JoeViking245

July 23, 2022

16 hours ago, Spottedfeather said:

With all respect, I don't know what that means. The game roms don't list mame versions. I have Mame .236.

I just looked at my MAME ROMs for Game.Com (Tiger handheld) and they all have just a single .bin file in the zips. So I'm not really sure what the .svg file it's asking for is. Example "frogger.zip" has "frogger (1999)(hasbro - tiger electronics).bin" in it. If it helps any, the file size (for this bin) is 1024KB.

Do you also have the required "gamecom.zip" system file?

Maybe share a screenshot of the error so we can see what the "other such nonsense" is.

July 22, 2022

1 hour ago, Spottedfeather said:

Tiger handhelds don't work in mame. I've tried several. Every single one of them tell me that the "game title.svg" is an incorrect length...or other such nonsense. I opened the zip file and it's in there, though I don't know what's wrong or how to fix it.

Assuming it's MAME software list ROMs, are they the same versions your mame.exe?

July 22, 2022

Is Show Videos checked?

July 21, 2022

If you want it for just a single game and you can't adjust it in the game itself, you'd need to create an Additional Application to run before "Main Application" (aka, the game). "Running Scripts" are for emulators only and they'll run for every game that uses that emulator.

Create a text file and in it put

SoundSet, 50

This will set your volume to 50%.

Then to add the additional app (the above script) to a game, see here:

You'll probably want a 2nd script to set it back to 100% (or whatever). Create a 2nd text file and change the "50" to "100" and set it up the same as above but check the box "Automatically Run After Main Application".

July 21, 2022

I had always wanted to add a hyperlink 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). I had thought about putting them in the Wiki or YouTube fields, but that was an ugly work around.

Playing around recently, I figured out that a simple-ish change to GameDetailsView.xaml will add right-click options to Custom Field(s). With the changes below, right clicking on a custom field and selecting "Go to webpage" will open your default web browser to whatever hyperlink page you have in that particular custom field.

In my VPX setup, I also added a custom field for "Table" that would hold a link to the tables’ download webpage. (to see if there are any updates or for whatever reason)

Obviously you can put in any valid hyperlink you want. The only pain is you have to enter the hyperlink(s) for each table/game individually.

Pict of Right-Click on the IPDB link.

Custom Field - Right-Click

I'll use @faeran's Default Plus theme as an example. Create a copy of the themes folder and open the xaml in Notepad++ (easiest for this demo, but you can use any editor you want)

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".)

So far, it should look 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 2nd "<TextBlock..." line. (line 1345) This is the line that will contain Text="{Binding Value}" Press Ctrl+K to comment out that line. (That may only work because of a plugin I installed. Don't recall. If it doesn't work, add  to the end).

<!-- This line is a comment -->

Below this [now] commented line, inset 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 Header="Go to webpage" Padding="0,5,60,5" Command="{StaticResource WebCommand}" CommandParameter="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor, AncestorType=TextBlock}, Path=Text}" />
        </ContextMenu>
    </TextBlock.ContextMenu>
</TextBlock>

Here we're replacing the original TextBlock with a new one that gives right-click options. If you want it to say something different when you right-click, just replace the Header text ("Go to webpage").

Here's what the whole CustomFields section will look like (well, left half of it)

Save and close. Start LaunchBox and tell it to use this theme.

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

Enjoy.

July 21, 2022

I'm not sure about Platform artwork but you should be able to set scape-as to Arcade to get the artwork for the games in the CP Systems.

July 19, 2022

1 hour ago, k_rollo said:

I must be clicking on the "Next" button too fast because I don't notice that checkbox haha. Or perhaps it only appears when duplicates are present?

Force importing duplicates games appears regardless. It's in the fine print under custom options.

July 18, 2022

Each Platform stores its data, metadata and media separately from others. So if you import one into your PlayStation platform and the other into your DOS platform (or whatever name you gave it that's not "PlayStation"), they will not copy over the other. They will be saved into completely different files and folders/sub-folders.

If for some reason you're importing them into the same Platform, during the import process, there should be a checkbox to allow duplicates to be imported. Not sure how that will affect the metadata and media for those games, but both should import. Hopefully this isn't the case.

July 18, 2022

Most likely your games exe is a sort of launcher in that it actually [then] launches another application which would be the game. As soon as the 'launcher' starts the game, it exits itself (and the game plays on). LaunchBox sees this ('launcher') as the Main Application and in turn runs the After Main Application script (or batch file closing your wheel in this case).

The "Wait for Exit" option is for the Run Before Main App only.

This only explains what's [possibly] going on and doesn't really help. I'm personally not familiar with DirtShowdown. Hopefully someone who is, can chime in with actual help.

