deezdrama

Just wanted to say ive tried all the suggesstions but still get the black screen quite often. Ive even removed all videos from startup folder but one but it still happens. Someone mentioned they use ledblinky and just wanted to mention I use ledblinky too although im not sure if its part of the issue or not. Anyone else with the issue using ledblinky?

Do you happen to have the "stranger things" themed video in your startup folder? I removed that video and havent had a problem since although this issue is always hit or miss so if I get the black screen again ill update this post

Fresh windows10 install, fresh launchbox/bigbox install with latest version. I noticed about a third of the time that the startup video would not play and instead you get a black screen until you press a button. I did a search about the issue and seen several others reported this problem 6 months ago but seen no explanation or solution. Any fix for this?

Just found out about Mr Retrolusts 4k bezel pack.... this should solve my first 2 questions about bezels and scanline/curved filters

Due to windows issues I couldnt resolve Ive started over with a fresh Win10 install on my cab, Ive decided to keep it simple and just run MAME on the cab but would also like to install a handful of retro style steam games on the cab. The problem is I plan to keep the PC/cab off the internet once its done being setup. Will I be able to launch the handful of steam games with no internet connection? Also wondered if I can import just a handful of games 1 by 1 other than importing the hundreds of games on my account? Thanks!

Long story short, Built my 4 player cab in 2015 using hyperspin which was a nightmare but worked great when done.... Somewhere around 2019 I set the cab on my enclosed porch for the winter and mice got inside and destroyed the pc, the cab sat for a couple years and was going to get rid of it but decided instead to fully gut it and start over. Jan 2021.....Deep cleaned inside and out, fully gutted, found splits in the side panels that were furniture grade pine, injected glue/clamped/braced/painted, completely rewired the cab, new marquee lights, installed bottom and rear led flood lighting, installed diamond kick plate, bought and installed all rbg ultimarc micro goldleafs(love em), two pacLED64 boards, rewired ipac4, rebuilt my sanwa jlfs with longer shafts, oversized actuators,10lb springs, bat tops, cherry switches, oct gates, modded the 4 stick bores to accept rgb lighting, made custom clear dustwashers, new LG IPS monitor, built a better pc with parts I had, on and on..... Older i5 with 16gb ddr3, 1tb ssd, 8tb hdd, gtx 1060 gb.... Started with a fresh install of win10 pro, I thought putting windows, and all the artwork and preview vids on the ssd would make it snappy, all roms were on the 8tb hdd..... Had everything setup the way I wanted, short vid of it in action here... It took forever to integrate ledblinky and write all my custom animation scripts but the end result was awesome. Sadly it only lasted for about a year. Sometime in late 2022 I connected the pc to the net to download a new bigbox theme and shortly after the system was laggggy as hell and got progressively worse. Im talking 3-5 min windows boot times, 3-5 min bigbox launch times. Video previews were laggy, games took 30sec to a minute to launch. It made you never want to even turn the cab on so I barely used it. I just moved to a bigger house and have a dedicated gameroom that I want to add some 1up cabs to but figure I need to get this cab going first. I tried literally everything to troubleshoot the PC. Monitored task manager, system restore, update drivers, remove updates, install updates, run memtest86 to check ram, run crystaldisk to check drives, cpu stress tests..... nothing would indicate a issue or solve it. I have a huge collection of original consoles, along with a mister fpga so decided I just want MAME on this cab and everything on the SSD..... Getting fedup- I decided to start over, Fresh win10 pro install, disabled updates. I just renewed my bigbox license with a lifetime license, Installed drivers, runtimes, etc... Just installed newest launchbox, luckily my ledblinky animations are still working since I backed up the ledblinky folder. So currently I have launchbox installed and just imported and filtered my .228 mame roms and am left with a few questions.... Bezels.... So when I ran the import wizard I chose .228 mame romset, pointed to my roms on my 8tb drive, I chose to download boxart, screenshots, and vid previews from the LB database along with linking to my emumovies account, but then it asked if I wanted to install/download bezel artwork and I thought how cool it was to have that option integrated in the wizard, I selected yes and chose to prioritize the game bezels.... I let launchbox scrape all the artwork and vids overnight and this morning it was finished. I launched a few mame games but no bezels are loading. What do I have to do to get the bezels to show? Scanlines/CRT shaders...... One of the coolest things I liked about CoinOps when testing it was the default bezels/scanline filter/and curved CRT screen filter. They really looked good on my monitor and Im not a huge fan of alot of the shaders but the CoinOps Atarsharii build really nailed it with the CRT cab/bezel/tube look. How do I get the bezels to show and enable filters to get a similar look? XINPUT..... So when playing around with CoinOps I had to download the latest firmware for my IPAC4 that enabled mode-changing so I could launch my ipac in xinput mode to work easier with coinops..... It was cool how plug and play CoinOps was but ultimately xinput lacks support for LEDblinky and I dumped alot of money on controls for the cab so I decided to come back to Bigbox and just bought the lifetime license. So my plan is to run the ipac4 in keyboard mode the majority of the time for this simple MAME/bigbox cab but I do want to add a few steam games like shredders revenge,bro force, some mortal kombats, etc..... for those games Ill have to switch my ipac4 into xinput mode and Im wondering how that will work. I dont care if the LEDblinky functionality is lost while im playing a random steam game here and there but when I exit the game will bigbox menus still be able to be navigated while in xinput mode or will I have to switch the ipac4 back into keyboard mode? Will bigbox freak out while running if I switch back and forth between keyboard and xinput mode on the ipac4? Thats about all the questions I have right now, Sorry for the long winded post.... Setting the cab up is kind of overwhelming when you dont mess with it for a long time. I hope I can get it running stable and that it stays that way this time. Thanks!!

