add a simple "XMLGame" capability where a game can be theoretically loaded from an xml definition. very preliminary. hooked up dual gameboy to it, so you can now load dual gameboy again by using a .xml

BizHawk.MultiClient/BizHawk.MultiClient.csproj

@@ -517,6 +517,7 @@
       <SubType>Component</SubType>
     </Compile>
     <Compile Include="tools\WatchCommon.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="XmlGame.cs" />
     <EmbeddedResource Include="AVOut\FFmpegWriterForm.resx">
       <DependentUpon>FFmpegWriterForm.cs</DependentUpon>
     </EmbeddedResource>

BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs

@@ -1922,15 +1922,48 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 								}
 						}
 					}
-					else
+					else if (file.Extension.ToLower() == ".xml")
+					{
+						var XMLG = XmlGame.Create(file);
+
+						if (XMLG != null)
+						{
+							game = XMLG.GI;
+
+							switch (game.System)
+							{
+								case "DGB":
+
+									var L = Database.GetGameInfo(XMLG.Assets["LeftRom"], "left.gb");
+									var R = Database.GetGameInfo(XMLG.Assets["RightRom"], "right.gb");
+
+									if (Global.Config.GB_ForceDMG) L.AddOption("ForceDMG");
+								    if (Global.Config.GB_GBACGB) L.AddOption("GBACGB");
+								    if (Global.Config.GB_MulticartCompat) L.AddOption("MulitcartCompat");
+									if (Global.Config.GB_ForceDMG) R.AddOption("ForceDMG");
+								    if (Global.Config.GB_GBACGB) R.AddOption("GBACGB");
+								    if (Global.Config.GB_MulticartCompat) R.AddOption("MulitcartCompat");
+
+									GambatteLink gbl = new GambatteLink(nextComm, L, XMLG.Assets["LeftRom"], R, XMLG.Assets["RightRom"]);
+								    nextEmulator = gbl;
+								    // other stuff todo
+									break;
+
+								default:
+									return false;
+							}
+
+						}
+						// if load fails, second chance to identify as a bsnes XML
+					}
+					else // most extensions
 					{
 						rom = new RomGame(file);
 						game = rom.GameInfo;
 
 						bool isXml = false;
 
-						//right now, xml is always snes.
-						//later, we may need to inspect the XML ourselves to dispatch it to the correct system (if any other systems ever use xml...)
+						// other xml has already been handled
 						if (file.Extension.ToLower() == ".xml")
 						{
 							game.System = "SNES";
@@ -2031,20 +2064,6 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 								break;
 							case "GB":
 							case "GBC":
-								//if (false) // this code will load up a dual game boy
-								//{
-								//    // this is horrible.  we MUST decide when we should be using Game.System and when we should be using Emulator.SystemID
-								//    game.System = "DGB"; // HACK
-
-								//    if (Global.Config.GB_ForceDMG) game.AddOption("ForceDMG");
-								//    if (Global.Config.GB_GBACGB) game.AddOption("GBACGB");
-								//    if (Global.Config.GB_MulticartCompat) game.AddOption("MulitcartCompat");
-								//    GambatteLink gbl = new GambatteLink(nextComm, game, rom.FileData, game, rom.FileData);
-								//    nextEmulator = gbl;
-								//    // other stuff todo
-								//}
-								//else
-								//{
 									if (!Global.Config.GB_AsSGB)
 									{
 										if (Global.Config.GB_ForceDMG) game.AddOption("ForceDMG");

BizHawk.MultiClient/XmlGame.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+using System.IO;
+using System.Xml;
+
+namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
+{
+	public class XmlGame
+	{
+		public XmlDocument Xml;
+		public GameInfo GI = new GameInfo();
+		public Dictionary<string, byte[]> Assets = new Dictionary<string, byte[]>();
+
+		public static XmlGame Create(HawkFile f)
+		{
+			try
+			{
+				var x = new XmlDocument();
+				x.Load(f.GetStream());
+				var y = x.SelectSingleNode("./BizHawk-XMLGame");
+				if (y == null)
+					return null;
+
+				var ret = new XmlGame();
+				ret.GI.System = y.Attributes["System"].Value;
+				ret.GI.Name = y.Attributes["Name"].Value;
+				ret.GI.Status = RomStatus.Unknown;
+				ret.Xml = x;
+
+				var n = y.SelectSingleNode("./LoadAssets");
+				if (n != null)
+				{
+					foreach (XmlNode a in n.ChildNodes)
+					{
+						string name = a.Name;
+						string filename = a.Attributes["FileName"].Value;
+						if (filename[0] == '|')
+						{
+							// in same archive
+							var ai = f.FindArchiveMember(filename.Substring(1));
+							if (ai != null)
+							{
+								f.BindArchiveMember(ai);
+								byte[] data = Util.ReadAllBytes(f.GetStream());
+								ret.Assets[name] = data;
+							}
+							else
+							{
+								throw new Exception("Couldn't load XMLGame LoadAsset \"" + name + "\"");
+							}
+						}
+						else
+						{
+							// relative path
+							string fullpath = Path.GetDirectoryName(f.CanonicalFullPath.Split('|')[0]);
+							fullpath = Path.Combine(fullpath, filename);
+							try
+							{
+								byte[] data = File.ReadAllBytes(fullpath);
+								ret.Assets[name] = data;
+							}
+							catch
+							{
+								throw new Exception("Couldn't load XMLGame LoadAsset \"" + name + "\"");
+							}
+						}
+					}
+				}
+				return ret;
+			}
+			catch
+			{
+				return null;
+			}
+		}
+
+	}
+}