NesToy is a program I developed between October of 1999 and April of 2000. As of today, it is over 23 years old. It is written in Turbo Pascal and is an MS-DOS application.
NesToy predates ROM managers such as Clrmamepro and Romcenter and, as far as I know, is one of the first of its kind.
I recently discovered the source code for NesToy on an old floppy disk and decided to upload it here for preservation. I kept every revision of NesToy so I committed each revision as I would have if Github was a thing back then.
Below is an excerpt from the documentation included with the latest public release of NesToy (v3.02) from April 3, 2000 which is also available under Releases. Many thanks to Zophar's Domain (https://www.zophar.net/) for keeping the archive online for all these years.
NesToy is a NES ROM management utility for your .NES Nintendo/Famicom ROMs. This program started out as a header information utility, but now, using a database, can identify your NES ROMs and optionally repair any bad headers it finds and rename the ROMs to full descriptive long file names.
NesToy will work under Windows 2000, but has not been fully tested with this operating system. If you have any problems or notice any bugs with Windows 2000 that didn't exist under Windows 95/98, please let me know.
** To enable Windows 2000 support, set WIN2000 to TRUE in NESTOY.CFG.
usage: NesToy.exe [parameters] pathname1 [pathname2] [pathname3] ...
Filenames can include wildcards (,?) anywhere inside the filename. Long file names are allowed and if no filename is specified, (.nes) is assumed.
-b Displays PRG and CHR information by # of blocks instead of kB. (Example: Instead of 128kB, you would see 8x16kB)
-c Calculate Checksums (CRC-32). All database operations require this option and currently turn it on when used. Additionally, one of the following will appear next to the filename when -c is used. * - ROM is identified and good. ? - Unknown ROM x - ROM is identified, but something is wrong with it. Use -i for more information. d - ROM is a duplicate n - Name does not match ROM name in database b - ROM is a bad dump
-hc Calculate Checksums with header. This option is here by request. Cannot be used with any database operations.
-i Outputs extended info if header or name are not correct.
If the information in a ROM's header does not match that
in the database, a second line of data will be displayed
illustrating the differences. You will also see one of
the following.
Bad [] - There is something wrong with the ROM. Refer
to the codes inside the brackets for details.
Rep [] - The ROM has been repaired.
Ren [] - The ROM has been renamed.
Inside the brackets will contain one or more of the
following codes.
N - Name does not match that in database.
H - Header contains incorrect mapper info.
G - Header contains garbage.
T - There is trailing garbage at the end of the ROM.
If you see Can't Rename or Can't Repair, it means for
some reason, NesToy was unable to rename or repair the
ROM.
-o[file] Sends output to file. (DOS 8.3 filenames for now) If no filename is specified, it defaults to OUTPUT.TXT. If file exists, NesToy will append data to the end of the file.
-ren[uscltp] Renames ROMs to names stored in database (enables -c) u- Replace spaces with underscores s- Remove spaces completely from filename c- Attach country codes to end of filenames l- Convert ROMs to all lowercase names t- Places the word "The" at the beginning of ROM names instead of at the end. p- Use periods in appropriate ROM names (Warning: Nesticle will not load ROMs with extra periods in them. Example: Dr Mario.nes would be named as Dr. Mario.nes
-rep,-repair Repairs ROM headers with those found in database (enables -c) File is backed up before repair is made.
-res,-resize Automatically resizes ROMs if they contain duplicate or unused banks of data. (enables -c).
-m# Filter listing by mapper #. Example: if -m1 is used, only ROMs with a mapper of 1 will be displayed.
-f[hvbt4] Filter listing by mapper data h- Horizontal Mirroring t- Trainer Present v- Vertical Mirroring 4- 4 Screen Buffer b- Contains SRAM (Battery backup)
-u Only display unknown ROMs (enables -c) Only ROMs that are not found in the database will be displayed. If you have a ROM that you know is good, but it is not in my database, please let me know so I can add it to the database.
-sub Process all subdirectories under directories specified on the path. This only works one level deep. So if in your ROMS\ directory, you have USA, JAPAN, and EUROPE, using NesToy -sub ROMS\ will process any roms in ROMS, ROMS\USA, ROMS\JAPAN, and ROMS\EUROPE.
NesToy will alway skip over the duplicates directory in a
scan unless you directly specify it on the command line.
-nobackup Don't make backups before repairing or resizing ROMs.
-log Log to NESTOY.LOG any problems NesToy encounters while sorting, renaming, or repairing ROMs.
-missing[cbn] Create a listing of missing ROMs. If listing exists, it will be updated. Filename is defined in NESTOY.CFG. c- Sort missing list by country b- Bare listing (Name, country codes, and checksum only) n- Force NesToy to create a new missing list, even if one already exists (It will be overwritten.)
