JoeViking245

January 28

1 hour ago, mrhyde said:

Hi I've been using launchbox/bigbox for around 8 yrs now and last week decided to update to the latest version, which meant paying for the update. I decided to do a complete new install and clean a few things up. The problem is that now none of my mame games will load. I added the roms like I did with my consoles as an individual rom list as I can not remember my mame rom.set . I set it to use mame as the emulator and pointed it to my mame exe. All my roms and subsequent art work added just fine but no games will load. I've also added my Sega genesis and 32x plus she's roms and they all play fine using retroarch. Luckily I kept a backup of my original laucjbox install and everything still works fine..all the path files for my roms and emulators are in the same place. Nothing has changed apart from the new install of lunchbox. Can anyone help me to get this sorted?? Many thanks. Ps I can choose to laugh mame via the game window and mame starts up just fine..

Since [it sounds like] you're using your original MAME install in the 'new' LaunchBox, edit the MAME emulator (in LaunchBox) and remove from the Default Command-line Parameters -rompath %romlocation%

January 26

1 hour ago, JetAllen said:

pressing x and any other button exits BigBox.

OK, so it's only closing BigBox. That makes more sense.

In BigBox, go to the System Menu < Options - Keyboard Mappings. Look for the mapping for Exit and select it. It should have an "X" next to it. Press Enter on your keyboard and wait 5 seconds to clear it completely.

Alternately, while waiting the 5 seconds, you can press a different key to map as Exit [BigBox].

January 25

3 hours ago, JetAllen said:

I am having the weirdest issue with my keyboard. Whenever I push the "x" key with any other key, my programs close and I am taken back to my desktop. This is super frustrating when trying to play a game using BigBox since most games are mapped to use x for a button. I am running Windows 10 and an Ultimarc IPAC2 to run my arcade controls. I have tried updating the computer, updating the keyboard drivers, unplugging the IPAC, tried using a new keyboard. Nothing seems to work and the internet is useless. Hoping that some genius out there will be able to help me with this issue. x plus any other key closes every program that I have open and it is killing me.

"x" on the I-PAC should be mapped to Player 1, Button 6. At least for the games I play, not too many use button 6. This all assumes your I-Pac 2 is running in keyboard mode. If it's in XInput mode, then I have no idea. (My I-PAC is too old to have XInput as an option.) Saying this 'out loud' just now makes me think you're probably playing games on just the keyboard. With that, the I-PAC should not be a factor.

If you play the game(s) without BigBox running, does pressing x + something else still cause all programs to close? If you have something like Notepad opened (again BigBox not running) and press pressing x + something else, does it close?

January 25

1 hour ago, evergreen said:

Hello, I'm getting mame up and running. I imported my romset 0.263 and some of these images are missing. I did not select all artwork categories when doing the import but did not uncheck any defaults. What am I missing?

Arcade machines weren't delivered in boxes. They typically used wooden crates. With that, you won't find [true] 'Box Front' images. If anything, there should only be 'Fanart Box Fronts'.

For the Arcade platform, most people use 'Advertisement Flyers - Front' images. Myself, I use 'Arcade Cabinet' images. Neither of those are checked by default.

January 25

While we appreciate your eagerness to get answers, please feel free to "bump" your original post rather than (re)posting the same question on multiple threads.

That said (and contrary to it), you might try posting on the particular Theme's Support page. The person who created that Theme would be the one most intimately familiar with it and should be able to best help.

January 25

2 hours ago, maliusmaximus said:

I ran a script or followed whatever instructions were relevant back in 2022.

You didn't specifically state, I'm guessing you don't have that information so you can simply reverse what you did? Instead of looking how to 'revert', look how to shell.

This is definitely a Windows issue (vs BB).

I'd think you be able to Search the Registry for "BigBox.exe" (because that's what it's starting). Tip: Search just in "Data". Then wherever it's found, if its Name is Shell and it looks like it's in a Windows related section, change it [back] to "explorer.exe".

