JoeViking245

The easiest (well, only) way I've found to "hide" running PS scripts is to create shortcuts to them. Then edit the shortcut(s) (right-click, properties). In Target: add the full path to your powershell.exe to the beginning on the line (put quotes around it if there're spaces in the path) , then add -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File And then at the end, add -WindowsStyle Hidden C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "F:\Misc\Toggle Internet\ToggleInternet.ps1" -WindowsStyle Hidden So here, "F:\Misc\Toggle Internet\ToggleInternet.ps1" is what was originally in the Target: field. Your actual path to powershell.exe may be different. Who knows what I got going on here. lol Next click Advanced... button and check Run as administrator and click OK. Lastly, change Run: to Minimized. Click OK. Now direct LaunchBox to those shortcuts. Good luck and enjoy.

Visual Pinball X VideoSnap Creator View File Visual Pinball X VideoSnap Creator (Playfield Recorder) Use this plugin to create videosnaps of the Visual Pinball X tables on your PC/Cab. This will record any VPX table at any orientation and from any monitor. Why record your own? There already exists a lot of video snaps of most every Visual Pinball Table. You can even find vertically oriented (portrait) ones for your pincab. The issue is they may not be recordings of the actual version of the table you use. Or you simply can’t find one for a particular Original. Or you just don’t like the one(s) you found. Features: This will automatically ‘find’ your table’s playfield view so there’s no need to set up which monitor to look at or set any scale, resolution or aspect ratio. Your VPX default monitor settings will be displayed for your reference. (new v2.0) Record the backglass at the same time as the playfield. (optional) (new v2.0) Record the DMD (3rd screen) at the same time as the playfield. (optional) (new v2.0) Record the tables gameplay sounds along with the playfield video. (optional) (new v2.1) Add the tables Clear Logo to the end of the video. (optional) Included is an AutoHotkey script that the plugin uses to quickly bypass the VPinMAME window when loading a table. (Should reduce loading time by approximately 4 seconds per table) (This also works well if added to your Running AutoHotkey Script tab for your VPX emulator ) Record durations can be set between 5 seconds and 3 minutes. If your playfield is in portrait mode, the saved output video can be rotated for proper viewing. (Options are 0º (default), 90º, 180º, -90º) You can set the video to record at 60 FPS (Depreciated v2.1) All video will be recorded at 30 FPS Videos are automatically saved to the default folder (/Plugins/VPXVideoCreator/CreatedVideos/) or you can change it to be placed directly into your /LaunchBox/Videos/Visual Pinball/ folder. Installing: Download and unblock the zip file. (right click the file, select properties and check the Unblock check box and click OK) Copy the VPXVideoCreator folder (from inside the zip) into your /LaunchBox/Plugins/ folder. If updating to 2.0, overwrite the existing file. Quick Start: Start LaunchBox (always a good place to start) Right click one of the tables in your Visual Pinball platform and select Create VPX video. Set how long you want your final recording to be. Click Capture Video. The default save location is in the plugins’ subfolder, “CreatedVideos”. Setting up to record audio: (new v2.0) (optional) You will need to register “audio_sniffer-x64.dll”** (included with the plugin) with Windows. Basically what this does is makes all your audio output accessible in one place. Think of it as a Frontend for all your audio output devices. This “frontend” will be labeled “virtual-audio-capturer”. 2 ways to register/unregister audio_sniffer are: The easy way: Run the included batch file (located in the plugins AudioSniffer subfolder). You need to run this as administrator. The batch file can also be used to unregister it. Follow the prompts. Old school: Open the command prompt [as administrator] in the “AudioSniffer” subfolder. To Register: type in then press enter: regsvr32 audio_sniffer-x64.dll.1 To Unregister: type in then press enter: regsvr32 /u audio_sniffer-x64.dll.1 **NOTE: The file is named "audio_sniffer-x64.dll.1" (with a “.1” at the end). Otherwise LaunchBox will try to load it as a plugin, which will cause errors. Source code for audio_sniffer can be found here: https://github.com/rdp/virtual-audio-capture-grabber-device Using the plugin: Set Delay: This is the delay time between clicking Capture Video and the video actually starting to record. Set to bypass (in the recording) the VPX editor loading the table. Default is 12 seconds. Options are from 5 to 30 seconds. Record Duration: Set to how long you want your video snaps to be. Default is 30 seconds. Options are from 5 to 180 seconds (3 minutes). Video Rotation: If you play on a rotated monitor (or TV), you will want to set this to the direction your monitor/TV is rotated. Default is 0º. Options are 0º, 90º, 180º and -90º. Include Audio: (new v2.0) Check this box to include the tables playfield sounds with the recording (needs