[Working on a simple MAME cabinet, what's the most recommended front end?]

In short 'BigBox'.

My cab originally had Maximus Arcade frontend (long out-of-support).  It was great and served it's intended purpose.  But I wanted a little more 'flash'.  Not really knowing anything about these things called "frontends", I spent about 3 weeks researching looking and testing what was available.  Found 1 that seemed to check all the boxes and spent a day trying to set it up.  After that day of frustration [and not really even getting it going] I searched some more and came across LaunchBox.  After quickly being able to get it up and running and then spending some time seeing what all it has to offer, I was convinced and bought a 1-year license (just-in-case, because that's how-I-roll). Along with several other enhancements, the license also opened up BigBox.  Within a few months, I knew I was going to upgrade to the lifetime license when the year was up.  This was about 7 years ago.

Once you get LaunchBox/BigBox all setup to your liking, BigBox has a feature you can enable to boot directly to it when the computer (cab) is turned on.  And no, it doesn't just add BigBox.exe to your Windows startup folder.

 

But that's just my experience/observation/opinion.

[A way to load State in Retroarch using AHK?]

1 hour ago, exodus_cl said:

The non working part of code I have looks like this:

Before the 'Send' line, try adding  SetKeyDelay, 125, 50

 

Edit:

Or longhand like LaunchBox does it from the Pause Menu

; RetroArch loads state with F4 key by default
Send {F4 down}
Sleep 50
Send {F4 up}

[Close a Startup app when Launchbox/Bigbox close]

Here's one way you can do it:

Create an AutoHotkey script and save the file [somewhere] as KillXpadderAfterLB-BBcloses.ahk.  (you can name the file whatever you want, as long as it has the file extension .ahk.  Just be sure that it doesn't save as filename.ahk.txt)

The script is just a text file with the .ahk file extension.  In the script, put:

boxes := ["LaunchBox.exe", "BigBox.exe"]

Sleep 10000
Loop % boxes.length() 
{
   if (WinExist("ahk_exe " emulators[A_Index])) 
   {
      Process WaitClose, % emulators[A_Index]
      Process, Close, "Xpadder.exe"
      Break
    }
}
ExitApp

 

In LaunchBox, go to Tools, Options, Startup Applications.  Click Add Application.

For the Application Path, navigate to and select:  /LaunchBox/ThirdParty/AutoHotkey/AutoHotkey.exe

For the Command Line Parameters, put (inside of quotes) the full path to the file you created above.

i.e.  "D:\Misc\KillXpadderAfterLB-BBcloses.ahk"

This works for both LaunchBox and BigBox.  So select Start With Both.

Click OK to save and close.

Restart LaunchBox for it to take affect.

 

Note:   I don't use Xpadder, but I'm pretty sure the 'Process, Close' method is how it gets shutdown.

[View game specific commands from MAME's command.dat]

View game specific commands from MAME's command.dat

View File

---

Inspired from MAME's built in feature in the main UI (and via their in-game Tab menu) and Ben Baker's CPWizard.

 

View information from MAME's command.dat to show:
    CONTROLS
    CHEATS
    HOW TO PLAY
    COMMON COMMANDS
    SECRET CHARACTERS

 

Included in the plugin is a "MAME Command" Custom Badge (LaunchBox Only [unless someone figures out how to show Custom Badges in BigBox])
This will show the badge  for games included in command.dat

 

Installing the plugin

1. Download and open the file using 7zip.
   • if you don't use 7zip, first unblock the file (Right click, select Properties, and click Unblock) then open it as you normally would.
2. Extract the main folder from inside the zip file into ..\LaunchBox\Plugins\
   •     i.e.  D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\MAMEConmmandDat\ 
   •     (the main folder "MAMEConmmandDat" and all its subfolders are required for the plugin to work!)
3. Start LaunchBox or BigBox

 

Enabling the Custom Badge

In LaunchBox, click Badges, Plugin Badges, "MAME Command"
You can change the badges image by replacing the image ../LaunchBox/Images/Badges/MAMEcommands.png

 

Using the plugin
LaunchBox:  Right-click on a game and select MAME Commands.