Very well could be because even after a fresh install of launchbox and everything involved I still dont get any triggers to ledblinky while navigating the menu/categories/games in bigbox

So in LEDblinky there is a "FE list change" animation you can set. I made a quick custom animation and was assuming/hoping it would be triggered by scrolling through different systems in bigbox but last time I tried to set it it only worked if I picked a game and was in the game info screen and then backed out...then it would trigger. At the bottom of the LEDblinky config utility theres also a spot called "FE system lists names" ... I think this is for adding the names of categories and systems as they are named in launchbox/bigbox to help trigger the "fe list change" animation. Has anyone figured this out of have details to share as I can only somewhat get it working... thanks!

Thanks for the detailed reply! My confusion was where launchbox got its working/nonworking rom labeling info.... I'm aware launchbox just passes commands to lauch so-and-so game to the emulator defined, but just wasn't sure if the import utility for mame was different than the rest, I thought maybe launchbox went off of its own master xml list or something of whats working/ not working when Importing games. I asked this on reddit as well and someone said LB would not import CHD games and this also had me confused. I already have the correct file structure for the CHD's .... I ran the mame filters "working"and "chd required" the other night and ended up with 270 results ....I exported the list and copied those folders/chd files with proper naming to the root of my mame roms folder and most of them are working, some will load and freeze on intro splashscreen but alot of them I knew just would have partial functionality. I ended up with a 241gb romset including the chd's ? I just wish there were more standard mame sets available without all the unwanteds and extra files, and that they would include the popular working chd files. Im sure there is but I tend to stay on more trusted sites where its not a thing. Anyway it was made to sound like, on redditt -that those roms requiring CHD's were just labeled as "not working" and wouldn't be imported by launchbox but I think they meant the CHD folders themselves wouldn't be imported . This is not a concern because I have all my roms on another drive and the CHD folders are where they need to be and I just need to point launchbox to the folder location so always just choose "keep roms in their current location". So its all handled by mame and solong as mame labels the chd required roms as working then LB will import it... I know now mame is where launchbox is getting its working/non-working list so I should be good to go. Going to import the set tomorrow.

sorry.... I read it wrong

So when I import my mame set.... If I check the box to not import non-working roms then it wont import roms that require CHD files and do indeed work if I have the chd files? I will need to manually add the CHD required- working roms?

Thank you for the insight!

So im aware you can choose not to import fruit machine roms, majhong, clones,bootlegs ect when importing a mame romset..... after your filtered list is imported you can export this set to a new folder. What im wondering is will it import the roms needing CHD files? I have a full .228 mame romset, a full .228 bios set, and a full .228 CHD set. When importing my mame romset will it also include the current working roms that require chd files? That way I can skim down my mame set to a more manageable size instead of keeping 550gb of CHD files on my drive when most are not being used? Or should I use a program like clr mamepro to audit/skim down my set first? Thanks!