to be configured). Record Backglass: (new v2.0) Check this box to record the Backglass at the same time as recording the Playfield. This will be saved to a separate file that is saved in the “/VPXVideoCreator/CreatedVideos/Backglass/” folder. The backglass is typically on a 2nd monitor, but (if setup) will get recorded separately no matter which monitor it’s on (single or otherwise). The file will be saved as [the-games_Title]_BG.mp4 Record DMD: (new v2.0) Check this box to record the Dot Matrix Display (DMD) at the same time as recording the Playfield. This will be saved to a separate file that is saved in the “/VPXVideoCreator/CreatedVideos/Backglass/” folder alongside the backglass video. The DMD is typically on a 3nd monitor, but (if setup) will get recorded separately no matter which monitor it’s on (single or otherwise). The file will be saved as [the-games_Title]_DMD.mp4 Add Clear Logo to the end of the video: (new v2.1) Check this box to add the tables Clear Logo (if one exists) to the end of the video. The logo will fade in as the video fades out during the last 2 seconds of the recording. This feature is automatically disabled if no Clear Logo for that table exists. 60 FPS Option removed (v2.1) Experimental. Check this box to record at 60 frames per second. Default is 30 FPS (un-checked). Depending on your video card (and probably some other factors too), this may or may not even be worthwhile. Change Save Location: The default save location is in /LaunchBox/Plugins/VPXVideoCreator/CreatedVideos/. The video filename will be saved as the ‘games’ Title in LaunchBox with .mp4 file extension. You can save them anywhere you want. Reset to Default: This will reset the Save Location, Delay, Duration and Rotation to their default values. Save Settings: This will save the Save Location, Delay, Duration and Rotation values you set and will load these next time you run the plugin. Save settings before video capture This is checked by default and will save any changes made when you click Capture Video and before launching VPX. Capture Video: This will launch the table you selected to open the plugin with. At the same time, the AutoHotkey script “vpxBypassPinMAME.ahk” will start. This runs in the background and waits for the VPinMAME popup window to appear and then ‘hits the spacebar’ to make it go away (sooner). The script will exit after it see the popup, or 15 seconds. Whichever comes first. After the amount of Delay time has passed, recording will begin and will continue for the set Duration. When done, VPX closes and the video gets converted. The video is saved to “_tempVideo.mkv” (in the CreatedVideos subfolder) and then gets converted to an mp4 file. After conversion, _tempVideo.mkv will be deleted. Keep temp video when done: By default, “_tempVideo.mkv” will be deleted after the video has been converted. If you want to see what the video looks like before converting, check this box. After your video is complete, go to the CreatedVideos folder to view it. Note: this file gets overwritten each time you click Create Video if you have the checkbox checked. View Saved Video Click this to view the converted video. This is the video file shown in Saved Video Location. VPX Playfield This shows the default playfield monitor settings you have setup for your Visual Pinball installation. These get read from your Registry settings: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Visual Pinball\VP10\Player\Display The Monitor # listed may not be the same as what your Windows Display Settings says. So if it’s “wrong”, ignore it. The Image Scale (W and H) shown will be correct. If the VPX display settings cannot be retrieved from the registry, monitor #1’s information will be displayed with an asterisk (*) after the monitor number. (Monitor #: 1*) Some notes: When you click Capture Video, probably don’t click anything else until recording is complete. However once the table is loaded, feel free to drop in a coin, hit start and play until ‘your time is up’. Just don’t click on another window. Backglass and DMD recordings only work with B2S Backglass Server (which is what most of them are). PinUPPlayer windows are not supported. Designed for LaunchBox v11.3 and higher. Special Thanks! Special thanks to gtxjoe’s PBX Recorder on VPForums and Carny_Priest’s post on GameEx Forum for paving the way to figuring out an excellent approach to creating your own Visual Pinball table videosnaps. Huge thanks to @sundogak for convincing me (though it didn't take much once I saw it in action) and showing me how to add video fade and attaching Clear Logos to the videos. Also for all the testing done and invaluable insight! Future releases and enhancements: If there’s enough interest in this plugin (as in, it’s actually useful and would get used), I will look at adding: Option to record the table’s audio in with the video. (added v2.0) Ability to select multiple tables for ‘bulk recording’. Record backglass videos??? (added v2.0) Any REASONABLE request. As always, any and all feedback is welcome! Submitter JoeViking245 Submitted 10/22/2021 Category Third-party Apps and Plugins  

That works awesome! Thank you!!!