If a missing list already exists, NesToy will update the
list by removing any ROMs from the list that now exist.
NesToy will never add ROMs to the missing file, so when a
new release comes out with a database update, it is probably
a good idea to delete the missing file and have NesToy
create a new one to reflect the changes in the database.
You can adjust whether or not pirates, hacks, translations,
or bad dumps are included in the output in the NESTOY.CFG
file.
-sort[m] Sorts ROMs into directories by country or type. m- Sorts ROMs by mapper # as well.
PC10- Playchoice 10\ C - China\
VS - VS Unisystem\ F - Canada\
U - USA\ S - Sweden\
J - Japan\ Unl- Unlicensed\
E - Europe\ TR - Translated\
??? - Unknown\
Country codes are in order of priority. In other words,
If a ROM is both U and J, it will go into USA\.
Bad dumps will go into Bad\, Hacked ROMs will go into
Hacked\, Game Hacks\, or Mapper Hacks\ depending on the
type of hack. Pirates will go into Pirate\. You can also
have these go into their corresponding country directory
instead. Just change the MOVE_BAD, MOVE_PIRATE, or
MOVE_HACKED in the NESTOY.CFG from TRUE to FALSE.
These are the default directories. These can be changed
in the NESTOY.CFG (created the first time you run
NesToy.)
-q[o] Suppresses output to the screen (for those of you who would prefer not to see what NesToy is up to.) o- Suppresses output to the output file as well.
-doall Enables -c,-i,-ren,-repair,-resize,-sort, and -missing.
-h,-?,-help Displays the help screen
All pathnames will be processed in the order they are entered on the command line. you may abort the program at any time by pressing ESC. NesToy will stop on the ROM it is at and then quit. You can add command line parameters, including pathnames, to the NESTOY.CFG file.
You can adjust where NesToy will move your ROMs to when (-sort) is used with the following entries. Default entries are shown.
DIR_BASE =
DIR_BACKUP = Backup\ DIR_MAPHACKS = Mapper Hacks
DIR_BAD = Bad\ DIR_UNLICENSED = Unlicensed
DIR_CANADA = Canada\ DIR_PIRATE = Pirate
DIR_CHINA = China\ DIR_SWEDEN = Sweden
DIR_DUPLICATES = Dupes\ DIR_TRANS = Translated
DIR_EUROPE = Europe\ DIR_UNKNOWN = Unknown
DIR_GAMEHACKS = Game Hacks\ DIR_UNLICENSED = Unlicensed
DIR_HACKED = Hacked\ DIR_USA = USA
DIR_JAPAN = Japan\ DIR_VS = VS Unisystem\
DIR_BASE sets the base directory all the other directories will fall under. If DIR_BASE is left empty, the base directory will default to the current directory you run NesToy from. DIR_BASE will only affect relative pathnames. For example, if DIR_BASE is set to C:\ROMS\ and DIR_USA is set to USA, then DIR_USA will be expanded to C:\ROMS\USA. However, if DIR_USA is set to something similar to C:\ROMS2\USA, it will not be affected by DIR_BASE.
DIR_SAVESTATES should be set to your battery backup/savestate directory. When renaming ROMs, NesToy will automatically rename any matching .SAV and .ST* files it finds in this directory. Leaving this entry empty will disable this feature.
The following settings determine where NesToy will move bad dumps, pirates, and hacks when (-sort) is used. If set to TRUE, bad dumps will be moved into the DIR_BAD directory, pirates will be moved into the DIR_PIRATE directory, and hacks will be moved into the appropriate hack diretctory (DIR_GAMEHACKS, DIR_HACKED, or DIR_MAPHACKS.) If set to FALSE, roms will be moved into their corresponding country directory instead.
MOVE_BAD = TRUE MOVE_HACKED = TRUE MOVE_PIRATE = TRUE
The following settings determine what NesToy will include in the missing.txt file when (-missing) is used. A setting of TRUE means ROMs of that type will be included in the missing list. If set to FALSE, roms of that type will not be included.
MISSING_BAD = FALSE MISSING_GAMEHACKS = FALSE MISSING_HACKED = TRUE MISSING_PIRATE = TRUE MISSING_TRANS = FALSE
The following setting determines whether shorter names will be used for some game titles. (Example: if set to TRUE, instead of "Zelda 2 - The Adventure of Link.nes", the ROM will just be named "Zelda 2.nes")
SHORT_NAMES = FALSE
You can place command line parameters here and they will be used every time you run NesToy. Parameters on the command line always have priority over those listed here.
