I keep it pretty simple:
DOS\Game Name -- full DOS game installs that I can copy-paste to drives as needed
GOG Installers\Game Name -- install files downloaded from Good Old Games
ISO\Game Name -- backups of CD games
I have tried more complicated structures including operating systems, genres or publishers. But I found overcomplicating it just makes it harder to find things.
I agree its better not to over complicate things but when it comes to DOS with its 8 character limit organizing by another factor helps make it easier to find things, as the 8 character file names can be quite cryptic.
Pierre32 wrote on 2021-01-05, 02:11:Scenario: You have a couple of hundred games spanning 1990-2000, stored on a modern computer or server. You transfer these acros […]
Scenario: You have a couple of hundred games spanning 1990-2000, stored on a modern computer or server. You transfer these across to period hardware to play them, and of course you have several different machines for this purpose. How do you sort and file them? What does your directory structure look like on the storage side?
I've danced with several ideas, none of which are perfect because there is always some category crossover:
- Sort by platform. Built a new 486? Just grab games from the 486 folder.
- Sort by OS (DOS/3.1/9x)
- Sort by genre. One of the most obvious routes to take, but one category can span multiple eras/OS
- Sort by sound. All MT-32 games in one place, etc.
- Sort by publisher
Obviously some kind of database or tag/filter system would be the best scenario, but this is outside the scope of the average file manager. I'm keen to hear about some of your approaches.
(Apologies if this has been done; I didn't nail the search terms if so.)
all good ideas throughout the thread
organising aspects of the vintage hobby is part of the hobby, actually playing the games is optional 😀
I also organize my games by OS, but store them in subdirectories using the first letter of the game. At one point I even backed up the save files to GitHub, but that became too much work. It would be even harder on original hardware rather than DOSBOX.
Slightly off topic, but I also use Playnite to manage all of my different storefronts to avoid some of the hassle with having games from multiple digital stores.
Ensign Nemo wrote on 2022-12-13, 09:48:Slightly off topic, but I also use Playnite to manage all of my different storefronts to avoid some of the hassle with having games from multiple digital stores.
Playnite seems good for modern platforms, but GoG Galaxy does the same and Playnite doesn't work on anything older than Windows 7 either.
