JoeViking245

February 26

Don't recall what the startup time for my cab with its antique i5 is, but about 19 seconds seems right.

Here's an article about Troubleshooting LaunchBox & Big Box Performance that may (or may not) help give some insight.

February 26

46 minutes ago, lightfox said:

I AM morbidly curious!

Me too. Here's what I found in that section:

<configuration name="Keyboard layout" tag="kbd:LAYOUT" mask="24">
   <confsetting name="QWERTY/,УЕИШЩ" value="0"/>
   <confsetting name="QWERTY/ЯВЕРТЪ" value="24"/>
   <confsetting name="QWERTY/ЙЦУКЕН" value="8" default="yes"/>
   <confsetting name="Test?" value="16"/>
</configuration>

February 26

34 minutes ago, lightfox said:

The root cause? Well..I'm also playing japanese language video games. For that to work, I have set up my PC a certain way that LaunchBox didn't like.

My ignorant American mind would have never guessed that. Thanks for being "curios" and looking into it further AND most of all, figuring it out! (I'll add this to my notes)

February 26

Welp, I'm at a loss.

Tried it here (LB 13.26) with MAME 0.285 and 0.286 with no error.

Your MAME is from MAMEDev? (Or LB installed it for you. Same thing.) vs. something like MAMEUI or HBMAME

Reinstall MAME? Try the importer again.

File a bug report: (the top of the page) click Help & Support and select Report A Bug.

If you're still morbidly curious... Run the importer, get the error, open the file in \LaunchBox\Metadata\Temp\ that's approx. 305MB (it won't be an xml file) using NP++, look again for the line number. Though this won't help with the issue at hand. But may show 'a something'.

February 26

1 hour ago, lightfox said:

I guess that we want to consider that line 1 = line number of of the <mame> tag, I have to subtract 163 lines, not add them?

Well, no. Because 1 is to 164, as 4292731 is to 4,292,895.

Either way we go, nothing came to light. It's also possible that LB stripped some of the unused elements before parsing it, Thus changing the line numbers even further.

Did you try rerunning the Import Wizard?

February 25

40 minutes ago, lightfox said:

When I go to line 4292731, I see this, which doesn't seem invalid to me:

The error message looks like an xml parsing error. Since list the listxml result starts with a DOCTYPE declaration, go down from the line it says errored about 163 more lines. (to approx. line 4,292,894) "163" being about the length (# of lines) of the declaration.

Also, you're probably looking for <machine name=. I suspect LaunchBox parses the xml into a Model which has the elements saved as capitalized words. (like shown in the error, Name)

Or, retry the MAME Arcade Import Wizard again. It's possible when LaunchBox ran its own -listxml, something got malformed.

February 23

1 hour ago, RobertBlum said:

but still error when i start a game

Depends on the error you received. If it was something like "can't from the ROM.."

You have (at least) 2 options:

Open LaunchBox
- Select the platform
- Select all games in that platform (select one and then press Ctrl+A)
- Go to Tools < File Management < Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games...
- Read and follow the Prompts
With LaunchBox not running
- Edit the platforms file you changed the game's ROMs location
  - e.g. E:\LaunchBox\Data\Platforms\Nintendo 64.xml
- Do a bulk Find & Replace
  - Find: E:\LaunchBox\Games\
  - Replace with: C:\LaunchBox\Games\

February 23

6 hours ago, norwichred said:

Can anyone help this foolish person with what he’s doing wrong?

Nothing foolish about it. Just "keeping you on your toes". As of v13.21, the location to store playlist Clear Logos (and a few other specific image types) have moved.

Can see more details about it here: https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/0459065-media-packs

February 22

12 minutes ago, DJ DUDE said:

I will try to download qbittorrent tonight and see how it goes.

Just Do It™

Over the last 8+ years of playing with this, never had an issue. No VPN. Just MS Defender. No more. No less.

That said, "stuff" happens. And maybe I've just been lucky (but don't think that's the case. ).

February 22

41 minutes ago, XvXPhoenix said:

Thanks for answering! Maybe this could be a feature request? Just don't know how easy or difficult it would be to implement.

You're welcome!

Not sure how "easy" it would be to implement (I think the image types have been set for quite a while [many years, hidden deep in the code]).

RE: a Feature Request... by all means. Yes. (top of the page under Help & Support)

The [potential] caveat being, I'm not sure how the developers would feel about a 'dynamic' image type. e.g. The users can add in a new type and name it whatever they want. Like "3D Boxes - GH". Where-as a new 'static' image type may, programmatically be more easily added in. But it probably wouldn't be "3D Boxes - GH". Just sayin'.

