# Data Plugin

The data plugin loads information from various external support files so it can be displayed in MAME. If the plugin is enabled, info is show in the Infos tab of the right-hand pane on the system and software selection menus. The info viewer can be shown by clicking the toolbar button on the system and software selection menus, or by choosing External DAT View from the main menu during emulation (this menu item will not appear if the data plugin is not enabled, or if no information is available for the emulated system).

To set the folders where the data plugin looks for supported files, choose Configure Options on the system selection menu, then choose Configure Directories, and then choose DATs. You can also set the `historypath` option in your ui.ini file.

Loading large data files like history.xml can take quite a while, so please be patient the first time you start MAME after updating or adding new data files.

The following files are supported:

history.xml

  From Gaming-History (formerly Arcade-History)

mameinfo.dat

  From MASH’s MAMEINFO

messinfo.dat

  From progetto-SNAPS MESSINFO.dat

gameinit.dat

  From progetto-SNAPS GameInit.dat

command.dat

  from progetto-SNAPS Command.dat

score3.htm

  Top Scores from the MAME Action Replay Page

Japanese mameinfo.dat and command.dat

  From MAME E2J

sysinfo.dat

  From the defunct Progetto EMMA site

story.dat

  From the defunct MAMESCORE site

If you install hi2txt, the data plugin can also show high scores from non-volatile memory or saved by the hiscore support plugin for supported games.

Note that you can only use a single file of each type at a time. You cannot, for example, use the English and Japanese mameinfo.dat files simultaneously.

The data plugin creates a history.db file in the data folder in the plugin data folder (see the homepath option). This file stores the information from the support files in a format suitable for rapid loading. It uses the SQLite3 database format.