Johnny T

I just set up my LB system to use RetroArch for the 7800 and it's working very well. As far as I know (and I'm very new to this so forgive me if I'm wrong) but LaunchBox doesn't need to know how to "handle" the emulator as such. It just launches it as per your settings (emulator path / quotes or not around roms / etc) so, in theory, it should be able to launch any emulator. What if you just launch the emulator directly, do the same games play okay then?

Hi Dos, Thanks for the info. I've been doing some more digging and found a plugin for LB that allows a remote browser to access things like current game being played, manual for current game etc so technically I suppose it would be possible to set up a second device (old tablet or something) to sit and display the manual. It would be good to have the manual available 'in game' though via a shortcut key or something. I may fire it in to the suggestions box! I think the problem with the instruction cards (as I envisage them) would be that they would be specific to the system they were running on. i.e. I envisage an instruction card that shows the controls relating to my own cabinet which obviously would be different to other peoples situation. I might have a think about this though and see if there's a way of doing this without it taking me the rest of my natural life Thanks again for all your help

I had a game from Daphne disappear on me (Cobra Command) and what I did to sort it was highlight Daphne in the platform list, click the burger menu at the top and select "Audit Platform" (I'm not in front of my computer with LB on now - I'm at work - so it might be Audit System or something to do with "Audit"). That brought up a list of games for that system but for some reason my Cobra Command had assigned itself to a different system (I think it's because it thought it was the game "Cobra" with Sly Stallone). With the grace and deftness of a mentally-challenged gorilla I managed to 'somehow' change it back to Daphne and sort out the incorrect artwork that had been brought through and it re-appeared in it's rightful place. So... it might be worth trying to "Audit" whatever system you have problems with in future and see what games show up in there (I know you've sorted it out now but it's worth knowing how to do it for future reference). For your current problem try a selection of games. I was struggling with (what I thought) was a MAME problem but it turned out that the ROM was the problem. It was a version of Atic Atac that wasn't getting passed the loading screen. I changed to another version of the ROM I have and it worked fine. Good luck. Hope you get it sorted

Hi all, Well, I've only been messing around with Launchbox for a very short time so I'm still finding my way through all the features. One part that I think is brilliant is the fact that when I click a MAME game there is an option to see the Manual. However, the manuals for MAME games are generally the manufacturers instructions to the arcade owner for setting the machine up - dip switch positions etc. I would much rather see proper instructions for the game so I'm thinking of creating some "instruction cards" for my favourite MAME games (and maybe some other emulators) and then finding where the current 'manual' is kept and over-writing it with my own instruction card. My first question is..... 1) Is that possible to do? Or will it just get over-written next time I import games? 2) Does launchbox only accept .pdf for these files or are there other compatible file types? 3) As this is maybe a common request, is there a set of instruction cards already printed somewhere? 4) Is there a way to access the 'manual' (instruction card) whilst in-game? Thanks for any help you can give me.

I think the problem with MEGA and some of the others is that they host so much copyrighted content that they always tread a very fine line between being legal and illegal and hence, they are susceptible to having their domains/storage "seized" by law enforcement. I've known a few 'storage' sites disappear after having domains seized and I would doubt very much if you'd get your data back if that was to happen (obviously not a major problem if you still have the original but worth considering).

That's brilliant!! Thanks for the info. Really enjoying setting up Launchbox at the moment. I'm glad you talked me into it!!!

Hi Neil A big thank you for the help (as always!). I'll just stick with Playlists then as they are clearly designed to have the functionality that I'm looking for. So, reading your reply then, is it not possible to have a Platform populated with games but have those games launch into different emulators? I'm really wanting to create a "Lightgun" section/platform/playlist (whichever is best) and have in there every game that uses the lightguns. Some of the lightgun games use Daphne (American Laser Games) and some use MAME (Operation Wolf etc). Is this possible ? Thanks again for all your help.

Hi all, I'm just starting out with launchbox and I'm loving it so far. I've imported MAME into the system and it has set up the roms and also automatically added a load of Playlists such as 2-Player games / Lightgun games / Capcom games etc. I have a few questions about the subject of categorisation that I wondered if you would know the answer to.... 1) I have about 20 "favourite" games that I like to play in MAME. Is it better to add these as "Favourites" (I can see there is an option to 'favourite' a game) or create a second Platform called "Arcade Classics" or "Arcade Faves" or whatever and add them into that? I would quite like them in their own Platform if it's possible / recommended? 2) If I do add another Platform - do I have to import the roms again into that platform or can I associated the existing MAME roms with the new platform as well so they show under both? 3) If I just use the existing 'favourite' functionality - where do the favourites go? Is there a shortcut key to access them? (I've not experimented with favourites yet so the answer to this might be obvious but thought I'd just ask the question whilst I was here just in case it isn't). 4) Where I have playlists that have automatically been generated when I imported MAME - such as 2 Player / Lightgun games etc. Is it possible to add games from other platforms into these? I have a system called American Laser Games that I use with my AimTrak guns. I've not set it up yet on Launchbox yet (was previously using it on Hyperspin) but, when I do, can I associate these games to the playlist Lightgun games too? And add the Spectrum game Matchplay to the playlist 2 Player games etc.... so that those playlist titles cover ALL platforms/systems?? Is that possible? And, if so, is that how most people do it? Or is it not recommended for some reason? 5) I'm using an emulator called kat5200 to emulate the Atari 5200. I've got it all working fine except when I press "Escape" key to exit the game I just end up back at the emulator screen rather than back in launchbox? Any ideas? 6) Lastly - anyone know how people create these amazing start up videos that I've been seeing - what software is used? Thanks for any answers to these questions you can provide. Cheers John

I built a cabinet and it has 8 buttons per player. I've not put spinners or trackball on it (but, in retrospect, I wish I'd put spinners on it as they would be good for breakout games - which I like). I've also got 6 buttons at the top which are Pause, 1P, 2P, Start, Select, and Exit. I can also fold a front panel down and slide out a keyboard/mouse for messing around with the PC etc. I'm new to Launchbox but, with my previous Rocketlauncher/Hyperspin build I managed to get PS1 games running (via RetroArch) but I'll probably steer towards the 'simpler' games that don't require the use of too many buttons. I'm looking for more of a pickup and play experience as I've stuck my arcade cabinet in a summerhouse that we use as a 'pub'

When I built my arcade cabinet I wanted stickers for the sides/front and spoke to a print shop. They asked that I provide them a high-resolution pdf for them to work with. So I measured out the cabinet and then created an image of those dimension in Photoshop. Then just added stuff to it that I found via Google etc and built but the 'collage'. Then, when it was done, I rearranged the pieces into a rectangular image that I could give the printers. They printed it for me on adhesive backed vinyl for £95 in full colour and I just cut out the pieces and stuck them on. Worked a treat! Although the 'sticking on' was a pain in the a.. (Imagine a massive phone screen protector!!!). You wouldn't need the adhesive backed stuff though necessarily and you just stick it up like a poster with some white tack?

I was just searching for this exact thing. Does anyone know if this got added in?

Just to cap this thread off in case anyone finds it and they are in the same boat that I was. Yesterday, after work, I bought a Launchbox license and an Emu Movies pass and last night sat down for an hour to mess around with it. It is superb! There's a multitude of features that I've not tinkered with yet but I can already see that this is a brilliant front end with a very active community. So, I'm throwing my hat in the ring with Launchbox and looking forward to delving into it deeper this weekend. The videos from ETA Prime and Unbroken Software are a godsend and extremely helpful. So... if you are undecided like I was and you've read this far just go for it. You won't regret it.

That would be a great idea.

That's brilliant Neil. You're a diamond mate. Thank you very much for all your help so far :)

Hi all, I've just bought a license for Launchbox and EmuMovies. I'm stuck at work at the moment so can't install it but I've watched a YouTube video showing someone set up a system. They basically pointed LB at their emulator, imported their roms and then told LB to go and get all the media from EmuMovies. I've already got quite a lot of media (box fronts, video snaps etc) for some of my roms from my current Hyperspin set up. Is it possible to import this manually into LB and will LB detect this and then only go and get the extra stuff it doesn't have (i.e. to save download time)?? Or am I better (for ease of use and consistency) to just let LB go and get everything via the net?? Thanks for any info you can give me on this.

I've got a couple of Synology NAS boxes. One of them is set up with RAID to duplicate the data across both drives (3Tb drives). I keep really important stuff on them - like photos of the kids etc. For my arcade cabinet which I'm just setting up I've bought a disk drive caddy that holds two 2.5" or 3.5" drives and connects to the computer via USB3. I've currently bought a 4Tb drive with a 6Tb one on the way. My plan is to create my system in it's entirety at the computer, then use the caddy to duplicate the drive (it's a built in function of the caddy), then install the other drive into the arcade cabinet and then use GoodSync in order to then keep them synched (both ways synched) going forward. It's how I'm doing it now with the current arcade cabinet software and it works well - although at the moment the entire size of my roms/graphics etc is only 700Mb.

They look superb!! Great work!

Napalm, bundangdon, Thanks for the info and the link to the video. I've actually just been having a brew (stuck at work ) and watching another video by ETA Prime "Ultimate beginners guide to launchbox". I now can't wait to get home and get started. It looks soooo easy compared to Hyperspin/Rocketlauncher! I really appreciate everyone chiming in on my questions and help making my mind up about this. Thank you. You'll probably see me kicking around the forums now with lots of other questions !! Cheers John

I'm fine with that. For $20 I'm happy to risk it. If I don't get on with the software then I'll just put it down to experience and move back to Hyperspin but, from all the research I've been doing I can't see that happening. Thanks

Thanks Bundangdon, yep I'm certainly getting the feeling that Launchbox is where it's at. I do like tinkering with Hyperspin and it really plays into my OCD when it comes to getting a Theme/Wheel Art etc for *every* game and messing around with xmls, although quite tedious, can be satisfying when the system is all set up. However, I'm going to take the punt on LB I think and give it a go. I'm not so bothered about the learning curve as I've tinkered with RetroArch and other emulators before so I'm sure I'll pick it up with the help of YouTube. Thanks for your help and information

Thank you again Neil, that's really cleared it up for me. I think I'm going to buy a yearly subscription and just try it. From what you've said it sounds ideal. My only concern now would be around the speed of the system. The PC I have in my arcade, although it has it's own graphics card, isn't what you would call "high end"!! So I'm just wondering how the system will cope if I throw a thousand MAME files at it???

That's great to hear Napalm. What about from a speed point of view? Do you have many games and, if so, how does it compare to Hyperspin when it comes to choosing the games / scrolling through the choices etc? Is it laggy at all or is all those problems in the past? Thanks for your insight.

Hi Neil Firstly, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Just a quick follow up question that will relate specifically to my install. The way I have it set up at the moment I have Hyperspin/Rocketlauncher etc on the E: drive of my PC. My arcade cabinet (which is remote from the PC) has another PC in it that has an E: drive that is an exact replica. I then just tinker with Hyperspin (adding games / graphics etc) and then run a 'synching' program to synch the two drives together. This works really well. If I went to launchbox - would I need "Launchbox" itself on my main PC and then Big Box on my arcade cabinet, am I understanding that correctly? (i.e. that Launchbox is the configuration tool and Big Box is the software that actually runs)? Or could I just put Big Box on both PCs and then do exactly the same as I currently do? If that's the case do you know if I would need two licenses or just one? Secondly, regarding my Hyperspin question - you're perfectly correct - it was a bit of a daft question as I understand that a lot of launchbox users will have come from other front ends and the fact they stick around is testament enough to how good LB is. But I was more interested if there were any 'specifics' of "I love launchbox but the only thing I miss from Hyperspin is that you could do x y z in Hyperspin but you can't in LB". I just wondered if any of the things highlighted could end up being deal breakers for me. Thanks again for your comments / help, I really appreciate you taking the time out to answer the questions. One thing that has come up time and time again whilst doing some reading etc is how good the LB community is and you're proving that they certainly weren't wrong there! Cheers

Hi all, I have currently got an arcade cabinet I built and have it running Hyperspin/Rocketlauncher. Historically it only ran MAME and Megadrive but I'm now expanding it to include lots of extra systems. Obviously, with this being Hyperspin, it's a lot of xml editing and messing around and I'm now wondering whether I'm better just starting fresh with Launchbox. I've just had a look at a video about the new v8.6 of Launchbox and I've got some really basic questions... 1) Am I right in thinking that Launchbox is the 'free' version and BigBox is the 'paid for' version ? 2) Apart from paying for BigBox what is the difference between the two versions? 3) The videos of launchbox I've watched seem to show it being mouse controlled? I'm assuming that it can be configured to be controlled via an arcade cabinet joystick (my joystick essentially uses the keyboard arrow keys via the joystick and my buttons are set up as standard MAME keys i.e. left ctrl, spacebar, left shift etc) ? 4) Regarding point number 3 - is that maybe the difference between BigBox and 'free' Launchbox - that the former can be controlled from an arcade joystick??? 5) From doing some reading it seems that BigBox/Launchbox is slow when it comes to a system with a lot of games - but the info I read was from 2016 - is that still the case or is it fine now or is it still suited to systems with less games if you don't want to experience laggy performance? 6) Is there a benefit of using Rocketlauncher with BigBox/Launchbox ? 7) If I went down the BigBox/Launchbox route am I better just starting from scratch or can I still use my existing RetroArch / MAME configs etc (I have set up RetroArch to emulate the Speccy with some custom keyboard mapping for each game etc -- would prefer not to lose all that) 8) Is it straight forward to import Themes / Videosnaps / Artwork from my Hyperspin folder or am I better just letting Bigbox/Launchbox download everything again for me? 9) Is there a "portable" version of Bigbox/Launchbox that will work on a normal hard drive and not need to be connected to the internet? I'm sorry if some of these are stupid questions but if you can answer any (or all) of them it would be appreciated. I would also be interested from anyone who has experience of Hyperspin/Rocketlauncher as well to see if they have any regrets in porting over to Bigbox/Launchbox and what (if anything) they miss from Hyperspin/Rocketlauncher. Thank you for any help you can give me. Cheers John