacle v1.1 (Es) (1993)(Erbe Software, S.A.) [Adventure].zip <-- Published in Spain Maniac Mansion- Day of the Tentacle v1.5 (1993)(LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC) [Adventure].zip <-- Published in USA Sometimes a game is re-issued, typically as a low-budget re-release and often times a separate publisher is behind that release. There may or may not be changes with those re-issues (eg, removal of copy protection or adding digital manuals). To simplify tracking which release is which, we often double or even triple up on the publishers: James Pond II- Codename Robocod (1991)(Millennium Interactive Ltd.) [Action].zip James Pond II- Codename Robocod (1993)(Kixx, Millennium Interactive Ltd.) [Action][!].zip Barbarian - The Ultimate Warrior (1989)(Kixx, Palace Software, Ltd.) [Action].zip Barbarian (1989)(Mastertronic Group Ltd.) [Action].zip Barbarian (1989)(Melbourne House) [Action][!].zip Shareware authors can also be known to self-publishing to moving their releases under a company name. Battle-Bots v1.10 [SW] (1991)(Ed T. Toton III) [Simulation].zip Stellar Conquest [SW] (1991)(Ed T. Toton III, NecroBones Software) [Strategy].zip Stellar Conquest 3- Hostile Takeover v1.03 [SW] (1994)(NecroBones Software) [Strategy].zip In the above case it appears that Ed Toton started out self-publishing then formed a publishing company or alias to release titles under. In these instances, we try to use whichever publisher is mentioned in included documentation and then use both at roughly the transition point (1991) where this change was made. This helps future researchers when searching for either publisher name to discover both. In the 90's it was fairly common for graphic card companies to have a custom built version of popular titles bundled with their hardware to showcase particular graphic features. In these types of cases, the graphics card company is the publisher of that title, but should certainly be co-published by the original publisher(s) of that game too: NASCAR Racing CD v1.21 (1998)(Sierra On-Line, Inc., Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc.) [Racing - Driving, Simulation, Sports].zip <-- US release, common version NASCAR Racing CD v1.21 (1996)(Virgin Interactive Entertainment (Europe) Ltd.) [Racing - Driving, Simulation, Sports].zip <-- UK release NASCAR Racing CD v1.21-mx (1996)(Matrox Graphics Inc., Sierra On-Line, Inc., Virgin Interactive Entertainment, Inc.) [Racing - Driving, Simulation, Sports].zip <-- bundled release, built for Matrox graphics cards. Essentially any company (even as a shareware author which might not have an actual registered and trademarked "company") that had their hands in making the release of that particular version of a title available should be credited as publisher. The order in which publishers are listed in the publisher field is not particularly important, although we typically try to insert the publisher of a re-issue toward the front of the publisher list. ==Version and Release numbers== The version number presented in the game is very important for TDC to distinguish between the various releases. TDC's goal is to track and archive *every* game, and that means every version of every game too. The version number, or in the case of Infocom games, the Release number is always included immediately following the game name. Links 386 Pro v1.30 (1994)(Access Software, Inc.) [Sports].zip Infidel r22 (1983)(Infocom, Inc.) [Adventure, Interactive Fiction].zip Many Faces of Go, The v8.03 (1992)(Ishi Press International) [Simulation, Strategy].zip Zork II- The Wizard of Frobozz r48 (1983)(Infocom, Inc.) [Adventure, Interactive Fiction].zip Sometimes both a version and a release number are present, in this case put the version first and the release 2nd: Battlecruiser 3000AD v199z r1.01 (Installer) (1997)(GameTek UK Ltd.) [Simulation, Strategy].zip There are also occasions when a publisher will release the same title with the same version number (or no version number) but clearly there are differences in the file set. Instead of creating [a1] tags which effectively say "there's something different about this one compared to the others, but we have no way of denoting it" we can create a release number using the timestamp on the latest file. These release numbers are in the format of Year-month-day. Touché- The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer r951117 (1995)(U.S. Gold, Inc.) [bin-cue].zip Touché- The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer r951107 (1995)(U.S. Gold, Inc.) [bin-cue].zip SimCity 2000 v1.0 r940113 (Installer) (1994)(Maxis Software Inc.) [Simulation, Strategy].zip Balloon Challenge v1.1 r930930 [SWR] (1993)(Soleau Software, Inc.) [Strategy].zip Compilations and version numbers Occasionally