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About This File

Missing Games Checker (MGC) is a powerful LaunchBox plugin designed to help collectors instantly identify missing games from their platform libraries based on official LaunchBox metadata. Compare your local collection against the LaunchBox database, track completion percentages, filter regional variants, and export missing titles directly into LaunchBox Wishlists!

image.png.95edeb2f10042447fa315caa0bc13cb4.png   NEW in v2.1!

  • Dedicated "Wishlists" Category Nesting: When exporting missing games to LaunchBox, MGC can now seamlessly create a custom Wishlists root category in your sidebar—complete with an auto-installed Wishlists.png Clear Logo icon

  • Dynamic Hardware vs. Wishlist Categorization: Toggle between nesting wishlist platforms under the new Wishlists category or keeping them inside their default hardware categories (Consoles, Handhelds, etc.). Moving platforms back and forth carries all scraped metadata and box art automatically without duplicates!

  • Enhanced Right-Click Context Menu: Added "📋 Copy Title to Clipboard" alongside existing title/platform export tools for ultra-quick search workflows.

  • One-Click Search Clear: A sleek, interactive 'X' button now appears beside search boxes whenever text is typed, allowing you to reset your search filter instantly.

  • Title Columns Locked: The 'Title' columns are now locked in place while scrolling across the table details.

  • Improved UI & Stats Layout: Moved Platform Completion Statistics directly above the Owned Games grid for immediate visual feedback.

CORE FEATURES AT A GLANCE

  • Powered by LaunchBox SQLite: Built on LaunchBox’s modern SQLite database for sub-second load times, instant processing, and a ultra-lightweight ~1.3MB footprint.

  • Platform Completion Statistics: Color-coded completion metrics give you immediate percentage feedback (80%+ Green, 30-79% Yellow, <30% Red) on your library progress.

  • Export Wishlist Platforms Directly to LaunchBox: Generate shadow platforms filled with placeholder games for missing titles. Download box art, banners, and media in LaunchBox for games you don't even own yet!

  • Regional & Released Filters: Strict-filter missing games by region (North America, Europe, Japan) or toggle the safety-net checkbox to capture titles with missing region data.

  • Interactive Grid Search & Column Filters: Real-time global search, column header sorting, multi-value field filtering (Genres, Region, Developers), and frozen title columns for easy horizontal scrolling.

  • Collector Clipboard & eBay Search Integration: Right-click any missing game to quickly copy formatting, spreadsheet-ready tabbed data, or launch an instant eBay search query in your browser.

  • Clickable Media Links: Direct links to YouTube gameplay videos, Wikipedia articles, and LaunchBox Games Database entries right inside grid cells.

  • CSV Exporting: Export owned or missing game tables to standard CSV format for offline library management.

Instructions for Using the Missing Games Checker (MGC) v2.1:
Requirements:

  1. LaunchBox v13.19 or higher. (v13.18 and lower should use MGC v1.2)
  2. Games in LaunchBox.
  3. The LBMissingGamesCheckerPlugin.dll file.

Installation and Usage:
1. Install the Plugin:

  • Download the latest release of the MGC plugin from this page.
  • Make sure LaunchBox is closed.
  • Unblock the downloaded zip file (Right-click on the zip -> Select Properties -> Click or Check "Unblock" if available)
  • Open the zip file and place the `LBMissingGamesCheckerPlugin.dll` file into your  LaunchBox\Plugins folder (example R:\LaunchBox\Plugins).

2. Access the Plugin:

  • Launch LaunchBox, then access the Tools menu and find Missing Games Checker(v2.1).

3. Using the Plugin:

  • Select a platform from the dropdown menu and click Check It!
  • MGC will display a list of games owned and a list of games missing from your collection based on the LaunchBox metadata.
  • You can export the list of missing games to a CSV file for easy reference.

Extra Notes:

  • The Owned Games list is pulled from YOUR collection. If fields are missing information, make sure your collections metadata is up to date. Check out this LaunchBox Video on how to do that.
  • The Missing Games list is pulled from the local LaunchBox.Metadata.db file. If you find information is missing, visit the LaunchBoxDB website to see how you can contribute!
  • I've worked HARD to make the plugin as robust and efficient as I can. That being said, some computers may experience delays in processing the metadata at the start, processing any large collections' of games, and filtering/sorting large lists. Please be patient! Once you begin a process, it will complete! But the UI may become unresponsive during processing.
  • NO data is modified in this plugin. Data is compared from the local Database file (which updates automatically by LaunchBox) and your collection data reported from LaunchBox.

