JoeViking245

June 25

1 hour ago, Bucky_OHare said:

I removed the bat file and went with your method.

Prove it.

Edit the new emulator you created and share a screenshot of:

The main Details section
The Associated Platforms section

Edit your Street Fighter EX game and share a screenshot of:

The main section
The Launching section
The Emulation section

1 hour ago, Bucky_OHare said:

Where did I go wrong?

Requested screenshots may help determine that.

June 25

This plugin is no longer supported. Please see its replacement:

June 25

Just now, james95t said:

Hello everyone,
I'm switching PCs in my arcade machine and have installed the latest version of Launchbox. 
I followed the procedure to install the "bulk run before-after.dll" DLL file 2.0. I placed the file in the Launchbox plugins subdirectory.
I launch Launchbox, select several games, and right-click. The menu with the "Bulk Run before/After Main Application" command is available. 
I click on it, and nothing happens; nothing appears on the screen, no windows.
The plugin won't run.
What should I do?
This plugin is very useful and saves me a considerable amount of time.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Jean-Marc

Replied to you on the other thread.

June 25

8 minutes ago, james95t said:

Hello everyone,
I'm switching PCs in my arcade machine and have installed the latest version of Launchbox. 
I followed the procedure to install the "bulk run before-after.dll" DLL file 2.0. I placed the file in the Launchbox plugins subdirectory.
I launch Launchbox, select several games, and right-click. The menu with the "Bulk Run before/After Main Application" command is available. 
I click on it, and nothing happens; nothing appears on the screen, no windows.
The plugin won't run.
What should I do?
This plugin is very useful and saves me a considerable amount of time.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Jean-Marc

That plugin is no longer working nor supported (as indicated in its description). It has been replaced with the one below. Delete the one you added, then add this one.

June 25

Assuming you have the games imported into LaunchBox (so they have proper titles, metadata and media), you might be able to:

Add a new emulator to LaunchBox
- Point the app path to your zinc.exe
- Check the boxes:
  - Remove Quotes
  - Remove File Extension...
- Set the Associated Platforms to include your Zinc platform(s) (whatever you've named them)
- Save
Edit your Street Fighter EX game
- In the Emulation section
  - Use an Emulator... should be checked
    - if not, check it and select your new Zinc emulator
- In the Launching section
  - Set the ROM File to "2" (without quotes)
- Click OK to save and close

If not already, set your Zinc platform (whatever you've called it) to Scrape-As "Arcade". Otherwise, when you go to launch a game, it'll tell you something like "Gane ROM not Found".

Wash, rinse and repeat for the other games, changing "2" to the appropriate number.

Delete (or move for backup) all 'those' batch files.

June 24

13 minutes ago, AnonymousMOS said:

I'd like to know if we can delete the old location, too.

From the Strategy Guide: LaunchBox Media Pack Feature – Version 13.21 - LaunchBox

If you don’t plan to revert to an older version, it’s safe to delete the images from the locations listed below.

There's more in this section of that page: https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/0459065-launchbox-media-pack-feature-version-1321#il0pze2b2mc

June 24

7 minutes ago, KRI$85 said:

for example: I have a teknoparrot platform, and now I created a raw thrills platform and I thought it would detect these image file names

The issue here is it's 2 separate platforms. So it's looking in 2 separate folders.

9 minutes ago, KRI$85 said:

Tell me on what screen size do you use launchbox bigbox?

My cab has a 22" 1680x1050 monitor.

TBH, I don't really fire up Big Box that often. And when I do, it goes to the 65" TV. But I don't really "look at it" because I already know what game I'm going to play. I just find the game, press "X" on the controller and it launches.

June 24

23 minutes ago, fromlostdays said:

What could cause this?

Update your local database

Tools < Download < Force Update Games Database Metadata...

June 24

1 hour ago, dragon57 said:

I would check out this utility: https://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html

I use this and it's very convenient.

