JoeViking245

July 31, 2022

There is a controller button binding for exiting BigBox, different from the one for exiting the game. However, the one for exiting the game is "Close Active Window". Which does just that. So when you hit it again and BigBox is the active window, it closes. As you've found. There isn't an option for 'long-press'.

July 30, 2022

LaunchBox/BigBox does not have a built-in feature to automatically start another program when it's loaded.

8 hours ago, Kerplunk said:

boot up directly into Big Box

It sounds like you may have your setup open BigBox when you turn the computer. Presumably you have a shortcut to BigBox.exe in your StartUp folder. Just add the Sinden Light Gun executable to that folder too.

If you're not booting into BigBox, but rather starting/launching it from within Windows, your easiest option is to create a batch file that will start both executables for you. Then just use the batch file to run BigBox instead of BigBox.exe.

The batch file may look something like

Start "" "D:\Utilities\Sinden\SindenLightGun.exe"
Start "" "D:\LaunchBox\BigBox.exe"

Change the path and name of executable on line 1 accordingly. (I don't have one, so I have no idea what the .exe is). Change the path to LaunchBox as necessary.

July 29, 2022

3 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

I'm having the same issue using the ['new'] Default theme. 12.14-betas

System menu font/size and controls display Issue resolved. Traced it down to a user created plugin .dll file.

Plugin developers take note: The plugin (VPX High Score Viewer) was originally written as an executable WPF, for testing. When changing the output type to a Class Library, the interface got implemented in the windows code behind class. (window.xaml.cs) In fact there were 2 interfaces implemented this way in the one plugin. IGameMenuItemPlugin and ISystemMenuItemPlugin. The plugin worked this way, but what it also did was register a window (2 actually) as a part of the plugin. This unseen, useless and unnecessary window was being seen by the BigBox Default theme and created havoc.

The take-away, if converting from an executable, be sure to remove any and all unnecessary windows.

July 29, 2022

2 hours ago, faeran said:

Which theme and view are you using in this instance?

I'm having the same issue using the ['new'] Default theme. 12.14-betas Here's what the System Menu looks like (screenshot is just the top, left quarter of the monitor)

When I go into say Options, View, Theme and hit enter to select a different theme, the screen fades but I can't see the control showing the list of themes to select from. Though I can (blindly) move up or down and press enter and a different theme is then selected.

Scaling is set to 100% and resolution is set to 'recommended'. Which on the cab is 1680x1050. The same issue happens when I open BB on the connected TV (via HDMI cable). Its scale is also 100% and recommended resolution. 1920x1080

To help test, I deleted BigBoxSettings.xml and Settings.xml from the Data folder and also deleted the ../Themes/Default/ folder to have all 3 get recreated. This was done after 1st checking with beta-6. No change, same issue.

The Old Default theme (still) works great.

July 28, 2022

First off, I never knew about "Browser_Home" before. That's pretty cool! Not practical for my use, but cool to know none-the-less.

I ran a simple test using Browser_Home::MsgBox hello and I'll be daw-gone, it worked. lol Thanks! The 'problem' is that it worked when in BigBox as well. (Latest beta) I tested using my Logitech keyboard which requires the function (FN) key. So my "Home" is FN+F1. (not sure that matters)

8 hours ago, my_lego_router said:

this isn't broken for all keys, just the very specific one my remote uses.

To clarify, are any of the buttons/keys on the remote still working when BB is focused? Like Select (Enter ["OK"? ]) and Back (Esc ["Back"? ])? Vol +/-?

July 27, 2022

3 hours ago, AlphaUMi said:

increase the font size of games details (description)

The game 'description' is what you have listed in Notes. And like you said, it's part of the Game Details. The view you want to look into (and edit) is the GameDetailsView. ../LaunchBox/Themes/your_theme_to_edit/Views/GameDetailsView.xaml

In that xaml, search for Text="{Binding Path=Notes}" Using the Default theme as an example, you'll find the first (of 2) hits on line 92

On that same line, scroll over until you see FontSize="{Binding Converter={StaticResource ScaleConverter}, ConverterParameter='30'}". Chances are in the custom theme you're editing it's not using the converters. So it may simply be FontSize="30". Either way, 30 is the value that you want to adjust. Do the same on other lines that have Text="{Binding Path=Notes}" (if applicable).

Each Theme you look at may (or may not) look the same as my example. But the key points to take away from this are in bold and underlined above.

July 27, 2022

Make sure the input configurations didn't get changed. It should be the same for both versions.

