JoeViking245

When you launch from just the exe, does the DesignTools error appear? If yes, if you remove your plugin from the mix (I usually just rename the plugin file to MyPlugin.dll.joe so it doesn't load) and launch from the exe, does the error still appear? Keep doing the same with other 3rd party plugins until you "find the culprit". (3rd party ones, not the LB emulator integration ones) A quick check just now on my [relatively] stripped-down version of LB, I had (approx.) 13s from the exe and about 20s from VS. But also the plugin I loaded via VS was a tiny 22kb file (not a whole lot to it) and there were no changes so essentially already compiled. You are testing through LaunchBox and not Big Box. Correct?

Add a sleep timer after finding a Process (e.g. LaunchBox.exe) doesn't exist, then do another one (check for the process) to make sure before attempting to [re]start it. Then you wouldn't have to worry about that popup at all. You might be able to check for a specific exe (been a while since I looked at Process stuff). If that's the case, look for your /LaunchBox/Core/LaunchBox.exe. (As in, the one in the Core folder because that's the one that will be running. Not the one in the root folder.)

Sounds like you need to try to find a different way to find the one in SandBox. Maybe checking if it exists based on the window title? or if sandbox.exe (or whatever it is) is running. Regardless, I don't think I can help. I've never used sandbox and have no intention to install it just to test. If the above doesn't help any, maybe someone who uses it can chime in.

It's not seeing the ahk_class you told it to look for. Did you use WindowSpy to get the class name? ahk_class needs to be spelled out as you have in your commented ahk_class line. But try putting it in the actual Process, Exist line. You have SendMode set twice (though shouldn't cause an issue).

Not sure what I did to help, but glad to hear you got it working.

Did you right-click the dll file, select Properties and check UnBlock? If there is an unblock option, it will be located here: What version of LaunchBox are you running? And you are selecting a game and right-clicking the game to find the plugin in the menu? (have to ask ) To clarify, you placed the file into /LanchBox/Plugins/Pixelcade/PixelcadeMarquees.dll (which will be fine) Download version 1.0. Open the zip file and copy everything in its PixelcadeMarquees subfolder EXCEPT the dll file, into where you placed the v1.1 dll file. So your /Plugins/Pixelcade/ will contain v1.1 of the dll file, pixSettings.xml (file) and the ffmpeg folder. (When I added the v1.1 update (over 2 years ago), I neglected to add the settings file and the ffmpeg folder/files)

Give this a read and see if it sheds any light. The location for the icons has changed in LaunchBox v13.21. And while not assuming anything, custom platform Icons does require a premium subscription. Creating Platform Clear Logo Media Packs for LaunchBox and Big Box - LaunchBox

Th instructions should be fairly straight forward. What exactly is not working? After selecting a game (or games), does the plugin appear when you right-click one of the selected games? When you click it, does the plugins UI appear? Do you have Pixelcade installed? Which folder was it installed into?

Check the Image Group menu for the selected image type to show. Note, it can be set on a per platform basis. (e.g. platform A uses "Boxes", platform B uses Steam "Banners") When you edit a game and look in its Images section, there are no images (showing [when there should be]? If that is correct, check the Metadata section of that game verify the Platform it's assigned to doublecheck that in your /Images/ folder, the platform name is spelled the same (In the image type subfolder below that platform) the games image filename is the exact same as the games' Title or ROM name noting that -01 is appended to the filename and that invalid filename characters are replace with an _ (underscore) If that all pans out, back in the Images section of that game, click Add Image and navigate to one of those image files for that game and select it. Click OK to save and close, press F5 to refresh the image for that game and see if it now appears. The progress bar you see is (pretty sure) refreshing the image cache for the selected platform. LaunchBox doesn't keep a database-of-sorts of your images (nor videos). They are captured on-the-fly, on-the-go, as-needed... you get the idea. When selecting the platform, the cache is populated (or at least does a quick check, which if it's "good" is when you may not see the progress bar). When switching games in that platform, it's reading from just the cache. Thus the occasional need to refresh images. When you resize the images with the slider, ("I think") it does a repopulate of the cache. I do know it needs to repopulate it when you change the image type to show for that platform.

I think what you're after is... Tools < File Management < Export/Copy ROM Files from Selected Games to New Folder...

If the single ROM file inside the zip is named differently than the zip, it may cause the issue. (but I'm not for sure on that). In the end, those ROMs are small to begin with, so having them zipped has no substantial gains. Glad you got it working.

Nope! If it works, stick with it. Like the audible beep idea.

Ahh... The ol' exit from the Pause Menu routine. You've got several options, but the easiest one to convey is (not tested, but "looks good in print"....) In the Exit Script section of the emulator, add: WinClose, MyScript.ahk - AutoHotkey Change MyScript.ahk to the actual name of your script.ahk

I know there's a few emulators that LB will see what "it" (the emulator) has installed, and import then per that. But I don't believe that was implemented for Switch emulators. (I could be wrong) I'm not for certain on how or where it looks for "new games" for this particular platform. You should be able to turn off the auto import feature for the platform.

If the script is placed in the Running Script section for the emulator, the escape routine is not necessary [in this case]. When the emulator exits, the 'running script' is abandoned/forced closed, or as you say, killed. . In your case, I'm guessing it's an additional app to those games, set to Run Before.... You can use: $Esc:: { WinClose, ahk_exe mame.exe ExitApp }

Some emulators need a more "literal" or "defined" key press. Can try adding to the top if the script SetKeyDelay, 0, 50

Try LCtrl instead of LControl

"Microsoft.DotNet.DesignTools.Server" related error. Never seen this one before. Are your plugins (or one or more you have installed) using WinForms instead of WPF? It looks like that is what this is relating to. Maybe the version being used is not compatible with .NET 9? No idea, really. "Unable to read data from the transport connection". I consider that to be "just a thing". Only because I don't know what exactly is, and doesn't appear to actually cause issues. Functionally or performance wise. (and it always shows) I recently [finally] replaced my 16-year-old antique PC (i7 something, 8GB RAM, video card not-worth-mentioning and a 13yo HDD) to an i5 14400F, RTX5060 8GB, 16GB RAM and an NVMe SSD. Both Visual Studio and LB are on SSD's. Debugging startup time went from close-to-a-minute+ to 15ish seconds.

It depends on which files you're referring to. If it's game ROMs and they're not in game-individual subfolders, you can use Tools < File Management < Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games...

In the link given, click "Continue Reading" to see "Temporary Workarounds".

Since it (0.12.25) was just released about 14 hours ago, you may want to inquire on their Git Issues page. Specifically, about running it from the command prompt. Once it can be ran successfully from it, there should be no issues getting it to run via LaunchBox.

Read here: https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/8736968-launchbox-licensing-faq#l3q0zx8fdyd

When you get to the Options screen, try checking "Force using MAME metadata...". Assuming your using MAME type ROMs.