JoeViking245

June 18, 2023

34 minutes ago, bradbradbrad said:

I added the absolute path per your recommendation. I then made sure to save it as a .ahk extension, but it didn't load UCR at all still for some reason.

Line 1 in the script is missing some quotation marks. Because the path to UCR.exe has spaces in it, that whole part needs to be encapsulated.

Run, "C:\Program Files (x86)\UCR_v0.9.0\UCR.exe" -p "Steam"

June 18, 2023

3 minutes ago, DeadVoivod said:

I know that you can put whatever link you want, that's what I usually do, but I don't want it to say Wikipedia when it's clearly not.

Ya, the latter part of the method I showed (changing the W image) is an all-or-nothing deal. Which I agree, doesn't help too much.

Another [interim] workaround is to add a Custom Field that has the Value set to your ROM Hack site URL. And again, with some creative xaml manipulation, make the Custom Field clickable to take you to the site.

June 18, 2023

[Not to stray too much from the OP...]

9 hours ago, DeadVoivod said:

I made once a request in BitBucket to be able to add customizable fields for the URL fields, there's only one for Video and one for Wikipedia, I would like to change the name f.ex. to Hack that would point you to the ROM Hack site instead of Wikipedia.

For the interim, you can put whatever hyperlink/web-URL you want in the Wikipedia field.

And with some creative xaml manipulation, you could even change the <Path Data= line to change the icon that's shown.

Edit: Something like this

June 16, 2023

41 minutes ago, midd said:

So now it’s making more sense.

Yes it does.

I don't emulate DC much either. In fact, I think I only have 1 game for testing purposes. lol

Curious... with the ROM File (screenshot) not actually pointing to the physical file, is LB able to launch the game through emulator?

💡 Is it safe to assume that your emulator settings in LaunchBox has the checkbox: Use Filename Only without extension, checked? If so, then the emulator knows to look for the folder named after the ROM name (minus extension).

Thanks again for digging into this!

June 16, 2023

36 minutes ago, midd said:

My DreamCast games are in their own folders.

Thanks for following through. I was getting ready to have the plugin create a massive debug log to (hopefully) help pinpoint the issue.

If you haven't changed them all already, can you please share a screenshot of the Launching section (edit game) for one of your games that are still in their own folder?

June 15, 2023

40 minutes ago, midd said:

They are in the right location and path file

Really not sure what to say then. Is the full path to, and including the ROM name by chance super long? i.e.

D:\This\is\a\super\long\path\to\way\deep\into\the\harddrive\where\no\man\has\gone\before\Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness (USA).gdi

Is the ROM located on a server of sorts making the path different than normal? Had one use during beta testing say theirs was on a server, but it had worked as expected. I know nothing about servers so don't know hot that all works. But supposedly it did.

Beyond that, I'm at a loss.

June 15, 2023

10 minutes ago, midd said:

take notice of me. Pac-Man . Look below the concert box and you’ll see the file that the plug in claimed to not use found.

The plugin gets the games ROM location from its Application Path.

Can you edit the game "Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness", go to the Launching section and confirm that ROM File is pointing to either the Full\Path\To\ or Relative\Path\To\ the .gdi file?

June 15, 2023

Copy Metadata (plugin): Apply metadata from someone else's XML file to your own.

View File

Scenario:
"I have a build where I'm manually changing every game genre to a single genre/subgenre value and would love to share it, but without a tool to apply my metadata to their own it's kinda pointless."

Solution:
Copy Metadata plugin.

Purpose:
Import selected metadata from someone else's platform_name.xml file into one of your existing Platforms.

This will scan a LaunchBox platform_name.xml file and compare it your existing platform. For all matching games*, it will update the metadata you chose to have imported.

(*See Finding Matching Games for how games are matched up.)

