JoeViking245

Only 2 things I can think of. When your doing a bunch of testing, (i.e. start LB [once], launch a game that starts a script then continues to the game, exit game, modify script, launch that game again.... over and over and over) occasionally [not necessarily after EVERY change] exit LB and then restart it. After exiting, check that you don't have any spurious AHK scripts lingering in the background (still running). When you Minimize LB/BB at the beginning of your script, you may want/need to restore it (them) just before your ExitApp.

In your Exodus Platform, select all the games (click one of them, then press Ctrl+A). Then click Tools, and select Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games.

Another thought is to copy the contents of the Audit to a spreadsheet and then you can remove the unneeded columns, keeping the games Title, folder location and even the duplicates column. Heck, even save it as a .csv file. Or (maybe a little more work?) put your roms in a 'temp' folder and then drag & drop them into LB to import. Then [in the Import Wizard] select the option to "Move the files". The only [potential] drawback to that is you can only move them into your ../LaunchBox/Games/yourPlatformName/ folder [which isn't necessarily a bad thing]. But the ones that don't get moved are the ones not imported. Then if ultimately you don't want then under the LaunchBox/Games folder structure, you can manually move them to their final location and use the Tools, Change ROMs Folder Path. I'm not discrediting your idea, just brainstorming current available options. To get something 'new' integrated into LaunchBox, they say the best way is to click [at the top of this page] Help & Support then Request a Feature. Sometimes thoughts, requests and ideas get "lost" (for lack of a better word) here in the forums. But the Feature Request Bitbucket is dedicated to just that.

You might could use Tools, Audit [Platform Name] after you do your Import to see what's there. If your Platform is Arcade (MAME), you'll want to be a little careful on what files you delete, depending on the type of set you have. Some arcade machine roms rely on other files that don't/won't get imported as games. Namely Bios and Device files.

Correct. For the Copy or Move options from the Import Wizard. LaunchBox should not / will not place anything in your personal Documents folder unless that's where you initially installed it. If you have your [Nintendo Switch] Platform already setup in LB, but all the existing games are pointing to the old folder location (H: drive), all you need to do is Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games. Select all games (select one, then hit Ctrl+A) and then click Tools and you'll find the option to Change there. When you want to Scan for Added Nintendo Switch ROMs, LB will look inside the Game - Folder Path you set for that Platform ("G:\LaunchBox 2\Games\Switch"). If you want to create your [Nintendo Switch] Platform from scratch, with your roms located in the 'new' (G: Drive) folder, use the Import Wizard and select Use the files in their current location. Initial clicking of the Browse button will always start from LB's main folder. Not from the Path that's in the field adjacent to it. If you look at it from the point of a self contained, portable app, that's ideally(?) where you'd have all your assets: images, videos, manuals AND emulators and roms. Again, it's browsing to a 'starting point'.

Beta 6 It's probably "just a thing", but I'm seeing an extra Log file appear when starting BigBox. The extra Log has just 2 lines: 2021-11-05 09:48:26 AM FIRST CHANCE EXCEPTION: No OID value matches this name. at System.Security.Cryptography.Oid.FromFriendlyName(String friendlyName, OidGroup group) And then the normal Log file: 2021-11-05 09:48:15 AM All necessary config files and folders now confirmed to exist. 2021-11-05 09:48:23 AM DataManager.SaveInternal started. 2021-11-05 09:48:23 AM Saving InputBindings.xml... 2021-11-05 09:48:23 AM Saving GameControllers.xml... 2021-11-05 09:48:24 AM Saving ListCache.xml... 2021-11-05 09:48:24 AM Saving Settings.xml... 2021-11-05 09:48:25 AM DataManager.SaveInternal completed successfully. 2021-11-05 09:48:27 AM MainViewModel setting active view model: PlatformWheel1FiltersViewModel 2021-11-05 09:48:27 AM FIRST CHANCE EXCEPTION: ImageSourceConverter cannot convert from System.String. at System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter.GetConvertFromException(Object value) 2021-11-05 09:48:27 AM FIRST CHANCE EXCEPTION: ImageSourceConverter cannot convert from System.String. at System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter.GetConvertFromException(Object value) at System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter.ConvertFrom(ITypeDescriptorContext context, CultureInfo culture, Object value) at System.Windows.Media.ImageSourceConverter.ConvertFrom(ITypeDescriptorContext context, CultureInfo culture, Object value) 2021-11-05 09:48:27 AM FIRST CHANCE EXCEPTION: ImageSourceConverter cannot convert from System.String. at MS.Internal.Data.DefaultValueConverter.ConvertHelper(Object o, Type destinationType, DependencyObject targetElement, CultureInfo culture, Boolean isForward) 2021-11-05 09:48:28 AM Music.Resume Start ..... The Exceptions in the 2nd are quite possibly from my own wonky Theme. (I'm not too worried about that.) Note the Time Stamp in the 1st one. It falls in about 8 lines down on the 2nd Log file. It only happens during BB startup and not LB. I see it both when starting BB directly and when starting BB through LB (Ctrl+B). Tested on two different PCs. There are no other Log files like this (the 2-liner) prior to beta 6.

