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Missing Games Checker Plugin 1.2

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AgentJohnnyP
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About This File

Missing Games Checker (MGC) is a LaunchBox plugin designed to help users identify missing games in their collection based on platform metadata. It provides an easy-to-use interface that lets you view owned and missing games, and export the results.

image.png.95edeb2f10042447fa315caa0bc13cb4.png   v1.2 is out! NEW and IMPROVED! Enhanced for stability and usability!

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

  1. This plugin in the LaunchBox Plugin folder.
  2. The latest version of LaunchBox (there could be an issue with this plugin in older versions of LaunchBox where it's not being detected). 

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.

3. Using the Plugin:

  • Select a platform from the dropdown menu and click the Confirm Selection button.
  • 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.

4. Options/Features:

  • Filter games by Released status if you only want to check released titles.
    Spoiler

    image.png.dbd4459aa25fbfc29edae5756a9c4bec.png

  • Sort columns by clicking on the column header.
    Spoiler

    image.png.66cb2b5b1f34f884d753f557a4b89b46.png

  • Filter select columns by clicking on the filter icon in the column header.
    • If the filtered column has multiple values (ie. North America, Japan) the row will still show if any of the filters are not applied. All values need to be unchecked in the filter to hide the row.
    • *Note: Filtering one column works well. Multiple column filtering may produce incorrect results. Export to CSV if you need to apply better filtering :)
    • *Will enhance in a future release
      Spoiler

      image.png.e800f03265d3c26a9cd68c539f95adda.png

  • Window resizing (Right edge only)
    Spoiler

    image.png.0aef4751fc2cfac4efbaca8cc4667ea0.png

  • Click on the highlighted cell data for links to video URLs, Wikipedia links, and the game on the LaunchBox DB (where available).
    Spoiler

    image.png.0f555bf7210b7dc100bba50a2816dad5.png

 

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 metadata.xml 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.
  • As mentioned, filtering works well on one column at a time. Filtering one column, then another may have incorrect data shown. You can click the Reset button in the filter panel to reset the list, or just "Check It!" again to refresh the list again.
  • NO data is modified in this plugin. Data is compared from the local metadata.xml (which updates automatically by LaunchBox) and your collection data reported from LaunchBox.

Troubleshooting/Updates:

New to v1.2 - DebugLog
Click on the "Bug" to open the debug log. If you have issues, provide the relevant debug log here for review.

Spoiler

image.png.45e5e5afd5c60c5955b1440ef3e4c389.png


If you've confirmed the above and are still having issues, please provide the following:

  • Click the "Export to CSV" button for the Missing Games table and save the .CSV file.
  • Attach the .CSV file to a post here.
    • (Optional) Attach a screenshot of the app with the error message.

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! 🍻

image.png

image.png

Edited by AgentJohnnyP
Updated instructions

What's New in Version 1.2   See changelog

Released

v1.2 is out! NEW and IMPROVED! Enhanced for stability and usability!

v1.2 has MANY improvements:

  • Complete engine rework. Metadata is pulled in once on load.
  • Performance and stability enhancements.
  • Table sorting per column.
  • Filtering on select columns* (Note: Filtering on one column works well. Multiple column filtering may produce, incorrect results)
  • Additional process messaging.
  • Visual enhancements.
  • Window resizing.
  • Leo!
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 3
  • Unusual Gem 2
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AgentJohnnyP

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!

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PiperCalls

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? 

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AgentJohnnyP

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!

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sundogak

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. 

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Buccaneer

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

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PiperCalls

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.

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sundogak
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

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PiperCalls

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.

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AgentJohnnyP
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!

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PiperCalls

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

Thanks for checking.

Edited by PiperCalls
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AgentJohnnyP

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!

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PiperCalls
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

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ci2own

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?

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Baggio

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 😁

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AgentJohnnyP
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!🍻

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AgentJohnnyP
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!

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AgentJohnnyP
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!   🍻

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DaveTheLeg

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
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Baggio
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 👍

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