Metadata fields to import (can select one or more):

Genre
Series
Developer
Publisher
Notes
ReleaseDate
DatabaseID
VideoUrl
WikipediaURL
CustomField (up to 3)

Warning:

This will REPLACE any existing metadata for the fields you've selected. There is no un-do button.
The exception is Custom Field(s).
- This will add new Custom Fields.
- If an existing Custom Field with the same Name as one be imported is found, you have the option to
  - Overwrite your existing Custom Field
  - Add a new Custom Field (creating 2 with the same Name but different Values)

How to:
Requires LaunchBox 13.3 or newer

Download, unblock the zip file, copy the contents of the zip to ..\LaunchBox\Plugins\
- i.e. D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\CopyMetadata\CopyMetadata.dll
Start LaunchBox
Click Tools
Select "Copy Metadata"
Click Browse to locate and select the xml file you want to import from
- (optional) Drag & Drop the file onto the TextBlock (directly above the Browse button)
Select your platform you want the metadata imported to
- (The plugin will attempt to 'select' the appropriate one for you)
Check the metadata items you want imported
To import a Custom Field
- Click "Include Custom Field(s)"
- Click the dropdown box and select the one you want imported
- Check the box next to it to have it imported
- (optional: you can select up to 2 others to be imported)
Click Import

Finding Matching Games:
Every effort is made to properly match games in your existing platform to an external platform_name.xml.

It will first use the games LBDatabaseID # to ensure an exact match.
If there are no matching database ID #'s, it will compare the games file_name.ext.
If there are still no matches, it will look for a matching game Title.

Concept for this plugin was inspired by @C-Beats who caught me when I was bored and looking for a plugin idea.

Submitter

JoeViking245
Submitted

06/15/2023
Category

Third-party Apps and Plugins

June 15, 2023

50 minutes ago, midd said:

Thanks for the reply. This is what I get when I try. I suppose it has something to do with the gdi file? My Dreamcast roms are a gdi file along with bin. I assumed the plug-in would comvert based on the bin files.

Screenshots are worth a thousand words! The plugin you're using is the [older] Bulk Convert .cue/.bin files which will only look for .cue files.

At the top of this page, click the blue View File. This will open a new page.
The top of the new page will show Bulk Convert cue/gdi/iso files to CHD. On the right, click the red Download this file.
Follow Installing the plugin as outlined on the 'new page'.
Before starting LaunchBox, Open Window Explorer and delete the old plugin folder. ..\LaunchBox\Plugins\cue2chd\
- Not to be confused with the new one ..\LaunchBox\Plugins\BulkConvert2CHD\

June 15, 2023

11 minutes ago, midd said:

When i use this to convert Dreamcast games, none of them convert? If I do one at a time using chdman and a bat file it converts individual games

Are you getting any kind of error (or otherwise) messages? Such as "Converting", "Please Wait", ""Converting Complete", "Error Converting".... Any details you can provide will greatly help to determine what is or is-not going on.

Does your batch file use the same "createcd" command line parameter for chdman?

It's possible you have different versions of chdman.exe on your system. Copy the one your batch file uses (the one that works for you) into your ../LaunchBox/Plugins/BulkConvert2CHD/ folder and run the plugin again.

Please let me know what you find. Thanks.

June 11, 2023

1 hour ago, stigzler said:

Are there others who are into it?

Of course. Just go to the Third-Party Applications and Plugins (Released) section and you should see quite a few. Or simply peruse the Downloads section.

June 11, 2023

1 hour ago, stigzler said:

the media name is derived from `<Title>`, as presumably underscore replaces the colon, and the result would not fit the pattern of the rom name.

When LaunchBox imports images, pretty sure it bases it off the game Tile. As you deduced. That said, if you bring in your own images, LaunchBox will match them to either the games Title or the ROM name. Both of these will work:

Tomcat - The F-14 Fighter Simulator (USA).png
Tomcat_ The F-14 Fighter Simulator.png

1 hour ago, stigzler said:

what is the replacement algorithm for all invalid filename chars?

To replace invalid (filename) characters, you can make use of the built in System.IO.Path.GetInvalidFileNameChars(). When doing one of my [more obscure] plugins, I found that LB also replaces the single quote ( ' ). Since I was needing to do this often, I created a method that accommodates both the built in list and the single quote.

private string ReplaceInvalidChars(string filename)
{
   return string.Join("_", filename.Split(System.IO.Path.GetInvalidFileNameChars())).Replace("'","_");
}

(Hint: Click "Code" next to the above smiley face to inset code with syntax highlighting. The forum does use Markdown. I commend the attempt though. )

1 hour ago, stigzler said:

if there's two "Pong_01.png" and Pong_01.jpg", which is given priority?

