Jump to content
LaunchBox is Hiring! ×
LaunchBox Community Forums

izzishor

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    28

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by izzishor

    Why is Launchbox so slow?

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

    In the same menu that you clear image cache there is a menu item to build the image cache so you wouldn't need to do this step. It does take some time as it generates all cache images for all the games in your setup, but would be a safer way of doing that then the AHK script.

    I press that as well, I ommited to write that. I do press it, however it starts 'loading' and then after 10-15 minutes the progress bar disappears and it doesn't seem it's caching anymore (because my CPU fans and it SSD activity becomes idle) then I turn on the script and start the scrolling :))) ty for the answers.

    Why is Launchbox so slow?

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    Should I move this chat in private? Or it's ok to talk here? I don't want to steal this post, but I do want to share my experience and perhaps get a bit of help.

     

    And to answer: No sir, I run nothing else than BigBox, it's database and roms from a fastish 2TB SSD

    I run W11 with modified services on a different SSD and I have 2 more HDD's just for PC Games

    Everything I don't need is turned off, I just have Fan Control, Xbox360ce and the SindenLightgun (in sleep mode) on startup, everything else (other than default win services) are off or manual.

    Everything is up to date and all auto-updates are off, for everything.

    I tried running BigBox as shell. Tried on fresh Win install

     

    ...So what I do to make it work is the following:

    -I delete the caches from BB and LB

    -I go in BB and select either Highest or High for images

    -Then I refresh the images from BB.

    Then I run an AHK script that just presses down arrow every 3 seconds, so that the images load for each game.

    I have to do this for all platforms, and you can feel and see the difference instantly when all games images are loaded, the second you cache the last one, it's butter smooth.

    And then time, or an update messes it up again...

    Why is Launchbox so slow?

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    Personally I have already tried the "default theme" and "old default", as well as "critical zone", and I have the same issue, regardless of settings, or system I use, if a playlist/system has more than 1000 games, it's a lagfest.

    Only thing that fixes it is deleting bigbox cache and then going manually trough all the systems and go through all games, then it won't lag for a few weeks or untill the next update. 

     

    Oh well. Ty for the answers.

    Why is Launchbox so slow?

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted · Edited by izzishor
    I've read the reply above mine.

    So, It made me sad when I saw that almost all the topics in regards to performance have been closed or barely have any answers...
    I have a pretty big collection (information about my arcade build, technical specifications and collection is here) 
     

    And I've been having this problem for a while, LaunchBox freezes at random intervals for me and I literally have to wait for it to load back up, and unstuck itself, I could live with that because I mostly use BigBox...


    However BigBox has it's own problems, I'm using Pulse as my favorite theme, however it does the same with default themes or others as well, it has huge slowdowns when scrolling trough games, (I have 3 screens on the Arcade, 2 of them running video: Main Screen and Marquee Screen and a static image Poster Screen) and I've tried with both VLC and MPlayer, and it always gets stuck, like 3-10 seconds wait time to change between the game, attract mode is out of the question, it's choppy and freezes.


    What I've tried to do to fix it:

    • Tried on multiple systems:
      • Monster Work PC (W10/W11 - RTX4090/i9/128GB/GEN3SSD, etc)
      • Main PC (W11 - Asus B550-E/32GB-DDR4/Ryzen7-5800X/RTX-4080/M2-SSD)
      • Arcade (I7/16GB-DDR3/RX6600/SSD)
      • Same slowdowns even though on Work PC and Main PC I only ran a single monitor.

     

    • Reinstalling / Re-adding my collection
      • Clean installed on separate computers, nope, didn't work, even with default theme, no settings done to bigbox, if I run my collection, after hours of waiting to import games, and waiting to build a cache, still starts lagging and going choppy when in attract mode, or just holding down, or left trough scroll through the games.

     

    • Updating or switching Video Player
      • I've tried both with VLC and MPlayer (same results, it's better with MPlayer for a while, then it borks down too)
      • Updating VLC x64 from zip file overwriting the files in the ThirdParty/VLC folder works for a while as well, then it starts going choppy again

     

    I've resorted to clearing my cache every week and having a script scroll trough all games, one by one, so they can load at least once, that fixes it for a week or two...

    But it's so bad I've started looking for alternatives... I would love to stay to launchbox because I've set it up in a way that I like, but the performance is literally driving me insane :))

    Sorry for the wall of text:

    TL;DR: BigBox scrolling performance is terrible, I've tried everything, pls fix/improve before adding "NEW" features not many people asked for, or i cry

    ------

    Later Edit: I was writing this while @C-Beats wrote his reply, so I've read it after I've posted.
    Thank you for the reply and your work <3, it at least sheds some light on the situation, rather than straight up ignoring or saying that there aren't any performance issues.

    I may have a small suggestion that might fix some slowdowns, at least in cases like mine, that shouldn't require a full rewrite of the code.
    Maybe finding a way to delay the videos (theme videos, marquee videos, etc) make them play after 2-3 settings of the game being selected, that way it does not fill the GPU queue or clogs up the video player, basically while scrolling trough games or while in attract mode, it should not play the videos instantly.

     

    IzzIsHOr's "Windows PC Games to play on Arcade Machines" Collection

    in Games

    Posted · Edited by izzishor

    I’ve spent a few years gathering a collection of games that can be played on fighting sticks or arcade sticks. I’ve rounded up all the games I could find and made a list.


