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About This File

Version 2.0.1 -  From Launchbox 13.19 to the latest.

Version 1.0.1  - Until Launchbox 13.18

 

So, basically what this does is expose some of the information to a MQTT Topic, or multiple really, this way you can add the Information on your Homeassistant instance or whatever consumer of that topic is.

 

Requirements:

  •  MQTT Server

Installation

  • Extract to the plugins folder

Setup

  • Open the Launchbox Menu --> Tools --> MQTT Settings
  • image.png.84b753a9e60be111a8516fcc153914da.png
  • Fill the information about your MQTT
  • image.png.9274bc6f0f4f593aaa4dd9e7e1fd7135.png

 

Topics:

launchbox/systeminfo

Info: 

{
  "TotalGames": 14,
  "TotalPlatforms": 2,
  "BigBoxRunning": false,
  "IsBigBoxInAttractMode": false,
  "IsBigBoxLocked": false,
  "IsPremium": true,
  "BigBoxCurrentTheme": null
}

launchbox/nowplaying

info: 

{
  "Title": "Donkey Kong Country",
  "Platform": "Super Nintendo Entertainment System",
  "Developer": "Rare",
  "Publisher": "Nintendo",
  "ReleaseDate": "1994-11-24T06:00:00-02:00",
  "Rating": "E - Everyone",
  "LastPlayedDate": "2025-02-04T14:57:47.1845482-03:00",
  "Genres": [
    "Platform"
  ],
  "Favorite": false,
  "PlayCount": 12,
  "Status": "Playing"
}

 

launchbox/retroachievments (I have no idea why this doesnt work, I personally dont use it so Dont know)

info: 

{
  "GetGameInfoWithProgress": {},
  "TotalPoints": [
    {}
  ],
  "TotalAchievements": {},
  "LastGamePlayed": {}
}

 

Homeassistant

Create the sensors in configuration.yml:

  

mqtt:
- sensor:
    - name: "LaunchBox Total Games"
      state_topic: "launchbox/systeminfo"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.TotalGames }}"
      icon: mdi:gamepad-variant

    - name: "LaunchBox Total Platforms"
      state_topic: "launchbox/systeminfo"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.TotalPlatforms }}"
      icon: mdi:gamepad-classic

    - name: "LaunchBox Now Playing Title"
      state_topic: "launchbox/nowplaying"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.Title }}"
      icon: mdi:gamepad

    - name: "LaunchBox Now Playing Platform"
      state_topic: "launchbox/nowplaying"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.Platform }}"
      icon: mdi:microsoft

    - name: "LaunchBox Now Playing Developer"
      state_topic: "launchbox/nowplaying"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.Developer }}"
      icon: mdi:human

    - name: "LaunchBox Now Playing Publisher"
      state_topic: "launchbox/nowplaying"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.Publisher }}"
      icon: mdi:office-building

    - name: "LaunchBox Now Playing Rating"
      state_topic: "launchbox/nowplaying"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.Rating }}"
      icon: mdi:star

    - name: "LaunchBox Now Playing PlayCount"
      state_topic: "launchbox/nowplaying"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.PlayCount }}"
      icon: mdi:counter

    - name: "LaunchBox Now Playing Status"
      state_topic: "launchbox/nowplaying"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.Status }}"
      icon: mdi:gamepad-circle

    - name: "LaunchBox BigBox Running"
      state_topic: "launchbox/systeminfo"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.BigBoxRunning }}"
      icon: mdi:play-box-outline

    - name: "LaunchBox Attract Mode"
      state_topic: "launchbox/systeminfo"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.IsBigBoxInAttractMode }}"
      icon: mdi:motion-play-outline

    - name: "LaunchBox BigBox Locked"
      state_topic: "launchbox/systeminfo"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.IsBigBoxLocked }}"
      icon: mdi:lock-outline

    - name: "LaunchBox Premium Status"
      state_topic: "launchbox/systeminfo"
      value_template: "{{ 'Premium' if value_json.IsPremium else 'Free' }}"
      icon: mdi:crown

    - name: "LaunchBox Current Theme"
      state_topic: "launchbox/systeminfo"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.BigBoxCurrentTheme if value_json.BigBoxCurrentTheme else 'None' }}"
      icon: mdi:theme-light-dark

 

An example of simple dashboard (i'm horrible designing these):

 

image.thumb.png.537d5924781a2818747fffcd741be46d.png

 

Code for card:

  

