[Launchbox does not detect Retroarch cores in non-default location]

3 minutes ago, JPCLive said:

Thanks for the quick response. 

I suppose I could keep the cores in the default location, but if RA allows them to be moved then I would think it would be advantageous to allow LB to be able to find them wherever they are, no?

No problem.

Though it does seem a bit niche, I'm sure you have a good reason.  Beyond "because I can".   

You can always put in a Feature Request to integrate custom core locations.  Feedback - LaunchBox  Navigate to the link and click Create a new post.

[Launchbox does not detect Retroarch cores in non-default location]

52 minutes ago, JPCLive said:

My Retroarch cores are not in the default location. RA itself is configured for this and the cores and games launch just fine from within RA. LaunchBox shows all the cores as missing in the emulator manager, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to point LB at where they are. As a result, none of the games that use RA will launch from LB.

Are you pretty adamant about not having the cores in their default location?  That is, are you adverse to having them in the cores folder?  I know for myself, I do a bit of crazy customization for my emulators. But have never thought of moving the cores to a different location.

As LaunchBox has made using RetroArch to be a near hands-free experience, it relies on several of its default settings.  e.g. core location.

 

1 hour ago, JPCLive said:

Anyone know of a workaround?

There's [almost] always a way.   For an atypical installation, you can use a custom command line in the games' emulator settings.  Edit the game and in the Emulation section, check the box to Use Custom Command-line Parameters.  Then below that, add  -L path/to/your/cores/core_name.dll 

After confirming that works, then there's a Bulk Add/Remove Custom Command-line Parameters plugin that will allow you to add that to all games in that platform in one shot.

[Embarrassing schoolboy Mame question... 🫢]

8 hours ago, stigzler said:

Did that, but I'm getting weird rendering. On vertical:

In vertical.ini, try -aspect 8:5 (don't ask, 'cause I don't know)

8 hours ago, stigzler said:

Has the Mame system changed?

Nope.

Including order of precedence.  If you have writeconfig in mame.ini set to 1, it will create a game-specific ini files (e.g. 1942.ini).  Those will supersede what's in vertical.ini.  Making any settings in vertical.ini essentially null and void.  So be sure to remove any game-specific ini files and check the writeconfig setting in mame.ini.

[sad thing happened importing a mame fullset on 279 🥲]

3 hours ago, ryangroth5 said:

still the same error, there's not much to the error to really guide what's wrong or what's next. 

Is your mame.exe from the official MAMEdev site? Or some variant (no-nag or otherwise)?

The error message is saying it can't parse [correctly] the xml file generated by running mame.exe -listxml.  Rerunning the importer would recreate the xml, fixing any glitches.

[Unit3D Pinball]

Looks like Unit3D is now VPE.  You can read about some of their development here:

Visual Pinball Engine - 2025 Updates - Visual Pinball Engine General Discussion - Virtual Pinball Universe

 

Their main page

Planet Visual Pinball Engine - Virtual Pinball Universe

["smart" pause menu?]

In short, no.

A little longer, no. There is not.

 

That's pretty much near impossible (without  A LOT OF legwork creating "config files").  I don't think any emulator, outside of MAME (and maybe a few other Arcade emulators), stores controller/cab button assignments that are in an accessible/readable format. 

And even with MAME, to get assigned controls for a game, you'd need to cross check several files for possible overrides against the default settings file.  From there, read another external file (not innate to MAME) to convert the assignments to "names" (up/down/shoot/punch/kick/etc.). Then take that info and somehow get that onto a dynamic image.  Note: the said external file containing "names" is largely incomplete.

[LB Version 7.7 or Win Vista Compatible version]

3 hours ago, iamsiincere said:

Hello

Hoping someone can either help me with getting LaunchBox 7.7 or any version that's Windows Vista compatible?

I'm fully aware of the current version, I'm fully aware it's 2025 and that people are using Windows 11. All I'm hoping is to get a version of LB for Windows Vista (I also have a license if that helps). 

To get an 8-year-old version of LaunchBox (or any past version), you need to contact support@unbrokensoftware.com.  

[LaunchBox 13.23 - Beta Thread]

3 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

Okay @JoeViking245 Joe, that did un-show (is that a word?) them, but when I turn it back on, it only shows them for 2nd batch of games. The wizard iport doesn't show any of those, on'y my manual scanned games. Maybe it will be fixed when they change the wizard changing to the new folder path per @faeran

Of course it hid them.  

