Add Wikipedia fallback so every game has cover art

libretro-thumbnails stops at the retro consoles, leaving the ten Xbox 360
titles blank. English Wikipedia carries a cover on essentially every
notable game article and needs no account, so it now runs as a second pass
for anything libretro cannot match.

Correcting an earlier claim in this repo: libretro does publish a
"Microsoft - Xbox 360" set. I had reported it as absent after checking only
my own hardcoded system map, not the actual catalogue of 123 sets. The set
turns out to hold about a dozen entries, none of them ours, so the
conclusion held but the reason given was wrong. It is now mapped and
searched anyway, in case it fills out later.

The cover filename is read from the article's infobox rather than inferred
from file names: filtering names for "box" also matches
"Xbox-360-Pro-wController.png". Two details that cost a round each:

  * the infobox writes the field both bare ("Halo 3 final boxshot.JPG") and
    prefixed ("File:Lost-Planet-New.jpg"), so any prefix is stripped before
    exactly one is added back
  * the API returns 429 under an unthrottled loop, so calls are spaced one
    second apart, retried with a longer backoff, and cached to disk

Coverage is now 105/105 — 93 from libretro, 12 from Wikipedia.

Two rows took art of the right game but the wrong platform, because their
system field looks wrong in the source data: a Game Boy "Donkey Kong
Country 2" and a DS "Donkey Kong Country Returns". Noted in the README
rather than silently corrected.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-08-04 12:04:55 -04:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 55182a4da7
commit cd5c8fb24e
2 changed files with 210 additions and 44 deletions
+29 -13
View File
@@ -77,21 +77,33 @@ cd backend && dotnet build # 0 warnings expected
### Cover art
`tools/cover-art/fetch_art.py` fills in box art from
[libretro-thumbnails](https://thumbnails.libretro.com), matching on title +
system and pushing each image through the app's own `POST /api/images`, so it
gets the same validation and WebP re-encoding as a manual upload. Standard
library only — no virtualenv needed.
`tools/cover-art/fetch_art.py` fills in box art, pushing each image through the
app's own `POST /api/images` so it gets the same validation and WebP re-encoding
as a manual upload. Standard library only — no virtualenv, and neither source
needs an account.
It tries two sources in order:
1. **[libretro-thumbnails](https://thumbnails.libretro.com)** — scanned retail
boxes, named to the No-Intro / Redump conventions. Best art where it has any,
but its coverage is the retro consoles. Its `Microsoft - Xbox 360` set exists
but holds about a dozen entries.
2. **English Wikipedia** — a cover on essentially every notable game article,
which is what fills the Xbox 360 shelf. The exact filename is read from the
article's infobox rather than guessed from file names, since filtering names
for "box" also matches `Xbox-360-Pro-wController.png`. Calls are throttled to
one per second and cached; the API returns 429 if pushed harder.
```bash
cd tools/cover-art
python3 fetch_art.py --password '...' --dry-run # report matches, change nothing
python3 fetch_art.py --password '...' # download and attach
python3 fetch_art.py --password '...' --overwrite # also replace existing art
python3 fetch_art.py --password '...' --dry-run # report matches, change nothing
python3 fetch_art.py --password '...' # download and attach
python3 fetch_art.py --password '...' --overwrite # also replace existing art
python3 fetch_art.py --password '...' --no-wikipedia # libretro only
```
Always dry-run first; it prints every match with a similarity score and flags
anything below 0.95 for eyeballing.
Always dry-run first; it prints every match with a similarity score, marks the
source (`W` for Wikipedia), and flags anything below 0.95 for eyeballing.
Matching handles the gaps between a personal catalogue and a ROM-naming one:
accents (`Pokemon` → `Pokémon`), roman numerals (our SNES `Final Fantasy 2` is
@@ -100,9 +112,13 @@ subtitles in either direction, and outright typos — `Brett Hull Hocky 95` find
`Brett Hull Hockey 95`. A sequel guard stops `Donkey Kong Country 2` from
silently taking `Donkey Kong Country`'s box.
