JoeViking245

March 17

Go into list view and verify the titles. Look for any extra characters or (words in parenthesis). I couldn't mine (in a test) to order them wrong.

March 17

10 minutes ago, Shredder_guitar said:

Looking for ideas or suggestions on what to do with them.

For the images, put them into a pdf. Text files can stay as is.

Alien Syndrome (stage maps).pdf
Alien Syndrome (Walkthrough).txt
Alien Syndrome (Walkthru - FAQ).txt

Then add these as Additional Apps to the game(s) to show up as documents.

March 17

I don't have any Dinput encoder/controllers (and will mutter under my breath, thank goodness). Those are not native to Windows and (I believe) require SDL something something something to be detected and work (even though you say your Windows sees them). Pretty sure LB/BB should be able to at least see them. What I'm getting at is I know just enough about this to be quite dangerous and unhelpful. 😊

In LaunchBox under Tools - Options - Game Controllers (where you say they're not showing), checking Use All and clicking Refresh does nothing?

What I do know (well, have heard mention of, quite a few times over), is that using a something like DS4Windows (or x360ce or reWASD) can make "the issue" go away.

Another viable option is, if your encoder is able to use (switch to) Xinput mode or even keyboard mode (which is what the one on my cab uses), that would/should make it all 'just work'.

March 17

25 minutes ago, pman555 said:

Basically yes.
Except for some reason I’m unable to launch games from Mame. I moved them to the launchbox folder for organization, maybe that’s why?

MAME doesn't know where you ROMs are. When you launch the game(s) from LB/BB, the command line parameter -rompath %romlocation% is passed to MAME and the %romlocation% is replace by LB/BB with the path to the ROM you're launching. Essentially telling MAME where that ROM is located.

That said, you can't (at this point) set the individual games' controls from within MAME.

To launch games directly from MAME...

Open MAME
go into General Settings - Configure Folders
Select ROMs
Select Add Folder
Select the drive your LB is on
Select down to /LaunchBox/Games/Arcade/
- assuming that's where your ROMs are
Press TAB so set [the folder]
- e.g. here, 2 folders are set
Return to Previous Menu
Press Escape
Select Save Settings
Press Escape to close that menu

Now, on the left panel (still in MAME's UI), click on Available. You should see the games that you have in LaunchBox. You can now launch the game directly from MAME and test to see if you can TAB into MAME's menu and set the trackball.

Hope that all makes sense.

If you are unable to set/map them there, it stands to reason, you won't be able to do it when launching the game from Big Box.

March 17

13 minutes ago, pman555 said:

Could an issue be that I'm not playing in as an admin user in windows?

No. You should never need to run an emulator or LB/BB as admin. In fact, don't do it.

Re-reading your thread, to clarify...

the issue is when you launch an Arcade game from Big Box and while in-game, you TAB into MAME's menu, you can't set any inputs using the trackball. But if you start stand-alone MAME, load a game, TAB into the menu while in-game, you can map the trackball.

If you do the latter (and everything's ok), when you launch the game from BB, are the in-games controls working? As in you can play the game with the desired controls?

March 16

20 minutes ago, T J said:

I set my setting exactly like your and still in the same position. I do not know how to get to the .cfg files tho.

Another thing that might help is currently trackball games like Marble Madness and Missile Command both work being controlled by the stick.

In Windows Explorer, navigate to your /MAME/cfg/ folder. It'll be in there.

The joystick on my cab can control it too. But that's because of the Analog Inc/Dec settings (up/down/left/right, respectively). You could try removing the Inc/Dec mappings.

March 16

Here's a related post about setting up a trackball with Marble Madness. I wasn't able to set the X and Y axis using the trackball either. But what I found was, it works with MAME's defaults. I did need to adjust the sensitivities for that game. (but pretty sure that one is game specific)

March 16

Here's the settings I have and it "just works" [with the trackball].

