RomM

Highlights

Save sync engine

“Coming soon” no more! Third-party app developers will now be able to rely on RomM to keep save files in sync across devices and platforms. #3137

Devices (apps, handhelds, browsers) can choose to register themselves with the server, which uniquely identifies them with a token. The system tracks which device has the latest version of a save file, flags conflicts when two devices change the same save, and syncs in whichever way fits the device: on demand, via a watched folder, or through a scheduled background sync.

Play session tracking

Another one for the app developers: client devices submit batches of play sessions per device, recording when and how long games were played. Sessions track both the time window (start_time/end_time) and screen-on time (duration_ms), which may differ due to device suspension or back-grounding. #3155

Libretro thumbnails

The libretro thumbnail repository is now available as a first-class artwork source for region-correct box art (PAL/Europe, Japan, etc.). Matching is exact case-insensitive against the directory listing, so a ROM named “(Europe)” lands on the (Europe) artwork. The source is enabled by default, and you can set it’s priority in your config.yml via the scan.priority.artwork list. #3252

Pegasus metadata export

You can now auto-export a Pegasus compatible metadata.pegasus.txt file, just like the existing gamelist.xml export. Enable it in your config.yml file by setting scan.export.pegasus to true, and it should appear in each platform folder (alongside your ROMs). #3153

[!WARNING] The structure of scan exports in config.yml has changed! If you’re currently exporting gamelist.xml files with scan.export_gamelist, migrate to scan.export.gamelist_xml: true

Notable changes

• Gamelist export improvements by @vargash in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3202
• Send a suggestion to playmatch on manual match when enabled by @DevYukine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3296
• Add SteamGridDB, ScreenScraper, MobyGames & Launchbox hash support to Playmatch by @DevYukine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3381
• Compute raw CHD hashes and route disc-data SHA1 to Hasheous by @Spinnich in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3385

Fixes

• 4.8.1 hotfixes by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3221
• UI settings not woking after switching pages back and forth by @Namaneo in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3317
• MSDOS games fail to launch in console mode (“Error for site owner / Check console”) by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3294
• Include cus region in default ScreenScraper fallback regions by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3273
• Scan stalls on platforms with 10k+ already-scanned ROMs by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3249
• Respect LOGLEVEL env var across all log output sources by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3243
• Registration links redirect to login for unauthenticated users by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3231
• Address bugs and add test coverage for save-sync by @tmgast in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3135
• Fix age_ratings Pydantic validation error on MySQL/MariaDB for single-element arrays by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3223
• Parse Content-Type essence before validating resource downloads by @TechnicallyComputers in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3233
• [ROMM-3232] Fix content_hash not updated by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3234
• Fix extension exclusion not matching multi-dot filenames by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3326
• Fix chunked uploads writing to RAM/tmpfs and upload speed showing 0 B/s by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3316
• Fix RuffleRS scaling and overflow issues on large and small screens by @jondycz in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3245
• Fix RAHasher prod build by @dangmai in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3282
• Fix download failing when hash has not been computed by @Namaneo in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3264
• Fix race condition in collection and favorite rom membership updates by @Spinnich in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3263
• Fix settings drawer logout button overflowing on mobile by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3248
• [ROMM-3235] Improve light mode text by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3236
• Resolve MariaDB errors in migration downgrades (0068, 0072) by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3246
• Show TheGamesDB link on platform drawer when tgdb_id is set by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3254
• A bunch of minor bug fixes by @Namaneo in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3270
• Re-parse tags from filename when renaming a rom by @zurdi15 in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3295
• Open refresh metadata dialog with scan type and metadata source selection by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3293
• Setup wizard: make platform row click toggle selection checkbox by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3341
• Use static auth background on Firefox by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3352
• Validate uploaded images with libmagic by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3353
• Tolerate forward-compat values and malformed YAML in config loader by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3364
• Apply DISABLE_EMULATOR_JS to Console mode (disable Play + block direct player route) by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3373
• Fix stale disc file ID in localStorage causing 404 on ROM play after rescan by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3374
• Fix gamelist.xml export to use relative media paths for local exports by @gtronset in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3369
• Include games without achievements in RA hash cache by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3368
• Generate gunicorn logging config to writable /tmp path by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3383
• Avoid Safari/WebKit stalls during chunked ROM uploads by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3382
• Default SYNC_BASE_PATH to /var/lib/romm/sync by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3386
• Exclude the videos directory from scanning for batocera config by @enlewof in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3387
• Treat Libretro-only ROM matches as identified during scan by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3394
• Fix Complete Rescan not clearing unselected metadata sources by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3395
• Respect region priority for multi-region ROMs by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3396
• Tolerate launchbox basepath by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3397
• Harden multi-ROM folder exclusion matching for ES-DE media directories by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3399
• Fix: UNMATCHED scan ignores manually-set metadata IDs when metadata is absent by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3401
• Fix IGDB/SGDB matching wrong game for standalone expansions (e.g. Ecco: The Tides of Time) by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3400