A location example might be

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon    Name=Shell  Data=xyz

Proceed at your own risk. If it breaks something, it's not my fault. etc. etc. You know the routine.

January 24

39 minutes ago, hanzo83 said:

It plays fine using the engine in there. But it won't seem to add it to the frontend of it.

To add Star Wars Trilogy to you Sega Model 3 platform, in LaunchBox, select that platform then click Tools < Import < Manually Add Game. Type in the Title "Star Wars Trilogy" and then click "Search for Metadata" to get the appropriate information filled in. Next, go to the Launching section and click Browse and navigate to your swtrilgy.zip ROM file. Click OK to save and close.

Game added.

January 24

34 minutes ago, tkssitch said:

Actually, have another question that goes to the save state, this would be for use on regular mame arcade games. How would i use it from a command-line to boot into a mame starting at a save state? Thanks!

Universal Command-line Options — MAME Documentation 0.273 documentation

-state <slot>

Immediately after starting the specified system, will cause the save state in the specified <slot> to be loaded.

Example:
mame -state 1

January 24

1 hour ago, ryangroth5 said:

I want the old interface with the list that says "console" and "arcade" not this.

How do I get rid of it?

Click the stupid upside-down triangle to the right of Complete. It'll open a dropdown menu in which contains other actually quite smart view options. Take some time to scroll through all the stupid view/filter options available to you. When your done getting familiar with them, select the smartest one that says Platform Categories. There you'll be able to see your "console" and "arcade" Categories.

January 23

25 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

I am having similar issue with Xemu as it uses <CTRL><Q> to exit.

Different emulator. Different thread. But you'll find what you're after here.

January 22

@steelepdx Assuming you're attempting to use the Phoenix Project emulator for Atari Jaguar...

If you've read through the link @darreldearth provided and decide you want to install BigPEmu and try it out, you can do so by simply using the LaunchBox integrated emulator plugin installer/updater. (LaunchBox version 13.16 or newer is required to use this feature)

In LaunchBox...
go to Tools < Manage < Emulators
click Add
In the Add Emulator window, under Emulator Name,
- start typing big and it will offer an auto-complete for BigPEmu.
- Press Tab to complete it
click Download to "Allow LaunchBox to download and install BigPEmu"
Click OK to save and close

Since you had a previous emulator associated your Atari Jaguar platform, it will ask if you want to make this emulator the default emulator for that platform. (Yes, of course) If your platform is named something different, you'll want to edit the [new] emulator and associate it your platform under Associated Platforms.

If you're attempting to the Phoenix Project for one of the other consoles it emulates, then never mind.

January 20

If I wanted to add bezels to emulators that don't already support them, I'd try using the Bezel Launcher plugin.

January 20

35 minutes ago, stigzler said:

From that script, Joe, I'd guess you're no stranger to pushing the envelope of any system you find yourself working in 🤣

I'd have never thought about monitoring the registry for Steam state changes! Genius.

Thanks!

Pushing the envelope? Nah. Just makin' it work using all available means. 😎

January 20

3 hours ago, stigzler said:

Never straightforward this gig, is it?

Depends on your demands.

January 20

2 hours ago, stigzler said:

The issue is this game exit event fires immediately after starting the game. Thus stopping the AHK script. Any ideas what's going on here?? It works fine with other emulators.

[Most] other emulators are "launchers" themselves.

When you start Steam using the Steam game ID, it Launches Steam. Steam then launches the game in a different instance of Steam. The 1st instance then closes while the game continues on the 2nd instance.

LaunchBox started that 1st instance, then sees that it's closed. Indicating that "the game has exited". Teknoparrot does the same thing.

The work around I use (only because I wanted to see "Thanks for Playing" when I exited the game) is to create a new "emulator".

This assumes the games' Application Path is what LaunchBox put in there by default. (As opposed to manually [not recommended] changing to the games exe)

Here's the script I use:

You'll probably need to add a parameter to the AHK script that you launch at OnBeforeGameLaunching() or OnAfterGameLaunched(), which ever one you use to start it. Then send the IGame.ApplicationPath as the parameter.