Edit a game that was imported by the Welcome Wizard.  Verify that the ROM has (version)(information) in its filename. If so, check that the (version)(information) got added to the Version field.

Assuming Star Wars was one imported via the Welcome Wizard, it does seem that it's not importing the version info.  Which would also, most likely, be why the multi-disc badge isn't showing.  (it didn't catch (Disc 1) and (Disc 2) along with any of the version info)

[LaunchBox 13.23 - Beta Thread]

19 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

finding the games, but naming the game (displaying) with the entire file name (sorta). 

It's showing the version.  View < Show / Hide < Versions (Ctrl+R)

[[resolved] Joy2key ahk script]

1 hour ago, damageinc86 said:

Yeah, I figured you might just have knowledge about it.  Since i seem to see you posting a lot in relation to things im searching for haha.  

Yeah, apparently that was their exact settings.  But of course, when I do it, I get an error message haha story of my life. 

So perhaps just scripting is the way? vs. using additional apps?  

This one worked at loading it:  https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/57658-joytokey-command-line/#findComment-365775

I only have enough knowledge to be dangerous.

You can use an Additional App to load it.  But you'll need to make another and set it to Run After Main Application that kills joy2key. Which is what lines 3 and 4 in the script does. 

Don't make it more difficult than it needs to be.  Use the script that seemed to work for the OP.  

[[resolved] Joy2key ahk script]

28 minutes ago, damageinc86 said:

I was just testing it out one game with the additional apps.  Then id apply it to all if/when it worked.

I followed the screenshots from someone else's old post

Oh. OK. So you weren't even using the script you tagged me from. Or a script at all.  (which is outside of the scope of the OP)

That error message looks like maybe it came from joy2key itself.  I've never used joy2key, so have no idea. My guess is you have something wrong in the command line parameters of your additional app, to get that error.

And since your additional app only sets/loads the config, it's not designed to close itself when the game exits.  Which was the intent of the OP and the need to use a script in the Running Script section (so as to close joy2key on game exit).

[[resolved] Joy2key ahk script]

17 minutes ago, damageinc86 said:

i get some error message

Can you share a screenshot of the actual message?  (vs just saying what it says. there may be more clues somewhere in the actual message and its window).  Did you change the paths (on the Run line) to match your actual paths?  Does you path(s) have spaces in it? If so, did you put quotes around it (as shown on the 1st path)? Are you using that exact script (with path changes)? Or did you modify it otherwise? If so, what does it look like?  

Note: With an Additional App, you need to add it to each game. vs. putting the above in the Running Script section of the emulator.

[sad thing happened importing a mame fullset on 279 🥲]

52 minutes ago, ryangroth5 said:

What to do? I see no valid path forward except a patch.

Try rerunning the Full MAME Arcade Import Wizard.

[Dolphin games refuse to launch.]

5 minutes ago, CMYK said:

After tracking down the Dolphin install that I downloaded through Launchbox, I am unable to open it

Ahh.. yeah. That can be an issue.  

I say delete in place, then reinstall into the same location (/Emulators/Dolphin/).  This way you wouldn't have to change anything in LaunchBox.  Then see if you can double-click dolphin.exe and have it open.

Next, try a game.  [success]  Try it then through LaunchBox.  Even on the network, if it works in stand-alone Dolphin, it should work through LB.  If not, try copying a ROM onto the local drive, (change the app path for the game in LB) and try again.

[Dolphin games refuse to launch.]

1 hour ago, CMYK said:

forgive the poor quality, I am controlling my system through a remote since it doesn't have a keyboard of its own

The quality is fine.  Unfortunately (only because it doesn't give an easy solution) that all looks good.

I presume that's the most recent release of Dolphin.  Usually, the Details screen will show what your local version is and have a Reinstall button (which isn't needing to be done).  Unless you're using an older version of LaunchBox before that became a thing.

Another assumption is that you don't have 2 installations of Dolphin on your system (i.e. your testing done outside of LaunchBox was using a different copy of Dolphin).

Which leads us to... (in LaunchBox) edit your Wii games and verify the game(s) Application Path (Launching section) is pointing to the games .rvz file.  Also double check in the Emulation section of the game(s) that Dolphin is selected as the emulator.

If all else fails, (though this should affect anything) remove from the emulators' Command-line Parameters everything between -b and -e.  Leaving it with -b -e.

A last grasping-at-stars thought is un-check Attempt to hide console window (your 1st screenshot).

 

[Dolphin games refuse to launch.]

5 minutes ago, CMYK said:

However if I try to launch a Wii game, nothing happens.