Just finished upgrading my cab, spent a week trying to get controllers working in retroarch. I tried everything but my IPAC4 kept taking priority over the controllers. Its in keyboard only mode so shouldnt be any conflicts with my wireless 360 controllers. Ive used both in this cab before. Tried autoconfig input on and off, tried mapping everything, saving profiles, tried fresh install of retroarch..... Nothing worked and my IPAC4 would always hog input ports 1 and 2 making the controllers useless even though they were recognized and configured. Finally I switched controller input driver to sdl2 and it makes my controllers stay in input ports 1 and 2 and can finally use either my controllers or my control panel and I thought I conquered the beast..... Untill I run retroarch through LB or BB then the damn ipac4 takes priority again and the controllers are useless. What kind of setting or launch command could launchbox be running retroarch with where its making the inputs mess up and behave different from when i run retroarch on its own? thanks!

I dont know what the issue was but copied over the launchbox files from my backup drive to the cab and now its triggering attract led animation.

Ive been trying to figure this out for days. Im in process of getting email address from Arzoo of LEDblinky to send him my debug file but he suggessted I ask here as well. Anyway, Spent several weeks overhauling my 4p arcade cab, new PC, new wiring, rgb buttons, and 2x pacLED64's. Everything is setup and running good except a couple issues. I generated my input map in ledblinky, and my layout, I spent a whole day making custom led button animations for bigbox, and sofar my animations for launching BB, active in BB, exiting, and active in game animations are working fine but I cant get Bigbox to trigger my attract mode animation, Even if I hit the shortcut key to trigger attract mode its not sending that trigger to ledblinky. Also assumed that "FE list change" animation would trigger anytime Im navigating the systems and categories but its only triggering from backing out of a games info. I just updated bigbox to newest release as well....still have these issues. Any ideas? Thanks!

I finally- after weeks of troubleshooting- got everything launching in 240p as it should. Through countless guides Ive read, and after posting my issue on a dozen forums, I never seen mentioned that you must go into retroarch/config folder and edit each cores config file to turn on crt switchres......but thats what fixed it.

So I installed another fresh instance of launchbox on my c drive (not my 8tb launchbox drive ive been having the issues with) Pointed it to retroarch and bam...... 240p first try. The problem is I spent weeks compiling my 8tb drive from roms I had on my arcade cabs hdd, and roms from another computer. I just recently compiled it all a few months back and its updated to latest launchbox. I pointed to the same retroarch folder as the instance of launchbox I just downloaded and the launchbox I just downloaded outputs 240p fine but my compiled hdd dont. What could be the issue? What would be the best way to fix it without having to recompile/reconfigure the 8tb drive AGAIN from scratch?

Well ive disabled integrated graphics to rule that out. Ran only the crt. Reinstalled custom modelines, tried 2 older versions of retroarch...... Same situation..... I can get retroarch to run in 240p but when launched from launchbox or bigbox its in 480i and dont understand why. Does launchbox run RA from a command prompt? could the command have something added thats forcing 480i? Is there any possible settings in launchbox i should check?

I get all kinds of different results in retroarch by changing resolutions and refresh rates in these 3 options...... I cant find any info on what these should be set at options.... desktop: 640x480- 30hz interlaced, 60hz interlaced, 120hz interlaced retroarch: crt_video_refresh rate- 30hz, 60hz ,120hz retroarch: video_refresh_rate- 30hz, 60hz, 120hz Ive played around with all different combinations of above settings, some will give me the 1/3rd of screen on left, squished in middle, squished horizontally, what ive tested tonight Monitor retroarch "crt_refresh_rate" retroarch "video_refresh_rate" result menu/game display 60hz, 60hz, 60hz retroarch menu=normal games=squished tiny in bottom left display 30hz, 60hz, 60hz retroarch menu=normal games=squished tiny in bottom left display 120hz 60hz 60hz menu normal games=squished tiny in bottom left display 30hz 60 30 squished vertically working 240p display 30 30 30 squished vertically game only on 1/3rd of left side of screen display 30 30 60 normal game squished tiny bottom left 30 30 120 squished vert working 240p 30 120 120 squished vert 240p 30 120 30 squished vert 240p 60hz 120 30 squished vert 240p 60 120 60 squished vert tiny bottom left 60 60 60 normal tiny bottom left 60 60 120 squished vert 1/3rd left 60 60 30 squished vert 240p 60 30 30 squished vert 1/3rd left 60 30 60 normal tiny bottom left 60 120 60 normal tiny bottom left 120 120 60 normal tiny bottom left 120 60 60 normal tiny bottom left 120 30 60 normal tiny bottom left 120 60 120 squished vert 240p this is going to make me loose my sanity. Ive had retroarch menu and games loading right a few times but it doesnt matter. Bigbox loads it in 480i instead of 240p.

