.png.d63b88dc3d5c6db8803dfbd996ce65fc.png)
JoeViking245
-
Posts
2,956 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
25
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Articles
Downloads
Gallery
Blogs
Posts posted by JoeViking245
-
-
5 hours ago, Johnny T said:
I know there's a Pause screen theme that will show instructions but I already have a Pause screen so didn't really want to change it if I can help it?
If those games are in their own platform, you can make/add a pause theme specific for that platform.
If they're not in their own platform or the instructions are long and convoluted, have the instructions be the Game Manual. If the game(s) already has a Manual, you can add the instructions file as an Additional App.
Another option is, if you don't ever use the Wiki link (or Video URL link), add the path to the instructions file there.
Just throwing out ideas.
-
1
-
-
28 minutes ago, Gingerdilligaf said:
On another note...Is there an easy way to record video snaps?
-
Try unchecking Upload Your MAME High Scores.... You'll find it under Tools, Options, Integrations, MAME.
-
16 minutes ago, TinyTsuruta said:
was working correctly and not cutting off images but it is not now
To clarify, same 2 monitors you had before but on a new machine with the OS many-wrinkles-yet-to-iron-out-Windows 11. Plus, an additional fancy shmancy new monitor to make it 3 monitors' total. And the monitor you're wanting to display images on [using this plugin] is the same physical monitor you were using before. But now, the images are appearing cut-off like they were for you before updating to v1.1. Does that about repeat the same thing you said?
I'm inclined to say it's something in the Windows Display Settings for the Marquee monitor. Maybe the scale setting is not set to 100% ('cause Windows thought maybe you'd want to match the other 2 as close as possible)? The resolution is not set to 1280x390? I assume Multiple Displays is set to Extend the displays and not Duplicate.
...or maybe even something in your Nvidia settings? I don't know. I never touch them. Just occasionally update the drivers. "NVCleanstall" is you friend for that. Though not sure how up they are with Windows 11. (none of my 3 PCs are 'smart' enough to even be able to upgrade to Win-11. lol)
The plugin gets the monitors' width and height (in pixels) from Windows as it sees them. Which in your case should be the 1280x390. It then sizes the image to fit that. So I'm not sure what to fix/advise beyond the suggestions (inclinations) above.
-
1
-
-
8 minutes ago, Sbuddha77 said:
I tried this and 1 on 1 did not come up.
After clicking Available, were there any games listed in the middle area? (screenshot?)
-
1 hour ago, Sbuddha77 said:
I have tried "launch with MAME" but goes not work
Selecting Launch With MAME is the same as clicking Play.
1 hour ago, Sbuddha77 said:I am not real familure with MAME as a whole.
1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:Right click on one of your Arcade games and select Open MAME...
MAME should open and should look similar to this below. Click Available (red box on left). Then just start typing "1 on 1" (with no quotes). The numbers and letters you start to type will automagically appear (red box on top). Now double-click on 1 on 1 Government (Japan). (middle red box)
1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:and see what happens.
-
33 minutes ago, Sbuddha77 said:
promise to get back sooner then before.
No worries. Life takes precedence over hobbies.
For the game edit screenshot, you're showing the Metadata section. Was looking for the Launching section. But if you used the LaunchBox Full Set Importer, things are probably fine there. But if you didn't..., may be worth a look.
(I should have asked this first) Have you tested running games directly from MAME itself? Right click on one of your Arcade games and select Open MAME...
Then in MAME, start a game and see what happens.
-
13 hours ago, Belgarath said:
GameBase doesn't automatically name the screenshot, it can be any name
That shouldn't be an issue because the database (coupled with path.ini) will show the path to the screenshot. Wherever it's located and however its named.
14 hours ago, Belgarath said:As for illegal characters such a : * etc, the auto rename function just blatantly ignores them rather than replace them.
In retrospect, ...same as above.
14 hours ago, Belgarath said:Anyway Dillonm is doing a great job with his explanations
You both have been very helpful! Thank you!
I suppose if I were to actually get/install/setup at least one full database set (to include images, docs, games....) beyond just the base database set, I'd probably know this stuff. lol I do have GameBase installed and 3 db sets (Amstrad CPC, GBC_v17 and IntroBase64 V02). Just no roms or Extras, mainly because I have no personal interest in it. No offense.
But I do have an interest in making this Importer plugin work for intended purpose: Create a new Platform populated with games and available metadata (which, so far it does, barring game-Manual file location) and point the roms to the actual rom (which it doesn't do. Yet.) Adding images and allocating them to their appropriate image types will be a bonus feature. But may be limited. We'll see.
-
1
-
-
10 hours ago, wemr97dl said:
I'm trying to use this script, its copying the pak file but not deleting the old one??
Can you show us the contents of your batch file?
-
5 minutes ago, Belgarath said:
I didn't create the GameBase program, but I did create GameBase Amiga. GameBase basically has 4 user defined folders. Games, Music, Pictures, Extras; but after that the layout of the files is up to whoever authored that particular GameBase. For GB Amiga's games it's just 27 folders 0-Z, but the folder they're in can be called anything and located anywhere as long as the user defines it in the options. Same goes with screenshots, but the way GameBase names them is by changing all spaces to _ It names the files after the name of the database entry (regardless of the game filename) and it appends numbers at the end, so for instance take the game Awesome, screenshots will be named Awesome (usually the title screen) then Awesome_1 Awesome_2 etc etc.
Hope that's of some help.
This does help. Thanks! Would you know if the user defined folders [in options], are saved to the database file? OH SNAP!! Never mind. Just saw "Path.ini". lol Well, now I assume that's universally done, vs writing them to the mdb file.
Spaces to underscores makes it safe. I imagine the same is done with "illegal characters". Usually the colon ":".
-
33 minutes ago, dillonm said:
I've taken some screenshots and attached the folder structures to show you.
This helps immensely! Thank you.
When you play these C64 games, do you load them directly with the emulator? Or is it always directly through GameBase? That is, can you run them outside of GameBase?
-
6 minutes ago, Starskins said:
it worked the first try!
I'll add that to my notes. lol Glad it worked.
7 minutes ago, Starskins said:keep the high score of that computer
That information is not in my arsenal. But depending on where you read, it does support Save States. And it does not support Save States. But these are Save States, not to be confused with saving high scores. So ya, no idea. Just keep your camera phone handy. lol
-
Also, for high scores to be uploaded to the community leaderboard, you need to get on 'your' high scores list. (aka, enter in your initials locally at the end of a game)
-
6 hours ago, Starskins said:
Could you tell me what needs to be done to make the speech synthetiser work?
Nope. Not that I won't. It's that I can't. I've never tried it. I do however have in my notes:
ti99_4a -ioport peb -ioport:peb:slot2 32kmem -ioport:peb:slot3 speech -cartI'm guessing the "-ioport" parts are important.
It also looks like this will also add(?) 32K memory. Note: you'll need "ti99_speech.zip" if you don't have it in with your roms already. I assume 32kmem is part of the bios (ti99_4a.zip).
-
On 2/18/2022 at 3:33 PM, dillonm said:
The folder structure for that looks like Gamebase\GBC_v17\Games\0, a, b, c, d etc. In fact sometimes the roms folder structure is set out as a1, a2, a3, b1, b2, b3 etc.
(I'm back to looking into this)
Looking at GBC_v17.mdb, the game "Frogger" (as an example), it lists the rom file location as "f2\FROGGER1_02953_01.zip". Which is the relative path for (something like)
D:\GameBase\GBC_v17\f2\FROGGER1_02953_01.zipYou indicate the "f2" directory would be below "Games". Like so
D:\GameBase\GBC_v17\Games\f2\FROGGER1_02953_01.zipYet the downloaded GBC_va7 [database only] has a "ROMs" folder. So instead of assuming rom folders are always placed inside "Games" or in "ROMs", I'll add a field for the end user (you) to tell the plugin the root folder the rom folders are located. In this case, you'd select
D:\GameBase\GBC_v17\Games\Then I can tack on what's listed in the database.
On 2/18/2022 at 3:33 PM, dillonm said:All roms are zipped so Im not sure how easy it would be for launchbox to read zipped roms.
