EGM audit thread and needed corrections

[Sean697]

So I am going to start this thread with the intent of making sure all our EGM's are correct. I will be noting mistakes, bad pages, mixed up pages, etc. Basically anything to ensure our magazines are the best quality and standardized. Some things are easy fixes. Others I expect will remain on the list for awile until we can remedy them. Hopefully when these are fixed it will be re uploaded and we can add a checksum as well to track. As this happens we can shorten this list. If you see something I missed be sure to reply. Or if you can help fix some of them if you have acess to the original magazine any help would be welcome.
 

Electronic Gaming Monthly 1989 Buyer's Guide:

• COSMETIC
• The cover is not in in great shape. We could use a better cover for this scan. Has lots of creases and damage.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 1992 Buyer's Guide:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• filename lists unknown as the month, should consider winter or dec is when these usually came out. Changed it to Fall  since magazines marked as winter usually meant the start of the year - E-Day
• Above item literally needs the filename to be changed it is currently electronic_gaming_monthlys_1992_video_game_buyers_guide_-_1991_unk.cbz
• COSMETIC:
• Back Cover could use some editing and cleaning up. Otherwise is acceptable.

EGM 3-D:

• COSMETIC:
• The whole magazine needs cropping. Nearly every even page has carry over of the adjacent odd page. Also many outside edge of pages are not cropped and show pages behind. Pg 32 may need a rescan.
• Back cover needs some editing and cleaning up.

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 2:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• If rescan need new retromags splash page in rear.
• COSMETIC:
• Cover needs a new scan/or editing to clean it up. Has visible creases that can be edited out that are pretty bad.
• All pages have bleed through or reverse page.
• Pages are messy and have stains and basically no editing done.
• Pages need straitening
• This magazine needs a new scan. It is pretty poor quality and should be marked for rescanning due to the issues above probably not all fixable via editing.

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 3:

• COSMETIC:
• Cover needs editing for creases.
• Needs updated retromags splash page in rear.
• Rest of mag needs light editing for creases/stains but is otherwise acceptable. (Low priority)

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 4:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs updated retromags splash page in rear if rescanned.
• COSMETIC:
• Cover needs editing for creases or new scan.(Has address label attached)
• Pages 2 and 3 have tape on them. Need rescan or editing.
• All white pages have bleed through from reverse page visible.
• Needs lots of general editing for creases and stains and spots. Especially from page 77 to back cover.
• This magazine needs a new scan. It is pretty poor quality and should be marked for rescanning due to the issues above probably not all fixable via editing.

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 5:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs updated retromags splash page in rear.
• COSMETIC:
• Cover and page 2 have huge rip. Needs new cover scan and page 2 scan.
• Page 44 and 45 have scotch tape. Can be edited out.
• Page 83 and 84 have extreme creasing. Could pull a good version from other EGM scan as are ads, or edit.
• This mag could use some editing but not worth rescanning for. (Low priority)

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 6:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Missing retromags credit page.
• COSMETIC:
• Cover needs editing or rescan for creases.
• This mag needs light editing but is otherwise very acceptable. (Very low priority, don't recommend rescan)

 
Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 8: No problems.

• This magazine has a rare alternate cover that was only distributed at the CES. It would be nice to have a scan of it to add.

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 12:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• If updating needs newer retromags credit page.
• COSMETIC:
• New Cover scan or edit of existing cover. Large creases.
• Pg 9 has large creases and needs editing
• In general this mag has a lot of creases throughout. But it is acceptable and doesn't warrant a new scan. Possibly some editing. (Low priority)

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 14:

• COSMETIC:
• Needs new cover scan or edit. Extreme creasing and in poor shape.
• Pages 2,3,4,82,83,84 have visible scotch tape on them that needs editing out or rescanning.
• Back Cover needs rescan or editing. Extreme creasing.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 15:

• COSMETIC:
• Needs new cover scan. Beyond editing. Has huge rip.
• Needs a new scan. Magazine is in horrible condition. Maybe our worst scan. I believe E-day is aware how bad this one is. (This is the 91 buyers guide issue)

 

 