How about creating a Playlist?

Tested with MAME 0.236 and 0.237. Both worked [here] for uploading scores via "hi" and "hiscore" folders, respectively.

You can set the specific Platforms to use a specific Theme independent of other Platforms. There are a couple vertical themes in the download section. So set the Default theme and Arcade theme to a horizontal one you like, and then VPX to a vertical theme. As for catching the event when entering the different platforms, a longshot may be "BigBoxThemeChanged". Technically the theme will have changed, but not sure if that's what the event is actually looking 'at'. Vs. say setting/changing it in Options or changing it via a keyboard shortcut. But there's one sure way to find out.

Pause Arcade.zip You can just unzip this into your /PauseThemes/Default/ folder. (assuming you don't already have an "Arcade.xaml" file in there) Oh, and your control panel images need to be in the "Arcade - Controls Information" folder. (as opposed to the "Arcade - Control Panel" folder) It turns out my startup theme was modified from the Framed Header theme that @Retro808 created a couple years ago. I guess I'm not really an "up with the times" kind of guy. lol Anyway, my customized part is not really user friendly for sharing as I changed shtuff around to work on my cab. In fact looking at the xaml file and what I did to it, it's a wonder that it even works. I would need to go through it and fix/change some things to make it portable (a.k.a. work on any other computer than my own). What you can do that's easy enough; if you find a startup theme that you like, and "all you need to do is" change that one image type to an "Arcade - Controls Information" image.. If say "that one image type that's showing" is a "Box Front", in LaunchBox, go to Tool, Options, Media, Box Front Priorities, and move "Arcade - Controls Information" to the top of the list. The beauty of this is that this won't have any effect any other Platform because they won't (shouldn't???) have a controls information image. So it just goes down the list until it does find an image.

I use a modified Default Pause Theme I made quite a while ago when I 1st started learning xaml. Since I typically don't pause Arcade games, I forgot how basic it was. lol Here's the modified Default Startup Theme that actually gets looked at. The real CP:

I don't know if CPW can/will save them as the games full title. Mine are all named the same as the rom. Which in the long run, is ideal. In the Theme I have, the Image Source is Source="{Binding SelectedGame.ArcadeControlsInformationImagePath}" ..since my images are stored in /Images/Arcade/Arcade - Controls Information/ LB/BB will look in that folder for an image file that's name is the same as (and possibly use some form of 'fuzzy matching'?) the Game Title or Rom_Name (and from what you're saying) or the game's LB id#.

It's pretty much the only way. Though you could get crazy and setup dual monitors and have them show on the 2nd monitor while you're playing the game on the 1st. But a Pause Theme would be easier and more practical. But when I was kid and went to the Arcade, we played on REAL arcade machines. We didn't have "pause" and "save states". And we had to walk to the Arcade. Up hill. Both directions. In the snow. lol Seriously though, it is a personal preference. I have mine show in the game startup theme. So you got about 4 seconds to learn what the 1 to 4 buttons do. I don't play much of the 6-button fighter games.

More than likely not. MAME's ui has had some behind the scenes work done with it (not that this has anything to do with it) , the LUA engine's been updated and CPWizard hasn't since before I started with it 3 years ago. However standalone, it works great! Well, at least for creating Control Panel images. I created a template that matches the panel on my cab then used it to 'print out' CP images for all my games. I put those inside Images/Arcade/Arcade - Controls Information/. Then from there, could add the images to my themes. So it's not a total loss. Just doesn't do what it was originally designed to do.

I'm pretty sure it's not possible to "directly" launch a game using a specific 'version of an emulator' solely based on the Playlist that it's in. You can always choose "launch with sinden_emu" or "launch with Gun4lr_emu". But the games 'home base' is always a single Platform that can only have one default emulator. So I think with your cab, it'd probably look more seamless to (as you said), import duplicates of the games into a new platform that has the default emulator of Gun4lr_emu. And then the Platform you have already has the default emulator sinden_emu. Create your Playlists, then you can launch the game(s) directly without having to find/remember "Launch with...". If "Launch with..." is not an issue, that would actually be cleaner overall (mainly 'behind the scenes'). But (a little) less seamless for when the kids go to play.