This is very handy indeed!! One additional line I use in mine during development/testing is (add it after the last 'copy' line) "D:\LaunchBox\LaunchBox.exe" ..talk about a save on clicks. lol An then if I want to build it without starting LB, I just add "REM " in front of it. This is only because I don't know how to get it [a plugin] to Debug. 😊 (if it's even [really] possible)

This might help. And then if something gets messed up during that process..

Oh snap!! Didn't even think about that. 😊

To create a playlist takes relatively no time. Granted it will take up about 20 KB of hard drive space which is probably a little more than a cached filter would be.

If your plugin is using a 3rd party WHATEVER.dll, you should be able to just place it in the same location along with your plugin.

Pretty much anything's possible. Sometimes you just need to be a little creative. I imagine adding monitor orientation to LaunchBox's available metadata for arcade machines isn't going to happen anytime soon (ever?). One possible 'creative' solution is to create your own Playlist's, one for Arcade - Vertical and one for Arcade - Horizontal. Though I don't think there's a 'pre-made' ini file for horizontal and vertical games, so you'll need to create your own. One way is to: Go to http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/default.php and click on Machines. Next click Additional Filters. Go to the Video tab then click Horizontal, then Search. Now click on Options and select Export The Results (the only option). Under Title, type in a name (I recommend something like Horizontal). Now select MAME (ini) and then Export. Repeat selecting Vertical as the Additional Video filter. These will save it to your default Downloads folder. Well maybe... Windows might freak out thinking the file is unsafe, so you may need to tell it to Save Anyway. Follow the How to use: instructions in the plugin link above to create your new Playlist.

In a word, no. But hey, learning is half the fun. A lot of times it's doing what you did... search and more research. Many times you get lucky and it's not a tricky system. And sometimes it's there in front of you and it's overlooked. Take for example atom_flop.xml, lines 8, 10, 11 and 12 in the hash xml file.

If you're talking about getting a cabinet code for it, you don't need to have purchased FX3. Just send the request for a cab code and a pict of where you might play it. Be it your cab or your desktop PC. I don't have a paid instance of FX3 and was able to get the code and can now launch directly into the ONE free table. (maybe they offered a 2nd one (or two) also? It been a while)

LaunchBox doesn't choose your MAME bios. You can tell MAME via the command-line which one to load, but more easily would be to open MAME, select (not start) that game, select Configure Machine, under the BIOS heading, select the bios that works, then select Save Machine Configuration. That bios will now be the default one loaded and you shouldn't see that prompt again. (hopefully) If MAME still keeps asking even after setting that up, at MAME's main screen select Configure Options, then Miscellaneous Options, and the set Skip BIOS selection menu to on.

In your batch file (which is being used "as the emulator") your first 'command' is to load the I-Pac configuration. You're using "call" to run it (vs "start"). "call" will wait for the executable [in that command] to exit before going to the next command listed. The AHK script (which you put in you Running [AutoHotkey] Script) is running the 3 commands [basically] all at the same time (not waiting on one another before starting the next). It is also running these 3 at the same time as starting pinballfx2. So 4 programs are being executed [essentially] at the same time. (You can't really use RunWait here as it might just make matters worse.) DMDext might be taking a little longer to completely load up. So probably, when pinballfx2 says "I'm ready to go", DMDext THEN says "me too". After FX2, so taking focus. That still doesn't really explain why WinIpac.exe keeps 'hanging around' when using the [Running AutoHotkey script] AHK. I have never changed the configuration on my [really OLD] I-Pac mini because it works as-is and I'm scared to screw it up. So I won't run any tests with it here. You might try..... (for testing and troubleshooting) Create a batch file with just this: @echo off rem switch Keyboard call "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinIPAC V2\WinIPAC.exe" "d:\Ipac2\PinballFX2.ipc" rem remove standard DMD Display call "C:\Pixelcade\pixelcade-quit.exe" rem load the DMD for Pinball cd /d C:\DmdPinball start /min dmdext.exe mirror --source=pinballfx2 --no-virtual -q --fps 60 cd /D "D:\Games\Pinball FX2\" Edit one your tables, go to Additional Apps and Add Application. Under Application Path, Browse to and select your [above] batch file. Check the boxes Automatically Before Main Application and Wait for Exit. Click OK to save that and close the Edit window. Now edit you PinballFX2 emulator and in the Running Script tab, remove everything above "kill;" and save. Make sure you don't have any old WinIpac V2 processes running in Task Manager. Launch that table, play a little because it's fun , exit the Table and check your Task Manager. See if that changes anything [for THAT table].

