[MAME Controller Setting]

The losing controller settings "issue" is by design.  That said, there are a few workable solutions to fix that.  The simplest way making default.cfg Read Only.  Beyond that, the controller does need to be loaded (turned on) before Mame starts.

You could create an AutoHotKey script and set it to run before a game launches that will display a MsgBox or SplashImage stating what you said.

[Related/Similar/Recommended Games lists in Big Box]

The related/similar games sounds like the different Views (Genre, Developer, Series...) that are available.  So I think what you're saying is when you select a game in BB, you'd then see a curated list of other games that are same Genre/Series/Play Mode/Developer/Publisher... as the one selected.  Almost, but not quite a redundancy.   I think the biggest problem that would come about with this is the logistics of what constitutes a related game.  That is, how many and which one(s) of the 'details' need to match to be considered related?   Though I suppose something could be possibly added somewhere in LB options where you check which details you want to sort from and in what order.  Similar to Image Priorities.

For recommended, I don't think that'd work.  LB/BB would have to keep a database of everyone's "Favorites" (assuming this isn't done alongside star ratings or anywhere for that matter) then process accordingly... "Other's whose this was a Favorite ("who like this") also had listed as their Favorites ("also liked") these".

[Emulator UI optimized for joystick/touchscreen use?]

7 hours ago, DaveC1964 said:

I wasn't sure if each one would step on the other with registry entry conflicts etc.

That's the beauty of it.  LaunchBox itself is portable.

[Pause Option Breaks Mame]

Just for kicks and grins... (and process of elimination) maybe download a 'new' mame 0.201 from MameDev (Downloads - Previous Releases).  Just the program. No roms (which of course you can't find there).  This will ensure a complete 'reset' as opposed to just a file or 2.  Rename your existing Mame folder (i.e.  D:\Mame_old\) so as to keep save-states etc in tact.. and extract the download to the same folder-name as your existing folder was.  Then open LB, un-check the "Forceful Pause Screen..." and see if you still don't get the pause screen.  

If you don't get the pause screen, re-check the box and try again.  

Doh!  after thought... Before launching LB, you'll need to run [the 'new'] Mame and tell it where your roms are.  Don't worry about controllers, marquees ect. at this point.

[Emulator UI optimized for joystick/touchscreen use?]

10 hours ago, DaveC1964 said:

I would actually like a stand alone UI that maybe could directly load cores or emulators. 

That's exactly what LaunchBox is.  AKA, a Frontend.  

10 hours ago, DaveC1964 said:

Is there a quick fast solution?

Have multiple instances of LaunchBox 'installed' and set each one up for each of your individual 30 platforms, respectively.  So you'd have something like:  D:\LaunchBox-SNES\  and D:\LaunchBox-N64... etc.  From there, create  shortcuts on your desktop to each LaunchBox.exe and naming them accordingly.

 

With 30 platforms I'm guessing you have A LOT of games.  Assuming LB has been given the time to build it's cache files (which on 1st time around can take some time, especially with a lot of games) it shouldn't take 4 minutes to load.  Keep in mind, what it's mainly loading [basically] are the image files for each game (via cache).  Given that, next best option is to upgrade components of your system.

[Cemu on tv]

How are you connected to the tv? (HDMI, WiFi..)

Is it actually 'slow' or is it there's a lag or delay like between the controller and what you see?

If you're connected HDMI and having lag or delay, try adjusting the video cards' v-sync setting.

 

[MAME - Xbox Controller Config (ctrlr file)]

Make a backup of your MAME folder!  (lesson learned  )

Place the downloaded "xbox2player.cfg" file into the ctrlr folder.

Edit "mame.ini".  Scroll down to "CORE INPUT OPTIONS" and add in xbox2player on the ctrlr line.This will now load that file (that's located in the ctrlr folder) instead of "default.cfg" (located in the "cfg" folder)  Any game-specific configuration files (located in the "cfg" folder) will still be loaded as before. 

 

The MameDev Team put in the if-the-controller's-not-plugged-in--reset-everything as a kind of fail safe to the "oh crap! I configured everything wrong and now nothing works!" scenario. One solution you've already found. Make default.cfg Read-Only.  Another solution is to have [all] your controllers plugged in, start mame and configure everything just the way you want it using the xbox controller(s), keyboard, mouse clicks, combos....  Now Save Configuration and exit MAME.  Now in the cfg folder, copy 'default.cfg' and put in the ctrlr folder.  From here you can rename it to something like.. oh, I don't know... "xbox2player.cfg" or what ever you want. Then edit mame.ini to load it as noted above.  [Instead of editing mame.ini, you can always add to the command line "-ctrlr xbox2player".]