Deleting marble.cfg then starting the game, you should see this via TAB

Adjust the sensitivity in Input Assignments [from default 30] to 130 (at least that works for me)

Exiting the game, marble.cfg could look like this.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- This file is autogenerated; comments and unknown tags will be stripped -->
<mameconfig version="10">
    <system name="marble">
        <counters>
            <coins index="0" number="2" />
        </counters>
        <input>
            <port tag=":IN0" type="P1_TRACKBALL_X" mask="255" defvalue="0" sensitivity="130" />
            <port tag=":IN1" type="P1_TRACKBALL_Y" mask="255" defvalue="0" sensitivity="130" />
        </input>
        <mixer>
            <audio_effects tag=":speaker">
                <effect step="1" type="Filters" />
                <effect step="2" type="Compressor" />
                <effect step="3" type="Reverb" />
                <effect step="4" type="Equalizer" />
            </audio_effects>
            <sound_map tag=":speaker">
                <node_mapping node="" db="0.000000" />
            </sound_map>
        </mixer>
    </system>
</mameconfig>

March 16

47 minutes ago, Jetsurgeon said:

.281 release as the non merged ROM files

Just be sure to get the matching MAME 0.281 release (the emulator to go with the ROMs). (see more below)

49 minutes ago, Jetsurgeon said:

Will Big Box be able to tell which work or don't

LaunchBox/Big Box don't care if they work or not. They merely passed along the command line parameters you provide (or what they auto populate when you add the emulator to LaunchBox).

To distinguish, LaunchBox is what you use to add your Platforms, emulator and games and organizing it all through platform categories and playlists. Quite a few people actually just use it as their working frontend. Big Box is for showing off your collection in a "pretty" fashion. And the "intent" of both of them is to play games. Many get caught up in building their collection and making it pretty and forgetting to actually play the games.

When you're ready to import you Arcade games, you can use the MAME Arcade Full Set Import Wizard (via Tools - Import). As you navigate through the wizard, your given many options. e.g.

point to the folder containing your ROMs
Select the version (0.281 in your case)
On the Would you like to automatically install and configure MAME? screen
- Select the 1st ("Recommended") option (this is what I was talking earlier when I said "see more below")
- LaunchBox will download and install MAME 0.281 for you as the emulator for your Arcade platform
One screen down the road will ask about "filters" with several checkboxes
- One of the boxes is Skip games unplayable in MAME.
- LEAVE that one checked.
  - This I suppose is how BB "will be able to tell which work or don't"
- Actually, probably them all alone (use the defaults)
The defaults on all the screens are that way for a reason. They just work.

1 hour ago, Jetsurgeon said:

Or is it folly to download 640 CHD's? Some (like DLair or Cobra)

Make use of resources available to you. e.g. The Arcade Database Search for a game and see what it says about it.

Search "dlair" and you'll see a pretty green dot indicating it's playable.

Do the same for "cobra" and you see this:

RE: ROM files and their location,

put the ROMs where you want the before importing
- This is a personal preference and will be dictated by your personal degree/level of OCD.
- /LaunchBox/Games/Arcade/ is the default location. But by no means is required.
CHD's ROMs come in individual folders, per game
The easiest way to use those is to place their folders in the same folder as your MAME ROMs
- /LaunchBox/Games/Arcade/dlair/dlair.chd
If this is detrimental to your OCD-ness, you can place them elsewhere in their own location/folder
- Then either in the MAME UI or by editing mame.ini, tell MAME where the ROMs and CHDs are located
- Some modifications to the default command-line parameters will be in order as well
Never, never, never unzip you ROMs files. Leave them as is.
- I mean, you can unzip them to see what 's inside if you want. But MAME needs them in zip form

March 16

The CHD set only comes as a merged set. Your non-merged MAME ROMs will work without issue with the CHD set.

In a non-merged ROM set, each game file contains all it's necessary BIOS, Device and System files to run. e.g. Operation Wolf (opwolf.zip) will contain its game files plus the necessary files from the required Device file cchip.zip. Note, in your non-merged set, you will still see the 2 files opwolf.zip and cchip.zip. And realistically, you could delete cchip.zip and still be able to play opwolf.zip (and any of its clones [opwolfb, opwolfp, opwolfj etc.]). But don't do that.

A note about CHD's - Some food for thought...