It doesn't help that you picked one of the slightly tricky ones. Fortunately there are only 10 roms in the MAME set (abc80_flop) and only 9 of those are supported. And you happened to have found one of the two that are also included in the abc80_cass rom set. The other rom is ABCDemo. Since these are both in floppies and cassette, you need to specify the media flag. And as you discovered, you need to Run "stacker" instead of abcstack. For this and ABCDemo, you'll just need to edit the game(s) and on the Emulation tab, check the box Use Custom Command-Line Parameters and put in: abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "run\"stacker\"\n" -flop1 %romfile% or abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "run\"a.b\"\n" -flop1 %romfile% (2nd option being for ABC Demo) Most of the systems are fairly straight forward. Some have little nuances [like this]. And some can be a real p.i.t.a.. There is no "cookie cutter" way for all the systems to be understood. But there is never "no way" to understand them.

Replied here

(moving the topic) Regarding running abc80 requiring the game's rom name to be in the autoboot_command line "..any way.." You might be able to write a lua script that can do it. But that's WAY beyond me. You could also get stupid-crazy and create an AHK script (or even a C# program) to 'act as your emulator' that will read the game rom that LB passes, then automatically modifies abc80.ini to insert the rom name. OR..... set the Default Command-Line in the emulator settings to something like abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "load%romfile%\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nrun\n" %romfile% I know the hash file 'usage' says to use "run", but above is what I had in my notes and it 'just seems to work'. (so this last one ("OR") was an afterthought, but left the previous 2 "..any way.." here for 'options'. ) Edit: simplified (working [and more-correct]) command-line abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "run\"%romfile%\"\n" %romfile%

This doesn't answer anything, may help in troubleshooting. At 6 seconds, it looks like it's doing the SplashImage command (again) right before the WinMove command. And loading the same image. just like you see it do at 18 seconds But this time loading the next image.

Some pretty big enhancements to layouts was done a couple (several) revisions ago. The good thing is, the 'old' layouts still function. From what little I've looked into it, it seemed the "how" was to basically re-write them. What I do personally to avoid the warnings is to turn off the console window and to play them via LB/BB here you won't see the window-of-warnings.

My pegasus roms are all in D:\MAME\software\pegasus_cart\ "pegasus_cart" being the exact same as MAME's hash file name. My Atari 2600 [cartridge] roms are all in D:\MAME\software\a2600\ My Atari 2600 [cassette] roms are all in D:\MAME\software\a2600_cass\ Since the command line starts with "pegasus", MAME knows I'm loading a softlist (same thing if you had used "gba", "nes", "a2600" etc.). MAME will then look for a subfolder under the folders listed in its rompath that corresponds to that softlist. Example: If I used in the command line "a2600" along with "-cart", MAME will look for folders D:\MAME\roms\a2600\ and also D:\MAME\software\a2600\ If I used "a2600" along with "-cass", MAME will look for folders D:\MAME\roms\a2600_cass\ and also D:\MAME\software\a2600_cass\ It will of course only find them under the 2nd location ("software"). @sundogak taught me that trick. See here for more Here's a snippet of my D:\MAME\software\ folder. Each set of softlist roms are in their respective folder [that is named after the hash file name, just like how you get them in a torrent]. How's that for practical? And again, the ONLY folder you need to add in MAME's rompath is the root folder that holds all the softlist subfolders [in this case, "software"] . And since MAME is so smart to know WHICH subfolder(s) to look for, it's also smart enough to accept just the softlist rom name. And this pretty much flows into what it's doing for the artwork. The exact same thing. MAME sees "pegasus" in the command line, it knows it's a softlist, so it looks in the artpath we gave it (from the ini file) for a subfolder properly named "pegasus". It THEN looks in there for a subfolder (or zip file) of the name that we gave it to use ["tank", "1942", "1942blah"...]. It really is a lot easier than how I'm describing it here. But I hope it at least makes a little sense. Not sure I follow. mame.exe <softlist_name> in the command line kinda puts it in 'software list mode', doesn't it?

