MiSTer Organize

Tutorial Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I62bHG8ubFE

MiSTer Organize is a vibrant community dedicated to ROM management and organization. We're building custom DATs for RomVault, tailored to the MiSTer FPGA but adaptable for other emulation setups. Everyone's invited to contribute—your input makes a real difference! I share public updates regularly, featuring fresh DATs you can grab from the Discord News Channel. Supporters unlock exclusive perks, like a private DAT and access to hidden server channels.

Before diving in, swing by the Discord Welcome Channel to review our Rules and Server Roles. Then head to Channels & Roles to opt into contributing or volunteering as a tech support.

Got questions? Drop into the Discord Support Tickets Channel and hit the ‘Open ticket’ button to chat with staff. For more details, explore the project on GitHub: https://github.com/MiSTerOrganize/MiSTer_Organize.

Support me on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/MiSTer_Organize

Find me on Twitter and Discord:

https://x.com/MiSTerOrganize

https://discord.gg/rUXVkAsYue

Getting Started

WARNING: Never move your ROM files into the RomVault ToSort folder, always use a copy. I am not responsible for the loss of files if this strongly suggested rule has not been respected.

Head to the project's Patreon and grab the latest update ZIP file. Right-click the downloaded file and select "Extract All" to unzip it. Relocate the extracted folder to your preferred ROM storage spot—I highly recommend a spacious option like a 5TB hard drive or NAS, given the project's massive file collection.

Open the folder on your storage device. You'll find a sources subfolder — _Public Sources in the public update, _Exclusive Sources in the exclusive one — packed with plain-text docs listing ROM download links, one per DAT category. For more sources, check the MiSTer Organize Log Channel on Discord.

Next, dive into the MiSTer Organize folder. It includes the pre-configured RomVault app, ready for the project, plus three key folders: DatRoot (holds the DAT files that guide ROM organization), RomRoot (stores essential MiSTer files like RBFs and MGLs, plus your sorted ROMs), and ToSort (where you'll drop unsorted ROMs for processing).

Once your ROMs are in ToSort, launch RomVault. On the left sidebar, hit these buttons in order:

1. Update DATs—loads the latest DAT files.
2. Scan ROMs—analyzes your files.
3. Find Fixes—identifies organization tweaks.
4. Fix ROMs—shifts everything from ToSort to RomRoot in tidy folders.

Finally, copy the sorted folders to your MiSTer storage device. Every set matches MiSTer's exact folder structure for seamless integration, so you can copy across whichever ones you collect: MiSTer_Console, MiSTer_Console_CD (or MiSTer_Console_CD_CHD if you prefer CHD), MiSTer_Computer, MiSTer_Arcade_MAME, MiSTer_Arcade_HBMAME, and MiSTer_Extras, which carries the MiSTer system files themselves — cores, MGLs, filters, presets, palettes, borders and docs.

Supporters also get the private sets: MiSTer_Console_Private, MiSTer_Extras_Private and MiSTer_Frontier.

What is a DAT?

Short for "data files", they're called DATs or DAT files because they usually have the extension .dat. They contain a catalog of titles and attributes for each of its titles, including file names, hashes, and sizes.

Used in combination with a ROM manager, the information in a DAT file can be used to audit files on your hard drive to ensure that they are named correctly, and that they match the recorded attributes in the file.

DAT files usually follow one of two standards: either a variant on the XML-based LogiqX format, or the less commonly used CLRMAMEPro format. There are many more less common formats.

What is RomVault?

RomVault is a tool for ROM management. It works with DAT files to sort the ROMs into folders. The DAT I provide is telling the files where they need to go. Let’s take the example of the Shinobi Neo Geo game. When you click Fix ROMs, Shinobi Neo Geo will go into the NEOGEO core folder and then into the 2 NEOGEO Supplement\1 Homebrew folder. This all happens because that is the file destination I have set in the DAT file.