Don't know. But if you select a game in LB that has both image formats, you can press F5 and it will randomly switch between the 2. The key here being "random". (as opposed to 'alternating') Actually, as I think about it, that may be just if you have _01, _02 etc.

1 hour ago, stigzler said:

is there any way to set the image name in the database manually?

LB doesn't store a record(s) of your images. (That would get ugly, fast.) But if you wish to rename your images that are stored on your HDD (or wherever you may have them stored) to the ROM name (ugh), there's a plugin that will do that for you.

June 10, 2023

Try removing -cart and use only mtx512.

Also, it appears any actual "games" for this system are on cassette media (mtx_cass). (Assuming it's the games you're after.) So if removing -cart doesn't work, try using -cass instead.

June 10, 2023

17 minutes ago, Headrush69 said:

smart quotations

Appears that was my oversite. Never even paid attention to that. What's unfortunate is I copied 5thWolfs [in-line] text and pasted it into the 'code' formatting here when replying. The original in-line text appears fine, but when pasted, they come out as smart quotes. Note [to self] for future: pay attention to the quotations. 😊

June 9, 2023

5 hours ago, 5thWolf said:

Mine is just a windows error popup box from mame, will send a pic tomorrow when i can, doesn't look like your pic though just that single line i quoted before.

Open the Windows Command Prompt from your MAME folder and start mame.exe. You'll get a verbose readout in that window, and MAME will start to load then close (no error popup window should appear [this time]). In the Command Prompt window, about the 2nd line up from the bottom should be that message ("Fatal Error:"). Hopefully the line above that will give some more clarity.

June 8, 2023

1 hour ago, 5thWolf said:

But shouldn't copying what mame gives you into clipboard work? if it does it will make it a million times easier to handle the IDs. it says it in the site

I would make it "easier". And the site says to do that. But in their example, it also shows using &. So not sure what to tell you on that. But I can say, using & does work.

8 hours ago, 5thWolf said:

"fatal Error: Could not load controller configuration file controls.cfg"

Looking back at the original error, it almost reads like it can't find the file. What does the line before it show? This happens when I rename my .cfg file:

? Double check the spelling of your actual file (/ctrlr/controls.cfg) ?

? Double check that in mame.ini ctrlrpath is [still] set to ctrlr ?

June 8, 2023

1 hour ago, 5thWolf said:

I have created the config file "controls" and placed it in the "ctrl" folder, and set in mame.ini to point to that file.

On your ID Version... insert before your line 1 <?xml version="1.0"?>. On your <mapdevice device= line, change the ampersand (&) to &

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<mameconfig version=”10”>
   <system name=”default”>
      <input>
         <mapdevice device=”VID_046D&amp;PID_C24F” controller=”JOYCODE_1” />
      </input>
   </system>
</mameconfig>

June 7, 2023

I trust that fixed it?

Edit the game. Startup/Pause. Check the box to Override Default Startup Screen Settings. If you have the games in a playlist, you can select all, click Edit and do it in bulk.

June 6, 2023

1 hour ago, 5thWolf said:

after launching a game through BB the main screen works for a few seconds then loses focus and is black screen.

Try turning off LaunchBox's Game Startup Screen. Then when that fixes it, you can either keep it off for your MAME emulator, or override the Startup Screens for just the Arcade games that use dual screens.

June 6, 2023

8 minutes ago, bundangdon said:

definitely helped me with 3DS, as it's now working after I checked it as the "Default Emulator".

Whew. Gotta love a 'simple fix'.

10 minutes ago, bundangdon said:

I tried to manually change the measurements in the .cfg file but nothing changes. Would you be willing to share your BigPEmu cfg? Otherwise, it's possible I may have an issue with the BigPEmu emulator's video settings.

