[MAME Software Lists Import Tool - plugin]

41 minutes ago, launcherbox said:

the OLDEST version! 

I should probably remove those old ones. ?

I really don't recall how I had it in the 1st release, but you can (now?) browse to where you 'actually' have your MAME /hash/ folder located.  Also, next time you run the plugin it'll remember that folder location.  Well, it's supposed to at least. lol

Glad it's working now!

[possible? adding additional apps to multiple roms at once]

Having that 2nd emulator is probably a lot cleaner and also easier to make adjustments (if needed) than each game having additional apps.

But (in the future) if ever you need...

 

[Launchbox won't add a particular ROm even though it runs in MAME just fine.]

5 hours ago, Aradael said:

WWF Superstars

wwfsstaru.zip

This rom was last update in MAME release 0.188 and has (had) been replaced with wwfsstaru7.zip

[MAME Software Lists Import Tool - plugin]

54 minutes ago, launcherbox said:

Is this tool working on version 11.12? I can't seem to start the advanced import wizard (dll's weren't showing as blocked for me, latest LB 11.12, and trying to start the tool nothing happens?

Yes, it works on the latest release.  I'm not really sure what the "advanced import wizard" is.  If all was set up correctly, you should see "Import MAME Software Lists" at the bottom of the Tools menu.  Is that not showing there? 

If it is showing, you click it and nothing happens, can you attach your debug log?

[CD-i emulation]

49 minutes ago, WraithTDK said:

I need to add .txt files for each game

That, or edit the individual games and just type in the 'short name' [only].  Regardless, glad it's working now!!

[CD-i emulation]

@WraithTDK

Since you can get it to run from the command prompt, that's good!  

Getting it to run in LaunchBox depends on how you point the ROM File to in the Launching 'tab'. 

If your pointing directly to the chd file, you need the full path:  (LB is using a Relative path [ ..\ ] in the image)

And then you need to have your MAME emulator use quotes and the full path:  (no boxes checked)

 

If you prefer to use MAME's 'short name', in LB you need only to put that in:

(Alternatively you can create a .txt or .zip file (doesn't matter the file extension, and can be blank/empty [i.e. 0 bytes]) and point the ROM File to that [physical] file.  i.e. D:\MAME\roms\zeldgamu.txt)

And then tell MAME to NOT use quotes AND use the file name only:

[Use different images in Pause Screen]

Here I am 2 years later... went to pause a game and this doesn't seem to be working anymore.   The Pause Theme works fine.  It's just the 'Device' image isn't showing anymore.

I double checked that the image is still there, and it is.  With LB running, I also checked in the ../Core/Images/Platforms/ [platform] /Device/  (linked/shortcut) folder, and it's 'there' too.  I then made a copy of the ../PauseThemes/Default/   folder, edited Default.xaml and changed the Source on one of the <Image> lines as noted above.  Still no joy.

Did by chance something change with: ?

Source="{Binding Platform.DeviceImagePath}"

I did do another test to prove to myself the image is good/readable by using

Source="{}pack://siteoforigin:,,,/PauseThemes/Default - Copy/NES.png"

..and that worked.  But obviously not ideal.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[MAME Software Lists Import Tool - plugin]

@mgtroyas I've posted an update on the plugins main download page to (hopefully) fix the list sorting and (for sure) the popup message(s).

Please let me if the "Select a Computer/Console to Import" list still isn't sorting correctly for you.

As always, to you and everyone else, thank you for your feedback and suggestions!

[MAME Software Lists Import Tool - plugin]

1 hour ago, SiriusVI said:

It's an amazing plugin. Literally the only thing missing is some way to ONLY import games and skip all applications. Manually removing all the apps from these computer systems is a pain.

Thanks!!  Ya, this has definitely been looked into.  Unfortunately there doesn't seem to exist any filters nor categories for softlists like there are for Arcade Machines.

But if you do happen to come across something like this for softlsits, please let me know.  And you right, it would round out the plugin quite nicely.  

[MAME Software Lists Import Tool - plugin]

2 hours ago, mgtroyas said:

Edit: sometimes when adding the alternative versions as additional applications, this message is shown, don't know if the proccess finishes ok or aborts.

That message box was put there for testing purposes and never got removed.  Click OK (Aceptar) and the process will finish.  (I'll fix that too.?)

For what it's worth, that message is saying you're updating that particular softlist (FM-7) and MAME has renamed an existing games' Title.  Same rom file_name.zip, revised Title.

[MAME Software Lists Import Tool - plugin]

1 hour ago, mgtroyas said:

I have a small request: list of XMLs on "select a computer/console to import" screen are not alphabetically ordered, so it's quite difficult to select the system.

Thank you so much for the kind words!!  The odd thing about this request is that I've never seen the list NOT be sorted.  Guess I just got lucky.    I will get that resolved for the next update.