Troubleshooting:

Reporting Issues & Feature Requests
Click on the "Bug" to open the debug log after the issue occurs. Click the Copy to Clipboard button and provide the relevant debug log here for review.

When reporting issues, please provide the following:

  • A brief description of the issue.

  • The output from the Debug Log (via the Bug icon).

  • (Optional) Your exported .CSV file or a screenshot of the error window.

I'll review the information and post a fix/suggestion as soon as possible.

Also, if you would like to have MGC perform additional tricks, let me know!! I do appreciate the feedback and will enhance the plugin over time based on your findings/suggestions.

Special Thanks

A huge thanks to the LaunchBox team and their API documentation for making this project possible, as well as Jason's helpful video tutorial.

Check out the source code on GitHub if you're interested.

Cheers! 🍻

Edited by AgentJohnnyP
v2.1 release.


What's New in Version 2.1   See changelog

Released

📣NEW in v2.1!

Dedicated "Wishlists" Category Nesting: When exporting missing games to LaunchBox, MGC can now seamlessly create a custom Wishlists root category in your sidebar—complete with an auto-installed Wishlists.png Clear Logo icon

Dynamic Hardware vs. Wishlist Categorization: Toggle between nesting wishlist platforms under the new Wishlists category or keeping them inside their default hardware categories (Consoles, Handhelds, etc.). Moving platforms back and forth carries all scraped metadata and box art automatically without duplicates!

Enhanced Right-Click Context Menu: Added "📋 Copy Title to Clipboard" alongside existing title/platform export tools for ultra-quick search workflows.

One-Click Search Clear: A sleek, interactive 'X' button now appears beside search boxes whenever text is typed, allowing you to reset your search filter instantly.

Title Columns Locked: The 'Title' columns are now locked in place while scrolling across the table details.

Improved UI & Stats Layout: Moved Platform Completion Statistics directly above the Owned Games grid for immediate visual feedback.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 4
  • Unusual Gem 3

User Feedback

Recommended Comments



AgentJohnnyP

Posted

That's great to hear! I'm taking a break for a bit unless something drastic comes up lol But now that I got my feet wet, I may be back with something else 😁🤪 Cheers!

  • Like 1
PiperCalls

Posted

Was looking for something like this & boom there it is on the forums. Looking forward to trying it out. For the live db vs local db sync issues, would it make sense to have the plugin, or alternatively direct the user, to update their local copy first? I'm not sure what the built-in time frame is for LB to update the local xml but I know if I'm importing new games & it's been a while since I did it last, LB will update it before the scan. Maybe there's a way to fire that process off? 

  • Thanks 1
AgentJohnnyP

Posted

I do believe the metadata file is updated when you open LaunchBox. When I first started at the beginning of September I think there was around 157000 titles pulled. By the time I was done a few days ago I was pulling in around 161000, and I never updated the metadata file specifically. And there's only a portion of the LaunchBox app I have access to. And I don't believe I saw that type of functionality exposed in the API. Hope that helps! Cheers!

sundogak

Posted

People can always force a metadata update via the Tools, Download option menu to update their local version. It is done automatically in several cases (such as searching for game in edit view). 

Even the metadata you download lags the "live" DB as those are not immediately reflected in the download once approved.  On top of that you have changes in process that are not shown in the live DB view or download.  So ~24 to 48 hours is what I have seen from time a change submitted to time available in local DB (just my observation over years..approval queue length can drastically alter that time).  There is nothing this tool can do to alter that, it is just more visible when using this useful tool. 

  • Thanks 1
Buccaneer

Posted

Fantastic Tool. Thanks for your work. My wish for a future version: blacklist to exclude unwanted games permanently

  • Thanks 1
PiperCalls

Posted

Just trying it now. Really liking this plugin man great work. Once question I have is how do I get that filter by region window to come up that you show? I would assume by clicking on the funnel icon for that column but it doesn't seem to do anything. The column will sort fine if I click on region but I can't seem to get the filter window.