The easiest (well, only) way I've found to "hide" running PS scripts is to create shortcuts to them. Then edit the shortcut(s) (right-click, properties). In Target: add the full path to your powershell.exe to the beginning on the line (put quotes around it if there're spaces in the path) , then add -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File And then at the end, add -WindowsStyle Hidden C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "F:\Misc\Toggle Internet\ToggleInternet.ps1" -WindowsStyle Hidden So here, "F:\Misc\Toggle Internet\ToggleInternet.ps1" is what was originally in the Target: field. Your actual path to powershell.exe may be different. Who knows what I got going on here. lol Next click Advanced... button and check Run as administrator and click OK. Lastly, change Run: to Minimized. Click OK. Now direct LaunchBox to those shortcuts. Good luck and enjoy.

Visual Pinball X VideoSnap Creator View File Visual Pinball X VideoSnap Creator (Playfield Recorder) Use this plugin to create videosnaps of the Visual Pinball X tables on your PC/Cab. This will record any VPX table at any orientation and from any monitor. Why record your own? There already exists a lot of video snaps of most every Visual Pinball Table. You can even find vertically oriented (portrait) ones for your pincab. The issue is they may not be recordings of the actual version of the table you use. Or you simply can’t find one for a particular Original. Or you just don’t like the one(s) you found. Features: This will automatically ‘find’ your table’s playfield view so there’s no need to set up which monitor to look at or set any scale, resolution or aspect ratio. Your VPX default monitor settings will be displayed for your reference. (new v2.0) Record the backglass at the same time as the playfield. (optional) (new v2.0) Record the DMD (3rd screen) at the same time as the playfield. (optional) (new v2.0) Record the tables gameplay sounds along with the playfield video. (optional) (new v2.1) Add the tables Clear Logo to the end of the video. (optional) Included is an AutoHotkey script that the plugin uses to quickly bypass the VPinMAME window when loading a table. (Should reduce loading time by approximately 4 seconds per table) (This also works well if added to your Running AutoHotkey Script tab for your VPX emulator ) Record durations can be set between 5 seconds and 3 minutes. If your playfield is in portrait mode, the saved output video can be rotated for proper viewing. (Options are 0º (default), 90º, 180º, -90º) You can set the video to record at 60 FPS (Depreciated v2.1) All video will be recorded at 30 FPS Videos are automatically saved to the default folder (/Plugins/VPXVideoCreator/CreatedVideos/) or you can change it to be placed directly into your /LaunchBox/Videos/Visual Pinball/ folder. Installing: Download and unblock the zip file. (right click the file, select properties and check the Unblock check box and click OK) Copy the VPXVideoCreator folder (from inside the zip) into your /LaunchBox/Plugins/ folder. If updating to 2.0, overwrite the existing file. Quick Start: Start LaunchBox (always a good place to start) Right click one of the tables in your Visual Pinball platform and select Create VPX video. Set how long you want your final recording to be. Click Capture Video. The default save location is in the plugins’ subfolder, “CreatedVideos”. Setting up to record audio: (new v2.0) (optional) You will need to register “audio_sniffer-x64.dll”** (included with the plugin) with Windows. Basically what this does is makes all your audio output accessible in one place. Think of it as a Frontend for all your audio output devices. This “frontend” will be labeled “virtual-audio-capturer”. 2 ways to register/unregister audio_sniffer are: The easy way: Run the included batch file (located in the plugins AudioSniffer subfolder). You need to run this as administrator. The batch file can also be used to unregister it. Follow the prompts. Old school: Open the command prompt [as administrator] in the “AudioSniffer” subfolder. To Register: type in then press enter: regsvr32 audio_sniffer-x64.dll.1 To Unregister: type in then press enter: regsvr32 /u audio_sniffer-x64.dll.1 **NOTE: The file is named "audio_sniffer-x64.dll.1" (with a “.1” at the end). Otherwise LaunchBox will try to load it as a plugin, which will cause errors. Source code for audio_sniffer can be found here: https://github.com/rdp/virtual-audio-capture-grabber-device Using the plugin: Set Delay: This is the delay time between clicking Capture Video and the video actually starting to record. Set to bypass (in the recording) the VPX editor loading the table. Default is 12 seconds. Options are from 5 to 30 seconds. Record Duration: Set to how long you want your video snaps to be. Default is 30 seconds. Options are from 5 to 180 seconds (3 minutes). Video Rotation: If you play on a rotated monitor (or TV), you will want to set this to the direction your monitor/TV is rotated. Default is 0º. Options are 0º, 90º, 180º and -90º. Include Audio: (new v2.0) Check this box to include the tables playfield sounds with the