type: vertical-stack
cards:
  - type: custom:mushroom-title-card
    title: 🎮 LaunchBox Status
  - type: custom:mushroom-template-card
    primary: "Total Games: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_total_games') }}"
    secondary: "Total Platforms: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_total_platforms') }}"
    icon: mdi:gamepad-variant
    layout: horizontal
    fill_container: true
  - type: custom:mushroom-template-card
    primary: "BigBox Running: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_bigbox_running') }}"
    secondary: "Attract Mode: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_attract_mode') }}"
    icon: mdi:play-box-outline
    layout: horizontal
    fill_container: true
    multiline_secondary: true
  - type: custom:mushroom-template-card
    primary: "BigBox Locked: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_bigbox_locked') }}"
    secondary: "Premium Status: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_premium_status') }}"
    icon: mdi:lock-outline
    layout: horizontal
    fill_container: true
  - type: custom:mushroom-template-card
    primary: "Current Theme: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_current_theme') }}"
    icon: mdi:theme-light-dark
    layout: horizontal
    fill_container: true
  - type: conditional
    conditions:
      - entity: sensor.launchbox_now_playing_status
        state_not: Idle
    card:
      type: custom:mushroom-template-card
      primary: "Now Playing: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_now_playing_title') }}"
      secondary: "Platform: {{ states('sensor.launchbox_now_playing_platform') }}"
      icon: mdi:gamepad
      layout: horizontal
      fill_container: true
      multiline_secondary: true
  - type: conditional
    conditions:
      - entity: sensor.launchbox_now_playing_status
        state: Playing
    card:
      type: custom:mushroom-chips-card
      chips:
        - type: entity
          entity: sensor.launchbox_now_playing_developer
          icon: mdi:human
        - type: entity
          entity: sensor.launchbox_now_playing_publisher
          icon: mdi:office-building
        - type: entity
          entity: sensor.launchbox_now_playing_rating
          icon: mdi:star
        - type: entity
          entity: sensor.launchbox_now_playing_playcount
          icon: mdi:counter

 

 

 

OBS: This has super limited support, I made this out of curiosity only, I tested it literally 30min so expect bugs or things dont working fully.

 

 

Edited by srxz
disclaimer about versioning.

What's New in Version 2.0.3   See changelog

Released

Breaking change:

 

Now the topics will have an unique identifier as netbios name, this way you can have multiple launchbox instances pointing to the same MQTT.

 

Now its:

 

launchbox/<netbiosname>/nowplaying

 

and so on.

 

Feature requested by @LeakingDiesel

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Recommended Comments

kwatts

kwatts 1

Posted

Pretty cool. 

FYI, I got this to work on 13.19 - although there seems to be something going on when trying to start games, it will freeze. I'm getting the mqtt pub/sub and seeing it in home assistant, but the game doesn't start. 

If I remove the plugin, things work fine. 

I think it may be hanging on the image server, I don't have one, and when trying to leave it blank I get an error. 

  • Like 1
srxz

srxz 87

Posted

3 hours ago, kwatts said:

Pretty cool. 

FYI, I got this to work on 13.19 - although there seems to be something going on when trying to start games, it will freeze. I'm getting the mqtt pub/sub and seeing it in home assistant, but the game doesn't start. 

If I remove the plugin, things work fine. 

I think it may be hanging on the image server, I don't have one, and when trying to leave it blank I get an error. 

Hmm, I will test more with 13.19 regarding the feeze when start the game, the ImageServer doesn't affect anything it just concatenates the serverurl with path of the Image, so its optional. I have a webserver ready to publish by need more time.

srxz

srxz 87

Posted

@kwatts please download the new version and check if the problem still persists

kwatts

kwatts 1

Posted

async/non-blocking is the way to go, works great! thanks for the quick turnaround.

PXL_20250215_013242784.MP.jpg

srxz

srxz 87

Posted

11 minutes ago, kwatts said:

async/non-blocking is the way to go, works great! thanks for the quick turnaround.

PXL_20250215_013242784.MP.jpg

Awesome! Glad it worked

I will make available the ImageServer this weekend as a service or container, so launchbox can serve the Images and send the url to mqtt

LeakingDiesel

LeakingDiesel 0

Posted

Hi Srxz

I've been trying your MQTT home assistant integration and it works great.  I'd like to use the image server too, but I'm not sure how that works.  Could you perhaps bullet point how I would use it to server the game being played back to home assistant please?

Thanks for your help.

Paul.

LeakingDiesel

LeakingDiesel 0

Posted

Hi Srxz 

I managed to get this going, and servicing images etc, and it works great.  I want to use it to show my son and I on the same dashboard, and it works great, however there's only one set of topics so I can differentiate between the status of two launchbox instances.

Do you have the source code available for this please, as I'd like to add a second topic, so I can do that differentiating.  Thanks for your help.

Paul.

srxz

srxz 87

Posted (edited)

On 3/9/2025 at 9:25 AM, LeakingDiesel said:

Hi Srxz 

I managed to get this going, and servicing images etc, and it works great.  I want to use it to show my son and I on the same dashboard, and it works great, however there's only one set of topics so I can differentiate between the status of two launchbox instances.

Do you have the source code available for this please, as I'd like to add a second topic, so I can do that differentiating.  Thanks for your help.

Paul.

Hi Paul, sorry for being late, the image server could be a simple: python -m http.server 8000 on the images folder, I have to implement yet the windows service but I didn't had time yet although is almost ready you can test downloading the release at: https://github.com/rodrigosiviero/lbImageServer or directly https://github.com/rodrigosiviero/lbImageServer/releases/download/v1.0.0/release.zip follow the service installation on the page and you should have the image server as a windows server, it's using golang.

Regarding the Topic I really didn't think through this problem of multiple launchboxes instances, I will try to test a way to either specify the topic or get an unique specifier I will just ask some time, things are not going well with life rn

edit2: please test the new version topics are now with unique computer identifier.

Edited by srxz

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