Open [standalone] MAME.
Click either Configure Options or General Settings (depending on the MAME version)
Then Click either General Inputs or Input Assignments (depending on the MAME version)
Next click User Interface
Scroll until you see Save State and Load State
Make sure (reassign as necessary) Shift+F7 and F7. Respectively.

If you're running the games through LaunchBox and have high scores enabled, save states are probably disabled.

July 26, 2022

3 hours ago, GongStar said:

it seems to me more people should have experienced this since arcade games are popular among retro gamers and users of LB and BB.

Arcade machines/games are popular among users of LB/BB. But I'm not sure about the popularity of using console game controllers for Arcade. I'm not saying it's not uncommon. But I'm sure some have come across the 2-controller snafu and quickly discovered Custom Controller Bindings.

Regardless, controllers are definitely used by many/most/all for consoles. I don't have 2 controllers setup on my system, but without even thinking about the situation you brought up, I wanted a game exit button combo that I couldn't somehow 'accidentally' press during gameplay or otherwise.

My over-thinking-it way of doing things convinced myself that I could somehow accidentally do a 'rapid fire' Select then Start and exit the game at an inopportune time. I ended up configuring exit game to Right-Button + Back (Xbox360 controller) hoping "how am I ever going to accidentally do that". It's not really intuitive, but neither is Select + Start (until you get used to them).

And, because I could, I set "Coin" (in MAME and in Visual Pinball) to Right-Joy click. Even though I don't typically use the controller for them.

July 25, 2022

11 hours ago, Spottedfeather said:

They ARE on. That's the problem. I don't have anything that says Display 0. And...cab ?

Well, they're not because otherwise they'd show. Maybe "on" was not the right word. "Selected" may be better. "Cab" is short for "Arcade Cabinet". My Arcade Cabinet is where I have LaunchBox and MAME installed. Since I didn't have access to at the time, I stated something like Display 0. As it turns out (now that I'm near my cab) it's actually "Screen 0". I was hoping you might have caught the assimilation.

Since you have the ktmnt.zip file (that one holds the .jpg and.lay files. Not the game ROM) in your ../artwork/ folder, it should just work.

When you start the game and then press Tab to bring up the in-game menu, then select Video Options, you'll see different options for how the game is displayed on your monitor. By default it looks something like (note "Screen 0"):

If your ../artwork/ktmnt.zip loaded with the game, you should see more than just the 3 options (or completely different options) on top. Use the arrow keys to change and Enter to "select".

If none of the options that come up show your games background image (bg.jpg), then most likely the .lay file format is incorrect and/or was written for a later version of MAME. MAME updated some of the formatting for lay files sometime after January 2019 (v.0206). Don't know exactly when.

Did you by chance change anything in the ktmnt.zip file? Add/remove any image files? Change the image format (i.e. .png to .jpg)? I ask because the one I have looks like this

July 25, 2022

22 minutes ago, Spottedfeather said:

Yeah, they're named the same. Here....

You may need to turn them on then. I'm not near my cab right now but start TMNT, press Tab, then select (something like) display, select (something like) Display 0, then you should have different view options to choose from.

July 25, 2022

17 minutes ago, Spottedfeather said:

That doesn't do anything. When the game starts, it's just the characters without the background.

Are your artwork zip files named the same as the ROMs? What files are in the zips you have? Can you give a screenshot of both?

July 24, 2022

2 hours ago, Spottedfeather said:

Any ideas about how to get the Konami artwork to show ?

It's probably the same as Game & Watch. Put the respective games' zipped background image files in the ../MAME/artwork/ folder. The files in the zip (I imagine) are setup just like a regular bezel is. It'll have a "default.lay" and several other files.

July 24, 2022

8 hours ago, sundogak said:

Tiger handhelds are part of normal full MAME set

Oh, those Tiger handhelds. 😊 My bad. Thanks sundogak!

@Spottedfeather Based on the "incorrect file length" error you received, your rom set is probably MAME v0.214 or older.

On 7/22/2022 at 11:38 AM, Spottedfeather said:

how to fix it.

You best option is to get a romset that is made for the version of mame.exe you have. 0.236

But if you're doing that you may as well, as sundogak suggested, update your romset and MAME executable. (current is v0.245. At least until Wednesday)

You may be able to, instead, use mame.exe v0.228 or older in which it doesn't have "artwork required". requiresartwork="yes" started in v0.229.