Electronic Gaming Monthly 28:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs new Retromags credits page.
• MISTAKES/MISSING
• Missing pages 47 (Page after page 46 microprose ad) - 63. According to DB entry by addictedkoala, these pages actually exist and are missing from our scan.
• Page 109 to page 156 may be missing content or numbered incorrectly. In scan numbering jumps from 108 to 125 which starts the Atari Ad. It is 32 pages and goes to page 156. Database entry says Atari ad is 109-156. Scan is missing pages 109-124 or missing content before page 157. The scanned pages are numbered Atari 1-32. We need someone to check this against a real magazine to ensure we are not missing 16 pages of this magazine somewhere.
• Not a mistake but in the magazine they skip from 186 to 207 on the same two page spread. Our scan reflects this accurately. Interesting way to increase a page count in the magazine.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 29:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs new Retromags credits page.
• COSMETIC
• Cover needs cleanup or new scan. Appears like it can just be cleaned up in photshop.
• Page 3,4 Have large rip. Need new scan of page(s).

Electronic Gaming Monthly 35:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs new Retromags credit page.
• MISTAKES/MISSING:
• Need to check actual magazine. Pages 131-147 are missing. (After 130 there is a Lemmings ad and then jumps to 148.)
• COSMETIC:
• Needs new cover scan. Lots of creases.
• Whole magazine needs cropping and editing on edge. Appears not to have been cropped at the spine where paper cut.
• Page 73,74 needs new scan. Piece of page has been cut out.
• Page 77,78 needs new scan. Piece of page has been cut out.
• Page 85,86 needs new scan. Tape, 3 hole punch marks, Rips.
• Page 101 needs editing. Has rip mark on face.
• Needs new scan of Back cover and adjacent last page. Creases.

 
Electronic Gaming Monthly 38:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Retromags page is named -x-x-x-retromags-x-x-x-.jpg while the page is usually named x-x-retromags-x-x.jpg. The dash at the front causes it to show in most reader software before the cover thus blocking cover view. Need to just change out to the new cover page to fix this rather than rename current one.
• COSMETIC:
• This scan has absolutely no cropping at all. Every page has borders right off the scanner. Needs straitening and cropping. No need for new scan.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 44:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs new Retromags credit page.
• MISTAKES/MISSING:
• Pages 68,69 possibly missing. Need to check with another copy of magazine. Pages jump from 67 to 70. All pages after are off by two from filename and page number.
• COSMETIC:
• Cover needs minor clean up (Can be done with editing in PS.)
• Whole magazine needs cropping and straitening. Pages cut from spine no cropped.
• Back cover needs minor editing.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 53:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• MISTAKES/MISSING:
• Page 31 is in the scan twice back to back. Lunar Sega CD ad.
• COSMETIC:
• Needs new cover scan. Rips and Creases.
• Whole magazine is not cropped or edited. There are a few cutoff pages on the bottom.
• Magazine is barely acceptable. I wont say it needs a new scan. I think can be fixed. But its close.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 54:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• COSMETIC:
• Cover needs cleanup or rescan. Creases and rips.
• Page 2 same as cover.
• Whole magazine not cropped.
• Doesn't appear to have any editing at all.

 
 

Electronic Gaming Monthly 59:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs new Retromags credit page.
• COSMETIC:
• Page 173 and 174 need a new scan. Order form cut out from page leaving large hole in both pages.

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 70:

• MISTAKES/MISSING:
• This magazine has a 4 different covers that. It would be nice to have a scan of them to add.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 75: I have a bagged copy of this extra so I added it to my scan pile, I'll do a whole new scan on this.

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Retromags page is named -x-x-x-retromags-x-x-x-.jpg while the page is usually named x-x-retromags-x-x.jpg. The dash at the front causes it to show in most reader software before the cover thus blocking cover view. Need to just change out to the new cover page to fix this rather than rename current one.
• COSMETIC:
• Cover page needs touch up. Main cover has some creases. But if going to include the spine, it needs to be cleaned up in PS.
• Page 43,44,45,46 need new scan. Half of the page is ripped out and missing.
• Most pages need cropping and editing.
• This one could maybe receive a new scan or a lot of cleanup with editing.