Thanks.

sundogak

Posted

7 hours ago, PiperCalls said:

Just trying it now. Really liking this plugin man great work. Once question I have is how do I get that filter by region window to come up that you show? I would assume by clicking on the funnel icon for that column but it doesn't seem to do anything. The column will sort fine if I click on region but I can't seem to get the filter window.

Thanks.

Click on the funnel to bring additional window up.

Screenshot2024-10-01202504.png.d8a3c0e6afd6ba9533bdac00f16edf4d.png

PiperCalls

Posted

Yuup, that's what I'm saying though it doesn't bring up the window when I click on the funnel icon. I'm trying to filter in the Missing Games List in the region column. There is no window or reaction when I click on the icon. I tried a few of the other column icons and nothing.

AgentJohnnyP

Posted

29 minutes ago, PiperCalls said:

Yuup, that's what I'm saying though it doesn't bring up the window when I click on the funnel icon. I'm trying to filter in the Missing Games List in the region column. There is no window or reaction when I click on the icon. I tried a few of the other column icons and nothing.

Huh... lol Any chance you could copy the debuglog into a txt file and post it here? I'll take a look. Odd that it's the missing games, since that is direct from the xml. Thanks!

PiperCalls

Posted (edited)

Sure. I enabled debug log, closed LB, reopened it & went straight to the plugin & tried to filter again.

Thanks for checking.

Edited by PiperCalls
AgentJohnnyP

Posted

Oh sorry! I meant the log from the plugin :) Click the little bug icon under the column selection. Replicate the issue (load up your data, then click on the filter icon in the header column), then copy the log into a txt again please! Thanks!

PiperCalls

Posted

6 minutes ago, AgentJohnnyP said:

Oh sorry! I meant the log from the plugin :) Click the little bug icon under the column selection. Replicate the issue (load up your data, then click on the filter icon in the header column), then copy the log into a txt again please! Thanks!

oh lol, ok here you go. note, i could not click on the region filter in missing games because the debug log window covers it and doesn't appear to be moveable. i did click on a few other of the filter icons that I could see though.

debug.txt

  • Like 1
ci2own

Posted

Very useful plugin!

Is there any chance to allow resize windows in both ways and also allow navigate through LB platforms/menus while using your plugin?

  • Like 1
Baggio

Posted

Fantastic plugin this is, great job 👍   It works perfectly for me.

Quote

Also, if you would like to have MGC perform additional tricks, let me know!! I do appreciate the feedback and will enhance the plugin over time based on your findings/suggestions.

This may be beyond what you're trying to do here, but what I would love to see is to be able to add DAT files or scan a folder with multiple data files in that have been filtered through something like Retool so we can compare our collections to them to get a one-game-one Rom (1G1R) setup instead of reading the Launchbox database (which has a lot of regions missing).

Btw the completion image made me chuckle when I saw it, i want to see that for everything 😁

  • Like 1
AgentJohnnyP

Posted

On 10/1/2024 at 11:38 PM, PiperCalls said:

oh lol, ok here you go. note, i could not click on the region filter in missing games because the debug log window covers it and doesn't appear to be moveable. i did click on a few other of the filter icons that I could see though.

debug.txt 1.92 kB · 4 downloads

I haven't been able to reproduce this issue. I might need to add some additional debug logging to catch it. I'll post an update in a few weeks, a little wrapped up with other things right now :) Maybe you could try it again, but just close the debug log window and click on the filter. The logging is still going in the background so you can click on the filter, then go into the debug log and grab the updates and post here again. Thanks for the help! Cheers!🍻

AgentJohnnyP

Posted

On 10/2/2024 at 12:58 PM, ci2own said:

Very useful plugin!

Is there any chance to allow resize windows in both ways and also allow navigate through LB platforms/menus while using your plugin?

Thanks, that was what I was going for, useful :) lol 

I could try a few things to get the window to resize vertically as well. Not sure about the navigation in LB while the plugin is open. Might be a limitation of Windows with this one. I can look into it though!