Then add the while loops into your script(s).

Unless you make use of (something like) the linked script as an "emulator" for Steam, OnGameExited() is still going to fire pretty much right away.

...Or do some sort of variation/combination of the above.

January 19

5 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

I might just have two different platform xml files. Just swap them in the data folder when kids come over and vs versa.

If it helps any, once you mark them as 'Hidden', to hide/un-hide them in LaunchBox, you can just press Ctrl+Alt+H.

But swapping the xml files also works.

January 19

7 hours ago, Kefka2b said:

Is there a way to do that? Reason is because I'd like to move all vertical games to a separate sub-folder to create Retroarch content-directory settings for those, and this would allow me to easily select them and move them.

If you used the MAME Arcade Fullset Import Wizard, there's an option to create a playlist for vertically oriented games. If you didn't un-check that option, there'll be a playlist called Vertically Oriented Games.

If you had un-selected that option, you could re-run the Wizard. However, if have you have curated your collection in LaunchBox, that's probably not a good option.

Alternately...

8 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

Should be able to use Joe's plugin to do so last I recall

..and follow the steps outlined in this post.

Arrange game by Screen type? - Features - LaunchBox Community Forums

January 19

36 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

So if I just choose one game and I right click-edit then I can chose hide. How would I un-hide that game?

Reverse that? Or

click View, Hide Games, and select Marked Hidden. (Check or un-check respectively)

46 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

Seems like a lot of stops to complete this.

Not really. No matter how it can be done, you need to select the games you want to hide. And then click though a menu (or something) to tell LaunchBox to hide them. Once those 'stops' are done, click somewhere to hide/un-hide them.

January 18

39 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

I know you can exclude these games when imported from MAME. My question is I would like to keep these games but hide them when young kids are around. Anyway to do this in LB or BB?

I know this something Jason's wanted for years but don't know if anything [else] was implemented.

One way is to select the "platform" All (not really a 'platform' but shows all games). Click filter and then filter for the rating Mature.

For this to work of course, your games will need to have the appropriate metadata to be able to filter those out.

Next press Ctrl+A (to select all games in that filter) then press Ctrl+E (to start the Bulk Edit wizard). Select the Field Hide, then set the Value to true (check the box). Then follow through the prompts.

From here, you can click View, Hide Games, and select Marked Hidden. (Check or un-check respectively) I don't know if this carries over to BigBox or not. Or if BB has its own show/hide Hidden. Using your parental due diligence, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough.

January 18

42 minutes ago, SpaceMidget75 said:

That's great thanks. Yeah, it's that last part I'm not sure about...Happy to set the rom path manually to whatever romset I want to refresh, but I was worried what it will do with the others. Like you said, I guess I cancel if it looks like it wants to clear all the other emulator sets!

Cheers!

You're most welcome.

Again, I'm fairly certain what the Scan For Removed does is look at each game individually, and then where it's pointing to for its ROM. Not taking into account the default folder path for the Platform.

January 18

1 hour ago, SpaceMidget75 said:

The problem comes when I want to update the roms. I update my FBNeo set and then want to update Launchbox....

Do I just need to do a rom import and it will add new games?

Correct. As long as you don't check Force Import Duplicates.

1 hour ago, SpaceMidget75 said:

More complex is what if the updated rom folder has some games where the filename has changed so I have to delete the orginal? What about deleted roms?

You should be able to use Tools < Scan < For Removed Arcade ROMs... But ONLY if your ROMs are from a Non-Merged set. If they are from a Merged or Split set, any non-Parent ROM game will get removed.

This will scan all games' path_to_ROM. Though I'm not sure if you have combined games if it will check the Additional Apps paths.

The last screen of that process will show a list of the games to remove. Click Cancel if it doesn't look right. Depending on how much of an update you're doing, there shouldn't be that many name changes.

January 17

47 minutes ago, 8-BitKiddo said:

And yes, I know Yuzu is an obsolete emulator, but from my point of view still the best one for nintendo switch.