Other changes

• Safer migrations by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3238
• Skip RAHasher subprocess for archived disc-platform ROMs by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3253
• Add missing index on rom_files(rom_id) to fix slow game listing on large ROM sets by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3259
• Enforce LF line endings for shell scripts via .gitattributes by @Spinnich in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3266
• Describe architecture by @zurdi15 in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3299
• Replace HIGH_PRIO_STRUCTURE_PATH by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3322
• Replace deprecated job.get_id() with job.id for rq >= 2.7.0 compatibility by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3320
• Update config.batocera-retrobat.yml by @enlewof in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3349
• Prefer ROM’s own region tag for ScreenScraper and IGDB artwork by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3367
• Add comma-separated metadata attribute support to gamelist by @EntropyEngineer in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3380
• Improve API handling, KO scrape data, and metadata sanitization by @Spinnich in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3384
• Hardlink import/export assets, harden sync init by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3388
• Bump RAHasher to 1.8.3 in docker/Dockerfile by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3277
• Bump pytest-asyncio for pytest 9 compatibility by @gantoine in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3269
• Bump vite from 6.4.1 to 6.4.2 in /frontend by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3227
• Bump postcss from 8.5.8 to 8.5.12 in /frontend by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3321
• Bump axios from 1.13.6 to 1.15.0 in /frontend by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3240
• Bump python-dotenv from 1.0.1 to 1.2.2 by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3301
• Bump follow-redirects from 1.15.11 to 1.16.0 in /frontend by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3267
• Bump pillow from 12.1.1 to 12.2.0 by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3257
• Bump mako from 1.3.10 to 1.3.11 by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3304
• Bump pytest from 8.4.1 to 9.0.3 by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3268
• Bump fast-uri from 3.1.0 to 3.1.2 in /frontend by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3345
• Bump serialize-javascript and workbox-build in /frontend by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3346
• Bump cryptography from 46.0.5 to 46.0.7 by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3351
• Bump @babel/plugin-transform-modules-systemjs from 7.29.0 to 7.29.4 in /frontend by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3350
• Bump authlib from 1.6.9 to 1.6.12 by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3370
• Bump idna from 3.10 to 3.15 by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3391
• Bump js-cookie from 3.0.5 to 3.0.7 in /frontend by @dependabot[bot] in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3404

New Contributors

• @TechnicallyComputers made their first contribution in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3233
• @jondycz made their first contribution in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3245
• @Spinnich made their first contribution in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3263
• @Namaneo made their first contribution in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3264
• @dangmai made their first contribution in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3282
• @enlewof made their first contribution in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3349
• @EntropyEngineer made their first contribution in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3380
• @gtronset made their first contribution in https://github.com/rommapp/romm/pull/3369

Full Changelog: https://github.com/rommapp/romm/compare/4.8.1…4.9.0-alpha.5