BigBox:  In the Game Details screen, scroll to the bottom on the list and select MAME Commands.

 

To scroll through the page, use your keyboard Up/Down arrow keys, mouse wheel or your controller's left joystick (or DPad) Up/Down.

To close the window, press Escape, or on your controller press your mapped Exit Game (LaunchBox) or Close Active Window (BigBox) button(s).

Version 0.262 of command.dat is included. Future updates can be found here: https://www.progettosnaps.net/command).  Just replace the existing file located in the plugins /Data/ subfolder.

 

As always, all thoughts, views, opinions, suggestions, comments and accolades are welcome. 😎

---

• Submitter
  JoeViking245
• Submitted
  04/15/2024
• Category
  Third-party Apps and Plugins

 

[CPS2 games not starting with MAME in Launchbox]

6 minutes ago, Sjors said:

Ah ok, then it will be fine, once all systems are added I was going to get premium anyway.

Thanks again for your advise Joe!

That being a premium feature was an something that I almost forgot about.  There are quite a few quality-of-life enhancements (visual and function) with the paid version.  But if what you have works for your needs, you're probably good-to-go.

Just one request, once you do add all your systems, don't forget to actually play the games too,  

Always glad to help. 😎

[CPS2 games not starting with MAME in Launchbox]

If you have LaunchBox premium, they'll appear when you restart the program.  If you don't have a premium license, I believe they will never show.

[CPS2 games not starting with MAME in Launchbox]

4 hours ago, Sjors said:

do you happen to know how I get the side bar icons adjusted? I want make them as they were in the playlists LB generates.  

Copy those images into the Platforms folder.  Then make sure they're the same Name as the actual Platform.  i.e. Capcom Play System I.

[CPS2 games not starting with MAME in Launchbox]

1 hour ago, Sjors said:

And all games work perfectly in Mame running by itself

If indeed the CPS2 games all work directly from within MAME (from their 'new' ROM location)...

You most likely have all the paths (to the regular ROMs, CPS1, CPS2, CPS3...) listed in mame.ini's 'rompath' (good job for doing that. ). 

What's happening is that LaunchBox is overriding mame.ini rompath with [only] the folder that the ROM your launching is actually in, via the Command-line Parameter (-rompath %romlocation%).  And you probably don't have "qsound_hle.zip" in with the CPS2 ROMs.

 

IF your rompath is indeed setup as it should be in mame.ini (to include all the different ROM folder locations), you can safely remove the last part of the Command-line Parameters (-rompath %romlocation%).  Alternately, you can just copy "qsound_hle.zip" into your CPS2 ROMs folder.

[Can the Icons be Hidden + Licence Question]

7 hours ago, DaGamingFan said:

I load up Launchbox and have Tool icons when i select all (The grey ones in photo).

When i select all can i hide the Tool icons?

If so could you please explain how?

1. Select the games (tool icons?) you want to have hidden. (The grey ones)
2. Prees Ctrl+E to start the Bulk Edit Wizard
3. On the 2nd screen, select Hide and check the box.
4. Click Next and follow the prompts from there.

 

You may need to set LaunchBox to then hide the games marked hidden.  Click View, Hide Games, select Marked Hidden.

 

 

7 hours ago, DaGamingFan said:

If i add the licence file to this version of Launchbox will it change anything?

Yes.  It will change it from the free version to the Premium version, opening up many features as well as BigBox and all its glory.   All of your existing data (games, images, platforms, playlists etc.) will stay the same.

[PCSX 2 issues]

21 minutes ago, johnnyskullhead said:

can i convert within Launchbox or need extra util ?

Yes and yes.

 

[Camputer Lynx]

With that command line, should only need abc80.zip (bios). But the others won't hurt.  As long as they're all somewhere within your rompath.

1 hour ago, link182 said:

I only found rocket and hiresinv in zipped bac format.

I don't know what a "zipped bac format" is.  For my Hires Invasion, I have "hiresinv.zip" and inside of it is "hiresinv.dsk".  My abc80_flop set is from MAME 0.233, so I don't have "rocket".  In fact, for 0.233 there's only 12 ROMs total.  

