TOC??

[Wander1]

Hello everyone, I'm new here and I have been reading some threads in this forum to try to resolve my problem.
I'm trying to make a TOC in my Kindle PW to read Mangas/Comics with more ease because right now I read every volume like a separate book.

I found THIS THREAD and i followed all the intructions but I still have the same problem:

Spoiler:

calibre, version 1.28.0 (win32, isfrozen: True)
Error de conversión: Fallo: Convertido el libro 1 de 1 (comic)

Convertido el libro 1 de 1 (comic)
Resolved conversion options
calibre version: 1.28.0
{'asciiize': False,
'author_sort': None,
'authors': None,
'base_font_size': 0.0,
'book_producer': None,
'change_justification': 'left',
'chapter': None,
'chapter_mark': u'pagebreak',
'colors': 256,
'comic_image_size': None,
'comments': None,
'cover': None,
'debug_pipeline': None,
'dehyphenate': True,
'delete_blank_paragraphs': True,
'despeckle': False,
'disable_font_rescaling': True,
'disable_trim': False,
'dont_add_comic_pages_to_toc': False,
'dont_compress': False,
'dont_grayscale': False,
'dont_normalize': False,
'dont_sharpen': False,
'duplicate_links_in_toc': False,
'embed_all_fonts': False,
'embed_font_family': None,
'enable_heuristics': False,
'expand_css': False,
'extra_css': None,
'extract_to': None,
'filter_css': u'',
'fix_indents': True,
'font_size_mapping': None,
'format_scene_breaks': True,
'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4,
'input_encoding': None,
'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x0333D270>,
'insert_blank_line': False,
'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5,
'insert_metadata': False,
'isbn': None,
'italicize_common_cases': True,
'keep_aspect_ratio': False,
'keep_ligatures': False,
'landscape': False,
'language': None,
'level1_toc': None,
'level2_toc': None,
'level3_toc': None,
'line_height': 0.0,
'linearize_tables': False,
'margin_bottom': 0,
'margin_left': 0,
'margin_right': 0,
'margin_top': 0,
'markup_chapter_headings': True,
'max_toc_links': 50,
'minimum_line_height': 120.0,
'mobi_file_type': u'old',
'mobi_ignore_margins': False,
'mobi_keep_original_images': False,
'mobi_toc_at_start': False,
'no_chapters_in_toc': False,
'no_inline_navbars': True,
'no_inline_toc': False,
'no_process': False,
'no_sort': False,
'output_format': u'png',
'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.KindlePaperWhiteOutp ut object at 0x0333D610>,
'page_breaks_before': None,
'personal_doc': u'[PDOC]',
'prefer_author_sort': False,
'prefer_metadata_cover': False,
'pretty_print': False,
'pubdate': None,
'publisher': None,
'rating': None,
'read_metadata_from_opf': u'C:\\Users\\JaviersH\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calib re_l2crl5\\tfcocc.opf',
'remove_fake_margins': True,
'remove_first_image': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing': False,
'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5,
'renumber_headings': True,
'replace_scene_breaks': u'',
'right2left': False,
'search_replace': '[]',
'series': None,
'series_index': None,
'share_not_sync': False,
'smarten_punctuation': False,
'sr1_replace': None,
'sr1_search': None,
'sr2_replace': None,
'sr2_search': None,
'sr3_replace': None,
'sr3_search': None,
'start_reading_at': None,
'subset_embedded_fonts': False,
'tags': None,
'timestamp': None,
'title': None,
'title_sort': None,
'toc_filter': None,
'toc_threshold': 6,
'toc_title': None,
'unsmarten_punctuation': False,
'unwrap_lines': True,
'use_auto_toc': False,
'verbose': 2,
'wide': False}
InputFormatPlugin: Comic Input running
on C:\Users\JaviersH\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_l2crl 5\lw78jh.cbc
Python function terminated unexpectedly
C:\Users\JaviersH\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_l2crl 5\lw78jh.cbc is not a valid comic collection no comics.txt was found in the file (Error Code: 1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site.py", line 132, in main
File "site.py", line 109, in run_entry_point
File "site-packages\calibre\utils\ipc\worker.py", line 195, in main
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 31, in gui_convert_override
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 25, in gui_convert
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\conversion\plumber.py", line 1038, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 241, in __call__
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\conversion\plugins\comic_i nput.py", line 169, in convert
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\conversion\plugins\comic_i nput.py", line 101, in get_comics_from_collection
ValueError: C:\Users\JaviersH\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_l2crl 5\lw78jh.cbc is not a valid comic collection no comics.txt was found in the file

I think is the .txt, please if someone can help me with the convertion to UFT-8 I will appreciate it.

Thank you very much!

PD: Sorry about my spelling.

[eschwartz]

Do you have the .txt? If so, is it in the root of the zip?

[Wander1]

Yes, I made a Zip with the .txt and the CBZ's

I don't know what more I can do.

[Sabardeyn]

Wander1,
I noticed you said "CBZ's" - I've used bold to mark that you appear to be talking about several zip files.

Are you trying to take several ZIPs with their own TOC and merge them into a larger archive with it's own TOC? As far as I can recall that cannot be done with the CBC format. It can only take chapters/issues and a single TOC.

I haven't taken a look at CBC for a while now so I might be mistaken. But then, I also chose to handle manga/comics through a more calibre-friendly method.

[Wander1]

Nope, I just merge two CBZs with one TOC, and all that in another ZIP (CBC)

Originally Posted by Sabardeyn

Wander1,
I haven't taken a look at CBC for a while now so I might be mistaken. But then, I also chose to handle manga/comics through a more calibre-friendly method.

Can you tell me how do you do that with Calibre?

[Sabardeyn]

I've been storing manga with a specific title scheme. So, for instance, I have:
Bleach -- v012 c152-158
Bleach -- v013 c159
(Note these are just randomly chosen manga names & chapter numbers, not real data.)

The first format is for a full volume (takubon) and the second is used for single chapters/issues.

I keep all titles consistently named; appending the double dashes, volume and chapter information with preceding zeros and three decimal places. This keeps all books with a uniform appearance (per title) and, with three digits, is unlikely to be re-named/altered due to numbering problems. (Preceding zeroes are required on Windows because of a weird sort implementation.) I use the double dashes to avoid problems with any manga titles that include a dash within the translated title. Use of ASCII characters to separate data is awkward since manga sometimes uses "133t5p34|<" (leetspeak - use of a symbol instead of letter) in titles (ex: Re:Monster, A+B, A Cup Of..., etc).

While I have not yet done so, I have considered the possibility of splitting each volume into separate chapters. Doing so would allow a synopsis, keywords, and other metadata to be chapter/issue relevant, rather than by volume. Since volumes tend to cover 5-12 chapters, a synopsis tends to be vague - it's covering too much of the storyline while trying not to reveal any spoilers. Then, when you're trying to search back for specific facts/events, you cannot find them within the Description.

While not so important for manga, American comics (Superman, etc) would benefit by allowing cross-over characters, multi-universe, and other topics to be searchable terms. So, for instance, I could list "Wolverine" as a keyword on any comic issue and doing a search on that term could get every comic in my collection that Wolverine has appeared in.

Of course, everything beyond naming conventions is metadata that I have to enter. Or obtain from some other service or website. Either way it is mostly a manual (and time consuming) process.

Hope this helps. Let me know if anything is unclear.

[Wander1]

Wow thank you for your quick reply.

I tried what you said and i still see every volume like a different book.


I feel like a fool right now haha

Well... thank you again for everything.

[Sabardeyn]

You're welcome for the quick response. But don't feel foolish. This is my issue, not yours. I should have mentioned that each volume/takubon and chapter/issue listed is a separate book using this method.

You're thinking of having a one-to-many database structure. Where you would enter one unique book title and then have multiple volumes/chapters associated with that title. So, one title, many volumes.

I'm simplifying here, but calibre stores books on a per title basis (really, it's per internal id# - but those are based on title entered, so... /shrug). It does not allow a one-to-many structure of this type. For books (text) this generally isn't a problem because title verbiage is not re-used word-for-word. However for any type of periodical (manga, comics, mags, newspapers, etc) this presents a problem like you've encountered. The title is re-used exactly, with only an issue # or date differentiating each issue.

My suggestion on how to handle things is simply one method to try and deal with these limitations. By using a uniform naming system with exact placement of elements, everything sorts properly and makes finding a specific book much easier. Comic software might handle things better, but you're using two different programs - increasing the learning difficulty. But they also don't offer the tools calibre has readily available.

Other users may have an alternate method they use for periodicals and similar situations.