[How to import Tiger Electronics handhelds to Launchbox?]

The Tiger Electronics handheld ROMs are in the MAME fullset.  Once you have the fullset, you can either import with the importer, or choose Import, ROMs and import just the Tiger ROM files.

[Setting Up In-Game Controls for SlikStik Controller]

You can look in your mame.ini file to be sure, but I believe when it's created, the line "inipath" looks like

inipath     .;ini;ini/presets

where the first dot is the root folder (probably where your found mame.ini). Then the ini folder, then the /ini/presets/ folder.  Essentially, you can place it in any of those 3 locations.  For me, keeping it in the ini folder is the cleanest.

But overall, sounds like you-got-this.  

 

[Setting Up In-Game Controls for SlikStik Controller]

39 minutes ago, JonathanEngr said:

Is that something I still have to set up inside of MAME

Yes.  As user friendly as LaunchBox and BigBox are, you will still need to set up the controls for each of your emulators individually, via the emulators themselves. 

Since you had MAME setup before, you should still be able to use the same one.  Or, if you created a custom controller configuration file (located in /MAME/ctrlr/your_custom_file.cfg), you should be able to transfer that over to a new MAME install.  You'll need to tell the 'new' MAME to use that config file. 

[Troubleshooting Wangan Midnight 2 with Launchbox]

16 minutes ago, JustinF said:

Is there a specific folder or method I need to import the CHD file into Launchbox? Or some method I need to integrate it with the other ROM files?

You'll import the main ROM (wangmid2.zip) from your ROM folder as described above.  In your ROMs folder, create a subfolder called wangmid2 and in it, place "gdx-0016a.chd".

(when you tell MAME to launch the main ROM, it knows to look for a subfolder by the same name and associate the proper CHD file inside it)

Open MAME and start typing Wangan Midnight 2 to search for the game.

Double click it to see if it runs.

 

[Troubleshooting Wangan Midnight 2 with Launchbox]

On 1/15/2023 at 12:55 AM, JustinF said:

It does not show Wangan Midnight or Wangan Midnight 2!

Am I missing something or doing something wrong?

I appreciate any help to get Wangan Midnight / 2 up and running.

LaunchBox can import them, but you need to un-check the box Skip games unplayable in MAME.  But then you'd get a bunch of other stuff that you most likely don't want. 

Instead, you can run the ROMs Import Wizard (Tools, Import, ROM Files...).  Select Add Files and choose those ROMs you want.  When you get to the How would you like to import your MAME Games? screen, you will need to click Import all clones and also un-check Skip games unplayable in MAME.

 

On 1/15/2023 at 12:55 AM, JustinF said:

I have a simple aim, to get Wangan Midnight 2 up and running on Launchbox.

To get WM2 running, there are several other files required.  Most are already in your MAME fullset.  But the one that won't be in there is the chd file.

(the section in the red box is showing the folder_name / file_name.chd)

The other versions of Wangan Midnight will also require their own CHD files.

 

Oh, and once you have everything, make sure you can run them in standalone MAME FIRST before attempting to get them to launch from LaunchBox.  As in, if you can't get them to work directly in MAME itself, they won't work when attempting to launch them via LaunchBox.  

 

I've never tested this game, but it may actually sorta work.  Or it may run like crap.  Or may just show the initial screen and then do nothing.  Don't know.  Just sayin', it may not be worth the effort to find the 1.25GB CHD file.

 

[Mame and Karate champs VS]

Hmmm... not really sure what say.

  

If your platform is not called "Arcade" and/or your emulator is not MAME (mame.exe), try checking "Force using MAME metadata".  You're on an older version of LaunchBox, but the same option is there.  Also try un-checking all the other options on this page (above).

 

[Mame and Karate champs VS]

22 minutes ago, BorgaMan said:

this game is missing

One way to add a single game is to drag the rom file (kchampvs.zip) and drop it onto the LaunchBox window.  This will automatically open the Import Games from File Wizard.  Click ROM Files and follow the prompts from there.

When you get to the "How would you like to import your MAME games" part, since your version is a clone (of kchamp) you will need to check "Import all clones".

[Supermodel 3 Controller Mapping Issues and Display]

3 hours ago, Thornback said:

Necro bump but I have similar control issues. Are yours still working? Even with the revised .ini lines I cannot move the cross-hairs in-game for LA Machineguns.

I only use my Xbox 360 controller for this.  But testing this AM to get the mouse to work was a big failure. (though I didn't really spend too much time on it)  So I went to plan "B" (which should probably be the new plan "A". ). 

• Download Warped Polygon's file(s). 
• Copy lamachin.nv into your nvram folder (overwrite the existing file THAT YOU 1st MADE A BACKUP OF).
• Copy (and replace) the section from supermodel.ini (located in Supermodel XINPUT INI File.zip) for Analog guns into your supermodel.ini
  • Or just backup your existing supermodel.ini and copy the whole file into your Config folder.

