SiriusVI

Hey everyone, I'm NOT sure LaunchbBox is at fault, I just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention and ask if this is caused by LaunchBox some how. The scenario is pretty specific though, so I believe this bug might just not have been discovered yet: I tried setting up a Sharp x68000 platform by importing some zipped files. I had some trouble setting it up and found that if I extract the Roms before launch, I have better results. So I ticked this option: Since some Sharp x68000 games require multiple disk files, I also wanted to use the option to automatically create .m3u files. So I ticked this: Now when I launch the a Multi Disk game, it doesn't work. Retroarch stays black. And here is the potentially dangerous part: If I try to unzip the first file of the multi-disk game ("fiilename (disk 1), winrar will tell me that the archive is broken. I was able to reproduce this error several times with this Setup for the Sharp x68000. I redownloaded the disk files again and every time I launch a game with these settings, the archive breaks. Can anyone confirm that this is a common error? Or is there something wrong on m end? Thanks for your help!

Thanks for cranking out these fixes so quickly. You're awesome, man!

I'm still thinking about how to set up dual boot on the Deck. There is the option of having Windows on an SD Card, which is convenient, but may be slow. The other option is buying a small portable M2 case and using it to connect a second NVME SSD to the Deck via USB. You could store it in you Deck carrying bag or even find a way to mount to the back of your Steam Deck. Another thing to think about is adding a portable to increase the Steam Decks battery life. There are cases for phones which have a built in external battery. While there is no such thing for the Steam Deck yet obviously, there might be at some point. It would make the Deck more bulky for sure, but it would also add hours of gameplay. This might be useful for longer train rides or even - dare I say - when travelling by plane. Anyway, I'm getting super excited for the Steam Deck. I'm supposed to receive mine in Q2 2022 =).

I figured it out. As per the authro of HSM bezels, the correct path is: … \shaders\shaders_slang\bezel\Mega_Bezel\shaders\HyperspaceMadness However, OrionsAngel’s slangp files refers to: … shaders/shaders_slang/bezel/shaders/HyperspaceMadness

Sure, the overlays work fine. As I wrote in my post, the bezels work, it's just the hsm shader with the black reflection frame that won't load. If I manually load an HSM shader while the overlay is active, the black reflection bars appear like normal.

I've been trying to set up your new bezels with the hsm shaders but I can't get the shaders to load. I know how to set up hsm shaders and have used the many times. However, when I copy your config files, only the bezels show, not the hsm shaders with the black reflection frame.

You can reduce the time the start up screen in being displayed to a lower value instead of disabling it altogether. It seems like the problem occurs when dosbox launches while the start up screen is still running. Basically you want the start up screen so short that it's closed before dosbox launches.

That doesn't work. Overrides don't save core options. If you want the same core with two different options for 2 different platforms, you need to create a separate retroarch configuration for that.

Besides, one can add C64 Dreams AND a complete C64 Collection in the same Launchbox setup. No problem at all. Even if you want *all* C64 games ever made, there is still a huge value in this carefully crafted curated collection.

Hey everyone, I'm having a problem with Mupenplus Next in retroarch. I have the resolution set to 240p and wanted to use the "native resolution factor"-option to upscale the video internally. However, it does not work. Mupen seems to ignore this setting. No matter what I enter (x2, x4, x8), the internal resolution stays the same. I can increase the resolution to a higher value, however, I also want to use Retroarche's integer scaling for even scanlines and f I enable integer scaling, Retroarch stretches the image when the resolution is too high. Does anyone know why the internal upscaling does not work in Mupen?

Well, I'm pretty sure that there are adapters that would allow you to connect a modern pc to a crt. Also maintenance is not today big of an issue I think. My last crt lasted for over 10 years and never broke. If anything, I'd guess that modern tvs break more easily than older crts. I've played with the thought of getting one myself, but my living room is too small.

Well why don't you do just that then? You clearly want the most accurate CRT experience and CRTs aren't expensive. The only downside is that you'd have two TVs taking up space in your room. I actually answered that in my first reply.

Haha yeah this is getting ridiculous. However, I actually DO understand OP's desire for having an "accurate" look. I actually have 2 different retroarch installations, one with a more modern look, with upscaling and so on and one with a retro look, meaning retro bezels and retro shaders. Having no idea about the actual technology of CRT TVs, cables and so on, it can be a difficult task deciding what an "authentic" shader looks like. @Christopher Neff My advice to you would be the following: 1. Look for pictures of CRT monitors online displaying a game you know well (e.g. Mario 64, or Mario World --> bonus: check if you can spot the black bars on the CRT or how much of the image is actually cropped). 2. Use different shader presets from retroarch until you find one that looks as closely as possible to the image of the real CRT. 3. Tweak the shader settings (or don't) until you get even closer. 4. Just accept that it will never be perfect and be done with it. 😃 Alternatively, just buy a CRT TV and compare the real thing to the shaders in your own home. As for Acrade shaders. Those Arcade screens were CRTs as well, right? I find that whatever works on retro consoles, such as SNES also works on arcade games. I don't think you'll be needing a separate shader for them.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear, because I've already typed so much. They do work fine on mame standalone. I was referring to the lights out mame bezels for retroarch. The only work on a 4k TV. On a 1080p screen, you have to manually resize the screens unfortunately. I love your bezels, they add so much atmosphere to playing retro games. I would very much like to also use your retroarch mame bezels, but I cannot bring myself to manually resize the screens (yet). I guess I could just use mame standalone, but I really like having the all in one in all solution that retroarch offers. I might change my mind in the future though =).

I don't know if I can help you, but I've been struggling with similar problems. Take everything I write with a huge grain of salt, because I don't really know what I'm talking about, I just have a lot of experience due to trial and error, haha. 3. The most accurate aspect ratio for retro games is 4:3 if you don't care about pixel perfect resolutions. 4. I also noticed that N64 games have various different video screen sizes. You could try using a game like Mario 64, which has black bars and zoom in until the black bars disappear. That means that in other games, more of the video screen will be "cropped" (e.g. Mario Kart 64), but I guess this is normal, since I also don't remember there being black bars on a CRT TV. But my memory might be playing tricks on me as well. I guess if you do this, you should also disable any type of image cropping in Retroarch and in the N64 emulator core options, because you will be doing the cropping manually via zooming. But again, I'm not sure. 5. Again, this might be due to cropping settings in retroarch's video options emulator core cropping options. Try disabling them. 6. & 7. I don't think the problems are the overlay, I think it's cropping settings. 8. I reccommend @Mr. RetroLust's lights out bezels for consoles. They require however that you manually move the game screens around, so that might not be what you are looking for. He also offers Mame bezels, but you need a 4k TV for them. If you are on a 1080p screeen, you can use @Orionsangel's bezels for mame. They work and look great as well. 9. I never liked CRT Royal, but this might be due to my not having a 4k screen. I like CRT Geom, but the curvature effect makes me nauseous in fast side scrollers like Donkey Kong Country. At the moment I use a combination of an ntsc with s-video preset found in (... shaders/shaders_slang/ntsc/shaders/ ...) and aferwards CRT Geom without the curvature. I don't know if this is authentic, but it looks and feels nice to me. 10. For handhelds there are amazing presets in the Retroarch handheld shader folder. They come with bezels, too. 11. I don't know, I have little experiences with arcade machines. 12. & 14. from what I've read, integer scaling is required when using CRT shaders. However, you can't customize the screen when using integer scaling. Since I use @Mr. RetroLust's bezels, I cannot use integer scaling. My sort of compromise is leaving the vertical resolution on an integer-corresponding value and then adjusting the horizontal screen size and the size of the bezel itself to make the screen fit. It's kind of a hack to be honest, but it works. If your vertical screen size is not a multiple of an integer, the scanlines will look terrible. 13. from what I've read, yes. 16. Some emulators support loading the bios splash screen before running the games, some don't. I don't think that's something you can force.

I agree, I have it set up as a separate platform as well. I like the first game boy style box art =).

Yes looks like everything works fine now. Thanks again for fixing this. I'm super happy I could reimport Flashpoint! 😃

Hey, yeah I also noticed the space in the beginning of both playlists later on. I've just tried your updated importer. It works for the Super Hall of Fame Playlist now. The "Favorites" playlist still isn't imported. Now if I understood you correctly, it only imports if I manually add a game, is that right? EDIT: Just tried it. The Favorites Playlist import works if I manually add a game in Flashpoint 😃

EDIT 2: Did some quick Testing. I see this behavior on a fresh Launchbox install as well. here is what happens. 1. I Import everything and after the import is finished, the playlist "Favorites" remains white and is not imported. 2. After Launching Launchbox once and closing it, when I restart your plugin and select the Launchbox Path, the Playlist "Flashpoint Super Hall of Fame" is shown in white, even though it's present in Launchbox. Also, no "Flashpoint Super Hall of Fame.obk" file is created in the Data folder after reimporting. .obk files are pesent for all the other playlists. Hope this helps =).

EDIT: seems like the second playlist is causing some problems as well. I will try to figure out if the problem is on my end:

OK, I'm done. It seems to have worked. I'm not getting the error anymore. However, the Plugin did not import the first playlist called "Favorites". I tried importing it twice, but it just remains white in the Solution screen and is not being created by Launchbox.

Wow you are fast, man. Thank you for updating so quickly!!! Regarding your post above: 1. You were correct that I didn't have the latest update patch. I downloaded the pack recently from arviche.org and it seems the patch isn't included there either. 2. That said, applying the patch did not fix the warning your plugin gave me. It is however fixed with the new version you just uploaded, so I guess it really was the checksum issue, since I downloaded Ultimate, not Infinity. I'm running a new import right now. Will get back to you after some testing 😃

Sounds great. Can't wait to try it out. By the way, I do still get that weird message from your plugin telling me that my Flashpoint Ultimate Version is not 10.1, even though I downloaded the complete package and unpacked it correctly. I did rename the Folder it's stored in, though. Do you get the same messagte?

Well, you could have the language field display like this for more than one language: en, et.al. or if you want to leave more languages in: en; fr; sp, et.al. You could stell leave the complete region info in the custom fields.

This does actually sound like a great solution!