a publisher (often self published) may release a compilation which consists of multiple titles, each may have their own version number. Unless the compilation itself has a unique name and version number associated with it, there is no need to apply version numbers to a compilation- it would get too bulky and hard to parse: 3w1- Autka v3.12, Dark Moon v1.1, Mr. Tomato v1.09 (Installer) (Pl) (2001)(Riki Computer Games, L.K. Avalon) [Compilation].zip <--not worth it. Compilations that have unique versions of titles in them can be broken out as separate entities. See later on in the section about compilations/collections. ==Launguage Flags== Flags are used to identify a particular language used. Languages are tracked by the language presented in the game, not the country of the game's origin. There's nothing stopping someone in Germany from making an English language game. If not specified in the zip filename, the default language is English. The full list of ISO language codes is available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639_language_codes This is a list of the most common ones used in TDC (Ko) Korean (Ja) Japanese (Cs) Czech (Zh) Chinese (De) German (Es) Spanish (En) English (It) Italian (Fr) French (Ru) Russian (Sv) Swedish (Fi) Finnish (Hu) Hungarian (No) Norwegian (Nl) Dutch (Da) Danish (Is) Icelandic (Id) Indonesian (He) Hebrew (Pl) Polish (El) Greek (Sl) Slovenian (Sk) Slovakian (Sr) Serbian (Uk) Ukrainian (Pt) Portuguese (Be) Belarusian (Ar) Arabic (La) Latin (Tr) Turkish (Hr) Croatian (Et) Estonian (Fa) Persian (Multi-x) Where x is the number of languages supported. We are trying to deprecate this field for better overall accuracy, although there are some games that support 12+ languages, so it gets a little out of hand to have all those individual language flags in the filename. Try to limit the usage of this tag to only titles that have many (8 or more) language options. Rasende Reporter, Der (De) (1994)(Promotion Software) [Adventure].zip Reon-Ui Moheom (Kr) (1994)(Family Productions) [Action].zip Languages may be "stacked" to denote multiple languages supported. Rise of the Robots (En)(De)(Fr)(It)(Es) (1994)(Time Warner Interactive, Inc.) [Action].zip It is important to have no spaces between language tags and keep one space between the last language flag and the start of the Year/Publisher data. Each language flag is independent of the others and there is no specific order in which they are listed. ==Tags== Tags are specific in the type of information they represent. These typically do not represent the type of game included in the zip. [DC] DOS Conversion. Typically a "booter" game that was originally released on floppy disk or PCjr cartridge. Converted to run in a DOS environment. These are technically hacks and even more technically don't belong in a true DOS archive, but there's they are still games that we can't ignore! Adventure in Serenia [DC] (1982)(IBM) [Adventure, Interactive Fiction].zip Agent U.S.A. [DC] (1984)(Scholastic Wizware) [Adventure, Educational, Strategy].zip There are handful of games in TDC which have an odd naming with the file extension of ".img.zip". These are games that are not yet, or cannot be, converted into true DOS file formatting, and are instead included in the archive as image files. This is due to either not having a file system (typically a "booter"), having original copy protection still intact, or raw data read or written to the media which bypasses the DOS file system layer. Whatever image format used is one that adequately allows the user to restore that game image back to a media in which the game can then be played. The actual image file may vary, from a stock floppy sector scrape (.img), teledisk (.td0), transcopy (.tc) depending on copy protection that may be disk based, and the complexity of that copy protection. It is an unfortunate reality that not all games can be as neatly cataloged as the others. These files are named as such so that they can be immediately identified and the user is notified that additional handling will be required. These titles also have duplicate copies of the image file in the images\floppy folder for completeness. The amount of games being duplicated here is minimal, and we figured it was worth it to ensure the "files" section of TDC represents every possible game available. Since we include all games in TDC\Games\Files, it is possible that these disk images may be duplicated as image files in TDC\Games\Images\Floppy too, until such time as a [DC] can be made from the image. [h1] Hacked version 1 [h2] Hacked version 2, etc - These are games where the game has been altered in some way, typically by the pirate/release group. The most common form of hack is a "Cracked by mr. cooldude" type