recording (needs to be configured). Record Backglass: (new v2.0) Check this box to record the Backglass at the same time as recording the Playfield. This will be saved to a separate file that is saved in the “/VPXVideoCreator/CreatedVideos/Backglass/” folder. The backglass is typically on a 2nd monitor, but (if setup) will get recorded separately no matter which monitor it’s on (single or otherwise). The file will be saved as [the-games_Title]_BG.mp4 Record DMD: (new v2.0) Check this box to record the Dot Matrix Display (DMD) at the same time as recording the Playfield. This will be saved to a separate file that is saved in the “/VPXVideoCreator/CreatedVideos/Backglass/” folder alongside the backglass video. The DMD is typically on a 3nd monitor, but (if setup) will get recorded separately no matter which monitor it’s on (single or otherwise). The file will be saved as [the-games_Title]_DMD.mp4 Add Clear Logo to the end of the video: (new v2.1) Check this box to add the tables Clear Logo (if one exists) to the end of the video. The logo will fade in as the video fades out during the last 2 seconds of the recording. This feature is automatically disabled if no Clear Logo for that table exists. 60 FPS Option removed (v2.1) Experimental. Check this box to record at 60 frames per second. Default is 30 FPS (un-checked). Depending on your video card (and probably some other factors too), this may or may not even be worthwhile. Change Save Location: The default save location is in /LaunchBox/Plugins/VPXVideoCreator/CreatedVideos/. The video filename will be saved as the ‘games’ Title in LaunchBox with .mp4 file extension. You can save them anywhere you want. Reset to Default: This will reset the Save Location, Delay, Duration and Rotation to their default values. Save Settings: This will save the Save Location, Delay, Duration and Rotation values you set and will load these next time you run the plugin. Save settings before video capture This is checked by default and will save any changes made when you click Capture Video and before launching VPX. Capture Video: This will launch the table you selected to open the plugin with. At the same time, the AutoHotkey script “vpxBypassPinMAME.ahk” will start. This runs in the background and waits for the VPinMAME popup window to appear and then ‘hits the spacebar’ to make it go away (sooner). The script will exit after it see the popup, or 15 seconds. Whichever comes first. After the amount of Delay time has passed, recording will begin and will continue for the set Duration. When done, VPX closes and the video gets converted. The video is saved to “_tempVideo.mkv” (in the CreatedVideos subfolder) and then gets converted to an mp4 file. After conversion, _tempVideo.mkv will be deleted. Keep temp video when done: By default, “_tempVideo.mkv” will be deleted after the video has been converted. If you want to see what the video looks like before converting, check this box. After your video is complete, go to the CreatedVideos folder to view it. Note: this file gets overwritten each time you click Create Video if you have the checkbox checked. View Saved Video Click this to view the converted video. This is the video file shown in Saved Video Location. VPX Playfield This shows the default playfield monitor settings you have setup for your Visual Pinball installation. These get read from your Registry settings: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Visual Pinball\VP10\Player\Display The Monitor # listed may not be the same as what your Windows Display Settings says. So if it’s “wrong”, ignore it. The Image Scale (W and H) shown will be correct. If the VPX display settings cannot be retrieved from the registry, monitor #1’s information will be displayed with an asterisk (*) after the monitor number. (Monitor #: 1*) Some notes: When you click Capture Video, probably don’t click anything else until recording is complete. However once the table is loaded, feel free to drop in a coin, hit start and play until ‘your time is up’. Just don’t click on another window. Backglass and DMD recordings only work with B2S Backglass Server (which is what most of them are). PinUPPlayer windows are not supported. Designed for LaunchBox v11.3 and higher. Special Thanks! Special thanks to gtxjoe’s PBX Recorder on VPForums and Carny_Priest’s post on GameEx Forum for paving the way to figuring out an excellent approach to creating your own Visual Pinball table videosnaps. Huge thanks to @sundogak for convincing me (though it didn't take much once I saw it in action) and showing me how to add video fade and attaching Clear Logos to the videos. Also for all the testing done and invaluable insight! Future releases and enhancements: If there’s enough interest in this plugin (as in, it’s actually useful and would get used), I will look at adding: Option to record the table’s audio in with the video. (added v2.0) Ability to select multiple tables for ‘bulk recording’. Record backglass videos??? (added v2.0) Any REASONABLE request. As always, any and all feedback is welcome! Submitter JoeViking245 Submitted 10/22/2021 Category Third-party Apps and Plugins