 
Electronic Gaming Monthly 82: No problems.

• This issue has 4 variant covers. There are two included with the scan.. I have seen a green one and I think the 4th is yellow (Or there is a red and a pink?). Would be nice to get all 4 cover variants. If someone has the green and yellow we can add them with my blue.

 
Electronic Gaming Monthly 89:  No Problems. [*]MISTAKES/MISSING: [*]This magazine has at least one other different cover. It would be nice to have a scan of them to add.

 

Electronic Gaming Monthly 96: No problems. [*]MISTAKES/MISSING: [*]This magazine has at least 2 more different covers that. It would be nice to have a scan of them to add.

 


Electronic Gaming Monthly 100:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Technically this is not a Retromags scan. Preserved as a user DL link.
• This is a Retro Avengers scan and thus does not have a Retromags credit page.
• Filename is obviously not Retromags standard as it is not a Retromags scan.
• We should in future make our own Retromags scan.
• MISTAKES/MISSING:
• Possibly missing a poster. Would need a fresh copy to verify. (I think this had a poster with all 100 issues on it)

 
Electronic Gaming Monthly 107:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs new Retromags credit page.
• COSMETIC:
• Whole magazine needs cropping. Jagged spine edges and page damage.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 109:

• MISTAKES/MISSING:
• Missing pages 145,146. (Retromags missing page placeholder is present.)

Electronic Gaming Monthly 113:

• ADMINISTRATIVE:
• Needs new Retromags credit page.
• Page numbering is not standard. All pages are numbered 1-xxx with no identifier or attempt to match to actual magazine pages. Thus they are all off from actual page numbers.
• MISTAKES/MISSING:
• After page 66 there is page 86. Then page 67. This page is a mistake as 86 already appears later in the magazine. Need to remove this page. (Numbered 69 currently)
• Appear to be missing page 236.
• COSMETIC:
• Back cover needs a rescan. It is a mess.

Electronic Gaming Monthly 128: (I have a good copy. I'll do a new scan.)

• [*]

ADMINISTRATIVE: [*]Retromags page is named -x-x-x-retromags-x-x-x-.jpg while the page is usually named x-x-retromags-x-x.jpg. The dash at the front causes it to show in most reader software before the cover thus blocking cover view. Need to just change out to the new cover page to fix this rather than rename current one. [*]COSMETIC: [*]A small number of the pages need cropping or filling edges in PS. Not too bad.
Electronic Gaming Monthly 135: No problems. Edited October 17, 2016 by Sean697

[E-Day]

You'll see I have edited your original post, striking things out and putting a status beside it. I figure since I can do that, it's easier for me to just edit it when I fix something than to list in in another post and then have you go and edit everything .

For EGM 1, I am not sure what you mean by the front Retromags splash page. When I open up the issue, the only Retromags page that I see appears at the end. I do see in 7zip that it is listed first in the Filename column, but I am guessing that is the one that you see at the end.

It would be nice to be able to replace all the Thank you pages at the end with the current one, but that would mean new file links to put in the magazine database. Sadly, we can't swap one file for another and have it keep the same link. Maybe updating the links is something that could be automated or semi-automated by Phillyman.

[Sean697]

Thanks e-day! What you are doing is exactly what I would like. To cross them out as we go. One other thing, how do I edit the original thread. Seems like I don't have access to do so. I need to add the problems found as I go.

So the splash page on EGM 1 is named such that it appears before the cover. So in comic reader software that displays the covers, it displays that page first instead of the cover. I believe it is the only EGM that is like that.

I don't think we need to replace all the retromags thank you pages. I'm just putting the ones that on that are out of date and list incorrect information, like then5 year cutoff, and only if there are other changes that need to be fixed in the magazine.

So are you saying you can't remove the existing file from the server and update it with the new file? Because the ones where the name is not correct to the standard, or where pages are out of order or changes to content needs to be updated we will need to update the file.

[E-Day]

You should be able to edit your post. Team MEmbers have the ability to edit their own posts. To the left of the MultiQuote button at the bottom of your post should be an Edit button.

