actor images still not supporting folders by name

[perry59 7]

I've been using emby for a LONG time, since before it was emby.

over the years I have been carefully cultivating my images by name folder which quit working a year or so ago because of changes in emby. It was fairly simple to get it working by putting those images in the new meta data folder. But a couple months ago it broke again and it seems there is no fix this time. I was told it would be fixed, but still I  have blank image placeholders instead of the pictures that used to be there.

WHEN WILL THIS GET FIXED?!?

Seems like it would be pretty simple just to re enable the code that makes this work. Pretty frustrating that something I really liked for years and put a lot of effort into doesn't work any more after being "enhanced".

[Happy2Play 9780]

Have you seen this topic?

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/63331-how-to-backup-people-images-with-beta-going-onwards/

 

Sounds like your database may be broken for people.  Do your broken people show a path when you select edit metadata on the actor?

Edited July 5, 2019 by Happy2Play

[GhostRider 49]

Does sound like the same issue I had with genre icons. Happy2Play kindly got me working with fixing the paths to the genre icons here:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/71572-upgraded-to-v-403-have-some-problems/page-2

 

I also had the same issue with blank people pictures; there were just too many errors to fix by correcting the path so in the end I dropped the database and had Emby rebuild from scratch.

 

If you go the drop the database route make sure you have a system settings backup so you can restore items like watched status.

[perry59 7]

Have you seen this topic?

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/63331-how-to-backup-people-images-with-beta-going-onwards/

 

Sounds like your database may be broken for people.  Do your broken people show a path when you select edit metadata on the actor?

I first saw that topic a few months ago when I first complained about this, it has gotten quite a bit larger.

There is nothing in there that really helps, but I do see there are other people who are also upset after spending a lot of time and effort on their "people" folder only to have some new "enhancement" break it.

to answer your other question, when I select one of the empty cast images, I see no path attribute for it at all.

I have also done a full re install of emby to no avail.

Edited July 7, 2019 by perry59

[perry59 7]

Does sound like the same issue I had with genre icons. Happy2Play kindly got me working with fixing the paths to the genre icons here:

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/71572-upgraded-to-v-403-have-some-problems/page-2

 

I also had the same issue with blank people pictures; there were just too many errors to fix by correcting the path so in the end I dropped the database and had Emby rebuild from scratch.

 

If you go the drop the database route make sure you have a system settings backup so you can restore items like watched status.

 

I haven't tried hacking the database yet, so it is still broken

[perry59 7]

Also, my genres and collections are broken too. this is ridiculous.

I should not have to be doing all this research to fix something that used to work.

At this point I would really rather go back to version 3, or earlier.

Does anyone have a complete older installer? an executable that I don't have to compile?

I would REALLY appreciate it!!!

[Luke 42078]

Hi there, can you please describe your issues with genres and collections? We're happy to help. Thanks.

[perry59 7]

Hi there, can you please describe your issues with genres and collections? We're happy to help. Thanks.

 

With genres I had custom icons that would be displayed. These too were in my old "images by name" folder which was renamed "metadata", in a sub folder called "genres". Now it shows it's own thumbnail created from 4 movie posters from that genre.

I believed this has been discussed, but I have not researched for an answer or fix.

 

for collections, they are folders named like "007 [boxset]" within my main media folder The directory structure is like in the old MB1 days. Now the movies within these folders are being displayed along with other non collection items and my collections tab within emby shows nothing. I believe this too has been discussed, but I have been more concerned with fixing the cast and crew problem before tackling other problems.

Edited July 7, 2019 by perry59

[Happy2Play 9780]

Legacy/nested folder structure Collections are obsolete.  You can maintain your structure but Emby will treat them as normal folders (as shown in folders tab).  All Collection data resides in *\Emby-Server\programdata\data\collections (path will be different on different OSes).

 

 

These too were in my old "images by name" folder which was renamed "metadata", in a sub folder called "genres".

All my genres use my custom images in *\programdata\metadata\Genre.  So is that a typo?

 

But It is sounding more like a database issue GhostRider linked to.

[perry59 7]

Legacy/nested folder structure Collections are obsolete.  You can maintain your structure but Emby will treat them as normal folders (as shown in folders tab).  All Collection data resides in *\Emby-Server\programdata\data\collections (path will be different on different OSes).

 

All my genres use my custom images in *\programdata\metadata\Genre.  So is that a typo?

 

But It is sounding more like a database issue GhostRider linked to.

 

Not sure what typo you are referring to.

My genre icons are located in "D:\pictures\metadata\genres".

Are you really saying that my collections must now reside in the emby program data folder which is in my windows system drive?

My system drive © is a 256 meg SSD, there is no way all those movies are going to fit in there. I am assuming that many people, like me, have dedicated hard drives for there media. Their media will NOT be on the system drive.

[sonnaps 4]

I've been dealing with this for a while.  Some actor images are broken, some are not.  I did a little digging, reading the forum here about what others are saying and some links to other threads.  It seems for me at least, there is some old data stuck in my library.db file.  If you use DB Browser for SQLite and take a look in your library.db file (make a copy of it and browse the copy just to be safe), some actors are using the "%MetadataPath%\People\..." path and some are using a direct link to an old windows path I had setup i.e. "\\192.168.1.12\Emby\metadata\People\..."  The same goes for not just for People, but for Studio, Genre, and a few other misc things.