**Xbox 360 is not covered** — libretro has no thumbnail set for it, so those 10
titles are reported as unsupported. They need a source such as IGDB, which
requires a free Twitch developer client ID and secret.
All 105 games currently have art: 93 from libretro, 12 from Wikipedia.
Two rows got art of the right *game* but the wrong *platform*, because the
platform in the source data looks wrong — a Game Boy "Donkey Kong Country 2"
(never released on that system; the handheld sequels were *Donkey Kong Land*)
and a DS "Donkey Kong Country Returns" (a Wii game, later *Returns 3D* on 3DS).
Fix the system field and re-run with `--overwrite` to correct them.
Art is publisher copyright. Fetching it for a private collection is ordinary
practice for library software; redistributing it is a different question.
+181 -31
View File
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ SYSTEM_DIRS = {
"PS1": ["Sony - PlayStation"],
"PS2": ["Sony - PlayStation 2"],
"PSP": ["Sony - PlayStation Portable"],
# libretro does publish a "Microsoft - Xbox 360" set, but it is a stub of
# about a dozen entries. It is searched anyway in case it fills out later;
# in practice these titles fall through to the Wikipedia pass.
"360": ["Microsoft - Xbox 360"],
}
# Preferred release region, best first. The library is a US collection, so a USA
@@ -138,12 +142,17 @@ def http(url: str, *, data=None, headers=None, method=None, timeout=90) -> bytes
request.add_header(key, value)
last_error: Exception | None = None
for attempt in range(3):
for attempt in range(4):
try:
with urllib.request.urlopen(request, timeout=timeout) as response:
return response.read()
except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc:
# 4xx will not improve on retry; surface it immediately.
# 429 means we asked too fast, so back off hard and try again.
if exc.code == 429:
last_error = exc
time.sleep(5 * (attempt + 1))
continue
# Other 4xx will not improve on retry; surface immediately.
if exc.code < 500:
raise
last_error = exc
@@ -151,7 +160,7 @@ def http(url: str, *, data=None, headers=None, method=None, timeout=90) -> bytes
last_error = exc
time.sleep(1.5 * (attempt + 1))
raise RuntimeError(f"GET {url} failed after 3 attempts: {last_error}")
raise RuntimeError(f"GET {url} failed after 4 attempts: {last_error}")
def api_json(base: str, path: str, token: str | None = None, *, data=None, method=None):
@@ -187,6 +196,112 @@ def upload_image(base: str, token: str, filename: str, blob: bytes) -> dict:
return json.loads(raw)
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Wikipedia fallback
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# libretro's coverage stops at the retro consoles — its "Microsoft - Xbox 360"
# set exists but holds only a dozen entries, none of them ours. English
# Wikipedia carries a cover image on essentially every notable game article and
# needs no account.
#
# The image is read from the article's infobox rather than guessed from file
# names: filtering names for "box" also matches "Xbox-360-Pro-wController.png".
WIKI_API = "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php"
WIKI_UA = "LudosData/1.0 (personal game library; https://github.com/)"
WIKI_MIN_INTERVAL = 1.0 # seconds between calls; the API 429s if pushed
_wiki_last_call = 0.0
def wiki_api(**params):
"""Throttled Wikipedia API call."""
global _wiki_last_call
wait = WIKI_MIN_INTERVAL - (time.monotonic() - _wiki_last_call)
if wait > 0:
time.sleep(wait)
params.setdefault("action", "query")
params.setdefault("format", "json")
raw = http(f"{WIKI_API}?{urllib.parse.urlencode(params)}", headers={"User-Agent": WIKI_UA})
_wiki_last_call = time.monotonic()
return json.loads(raw)
def wiki_article(title: str, cache_dir: Path) -> tuple[str, str] | None:
"""(resolved title, wikitext) for a page, or None when it does not exist."""