I opened EGM 1 in 7zip and there is no file in there apart from the 68 pages of the magazine and the old thank you page. Can you post an image of what you see? The thing with EGM 1 is that the cbz contains a folder called "EGM 001 - may 1989 (USA)", and all the jogs are in there instead of being in the "root" of the cbz. Maybe the reader you use creates something before the cover because of that?

There are a lot of those old thank you pages still attached to scans, like most of Nintendo Power; basically anything that was scanned before I took the site over for a couple of years starting in 2010. That is when I made the new thank you page. So you will find hundreds that will need an updated Thank you page. This is something Phillyman and I thought of before he uploaded everything :(.

As Phillyman explained it to me, there is no way to upload a bunch of files on the FTP and just swap a file out and keep the same link. So I can't upload an updated EGM 1 on the FTP and stick it in the existing download page for EGM 1. I would have to import it into the site and the download page would get a new URL on a mass scale. That's not a big deal for a small number of issues, but I have a feeling you'll find a lot of stuff.

The only way to do it is to upload a new version directly on the site on the existing download page. For some reason I have no luck when I try doing that.

[Sean697]

Deleted by me.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Sean697

[Sean697]

So I think the issue on EGM 1 is the retmags page is named -x-x-x-retromags-x-x-x-.jpg while the page is usually named x-x-retromags-x-x.jpg .

So I think the dash in front of the x is causing it to display as the first page. All the other ones follow the second naming convention that Iv'e looked at. Even the older ones.

I unpacked my cbz, removed the dash to make it like the other splash pages. Made a new cbr with only that change and it displays correctly.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Sean697

[Sean697]

Deleted my me.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Sean697

[E-Day]

Issue 13 is on ebay at the moment

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1990-August-Magazine-Electronic-Gaming-Monthly-13-EGM-Strider-Good-Condition-/111834430812

I am wondering if there is a way to have a field in the magazine database so we can mark the preserved magazines that need fixing or just new scans.

[Sean697]

Issue 13 is on ebay at the moment

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1990-August-Magazine-Electronic-Gaming-Monthly-13-EGM-Strider-Good-Condition-/111834430812

I am wondering if there is a way to have a field in the magazine database so we can mark the preserved magazines that need fixing or just new scans.

There kind of is on the download page already where you can report an issue with the magazine to an administrator. I just wanted to make a thread for EGM in one place.

Also I'm currently scanning Issue 13. Am halfway through scanning and straightening. (Because I remove the staples, I've been scanning 4 pages at a time, naming them so I don't lose track of pages numbers and straightening and cropping all in one step before moving to the next set of 4 pages.) Because of family off for holidays and projects probrably won't be able to finish and edit till Jan.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Sean697

[Sean697]

Deleted by me.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Sean697

[E-Day]

I know you can report a magazine, but I mean a field visible to everyone so if a user comes to the site and sees that a certain issue has problems, they can work on it or rescan it if they have the issue.

[Sean697]

I know you can report a magazine, but I mean a field visible to everyone so if a user comes to the site and sees that a certain issue has problems, they can work on it or rescan it if they have the issue.

Hmm we could use the status field? Or remark in the magazine description wiki page? Or even make a new sub field under preserved. I'd leave it to you or phillyman to decide how you would want to do something like that. But it would be worth doing I think.

[Sean697]

Deleted by me.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Sean697

[Sean697]

The complete list is up. I found a suprising number of things. Most of the perfect magazines in our collection. (Or close to anyway) are the scans E-day has done. In fact, more of them than indicated have no problems as most of the issues I marked just need to update the official DL button. I will mark them green as good after but wont ding it for having an out of date retromags credit page. There are a lot of small missing or misnamed pages here and there. There are a number of issues where it appears someone unglued the binding and scanned them. But they did not crop the edge and the pages are jagged and have glue marks. Most of these can be fixed with someone just taking all the images and fixing them in an editing program. If anyone can and has some of these issues marked with non administrative issues, could you check if you have the pages that are missing from the scans or are damaged. So we can add them to the existing scan. I would say I only found maybe 3 scans that were so bad they warranted a new scan.