This is all just speculation. But hey, and it never hurts to submit a feature request. Regardless of being feasible, reasonable, easy or difficult, or even useful from only one user's perspective. Like Nike says, Just Do It™.

February 22

In short...

1 hour ago, XvXPhoenix said:

that's the only option

Well, only "reasonable" option. I suppose you could customize your theme and force it to look in a specific folder (name of your choosing) for the game image file(s). Viable. But not very reasonable (depending on the severity of your OCD-ness).

Plan "B", create your folder "3D Boxes - GH" and put your images in it. Then create symlinks to those images in e.g. "Arcade-Flyer". They'd be stored where 'you want them', but you'd still have to "classify" them as "Arcade-Flyer" in LaunchBox. So not really a 'good' plan.

February 22

3 hours ago, DJ DUDE said:

Brand new and I'm trying to set up a mame fullset 0.285 in launch box. I have downloaded the non merged zip from github mirror site for pleasuredome. I realzie these are rorrent files so I used trrntzipUI.net to get them back to regular zip file (I think, first time using that utility.)

The Full Set link on PD Git is actually a "magnet" that will attempt to redirect the download to your installed torrent client (downloader) app. Many people use qBittorrent. Not familiar with the one you mentioned. You will be asked to click OK to have it direct the torrent to you client.

You client will download the plethora of .zip files into the folder you tell it to. When 100% done, close your client then either keep that folder of ROMs (zip files) where it's at or move it to wherever you want.

Then in the Import MAME Arcade Full Set Wizard, Browse to that folder containing the ROMs your client downloaded for you. (For reference, the non-merged set should contain close to 42,000 zip files)

February 21

2 minutes ago, SilasMurder said:

Rolled back and updated. Now works....idk

Hmm, something must have been wonky with the original 13.26 install.

Glad to hear it's all working now!

February 21

26 minutes ago, SilasMurder said:

Tried it. Same result. Tried all sorts of marking and unmarking in custom options. Tried MAME data and no MAME data. Not sure why it is doing this?

Just ran a few tests...

Tools < Import < ROM Files < Single Platform
Add Files (just grabbed some MAME .zip files for testing)
- Any file(s) will work
Platform "FinalBurn Neo"
- also did "Final Burn Neo"
- and "FBNeo"
- All 3 worked (screenshot below)
- "FBN" did NOT work
Scrape-As "Arcade"
- Selecting ANYTHING other than "Arcade" did NOT work
Emulator "MAME"
- Also did RetroArch - FBNeo core
- Also did RA - "citra" core (at random)
- Also did "BigPEmu"
- All 4 worked (screenshot below)
Right after the "bezels" screen
- The was no option (checkbox) available for "Use MAME Data"
- Checked none (default)
Next screen, this appeared

Take away:

Name the platform one of these:
- FinalBurn Neo
- Final Burn Neo
- FBNeo
Set Scrape-As to Arcade

February 21

3 minutes ago, SilasMurder said:

Never ran into this. Kind of wondering if I should try finalburn neo as a standalone emulator? Would that trick it?

The FinalBurn Neo import feature is new ("officially" as of 12 days ago). I don't know if it's to check the core you select with RA and/or the standalone emu to be able to determine is it FBNeo ROMs you're importing or not. The announcements were not very descriptive. TBH, haven't tried it and my suggestions were just guesses. 😊 But yeah, try the standalone emu. Then later you can change it.

February 21

21 minutes ago, SilasMurder said:

When I go to import them none of the roms import!

Are you importing them into the platform "FinalBurn Neo" and setting the emulator to FBNeo?

February 21

3 hours ago, ZazaZizi said:

Heya, just got premium and I could have sworn my platform icon for MS-DOS used to be the MS-DOS logo, now it seems to have changed to WIN. Not sure if messing around with the options I changed something or not, but I was wondering how I could adjust it to the correct icon.

Edit the MS-DOS platform and check that the Scrape-As value. Is it set to MS-DOS?

February 21

Yes. I've been seeing the same thing. I think [a big?] part of it is the forums been getting hit with spam quite a bit recently. When a spammer is identified and banned, their recent posts get deleted. A guess I have is when their posts are deleted, the thread is staying marked as "un-read". It didn't used to do that. Assuming my guess is correct, that is. Regardless, something screwy is going on.

February 20

3 hours ago, Tsik said:

the %noromfile% variable

"But wait! There's more..."

Go here: LaunchBox for Windows - Strategy Guide

Scroll down to and under Advanced Features click LaunchBox Built-in Command Line Variables.

