Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

This page covers general problems. For AI-specific issues see AI Troubleshooting.

The application does not start

Check	Action
.NET Desktop Runtime	Install the .NET 10.0 Desktop Runtime
Log file	Read error.log next to the executable for the exact failure
Corrupt settings	Delete %LocalAppData%\FindRomCover\Settings.dat to reset to defaults
Permissions	Move the application to a user-writable folder such as C:\Tools\FindRomCover
Antivirus	Some scanners flag single-file .NET executables; allow the file if you trust it

A fatal startup error is shown in a dialog and written to the log.

"WebView2 Runtime Missing" or "WebView2 component is not ready"

The Google Web and Bing Web tabs need the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.

1. Follow the in-app prompt to download the runtime from Microsoft.
2. Install it and restart FindRomCover.
3. If the problem persists, update Windows and reinstall the runtime.

All other features keep working without WebView2.

No search results

Tab	What to try
Local Files	Lower the similarity threshold, switch algorithm, check the image folder
Google Web / Bing Web	Refine the Extra Query; verify the browser loads at all
Google API	Check the API key, quota, and Extra Query

Also make sure the selected game has a meaningful name; enable MAME descriptions for arcade titles.

"API Key is not set"

Open Settings > API Settings... and enter a Google API key. The Local Files and web tabs do not need a key.

Images are not saving or converting

1. Verify the image folder is writable.
2. For web searches, save the image manually inside the image folder — automatic one-click saving is not possible due to browser security.
3. Confirm a game is selected; the watcher renames new images to the selected game.
4. Check the log for ImageFolderWatcher or conversion errors.

"Image could not be downloaded" or non-image responses

Some image hosts answer automated requests with an HTTP 200 status but send an HTML block page instead of image data. FindRomCover detects this before converting:

1. The download is skipped with a log warning naming the host, the returned Content-Type, and the start of the payload.
2. When a provider thumbnail is available (Google API results, AI Batch Fill), it is tried automatically — but it is only saved if it meets the Min cover width setting (default 200 px); undersized thumbnails are rejected and the candidate is skipped.
3. Otherwise the candidate is skipped and the next one is tried.

This is a host-side block, not an application bug — try another result, another search tab, or a different model run. Entries mentioning no decode delegate for the same reason are logged as warnings, not errors.

Missing or corrupted MAME data (mame.dat)

mame.dat ships with the application and is copied to the output folder on build.

• If it is missing, copy a fresh one next to FindRomCover.exe.
• If it is corrupt, replace it with a fresh copy.
• Without it, MAME descriptions are unavailable and searches fall back to cleaned filenames.

Settings were reset unexpectedly

FindRomCover quarantines unreadable settings instead of failing:

File	Meaning
settings.dat.legacy	Backup of the old encrypted settings file after SQLite migration
settings.dat.corrupt	Settings database that could not be read; defaults were restored

To recover, restore a backup of %LocalAppData%\FindRomCover. See Data Storage.

The application is slow

Cause	Suggestion
Network image folder	Move covers to a local disk
Huge collection	Narrow the supported extensions; rely on the trigram index
Slow local AI model	Lower Image max size and Max candidates, raise the AI timeout
Many results loading	Lower the thumbnail size

Errors keep appearing

1. Open the log window (Settings > Show/Hide Log Window).
2. Note the error message and when it happens.
3. Search the GitHub Issues for the message.
4. If it is new, open an issue with the log excerpt and reproduction steps.

Reporting a bug

Include:

• FindRomCover version and Windows version/architecture;
• steps to reproduce;
• the relevant log entries;
• whether Google API or AI Assist was involved.

Remove any paths or information you do not want to share before posting.

Related pages

• FAQ
• AI Troubleshooting
• Logs & Diagnostics
• Data Storage