Note:  There may be more [than 12] ROMs for abc80 available in 0.262 (which would include 'rocket'?).   Don't know for sure.

Question:  Is it worth even setting up?  

 

Did you try opening MAME, going into "ABC 80", selecting Hires Invasion and pressing Enter to play it?  As in, if you can't run in it MAME, you can't run it through LaunchBox.

While in there, click "Available" to make sure MAME can even see the ROM.  (If it doesn't show up in the list on the right, MAME can't see it)

[Camputer Lynx]

8 minutes ago, link182 said:

hello thanks again finally I managed it works, thanks to you of course, anyway if I try to insert custom commands to automate individual games the emulator does not start who knows why. But it's okay so I enter everything manually P.S. would you call me rude if I asked you for a hand for the Luxor Abc 80?

This was in my notes from a long time ago.  I have it 'checked' that it worked.  So it should work.  

abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "run\"%romfile%\"\n" %romfile%

(Don't change anything. Just copy/paste the above into the Command-line Parameters for the Associated Platform.)

[Nightmare setting up HOTD2, please help!]

1 hour ago, floodie said:

I have added it to Launch box, when i double click it it simply launches Demul and sticks there. Nothing on my build uses Demul, ONLY HOTD2 and these 2 screens shots are how i have the emulator set up :

Check the box "Don't use quotes".   Otherwise, you're sending the command demul.exe -run=naomi -rom="hotd2" 

What want is (as you noted) demul.exe -run=naomi -rom=hotd2 

[Fullscreen]

Well, if worse comes to worse, there's always the SNES and NES ports.  

[Fullscreen]

12 hours ago, Doobydoo said:

I was hoping there were so extra cmds i could set to force it into full-screen 

The extra command line parameter would be -fullscreen.  Which would be the same as setting in the .conf file fullscreen=true.

What all settings did you change in your custom conf file to get your aspect ratio perfect?  Can you share you conf file?   Here's the one I use for The Lion King.  dosbox.conf

 

Probably should have asked before.. are you using the built in DOSBox feature of LaunchBox or did you setup a 'new emulator' in LaunchBox and have you DOS games use that emulator?

Not trying to "beat a dead horse" here, but you should be able to achieve the best of both worlds. Just needs the proper finessing.  

[Fullscreen]

5 hours ago, Doobydoo said:

Oh well, guess I'll have to accept it lol

No. You shouldn't.  

Are you saying when you launch a DOSBox game, it's starting windowed?  Is the "Start Fullscreen" checked?  Mine goes straight to full screen (after the initial command prompt window). 

I presume you're using LaunchBox's built-in DOSBox.  Maybe something else got buggered in your custom dosbox.conf file.  Those 2 highlighted things were the only things I changed (and didn't manually edit the conf file at all).  Now, where it says "edit" in my screenshot, it 1st said 'create... something something', then changed to "Edit".  What I'm getting at maybe delete your custom conf file and create a new one from scratch.  It should start full screen on its own.

[Fullscreen]

I set mine up as shown below and I get the full 1080 and almost the full 1920 (by unchecking 'Aspect Correction').  I don't think you'll ever get the full 16:9 as the game is 320x200 (16:10).

[Automatic Game Imports request/question]

2 hours ago, TheCrowMask said:

Pretty happy with the automatic ROM imports as it allows me to speed up creation of a curated game list (games I'm actually playing).

I found two problems while using it:

• I don't have an Arcade folder in ./Games (Would like to import some FB Neo ones)
• I would like to select which media I'd like to auto-import (Hi-res gameplay videos from Emumovies and 5 other images from LunchboxDB)

Also, I tried creating folder "./Games/Final Burn Neo" and ended up crashing Launchbox.

Thanks for any tips and for the amazing frontend my dudes!

You can try Tools - Import - ROMs.  On the 2nd screen click Add Folder.  Select the folder containing you FB Neo set. When Asked for a Platform, type in "Final Burn Neo" and also select your emulator accordingly.  Follow the prompts from there which will include 'copy the files into the LaunchBox/Games folder' and also letting you check which media you want added.