 

[Auto Hotkey Scripts]

Per https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Hotkeys.htm

Quote

Combinations of three or more keys are not supported.

This of course excludes modifiers (Alt, Ctrl, Win, Shift....).  

That being said, they continue on with something about GetKeyState. I was able to get a 3 key press to work.  ("key" being a non-modifier, joy/mouse button...)

#if GetKeyState("Z", "P")
X & C::MsgBox X then C were pressed while holding Z.

If while Z is pressed, X and then C are both pressed/held, post the message box.  It seems like they need to be pressed (and held) in that order.  Just change Z, X and C to your 1Joyx.

If you have to have 4 buttons pressed, I'm sure there's a way to do an If-Then-While-Not-Get... overly complicated, brainiac way.  Well, maybe not that bad.

[Roms not working after moving LB....]

In the given Platform (not in a Playlist) select all games, then click Tools - Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games... and point to the directory where they're at. 

No re-import required.

[MAME GAMES DON'T LOAD AFTER UPDATE 9.8]

What version of Mame are you using?  Older versions don't have that parameter as an option.

[Crashing on game exits: Bigbox 9.8]

Could it be getting a 'double-click' effect?  Like hitting Esc to exit the game then Esc again that exits BB?

[Use different images in Pause Screen]

That's the ticket!  Thanks @Retro808!

Now just a little image size adjustment, and I'll be a happy(ier) camper. Easy peasy  

[Use different images in Pause Screen]

I created platform device images that show the platform co ntroller and the corresponding buttons for my cab in which I incorporated into my main theme.I would like to be able to add that image to the pause screen which is (I'm pretty positive)  

<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedPlatform.DeviceImagePath}" />

I tried adding that in and it doesn't work.

<Image Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Source="{Binding SelectedPlatform.DeviceImagePath}" VerticalAlignment="Center"
                HorizontalAlignment="Center" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality">
    <Image.Effect>
         <DropShadowEffect BlurRadius="10" Direction="-90" RenderingBias="Quality" ShadowDepth="1" />
    </Image.Effect>
</Image>

My guess is that once the game is loaded, the platform becomes irrelevant so is not stored.  Hopefully I'm wrong and just messed up the code.

As a workaround I know I can copy that image to all the game-names.png and put them into an "Arcade - Controls Information" folder for the given platform and just use SelectedGame.ArcadeControlsInformationImagePath.  This doesn't solve the issue of per-game controls for consoles which I agree would be an extreme undertaking and is not important to me.  It would be nice to be able to use the 1 image rather than creating a mess of duplicates.

Anyone have any thoughts?  Hopefully simply something I overlooked or missed

[LB and BB won't open.]

I've read some people simply rebooted the PC after a LB/BB update to fix things.  Seems too simple, but it is in Windows after all.

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

4 hours ago, Tomkun said:

The script needs a few variables from LaunchBox, such as romname and system

LB/BB will pass the rom name as %1%.   It won't pass the emu's game specific system though.

EDIT: I (half way) take that back.  It doesn't appear to pass the roms' name (as %1%) to an AHK script that's used under Additional Apps.  It will however pass it along if you create/Add an emulator that points to and AHK script.

[Auto Hotkey Scripts]

Just shooting from the hip...

Since you're launching retrochange each time you start an RA emu game, how about putting this in the RA emulator under the AHK tab...

#SingleInstance, Force
#Persistent

Sleep, 3000  	;give RA a few seconds to load
Process, WaitClose, retroarch.exe
Run, "G:\LaunchBox\changeres.bat"
ExitApp

Another thought would be under the games' Additional Apps, add g:\LaunchBox\changeres.bat and have it run "Automatically Run After Main Application".

[F300elite controller and Mame]

14 hours ago, darrenmarchand said:

I thought it was easy to just assign buttons where I wanted them?

It is.  

I'm not familiar with the F300elite, but (though sounds like you may have) you should be able to: while the game is loaded (waiting to 'insert coins' or during game play, doesn't matter) press Tab on your keyboard and select "Input (This Machine)". Then select "P1 Button 5" and map it to the button you want to use for shield. Then Esc. Esc.

It should work, but if that doesn't work, it'd be a Mayflash thing.  I'm not sure what their customer support is like.

[I need an AHK script for multi screen setup (please)]

Depending on which emulator your using, you may not need a script at all.

See if these threads help at all.

 

[The Great Emulator Coverage Thread]

FS-UAE   Startup Screen - Good   Pause Screen - Not Working.

