Hide non working roms on EmulationStation DE

hide_games_from_emulationstation_desktop.py

from xml.etree import ElementTree as et

# gamelist.xml generated by emulationstation desktop
# ~/.emulationstation/gamelists/mame/gamelist.xml
gamelist_path = r"./gamelist.xml"

# http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/download.php (mame246-gamelist.xml.zip)
mameXXX_gamelist_path = r"./mame246-gamelist.xml"

# list of games to hide
to_hide_roms = []

for _, elem in et.iterparse(mameXXX_gamelist_path, events=("end",)):
    if elem.tag == "machine":

        # filters
        is_bios = True if elem.get("isbios") is not None and elem.get("isbios") == "yes" else False
        is_device = True if elem.get("isdevice") is not None and elem.get("isdevice") == "yes" else False
        not_runnable = True if elem.get("runnable") is not None and elem.get("runnable") == "no" else False
        is_mahjong = elem.find("./input/control[@type='mahjong']") is not None 
        has_harddisk = elem.find("./device[@type='harddisk']") is not None 
        has_cdrom = elem.find("./device[@type='cdrom']") is not None 
        status_preliminary = elem.find("./driver[@status='preliminary']") is not None 
        emulation_preliminary = elem.find("./driver[@emulation='preliminary']") is not None 

        if (
            is_bios or
            is_device or
            is_mahjong  or
            not_runnable or
            has_harddisk or # NO CHD
            has_cdrom or # NO CHD
            status_preliminary or 
            emulation_preliminary
        ):
            print("To hide", elem.get('name'), " - ", elem.find("description").text)
            to_hide_roms.append("./" + elem.get('name') + ".zip")


gamelist_tree = et.parse(gamelist_path)

for current_game in gamelist_tree.findall('.//game'):
    path = current_game.find("path")
    if path is not None and path.text in to_hide_roms:
        print("Hidding", current_game.find('name').text)
        if current_game.find("hidden") is not None:
            current_game.find("hidden").text = "true"
        else:
            hidden_element = et.SubElement(current_game, 'hidden')
            hidden_element.text = 'true'

et.indent(gamelist_tree, space="\t", level=0)

gamelist_tree.write("./gamelist_edited.xml",  encoding="utf-8", xml_declaration=True)
print("\n\gamelist_edited.xml created")

Created this python3 script to edit the gamelist.xml generated on EmulationStation DE on Steam Deck.

It will add a <hidden>true</hidden> tag on the filtered games.

Filters:

• rom is a bios
• rom is a device
• rom is a mahjong game
• rom is not runnable
• rom need a CHD to run
• rom status is preliminary
• rom emulation is preliminary

After replacing the gamelist.xml you need to disable the setting Show hidden games (requires restart) from the Other settings menu to make them disappear entirely on emulationstation desktop.