I didn't touch anything in BigPEmu. (I don't think) I put it on my computer in Feb this year, added it to LB, but never added any games. This morning added Atari Kart, ran BezelLauncher Setup to Enable it, clicked Test, Saved, Saved, Closed. And got what you see above.

Can you share the most recent "log xxx.txt" file (in \BezelLauncher\Logs\) (after having launched a Jaguar/BigPEmu game)

Here's the video section of my BigPEmu....cfg file. My monitor is 1920x1080. Thought the W and H are set here, it still resizes. So maybe it's one of the other settings.

"Video": {
    "Display": "\\\\.\\DISPLAY1",
    "DisplayWidth": 1920,
    "DisplayHeight": 1080,
    "DisplayBitDepth": 32,
    "FirstColNTSC": 176,
    "WidthNTSC": 1280,
    "FirstLineNTSC": 14,
    "HeightNTSC": 240,
    "FirstColPAL": 196,
    "WidthPAL": 1280,
    "FirstLinePAL": 14,
    "HeightPAL": 288,
    "DisplayMode": 0,
    "VSync": 1,
    "ScreenScaling": 0,
    "ScreenAnchor": 0,
    "ScreenFilter": 0,
    "ScreenAspect": 2,
    "LockAspect": 1,
    "ScreenEffectForceHDR": 0,
    "HDROutput": 0,
    "HDRGamma": 1.0,
    "HDRScale": 3.75,
    "ForceHorizontalOverscan": 0,
    "DisableScreensaver": 0,
    "DispVer": 1
},

My Atari Jaguar ini file looks like:

Upper Left X Coordinate=240
Upper Left Y Coordinate=0
Lower Right X Coordinate=1680
Lower Right Y Coordinate=1080

June 6, 2023

3 hours ago, Nixx said:

Interesting, can we have the source code ?

Not that I'm hording the couple hours of work my team and I put into this... but feel free to use DotPeek or ILSpy. None of my plugins are encrypted (or whatever people do to keep prying eyes out of it). So all code will show up using either of those. Showing off all my coding disfunctions.

June 6, 2023

3 hours ago, bundangdon said:

Citra and the 3DS didn't come up in my list while setting up the plugin. Any ideas or tips on how to get 3DS and Citra (Canary or Nightly) working?

Is the Default Emulator for your 3DS platform Citra? Or is it RetroArch, and Citra has the Associated Platform 'Nintendo 3DS', but is not 'checked' as the Default Emulator? Make sure Citra is the Default Emulator.

3 hours ago, bundangdon said:

Also, I can't seem to get it to fit properly with BigPEmu. While the bezel shows up, the display size of BigPEmu has shrunk down to a tiny 800x600 on the right corner of my 3840x2160 screen

Did you run Test to set the emulator window size? (And then Save?)

June 6, 2023

1 hour ago, knup36 said:

I re-do the platform, it SHOULD point back the same entry and 'reconnect'?

That I can only assume to be a correct statement. But there's one sure way to find out.

In the meantime, a quick, simple safety net would be to make a backup copy of your \LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\ folder prior to re-doing your collection.

June 5, 2023

I think it depends on how you have your playlists populated. If you don't have them auto populated, and if the game's Titles don't change and they stay in the same platform 'name'. you should be good.

If you do have them auto-populated, it will depend on how the filters were setup.

June 5, 2023

1 hour ago, 5thWolf said:

I set up dual monitor in MAME

However you set this up (in MAME or by manually editing mame.ini), when done and saved, make a copy of mame.ini and rename the copy to playch10.ini. Then revert MAME back to a single monitor and save (mame.ini).

playch10 is the name of the source file for PlayChoice-10 (playch10.cpp)

If all goes well, when you play a PlayChoice-10 game, you should have the dual monitor setup as it will (should?) read playch10.ini via the order of precedence. And every other game (non PlayChoice-10) should display normally (single monitor) reading just mame.ini.

To do this on a game-by-game basis, you can copy playch10.ini and name the copy the same name as the games ROM filename. (punchout.ini)

punchout is probably not the best example as punchout is the name of a game ROM file AND a source file. But you get the idea.

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Posts posted by JoeViking245

Copy Metadata (plugin): Apply metadata from someone else's XML file to your own.