Another option is... in Windows Explorer, select all the ROMs and then drag them onto the LaunchBox window (that you have open).  That will start the import wizard as well [skipping the 2nd screen mentioned above].

[mapping arcade controls in bigbox]

Sorry. I must have miss read your post.  That's how you'd do it while you're actually playing a game.  i.e. Launch a game, then when it's running, press Tab.

I'm not certain if it's available in BigBox, but in the Game Menu, there may be an Open MAME option. Then from there you can go into General Settings from MAME's UI.

But actually, starting a game then pressing Tab would be easier.

[mapping arcade controls in bigbox]

13 minutes ago, nickyghost said:

I have big box running with a keyboard, in an arcade cabinet with an arcade control deck. (2 player 6 buttons each with 1playr 2 player start select button).  how do i access the mame menu using a keyboard to map my arcade buttons.

Press TAB on the keyboard.

[Custom Badges]

5 hours ago, Tsik said:

though the Emulator badges worked as expected every other badge (even the stock ones) relative to 'Controller Support' is Vanished !!!

...after checking the logs, double check that all the other 'enable badge' are still checked/enabled.

Each of the IGameBadge plugin dll's should be independent of one another and are a go-no_go type of thing.  That is, LaunchBox reads the particular "show this specific badge image if 'this' criterion is met" for each one independently.  So one shouldn't affect the other.  Unless, as C-Beats said, something along the way is killing the thread.

[Launchbox mapping xbox series x controller Left Stick and Right stick press to ALT-F4]

9 minutes ago, grey00hawk said:

I have narrowed this down to Launchbox.

In LaunchBox you have your controller mappings for Exit Game set to your left and right stick presses.  This essentially 'presses' Alt+F4 [on the keyboard] when you press your left and right sticks.  But only while LaunchBox is running. As you found.

 

9 minutes ago, grey00hawk said:

Is there a setting I am missing to disable this?

You can disable it by clearing that mapping.

Tools - Options - Game Controller - Mappings.

[Is there a preferred way of importing and launching ms dos games]

3 minutes ago, sundogak said:

however, LB uses the older 2.2 version vs the current version of 2.8.  Some of the newer games ScummVM can run won't run under 2.2.

You can update the 'built-in' version of ScummVM. 

Assuming this hasn't changed since it was implemented.

Quote

Version 6.4 - Released July 26, 2016
if you manually replace ScummVM in the future it will no longer be automatically overwritten

 

[Is there a preferred way of importing and launching ms dos games]

53 minutes ago, andy_d said:

Is it supposed to use Dosbox in that case? I tried the method you mention and it tried using Dosbox but a game failed to load.

Oh man! I am so sorry. It was a long weekend.  Yes, the above process is for DOSBox. Not ScummVM.

For ScummVM I've only installed 1 game. So did it the Manual route.  This time using LaunchBox's built-in support for "ScummVM". 😊

Tools, Import, Manually Add game.

I typed in the Title and set the Platform to ScummVM.  Clicked Search for Metadata and it found the game.  ("King's Quest 1 - Quest for the Crown" in this case)

Went to the Launching, ScummVM section and checked the box Use ScummVM to play this game.  Browsed to and selected the folder that held the Game Data for this game.  Then selected the game from the dropdown combo box. (Listed as "King's Quest 1")

Clicked OK to save and exit.  Clicked Play to play it.   As with DOSBox mentioned above, nothing else needed to be done to get it to play.

[Is there a preferred way of importing and launching ms dos games]

I've never used RA ScummVM but have used LaunchBox's built-in support for it.

To import:

Tools, Import, MS-DOS Games.  I chose Add Folder and then selected the folder that held my MS-DOS games' sub-folders.  Followed through the prompts and when it was completed, selected a game and clicked Play.  Nothing else was needed to be done to get them playing.

Since you previously attempted using RA for your MS-DOS games, as a precaution you may want to (need to?) edit your RetroArch emulator (in LaunchBox) and un-check it as the default emulator (under Associated Platforms) for you MS-DOS platform.  Do this before using the Import MS-DOS Games Wizard.