I can get everything to run in 240p in retroarch..... in bigbox its 480i and mushy. What could bigbox be doing to not let RA run in 240p? No ideas? Nothing?

Heres a video of what its doing below. Retroarch only outputs 240p if i set my desktop res at 640x480 30hz interlaced but then bigbox wont run it. Now if i set desktop to 640x480 at 60z or 120hz interlaced then everything runs in bigbox but its in 480 and not 240p because its mushy and no scanlines. Arrrrrggggggg. I feel like something is just out of sync,something simple im overlooking. ? I thought maybe i needed to make sure RA and my desktop were in sync so switched desktop to 60hz interlaced now im getting the funky 1/3rd screen again ....im sure its something simple and stupid that im overlooking. https://www.reddit.com/r/launchbox/comments/fv4ac2/runs_fine_in_retroarch_but_not_in_bigbox_but_why/

Ive finally figured out what was going wrong. I noticed anytime retroarch would start in progressive 60fps ..... nothing would play, and if I could trick it into interlaced 30fps by toggling "threaded video" then any rom would load fine. Ive tried changing video_refresh_rate to 30 in cfg file but it was just like toggling "threaded video" and would only work once and next time RA was launched it would revert back to 60fps and whenever RA would start in 60fps mode everything would mess up. I finally tried turning save_on_exit to false in the config..... Now retroarch runs fine everytime, and loads all roms/cores without issues. Untill...... Im in bigbox , then I get a scrambled screen. I dont understand what bigbox could be doing to make the screen scrambled when retroarch runs fine now when launched directly. I feel like its something to do with retroarch being able to switch resolutions fine on its own but when ran through bigbox it gets messed up. Do I need to run the crt at a specific resolution since it seems bigbox just takes whatever resolution the monitor its on is ran at? Ive tried 640x480 30hz interlaced, 60hz interlaced, 120hz interlaced and all give me the same out of sync image when a games loaded through bigbox. I think once when I set crt to 60hz interlaced the game would load but it wasnt in 240p super res it was in mushy 480i. Ive tried setting descktop res on crt to 2560x240 but just get a squished image but its there and isnt out of sync. Ive been sitting at this computer for over a week now in ocd mode, i just need it to work so i can do other stuff in life lol. Im desperate…Is crt switchres really this wizardry noone knows about?

So I started over with a fresh retroarch config and couldnt get any rom to run right in retroarch directly. playing around with setting in RA for several days has gave me a hunch of whats going on and im able to replicate it but dont know how to resolve the issue. In retroarch when I open it directly the menu is clear like its in progressive mode and no rom from any core will launch right, ill get sound but still just see a darkened squished horizontally desktop. But if i go into retroarchs settings > video> and turn on "threaded video" it will make my menu flicker like its in interlaced mode and any rom on any core will launch and switchres works and super res works. The problem is.... next time I open retroarch the menu is in progressive again even though "threaded video" is still on. But if I toggle it to off - my menu will flicker like its in interlaced mode again and will lauch any rom fine again. Retroarch is starting up in progressive mode and i need it to start in interlaced for it to work. Or at least this is the symptom im seeing and can replicate a fix if I toggle "threaded video" every single time. Maybe this will help someone more knowledgeable figure out whats going wrong in my setup.

i5 2500k with amd r9 380 on windows 10, im running crt-emudriver, ran vmmaker to install custon modelines/super resolutions. Ive installed groovymame and have it running through the crt and it looks amazing. I had all systems running good through launchbox like in video below... Everything was running great and awesome...... Untill I actually started playing games and noticed they were soft looking and realized they were running in 480i instead of 240p with scanlines. I started troubleshooting retroarch and finally got games launching from retroarch in there native 240p-ish resolutions and looking great. I ended up deleting retroarch config file and updating retroarch, with a fresh config I changed the following to.... menu_driver=”rgui” menu_show_advanced_settings = “true” video_driver = “d3d11” video_frame_delay = “0” video_fullscreen = “true” video_smooth = “false” video_aspect_ratio = “8.000000” crt_switch_resolution = “1” crt_switch_resolution_super = “2560” crt_switch_resolution_use_custom_refresh_rate = “true” custom_viewport_height = “240” custom_viewport_width = “2560” In the attached image you can see things running from retroarch directly but when I launch them from bigbox its scrambled like its just out of sync. This is happening with every single emulator/core/system ran with retroarch from bigbox. But they run fine in retroarch directly. Ive been racking my brain and spent several days trying to iron out the bugs with this setup. Any ideas?