DUSTBUNNiES is a curated holding archive for undatted, unclassified, and otherwise homeless ROMs, disk images, firmware, tools, and oddities that do not currently belong in any known or official DAT set.
Think of it as a staging archive:
Files live here while they are unidentified, poorly classified, uncatalogued, or awaiting proper sorting into a real collection.
This is not a trash pile. Everything here is intentionally kept, categorized, and tracked.
- Hold files that:
- Do not match any known DAT
- Are not yet understood or identified
- Belong to obscure, incomplete, or abandoned ecosystems
- Are tools, dumps, formats, or fragments with no clear home
- Provide:
- A structured place for “unknowns”
- A way to track and gradually migrate items into proper sets
- A historical record of “stuff that didn’t fit anywhere else (yet)”
If a file eventually gets properly identified and adopted into a real collection, it should leave DUSTBUNNiES.
DUSTBUNNiES is split into several high-level thematic groups, each with its own internal taxonomy. Before you ask why Commodore and Amiga get their own folders? Simple: these are my favorite platforms, and I enjoy keeping them separated from everything else. They're also huge sets in their own right and I wanted to try to balance out the volume of files per top level folder.
Amiga
Dat format: Mixed (Archive as File)
Focused on Amiga-related disk formats, tools, and odd artifacts that don’t exist in clean TOSEC/No-Intro/Redump-style sets, such as:
ADF, ARC, BIN, CDXL, DMS, EXE, FDI, HDF, HFE, IMG, IPF, LHA, LZH, LZX, MFM, MID, MOD, RDF, ROM
Amiga Collections
Dat format: Zip archives
Commodore
Dat format: Mixed (Archive as File)
Everything Commodore-adjacent that doesn’t exist in clean, curated sets yet, such as:
8296, C16-C116-Plus4, C64, C64 DTV, C64 Mini, C65, C128, CBM, COMAL, Commander X16, CPM, MEGA65, OS Vision, PC-xx, VIC20
Commodore Collections
Dat format: Zip archives
Core
Dat format: Mixed (Archive as File)
The main collection of files, split between platform -> system/vendor -> file extension.
Computer
Contains the majority non-optical roms and files, such as:
Acorn, Advanced Micro Devices, Agon, Altos Computer Systems, Amstrad, APF, Apollo Guidance Computer, Apple, Applied Technology, Apricot Computers, AT&T, Atari, ATM, Baiyi Animation, Batong Sunsonic, BBG Electronics, Be Incorporated, Berkeley Computer Corporation, BINBUG-based machines, BNPO, Bondwell, Bung Dr PC Jr, California Computer Systems, Cambridge Computer, Camputers, Canon, Casio, CCE, CDP, Central Data 2650, Cidelsa, Coleco, Compaq, Compuduct, Compupro, Computer Automation, CompuView Products, COMX, Control Data Corporation, Convergent Technologies, Corvus System, Cromenco, CTC, D-X Designs, DAI, Data Machines, DEC, Dick Smith Electronics, Digital Microsystems, Digital Research, DOS, DOSV, Dragon Data, Dunfield, Dy4, Dynalogic, EACA, Elektor, Elektronika, Elektronska Industrija Nis, ELF Linux, Elwro, Emerson, Ensoniq, Enterprise, Epson, Exelvision, Exidy, Fairchild, Fairlight, Ferguson, Foenix, Fujitsu, Galaksija, Gateway 2000, GO Corporation, Heathkit, Heathkit, Zenith, Heurikon, Hewlett-Packard, Hiradastechika, Hitachi, Hofacker MIKIT 2650, HomeLab, Honeywell, IBM PC, IBM PC 8088-86, Imlac, InterContinental Micro System, Interdata, Intertec, Interton VC 4000, Jupiter, Jupiter Cantab, Kaypro, KingWon, Kontron, KORG, Korvet, Leading Edge, Lemz, LOBO Systems, Luxor, Lviv, M&D, Magnavox, Philips, Matra-Hachette, Matra Hachette, Mattel, Megatel, Memotech, MGT, Micro Craft, Microboard PC Dev System, Microdigital Eletronica, Microengine Distributions, Microkey, Microkit, Micromint, Micronique, Milton Bradley, MITS, Morrow, MOS Technology, Motorola, MSX, NABU, Nascom, National, NCR, NCR Decision Mate V, ncurses, NEC, Nintendo, Norsk Data, Nortel, NorthStar, Nuova Elettronica, OCC, Olivetti, Orion, Packard Bell, Panasonic Panaword U1, Patisonic, PCem, PEL Varazdin, Pentagon, Pentasonic, PERQ, Peters Plus, Philips, PHUNSY, PIPBUG-based machines, Pravetz, Psion, PTC, Radio-86RK, Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer, RCA, Regnecentralen, Research UNIX, Roland, Sage, Sanyo, Schneider, SCO, Sega, Sharp, Siemens, Signetics Instructor 50, Signetics TWIN, Sinclair, Sirius, Softech, Sony, Sord, Specialist, Spectravideo, Standard Elektrik Lorenz, Subor, SVI Spectravideo, Takara, Tandy Radio Shack, Tangerine, Tatung, Technosys, Tektronix, Telenova, TeleVideo Systems, Telmac, Temirazov & Sokolov, Texas Instruments, Thomson, Tiki Data, Timex, Toshiba, Trios Micro Systems, Triumph-Adler, UCSD, UKNC, VEB EAW, VEB Mikroelektronik, VEB Robotron, Video Technology, VideoBrain, Videoton, VTech, Wang, Windows (Japan), WonderSoft COMPAC, Xerox, Xircom, Yuxing, Zenith, Zeta Microcomputer, ZhongSuo