 

[Add clickable hyperlinks to Custom Fields]

I wanted a way to have a clickable link in LaunchBox to the Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) for each of my Visual Pinball tables. (i.e. https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=760 “Eight Ball”).  I had thought about putting the links in the Wiki or YouTube fields, but it was kind of ugly.

Messing around, I found a way that allowed me to right-click a Custom Field and select "Go to webpage".  It opens the default internet browser to whatever hyperlink page is in the Custom Field.  Note: this will only work with LaunchBox Premium as the free version doesn't show Custom Fields.

For my VPX platform, I also added a custom field for "Table" that would hold a link to the tables’ webpage.  (to look for updates or whatever reason)

Obviously, you can name the Custom Field anything you want for any circumstance. For any platform.

The only pain is entering the hyperlink(s) for each table (or game) individually.

(Pict of Right-Clicking the IPDB link.)

 

To make this work, I needed to modify the GameDetailsView.xaml located in the Views folder of the LaunchBox theme.   

Here’s what I did.

Summary:

• Insert 2 lines of code
• Comment out 1 line of existing code
• Insert 1 code block

I'll use @faeran's "Default Plus" theme as an example.  First, create a copy of the theme’s main folder and then open the GameDetailsView.xaml file (in the copied folder) in Notepad++.  (Any text editor will work. I used Notepad++ to make it easy to reference line numbers)

D:\LaunchBox\LBThemes\Default Plus - Copy\Views\GameDetailsView.xaml

 

Below the last "xmlns" entry (line 10) insert a new line.  (here, we're adding a new reference and calling it "web")

xmlns:web="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Desktop.Commands;assembly=LaunchBox"

 

Just before the closing of "UserControl.Resources" (line 34 [after inserting the above]), inset a new line. 

<web:WebLinkCommand x:Key="WebCommand" />

(Here we're creating a static resource which we're calling "WebCommand".)  Indents don't matter. But it looks prettier.

 

So far, it looks like this:

 

 

Now search for and go to CustomFields (or scroll to line 1334 [after inserting the above 2 lines]).  A few lines down, click once on the 2^nd <TextBlock... line.  (line 1345)  This is the line that contains Text="{Binding Value}"  Press Ctrl+K (Notepad++) to comment out that line.  (That may only work because of a plugin I installed. Don't recall.  Alternately, add <!-- to the beginning of the line, and --> to the end).

<!-- <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Text="{Binding Value}" Foreground="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type UserControl}}, Path=DataContext.ForegroundBrush}" TextWrapping="Wrap" TextAlignment="Right" /> -->

 

Below this [now] commented line, insert the following:

<TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Text="{Binding Value}" Foreground="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type UserControl}}, Path=DataContext.ForegroundBrush}" TextWrapping="Wrap" TextAlignment="Right" >
    <TextBlock.ContextMenu>
        <ContextMenu>
            <MenuItem Command="{StaticResource WebCommand}" CommandParameter="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor, AncestorType=TextBlock}, Path=Text}">
                <MenuItem.Header>
                    <TextBlock Text="Go to webpage" HorizontalAlignment="Center"/>
                </MenuItem.Header>
            </MenuItem>
        </ContextMenu>
    </TextBlock.ContextMenu>
</TextBlock>

Here we're replacing the original TextBlock with a new one that lets us right-click.  If you want it to say something other than “Go to webpage” when you right-click, just replace the part in quotes (Text="Go to webpage"). (Line 1351)

Here's what the whole CustomFields section will look like

Save and close.  Tell LB to use this theme. 

 

Caveat:

If you have a custom field that's not a hyperlink or is an invalid link and you right-click and select "Go...", you'll get a message box telling you it's an invalid URL.  So just don’t do that.   

[VBS Issue hiding Window]

If you only need to hide the command window that comes up when running a batch file, you could (as an option)

• create a shortcut to the batch file
• right click the shortcut and select Properties
• Next to the Run option, select Minimized
• Click OK to save and close

Now run (point to) the shortcut instead of the batch file itself.

[Having trouble finding where to "Use mapdevice elements with device and controller attributes to assign stable numbers"]

2 hours ago, Mr_Phelps said:

Where is the area that I add the device IDs to?

See if this helps any...

 

[Hi Score Plugin]

1 hour ago, johden said:

 

I am having issues installing HI Score Plugin, Sometimes the simple ones can be the hardest. followed directions first time it caused the theme to crash used 4.0 version. deleted the installed 4.0 version reinstalled theme. Tried installing 3.0 version no crashes but still no HI score info. All the files in mame and launch box but no saved scores. using Critical zone v2 theme Any..

Thanks

Please see reply in your other post.

[HI Score 4.0 plugin]

You'd have better luck posting this on the plugin-in-question's support page.  I was able to deduce that it is this plugin you're referring to.

 

That said,...

Using "CriticalZoneV2 - Default", you may want/need to make a copy of the Theme's Folder and modify the copy.  I renamed my copied folder to "CriticalZoneV2 - MAME HS" for lack of creativity.  This Theme comes with LB/BB and gets updated/reset accordingly.  The copy you made won't.