So, recently I update my Yuzu to version EA-4176, but as I mentioned on the title it doesn't close from the pause menu, it shrink instead, here's what I tried:

• Closing Yuzu with hotkeys (Ctrl+Q and Esc) without launchbox, and it worked

I don't know about 'updating' an obsolete emulator, but my notes say "No scripts necessary".

They continue with "In Yuzu, change the Exit Yuzu HotKey to anything other than Escape. Do the same for Exit Fullscreen (change it to anything other than Escape).

January 16

1 hour ago, EbbTide said:

As stated in the topic, is it worthwhile to download the MAME EXTRAs and MAME Multimedia sets?

They look great when looking through standalone MAME and adds a little pizazz to it.

1 hour ago, EbbTide said:

Can LaunchBox use them?

Yes. Within the Extras, the image files (at least) are all named after the ROMs filename. So when placed into the appropriate folder, LaunchBox will associate them with their respective game(s). The DATs and ini ("folders") files can't be used in LaunchBox without the use of third-party plugins.

The Multimedia pack does have soundtracks and videosnaps that would work the same when placed in the appropriate folder. I'm not sure about their quality. (Not saying they might be bad. I just have no idea)

"Can I gain anything using those over what LaunchBox has available for Arcade Images?"

Not really. When you download MAMEs Extras, you get everything. Say you go to pull out just the cabinet images and place them in 'their' folder, you're putting in every single image [they have]. Whereas, when you download media from LaunchBox, you get only the images for the games you actually have.

If you have an EmuMovies account (highly recommended), the same thing goes for soundtracks and videos (get only the ones you need).

Images available on the LaunchBox Database (where they're downloaded from) are relatively complete for Arcade machines. As are the videosnaps from EmuMovies. Anything that is or may be missing, chances are, they're missing from Extras and Multimedia as well.

January 13

MAME DATs Viewer

View File

View MAME DATs for games using MAME ROMs.

Works across platforms (Arcade, Sega Model 3...) and emulators (MAME, Demul...).

DAT - A file that stores specific information [data].
MAME uses Dat files to display extra information about its systems. (see The DAT Files below)

Inspired from MAME's built in feature in the main UI and via their in-game Tab menu to view game specific initialization procedures (LaunchBox only), commands and history (LaunchBox only).

This plugin combines my 3 other DAT Viewer plugins into a one-stop-shop.
⦁   View game specific commands from MAME's command.dat
⦁   MAME History.xml Viewer
⦁   MAME gameinit.dll Viewer

Why this plugin? Why now?
When I created the 1st one for command.dat, I didn't fathom creating any more. Same thing happened after creating the 2nd one for history.xml. It wasn't until after creating the gameinit.dll viewer that I realized I should have combined them all into one plugin. So here we are.

Why use this one instead of the other 3?

If you use at least 2 of the other plugins, you may consider using this one instead. Especially if one of them is the command.dat viewer. The original plugin doesn't provide the update feature this one has.
All 3 Dat files are contained with this plugins folder. So no need to set them up in MAME (or MAMEUI).
This plugin uses LaunchBox's multi-menu feature, making a cleaner look when right-clicking a game.
It's just one plugin that LaunchBox has to load instead of [up to] three.

Important note if switching from the other plugin(s) to this one:
If you are switching from one (or more) of the other plugins to this one, remove the other plugin(s) from your LaunchBox installation!

It won't break anything to have all 4 installed. But will create excess duplicative processing.

