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Create and edit clone lists

Clone lists are JSON files that primarily define relationships between titles that Retool doesn't automatically pick up. They're useful both for matching titles of completely different names, and for overriding some of the default choices that Retool makes. Additionally, they can add more accurate filter criteria like different categories to titles, and even additional data like local title names.

Contributing to Retool's clone lists directly involves code and being familiar with Git and GitHub. If that's not something you're interested in, you can still request clone list changes by filing an issue.

If you want to contribute directly, fork the clone lists and metadata repository, read the following guidelines, make your changes, and then submit a pull request.

Before you begin

If you want to create or edit clone lists, you need to understand JSON and the following data structures:

  • Key/value pairs

  • Strings

  • Integers

  • Arrays

  • Objects

It also helps to understand Retool's terminology, and the different names it assigns to titles to help match and group them together accurately.

Titles that Retool automatically detects as clones

Before referencing clone lists, Retool parses a DAT file and creates objects for all of its titles. If multiple titles have the same group name and short name, Retool assumes they're related to each other.

Names should only be added to clone lists in the following situations:

  • To link together titles that ordinarily would have different group/short names due to regional naming, for example Indigo Prophecy and Fahrenheit.

  • To override Retool's default grouping.

  • To assign categories to titles.

  • To assign local names to titles.

  • To designate a title as missing in action (MIA).

Clone list location and names

Clone lists are found by default in the clonelists subfolder. What subfolder Retool looks for clone lists in is defined in config/internal-config.json in the cloneLists object:

"cloneLists": {
  "localDir": "clonelists"
}

Retool selects the correct clone list for the loaded DAT file by checking the <name> and <url> tags in the header of the DAT file, and then looking for a matching filename with the release group appended in the clonelists folder. For example, for Redump's Sony PlayStation DAT file, the <name> is Sony - PlayStation. Therefore Retool looks for the clone list Sony - PlayStation (Redump).json in the clonelists folder. If a matching file isn't found, then only Retool's automatic clone detection is used.

Reference sites

The following sites can help in identifying titles that are related to each other, or for finding local title names.

DAT release groups:

  • No-Intro
    Lists clones on individual title pages.

  • Redump
    Useful for local title names that use non-Latin characters like Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Russian. You can then use these in Google Search or Translate to help make connections. Sometimes there's useful information in the comments of a disc page.

Databases:

General sites and retail stores: