LaunchBox Multi Monitor and BigBox +3rd monitor plugin 1.2.1

14 minutes ago, Retrofrogg said:

the default zoom for the 3D box model is quite small; is there a way to change the default zoom?

Switch your monitor to landscape mode.  

I'll see if there's an easy way to set the initial image size to accommodate odd monitor orientations.  In the meantime, just move your mouse over it really quick and spin your mouse wheel.

Lol! I don't know if vertical orientation can be considered odd these days. It's actually a more natural orientation to display most box types.

Also, keyboard shortcuts to rotate the box would be very helpful

Beta version 1.1.5-beta-2

Changed initial 3D Box Model size when the monitor orientation is set to portrait.

• Exit LaunchBox
• Download this beta version   ➜  MultiMonitor2022 (v1.1.5 beta-2).7z
• Replace your existing MultiMonitor2022.dll with the one inside the zip.
• Start LaunchBox

@Retrofrogg

Thanks @JoeViking245, that is much better!

Thanks for this and it work well with my 3 monitor setup. Is there any plan to support more than that as I'm seeing a lot of possibilities here. Currently running in my mind to run a 5 monitor setup on my cab.

One strange issue though, when browsing a game on BigBox the second screen will show up the image just fine, but it goes away as soon as I started the game. This didn't happen when launching game in Launchbox though.

50 minutes ago, dsync89 said:

One strange issue though, when browsing a game on BigBox the second screen will show up the image just fine, but it goes away as soon as I started the game. This didn't happen when launching game in Launchbox though.

Does the image return after exiting the game?  If it's a Steam game, the image won't display at all during gameplay in either LB or BB.  Otherwise, I may have missed applying the option keep images visible during gameplay to the BigBox side-of-things when the feature was added.  I will have my team look into it.

There are no plans to add support for more than 3 monitors.

is there a way to overlay elements? in other words, have the clear logo display on top of the gameplay video?

13 minutes ago, squallsoft said:

is there a way to overlay elements? in other words, have the clear logo display on top of the gameplay video?

No.  This plugin doesn't have the option to display videos.  So there's nowhere to even overlay an image on.

On 5/5/2023 at 2:41 PM, JoeViking245 said:

No.  This plugin doesn't have the option to display videos.  So there's nowhere to even overlay an image on.

Do you plan adding mp4 /video support?

or gif at least? 

Attract multimon example:

 

41 minutes ago, Undertherainbow said:

Do you plan adding mp4 /video support?

or gif at least? 

First off, love the lights behind the monitors.  

No. It's not planned. But you might try @superrob3000's ThridScreen plugin.  I know it can handle up to a gajillion monitors and has video support.  Not sure if it supports [animated] gifs as they're not typically used in LaunchBox.  But I do know that it's possible.

3 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

First off, love the lights behind the monitors.  

No. It's not planned. But you might try @superrob3000's ThridScreen plugin.  I know it can handle up to a gajillion monitors and has video support.  Not sure if it supports [animated] gifs as they're not typically used in LaunchBox.  But I do know that it's possible.

I see, thanks. Weird google gave me only your topic as result. Ah no wonder, he didnt wrote crucial words "multi monitor" 🙂

Anyway, Thanks!

2 minutes ago, Undertherainbow said:

I see, thanks. Weird google gave me only your topic as result. Ah no wonder, he didnt wrote crucial words "multi monitor" 🙂

Anyway, Thanks!

You're welcome.   Ya, he didn't want to plagiarize this one.  Besides, he's got me to help promote his awesome work.  (Not that he needs it)  

Hi,

I use the images of the controls in the custom pause menu in the "Launchbox\Images\Game Controls\Arcade" folder that have the name of the roms file, for example mk.png

The folder you pointed out for the plugin is "Launchbox\Images\Game Controls\Arcade - Controls Information" which though contains images with the title name, e.g. Mortal Kombat.png

I would like to use in the monitor plugin the same images as in the pause menu folder, how can I do that? keep in mind that they not only have the different name but I corrected one by one all the images of the pause menu controls to fit me

25 minutes ago, Sbaby said:

Hi,

I use the images of the controls in the custom pause menu in the "Launchbox\Images\Game Controls\Arcade" folder that have the name of the roms file, for example mk.png

The folder you pointed out for the plugin is "Launchbox\Images\Game Controls\Arcade - Controls Information" which though contains images with the title name, e.g. Mortal Kombat.png

I would like to use in the monitor plugin the same images as in the pause menu folder, how can I do that? keep in mind that they not only have the different name but I corrected one by one all the images of the pause menu controls to fit me

I'm not familiar with the custom pause menu nor the subfolder "Game Controls".

I added the custom *Game Controls image option ("custom", as it is not directly accessible through the LaunchBox API) and used what seemed to be appropriate folder Arcade - Controls Information (which is accessible through the API) to allow showing a user's control panel layout (either generic images downloaded from EmuMovies or custom images).  This came about from my proof-of-concept plugin Display game specific controls image on a separate monitor during gameplay.

Though this folder is generically geared towards "Arcade", it is available for all platforms.

Not sure why the custom pause menu is using a 'new' folder rather than one that's already available for the intended image type.  To use those images with this plugin, you can copy them into their respective platform's Arcade - Controls Information subfolder. 

The plugin will find the game images using the methods built into LB/BB which looks for game_title.png and/or game_ROM.png.  So either file naming convention will work.  The innate methods may also have some sort of fuzzy-matching (for game_title), but don't hold me to it.  Regardless, if LaunchBox shows the associated game image, the plugin will too.

@JoeViking245 That custom controls folder was done in one of my pause themes. I used a custom folder as a couple users that wanted the theme did not want to have custom controls images inside the actual LB Arcade Controls folder to preserve the images of the real arcade control panels. Those themes are a bit old and could use a refresh using visibility bindings instead or the binding in the existing theme can just be changed to use the Arcade - Controls folder binding. 

8 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

@JoeViking245 That custom controls folder was done in one of my pause themes. I used a custom folder as a couple users that wanted the theme did not want to have custom controls images inside the actual LB Arcade Controls folder to preserve the images of the real arcade control panels. Those themes are a bit old and could use a refresh using visibility bindings instead or the binding in the existing theme can just be changed to use the Arcade - Controls folder binding. 

Gotch'ya.  In fact, I believe your pause menu was part of my inspiration for my original 'proof-of-concept' plugin.  

I think that (folder locations) was something I looked and figured the "Arcade - Control Panel" folder was for the real arcade control panels.  Not sure if these 2 folders had 'always' been available or [one or the other] was added later on.

I think they were both there all along. There was something about not using the default folder the users wanted so they asked for custom. Either way it could do with a better code using visibility bindings. This way it can use either custom folder or default. Gives me something to do. 👍

4 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

I'm not familiar with the custom pause menu nor the subfolder "Game Controls".

I added the custom *Game Controls image option ("custom", as it is not directly accessible through the LaunchBox API) and used what seemed to be appropriate folder Arcade - Controls Information (which is accessible through the API) to allow showing a user's control panel layout (either generic images downloaded from EmuMovies or custom images).  This came about from my proof-of-concept plugin Display game specific controls image on a separate monitor during gameplay.

Though this folder is generically geared towards "Arcade", it is available for all platforms.

Not sure why the custom pause menu is using a 'new' folder rather than one that's already available for the intended image type.  To use those images with this plugin, you can copy them into their respective platform's Arcade - Controls Information subfolder. 

The plugin will find the game images using the methods built into LB/BB which looks for game_title.png and/or game_ROM.png.  So either file naming convention will work.  The innate methods may also have some sort of fuzzy-matching (for game_title), but don't hold me to it.  Regardless, if LaunchBox shows the associated game image, the plugin will too.

Thank you for the responses. The way I see it though, the information folder is more suitable for the original photos of the original cabinets like this image :

For the button controls made by us users it would be nice to have ea separate folder as I would like to keep both images, both those of the original controls and those of my game descriptions. It would be nice to have a "CUSTOM FOLDER" choice. , is it possible to put it in the plugin ?

Edited February 9 by Sbaby

27 minutes ago, Sbaby said:

Thank you for the responses. The way I see it though, the information folder is more suitable for the original photos of the original cabinets like this image :

For the button controls made by us users it would be nice to have ea separate folder as I would like to keep both images, both those of the original controls and those of my game descriptions. It would be nice to have a "CUSTOM FOLDER" choice. , is it possible to put it in the plugin ?

Interesting.  I assumed those images appeared on bezels.  I'm curious as to how many games actually have a separate sticker that's not incorporated onto bezels?  Or is this more of a MK thing.

As for adding an option for a custom folder into the plugin, anything's possible.  What "would be nice" is if you put in a feature request on BitBucket to add another folder so as to distinguish between Controls Information Labels, and Controls Information Panel Layouts (or however it should best be named).  Then I could just grab it from the API.  

I'll add the 'custom image - use custom folder for images' idea to the request list.

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

Interesting.  I assumed those images appeared on bezels.  I'm curious as to how many games actually have a separate sticker that's not incorporated onto bezels?  Or is this more of a MK thing.

 

I honestly have no idea how many there are, I found some in the folder

 

 

 

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

As for adding an option for a custom folder into the plugin, anything's possible.  What "would be nice" is if you put in a feature request on BitBucket to add another folder so as to distinguish between Controls Information Labels, and Controls Information Panel Layouts (or however it should best be named).  Then I could just grab it from the API.  

https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox/issues/8564/distinguish-between-controls-information

On 2/9/2024 at 1:11 PM, Sbaby said:

It would be nice to have a "CUSTOM FOLDER" choice. , is it possible to put it in the plugin ?

This beta release has had minimal testing, but what was tested, tested favorably.

Beta Version   1.1.5-beta-4           MultiMonitor2022 (v1.1.5 beta-4) .7z

New Option:   Can set a Custom Folder to use for game images

 

This will search for images in /your_custom_folder/game_platform/game.png  (or whatever image file extension)

Game images can be named the same as games Title (see below) or ROM filename.

To Setup:

• Start MultiMonitor Setup
• Below the Default Game Images, click Set Custom Folder. 
  • Browse to and select your custom folder (containing the Platform subfolders)
  • Click OK to save
• in either the Default Game Images, or in the datagrid containing your platforms
  • select the image type *Custom Folder
• Don't forget to Save when you're done!

 

Using the games Title:
If the Title has 'invalid file name characters', those characters will need to be replaced with _ (underscore).  The exact same way LaunchBox does with its image files.
      Example:  Title = Disney-Pixar's Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!
                      image = Disney-Pixar_s Toy Story 2_ Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!.png

Invalid characters are:  

<  (less than)
>  (greater than)
:  (colon)
"  (double quote)
/  (forward slash)
\  (backslash)
|  (vertical bar or pipe)
?  (question mark)
*  (asterisk)
'  (single quote) Not technically invalid (post-DOS), but consistent with LaunchBox character replacement

 

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

This beta release has had minimal testing, but what was tested, tested favorably.

Beta Version   1.1.5-beta-4            MultiMonitor2022 (v1.1.5 beta-4) .7z 93.73 kB · 1 download

New Option:   Can set a Custom Folder to use for game images

 

This will search for images in /your_custom_folder/game_platform/game.png  (or whatever image file extension)

Game images can be named the same as games Title (see below) or ROM filename.

To Setup:

• Start MultiMonitor Setup
• Below the Default Game Images, click Set Custom Folder. 
  • Browse to and select your custom folder (containing the Platform subfolders)
  • Click OK to save
• in either the Default Game Images, or in the datagrid containing your platforms
  • select the image type *Custom Folder
• Don't forget to Save when you're done!

 

Using the games Title:
If the Title has 'invalid file name characters', those characters will need to be replaced with _ (underscore).  The exact same way LaunchBox does with its image files.
      Example:  Title = Disney-Pixar's Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!
                      image = Disney-Pixar_s Toy Story 2_ Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!.png

Invalid characters are:  

<  (less than)
>  (greater than)
:  (colon)
"  (double quote)
/  (forward slash)
\  (backslash)
|  (vertical bar or pipe)
?  (question mark)
*  (asterisk)
'  (single quote) Not technically invalid (post-DOS), but consistent with LaunchBox character replacement

 

Thanks for the new version of the plugin unfortunately I have tried many ways, with all monitors, all filenames and all extensions jpg and png, saving, restarting, etc, but nothing works

.

Edited February 11 by Sbaby

1 hour ago, Sbaby said:

Thanks for the new version of the plugin unfortunately I have tried many ways, with all monitors, all filenames and all extensions jpg and png, saving, restarting, etc, but nothing works

You want to choose that folder that holds all the platform subfolders.  In your case, select Game Controls.

Then, when you select a game in Arcade, it will look in \Game Controls\Arcade\name_of_game.png

When you select a game in Atari 2600, in will look in \Game Controls\Atari 2600\name_of_game.png

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

You want to choose that folder that holds all the platform subfolders.  In your case, select Game Controls.

Then, when you select a game in Arcade, it will look in \Game Controls\Arcade\name_of_game.png

When you select a game in Atari 2600, in will look in \Game Controls\Atari 2600\name_of_game.png

ok , configuring like this works great, thanks, perfect 

but now I have tried the option "KEEP IMAGE(S) VISIBLE DURING GAMEPLAY" and unfortunately it is not visible