 

 If you're getting an error when going into the games detail View like this

An error occurred while parsing the custom TextGamesView.

either "Mame_Hi_Scores.dll" isn't in the plugins folder, or it needs to be unblocked.  Use the 4.0 version of the plugin.  Not sure why the older versions were not removed.

 

If you're not getting the error (or any error for that matter), make sure you modified the correct View file.  There are 2 similarly named, but only one is correct.

  You're wanting the one with the "s" in the middle of it.     TextGamesView.xaml

 

After you modified and saved the xaml file, and then started BB, be sure to go into Manage Themes and set your modified them as default.  At this point, to make sure everything is set and saved properly, exit BigBox, [wait a few seconds for it to finish writing/saving data in the background] and then restart BigBox.

[13.1 Beta Thread]

7 minutes ago, superrob3000 said:

That would still look like a platform change instead of a game selection.

Correct.  So you need to get creative.  But it is possible to account for that.  [tested and verified]

[13.1 Beta Thread]

30 minutes ago, superrob3000 said:

SelectedPlatform is reported as TeknoParrot and SelectedGames is still reported as pac-man.

For this, I created a placeholder for the selected game.   IGame currentGame

And then to catch if it's a platform change

if (PluginHelper.StateManager.GetAllSelectedGames() != null && PluginHelper.StateManager.GetAllSelectedGames()[0] == currentGame)

[LaunchBox Multi Monitor and BigBox +3rd monitor plugin]

v1.1.3-beta release

- now shows the selected Platform/Platform Category/Playlist image on the LaunchBox 2nd monitor when switching between them. 
  (Nothing has changed on the BigBox side of things.)

 

This feature will require LaunchBox v13.1 beta 6, or newer.  (Older versions should still work with this version of the plugin, but without this added feature)

MultiMonitor2022 v1.1.3beta.7z  (replace your existing "MultiMonitor2022.dll" file with the one inside this zip)

I'm not adding this to the Official Release yet as it's only had minimal testing.  Any and all feedback is welcome.

[How to add Teknoparrot to Launchbox?]

41 minutes ago, sagaopc said:

I use this script to try to fix, but yet giving error:

Sometimes scripts won't work for free.  So you have to spend a little $.

$ESCAPE::
process, Close, TeknoParrotUi.exe
ExitApp

 

[Additional apps not working with steam games]

1 hour ago, railch said:

Anyone have a workaround

Here's 2 different ones.  The 1st requires a unique script for each game.  The 2nd uses a script to act as your Steam "emulator" (it's not as bad as it sounds).  Both 'workarounds' do work.

 

[AutoHotKey Exit]

Can you show what you've tried?  Are you using a winwaitactive before your winwaitclose?  Put in some "msgbox testing" before and after the waits to see when they trigger to determine what and where it's failing and hanging up.

[Can't figure out how to make playlists from other playlists or platform categories]

32 minutes ago, Hamburglin said:

so there's no way to say "update all fields to their updated values but don't touch the fields I personally modified".

It's all or nothing there?

Correct.

[Can't figure out how to make playlists from other playlists or platform categories]

14 minutes ago, Hamburglin said:

how do I ensure that will never get overwritten in the future?

The metadata will only get overwritten if you manually update it.  But when updating it, if choose the 2nd or 3rd option, you should be safe.

[Moving my LB/BB and all games and media to a new hard drive. New paths/directories?]

See if this helps

 

[Can't figure out how to make playlists from other playlists or platform categories]

As a 'work-around', you could select your "Best Arcade Games" platform category, then using the Filter feature , Filter for... say... Max Players - 4.  Then select all those filtered games, Right-Click and Add to Playlist?  Create a new playlist and set the Parent (check the box for) your "Best Arcade Games" platform category.

 

The downside with this is that it creates a fixed, non-auto-populated Playlist.  So if you add more "Best Games", they won't automatically get added.  But how often do you add "Best Games"?   But if you do 'add', simply do the above process again except add them to your existing playlist.  The nice thing is, it won't create duplicate entries when you select and add all.

The upside(?) to having a 'fixed' playlist(s) is when loading, it's relatively faster.  Though probably only noticeable with large playlists. If even then.

["Failed to save retroarch config file" whenrver trying to update settings when launching retroarch from LB]

Check that you're not running either RetroArch or LaunchBox as admin.  (Neither of them should be running as admin)

[MAME New sets]

The MAME Arcade Full Set Importer gets which ROMs to import directly from your mame.exe file. 

To see/import Nebula, you need to have the MAME executable v0.251.  (verified)

Same for Mega Man 3 (except mame.exe v0.250 [or newer]).  (verified)

 

Even if you try to fool LaunchBox by selecting 0.251 as your Full Set Version 

 

..your executable's version is what determines the games are available to import.

 

Edit:

If there are just one or two [new] games you'd like to add, you can also drag and drop those ROMs onto LaunchBox and import them that way.