@KRI$85 The [potential] problem with this is, you'd need to know which games are "duplicated" to symlink those. Or... I suppose you could symlink each platforms' respective Images subfolders' images to the other platforms' subfolders, as a whole. You wouldn't be able to link the folders because some platforms will have games that others don't. You'd need to link the individual images. Unless... you put every single platform image(s) into ONE folder (with the respective image-type subfolders), then link all the 'other' platforms' images subfolders to that one. So you'd have something like /LaunchBox/Images/EverySinglePlatform/Box - Front/everygame.png(s)

Myself, I'd rather have each platform-specific image/video available. e.g. "1942" Box-Front

If you're talking say, just Clear Logos, that'd make a lot more sense.

You could also run an image resizer app on your images. Take the NES Box image above for example... will you EVER display that image at 1530 x 2100? Even the Clear Logo is 2400 x 790. Look in all your Views and see if you need/use a logo that big.

For videos, you could a similar thing. For my cab monitor, I've resized them to 640x480 and trimmed them to a max 37 seconds.

June 23

18 minutes ago, laserbeak43 said:

How do I attempt to batch download missing media files again?

Select a game in that platform then press Ctrl+A (to select all). Then.. Tools < Download < Update Metadata and Media for Selected Games...

Make sure the platform is set to Scrape As "Arcade".

June 23

I'm fairly certain the process done in the video should still work (be relevant). At what stage was it not working?

June 22

40 minutes ago, PinballBingo123 said:

I was able I think to import games like here Sega 32X and I see the images of the cardridge but when I click them a blck screen appear then nothing it come back to launchbox

Can you detail me an example for 32x as a template so i caan understand what s wrong ?

Have you gotten other MAME software lists to work using this plugin?

32x, aka Genesis with 32x only kind-of works in MAME. So not sure how much time you want to spend getting it to work here.

Did you look through and follow the - Software List folder/file locations: section in the plugin description for where to place the rom folder/files? And then modify mame.ini to reflect that?

32x also requires the BIOS file 32x.zip. Make sure that's within one of your ROM paths.

Lastly, the Command-line Parameters for the 32x Associated Platform in you MAME emulator requires "32x" (without quotes). The plugin should have put that in there for you. (It may also be "32x -cart". Which either is fine.)

If after going through that, it still doesn't work [and you do want to keep trying], share some screenshots.

Edit your MAME emulator and share a screenshot of:

The main Details section
The Associated Platforms section

Edit the game you're testing (Afterburner would be a good one to test. Not the golf one). Share a screenshot of:

The Launching section
The Emulation section

June 21

Assuming Tools < Import < ROM Files

Were you importing ROMs for a Single Platform? Or Multiple Platforms?

June 20

7 minutes ago, MrDeKat said:

By the way, do these platforms have a developer company

If not, there's always....

June 18

24 minutes ago, haradooku said:

Do you know if the developers come to this section of the forums often?

Possibly. If even that. But TBH and to be fair, (and this is just my guess...), they're not going to spend time following a 3rd party plugin thread. If for some reason it's broken (case in point), it's not theirs to fix. Conversely, if it's working, why $pend the time thinking about implementing the feature it's already providing?

Hence the Feature Request page.

42 minutes ago, haradooku said:

I don't know what plugins you've made

That's a shame.

43 minutes ago, haradooku said:

I'm still very much grateful for your contribution (despite the features not being officially implemented).

Thanks. As far as them not being officially implemented, makes no matter to me. It's just a hobby. 😎 And really, the only different between a plugin and an implemented feature is... "who's going to fix it when something changes?".

June 18

1 hour ago, dsync89 said:

I’ve noticed that if the ROM files in MAME-0.277/roms/softlist are identical (i.e., same filenames and checksums) to those already present in MAME-0.263/roms/softlist, then the LaunchBox MAME Softlist Import Tool will not update the ROM paths.

When updating, the plugin assumes one MAME, one ROM set. /MAME/roms/softlists/ Then, it actually only checks/cross-checks the ROM filename. It doesn't bother with the checksums. That between you and MAME (and something like clrMamePro if you use it).

In your case, you're essentially updating to a new set. Rather than from a new set.

Your workaround: Tools < File Management < Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games...

1 hour ago, dsync89 said:

I’m adding the clones as Additional Apps. For example, if a game title like "foo" already exists in Platform A which I imported from 0.263 MAME softlist, and the updated 0.277 MAME softlist set introduces a clone named "foo2", the import tool does not add "foo2" as an Additional App under the existing "foo" entry. It seems that if the base title already exists, newly introduced clones with different filenames aren’t added automatically as Additional Apps.

Thanks for clarifying this. I'll add "check this" to my to-do list. No promises on when that may take place.

1 hour ago, dsync89 said:

Too bad ever since MESS being integrated into MAME, there are still using the legacy hash.xml files for those systems. To the best of my knowledge there is no DAT project for those softlist systems.

Well, it's not really a bad thing. There's a lot of duplicity in the innerworkings between MAME and MESS. And accessing the xml files via the exe is not CPU intensive by any means. The alternative is to add 760+ files of data into the executable that may never even get touched.

DAT files are available for MAMEs softlists which clrMamePro can innately utilize. (a P.I.T.A. until you learn to make it work "for you". But doable none-the-less.) But traversing 14 iterations of releases is beyond reasonable.

1 hour ago, dsync89 said:

Updating is a pain since I had to manually go through these softlist system and re-run the import tool.

You could always update/import them the other way. 😎

June 18

57 minutes ago, dsync89 said:

Glad to report that this plugin still works on the latest Launchbox v13.21.

That's great to hear!!

57 minutes ago, dsync89 said:

1) it won't update the ROM path for any existing rom that still exist in the new romset (issue)

I'm not following you. Are you changing the ROM path? Can you maybe provide more details.

1 hour ago, dsync89 said:

2) any newly added roms that is a clone of an existing rom won't be added too to the Application list. (issue)

Are you adding the clones separately or as Additional Apps? Or maybe the "Application list" = Additional Apps?

To clarify, an existing Parent ROM has a newly added clone? I'll have to check the code.

I don't recall off hand what all I had logged. If you could provide the log file(s) for these failed attempts, it might help me deduce what's going (not going) on. (Just drag and drop the file(s) located in the plugins' /Logs/ folder [vs. copy/paste the whole things]) onto your reply message.

1 hour ago, dsync89 said:

So I ended up having to delete all entries and re-update again. Not sure if there is any plan to update this? Thanks!

Fortunately that resolve is not a tedious one. A few seconds to delete and a few seconds to import. TBH, I kind of figured everyone would be using no-intro or redump sets and not need this 5-ish year-old plugin.

June 17

1 hour ago, highchiro1 said:

Critical Error Occured on big box startup. Launchbox works perfectly. Its on windows 10 any help appreciated

The error indicates something is up with your license file. Email support@unbrokensoftware.com and they can sort it out for you.

June 17

MAME Machine Dependency Files and Data Viewer

View File

The original intent of this plugin was to have a way to check if a specific MAME machine required 'other' files to be able to run. The only way I knew how to find this was to navigate to the Arcade Database (ADB), look up the game and then check the MAME Required Files section. (I've yet to see another source with this information spelled out.)

After doing some investigation into the available MAME parameters and outputs they provide, I was able to deduce this info and threw it into this plugin. I also wanted to give users quick access to the machine (game) on ADB. Pursuing this I found that they had a couple API calls available and so added the Machine Details section. Unfortunately, none of the calls gave the 'required files' data.

Features:

Shows files other than the main ROM that are required to run the game (if any).
- BIOS, Device and CHD and [optional - not required] Sample
See the games' Overall and Emulation status. (Good, Imperfect, Preliminary)
- If it's not "Good", see why. e.g.
  - "sound - unemulated"
  - "graphics - imperfect"
Direct link to the machine on the Arcade Database (ADB)
View details about the machine.
- ROM Genre
  Title Players
  Short Title nPlayers
  Clone of Language
  Manufacturer Input Controls
  Series Input Buttons
  Year Screen Orientation
  Status Screen Resolution
Works in platforms whose ROMs are MAME, but the emulator is not.
- e.g. platform emulator = DEMul, SuperModel, FBNeo, Model2 etc.