message, often replacing the actual game's credits/copyright. Other forms of hacked files are using a loader to start the game, sometimes to show an ad for the pirate group before the game starts. The loader is sometimes a TSR which patches the game and therefore cannot be removed from the final release. An eventual goal of TDC is to repair hacked versions of games if none exist. If a clean copy of a title has been located, hacked titles often get relocated to the "junk pile" if they add no historic or significant value. Titles in the "junk pile" are still tracked via .dat file to assist in identification, but are no longer distributed as part of the TDC archive. All hacked tags should have an a corresponding entry in the notes wiki describing why this tag was applied to this title. Airborne Ranger v441.01 [h1] (1988)(MicroProse Software, Inc.) [Action, Simulation].zip Ancient Art of War at Sea, The [h1] (1987)(Broderbund Software, Inc.) [Strategy].zip Some hacks include changing the name of the original title, such as Sopwith getting changed to "Red Baron". Since "Red Baron" is at its core still the game Sopwith, the original title is retained, and only a note is provided in the wiki. In other words, if a hacker simply changed some text in a file, they don't get credit for creating a new game. The year of release shall still be set to the original date of the game's release, not the year the hack was performed, likewise the publisher name shall be retained to the original, not the hacker. In the database, we can use the "derived from" ID fields to better track that a hacked title was originally sourced from a different title. [a1] Alternate version 1 [a2] Alternate version 2, etc - Some portion of the game is different enough that it has been included in TDC but no other mechanism (like a different version number) can be located to determine why this set of files differs from the others. Some examples: 1) A data file in the game is different - not a config, high score, or save game file, but something substantial. Files may change due to simply playing the game, so some discretion is required before blindly adding anything. 2) The game may be cracked differently. Someday we can go back through these and using unchanged bytes from multiple version an *uncracked* version of the game may be reproduced. 3) Sometimes authors forget to change the version number when something is changed. A game may say v1.2 on two completely different versions (the .exe files might be vastly different) of the game. We often fall back onto using the rYYMMDD nomenclature here. 4) Corruption. Game files might vary for unknown differences not related to cracking. The a file might then be corrupt, but until at least a 3rd copy or known good dump of the game is available, we may never know which version is the correct one. 5) The same game released on 360k floppies as well as 720k and files differ. Sierra games do this. Resource.001 may be twice the size on the same game released on 720k diskettes. 6) Compression. Occasionally an alternate version of a game is traced to compression differences. Once decompressed, if the files match exactly, then the compressed version is not included in TDC, but tracked as a compressed duplicate. Unfortunately decompression can sometimes create a completely different .exe file, which cannot be verified as identical. These files must be tracked as alternate versions even though gameplay is identical. All alternate tags should have an a corresponding entry in the notes wiki describing why this tag was applied to this title. Alternate titles are often transient in that as additional data/copies of titles are processed and information is learned and compared against existing copies, it may lead to an alternate copy getting removed, renamed, merged with other copies, or even "promoted" to becoming the base copy. A longer term goal in TDC work is to reduce the overall amount of [a] titles either through additional renaming practices, purging, or merging, since everyone thinks this tag in particular is annoying. 