CMDLINE =
- Zelda 2 - The Adventure of Link.nes 1 HB.. 128kB 128kB U ba322865 | | | |||| | | | | 1 2 3 4567 8 9 10 11
1 - ROM Status * - ROM is identified and good. ? - Unknown ROM x - ROM is identified, but something is wrong with it. Use -i for more information. d - ROM is a duplicate n - Name does not match ROM name in database b - ROM is a bad dump 2 - File Name 3 - Mapper # 4 - Mirroring (H- Horizontal, V- Vertical) 5 - Battery (SRAM) 6 - Trainer Present 7 - 4-Screen Buffer 8 - Size of Program ROM (PRG) 9 - Size of Character ROM (CHR) 10 - Country Code J - Japan S - Sweden U - USA Unl- Unlicensed E - Europe TR - Translated C - Canada ???- Unknown (May also contain: P10 - Playchoice-10, or VS - VS. Unisystem) 11 - Checksum (CRC-32)
If (-c) is not used, 1, 10, and 11 will not be displayed.
-
Enabling Windows 2000 support in NESTOY.CFG and then trying to run NesToy under DOS or Windows NT may cause file corruption. DO NOT DO IT.
-
When using (-sub), NesToy only scans one level deep. This should be sufficient for most everybody.
-
If you do not create a new missing file with each new release, any database additions made will not show up on the list.
-
Translations, game hacks, and bad dumps are not included by default in the missing ROMs listing. You must set the appropriate options in the NESTOY.CFG to TRUE and then create a new missing list for these to show up.
-
Bad Dumps automatically detected by NesToy that are not in the database will never show up on the missing list. NesToy uses several methods to identify corrupt ROMs, even if they are unknown to NesToy.
-
Game Hacks not in NesToy's database may be flagged as (Bad CHR). Please submit these to [email protected] so that I may add them to NesToy's database.
-
When NesToy is moving and/or renaming a ROM, sometimes it encounters a ROM already there with the same name. NesToy will first try to attach a country code to the ROM it is moving to differentiate it. If that fails, NesToy will be unable to move/rename the ROM. You will usually encounter this if you are using the same directory to store Japanese and USA ROMs or if you have unknown or misplaced ROMs in the destination directory.
-
Remember, even though NesToy -doall invokes the default settings for (-missing) and (-ren), you can still specify your own settings for these options on the command line or in the nestoy.cfg file. Example: NesToy -doall -renc will rename all your ROMs with country codes attached while still performing all the other options invoked by (-doall) normally.
-
NesToy has an internal limit of 3500 files per directory. If you have more than 3500 files in a directory, NesToy will only process up to the 3500th file. If you have NesToy set to sort the ROMs it processes into different directories, you can just run NesToy again to process the remaining ROMs.
A pirated ROM is a ROM where the title and/or copyright information has been altered, defaced, or removed. If anything else has modified in the ROM, then it is considered a hack. NesToy defines 3 different types of hacks.
Mapper Hack - The ROM has been hacked to run under a different mapper. Game Hack - The games graphics and/or program code has been significantly modified to change the look and gameplay of the game. Examples are the countless Super Mario Bros. hacks that exist on the web. Other Hacks - Any other type of hack that is not a pirate and does not fit in one of the above categories. Trained ROMs fall into this category.
Games using the following mappers control the mirroring directly and do not use the mirroring bit in the header. Therefore, for these mappers, the mirroring bit has been set to 'H' or more appropriately, off. There may be more, but these are the ones I am sure of.
1,5,7,9,10,16,18,21,22,23,24,25,32,33,64,65,66,68,69
Mapper 4 also controls the mirroring directly, but there are several mapper 4 games which do not seem to set the mirroring correctly when loaded. Therefore, all mapper 4 games have the mirroring bit set to the mirroring they start up in to ensure all emulators display these games correctly.
There are several games set to mapper 118 that were previously set to mapper 4. Mapper 118 seems to be similar to mapper 4, and although these games never worked right under mapper 4 in any emulator, they do work when set to mapper 118 in Famstasia which seems to emulate this mapper the best. FwNES also emulates mapper 118 partially. Mapper 118 may not be the correct mapper for these games, but currently they work best under this mapper. These games are listed below.
Alien Syndrome (U) Arumajiro (J) Goal! Two (U) Goal! Two (E) NES Play Action Football (U) Pro Sport Hockey (U) Ys 3 - Wanderers From Ys (J)
Valid PRG sizes: 16,32,64,128,256,512,640,1024,1536,2048 Valid CHR sizes: 8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024
If you have a ROM with values other than those listed above, it is a bad dump. Check the ROM list distributed with NesToy to see what the correct size for the ROM is. NesToy will detect these ROMs and mark them as bad.
Dragon Warrior 4 (Wrong Size) 1 HB.. 1024kB ----- U 41413b06
This ROM is the wrong size. The correct Dragon Warrior 4 ROM is 512kb, but you may want to hold onto this one because Nesticle won't run the correct ROM, but it plays this one fine. NesToy cannot resize the 1024kb version of this ROM to 512kb because of the unusual way data is duplicated in the ROM.