add new field to gamedb to specify which core should be used.

allow it to be 'neshawk' or 'quicknes'.

this should only be employed by end-users; we won't make those choices in the gamedb officially.

the quicknes blacklist is still implemented separately.

yeah, that's a lot of prioritization levels.

BizHawk.Client.Common/RomLoader.cs

@@ -744,16 +744,29 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 
 								break;
 							case "NES":
-								if (!Global.Config.NES_InQuickNES || forceAccurateCore)
 								{
-									core = CoreInventory.Instance["NES", "NesHawk"];
+									//apply main spur-of-the-moment switcheroo as lowest priority
-								}
+									string preference = "neshawk";
-								else
+									if(Global.Config.NES_InQuickNES) preference = "quicknes";
-								{
-									core = CoreInventory.Instance["NES", "QuickNes"];
-								}
 
+									//if user has saw fit to override in gamedb, apply that
+									if(Global.Config.CoreForcingViaGameDB)
+										preference = game.ForcedCore;
+
+									//but only neshawk is accurate
+									if (forceAccurateCore) preference = "neshawk";
+
+									if (preference == "neshawk")
+									{
+										core = CoreInventory.Instance["NES", "NesHawk"];
+									}
+									else
+									{
+										core = CoreInventory.Instance["NES", "QuickNes"];
+									}
+								}
 								break;
+
 							case "GB":
 							case "GBC":
 								if (!Global.Config.GB_AsSGB)

BizHawk.Client.Common/config/Config.cs

@@ -513,6 +513,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 		public bool NES_InQuickNES = true;
 		public bool SNES_InSnes9x = false;
 		public bool GBA_UsemGBA = false;
+		public bool CoreForcingViaGameDB = true;
 		public string LibretroCore;
 	}
 

BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/MainForm.Events.cs

@@ -1173,6 +1173,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk
 			GBInSGBMenuItem.Checked = Global.Config.GB_AsSGB;
 			NesInQuickNESMenuItem.Checked = Global.Config.NES_InQuickNES;
 			gBAWithMGBAToolStripMenuItem.Checked = Global.Config.GBA_UsemGBA;
+			allowGameDBCoreOverridesToolStripMenuItem.Checked = Global.Config.CoreForcingViaGameDB;
 		}
 
 		private void CoreSNESSubMenu_DropDownOpened(object sender, EventArgs e)

BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/MainForm.cs

@@ -4152,5 +4152,10 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk
 			quickNESToolStripMenuItem.Checked = Global.Config.NES_InQuickNES == true;
 			nesHawkToolStripMenuItem.Checked = Global.Config.NES_InQuickNES == false;
 		}
+
+		private void allowGameDBCoreOverridesToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
+		{
+			Global.Config.CoreForcingViaGameDB ^= true;
+		}
 	}
 }

BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/MainForm.resx

@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@
   <data name="FirmwaresMenuItem.Image" type="System.Drawing.Bitmap, System.Drawing" mimetype="application/x-microsoft.net.object.bytearray.base64">
     <value>
         iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAYAAAAf8/9hAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAACBjSFJNAAB6
-        JgAAgIQAAPoAAACA6AAAdTAAAOpgAAA6mAAAF3CculE8AAAACXBIWXMAABBDAAAQQwHDBU0eAAAAcElE
+        JgAAgIQAAPoAAACA6AAAdTAAAOpgAAA6mAAAF3CculE8AAAACXBIWXMAABBBAAAQQQG8+46XAAAAcElE
         QVQ4T82Q4QoAIQiDffR7804DY+pOov5c8GltwyiRR8YVTLTFOsWK2iA0eAapQkPOznwRGnJ25rX87AmK
         /3ruFCvhCR9oclI8PNggJHg7A46w4rf5zY6H8jlAxQQOKMPWBswSIpmloXkEFbeR8QKDpKJKL1M/dQAA
         AABJRU5ErkJggg==
@@ -563,7 +563,7 @@
   <data name="toolStripMenuItem11.Image" type="System.Drawing.Bitmap, System.Drawing" mimetype="application/x-microsoft.net.object.bytearray.base64">
     <value>
         iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAYAAAAf8/9hAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAACBjSFJNAAB6
-        JgAAgIQAAPoAAACA6AAAdTAAAOpgAAA6mAAAF3CculE8AAAACXBIWXMAABBDAAAQQwHDBU0eAAAAcElE
+        JgAAgIQAAPoAAACA6AAAdTAAAOpgAAA6mAAAF3CculE8AAAACXBIWXMAABBBAAAQQQG8+46XAAAAcElE
         QVQ4T82Q4QoAIQiDffR7804DY+pOov5c8GltwyiRR8YVTLTFOsWK2iA0eAapQkPOznwRGnJ25rX87AmK
         /3ruFCvhCR9oclI8PNggJHg7A46w4rf5zY6H8jlAxQQOKMPWBswSIpmloXkEFbeR8QKDpKJKL1M/dQAA
         AABJRU5ErkJggg==

BizHawk.Emulation.Common/Database/Database.cs

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Common
 		public string Hash { get; set; }
 		public string Region { get; set; }
 		public RomStatus Status { get; set; }
+		public string ForcedCore { get; set; }
 	}
 
 	public static class Database
@@ -192,6 +193,11 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Common
 						game.System = items[3];
 						game.MetaData = items.Length >= 6 ? items[5] : null;
 						game.Region = items.Length >= 7 ? items[6] : string.Empty;
+						game.ForcedCore = items.Length >= 8 ? items[7].ToLowerInvariant() : string.Empty;
+						if (items.Length >= 8)
+						{
+							int zzz = 9;
+						}
 
 						if (db.ContainsKey(game.Hash))
 						{

BizHawk.Emulation.Common/Database/GameInfo.cs

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Common
 		public RomStatus Status = RomStatus.NotInDatabase;
 		public bool NotInDatabase = true;
 		public string FirmwareHash;
+		public string ForcedCore;
 
 		Dictionary<string, string> Options = new Dictionary<string, string>();
 
@@ -43,6 +44,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Common
 					Hash = "",
 					Region = "",
 					Status = RomStatus.GoodDump,
+					ForcedCore = "",
 					NotInDatabase = false
 				};
 			}
@@ -60,6 +62,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Common
 			Hash = cgi.Hash;
 			Region = cgi.Region;
 			Status = cgi.Status;
+			ForcedCore = cgi.ForcedCore;
 			NotInDatabase = false;
 			ParseOptionsDictionary(cgi.MetaData);
 		}