 

I guess I could try writing an SQL script to find all the instances of "\\192.168.1.12\Emby\metadata" and replace it with the correct "%MetadataPath%" as the path.  There are just too many to do individually.

 

My question to others out there, has anyone edited the library.db directly before and had any success?  I would assume you just need to do the following:

 

1. Close out of Emby Server, make sure nothing is running in the background.

2. Backup the library.db file in case something goes horribly wrong.

3. Use DB Browser and manually edit or write some script to make the changes.

4. Cross your fingers that when you restart the Emby Server that all your stuff is still there and everything isn't completely messed up.

 

It seems that all the paths to be corrected are located in the MediaItems and TypedBaseItems tables.  Would that do the trick? or am I in store for a great deal of headache?

[Luke 42078]

I guess I could try writing an SQL script to find all the instances of "\\192.168.1.12\Emby\metadata" and replace it with the correct "%MetadataPath%" as the path.  There are just too many to do individually.

 

You could try that. The TypedBaseItems table is no longer used, and on a fresh install it won't exist anymore.

[perry59 7]

I've been dealing with this for a while.  Some actor images are broken, some are not.  I did a little digging, reading the forum here about what others are saying and some links to other threads.  It seems for me at least, there is some old data stuck in my library.db file.  If you use DB Browser for SQLite and take a look in your library.db file (make a copy of it and browse the copy just to be safe), some actors are using the "%MetadataPath%\People\..." path and some are using a direct link to an old windows path I had setup i.e. "\\192.168.1.12\Emby\metadata\People\..."  The same goes for not just for People, but for Studio, Genre, and a few other misc things.

 

I guess I could try writing an SQL script to find all the instances of "\\192.168.1.12\Emby\metadata" and replace it with the correct "%MetadataPath%" as the path.  There are just too many to do individually.

 

My question to others out there, has anyone edited the library.db directly before and had any success?  I would assume you just need to do the following:

 

1. Close out of Emby Server, make sure nothing is running in the background.

2. Backup the library.db file in case something goes horribly wrong.

3. Use DB Browser and manually edit or write some script to make the changes.

4. Cross your fingers that when you restart the Emby Server that all your stuff is still there and everything isn't completely messed up.

 

It seems that all the paths to be corrected are located in the MediaItems and TypedBaseItems tables.  Would that do the trick? or am I in store for a great deal of headache?

 

Agreed.

I'm no sql guru so it would be nice if someone could upload an sql script that would do this. Probably would not fix the issues with collections. But would be better than nothing.

What's weird though is that my "%MetaDataPath%" should be pointing to the right place, I edited that in the emby UI. But still no actor images!

I'm still hoping someone can get me in touch with an earlier version of emby though.

Edited July 8, 2019 by perry59

[Happy2Play 9780]

Not sure what typo you are referring to.

My genre icons are located in "D:\pictures\metadata\genres".

Are you really saying that my collections must now reside in the emby program data folder which is in my windows system drive?

My system drive © is a 256 meg SSD, there is no way all those movies are going to fit in there. I am assuming that many people, like me, have dedicated hard drives for there media. Their media will NOT be on the system drive.

The path is not "Genres" it is "Genre".

 

 

No your media will not reside on your Windows system drive the metadata for Collections will.  Legacy Collection are obsolete in Emby.  So nothing in your library collection/[boxset] folders is used in reference to metadata, only the movies will be identified/read.

 

Example

 

 

Emby will treat the collection/boxset folder as a normal folder and only read the movie media.  All collection metadata resides in \emby-server\programdata\data\collections.  Emby will use the images in your collection/boxset folder for folders view, but that folder collection.xml is ignored now.

[Happy2Play 9780]

Agreed.

I'm no sql guru so it would be nice if someone could upload an sql script that would do this. Probably would not fix the issues with collections. But would be better than nothing.

I'm still hoping someone can get me in touch with an earlier version of emby though.

 

The link in post 3 already gives you all the information.  Every has different setups so you have to modify it to your paths.

 

What earlier version are you looking for?  Not that any plugin would work or be available anymore.  Ultimately a new/clean install would be the best approach.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Happy2Play

[perry59 7]

The path is not "Genres" it is "Genre".

 

No your media will not reside on your Windows system drive the metadata for Collections will.  Legacy Collection are obsolete in Emby.  So nothing in your library collection/[boxset] folders is used in reference to metadata, only the movies will be identified/read.

 

Example

 

 

Emby will treat the collection/boxset folder as a normal folder and only read the movie media.  All collection metadata resides in \emby-server\programdata\data\collections.  Emby will use the images in your collection/boxset folder for folders view, but that folder collection.xml is ignored now.

 

Yes I did typo the "genres", but my genre folder still exists inside my metadata folder as it has for years, but is ignored now.

And yes, it looks like my collections issue is an easy fix. But now I have to remember two locations to backup because now the collections metadata is being kept somewhere else.