3-D Helicopter Simulator [a1] (1987)(Sierra On-Line, Inc.) [Action, Simulation].zip 3-D Helicopter Simulator v1.10 [a1] (1987)(Sierra On-Line, Inc.) [Action, Simulation].zip 3-D Helicopter Simulator v1.10 [a2] (1987)(Sierra On-Line, Inc.) [Action, Simulation].zip [f1] Fixed version 1 [f2] Fixed version 2, etc - Something in the game has been patched slightly to make it run either in DOSBox or otherwise in a more user friendly way. An example would be removing the requirement for a game to run off a certain drive or subdirectory. Titles that required installing from multiple floppies are often fixed by modifying the installer script to not require disk swaps. This _does not_ include simply cracking a game. Cracked games are the default for all games in TDC. All fixed tags should have an a corresponding entry in the notes wiki describing why this tag was applied to this title, and as per TDC modification guidelines, the original file should be renamed with the last character of the extension changed to "_". Balance Of Power (Installer) [f1] (1985)(Mindscape, Inc.) [Simulation, Strategy].zip Bruce Lee Lives- The Fall of Hong Kong Palace v1.02 [f1] (1989)(Software Toolworks, Inc., The) [Action].zip [o1] Overdump version 1 [o2] Overdump version 2, etc. Typically only seen in very early software, occasionally a file contains garbage data at the end of the executable portion which doesn't alter gameplay at all, but does alter a game's CRC. These are technically useless, but tracked in TDC for identification purposes. Since these titles are often only a few k in size, these are sometimes still physically in the TDC archive. Overdumps do eventually be removed out of the archive and only tracked as duplicates. Overdumps might be caused from earlier versions of DOS which read to the end of a sector, not the end of the file size marker, or a byproduct of downloading raw files via BBSes using certain protocols (remember Zmodem, or Xmodem?) it's possible those protocols only worked on 1k granularity and may have filled in data at the end of a file during transfer. 3D Tic-Tac-Toe [o1] (1982)(Reza Beheshti) [Strategy].zip 3D Tic-Tac-Toe [o2] (1982)(Reza Beheshti) [Strategy].zip A longer term goal for TDC is to eliminate all overdumps from the archive and get them into only used for tracking purposes. [b1] Bad version 1 [b2] Bad version 2, etc - Known incorrect/incomplete copy. Some examples of when this is used: 1) The most common form of this is a CD-RiP game, where intro movies, sounds, etc, have been removed from the game to reduce the size for distribution. CD-RiPs are usually completely playable, even in their bad state. As the project progresses, and full copies of CD games are discovered and identified, these games will be restored/replaced with complete versions (CD-ZIP) and hopefully the [b1] copies can all go away. 2) Sometimes a game is incredibly rare, and a known bad copy is the only is the only one that can be located. It will be included in TDC for identification purposes, even though the game is not playable. 3) A defect is discovered in a game and a better copy replaces it. An example might be a DOS converted game where the loader uses 386 instructions. When a better conversion of the game is available, the previous copy in TDC will be "downgraded" to [b1]. In this instance, there is technically no reason to include the game in TDC outside of identification purposes so it can be avoided. All bad tags should have an a corresponding entry in the notes wiki describing why this tag was applied to this title. Barney Bear Goes To School [b1] (1990)(Free Spirit Software, Inc.) [Educational].zip Beneath Apple Manor [DC][b1] (1983)(Quality Software) [Role-Playing (RPG)].zip [SW] Shareware [SWR] Registered Shareware [FW] Freeware Shareware, Registered Shareware, and Freeware are methods to denote the various methods certain games are distributed under. This tag can also be used to help track revisions of a game; for example a shareware game from 1997 may later be re-released by the author as freeware in 2005 without any other version identification. A tag of [SW] does not necessarily mean a registered version of that game exists, or that it would be any different if it did exist. [SW] simply means the author has mentioned the distribution method the title was released under, which is often accompanied with a request for money. This tag was introduced as a quick way to sort and filter "safe" titles which can be redistributed without worry of copyright infringement. SW/SWR/FW tags are not encapsulated inside parenthesis to avoid confusion with language flags. Bio Menace- Episode One- Dr. Mangle's Lab [SW] (1993)(Apogee Software, Ltd.) [Action].zip Bio Menace- Episode One to Three [SWR] (1993)(Apogee Software, Ltd.) [Compilation].zip Akiko and Minami [FW] (2004)(Roland Kunz) [Action].zip ------------------- RFC: It may make sense someday to bulk rename [SWR] to [SR] so that all of these tags are the same size. ------------------- [!] Known good dump. This zip archive contains files that have been validated against a 2nd, independently sourced copy or known good (often kryoflux) verified source. This is the highest status of any file in TDC, as it ensures that the game has been dumped identically from two (or more) sources and the CRCs of all the files match on both copies or files taken from a validated source such as a kryoflux/greaseweazle dump with no sector modifications. This tag is