That shouldn't be a problem because I assume the emulator you use can read (or expects) zipped files. If not, you can always check Extract ROM archives before running when setting your emulator in LaunchBox. However, if the emu does need the file unzipped 1st, and the names inside the zip are all wonky, there's a chance this whole thing isn't going to work.
On 2/18/2022 at 3:33 PM, dillonm said:As for the extras well that's made up of collected manuals
It looks like Manuals are shown in the database to be listed under the "Docs" directory. The plugin currently sets the manual path to ../LaunchBox/Manuals/platform_name/. But I can change to point to /GameBase/Docs/subfolder/file.pdf.
On 2/18/2022 at 3:33 PM, dillonm said:adverts, maps, hint books, magazine reviews etc. Far more than Launchbox can ever scrape from the internet.
There's really no way to include these in the game details. It might be possible to add Addition Apps to games have these. So something like; you select the game, then look at it's Additional App and choose Hint Book. And that'll open the hint_book.pdf file. Or whatever it is.
On 2/18/2022 at 3:33 PM, dillonm said:Screenshots are also separated out alphabetically but they're not zipped.
The database lists a screen per game same as it lists the rom location and manual location noted above. Using the above Frogger game as an example (FROGGER1_02953_01.zip), the plugin could copy and rename the screenshot file it lists ("Frogger_v1.png") to
D:\LaunchBox\Images\Commodore 64\Screenshot - Game Title\FROGGER1_02953_01.pngCould do similarly with the images "Cover" (Box Front?) and "Advert" (Advertisement Flyer - Front?).
On 2/18/2022 at 3:33 PM, dillonm said:Far more than Launchbox can ever scrape from the internet.
LaunchBox doesn't ever scrape from the internet. It's metadata and images are retrieved from the user supported LaunchBox database. Videos and other images are available via a collaboration with EmuMovies. Just to be clear.
-
35 minutes ago, Starskins said:
It worked!! I've been trying to make these games appear for the last 3 days without any success but you fixed my problem! Thank you sooooo much!!!
Glad I could help.
The main thing is that you learned why it wasn't working before and discovered how to resolve it.
-
10 hours ago, Sbuddha77 said:
im sure the filepath or something simple is the cause but not sure. can someone give me detail on the correct file path or something.
To better help you, can you provide the following screenshots of your setup please?
In LB go to >Tools>Manage Emulators and edit your MAME emulator. Post a screenshot of the Details section.
Next edit one of your games and post a screenshot of the Launching section.
-
1 hour ago, Starskins said:
I've unchecked any options while importing to make sure they weren't filtered out with no luck! I even tried to import a single file and while it can be chosen, it will not appear in the final import dialog box.
My guess is the games that did import are ports of Arcade games. Just a guess though. Possibly even an "educated" guess.
TI99 is not innately part a MAME's 'regular' full set [of Arcade machines]. Thus not included in LaunchBox's MAME full set import wizard. It is however within MAME's softlist (Software List) sets (called 'ti99_cart'). It has 318 +/- roms. Though not necessarily all 'games'.
If you have that set (or a curated portion thereof), you can use the Software List Importer plugin to import them all.
-
27 minutes ago, Crabi said:
but retroarch do not exit now
Esc:: DetectHiddenWindows On if WinExist("JoyToKey") Process, Close , joytokey.exe DetectHiddenWindows Off sleep, 3000 Run, "D:\HFSBox\Utilities\JoyToKey\JoyToKey.exe" D:\HFSBox\Utilities\JoyToKey\Default.cfg WinClose, ahk_exe retroarck.exeAdd the last line.
-
39 minutes ago, Crabi said:
it works on running script but not on exit
The Exit Script section is for when exiting the game from the Pause Menu.
Put your exit script portion below what you have already in your Running Script. You'll need to add a hotkey label for the exit portion. Esc:: usually works
-
1 hour ago, dillonm said:
import Gamebase images
The one I saw had all the images in a single pdf for each game. And as I recall, they weren't in any specific order in the pdf's. Though my recollection could be off.
So to programmatically extract each image may be doable. But 'sorting' them to their appropriate image type is another thing.