safe = re.sub(r"[^A-Za-z0-9._ -]", "_", title)[:120]
cache = cache_dir / "wiki" / f"{safe}.json"
if cache.exists():
blob = json.loads(cache.read_text())
return (blob["title"], blob["text"]) if blob else None
data = wiki_api(prop="revisions", rvprop="content", rvslots="main",
titles=title, redirects=1)
page = next(iter(data["query"]["pages"].values()))
result = None
if "missing" not in page and page.get("revisions"):
result = (page["title"], page["revisions"][0]["slots"]["main"]["*"])
cache.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
cache.write_text(json.dumps({"title": result[0], "text": result[1]} if result else None))
return result
def wiki_cover_url(game: dict, cache_dir: str | Path) -> tuple[str, str] | None:
"""(image URL, source description) for a game's cover, or None."""
cache_dir = Path(cache_dir)
title, year, system = game["title"], game.get("year"), game.get("system")
# Bare title first, then the disambiguated forms Wikipedia actually uses.
attempts = [title, f"{title} (video game)"]
if year:
attempts.append(f"{title} ({year} video game)")
article = None
for candidate in attempts:
found = wiki_article(candidate, cache_dir)
if found and "Infobox video game" in found[1]:
article = found
break
if not article:
return None
page_title, text = article
# Guard against landing on the film/book of the same name, or a different
# entry in the series: the article should mention the platform we hold.
if system == "360" and "Xbox 360" not in text:
return None
match = re.search(r"\|\s*image\s*=\s*([^\n|]+)", text)
if not match:
return None
filename = match.group(1).strip()
filename = re.sub(r"<!--.*?-->", "", filename).strip()
filename = filename.strip("[]| ")
# The field is written both ways: bare ("Halo 3 final boxshot.JPG") and
# prefixed ("File:Lost-Planet-New.jpg"), with or without [[ ]] around it.
# Strip any prefix so exactly one is added back below.
filename = re.sub(r"^\s*(?:File|Image)\s*:\s*", "", filename, flags=re.I).strip()
if not filename:
return None
info = wiki_api(prop="imageinfo", titles=f"File:{filename}",
iiprop="url|mime", iiurlwidth=600)
page = next(iter(info["query"]["pages"].values()))
image_info = (page.get("imageinfo") or [{}])[0]
url = image_info.get("thumburl") or image_info.get("url")
return (url, f"wikipedia:{page_title}") if url else None
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Listings
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -252,6 +367,7 @@ def best_match(title: str, candidates: list[Candidate]) -> tuple[Candidate | Non
# Capped below 0.95 so a genuine exact title always outranks it, and
# scaled by coverage so the closest-length candidate wins among several
# ("Donkey Kong Country 3" beats a bare "Donkey Kong Country").
#
# Guard against collapsing a sequel onto its base game. If we are asking
# for a number the candidate does not have — "Donkey Kong Country 2"
# against a plain "Donkey Kong Country" — containment would happily match
@@ -294,6 +410,8 @@ def main() -> int:
parser.add_argument("--overwrite", action="store_true", help="replace art that is already set")
parser.add_argument("--min-score", type=float, default=0.80,
help="similarity below which a match is not applied (0-1)")
parser.add_argument("--no-wikipedia", action="store_true",
help="skip the Wikipedia fallback; use libretro only")
parser.add_argument("--cache", default=str(Path(__file__).parent / ".cache"))
args = parser.parse_args()
@@ -326,8 +444,18 @@ def main() -> int:
print()
applied = skipped = failed = 0
unsupported: list[dict] = []
from_wiki = 0
weak: list[tuple[dict, str, float]] = []
unmatched: list[dict] = []
def attach(game: dict, blob: bytes, filename: str) -> None:
"""Upload the image and point the game at it."""