    This is the most up to date and largest list I've seen on the internet for PC games you can play on an arcade machine with a zero delay controller, fighter stick, joystick, xBox controller, playstation controller, switch controller, or gamepad.


    This is the Arcade (specifications) I've built, running my Launchbox Collection on Windows 11 23H3 with 2x Zero Delay Controllers emulated as XBOX controllers trough XB360CE.

     

    Updated on 05/11/23

    Click on the game for their marketplace, GOG is preffered, STEAM second, Others afterwards.

    If any of the links are broken or you know any other games that should be on the list please let me know.


    PC Games for Arcade Machines

    0-9

    A

     

    B

    C

    D

    E

    F

    G

    H

    I

    J

    K

    L

    M

    N

    O

    P

    R

    S

    T

    U

    V

    W

    X

    • Thanks 1

    Big Box Marquee Video Stuttering Issue

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    It does the same with or without the plugin, it's a fairly recent plugin, but i've been having this issue on 3 systems so far, for about 2-3 years, I just thought it's how it is when you have a huge DB of games, now I'm shocked to find that everyone runs it smooth as butter, lmao :))

    I'll keep researching it on my end and see what's going on in more depth.

    My suggestion would be to update the VLC in the Launchbox installer to the latest one so everyone can use, it should without a hitch, vlc included with launchbox is 3.17 and latest is 3.18 I believe

    Big Box Marquee Video Stuttering Issue

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted · Edited by izzishor
    Added a link

    Thank you for the troubleshooting help,

    That's what I tried first, thinking it has something to do with the custom themes.
    I've tried it with all themes including the default one as well as without any marquee plugin.


    Right now I'm running Pulse as a theme and the "Third Screen Plugin" because I'm planning to add a 3rd 'poster monitor'

     

    Big Box Marquee Video Stuttering Issue

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    I run BigBox video marquees and theme videos for almost all my games (will also release more than 1k of my marquee videos for the community, just a bit more to do) 


    Main issue Is that sometimes I have slow and laggy video loading, sometimes it loads a different video because it seems like 'it lost track of what game was selected' and needs a few seconds to recover and play the video for the current game, freezing the whole bigbox for a few seconds sometimes and then playing the marquee and theme videos.


    What I did to try and fix it: 

    -Changed everything related to images and videos in options (VLC, MPC, Lower res images, Higher res images, you name it, I've touched it and tested it)

    -Cleared all caches,

    -Optimized all the files from my media folders and cleaned them up

    -Defragged the 2TB HDD

    -Upgraded to a 2TB SSD thinking it will solve it, it did not

    -Upgraded GPU to a RX580 8GB

    -Upgraded my CPU to a i7 3770K

    -Added more ram to 16GB of DDR3,

    -Optimized and debloated windows (win10 with to day updates)

    The only thing that seems to work is updating VLC in the thirdparty folder and it works okish untill the next update.


    I have gone trough all troubleshooting steps on the forums in regards to speeding up bigbox, seems to work great for a while, then it just bogs down so to speak.
     

    Big Box Marquee Video Stuttering Issue

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted · Edited by izzishor
    Grammar

    Yea, I've been having issues with video marquees and theme videos for a while now, haven't been active about it, because I don't usually complain, however it's been getting harder and harder to have a smooth experience.

    To temporary fix it, I've updated the VLC (just downloaded latest x64 VLC from here Index of /pub/videolan/vlc/last/win64/ and copied over the older VLC in thirdparty/VLC folder)
    And it seems to work a bit better and faster (hopefully it isn't placebo), but with every update the folder gets replaced and it runs worse again so I have to re-replace it, I have now set it to read only, hoping it will keep the updated VLC.

    I'm really hoping a bit more effort will go into managing image loading and videos in the next updates ❤️


    Otherwise I just love launchbox and couldn't have a home arcade without it :D

    Auto Play N' Quit - AHK Script by IzzIsHOr

    in Third-Party Applications and Plugins (Released)

    Posted

    Auto Play N' Quit - AHK Script by IzzIsHOr

    View File

    I've been fiddling around with trying to make BigBox run a game and then switch it with another if no play is detected...


    I tried looking at Arcade EIP, however... it seemed too complicated to configure for me at 4 a.m. last night, so I got ChatGPT out, and tried to come up with a AHK script that does the following:

     

    • Launches a game from a BigBox playlist
    • Waits 3 minutes in-game, to show it's attract mode
    • Brings RetroArch to the foreground
    • Closes RetroArch
    • Beeps Once
    • Brings BigBox to foreground
    • Holds "Down Arrow Key" to scroll trough games
    • LOOPS the script again (game changes every 3 minutes)

    Script can be closed at any time by pressing the "START" button for me that's Joy8

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    How I activate the script personally is,

    • Created a New Playlist with games I'd like to scroll trough (named it Attract mode)
    • Edited the metadata of a game (I chose 1941 because it's top of list)
    • Under Additional Apps I've added the AHK script
    • Set it to Automatically Run Before Main Application
    • Everytime I run 1941 it starts the script and scrolls trough random games until you press "START"

    smFay8e.png

     

    I have been testing it for a full day, it never once failed if you have it set up like me.

    IMPORTANT!
    It will not work "out of the box" without modifications if you're running anything else than RetroArch as an emulator, and a BigBox Theme that has vertical scrolling, also BigBox must have its default keyboard binds.

     

    • Thanks 1
×
×
  • Create New...