With your current romset though, v0.214 back through v0.211 would probably match them better. But you will miss out on some improvements, emulation-wise that had been made since that release.

July 23, 2022

16 hours ago, Spottedfeather said:

With all respect, I don't know what that means. The game roms don't list mame versions. I have Mame .236.

I just looked at my MAME ROMs for Game.Com (Tiger handheld) and they all have just a single .bin file in the zips. So I'm not really sure what the .svg file it's asking for is. Example "frogger.zip" has "frogger (1999)(hasbro - tiger electronics).bin" in it. If it helps any, the file size (for this bin) is 1024KB.

Do you also have the required "gamecom.zip" system file?

Maybe share a screenshot of the error so we can see what the "other such nonsense" is.

July 22, 2022

1 hour ago, Spottedfeather said:

Tiger handhelds don't work in mame. I've tried several. Every single one of them tell me that the "game title.svg" is an incorrect length...or other such nonsense. I opened the zip file and it's in there, though I don't know what's wrong or how to fix it.

Assuming it's MAME software list ROMs, are they the same versions your mame.exe?

July 22, 2022

Is Show Videos checked?

July 21, 2022

If you want it for just a single game and you can't adjust it in the game itself, you'd need to create an Additional Application to run before "Main Application" (aka, the game). "Running Scripts" are for emulators only and they'll run for every game that uses that emulator.

Create a text file and in it put

SoundSet, 50

This will set your volume to 50%.

Then to add the additional app (the above script) to a game, see here:

You'll probably want a 2nd script to set it back to 100% (or whatever). Create a 2nd text file and change the "50" to "100" and set it up the same as above but check the box "Automatically Run After Main Application".

July 21, 2022

I had always wanted to add a hyperlink in LaunchBox to the Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) for each of my Visual Pinball tables. (i.e. https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=760). I had thought about putting them in the Wiki or YouTube fields, but that was an ugly work around.

Playing around recently, I figured out that a simple-ish change to GameDetailsView.xaml will add right-click options to Custom Field(s). With the changes below, right clicking on a custom field and selecting "Go to webpage" will open your default web browser to whatever hyperlink page you have in that particular custom field.

In my VPX setup, I also added a custom field for "Table" that would hold a link to the tables’ download webpage. (to see if there are any updates or for whatever reason)

Obviously you can put in any valid hyperlink you want. The only pain is you have to enter the hyperlink(s) for each table/game individually.

Pict of Right-Click on the IPDB link.

Custom Field - Right-Click

I'll use @faeran's Default Plus theme as an example. Create a copy of the themes folder and open the xaml in Notepad++ (easiest for this demo, but you can use any editor you want)

D:\LaunchBox\LBThemes\Default Plus - Copy\Views\GameDetailsView.xaml

Below the last "xmlns" entry (line 10) insert a new line. (here, we're adding a new Reference and calling it "web")

xmlns:web="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Desktop.Commands;assembly=LaunchBox"

Just before the closing of "UserControl.Resources" (line 34 [after inserting the above]), inset a new line.

<web:WebLinkCommand x:Key="WebCommand" />

(Here we're creating a static resource which we're calling "WebCommand".)

So far, it should look like this:

Now search for and go to CustomFields (or scroll to line 1334 [after inserting the above 2 lines]). A few lines down, click once on the 2nd "<TextBlock..." line. (line 1345) This is the line that will contain Text="{Binding Value}" Press Ctrl+K to comment out that line. (That may only work because of a plugin I installed. Don't recall. If it doesn't work, add  to the end).

<!-- This line is a comment -->

Below this [now] commented line, inset the following

<TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Text="{Binding Value}" Foreground="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type UserControl}}, Path=DataContext.ForegroundBrush}" TextWrapping="Wrap" TextAlignment="Right">
    <TextBlock.ContextMenu>
        <ContextMenu>
            <MenuItem Header="Go to webpage" Padding="0,5,60,5" Command="{StaticResource WebCommand}" CommandParameter="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor, AncestorType=TextBlock}, Path=Text}" />
        </ContextMenu>
    </TextBlock.ContextMenu>
</TextBlock>

Here we're replacing the original TextBlock with a new one that gives right-click options. If you want it to say something different when you right-click, just replace the Header text ("Go to webpage").

Here's what the whole CustomFields section will look like (well, left half of it)

Save and close. Start LaunchBox and tell it to use this theme.

If you have a custom field that's not a hyperlink or is an invalid link, if you right-click and select "Go", you'll get a message box telling you it's an invalid URL.

Enjoy.

