[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

@SiriusVI

Just pushed the update for FP12. I did move a bit of a faster pace than usual and make a large number of behind the scenes changes. so it's possible there's some uncaught bugs, but everything seems pretty good as far as I can tell.

Ironically, not long after you mentioned the page on the Flashpoint website that went over each platform in detail the Flashpoint Archive team removed that page because they felt it wasn't being maintained well enough. So using content from that in LB went from pretty much unfeasible (for me, in a reasonable amount of time), to outright impossible XD.

The good news is that I did make the change such that all platforms are now automatically grouped under a "Flashpoint" Platform Category, and those platforms (as well as the category itself) will use their corresponding icons.

 

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

On 6/8/2023 at 12:12 AM, mikejoe said:

Great plugin. Is there a similar plugin for Kahvibreak (https://bluemaxima.org/kahvibreak/)

Not at this time. It's something I might look into at some point but it's far down the bucket list at the moment.

On 6/8/2023 at 1:21 PM, SiriusVI said:

@oblivioncth

I've just updated to the newest version and everything worked great as always. However, I have a few suggestions on how to probably improve the plugin, although I am not at all sure it's possible:

1. Could Flashpoint be imported in a way so that "Flashpoint" is a platform category and then all the individual platforms are assigned to that category rather than the launchbox root? Having all the platforms show on the root level kind of clutters up the launchbox selection. I usually do this manually and things look really tidy, but everytime I update, many of the platforms are placed on the root level again.

2. Is it possible to include the description of the platforms from the official site intoo the "Notes" section of each platform? I mean the ones found here: https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/platforms

Anyway, theser are my 2 cents. 

1) I originally didn't bother doing this because it is another file I need to start parsing that isn't being parsed currently and at the time there was already a lot of different files I had to write readers/writers for. While it isn't too hard to do it manually, it certainly does get annoying having to redo it every time you update. I'm a bit busy with other things, but I'll certainly add this when I can since it makes total sense.

2) I'll double check to see if these are included somewhere in the distributions and if so sure, but if it comes down to needing to scrape them off the site then while I'd keep it in mind, it would be pretty far out in terms of hitting the trifecta of interest, time, and ability. Also would depend on the degree to which the page elements change when they update the list. I have enough fun dealing with the constant breaking changes of FP itself XD.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

1 hour ago, SiriusVI said:

I saw here was an update on the Github page, but now there are two different versions: static and shared. Which one do I use to import flashpint 11.1 into Launchbox?

There were no functional changes in that update. I was overhauling all of my CMake based projects to allow for building libraries and executables that are linked to their dependencies via shared libraries in addition to static ones.

Essentially, the shared version just has DLLs along side the executable while the static version is standalone and doesn't need them. The latter is the form the releases had been taking before I started building both, so while it doesn't matter which you use in the futute, the static build matches the releases from the past. But in the end they're functionally identical.

For now it doesn't even matter for me either and getting shared builds working was more of a formality.

I'll probably note somewhere in the README that you can use either.

EDIT: I guess there is technically the difference that the target version of FP changed to the latest in that release, so it is "better" in that it avoids the warning message of a mismatched version during import.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

1 hour ago, SiriusVI said:

You might have misunderstood. I don't want to copy the new Flashpoint folder into the old one.

I was just asking if I can import the new Flashpoint into launchbox or if I have to delete all the flashpoint platforms previously imported into launchbox first.

Oh OK.

You should be able to just import over your current setup without issue.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

On 12/18/2022 at 7:31 AM, SiriusVI said:

Hey man,

I finally have some New HDD space and downloaded Flashpoint 11. Now if I want to update m existing Flashpoint 10.1 install integrated into Launchbox, do I just install the new version 11 over the existing launchbox install or do I have to remove the previous installation from Launchbox?

All the best!

Technically I've never asked the team about doing this, but from my familiarity with it I would imagine trying to just overwrite everything would have a high chance of breaking stuff.

What I would do is remove the old copy of 10 and then put the copy of 11 in the same exact place with the same folder name so that the paths are the same.

Then, if you don't want to mess with updating your imports, just download the latest version of CLIFp manually and drop it into the new FP folder.

If you use the favorites system within Flashpoint then you'll need to export your favorites so that you can import them into the new version: https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/datahub/Extended_FAQ#TransferPlaylists

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

@Vippy_man

@SiriusVI

Don't mean to spam, but I figured I'd ping you guys, just in case you were relying on an email or whatever to be notified.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

Ok the new version is up, give it a roll, and don't hesitate to let me know if you run into other issues.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

Haven't had time yet to look into the cause, but I can replicate the crash.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

35 minutes ago, Vippy_man said:

Hi, thanks for the reply. I did not have the flash platform ticked or any ticked in the photo (I didn't realise that I had to). I tried it with the flash platform ticked and it still didn't work. 

Gotchya. Just trying to get at your exact intentions, as well as what you did.

So originally you just wanted to import everything on the Flashpoint "Favorites" playlist (hence selecting that playlist, along with "Force All" of Playlist Game Mode) and that exhibited the issue?

If your intention was to do exactly this (importing only the games from that playlist, regarddless of platform), then no you don't also have to select the Flash platform and are using the tool correctly. If you want to import ALL Flash games, regardless of whether or not they're on the Favorites playlist, then you will need to select the Flash platform.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

12 minutes ago, Vippy_man said:

Hi, I am having some troubles with the latest release of FIL (v0.6.0.2), I have Flashpoint v11 infinity, the latest version of LaunchBox (v12.16.0) and the latest version of CLIFp (v0.9.1. I have followed the all the steps and have made sure Flashpoint and Launchbox are closed. when I try in add the flash games to LaunchBox, FIL goes to 33% and then closes. When I open LaunchBox, there are no flash games added to my library. I have attached a image of what my FIL looks like. Thanks for your help.

 

Sorry you're having this problem. I'll try to reproduce it as soon as I can.

To clarify, you say you're trying to add Flash games but I can't see that platform option in your picture since it's too low in the list. So are you import options as shown in the picture, plus the "Flash" platform selected?

 

On 8/26/2022 at 1:25 PM, NexusX0 said:

Is this getting updated for Flashpoint 11? 

 

On 10/7/2022 at 11:55 AM, SiriusVI said:

Would be great for sure. I just checked and Flashpoint 11 is 1.42TB when extracted. Holy sh**. I think this alost twice the size of the 10.1 version.

It already has been, though now I need to fix this new issue.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't realize I forgot to upload the past few releases here ><.

[Flash collection (Flashpoint) import guide]

20 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

Games do not launch full screen from BB, that is what I am trying to accomplish, weather by a switch, such as -f or -fullscreen (which I have tried both and neither work).

I want to do this automatically when a game launches, not using the keyboard, maybe with an AHK script or something if there are no switches

Thanks for replying 

Sure.

 

Right now the only intentional handling is to do things the way Flashpoint does natively, so there is no force full screen switch or anything like that. I didn't consider it much given the games in FP tend to me more desktop oriented, and less "couch gaming" (not to say you can't do it anyway).

I'll keep in mind trying to implement such a thing, but it would likely be challenging given how there are numerous different sub-programs that Flashpoint uses behind the scenes, some of which keep getting changed, that all may or may not support fullscreen or at the very least require different methods to make them go fullscreen.

There is a more universal approach I can attempt, but that comes with its own challenges.

For now at least, your best bet would be to try to use an AHK script or the like, as you mentioned.

[Flash collection (Flashpoint) import guide]

6 hours ago, The Papaw said:

I was able to get it going, is there a way to add a switch or anything to make it go full screen when launching from LB?

To clarify, is this something extra you're asking for? Or is the game full screen when started from the FL launcher?

Also try hitting Alt+Enter while the window is active.

[Flash collection (Flashpoint) import guide]

On 1/7/2022 at 12:40 PM, tribe fan said:

This is awesome stuff. Was so relieved to find this project after discovering my SMB Crossover swf was no longer working in Flash Player Projector.

How do I import just certain games or playlists into LB? I created my own playlist in Flashpoint and selected it in OFILb, but it seems to be trying to import EVERYTHING into LB.

Sorry I missed this.

Right now I'm in the middle of overhauling the tool internally, but for the time being it should work fine with the latest Flashpoint.

What you want to do is add all of the games you want to a playlist like you said, then in the tool make sure no Platforms are selected, select the Playlist you made, and then set the Playlist Game mode to Force All.

This will cause the tool to only import portions of each playlist as required so that the game's in the playlist are available without anything else being grabbed.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

2 hours ago, SiriusVI said:

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 😃

Exactly, the playlist is literally your FP favorites that starts empty by default and is there for you to fill in.

It sounds like all is well then. Thanks for testing it.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

1 hour ago, SiriusVI said:

-snip-

Fixed. 

The problem was those playlists both have leading spaces (annoyingly, and likely an accident) in Flashpoint. This isn't allowed for filenames on Windows, and so what would happen is that my tool was configured to save the name with the space, but the OS would automatically remove it. Then later when it checks for existing playlists it makes the comparison expecting the space to be there, because it knows nothing about the removal, and so it doesn't see it as the same given the small, but significant difference. I changed my filename handling so that it considers filenames with leading/trailing spaces to be invalid and therefore accounts for their removal during comparison (as well as removing them itself when saving the playlists for the first time).

I also got lucky and happened to discover a bug that can cause a crash if you input the wrong Flashpoint folder so that was a nice catch to fix.

To be a little less lazy, and not flood my repo with slightly different releases, try this one out before I christen it officially: https://www.mediafire.com/file/7nfh203dgwg21ec/OFILb_0.4.1.3_test.zip/file

Also for the favorite playlist, make sure you actually have favorites set within Flashpoint or else it won't import anything regardless XD.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

Alright, give it a roll.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

20 hours ago, SiriusVI said:

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?

It's likely due to two reasons.

1) 10.1 was updated three times (the third was rescinded) after release, with the most current available being 10.1.0.3. On the site right below the torrent link is a statement and link to the patch you need to update Ultimate to that version. The statement makes it sound like that if you downloaded the torrent more recently that you're already fine as the torrent was updated to include the patch; however, this isn't actually the case and I have notified the team that the torrent is still the original release and that the statement is misleading (plus it turns out someone else there already noticed the issue and they're just waiting for it to travel down the pipeline to be fixed). So tl;dr make sure you apply that patch.

2) This is the first version where the checksum (in this case, used as an identifier) for the FP launcher has differed between Ultimate and Infinity. Because I wasn't aware of this right away the checksum that both are checked against is only Infinity's, which of course will make Ultimate 10.1.0.3 always be seen as a "mismatch". I have rectified this for the next build.

There is now another issue where it seems like a recent release of LaunchBox may have changed how images are handled, or something weird is just going on, because LB is ignoring the imported images now for me. Otherwise though the original issue has been totally fixed.

Edit:

Nvm, starting with a fresh LB installed fixed the issue. Must have just accidentally broke something (which is likely with some of how I do some testing).

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

7 minutes ago, SiriusVI said:

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.

Yea, that is roughly what I was planning on doing (though nice call on the "and others"), but I decided to just make the whole thing a Custom Field. My concerns about it from the past only were an issue with a much older version of the code base and don't really pose a problem (other than a little bit for a future idea I have, but whatver I'll cross that bridge then) currently.

Haven't had much time to do it but it will work and is partially complete.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

54 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

All the games are global and don't really have a valid region value. You could simply import the Language information into a Custom Field and then wouldn't lose metadata and it wouldn't cause issues by being pushed into the Region field.

This is my ideal plan, but it's a tad annoying because if I remember correctly Custom Fields are stored in a separate file and are not part of the platform XML itself. In the end it's not a huge deal but it does require a little more work, though I glanced at using them before and thought I remembered another reason I decided to avoid using them, which is why I was mentioning just truncating the field. 

Either way I'll check them first before resorting to just cutting the field off.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

On 12/23/2021 at 12:27 PM, SiriusVI said:

Hey @oblivioncth, I get this weird error and Launchbox crashes when I click on the "Flash" platform and on any random game:

Any Idea what this is?

 

 

 

EDIT: Did some testing: This happens with a new Launchbox install as well, so it's not due to my configuration. This didn't happen with Flashpoint 10.0. It happens with the new Version 10.1.

I did get a warning before importing Flashpoint, but I doubt it has anything to do with it (besides, I think the warning is wrong, because I redownloaded the whole Flashpoint 10.1 collection from their homepage, so I'm 100% sure I have 10.1)

 

I think the path might be too long (even though I disabled path length limitation in Windows). The folder names are caused by the regions of the games I believe. A fix might be to disable populating the Flashpoints region metadata in Launchbox.

 

EDIT 2: I'm now fairly certain that the Path Length is the problem. I don't know why this is happening, since I've enabled long paths in Windows 11, but somehow the path length is still restricted:

 

Anyway, I can't be the only one with this problem. And having folders like this "en; es; zh; fr; nl; ko; ru; pl; de; pt; it; da; ja; tr" and longer is kind of pointless in my opinion.

Does anyone know how to fix this issue?

I sort of knew this already when you posted, but wanted to do some preliminary investigation just to make sure I wasn't being dumb, but the root of the issue is that one (or more) games in 10.1 have a ridiculously long Language field (which becomes Region for LB) and for whatever reason LB feels the need to create sub-folders in the Image directory that cover all regions you have games for within a given platform, even if there are no images that need to go in those sub-folders yet. The tool doesn't use those folders at all, they get generated on start of LB after an import, which then causes this path length issue. 

Ultimately it would be nice for Jason to enable long-path support with LB, though since it requires enabling a specific setting within Windows for the end-user it isn't the most user friendly anyway. As far as I can tell there is no way to disable this behavior, and even if you could it would probably be global and not per-platform.

Since the languages a game covers isn't the most critical information, I will likely just set an arbitrary limit to how long the Region field can be and truncate it at that point. That or do something else with the original language field.

I prefer to leave as much metadata untouched as possible since that's more proper, but obviously I can't just leave it as is.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

I'm glad you figured it out, though I'm slightly confused by the exact order of events (just trying to make sure my tool isn't somehow responsible).

Are you saying you did an initial test with the importer with only a small selection, removed the modified files, and then tried to import again with the whole thing and it failed? Then it worked again after you moved the files created by the test back?

Just trying to ascertain the steps you took.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

49 minutes ago, Mcfly 2019 said:

is anyone else seeing this error? both lb and fp folders are correct, it seems to be having an issue writing to the data folder. what have i done wrong?

Are you doing an update or is this a brand new import?

If you can send me a zip of your LaunchBox data directory as it is now, even after the import failure, along with a screenshot with the importer configured with the exact settings you used.

Also it will help if you can confirm the version of the tool and Flashpoint.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

2 hours ago, SiriusVI said:

That's all I needed to know. I'm in favor of your method of excluding titles by having the excluded tag taking priority. This makes  a lot of sense. I think I'll be fine with excluding the "Adult" tag. Man... this collections seems to include some seriously f***ed up content right there. Wouldn't want any of that popping up showcasing my LaunchBox setup to friends. Try talking yourself out of that one, haha.

Haha, I'm a *sort-of* fan of some of the more "extraordinary" as I've always had a bit of what I can only define as an absurdity fetish (not-sexually, just in terms of interest in general) as I find the sheer fact that some of that stuff exists is hilarious. Like... someone went that hardcore making something this crude? Idk it just always made me laugh. But outside of my friends that feel the same... yea that would be awkward as hell.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

25 minutes ago, SiriusVI said:

It seems to have worked perfectly. Had to manually remove some of the older playlists, since Flashpoint reduced its playlists.

A question about the new Tag System. Now I still want to exclude "Adult" games. There are however many other tags that would suggest "Adult" content, such as "sexual violence" and other problematic sounding categories, which I don't want. Do you know how this works? Do apps have multiple tags? Is it enough to just exclude "Adult" games or do I have to go through the list excluding every problematic sounding tag?

Thanks for all your hard work, man!

Ah, yea it doesn't remove those because it essentially sees them as non-Flashpoint originating playlists, since at face value it has no way of knowing if its a playlist you made or imported once it's gone from FP. I could include a list of all current and/or previous playlist names, but then there technically is still a pitfall in that if you make a playlist with the same name for a different reason it would be incorrectly removed every time you do an import since it would believe it was an obsolete Flashpoint list. An annoying issue, but as you implied its not a big deal to remove them manually once. I doubt they'll get rid of playlists/platforms that often.

As for the tags, they are a bit of a mess right now due to being freshly implemented and not entirely fleshed out yet. How you use the filter is somewhat explained in the description above: Games can have any number of tags, including none (though I'm not sure there are any that are like this). The way I set up the filter in my tool is that exclusions take priority, which I felt was the most intuitive.

For example, lets say a game has the tags "Sexual Content", "Action", "[Some Specific Franchise"]". If you uncheck "Sexual Content" in the filter and leave everything else selected the game will not be included. Essentially, if a single tag a game/animation has was unchecked in the filter then the game is not imported. The idea is that you may say "I don't want any games that are from the Scooby-Doo franchise" so you uncheck that under the Copyright category and expect to get no Scooby-Doo games regardless of what other tags they may have, since 99% of the time you wouldn't care.

Your use case is the same, as you simply want the adult content games gone, you don't care exactly what kind of adult content they have, what series they're from, etc. You don't need to worry about unchecking things like "Milking" (lol) to make sure they're all gone. Simply uncheck "Adult" under the warning tab and that should take care of most of them. The reason I say this is that there are a number of games that still knowingly haven't been updated to use fleshed out tags yet, and a small few here and there that were gone back over but ended up being improperly tagged. So if you want to really make sure you get like 99% of them you'll also have to uncheck the "LEGACY-Extreme" tag, though this will also cull some titles that are not sexual but simply gore heavy. If you wish to remove anything even remotely dicey then you can uncheck the entire Warning category if you'd like.

The tag names, categories, and tagging accuracy will most likely be much better by the next release of Flashpoint.

[Flashpoint Importer for Launchers]

Version 0.4 is up (now with a 32-bit version if anyone still rolls that way).

As always for the first release relative to a new Flashpoint version there may be some minor unforeseen issues as mentioned above.

Definitely let me know if you run into any.