appended to the *end* of the filename. It is important that proper care in obtaining two independent copies for comparison is observed. Getting one copy from a torrent and a second copy from an abandonware site is not reliable enough to ensure the two copies came from different source material. Note that since timestamps and even filenames can change without effecting the data, a known good dump status only means the bytes in the file(s) CRC32 matched. Ideally two original sources (floppy, CD) are used for these comparisons which will often result in identical timestamps and filenames, when software was only published digitally, (example BBSes) then only byte matches work. Today's technology (the Kryoflux) can be used to determine known good dump status from a single source. Kryoflux can determine the difference between a floppy written in the factory using a disk duplicator machine vs. a copy made on a PC. It can also detect if any sectors have been re-written (such as a highscore file has been written back to the disk and is thus no longer original). TDC will accept known good dump status when a verified disk has been identified without a secondary source, provided it has been properly vetted by someone skilled in the arts of Kryoflux. $100,000 Pyramid, The v1.3 (1988)(Box Office) [Trivia][!].zip Awesome Earl in SkateRock (1988)(ShareData, Inc.) [Action, Sports][!].zip Box Ranger (Kr)(En) (1992)(SKC Soft Land) [Action][!].zip ------------------- RFC: potentially new tag? [.] Mostly good dump. This zip file has been compared against an independently sourced copy, but one or more files do not CRC-match. An example here would be where all .exe and data files match exactly, but a save game or config file has been written to and a virgin copy has not yet been located. ------------------- Translated [tr No] Translated into Norwegian [tr En] Translated into English [tr Es] Translated into Spanish [tr Cs] Translated into Czech etc. A title modified to change the native language. This is most always an unofficial change in the game's data and typically done by simply changing ASCII text embedded in one or more of that title's files. Technically these are hacked, but more useful than simply changing the credits on a game or advertising one's cracking skills, so they are tagged separately. Note: The 2-letter language code must be the same as the language flags used earlier in this document. Alley Cat [tr No] (1984)(IBM) [Action].zip Bomb'X [tr En] (1993)(Mediagogo) [Strategy, Adult].zip California Games v1.01 [tr Es][h1] (1988)(Epyx, Inc.) [Sports].zip Cyrus [tr Ru] (1985)(Intelligent Chess Software) [Strategy, Chess].zip Dizzy- Prince of the Yolkfolk [tr Cs] (1993)(Codemasters Software Company Limited, The) [Action].zip Like hacks, some translations are done at a significantly later year than when the game was first released. The year should still reflect of the game's original release, not when the translation was done. Quest for Glory II - Trial by Fire v1.105 [tr Sp] (1990)(Sierra On-Line, Inc.) [Adventure, Role-Playing (RPG)].zip The database can be used to track the origins of translations by setting the "derived from" IDs to the original, untranslated copy. Tags may of course be "stacked" to denote several variants at once, since all of them are indpendent. Adventures of Captain Comic Episode 1, The - Planet of Death [SW][h1] (1988)(Michael A. Denio) [Action].zip Alien Carnage (Installer) [SW][a2] (1994)(Apogee Software, Ltd.) [Action].zip BC's Quest for Tires [DC][b1][a1] (1984)(Sierra On-Line, Inc.) [Action].zip It is preferred to keep tags in the same sequence, so they list nicely, but there is not currently a rue as to which order they appear. Archon- The Light and the Dark [DC] (1984)(Electronic Arts, Inc.) [Action, Strategy].zip Archon- The Light and the Dark [DC][h1] (1984)(Electronic Arts, Inc.) [Action, Strategy].zip <-- Yes! Archon- The Light and the Dark [h1][DC] (1984)(Electronic Arts, Inc.) [Action, Strategy].zip <-- No! ---Title Qualifiers--- These are descriptors to describe differences when there are known differences in a specific title. For example the same version of a game may be released in muliple formats, such as EGA and CGA or a demo. Instead of using an [a1] alternate tag if the particular reason these titles are different is obvious, use a qualifier instead. These are referred to as title qualifiers as they describe differences, but are not a part of the title itself. (demo) Fairly self explanatory, however, if the title of the game contains the word "demo" in the title screen, then there is no reason to include it again as a flag. A-10 Tank Killer v1.1 (1990)(Dynamix, Inc.) [Simulation][!].zip A-10 Tank Killer v1.1 (demo) (1989)(Dynamix, Inc.) [Simulation].zip As you can