July 16, 2022

I ran into the same issue (SelectionChanged) a few years ago when I was 1st working with the API. Granted I was attempting to learn C# at the same time as leaning what an "API" is. (Probably not a good combo. lol) 😊

At a later time, I worked on a BigBox plugin with @jayjay that allows you to launch a game/application directly from the Platform Wheel View level. This uses UserControl, IBigBoxThemeElementPlugin. Unfortunately, you will need to modify your BB Theme Views to catch it. The good part is it's only adding 2 lines.

The Class would be something like

namespace MyNameSpace
{
   public partial class MyUserControl : UserControl, IBigBoxThemeElementPlugin
   {
      ....
   }
}

And once IBigBoxThemeElementPlugin is initialized in the class, you can use the method

public void OnSelectionChanged(FilterType filterType, string filterValue, IPlatform platform, IPlatformCategory category, IPlaylist playlist, IGame game)
{
   //do stuff 
   return, false;
}

This will give you the selected platform and game. You also have access to OnEnter() and OnEscape() (as well as a few other controls).

The 2 added lines in the Views are

xmlns:JoeWasHere=\"clr-namespace:MyNameSpace;assembly=MyNamespace"

<!-- AND -->

<JoeWasHere:MyUserControl />

To be clear, I never pursued SelectionChanged. So there's a really good chance there's a 'proper' way to use it and make it work for your application. This is merely "a suggestion on how to catch game wheel exit from within a plugin." And as I write this out, I realize you need to somehow figure out if you're currently in a platform view or a games view. May be something in the API or you may need to set a bool inside OnEnter/OnExit??? And maybe I still only 'know enough to be dangerous'. lol

July 16, 2022

12 hours ago, TJ_on_Launchbox said:

wanted to sort them by Decades 70s, 80s, 90s, etc..
Then i realised how much work that is.

It wouldn't be too bad. But ya, you'd need to create about 10 or so individual playlists (assuming you have any tables that goes back to the 1930's). Then if your tables have their release dates (which they all should), then it's all automatic.

12 hours ago, TJ_on_Launchbox said:

I also wanted to create short preview Videoclips for each Table but i don´t have the Time.

I've been able to find a lot of the videos via EmuMovies. Granted they may not be for the specific version of the table I have. But it's a something. This is for VPX I'm referring to. For Pinball FX 2/3, you can find those here

For the missing VPX videos (or videos where you want to see your table), there's a plugin that can [almost] automatically make them for you. But for several hundred tables, it'd still take some time. Especially since you'd have to do them one-by-one. But it does help some to streamline the process.

On 7/13/2022 at 6:39 AM, 80sRkadeGuy said:

I quickly tripped and fell into the virtual pinball rabbit hole lol.

It's easy to do. lol And as TJ said,

12 hours ago, TJ_on_Launchbox said:

Once you are working on your Pinball Build there is no going back.

But I think that's true for game machine/console archiving in general. The never ending "just one more change, then it'll be perfect". lol

July 14, 2022

2 hours ago, Suhrvivor said:

it slowly kills SSDs by having to write the extracted iso every time you want to play a game

That too.

July 14, 2022

Just now, kiroscell said:

Hello Joe,

Thanks for replying and yes they're all zipped. I was able to fix this problem by removing everyone from the parameters and then I got exit working with only adding -batch, but when I had both in the command parameters nothing works. My new issue is seeing a progress bar when zipped/7z files are being extracted. Could you confirm if this is just not a feature that's available yet in LB?

There's a checkbox in the PCSX2 UI for starting fullscreen. But sounds like that may not be an issue for you anymore.

I've never seen the unzip progress bar before. But then again, I don't zip my ROMs. 😊 So I can't confirm if there's even supposed to be one or not. I can see how having an unzip progress bar be good or bad. Depending on the user. Part of me thinks it would be good to have it so you know that something is going on (vs being frozen or locked up). On the other hand, it should happen relatively fast. So 'hiding' it may make for a cleaner gaming experience.

I will contend though, the amount that you save in drive space really isn't worth much when you see that a chd isn't much larger (if at all) than a zip file because the chd itself is compressed. Then factor in the time (though somewhat minimal [I imagine]) to extract the ROM before playing compared to directly reading a chd. I digress. But something to consider.

July 14, 2022

8 minutes ago, kiroscell said:

I see a black dos window for a moment and then nothing.

Are your ROMs actually zipped? If so, do you have cue/bin files in the zip? And are the files inside the zip named the same as the ROM.zip?

When extracting, it's possible it's trying to use the bin file (which won't work). You may want to think about extracting your files and converting them to chd.

July 7, 2022

41 minutes ago, LordDIOBrando2 said:

but also imported primrage.zip

That should have already been in with the 'full set'. (Have to ask..) was the romset you downloaded v0.245? You need to have the romset and MAME executable versions match. (i.e. your image above shows you installed MAME v0.245)

An "Image error" sounds like a bad rom file. If it said "...file missing...", that would (typically) indicate a mismatched rom file and executable versions. Or that the 'full set' you downloaded was not actually a full set.