Can you (in LaunchBox) edit your Dolphin emulator and share a screenshot of

1. the main Details section
2. the Associated Platforms section

[.]

2 hours ago, RetroGamer1 said:

i install the update but nothing changes im using 4060 (laptop)

To be clear, you opted into betas (Tools - Options) and installed 13.24-beta-1?  (vs. the latest official release 13.23)

[mattel aquarius and mame]

Regarding ROM location, amending mame.ini's rompath line and softlist BIOS files:

If you plan to add more MAME softlist consoles and/or computers to your collection, I suggest placing their respective ROM folders all under one main folder, like "softwareLists". 

e.g.  D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\ 

D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\fmtowns_cd\
D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\fm7_cass\
D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\fm7_disk\
D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\aquarius_cart\
D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\softwareLists\aquarius_cass\

 

This way you will only need to edit the rompath one time and can continue to add subsequent softlists with less worry.

 

Since you're venturing into MAME's softlists, you probably have an Arcade fullset.  Which in turn holds all the BIOS files needed for softlists.

e.g.  D:\LaunchBox\Emulators\MAME\roms\MAME_non-merged_fullset\ 

 

Note: Both example paths are within MAME's folder structure to ensure its' and LB's portability.  If portability isn't a concern, put 'em wherever you want. Just be sure to add their relative [to mame.exe] or absolute paths, below.

 

Using the example paths, mame.ini's rompath line will look like:

rompath   "roms;roms\softwareLists;roms\MAME_non-merged_fullset"

Call it a once-and-be-done-with-it approach.

Now when you add more softlist folders under /softwareLists/, you only need to worry about getting the command line parameters correct. 

MAME will find the respective ROMs and the necessary BIOS and Device files.  This covers both Arcade and softlists.

[stop pause on .lnk games]

29 minutes ago, d8thstar said:

hi guys,

i have daphne games starting with .lnk files, that point to bat's for each game.

i know i can turn off "pause" by emulator but since these games are starting via bat, there is no emulator to pick to turn pause off.

anyone know of a way to disable pause per game?

thanks!

You can disable the Pause menu per game by editing the game and overriding the pause screens.

 

Or in Bulk by selecting the games and press Ctrl+E to start the Bulk Edit Wizard.

 

[Auto Hotkey Scripts]

12 minutes ago, damageinc86 said:

I dont believe anything is being pressed.  And yes they are copy and pasted from rocketlauncher.  I also need to set key delay. 

Because in the other area to manually type your key presses NOT in autohotkey format, I think it os sending the key presses too fast. as it engages some fast forward option in retroarch.  something that didn't occur in rocketlauncher because you cpuld setkeydelay .  

I don't know anything about that pause menu nor much about RL.

But I do know, in AHK lingo, there's at least 2 options to send key presses with a delay.

SetKeyDelay, 125, 50
Send, {F7}
Send, {F2}
Send, {F6}

 

Send, {F7 down}
Sleep, 50
Send, {F7 up}
Sleep, 125
Send, {F2 down}
Sleep, 50
Send, {F2 up}
Sleep, 125
Send, {F6 down}
Sleep, 50
Send, {F6 up}

Beyond that, who knows how the respective authors of those apps incorporate and execute AutoHotkey.  

[Auto Hotkey Scripts]

10 hours ago, damageinc86 said:

Could someone help me with this super pause menu?  It doesn't seem to use the same autohotkey style as Rocketlauncher does.  So I have no idea how to just simply send this: {F7 down}{F7 up}{F2 down}{F2 up}{F6 down}{F6 up}

I've tried several variations with commas and stuff.  And all the plug-in does is snap a screenshot of the save state.  It doesn't seem to actually be sending the keypresses.

 

Are you sure pressing in rapid succession F7, F2 and F6 are the correct keystrokes for that particular emulator?

[How do i download platform videos?]

9 minutes ago, Airpyr8t said:

Sucks I cant manually point platform to a particular video file instead of just a directory.

It's supposed to point to a file. Not a folder.

[How do i download platform videos?]

13 minutes ago, Airpyr8t said:

How do I get platform video's I've downloaded from this launchbox webpage to my launchbox/video/platform

Tools - Manage Platforms.  Edit your platform and browse to the Video Path (field).

[BigBox Dont Work Anymore]

9 minutes ago, Segadorn said:

Is there a way to make everything to defaults whitout touching game libreries?

Delete the file mentioned above (that file, and nothing else), then start Big Box.  This will do exactly what you asked.