PCSX2   Startup Screen - Good   Pause Screen - Working

[The Great Emulator Coverage Thread]

Visual Pinball X    Startup Screen - Good      Pause Screen - Pause is good. But when you un-pause, it goes to VPX's editor window.  Press Alt+Tab (once to get back to the table's window [titled "Visual Pinball Player"]), it will pause/un-pause without issues until you exit and a new table is loaded.

Pinball FX2   Startup Screen - Good      Pause Screen - Pause is good. But when you un-pause, it goes to FX2's menu (paused).  Not that big of an issue.

Future Pinball   Startup Screen - Good      Pause Screen - Does not work. (nothing happens)

Dolphin   another confirmation that all's good.

[PCSX2 doesn't like .cue files (inside .zip), can launchbox send the .bin instead?]

Got a wild hair and revamped the script to look for (and load) game-specific custom configs.

You still need to have 7-zip installed and you'll need to edit the location for pcsx2.exe and the directory were the config folders are stored.  Otherwise that's pretty much it other than creating the new 'emulator'.

;********** Extract - Run PS2 bin file - Delete temp folder  **********
;
; PCSX2 script file for LaunchBox/BigBox to run a games bin file that is inside a compressed file.
; Will work with any zip format that 7z.exe handles (zip, 7z, rar...)
;
; This will also look to see if you have a custom configuration for the game
; and if so, will load that with the game.
;
; The zip file must be the same name as the bin file
; The config folder must be the same name as the zip file
; i.e.
; Ghostbusters-The Video Game (USA).zip
;   Ghostbusters-The Video Game (USA).bin
;   Ghostbusters-The Video Game (USA).cue
; ..\pcsx2\MyConfigs\Ghostbusters-The Video Game (USA)
;
;****************
; Edit "PCSX2 =" to point to your pcsx2.exe file
; Edit "PS2Config =" to point to where your configuration folders are located
;****************
;

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.

PCSX2 = F:\Emulators\pcsx2\pcsx2.exe
PS2Config = F:\Emulators\pcsx2\MyConfigs

FullFile = %1%
SplitPath, FullFile,,dir,,NameNoExt
outdir = %dir%\%NameNoExt%_tmp

if (A_Is64bitOS = 1) {
    RunWait, "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" x -y -o"%outdir%" "%1%",,Hide
} else {
    RunWait, "C:\Program Files (x86)\7-Zip\7z.exe" x -y -o"%outdir%" "%1%",,Hide
}

IfExist %PS2Config%\%NameNoExt% 
    {
    RunWait, %PCSX2% --fullscreen --nogui "%outdir%\%NameNoExt%.bin" --cfgpath="%PS2Config%\%NameNoExt%"
    } 
else 
    {
    RunWait, %PCSX2% --fullscreen --nogui "%outdir%\%NameNoExt%.bin"
    }

FileRemoveDir, %outdir%, 1
ExitApp

 

 

[Need help setting controller configurations in retroarch per core not globally]

On 4/23/2019 at 6:19 AM, neil9000 said:

Actually you just need to set the controls for individual cores in the quick menu/Controls section, just change them to how you want then in the same menu is a "save core remap" option, hit that and it will save them for the currently loaded core.

After several trials and a lot of errors, I think I came across the solution.  Unfortunately for me (and you?), it's Exactly as neil9000 had stated.  (as I just now re-read it.  DOH!!!) ☺️

Load/run a game
Press F1
Down arrow (or Up Arrow is actually faster) to Controls
Press Enter
Adjust all your controls
  (i.e.  Left side will have in it "(Key: ctrl)".  Right or Left Arrow until the right side shows "A")
Without backspacing out of this menu, scroll up to "Save Core Remap File"
Press Enter

Because it's "in the same menu".  (Dang I feel stupid!)

[MAME CHD collection for most common games]

Ya DOS76, I was trying to keep it simple. ☺️ 

I thought about elaborating on that but figured baby-steps.  My OCD likes it that I keep the ROMs in one directory and have a sub folder with the BIOS/Device sets in and another with the CHDs [folders] in.  

[MAME CHD collection for most common games]

"Good" is always subjective.   I don't think I've ever seen 'sets' available so probably on an individual bases.

The CHD file will be in a folder with the same name as the games zip file and that folder is placed in the same directory as your Mame roms.

So in you roms directory, you'll have:

blitz.zip
blitz  [folder]

In the blitz folder, you'll have the file: blitz.chd

[Need help setting controller configurations in retroarch per core not globally]

That's a perfect location for it.  Definitely do try again but maybe not 4 hours until you decide to do a fresh install.    With all the trial and error, there could be that one little setting that accidentally got changed that'll leave you at wits end.  GL