uploaded = upload_image(base, token, filename, blob)
payload = {k: game.get(k) for k in (
"title", "system", "genre", "year", "developer", "publisher",
"description", "own", "dumped", "played", "finished")}
payload["art"] = uploaded["fileName"]
api_json(base, f"/api/games/{game['id']}", token, data=payload, method="PUT")
for game in sorted(games, key=lambda g: g["title"].lower()):
title, system = game["title"], game["system"]
@@ -336,58 +464,80 @@ def main() -> int:
skipped += 1
continue
if not system or system not in SYSTEM_DIRS:
unsupported.append(game)
# --- pass 1: libretro, which has the better art where it has any ----
candidate, score = (None, 0.0)
if system in SYSTEM_DIRS:
candidate, score = best_match(title, listings.get(system, []))
if candidate and score >= args.min_score:
flag = " " if score >= 0.95 else "~"
print(f" {flag} {system:4} {title[:46]:48} {score:.2f} {candidate.filename[:50]}")
if score < 0.95:
weak.append((game, candidate.filename, score))
if args.dry_run:
applied += 1
continue
try:
directory = urllib.parse.quote(candidate.directory)
name = urllib.parse.quote(candidate.filename)
attach(game, http(f"{THUMBNAIL_HOST}/{directory}/Named_Boxarts/{name}"),
candidate.filename)
applied += 1
except Exception as exc: # noqa: BLE001 - report and continue
print(f" -> FAILED: {exc}")
failed += 1
continue
candidate, score = best_match(title, listings[system])
if not candidate or score < args.min_score:
# --- pass 2: Wikipedia, for anything libretro does not carry --------
if args.no_wikipedia:
print(f" ? {system:4} {title[:46]:48} no match")
unmatched.append(game)
failed += 1
continue
flag = " " if score >= 0.95 else "~"
print(f" {flag} {system:4} {title[:46]:48} {score:.2f} {candidate.filename[:52]}")
if score < 0.95:
weak.append((game, candidate.filename, score))
try:
found = wiki_cover_url(game, cache_dir)
except Exception as exc: # noqa: BLE001
print(f" ! {system:4} {title[:46]:48} wikipedia error: {exc}")
found = None
if not found:
print(f" ? {system:4} {title[:46]:48} no match")
unmatched.append(game)
failed += 1
continue
url, source = found
print(f" W {system:4} {title[:46]:48} {source[:50]}")
if args.dry_run:
applied += 1
from_wiki += 1
continue
try:
directory = urllib.parse.quote(candidate.directory)
name = urllib.parse.quote(candidate.filename)
blob = http(f"{THUMBNAIL_HOST}/{directory}/Named_Boxarts/{name}")
uploaded = upload_image(base, token, candidate.filename, blob)
payload = {k: game.get(k) for k in (
"title", "system", "genre", "year", "developer", "publisher",
"description", "own", "dumped", "played", "finished")}
payload["art"] = uploaded["fileName"]
api_json(base, f"/api/games/{game['id']}", token, data=payload, method="PUT")
attach(game, http(url, headers={"User-Agent": WIKI_UA}), url.split("/")[-1])
applied += 1
except Exception as exc: # noqa: BLE001 - report and continue the batch
from_wiki += 1
except Exception as exc: # noqa: BLE001
print(f" -> FAILED: {exc}")
failed += 1
# ---- report ----------------------------------------------------------
print("\n" + "=" * 72)
verb = "would attach" if args.dry_run else "attached"
print(f"{verb}: {applied} already had art: {skipped} no match: {failed} "
f"unsupported system: {len(unsupported)}")
print(f"{verb}: {applied} (libretro {applied - from_wiki}, wikipedia {from_wiki}) "
f"already had art: {skipped} still missing: {failed}")
if weak:
print(f"\nWorth eyeballing in the UI — matched below 0.95 similarity ({len(weak)}):")
for game, filename, score in sorted(weak, key=lambda w: w[2]):
print(f" {score:.2f} {game['system']:4} {game['title'][:40]:42} -> {filename[:50]}")
if unsupported:
systems_missing = sorted({g['system'] or '(none)' for g in unsupported})
print(f"\nNo libretro thumbnail set for: {', '.join(systems_missing)} "
f"({len(unsupported)} games). These need IGDB:")
for game in unsupported[:15]:
if unmatched:
print(f"\nNo cover found from either source ({len(unmatched)}):")
for game in unmatched:
print(f" {game['system'] or '-':4} {game['title']}")
return 0