Requirements:

LaunchBox 13.19 (or newer)
MAME Arcade machines only. Will not work with MAME's Software Lists.
The game(s) being checked must be using MAME ROMs. (e.g. filenames generally 2 to 13 characters with no spaces)
The MAME emulator (or variant [e.g. mameui.exe]) installed in LaunchBox
- If the games' emulator is not MAME or one of its variants, the plugin will attempt to scan your installed emulators for one that is.
- RetroArch (with any MAME cores) does NOT count as a MAME emulator nor variant.
An internet connection to view the Machine Details and navigate to Arcade Database.

Installing:

Extract the contents of the download to /LaunchBox/Plugins/
- e.g. D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\MameRequiredFiles\MameRequiredFiles.dll

Using:

Right-click an Arcade game and select MAME Machine Dependency Files
View which dependency files are required to run the game (if any)
Click the Arcade Database logo (ADB) to navigate directly to the game on the ADB website
Hover the mouse over Status to see why the LEDs are Yellow (Imperfect) or Red (Preliminary)
Click Machine Details to view details about the machine
- (mostly duplicative of what you should already have/know)

Acknowledgements:
The MAME Development Team for... well... MAME!
https://www.mamedev.org/

Information in the Machine Details section is scraped from
Arcade Database by motoschifo
http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/

Submitter

JoeViking245
Submitted

06/17/2025
Category

Third-party Apps and Plugins

June 17

2 minutes ago, ricktn1 said:

Actually, you just sparked my head. I've removed "games" from the logo names - they now appear!!

Thanks.

Good to hear. As you discovered, the playlist image filename needs to be the exact same as the playlists' Nested Name.

June 17

In your \LaunchBox\Images\Media Packs\Platform Clear Logos\Nostalgic Platform Clear Logos\Playlists\ folder, for your example image, what is the file name?

Nintendo 64 Fighting.png
Fighting.png

(Green is good. Red is bad.)

June 17

14 minutes ago, NEcroxide said:

i just tried that it made it worst, but i see my error might not be the same.

Different error and 15 [LaunchBox] versions later.

For your error, try:

Go to Tools > Download > Force Update Games Database Metadata
Wait for the update process to complete
Restart LaunchBox

June 15

You never said what version you're on. v13.22-beta-4 resolved an issue where missing images weren't falling back to the Nostalgic folder. It might be worth a look.

Quote

Fixed: Badges now fall back to the Nostalgic pack if your current pack is missing a specific badge

June 14

5 minutes ago, Middcore said:

Hey, sorry for the delay in responding. I just fired up a game again to generate a log file and the bezels actually seem to be working now. Apparently in the game I was trying before the bezels don't load up during the initial publisher "vanity plate" screens? Sorry to waste your time.

No worries. Glad to hear it's working now.

June 13

17 minutes ago, indysgill said:

Is there a way for Mame to be separated into Arcade and Software roms?

LaunchBox doesn't natively import MAME's softlists. That said, (some/most/all) softlist BIOS and Device files are in with the MAME full Arcade set. (just not the softlist game ROMs)

If you use the MAME Arcade Full Set Import Wizard, on one of the screens is a list of items to check/un-check. One of them is Skip Games Unplayable in MAME (or similar). Unchecking that will import the miscellaneous file you're [most likely] seeing.

If you don't want to reimport, you can click the filter icon (when in your Arcade platform) and select Genre - System - BIOS and delete the resulting files. Do the same with Genre -System - Device.

I say "delete" (in LaunchBox, that is) because they do you no good and you can't play them anyway. If you want to "Hide" them instead, select All of the above resulting filtered files and press Ctrl+E to start the Bulk Edit Wizard. Then select Hide and set it to true (or however it's deemed).

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MAME Machine Dependency Files and Data Viewer