[LaunchBox Games Database - Comparer Plus]

LaunchBox Games Database - Comparer Plus

View File

---

See What You're Missing™

 

Game/Platform comparer

Compare games in your platforms against what's listed in the LaunchBox Games Database
See which platforms are in the Games Database that are not in your collection

Filter out games by Release Type, Genre and Co-op.

Import placeholders (see Game Placeholders below) into to a new platform, those platforms or games not found.
(optionally, import missing game placeholders into your existing platform)

Output the results to a tab-delimited text file.

 

Custom Metadata Updater  (New v2.0.0)

Update an individual games metadata or do it in bulk.
Select only the fields you want to have updated.  All others will be left untouched.

 

 

Requires LaunchBox 13.19 or newer

 

Installing;
Copy the contents of the zip file into your /Plugins/ folder
e.g.  D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\LBDBcomparer\LBDBcomparer.dll

Using:

(click or scroll down for using the Custom Metadata Updater)

Game/Platform comparer

In the Tools menu, select LaunchBox Games Database - Game Comparer

Select a platform to compare.
    (the list excludes platforms you've imported using Add Missing Games to NEW platform [see below])
    This will show games listed in the database for this platform that are not found in the selected platform.
    (this searches and compares by database ID)

Click the games ID # to open the LaunchBox Games Database to that game.

Other things:
Toggle Local games NOT in Database
    This shows your games that either don't have an associated LaunchBox database ID # or their ID # is not in the database for the selected platform.

Toggle Missing Platforms
    This show database platforms not found in your collection.  
    Search is done by Name Only.  Exact match (but Ignore Case). 
        Does not cross-check the platforms Scrape-As value.
        Does not exclude platforms you've imported using Add Missing Games to NEW platform (see below).

Settings:  (click the gear icon)
    Show only games that match the criteria (boxes that are checked).  Filter by Release Type, Genre and/or Co-op.
    Click Save and Close to save the selected filters and close the settings window.
    Click Reset All, Save and Close to reset all filters to the defaults, save and close the settings window.
    Click the Close icon to close the window without saving and changes.

The column headers will be highlighted Orange if any filters are set for that column.

Add/Import options:
Add Missing Games to NEW platform 
    This will create a new platform named platform_name (M)  e.g. Atari 2600 (M)
    Add game placeholders of games listed in the datagrid (filtered or otherwise) to the new platform.

Re-running it will essentially recreate the platform based on the items in the datagrid.

Add missing games to selected platform (not recommended)
    This will import game placeholders into your existing platform for games listed in the datagrid (filtered or otherwise).

Game Placeholders:
The imported game placeholders will have set their
    Title
    LBDB-ID
    Broken=True
    Installed=False

With Installed=False, you can set Arrange By and choose Installed.  But you can't Filter by it (nor Broken)
You can also, on the left panel select View Installed [vs. e.g. Platform Categoy] and then select the No option.
This can be helpful if you decide to add them to your existing platform.  "Broken" can be used to hide the placeholders.

Output Results to A Text File:
This will output the results to a tab-delimited text file.
The file will be named platform_name (missingGames_count).txt and gets created in /Output/ under this plugins folder.
If it's a platform missing from your collection, the filename will be platform_name (M) (missingGames_count).txt
    e.g.  D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\LBDBcomparer\Output\Atari 2600 (137).txt
            D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\LBDBcomparer\Output\Atari 2600 (M) (137).txt

Click the view file icon to view the created file.
Click the open folder icon to open you Windows Explorer to the /Output/ folder

Notes:

• This will not check your games that are Additional Versions (Additional Apps).  Additional Versions don't contain a LaunchBox database ID # to compare against.
• It "the numbers don't add up", check your platform for duplicates.

 

Custom Metadata Updater

• From the LaunchBox main window...
• Select one or more games. Right-click one of them and select Custom Metadata Updater.
  • If the games' field matches what's in the database, the Database column will show "identical".
  • If they are different, double-click the value in the Database column to update that field in your game.
• Click the fields name in the left column to see both values in a larger window. (useful for the Notes field)

• If you selected more than one game, click the arrows to move to the next/previous game.
• Optionally, you can click Bulk Update, and update only the selected fields for all selected games.

(click to go back up to using Game/Platform Comparer)

 

If a plugin update is available, the Info icon will flash red. Click it to find a link to the downloads page.

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• Submitter
  JoeViking245
• Submitted
  09/03/2025
• Category
  Third-party Apps and Plugins