I have not checked the naming of the individual images in all the files yet. I feel there is a lot of leeway in how those are named far as naming convention. But there was one I saw that was the images were just named 1,2,3 etc and did not attempt to match up to the page numbers of the magazine. I think those should probably be fixed. Our guideline does address naming pages. I'll review all the files for that next.

When I get a chance I'll work through and fix some of these things myself that I can. No rush on this stuff.

[E-Day]

Most of the perfect magazines in our collection. (Or close to anyway) are the scans E-day has done.

Well, of course

One of my guides take about naming the individual pages, but that's just a guide and not a rule. It's the older scans that have this problem. I don't think any newer ones have pages that are just numbered.

[Sean697]

Well, of course

One of my guides take about naming the individual pages, but that's just a guide and not a rule. It's the older scans that have this problem. I don't think any newer ones have pages that are just numbered.

Like I think if it was just numbers, I wouldn't even care. It's when it's numbers that don't align with the page numbers that seems off.

[theassassin]

I have these issues of EGM in varying condition:

46, 48, 52, 56, 63, 64, 67, 77

Anyone want any/all to scan for retromags? I'm willing to donate them for free as long as someone pays the shipping. Will ship anywhere but bear in mind I'm in the UK so international will cost more.

I'm pretty keen to get rid of them so I'll give it 1 month from the date of this post then any remaining will go in the trash

[Sean697]

I have these issues of EGM in varying condition:

46, 48, 52, 56, 63, 64, 67, 77

Anyone want any/all to scan for retromags? I'm willing to donate them for free as long as someone pays the shipping. Will ship anywhere but bear in mind I'm in the UK so international will cost more.

I'm pretty keen to get rid of them so I'll give it 1 month from the date of this post then any remaining will go in the trash

We have all of those issues scanned or aquired for scanning already. But if you run those magazines on the list above you can check for missing pages or mistakes.

52: Check against our scans and check for missing pages noted above. (Possibly missing page 280 and 289)

56: Need scans of pages 113-116 that are missing.

[E-Day]

If it is just two issues that have problems, it shouldn't be too costly to get those mailed to me in Canada.

[theassassin]

Are you guys sure all the "acquired" ones are complete? Wouldn't want to trash mine and then a few months later whenever someone gets around to scanning them, you find out they're incomplete or something.

[E-Day]

I have fixed all the download links problems. I have also fixed the problems with Issues 37 and 52 since they are my scans. There is another one of mine that has issue that I will also fix.

[E-Day]

Are you guys sure all the "acquired" ones are complete? Wouldn't want to trash mine and then a few months later whenever someone gets around to scanning them, you find out they're incomplete or something.

I have not looked through my acquired issues to make sure nothing is missing or damaged. Please don't trash your issues yet

[E-Day]

Concerning issue 76, the poster goes in clockwise order because part of the text for the right side is in the top panel. So going clockwise, you see part of the text, then when you go to the next page, you see the rest of it.

I have left the pages for the poster in that order, but have also included the assembled poster after them (as page 98i). It was a pain because it is very difficult to get posters like that to line up properly when you are putting them together from for scans or more.

The missing pages have also been added. It looks like a case of me missing some files when I was transporting the files to and from work to work on them.

[Sean697]

I am currently up to issue 82 fixx9ng the easy stuff. I may have fixed some of your fixes already. I'm adding an alternate cover to issue 82 right now. I'll post tomorrow with fixed files in a Dropbox folder that can be changed out. As long as you are updating the list we shouldn't get confused. Thanks.

[Sean697]

Interestingly, I had fixed EGM 37 and renamed the pages prior to eday updating. And the checksum I got for the fixed file was different than eday's. So I compared them both expecting to find something different. But mine fixed and his fixed were identical. The naming of pages was identical. I had fixed the offset page naming by two pages from 119 and up same as eday. We both added the same new retromags credit page. Yet they had diffent MD5 sums. I chock it up to different compression settings maybe for the zip file? Or some last minute graphic improvments? I assumed they would be identical. Anyway I can trash my fix since EGM 37 is perfect now thanks to eday.