Features:

The 3 Dat files are included with the plugin. No need to download them separately or include them with your MAME installation.
Option to update to the latest DATs as they become available. (See Updating)
Choose which DATs to have available. (Remove or add on-the-fly. No restart required)
- (Updating and re-adding requires an internet connection)
Option to have to always have the DAT Viewer window open full screen
Badges are displayed for games that have initialization procedures and/or commands. (See Badges below for enabling them)
Option to temporarily disable the plugin and badges (See Settings)

Plugin Requirements:

LaunchBox 13.3 or higher
This plugin file (MAMEdatsViewer.dll)
- (The download includes all 3 DAT files to get you started)

Installing:

Download and then open the zip file using 7zip.
- If you don't use 7zip, first unblock the zip file (Right click, select Properties, and click Unblock) then open it as you normally would.
Extract the main folder from inside the zip file into ..\LaunchBox\Plugins\
- i.e. D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\MAMEdatsViewer\
Start LaunchBox

How to Use:
LaunchBox

Right-click on a game
Select MAME DATs Viewer
Select an available option from the submenu(s)

BigBox

Select MAME commands from the Games View menu

Settings: (LaunchBox only)
Tools < View MAME DATs - Settings

All 3 DATS will be listed and will each show:

if the local file exists
the local files' version (if exists)
the current available version available to download
three buttons (depending on the local files' status)
- Remove
- Add (requires an internet connection)
- Update (requires an internet connection)

(Option) Full Screen: Check the box to have the DAT Viewer window always open full screen.

(Option) Temporarily Disable Plugin: Checking this will remove the plugin from the games right-click menu and will also disable the plugin badges. It will stay disabled until it’s unchecked or LaunchBox is restarted.

Badges: (LaunchBox only)
A history badge is not included because pretty much all (if not all) MAME ROMs will have some sort of history entry.

A badge will be displayed if there is an entry in gameinit.dat for that game.

A badge will be displayed if there is an entry in commands.dat for that game.

To enable the badge(s), click

Badges,
Plugin Badges,
- MAME Gameinit,
- MAME Commands.

The Badge image can be changed by replacing the image(s)
../LaunchBox/Images/Badges/MAMEgameinit.png
../LaunchBox/Images/Badges/MAMEcommands.png

Updating: (LaunchBox only)
(Requires an internet connection)

2 options:

When loading the plugin by right clicking a game, it will check the local version of the selected DAT against what's available online
1. If a newer version is available, you will be given the option to Update the local copy.
2. Updating will attempt to download and then replace the existing file.
Tools < View MAME DATs – Settings
1. Here you can check/update all 3 DATs

The DAT Files:
command.dat
Courtesy of: https://www.progettosnaps.net/command/
Lists the various commands of many arcade games.
Shows controller command sequences used to make special moves in games.

gameinit.dat (LaunchBox only)
Courtesy of: https://www.progettosnaps.net/gameinit/
Shows information on how to run tricky systems.
This file lists the initialization procedures of some games emulated by MAME.
(Not all MAME games require any initial setup to run, but some do.)

history.xml (LaunchBox only)
Courtesy of: https://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=download
Contains game information, trivia, facts and tips on the arcade systems supported by MAME.

Navigating the DAT window:
LaunchBox
Use Ctrl+Mouse-Wheel to change the font size
Escape (or click the red X) to close

BigBox
Left-Joy or d-pad to scroll
Right-Joy for page up/down
"Back" to close

As always, all thoughts, views, opinions, suggestions, comments and accolades are welcome. 😎

See all my plugins here: https://forums.launchbox-app.com/profile/102158-joeviking245/content/?type=downloads_file

Submitter

JoeViking245
Submitted

01/13/2025
Category

Third-party Apps and Plugins

January 13

4 hours ago, ibleedspeed said:

I just noticed the Youtube Scraper Option in the right click context menu in launchbox, it doesn't do anything for me. Is this an old broken plugin that has somehow been overlooked for removal? As far as I know youtube hasn't allowed downloading videos for years, so just curious.

LaunchBox doesn't have (and pretty sure never had) an innate YouTube scraper. There is an older user submitted "YouTube Scraper" plugin that you would have had to manually download and install yourself. Here's a link to the Support Page for that scraper. But it appears to have been abandoned. To remove it, just delete the folder/file you added to the /Plugins/ folder [while LaunchBox is not running].

There is another user submitted YT scraper plugin call Vidsnap Scraper that is currently active. If you're looking for one.

Profiles

Forums

Articles

Downloads

Gallery

Blogs

Posts posted by JoeViking245

MAME DATs Viewer