see, it's the same title, same version, but one is the full game, one is a demo of the release. Beetris (demo) (1992)(Simsalabim Software) [Strategy, Action].zip Blues Brothers, The (demo) (1991)(Titus France SA) [Action].zip ChessBase KnightStalker Demo v1.01 (En)(De) (1992)(ChessBase USA) [Strategy, Chess].zip <-- Yes, if this is actually part of the title. ChessBase KnightStalker Demo (demo) v1.01 (En)(De) (1992)(ChessBase USA) [Strategy, Chess].zip <-- No need to double up on demo. Video qualifiers: (HGA) - Hercules (TGA) - Tandy/PCjr 16 color (CGA) - standard 4 color (EGA) - 16 color (VGA) - 256 color (SVGA) - High resolution (800x600 or higher) Arkanoid (CGA) (1988)(Taito Corporation) [Action].zip Aspar GP Master (CGA) (Es) (1989)(Dinamic Software) [Racing - Driving].zip F40 Interceptor (CGA) (1989)(Titus Interactive S.A.) [Action].zip F40 Interceptor (EGA) (1989)(Titus Interactive S.A.) [Action].zip Croisiere pour un Cadavre (EGA, TGA) (Fr) (1991)(Delphine Software International) [Adventure].zip Mad TV (EGA) (En)(De) (1991)(Rainbow Arts Software GmbH) [Simulation, Strategy].zip Mad TV (En)(De) (1991)(Rainbow Arts Software GmbH) [Simulation, Strategy].zip It's not necessary to add video qualifiers to all releases- these are used primarily to typically denote _a_ release that is different. There's nothing technically wrong with denoting all the releases like F40 above, but it's overkill in certain situations when there may be multiple releases of the VGA version of a game and one release of the EGA. Tag only the EGA one since the "default" one is the VGA release. Multiple video qualifiers may be joined with a , instead of (EGA)(TGA). Machine qualifiers: (Tandy) (PCjr) Drakkhen (Tandy) (1990)(Infogrames) [Action, Adventure, Role-Playing (RPG)].zip Mr. Cool (PCjr) [DC] (1984)(Sierra On-Line, Inc.) [Action].zip These shouldn't be required(?) if (TGA) is used instead. Yes there's sound options available for these machines, but we don't track sound in the filename... Can these be eliminated? (Installer) A version of a game in a pre-installed (not immediately runnable) format. These are included in TDC for multiple purposes. Sometimes a game has different options that can be changed at install time, such as sound drivers or graphics modes. If TDC only included post-installed games, there may be no ability to have a CGA version of a game. Installers often identify themselves differently as installed games, such as a game in its pre-installed form may be a multiple of compressed files which will have different CRCs and filenames than the game in its post-installed form. 1942- The Pacific Air War (Installer) (1994)(MicroProse Software, Inc.) [Simulation].zip 3D Cyber Puck v1.1 (Installer) (1995)(Homebrew Software) [Action].zip When multiple qualifiers are needed, we are attempting to adhere to a specific ordering: Master of Magic (demo) (Installer) (1994)(MicroProse Software, Inc.) [Strategy].zip (demo) should always come before (Installer). Xenocide (EGA) (Installer) (1991)(Micro Revelations, Inc.) [Action, Adventure, Simulation].zip In cases like this, add the video qualifier before (Installer) Not that we have any, but it would be (video) (demo) (Installer) in those cases. Additional qualifiers Qualifiers are not as restrictive as tags in what data they represent- anything that helps with identification to know what type of game is included in the zip file can be used. Sadly not everything fits into a perfectly parsable world, but until a better solution is available this is what we have. 688 Attack Sub (Maxell Special Edition) (Demo) (1988)(Electronic Arts, Inc.) [Simulation][!].zip Air Attack (Tandy 1000) [f1] (1988)(Brooks deForest) [Action].zip Maniac Mansion (Enhanced) (1989)(Erbe Software, S.A., Lucasfilm Games) [Adventure].zip Pinball Fantasies (5 min demo) (1993)(21st Century Entertainment Ltd.) [Simulation, Action].zip Putting it all together: Title version release (Qualifier) (Languages) [Tags] (Year)(Publisher) [Genre][!].zip Dune II- The Battle for Arrakis v1.07 (Installer) (Fr)(En)(De) (1992)(Virgin Games, Inc.) [Strategy].zip Fantasy Worlds of Tamrak, The v1.30 (Installer) [SW][a1] (1993)(Ray Johnson) [Adventure, Role-Playing (RPG)].zip Fields of Glory (Installer) (En)(Fr)(De) (1993)(MicroProse Software, Inc.) [Strategy][!].zip Pole Chudes v4.1 (demo) (Ru) (1994)(Dice Soft) [Strategy, Educational].zip Diamonds v2.0 (En)(De) [SW][a1] (1996)(Ralf Zwanziger) [Action].zip Worst Case Scenario, The- The Game v1.45 r890417 (EGA) (demo) (Installer) (Se)(Pt)(Ru) [FW][o1] (2024)(Total Dump Collection) [Simulation, Strategy, Cards][!].zip There are lots of naming errors in the current archive. Discipline has improved over the years, but errors remain. Feel free to file a bug report against them.