It seems like artwork for non-arcade machines works just like how you do per-game configs [for softlist's]. For my tests I added (actually changed) the folder to "artpath" in pegasus.ini. (By now you all probably have a pegasus.ini file. ) Then added that folder under artwork: D:\MAME\artwork\pegasus\ Next, in there I put 3 folders and a zip file. (1942 folder actually had 25pacman artwork, tank folder had some game-n-watch artwork, pegasus had airwolf and 1942blah was actually 1942) And then ran: mame.exe pegasus -rom1 tank -override_artwork 1942 mame.exe pegasus -rom1 tank -override_artwork tank mame.exe pegasus -rom1 tank -override_artwork 1942blah mame.exe pegasus -rom1 tank -override_artwork notTank All 4 tests worked as expected (well hoped, I should say. ). MAME loaded the first 3 respective override_artwork folders/zip as it was told to. The last one ("notTank") didn't exist as a zip file or folder, so MAME loaded the default "pegasus" [folder]. But unlike arcade machines, even though we set the artpath, we still have to tell it which one to load (aka override) just like for per-game configs. For the MAME emulator in LB, set the Default Command-Line Parameters like so: pegasus -override_artwork %romfile% -rom1 %romfile% This all works ASSUMING that in your MAME settings, you remove quotes and the file extension and path, and that your artwork folders (or zip files) are the same name as the pegasus roms (just like it's done for arcade machines). For the file names inside the folders or zips, I don't think it matters. As long as there's one called "default.lay". Then it's only in the default.lay file that it looks for the other files by name in that particular folder/zip. Again, as long as the folder or zip itself is named the same as the rom.

I think I might have accidently discovered something. #SingleInstance force Image = M:\Giochi\Utility\Launchbox\ThirdParty\AutoHotkey\Scripts\Ps3-Scripts\ps3_splash.png Options = Zw%A_ScreenWidth% Zh%A_ScreenHeight% SplashImage,1:%Image%,b %Options%,,,MySplash WinMove, MySplash,,0,0, %A_ScreenWidth%, %A_ScreenHeight% WinMinimize, ahk_exe LaunchBox.exe, WinMinimize, ahk_exe LaunchBox.exe, WinMinimize, ahk_exe BigBox.exe, WinMinimize, ahk_exe BigBox.exe MouseMove, 1920, 1080 #IfWinExist MySplash { 1Joy1:: 1Joy2:: 1Joy3:: 1Joy4:: 1Joy5:: 1Joy6:: 1Joy7:: 1Joy8:: 1Joy9:: 1Joy10:: 1Joy11:: 1Joy12:: { Sleep 100 SplashImage,1:off WinRestore, ahk_exe LaunchBox.exe WinRestore, ahk_exe BigBox.exe ExitApp } :: { } } Adding the last "::" section I think makes it so any other input does nothing. This little discovery (assuming it's correct) might have come in handy a long time ago. lol

That's weird because I though Winipac simply tells your I-Pac to 'set the controls "this way"', then exits. A couple things you will want to do in your $Esc routine is to move the last 2 commands before closing the 'emulator' and change "Process" to "WinClose". ;Kill $Esc:: { ; relaunch DMD Run, "C:\Pixelcade\pixelweb.exe", "C:\Pixelcade", Hide ; re swtich keyboard configuration Run, "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinIPAC V2\WinIPAC.exe" "d:\Ipac2\Defaut.ipc", "d:\Ipac2\", Hide WinClose, ahk_exe {{{StartupEXE}}} } As soon as you Close the Emulator (via Process, Close or WinClose), the Running AutoHotkey script is abandoned. So you want to run those 2 apps before closing the game. (Otherwise they won't execute.) Also, "WinClose" is 'nicer' than using "Process, Close". "Process" KILLS it in its tracks, while "WinClose" allows it to 'exit gracefully'.

You can't set up an AHK script to run per Playlist. Or per Platform, for that matter. Besides, you probably need it to run before the games are launched so that it's already loaded. You can do it for a specific Emulator, but it will simultaneously with launching the emulator/game (not before loading the game). Also, doesn't help for Playlists. One possible solution (for the time being?) is to create 2 scripts (or batch files), 1 to load it (IR LED's, Wii bar...) and one to close it (if needed). Then (as you discovered) edit the games to have an Additional App (2 actually). Set one to run BEFORE main app and the other to run AFTER the main app. Select your Playlist (Platform, sort filter....) then select all games (click on one of them, then hit Ctrl+A) and then run the 3rd party plugin (Bulk) Add Additional Applications . From here (you'll need to run it twice) select the Run Before or Run After Main Application, respectively. Maybe not ideal, but it is one possible solution. Problem is, if/when you add more games that need this, you'll need to [remember to] add the Additional Apps to those, as well.