Can the images not be scraped in LB? Or are the game Titles kind of wonky? As in atypical to what/how they're listed in the LB database? The other importers I've created rely on being able to scrape using the built-in feature of LB. My thought being, to not duplicate existing features.
2 hours ago, dillonm said:extras and roms
What exactly are the extras? Are they something that have a "home" somewhere in LB/BB?
How the roms are stored? Single folder per Platform? Individual folders per game, named after the games Title? Does it vary between the different databases/Platforms? I don't think the database file listed 'paths' to the rom. Just the rom names themselves. Saying this last part 'out loud' has me thinking that would be so bad. Have the user indicate which folder their roms are in, then append the rom name to that folder for the application path. As long as they're not spread out amongst subfolders.
2 hours ago, dillonm said:I tried this on one of my smaller Gamebases and it worked a treat.
That's what we like to hear! lol Gald it worked on somewhere other my test PC.
If you have any more thoughts or information about the above, it would help immensely. More-so regarding the "extras" and rom locations. I'm not sure if my team is willing to do much with the images. We'll see. But I wouldn't hold your breath.
-
1 hour ago, dillonm said:
Thanks for your hard work Joe.
You're welcome!
1 hour ago, dillonm said:Hopefully this will develop further into something great one day.
Well, if it's not already...
You read my disclaimer, so let me know what can be done differently to make it more suitable for importing GameBase 'stuff'.
-
7 hours ago, rrangerrich2001 said:
This might sound like a weird question, but is there a format to edit the XML file for a platform ( say Arcade.xml ) so that I can add games in bulk using a Powershell script?
I think I have the format figured out, but I seem to be getting hung up on the <ID> number or something.
Thanks,
Rich
It would, of course, be "safer" to have LaunchBox do the importing for you. But I do love a good tinkering-with-xml files. When it works.
The <ID> for a new game is simply a random generated GUID. I haven't done a whole lot with PowerShell and xml's, but I know in C# it can be added with:
IDelement.Value = System.Guid.NewGuid().ToString(); -
1 hour ago, Disco Lando said:
been getting the aforementioned error.
The developers are in meetings all week, so they're unavailable for now. So I ran a test...
Using the Full Set Importer and selecting MAME 0.159 in the options, and using mame64.exe (v 0.159) I received the same message as well. So no. It is not yet implemented.
In the meantime, what you should be able to is:
- Get MAME's executable for v0.162 and unzip to a temporary folder.
-
Run the full set importer
- tell it you're importing 0.162 and point to the temp 0.162 mame64.exe.
- Be sure to point to your 0.159 roms folder when asked. (What files are actually in there won't matter. It's only needed for the setting up the roms' application path(s) [used in the next step])
- You may need to add a [temp] new 'MAME162' emulator 1st.?.
- Do not download any images during the import process. But do "Search for game information..." (metadata).
- When importing is complete, run a Scan for Removed ROMs. This will whittle the Platform to only your roms
- Change the default emulator for the Platform your original 0.159 emulator.
I suggested 0.162 because it's the closet to 0.159 that uses the "machine" nomenclature. This should also get and maintain your heavily curated set.
This all assumes you're using MAME from the MAMEDev Team (vs a fork/offshoot) and your roms are the conventional 8.3 zip files, named accordingly for MAME.
Pinball FX3 and additional Apps
in Noobs
Posted
The issue is (I'm pretty sure) when you launch a Steam game, it runs Steam.exe -applaunch xxxxx where xxxxx is the Steam ID # for that game (aka the games Application Path as setup in LaunchBox). Steam then does whatever Steam does to load/run/launch the game, and the 'original' Steam.exe closes/exits as the game [continues to] run. So when LaunchBox sees the "original Steam.exe" exit, it launches the "Run after game exits" Additional App.
To 'get around this' you can create an AutoHotkey script (or batch file) and add that as an Emulator. The script would execute the Run Before stuff, launch Steam to load the game, then keep an eye on the Registry (which will hold the Steam ID # while it's running). Once "that" Steam ID # is no longer in the Registry (game has now exited), it will execute the Run After stuff.
Here's an example: