C-Beats

Good news @superrob3000! Faeran was able to deduce how to rep it and it'll be resolved in next beta.

Thanks for the report (and @JoeViking245 for the confirmation) is on the short list of things to get resolved so we can get the next version out.

I'm not able to produce this currently, but I have quite a large number of changes at this point compared to what's currently live so I can't say it wasn't a thing in this release. I've added it to my pre-release tests and will make sure I still can't before we release. Be interested if you can still do this once the next beta drops out. Thanks for the report either way.

Some of these have been the design of the app well before I started but I'll do my best to explain the reasoning as best as I understand. First off being the separation of files. When LB was first built we didn't HAVE the database and so you HAD to store information locally in the data files because when you scraped you were hitting a third parties API and not this file. Updating to "new data" from any data source is by design a manual process as well because people get REALLY irritable when the software starts changing their data all willy nilly. It's because of those design decisions each field doesn't have any metadata tied to it saying, "user manually touched this, please don't update". We also don't have any automated scraping processes that would update the data for you even if we did have that flag. The data from the XMLs is shunted into memory on load. Obviously not in raw text, but in "models" we use internally in code. This means that we are only susceptible to drive read failures negatively impacting the app once, and not every time we want to do any load process. It's also WAY faster to read from memory than from disk, the difference becomes greater on spin-drives and network locations. Having all the information in one file also means that we only have to load from one source, and not two (which we'd then have to merge) which is far faster and leaves only one point of potential failure instead of two. There is also messiness regarding game entries in your library NOT in our database, or entries that started off NOT in it and then since were added and connected, the fact that metadata came from other sources than just this file (like MAME ini files, storefront APIs, etc), and more... There are definitely things we've identified as things we'd do differently in the future if we had the opportunity, as well as some nice have things that would make certain tasks easier for both user and dev. As time allows we push the app towards those goals, but some of those legacy decisions are rooted DEEP in this code base and so migrating to our newer desires can often time being a MUCH larger and complicated task than you may assume and so get pushed off for other area's of the app we can improve in a more timely manner (that also typically have far larger impact on the overall user experience). Quite a large number of the performance bottlenecks have been identified and I've offered several solutions to combat, but as the only developer actively working on the PC version of LB there is only so much time in the day and so we have to really triage where and what I do in the codebase for maximum impact to everyone.

The ID you're seeing in the image file name is an unique ID unique to that record and your install which is why it isn't in the Sqlite files. The XML files are your local library metadata, the sqlite is the information on our games database website. The two are intentionally separate so that you can alter your data the way you want on your build. I for example do not enjoy how we do genre tagging in our DB and so have manually corrected it on every game in my collection. I couldn't do that if I had to use values in the Sqlite file. Eventually we may move your local library data to Sqlite but it will still have that degree of separation and not all be in the same file. For your star rating disparity you can download the newest scores via the tools menu inside of LB. You can also always update other metadata using the Download Metadata and Media wizard.

Well good news, we can use months as a unit of measure! I mean a year is nothing more than 12 months right?

There are 3 different setups with that panel depending on width. You can swap between them by just making it smaller or larger. The point that view changes can be altered in the settings file the theme has built in.

There's been a request for it here. You can upvote it so that the powers that be can access how important it is to everyone.

Only other options are this time are use plugins to do so (unsure if we have a community one that does this) or alter the XML file (you'd want \\LaunchBox\Data\Parents.xml I believe). Both should be used with caution and you should back up before playing around with either method. As some one with with just shy of 2700 playlists in their collections I personally went with the former solution, I'd share but it has a lot of logic in it very specific to my build as so just wouldn't make much sense to anyone else. I admit though this path forward requires coding skills which many may not possess.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to say even in the next 20 years you'll see it topple, Windows will be around for a long while. That being said look at the adoption of Win 11 vs 10 and 7, especially in underserved area's of the world that can't afford the next new thing. 10 and 7 still have a healthy foot hold. In the future I can see those communities swapping to Linux to make their older hardware play nicer for their purposes. Also the reason Linux is so shattered IS because as you said 1) hardware min/maxxing sometimes requires it and 2) They can, it's open source so it's a possibility that can't be done with Windows Android has similar issues and it's the leader in the mobile market so it's not impossible for it to happen. Just no one cares enough to really make a go for it. Valve's the biggest name in a while to even both TRYING to touch consumer markets on the Linux platform on PCs and as you said, even that is mostly because they were making an OS for their dedicated device, just seems to have steam rolled (pun fully intended) into something bigger than I think even they were initially thinking it would. I think a lot of it is the Linux community is just happy to see their hobby/opinions being highlighted more often again. Linux for a long while was relegated to server admins, "hackers", and hobbyists (and mostly as you said still is). The attention towards something they enjoy is always a palpable excitement, it just sometimes gets carried away with all the "We're doing it boys! Windows is going down!". Like listening to Cleveland Browns fans talk about going to the Super Bowl, it just isn't going to happen... lol

Yeah, if you'd look on the feedback site that is a known error related to having outdated plugins. Remove those plugins and that will go away.

If you haven't already go into Image Cache settings some night before you go to bed and press the "Populate All Images" (or something similar). If those aren't populated during attract mode it tries to build them very quickly and can cause some pretty big performance overhead. Doing it on it's own speeds it up a bit and should eliminate that as a possibility moving forward. If you haven't already please submit a bug request with information about what version you're on, themes you're using, plugins in play, etc. As stated I don't believe I've heard of anyone else running into stability issues using WMP/Default on the current version so it's something the team would need to delve into. That being said if you have sleep/hibernate set up on your computer while it's running that's a tad different and is known to cause issues. You can test Big Box for as many 30m intervals as you'd like before purchase. Though it sounds like it's taking a bit longer than that to break for you. You could reach out to support (support@unbrokensoftware.com) and let them know you're unhappy with your purchase and perhaps they can work something out with you.

Is that the top of the error? Scrollbar looks like it's all the way down, if not the top could you send that as that will have the most important bits.

Yeah, M$ being a corporate staple keeps it alive. They previously also had the education system since most K-12 schools used M$ and so it's just what people already knew when making personal purchase or entering the workforce. At least state side though they lost the education market to Google and ChromeOS so it's M$'s hold is being chipped away at. They also losing every software SDK atm due to constantly changing gears before the last one is finished. The forced moves to MAUI and Blazor are crippling them compared to other techs. I don't think M$ is going anyway anytime soon, but I do believe their is merit to the notion that Linux via some distro's is easier to use than it's ever been before and people are more willing to test the waters because of it. We still a LONG ways out before Linux could take over Windows, but it'll be interesting to see how long it takes (or if it will) surpass MacOS in user base though.

I'd have to look what release it was but I was pretty sure we dropped a version that automatically changed the setting to WMP on first startup, but that may have gotten pulled before final cut. I have a hard time remembering what was just internal tests and what made the production floor sometimes so don't want to say it with 100% certainty.

I doubt it's just you thing, there probably is a very specific setting to get it to malfunction I just haven't been able to trip over. I'll take some time this week to look more into it and see if I can sus it out.

What all do you have in \\LaunchBox\Plugins? Honestly never heard of things disappearing and it not being one of the two things you've already mentioned (that I believe I told you). Can you do the following for me: 1) Import the games in question 2) Go to Tools > File Management > Create a Backup 3) Send me that data file in a PM as well as a list of some of the games you see missing when you log back into LB

Yeah when we moved to .NET 9 it cleaned up stability in WMP but tanked it for VLC. There IS a prompt now last I knew in BB when you try to set playback to VLC (WMP is default) that tells you crap could break.

That we don't support older versions of the plugins because they have obvious flaws (hence the need for a new version) and we don't want to have to deal with reports of issues we know are fixed in a newer version. Was either this or we'd just auto-download new versions and then have to immediately restart the application you just opened. Notification at least lets you handle the update at your own leisure. So I guess what I'm trying to say is...

what format are your games in?

Yeah, it comes up again pretty regularly, as stated there have been some ups and downs with Attract Mode stability, but there have been quite a few releases where as long as you were using a theme built correctly that attract mode worked just fine. The migration to .NET 9 admittedly stirred up a lot of old ghosts we had previously rid ourselves of and so there was a recent version or two where it was pretty bad, but the large majority of that should have been corrected by now when using the correct settings. Why I wanted to make clear, if you're still seeing it let us know because it's news to me that people are stilling having issues on current version.

Import the 50 games and then in Big Box make your default view "All Games" instead of Platforms or Platform Categories. Then you'll load right into a game wheel with those games in it.

There have definitely been times where the app hasn't be as stable, but as of the current release our internal testing last I knew is showing it is. I'd try to update to latest and try again. If you're not seeing it as such let us know via the bug report system.

AttractMode using WMP and the default theme should be stable. Changing theme or video playback can make your mileage vary pretty considerably since theme's can be made in a way that is known to have issues with memory stability. VLC in current build also is known to bring down the app faster because of a leak in the process.

lol fair enough. The number of times I've done that is already staggering and I likely have quite a bit more before I learn my lesson lol