1 hour ago, mgtroyas said:

I have also a problem but probably more Launchbox related: when selecting all games after import and running "Download Metadata and Media" wizard, games that are not in the Launchbox database are forced to match to any similar game ID, so the name and ID is wrongly changed as a duplicate.

Ya, definitely out of my hands.   If you haven't already, try using the 2nd option when Downloading.

Selecting this won't replace the games Title.  Then as far as which game ID it associates to, I've no idea how close the Title has to match to the database to get selected. 

[Auto Hotkey Scripts]

If those are the commands you want to send when MAME starts (4:3) and when MAME exits (16:9), In the Running AutoHotkey tab of your MAME emulator, put:

Run, SerialSend.exe /baudrate 9600 /devnum 5 \"M3x1\"

$esc::
{
   Run, SerialSend.exe /baudrate 9600 /devnum 5 \"E\"
   WinClose, ahk_exe mame.exe
}

The \ (slash) in front of the quotes are needed to make them literal.

If SerialSend.exe is not in your PATH and you need to point directly to the file location, put that full path in quotes. i.e.

Run, "F:\My\Extra Programs\SerialSend.exe" /baudrate 9600 /devnum 5 \"M3x1\"

Do that on both "Run" lines.

Lastly, if your using an older release of MAME, change mame.exe to mame64.exe.  (or to whatever variant of the MAME executable you're using).

[Launch/close a program along with Launchbox?]

13 hours ago, topper2k said:

I need to launch/close a program when Launchbox opens/closes.

The only way to do that (both Free and Premium versions) is to start LaunchBox/BigBox using a batch file (or other similar script type language).  Something like:

start "" "F:\MyProgram Folder\MyProgram.exe"

start /w "" "D:\LaunchBox\LaunchBox.exe"

taskkill /F /IM MyProgram.exe

The line beginning with "start /w" will start LaunchBox (or you can change it to BigBox.exe) and WAIT ("/w") for it to exit before executing the next command.  In this case, exit the program you started on the 1st line.

[add prestart app when starting game]

You can try getting medieval on joytokey and instead of WinClose, use:

Process, Close, joytotkey.exe

It's not a desirable way to do it as it uses a 'brute force' approach to KILL the application.  Kind of like pressing and holding the power button on your PC to shut down Windows.

[add prestart app when starting game]

Add an Escape hotkey to the Running AutoHotkey Script and have it close the emulator and joytokey.

;==================================
;       Running AutoHotkey Script
;==================================
run, joytokey.exe

$esc::
{
   WinClose, ahk_exe joytokey.exe
   WinClose, ahk_exe myEmulator.exe
}

 

[add prestart app when starting game]

11 hours ago, d8thstar said:

is it possible to launch a pre app by emulator instead of by game?

i have an emu that i always want to start the same app before the emu starts.  i see where to do it by game, would like to do it by emu.

thanks!

You might be able to start that 'pre app' in the Running AutoHotkey Script tab for the emulator.  I mean, you can.  But I'm not sure if it'll kick off "before" the emulator starts.  Or if they'll launch simultaneously.  So if the pre app has to be fully running before the emulator starts, I guess you have a 50/50 chance with this.   But again, I'm not sure exactly the order they load.  If the pre app loads fast, you should be good.

[Auto Hotkey Scripts]

10 hours ago, Cnells2000 said:

Hey Everyone Im Trying to figure how to make a script where once i click the .bat, it waits 2 minutes before beginning then i need it to push the down key every 17 seconds or so repeating for at least 4 hours. i know. its crazy but i need it. can someone help me please?

Not sure the key press is possible in a batch file, but since you're asking in the AutoHotkey thread, how about an AHK script instead?

SetTimer, Quit, % 14520000 ; (4hr * 60min * 60sec * 1000) + 2min = 14,520,000 = 4 hours + the 2 minute wait
Sleep, 120000 ; 2min * 60sec * 1000

Loop
{
  Send, {Down}
  Sleep, 17000  ; 17sec * 1000
}

Quit:
ExitApp

Though I suppose you could create a batch file that launches the AHK script. 

[Auto Hotkey Scripts]

 

12 minutes ago, d8thstar said:

maybe it's because games start with a bat? 

Yup. More than likely.   LaunchBox starts the 'game' (in your case the batch file) and executes the Running AutoHotkey Script.  Once the 'game' exits, LB closes/exits the script.  In this case, the batch file starts the game and then Exits itself.  LB see the 'game' [batch file] exit, and bam!  No more running script.

One option (and probably the easiest to implement):   To keep your batch file "alive", add in a   /w   on the start line.

start /w "" myGame.exe

This will wait for "myGame" to exit before 'exiting' (or continuing any subsequent commands in) the batch file.

[*SOLVED* AHK not working as expected]

38 minutes ago, ThePagel said:

I think vgtranslate is python at it's base. Might be why?