July 21, 2022

I'm not sure about Platform artwork but you should be able to set scape-as to Arcade to get the artwork for the games in the CP Systems.

July 19, 2022

1 hour ago, k_rollo said:

I must be clicking on the "Next" button too fast because I don't notice that checkbox haha. Or perhaps it only appears when duplicates are present?

Force importing duplicates games appears regardless. It's in the fine print under custom options.

July 18, 2022

Each Platform stores its data, metadata and media separately from others. So if you import one into your PlayStation platform and the other into your DOS platform (or whatever name you gave it that's not "PlayStation"), they will not copy over the other. They will be saved into completely different files and folders/sub-folders.

If for some reason you're importing them into the same Platform, during the import process, there should be a checkbox to allow duplicates to be imported. Not sure how that will affect the metadata and media for those games, but both should import. Hopefully this isn't the case.

July 18, 2022

Most likely your games exe is a sort of launcher in that it actually [then] launches another application which would be the game. As soon as the 'launcher' starts the game, it exits itself (and the game plays on). LaunchBox sees this ('launcher') as the Main Application and in turn runs the After Main Application script (or batch file closing your wheel in this case).

The "Wait for Exit" option is for the Run Before Main App only.

This only explains what's [possibly] going on and doesn't really help. I'm personally not familiar with DirtShowdown. Hopefully someone who is, can chime in with actual help.

July 16, 2022

I ran into the same issue (SelectionChanged) a few years ago when I was 1st working with the API. Granted I was attempting to learn C# at the same time as leaning what an "API" is. (Probably not a good combo. lol) 😊

At a later time, I worked on a BigBox plugin with @jayjay that allows you to launch a game/application directly from the Platform Wheel View level. This uses UserControl, IBigBoxThemeElementPlugin. Unfortunately, you will need to modify your BB Theme Views to catch it. The good part is it's only adding 2 lines.

The Class would be something like

namespace MyNameSpace
{
   public partial class MyUserControl : UserControl, IBigBoxThemeElementPlugin
   {
      ....
   }
}

And once IBigBoxThemeElementPlugin is initialized in the class, you can use the method

public void OnSelectionChanged(FilterType filterType, string filterValue, IPlatform platform, IPlatformCategory category, IPlaylist playlist, IGame game)
{
   //do stuff 
   return, false;
}

This will give you the selected platform and game. You also have access to OnEnter() and OnEscape() (as well as a few other controls).

The 2 added lines in the Views are

xmlns:JoeWasHere=\"clr-namespace:MyNameSpace;assembly=MyNamespace"

<!-- AND -->

<JoeWasHere:MyUserControl />

To be clear, I never pursued SelectionChanged. So there's a really good chance there's a 'proper' way to use it and make it work for your application. This is merely "a suggestion on how to catch game wheel exit from within a plugin." And as I write this out, I realize you need to somehow figure out if you're currently in a platform view or a games view. May be something in the API or you may need to set a bool inside OnEnter/OnExit??? And maybe I still only 'know enough to be dangerous'. lol

July 16, 2022

12 hours ago, TJ_on_Launchbox said:

wanted to sort them by Decades 70s, 80s, 90s, etc..
Then i realised how much work that is.

It wouldn't be too bad. But ya, you'd need to create about 10 or so individual playlists (assuming you have any tables that goes back to the 1930's). Then if your tables have their release dates (which they all should), then it's all automatic.

12 hours ago, TJ_on_Launchbox said:

I also wanted to create short preview Videoclips for each Table but i don´t have the Time.

I've been able to find a lot of the videos via EmuMovies. Granted they may not be for the specific version of the table I have. But it's a something. This is for VPX I'm referring to. For Pinball FX 2/3, you can find those here

For the missing VPX videos (or videos where you want to see your table), there's a plugin that can [almost] automatically make them for you. But for several hundred tables, it'd still take some time. Especially since you'd have to do them one-by-one. But it does help some to streamline the process.

On 7/13/2022 at 6:39 AM, 80sRkadeGuy said:

I quickly tripped and fell into the virtual pinball rabbit hole lol.

It's easy to do. lol And as TJ said,

12 hours ago, TJ_on_Launchbox said:

Once you are working on your Pinball Build there is no going back.

But I think that's true for game machine/console archiving in general. The never ending "just one more change, then it'll be perfect". lol

July 14, 2022

2 hours ago, Suhrvivor said:

it slowly kills SSDs by having to write the extracted iso every time you want to play a game

That too.

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