AgentJohnnyP

Posted

On 10/6/2024 at 6:54 AM, Baggio said:

Fantastic plugin this is, great job 👍   It works perfectly for me.

This may be beyond what you're trying to do here, but what I would love to see is to be able to add DAT files or scan a folder with multiple data files in that have been filtered through something like Retool so we can compare our collections to them to get a one-game-one Rom (1G1R) setup instead of reading the Launchbox database (which has a lot of regions missing).

Btw the completion image made me chuckle when I saw it, i want to see that for everything 😁

Thank you for the feedback! Glad it works not just on my PC lol :D And I had to throw Leo in there somewhere! (It's the ADHD in me lol) 

That is an interesting idea. I could look into something like that. I've actually wanted to do a little more with my MAME collection. I'll see what plugins are available and see what I can build! Might be a little while out, but I'll add it to my plate. Cheers!   🍻

DaveTheLeg

Posted (edited)

Mine just says I'm missing every game for the Arcade platform.  It works for all the other platforms.  I'm using the newest version of MAME stand alone (0.270).  Any advice?

 

Edited by DaveTheLeg
Baggio

Posted

On 10/11/2024 at 3:42 PM, AgentJohnnyP said:

Thank you for the feedback! Glad it works not just on my PC lol :D And I had to throw Leo in there somewhere! (It's the ADHD in me lol) 

That is an interesting idea. I could look into something like that. I've actually wanted to do a little more with my MAME collection. I'll see what plugins are available and see what I can build! Might be a little while out, but I'll add it to my plate. Cheers!   🍻

Good stuff, let me know if you need it testing if you do give it a go 👍

zyute

Posted

Dont know what is the culprit but recently tried running the plugin to only get this after the second pass resulting in a red x where the metadata found message would be.

 

Debug Log
2024-12-06 06:08:32
->Looking for Metadata...
Looking for Metadata at C:\Users\wolfr\LaunchBox\Metadata\metadata.xml...
Metadata found at C:\Users\wolfr\LaunchBox\Metadata\metadata.xml!
metadataFilePath: C:\Users\wolfr\LaunchBox\Metadata\metadata.xml
xmlReadCompleted: False
xmlGames.Count:  92361
gameCount: 92360
platformCount:  0
GameAltNamesCount:  0
Ended processing games
 

Mythos

Posted

On 12/6/2024 at 12:11 PM, zyute said:

Dont know what is the culprit but recently tried running the plugin to only get this after the second pass resulting in a red x where the metadata found message would be.

 

Debug Log
2024-12-06 06:08:32
->Looking for Metadata...
Looking for Metadata at C:\Users\wolfr\LaunchBox\Metadata\metadata.xml...
Metadata found at C:\Users\wolfr\LaunchBox\Metadata\metadata.xml!
metadataFilePath: C:\Users\wolfr\LaunchBox\Metadata\metadata.xml
xmlReadCompleted: False
xmlGames.Count:  92361
gameCount: 92360
platformCount:  0
GameAltNamesCount:  0
Ended processing games
 

Same issue for me

ironmanvince

Posted

On 9/8/2024 at 8:21 PM, zyute said:

I'm not sure what's going on but I put the .dll in the plugins folder and followed the steps but every system I check for missing games using the plugin results in it saying the system isn't in the Launchbox DB such as Atari 2600 or Atari 7800 and lists all games.

I get the same error.  When running, it can't find any system that I have loaded.  

Nacnude

Posted

Same. Just updated LB and still getting the second pass error:

Debug Log
2024-12-23 11:03:00
->Looking for Metadata...
Looking for Metadata at F:\Media\Games\eXoDOS\Metadata\metadata.xml...
Metadata found at F:\Media\Games\eXoDOS\Metadata\metadata.xml!
metadataFilePath: F:\Media\Games\eXoDOS\Metadata\metadata.xml
xmlReadCompleted: False
xmlGames.Count:  92607
gameCount: 92606
platformCount:  0
GameAltNamesCount:  0
Ended processing games
OpenUrl: https://forums.launchbox-app.com/profile/135650-agentjohnnyp/

Thanks!

TrailerVert

Posted

Same error.   

xmlReadCompleted: False

Fuscan

Posted

Unfortunately, the same problem here too


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