AestheticEngine

Hi everyone! I've built an addon called ControllerLobby, and I'd love some feedback from other LaunchBox users. This started when my kids wanted to play an N64 game together. We fired up LaunchBox, picked a game, and then spent about ten minutes getting four controllers properly connected and configured. Eventually, we got everything working. Then we decided to switch games, and some of the kids wanted to swap controllers. Here we go again. I realized that my kids couldn't just sit down and play games together without coming to get me for help. I wanted the kind of simple controller setup you get on a console: everyone grabs a controller, joins in, and starts playing. I tried looking for an existing solution, including PadForge, but couldn't quite get the experience I was looking for so I decided to build ControllerLobby. ControllerLobby is a companion application that adds a controller assignment screen before LaunchBox or BigBox launches a supported MAME or RetroArch game. The idea is simple: 1. Connect or pair the controllers you want to use. 2. Pick a game in LaunchBox or BigBox that uses Retroarch or MAME as the emulator. 3. Each player presses Start to join. The first controller to join becomes Player 1, the next becomes Player 2, and so on. 4. When everyone is ready, Player 1 presses Start again. The game launches with the selected controller assignments. The lobby also appears for single-player games (sometimes you want to use an arcade stick, other times a controller with analog sticks etc.) What's working in Beta 1? I've been concentrating on MAME and RetroArch for this first release. I've successfully tested four players joining, moving, and attacking in the correct player order in MAME's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. I've also had local success with controller switching in MAME and NES gameplay through RetroArch. ControllerLobby uses separate session configuration for mapped launches rather than rewriting your original emulator controller settings. Game saves use their normal locations. There are still compatibility boundaries. When a configuration can't use lobby mapping, a notice explains that the game will use its existing controls without applying join order, provided the launch safety checks pass. A changed or damaged installation may need Verify or Repair before launching. Current scope is: - Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, with LaunchBox or BigBox and MAME or RetroArch already configured. - One to four XInput controllers, such as Xbox-compatible gamepads. PlayStation and Switch controllers must already appear to Windows as XInput devices. DirectInput-only devices aren't supported, and specific adapters or translation software haven't been qualified for this beta. - Emulator executables located inside your LaunchBox folder, using relative paths in their LaunchBox entries. External emulator folders aren't supported by Beta 1 setup. - No HidHide or virtual-controller driver is required by ControllerLobby. Standalone emulators other than MAME, native PC games and DOSBox are outside this beta; console systems running through RetroArch use the RetroArch integration. Download Beta 1 on GitHub — choose ControllerLobby.Setup.exe under Assets for the guided installer. To install: Close LaunchBox, BigBox and your emulators. Open Setup, browse to your LaunchBox folder, confirm the MAME/RetroArch entries and click Install. Wait for Setup to report success, then reopen LaunchBox or BigBox and launch a game. Setup uses your existing supported emulator entries, so you don't need to recreate your library. No additional runtime software needs to be installed. Setup also provides Verify, Repair and Uninstall for an existing installation. I built this as a companion launcher so it can handle the lobby before starting the emulator. The installer sets up that integration, and Uninstall restores the entries it manages while preserving unrelated changes. If conflicting edits prevent safe restoration, it stops with recovery information. The installer is unsigned, so Windows may display a SmartScreen warning. Please download only from the official GitHub release above. Checksums and verification instructions are provided there; don't disable Windows security protections to install it. Feedback and what's next Beta 1 has passed automated installation and maintenance checks, along with initial hands-on testing. Broader testing across different PCs and controller setups is still needed—that's where I'd really appreciate your help. I'm particularly interested in different controller types, wireless setups and living-room PCs. Longer-term, I'd like to expand support to additional emulators and native PC games. Report bugs, ask for help or suggest features on GitHub. Please include your Windows and emulator versions, controller setup, what you tried and any error shown. The README has more details and a short FAQ. I'd also love to hear whether this is something other LaunchBox users have wanted, and what controller setups you'd most like it to support. Expect the full release after this brief Beta period. Enjoy!

BigBox 14.1.0.5: native-game exit leaves frontend unresponsive and silent until Alt+Tab 1. Launch The Baby in Yellow from BigBox. This entry launches Game.exe, which starts Game-Win64-Shipping.exe. Per-game startup screens are disabled through an enabled override. 2. Quit using the game's own pause menu Actual: BigBox becomes visible, but navigation does not work and audio does not resume. Alt+Tab away and back restores usability; restarting BigBox is unnecessary. Expected: BigBox regains focus and navigation/audio resume automatically after game exit. Observed diagnostics: both game processes have exited. BigBox remains running. At 21:02:39 the debug log records ProcessEnded, 'Big Box activation deferred' with wpfActive=True, then 'restoration outcome=ConcededToForeignWindow'. Matching sequences occur at 20:55:19 and 20:56:45. PC: AMD Ryzen 7 7700 8-Core Processor (3.80 GHz) OS: Windows 11 Home 26H2 Theme: custom modified Colorful - Dark. Debug 2026-10-30 09-01-11 PM.log