The are 640 of them (including clones)
351 are parents
57 of those are considered "Working" (by MAME's standards)

(these numbers are from MAME release 0.266, but should still be close to the current 0.286)

March 16

Pretty sure you can rule out the animation effect of the Disc images. That's a fairly basic WPF storyboard animation. May look impressive in code. But is essentially as simple for WPF to do as it is for it place text on the screen. You could comment out those 2 lines in the 2 files having them and test from there.

But if you're seeing the same issue in BB between all WheelxGamesView views (e.g. You see it using Wheel2 and also when using Wheel4), that will rule out the animation being an issue.

To supplement the extensive testing you've done thus far, grab an N64 reference video, make copies of it matching the filenames of your Steam videos. Move you original Steam videos to somewhere safe and place the 'copies' in their place.

Yeah, in this test, all Steam games' videos will "be the same video". But each game is accessing/loading a separate "file". Hope that makes sense.

This should rule out or confirm that the Steam videos, original, converted, trimmed or otherwise are the underlying issue. Which you may have deduced already and be a moot test.

March 16

47 minutes ago, Who_Dunnit_Roger said:

I cannot find anywhere in launchbox to tell each platform where to find their respective bezels.

When importing a platform (or updating metadata and media) and selecting to add bezels, LaunchBox downloads the Bezel Project files and then places the bezels for [only] the games being imported, into their appropriate folder. e.g. for MAME, they get placed in your /MAME/artwork folder. Myself, I don't use them for the RetroArch systems I have. But imagine they go in something like /RetroArch/Overlays/../../ But that's just a guess (for RA).

So the temp folder/files is just that. A temporary download to then "cherry pick" just the ones for your games being imported/updated.

54 minutes ago, Who_Dunnit_Roger said:

what is the best alternate option for games missing theme videos

Assuming 'your' best option is getting them from EmuMovies (which is the best option), the only other option I'm aware of is

Scour the internet for them (time consuming and most likely, a fruitless adventure)
Look in the Downloads section (here on the Forums)
Create your own

March 15

1 hour ago, Dannyboy said:

When i start bigbox, i am unable to use the joysticks or buttons anymore. I went in Launchbox game controller settings and it seems like non are detected.

Note that LaunchBox and Big Box controller settings are separate. As in, set them in LaunchBox for LaunchBox and set them in Big Box for Big Box.

I'm not familiar with that particular encoder. Is that set for Xinput? Dinput? keyboard mode?

March 14

9 minutes ago, heartattackmack said:

I actually took a look and found a second .exe file for LaunchBox.

Uhhh.... where?

13 minutes ago, heartattackmack said:

Do you think I could just delete that second instance and be okay, or should I follow your directions?

If my directions aren't clear or don't make sense based on what you're seeing on your setup, DO NOT follow my directions!

This really all depends where exactly you "found a second .exe file for LaunchBox". If it's not like (or similar to how) I described, please elaborate on what exactly you're seeing.

March 14

49 minutes ago, 51mm5 said:

2050650 should be for the 2023 version [...] 254700 should be the 2005 version

Thanks! And yes. That could be a problem. (obviously I didn't even look close enough to notice)

I will pass this along to the proper authorities for resolution.

March 14

1 hour ago, heartattackmack said:

I noticed the other day that my .exe file for LaunchBox was no longer available to open. After reinstalling, I noticed all of my game save data was gone.

Look in your LaunchBox folder for another folder called LaunchBox.

What most likely happened was when you reinstalled LaunchBox, you selected your [existing] LaunchBox folder, then didn't verify the path before clicking Install. Wherever you select, the installer adds /LaunchBox to the path. It's a pretty common mishap.

Easiest fix is to delete the 2nd LaunchBox folder. D:\LaunchBox\LaunchBox\ Do not delete the green one!

Then reinstall [again]. This time selecting the folder (or Drive in my example) above your existing install. Then verify the path before clicking install.

March 14

32 minutes ago, -McFly- said:

Win 11 24H2 Build 26100.8037

Mine's Win11 Home 25H2 Build 26200.89037 Don't know if the version/builds are different because mine's the "Home" edition.