I doubt it.  An executable file (.exe), by any other name is still an executable file.  Unless the exe spawns another program.  You stated that your script worked outside of LaunchBox, so we know "WinClose, \serve.exe" is a good command (provided you use "SetTtitleMatchMode, 2").  So it could spawn another exe, but \serve.exe happens to be in the windows title.

1 hour ago, ThePagel said:

obviously something is different with launchboxs ahk.

No.

I think the issue is that your original script waits for RetroArch to close, then tries to close serve.exe.  (hear me out....)   If the script is in the Running AutoHotkey Script section for the emulator (which is where it should be as @Koroth stated), when the emulator (RA in this case) exits, LaunchBox closes out the Running AutoHotkey Script.  So basically it never reaches the next line of the script. Which is to close serve.exe.

Try Koroth's script as suggested where you set Escape to close RA and serve.  Just is case, maybe switch the order of those 2 and close serve first.   If "WinClose, ahk_exe serve.exe"  still doesn't work, add in the "SetTitleMatchMode 2" at the top and change that line of the escape sequence to  "WinClose, \serve.exe".

 

[add prestart app when starting game]

8 hours ago, d8thstar said:

how do i run a command AFTER the game quits?

"Automatically Run After Main Application"   A.K.A. 'run after the game exits.'

The "Wait for Exit" (only available with "...Run Before...") waits for your Additional App to exit Before starting the Main Application.  This is useful if say you have a batch file that moves/renames configuration files for the specific game.  You want that to completely finish before launching the game.

The issue that can arise with "Run After" is if your Main Application 'spawns' another program that is the actual game.  A simple example would be: your main app is a batch file ["runMyGame.bat"].  And in the batch file is something like

@echo off
G:
cd "G:\myGames\coolGames"
start "" "BestGameEver.exe" 

When you launch the game in LaunchBox, "runMyGame.bat", it then starts "BestGameEver.exe" and closes/exits/quits the batch file, while BestGameEver is still running.  LaunchBox sees "runMyGame.bat", the 'Main Application',  has Quit, so executes the "Run After".

["Unplayable" MAME games overlap SoftwareList games]

I don't know how to use dat files in conjunction with the Full Set Importer.  You could create one though at Arcade Database and filter only for Arcade.  You can also filter for Emulations Status: All, Working Only, Working and Imperfect...   and all sorts of other good stuff.  

The DAT file output is formatted for CrlMAMEPro (if that matters) and you can specify which MAME release/version you need it for.

["Unplayable" MAME games overlap SoftwareList games]

55 minutes ago, jan.axhell said:

so there is NO way to automatically exclude non-arcade roms from import

Since LaunchBox gets the 'list' of roms from your copy/version of MAME (mame.exe -listfull), you could try using an Arcade Only version of MAME.

I don't know if you can find one that's already compiled for the release you're currently using.  But you could always compile your own.

make SUBTARGET=arcade

 

["Unplayable" MAME games overlap SoftwareList games]

1 hour ago, jan.axhell said:

but those things are not present in my MAME ROM set

Since you have a curated set of roms, you should be able to do the Full Set import (for a proper Import) and then Scan for Removes ROMs.  And that'll take out the 'blanks slots' (the entries that got imported, but are not in your particular romset).  But if the unplayable games you're wanting are in not your romset, then.... never mind.

[Windows 10 keeps changing controller id's for MAME]

27 minutes ago, darrenmarchand said:

Then after setting the controllers in Mame I copy default.cfg to the ctrlr folder. After that, I shouldn't need to make anymore changes to the general controls, right?

From the other post I linked... 

- In the ‘../MAME/cfg’ folder, copy “default.cfg” and paste it into the ‘../MAME/ctrlr/’ folder.  From here you can rename it to something like “MyControls.cfg”.

It probably have said "... you should rename it..".  Which I assume is what you did.  Renamed it to "zerodelay_x2" because that's what your mame.ini is looking for.  (I'm guessing you mistyped when you just now wrote "zerodelay_cfg" [vs "zerodelay_x2"?]).   Whichever it is, make sure it's name is the same as what's in your mame.ini.

So it's now copied into the ctrlr folder, is properly renamed... now insert the "<mapdevice device=" lines just as you did before [but with those corrections noted above].

[Windows 10 keeps changing controller id's for MAME]

13 minutes ago, darrenmarchand said:

Do i need to re-copy those 2 lines after making the changes to default.cfg? 

Just fix those 2 lines in whatever file you're loading your controllers with.  According to the verbose out you showed in 'dmList.txt', you're using "zerodelay_x2.cfg" to load your controllers.  So change them in there.

I'm guessing in your mame.ini file, you have listed under # CORE INPUT OPTIONS...   "ctrlr             zerodelay_x2".  If you have that in there AND you're trying to make changes to default.cfg, you're you're going to have a real tough time troubleshooting.