RomVault Releases

https://www.romvault.com/

RomVault Windows Setup

https://wiki.romvault.com/doku.php?id=install_and_setup

RomVault Linux Setup

https://wiki.romvault.com/doku.php?id=linux_setup

RomVault Side Buttons

https://wiki.romvault.com/doku.php?id=side_buttons

Console CHD

The project supports CHD format for your Console CD games and a MiSTer_Console_CD_CHD DAT. This is made possible through the MiSTer CHD Converter tool, included in your update folder and originally designed by TeamC. Point it at your BIN/CUE folder and it converts each disc to a single CHD file. There is a 50-60% size reduction with CHD compared to BIN/CUE, which helps save on storage space. You may want to archive your BIN/CUE sets and copy the CHD sets to your MiSTer.

The converter uses the exact chdman settings the shared DAT was built with, so the CHDs it produces match the MiSTer_Console_CD_CHD DAT and verify green in RomVault. It converts one way, BIN/CUE to CHD; if you ever need to go back, chdman itself will do it with chdman extractcd -i disc.chd -o disc.cue -sb. Stop anytime — it finishes the current disc, then stops — and re-run to continue where it left off. Big thanks goes out to TeamC for his efforts with CHD.

MiSTer Delta Sync

Also included in your update folder. When a new release comes out, you don't need to re-copy your whole library to your MiSTer drive or NAS — MiSTer Delta Sync compares the old and new DATs and copies across only what actually changed. It updates your DATs for you, keeps the previous ones in a DAT Archive so you can roll back, and can also rebuild a drive that has drifted out of sync. Supporters can sign in with Patreon from inside the tool to unlock the private DATs.

MiSTer NeoGeo Converter

Also included in your update folder. The MiSTer NeoGeo core plays .neo files, and this tool builds them from the FinalBurn Neo Neo Geo ROM zips. It uses the same files the MiSTer Organize NeoGeo library was built from, so it reproduces that library rather than approximating it, and files the games into the same 1 NEOGEO and 2 NEOGEO Supplement folders. Keep one set of zips and rebuild the .neo files whenever you need them.

RetroNAS

MiSTer Organize is available in RetroNAS, so users who have RetroNAS serving their games over the network can use it to organize their games. In the RetroNAS menu go to Main, then Experimental, then mister-organize, and choose Install. It needs an x86_64 (64-bit PC) RetroNAS system; it does not install on a Raspberry Pi.

RetroNAS Wiki Links:

https://github.com/retronas/retronas/wiki/MiSTer-FPGA

https://github.com/retronas/retronas/wiki/MiSTer-Organize

Credits

MiSTer Organize creator of MiSTer Organize.

Alexey Melnikov creator of MiSTer FPGA project.

All other MiSTer FPGA developers for giving us the ultimate retro gaming experience.

José Manuel Barroso Galindo for Update All script.

MiSTer Addons for giving us quality accessories for the MiSTer FPGA project.

Taki Udon for giving us affordable options for the MiSTer FPGA project.

Lu's Retro Source for providing news about the MiSTer FPGA project.

Pixel Cherry Ninja for providing news about the MiSTer FPGA project.

Bob founder of RetroRGB for providing news about the retro-gaming community.

No-Intro for its database of best available ROMs and digital games.

Redump for its disc preservation database.

FinalBurn Neo team for its Neo Geo database and driver source.

Hardware Target Game Database for archival efforts of the highest quality ROM dumps.

ScreenScraper.fr for its game database.

GordonJ creator of RomVault.

Roman Scherzer creator of CLRMAMEPro.

Unexpectedpanda creator of Retool.

Matt Nadareski creator of SabreTools.

Asphodel creator of Universal ROM Sorter.

GamaBurst for assistance and contributions to the project.

TeamC for assistance and contributions to the project.

^c|0ud^ for assistance and contributions to the project.

RetroNAS Team for adding MiSTer Organize support.

Big thank you to all my Patreon supporters! Your support is sincerely appreciated!

Support