March 14

15 minutes ago, 51mm5 said:

Did I say it was fixed 🤣

Well, you said you were able to change it. So I assumed. 😊

What I did to test was:

Pressed Ctrl+N (to add a new game)
In the Launching section, put
- steam://rungameid/2050650
Back in the Metadata section, typed in
- resident evil 4
Pressed Enter (to have LB search for the game) and got
- Resident Evil 4 (2005)
Clicked OK to save and close
Pressed Ctrl+N again
...put
- steam://rungameid/254700 (using the other ID #)
...typed in
- resident evil 4 (same as before)
Pressed Enter...
- Resident Evil 4 (Deluxe Edition) (the 2023 version)
OK

So it seems there may an issue with the Steam Auto-Import feature (to include when updating games) when 2 games have the same Title (minus datum inside of parenthesis). It's possible that because the local database file only has the Steam ID for the one of the 2 games, it auto grabs the one (as the titles are "the same"). Or... it does it by title-match and grabs the 1st exact match. However, adding them manually as I did, it works. Dunno.

40 minutes ago, 51mm5 said:

No matter how many times I change it and go through the update games with existing metadata and/or media its just changes back

To clarify, when you buy new Steam games and LB does it's auto-import thing, it adds the new games and modifies your 2 RE4 games? Or... when you start LB, it scans Steam for "new" games and regardless of a new game or not, it modifies the 2? Essentially revering them both to the one game?

March 14

You never did mention the Steam ID #'s. Troubleshooting-data aside, glad it's fixed.

March 14

3 minutes ago, 51mm5 said:

Thanks, quick question. I have the 2005 version as well as the remake (the one that is titled wrong), would doing the above "break" the 2005, which is titled correctly?

If you have both, you'll have 2 "<DatabaseID>7801</DatabaseID>".

Only change one of them. The correct one. Based on the Steam ID#. (I don't have either, so the screenshot is just an example)

March 14

5 hours ago, -McFly- said:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\BigBox.exe

What version of Windows are you on? My Windows 11 doesn't have BigBox.exe in this path. I'd have to check my cab (which is on W10) to see if it's there.

March 14

Oh, it's a Steam game? What its Steam ID #? (In the games Launching section, the Application Path should by something like "steam://rungameid/21130".)

Continuing with these Q&A's will help determine what's-going-on, why-it's-happening (hopefully) and give the developers and idea how-to-fix-it for this situation so other don't come across this in the future.

If you just want to do a brute force fix-the-dang-thing...

Save it with the game that's found
- Resident Evil 4 (2005)
- and the LBDB ID # showing as 7801
Exit LaunchBox
In Windows Explorer
- Navigate to /LaunchBox/Data/Platforms/
- Open Windows.xml using any text editor
- Search for <DatabaseID>7801</DatabaseID>
- Replace 7801 with 261464
  - <DatabaseID>261464</DatabaseID>
- Save and close the file
Open LaunchBox
Select [only] your Resident Evil 4 (2005) game
Tools - Download - Update Metadata and Media for Selected Games
- When asked "Would you like to update games with existing metadata and/or media?"
- Select "Yes, download and replace all existing metadata and media" (the 1st option)
Click finish to "grab the correct games data"

Now you can

Edit the game
Go to the Alternate Names section
Select "Resident Evil 4: Remake"
Click "Set Selected Name as Title"
Click OK to save and close

March 13

4 minutes ago, 51mm5 said:

It still doesn't provide any other option:

Try... Go to Tools - Download - Force Update Games Database Metadata. When that's completed, try again

March 13

24 minutes ago, nekreg9 said:

One thing I noticed is there are 9 images saved for 20XX but only 2 show on the overview.

The Game Details panel, Overview section will only show select images. Not sure specifically which images are available there. But I do know e.g. Disc and Clear Logo won't be visible there.

To preview all 9, you can click on one of 'small' the images, so it becomes the main image, then click the main image. This will show it fullscreen. Press Left/Right arrows to navigate through the images. Press Escape to exit fullscreen preview.

March 12

Does it show any indication of a video on the right Game Details panel? Can you share a screenshot of that?

Profiles

Forums

Articles

Downloads

Gallery

Blogs

Posts posted by JoeViking245