February 19

Did some hands-on testing and learned a few things...

Using -c (scummvm.ini):

If you start ScummVM without "scummvm.ini" in the same folder as the exe, it will be created in %AppData%. And save states etc. will be saved there as well.
If you use the -c parameter (or --config= ), regardless of what you set it to, Saves will be saved into the %AppData% folder. Unless you use the --savepath= parameter as well. Same with --logfile= and anything else that gets saved to disc.
If you start ScummVM with "scummvm.ini" in the same folder as the exe, and no -c parameter, everything gets saved in a "portable" fashion.

Using -p:

When launching a game with the -p parameter, ScummVM will see it as a "new game" but still identify it (monkey2) correctly. But it will then suffix the "new games" id with -1. And since the scummvm.ini file doesn't contain a specific section for "[monkey2-1]", no custom settings you originally made will load. This 'suffix thing' is the same with save states.

If you manually edit the scummvm.ini and copy/paste the [monkey2] section and rename it [monkey2-1], upon launching with -p, ScummVM will again, find a "new game". This time suffixing it with -2. ...We call this an uphill battle.

The Fix:

I tried this, that and the other thing to be able to load the saved game-specific settings and nothing worked. Except 1.

Open ScummVM
Select the game you made specific changes to (Monkey Island 2)
Click Game Options
Make note of the ID (monkey2)
Close ScummVM
In LaunchBox, edit the game
In the Emulation section
- check the box Use Custom Command-line Parameters
- In the space below it, put
  - -f monkey2 %noromfile%
- (if you prefer, you can change -f to --fullscreen. Same thing.)
Click OK to save and close
Wash, rinse and repeat for other games you've made custom settings for
Play games

Final Note:

With that, you can revert the emulators Default Command-Line Parameters to -p %romfile% --auto-detect --fullscreen. (removing the -c config parameter)

February 19

Sounds like (possibly)... your local database file is over 24 hours[ish] old. So, it will 1st download (update) your local database file. It may then do an integrity check of the download but then load the file into memory. At that point the metadata begins to import.

If you go to do another metadata import on the same day, it should start it right away.

To circumvent this "several minute" delay, before importing new metadata [on a new day] go to Tools < Download and select Force Update Games Database Metadata... This may be more psychosomatic than actually being "faster", but feels faster.

February 18

10 minutes ago, Tsik said:

the default place is where ScummVm looks/creates its files automatically is "C:\Users\[UserName]\AppData\Roaming\ScummVM"

(side note) If you have LaunchBox install or update ScummVM for you, during this process, LaunchBox will create an empty "scummvm.ini" file in the emulators folder (if one doesn't exist there). Making ScummVM portable.

With that, if your settings were originally all saved under %AppData% and you had LB update the emulator, the 'older' setting are not copied over.

This however does not explain why when launched outside on LaunchBox, the specific settings load. But not, when launched from within LaunchBox.

Unless the testing is inadvertently being done between 2 separate installs of ScummVM.

February 18

19 minutes ago, Ronen1984 said:

I tried it and it doesn't work

Can you share some screenshots?

Edit your ScummVM emulator (in LaunchBox) and show

The main Details section
The Associated Platforms section

Edit your Monkey Island 2 game and show

The Launching section
The Emulation section

February 18

On 9/7/2024 at 8:50 AM, w00master said:

However, in MAME games I run into a focus issue.

Did you ever find a resolution to this? (asking a year and a half later 😊)

My GUN4IR is enroute and I'm going to want to do the same thing: switch between Fullscreen and 4:3, game/emulator pending.

I think the losing focus issue can be resolved be setting the (4) Run commands to run minimized. (Won't know until mine arrives and I set it up)

e.g. Run, %COMSPEC% /C echo M3.1 > COM4,,Min

February 17

6 minutes ago, DodgeUK said:

Cheers. It tells me my license is epired. It had done but I thought I still got Big Box without updates. Thanks for your help.

From the Purchase link, under the FAQ's:

Quote

How long does a Regular License last?
Forever. No Really! Your Regular License unlocks all the premium features and gives you a year of updates. After that, you can keep using LaunchBox on any version released before your year was up.

Here, "LaunchBox" meaning LaunchBox and Big Box.

If you wish to reinstall the last version your license is valid for [to maintain all the premium features that version offers], you can reinstall it from that version's setup file located in your /LaunchBox/Updates/ folder. If you no longer have access to that file, you can email support@unbrokensoftware.com and they should be able to help you out. (with the appropriate setup file and your license.xml file)

Profiles

Forums

Articles

Downloads

Gallery

Blogs

Posts posted by JoeViking245