Computer-Digital:
Fantasy Consoles
Console:
Atari, Bally, Capcom, Casio, Coleco, Emerson, Epoch, Funtech, GCE, JungleTac, Konix, Leapfrog, Magnavox, Mattel, NEC, Nintendo, Philips, RCA, Sega, Sony, Tectoy, View-Master Interactive Vision, VTech
Handhelds:
Analogue, Arduboy, Atari, Bandai, Benesse, Bit Corporation, Cassiopeia, Creatronic, Cybiko, Epoch, Evercade, EXEQ, Game & Watch, Gamebuino, GamePark, GCE, iQue, LeapFrog, Nikko, Nintendo, Nokia, Pimoroni, Pokemon TCG, Pokitto Oy, Sega, SNK, Tapwave, Texas Instruments, Tiger Telematics, VTech, Watara Supervision, Welback, WonderWitch
Music:
OverClocked ReMoved
Core Collections
Dat format: Zip archives
Disc
Dat format: Zip archives
Optical disc images and disc-based ecosystems that don’t exist in clean Redump, No-Intro or any other Non-ABCXYZ or known sets:
Atari 8-bit, Atari Jaguar CD, Commodore Amiga, Mattel Intellivision, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Wii, Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation Portable, Sun, Win95
- This is not an unsorted dumping ground.
- Everything here should:
- Be categorized
- Have a reason to exist here
- Be a candidate for future identification or migration
- If something gets a proper home elsewhere, it should be removed from DUSTBUNNiES.
This collection, simply through natural categorization and sorting, will always have its share of deep nested folders and long filenames. To ensure that things do not get out of hand, I created custom tools to analyze this collection before datting to ensure:
- from the top-level folder of this collection, the longest full path length, including the filename, should fall within 200 characters
- there may be the odd exception where I've allowed it to go slightly above 200, but the hard upper limit is 210 characters max
- 210 characters allows enough wiggle room for the "invisible" portions of the file paths that the user will never see (eg. "C:/ROMVault/DatRoot/"), or the server-side cloud path prefix of a cloud-connected folder, which i've seen up to 40 characters in length for an online host like OneDrive. Also, some scripting languages and older apps will forbid exceeding the 260-char path length limit even if you have it bypassed.
Therefore, I am stating that it is a REQUIREMENT to physically place the "DUSTBUNNiES" top-level folder location in the root of your storage volume, and work off of it from there. If you choose to alter this folder placement, you are on your own for any path length issues that could surface when working on the collection with other tools and apps (RomVault will do just fine if that's all you're using).
First, I ensure the folder path naming is optimized as best as possible. Maintaining tight, quality folder naming is critical.
If that doesn't help, the general order of operations for shortening filenames are as follows:
- condense empty space between brackets: ") (" becomes ")("
- condense empty space between separators such as commas, semicolons, dashes: "this, that" becomes "this,that" and "what - why" becomes "what-why"
- trim superfluous wording: "T-En by DatGuy" becomes "T-En DatGuy" and "Game needs 512MB of RAM to operate" becomes "512MB RAM reqd"
- adjust long-form dates: "December 25 2020" becomes "2020-12-25"
- if the name is still too long, begin trimming non-title words and info from the filename, in order of importance to the overall filename (author and contributor names usually are the first to go at this point).
It's a delicate balance when removing or trimming filenames. You want to preserve as much information in the filename as possible, but some file authors go way overboard and try to write short stories in their filenames.
Regardless of my ensuring that the length of the paths and files stay within the 260-chracter Windows limit, YOU MUST ENABLE LONG PATH LENGTH SUPPORT in Windows if you know what's good for you. It does not cost you anything at all, other than simply enabling it. It's a simple registry addition, anyone can do it.
here's a step by step illustrated guide: How to Enable Win32 Long Paths in Windows 11
the official docs: Microsoft - Maximum Path Length Limitation
- Real archives are built from uncertainty first.
- DUSTBUNNiES is where uncertainty is allowed to exist — neatly.
If these tools, dats, or archives save you time, consider supporting the work:
Original source code, scripts, tooling, and hand-authored documentation and metadata in this repository are licensed under the MIT License.
Archived game data, binaries, firmware, media assets, and other third-party materials are not covered by the MIT License and remain the property of their respective copyright holders.
See the LICENSE and NOTICE files for full details and scope clarification.