In the past I only had to back up the drive where my movies are and I got all the metadata and the movies.

[perry59 7]

The link in post 3 already gives you all the information.  Every has different setups so you have to modify it to your paths.

 

What earlier version are you looking for?  Not that any plugin would work or be available anymore.  Ultimately a new/clean install would be the best approach.

 

I'll give it a shot

[sonnaps 4]

Well I never really messed with SQL much.... just simple stuff on projects at work fixing some erroneous data here or there manually.  I just did a bunch of Googling for some syntax and came up with this (mind you this works for my scenario, yours might be different of course):

 

1. In DB Browser for SQLite, open your copy of library.db.

2. Click on the "Browse Data" tab and pull down the "MediaItems" table.  In here you can see what you personally have going on and what might need to be fixed.

3. In the Execute SQL tab, this is the script I entered in and ran and it seems to have fixed all my records in one fell swoop.

UPDATE
    MediaItems
SET
    Path = REPLACE(Path,'\\192.168.1.12\Emby\metadata','%MetadataPath%');

I have to muster up the courage to replace my library.db file with the corrected one.  I haven't tried it yet, but as far as the data and tables it seems to have worked.  I might just do it in a few and will post back.

Edited July 8, 2019 by sonnaps

[Happy2Play 9780]

Remember you are potentially updating 2 column (Path, Images).
 

from the other topic

Since you have some working in default location you could use this
 
UPDATE MediaItems SET Path = replace( Path, '\\PROMETHEUS\ImagebyName$\metadata', '%MetadataPath%' ) WHERE Path LIKE '\\PROMETHEUS\ImagebyName$\metadata%';
UPDATE MediaItems SET Images = replace( Images, '\\PROMETHEUS\ImagebyName$\metadata', '%MetadataPath%' ) WHERE Images LIKE '\\PROMETHEUS\ImagebyName$\metadata%';
 
But if you have a custom location then you would use that instead of '%MetadataPath%'

.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Happy2Play

[perry59 7]

I'm not at home so I can't check, but I assume that "%MetaDataPath%" should resolve to what I have entered in the emby server UI?

In the emby UI my custom path is "D:\pictures" (emby tacks on the "\metadata" part, so I don't add it here). So "%MetaDataPath%" should resolve to "D:\pictures\metada" which exists and has all my info.

my "people" folder structure is set up like so...

D:\pictures\metadata\People

        A\Adam Sandler\folder.jpg

        D\Dennis Quaid\folder.jpg
        J\Julia Roberts\folder.png

 

I don't have any xml or nfo files in there

Edited July 8, 2019 by perry59

[sonnaps 4]

Awesome, thanks!  I never even thought of scrolling to the right.  I will update soon.

[Happy2Play 9780]

I'm not at home so I can't check, but I assume that "%MetaDataPath%" should resolve to what I have entered in the emby server UI?

In the emby UI my custom path is "D:\pictures" (emby tacks on the "\metadata" part, so I don't add it here). So "%MetaDataPath%" should resolve to "D:\pictures\metada" which exists and has all my info.

my "people" folder structure is set up like so...

D:\pictures\metadata\People

        A\Adam Sandler\folder.jpg

        D\Dennis Quaid\folder.jpg

        J\Julia Roberts\folder.png

 

I don't have any xml or nfo files in there

 

%MetaDataPath% this is the token to use the default path so it is equal to "C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\programdata\metadata"

[sonnaps 4]

Well, success!!  That method seems to work just fine.  All my actor pictures show and nothing else seems to be affected as far as I can tell.  I did update both "Path" and "Images" in the "MediaItems" table.  I did them separately just because I was lazy and didn't feel like looking up how to combine the statements to do it at once.  I'm sure it's simple but this was just as quick.

 

First I did:

UPDATE
    MediaItems
SET
    Path = REPLACE(Path,'\\192.168.1.12\Emby\metadata','%MetadataPath%');

Then I did:

UPDATE
    MediaItems
SET
    Images = REPLACE(Images,'\\192.168.1.12\Emby\metadata','%MetadataPath%');

[sonnaps 4]

I'm not at home so I can't check, but I assume that "%MetaDataPath%" should resolve to what I have entered in the emby server UI?

In the emby UI my custom path is "D:\pictures" (emby tacks on the "\metadata" part, so I don't add it here). So "%MetaDataPath%" should resolve to "D:\pictures\metada" which exists and has all my info.

my "people" folder structure is set up like so...

D:\pictures\metadata\People

        A\Adam Sandler\folder.jpg

        D\Dennis Quaid\folder.jpg

        J\Julia Roberts\folder.png

 

I don't have any xml or nfo files in there

 

Yes, this is how mine is setup as well.  Mine is just "X:\Emby" in the Metadata path under the config for Library and then under Advanced.  I guess it adds on the \metadata part on it's own somewhere in the coding.

Edited July 8, 2019 by sonnaps

[perry59 7]

What earlier version are you looking for?  Not that any plugin would work or be available anymore.  Ultimately a new/clean install would be the best approach.

 

Maybe version 2?, before they got rid of the "images by name folder"

I don't really need any plugins, that older version even read my movie.xml files, which I now need a plugin for.