July 6, 2022

7 minutes ago, DeadVoivod said:

obviously a lot of games don't get scraped with the correct metadata as LB doesn't recognize the zip file names.

Did you use the Import ROMs (File or Folder) or do the Drag & Drop method?

Regardless, LaunchBox will recognize zip file names. Especially since they're the same as your other set. Is it the Media and Metadata that's not getting scraped? Or is it "a lot of the games" aren't getting imported? I'm guessing the latter because LB does cross check your existing MAME games and doesn't import those [again]. Unless you tell it to Force importing duplicate games.

If that's not the case, oops. My bad.

July 6, 2022

1 hour ago, VulcanBrady said:

Literally copying the default and removing this one thing would be perfect.

Copying [the 'Default' folder] and modifying one thing (in the GamesDetailsView.xaml file) is essentially creating your own custom them. As suggested.

The line you're wanting to remove looks something like this.

<Image Source="{Binding GameBackgroundImage}" Stretch="UniformToFill" HorizontalAlignment="Center" ClipToBounds="True" UseLayoutRounding="True" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="Auto" />

July 4, 2022

21 minutes ago, X1pheR said:

This is obsolete now right? Since we have the fullset importer.

Think of the post as a Historical Reference. Coupled with the fact that (8 years later) its' download link is no longer even available, 'No harm. No foul'.

July 3, 2022

That's probably the best (and easiest) solution.

July 3, 2022

What does your batch file look like?

Any way you can start the game directly without the launcher? If you were some way able to do that, you could use

start blah blah xpadder

Start /w "" "D:\games\MyGame.exe"

start blah bla Kill_xpadder

The key part being the "/w" which will wait for MyGame to exit before continuing to Kill_xpadder.

July 1, 2022

22 minutes ago, KanjiEater said:

This is great. I also like that you have a Bulk Remove plugin (though that's separate from this one).

Thanks! Glad you like it. The Bulk Remove was kind of an afterthought to "what if they use this and later find they don't need them anymore."

26 minutes ago, KanjiEater said:

offer a similar experience to that plugin? Where you could select a platform to copy a program to an entire platform?

No. This works on a game-by-game basis. If you need every game in multiple platforms to have the same run-before and run-after command, I suppose you could select All platforms in the left pane (the top of the list where you select individual platforms). Then select all the games and add the before/after apps to them. Then in the few platforms don't need it, select them and use the bulk-remove plugin.

34 minutes ago, KanjiEater said:

can you set it up so a platform always runs with a pre/post application running too?

Platforms don't run applications. Emulators don't have the option for a run-before and run-after command. Only individual games do. In fact, that's largely the reason why this was created. Call it a sorta work-around to give a platform/emulator a run-before and run-after option.

Personally, I don't use it (beyond the initial testing) because I don't have any fancy controllers, light guns or the sort in my setup (which as I've seen, is the typical need for it). Over a period of time, I heard, several times over, people expressing concerns like "I have 250+ games in this platform and I have to add the same thing to each of them one-by-one-by-one?" This was my solution.

July 1, 2022

4 hours ago, Syllius said:

I'm trying to do this very thing at the moment. Is there an equivalent for MaxPlayers? I tried it as a custom field, but I'm not getting any reaction. Tried with multiple images, contains instead of equals, still no go...

@Prestonjezek you may interested in this too.

You'll need to type the code for Max Players manually. I don't know if it needs to go the in Advanced tab or in the C# Code: section. So I did it in both.

The code for maximum 2 players is:

game.MaxPlayers.Equals(2)

June 30, 2022

1 hour ago, huffyX0 said:

so theres no way to edit this script to press 2 buttons to exit demul?

Of course there's a way. It's a different approach for pressing [controller] buttons. But for pressing keyboard keys, it goes something like this:

Enter & Esc::
   WinClose, ahk_exe {{{StartupEXE}}}
Enter::Enter

If you holder Enter then hit Escape, it will execute the WinClose statement. Otherwise, if your press Enter and let go, it will 'press Enter'.

June 30, 2022

4 hours ago, gStAv said:

Is this still not implemented in LB and this Plugin is the only way to filter out 4-way joy games? Or is it a better way now days?

Now days you can use on the fly filters located in the left-hand sidebar, next to the search box to view your 4-way joy games.

Once you set the filter, click the filter icon again and create a playlist of your selected filter(s).

June 28, 2022

5 minutes ago, SiriusVI said:

Works like a charm! Where did you find commands like this?

So what did you end up with for your full command line for "Doctor Who and the mines of terror"?

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