skizzosjt

It requires the CTC theme's source files. if a theme was not made within CTC, or even if it was and the author hasn't shared them, then no it's not possible. you cannot import into CTC a theme's published code that Big Box uses, it's formatted different than how CTC does stuff.

Hi @Bussifrog I will provide some backstory. 13.18 is the last version that runs VLC as expected without known bugs. Users experienced random hard freezing in Big Box that requires terminating the program's process in 13.19 and onward through 13.22 while using VLC.... Using Big Box became a roll of the dice in those versions I mention. Is it gonna freeze after 90 seconds or 1 hour or 3 hours, who knows, but it was guaranteed to freeze at some point on 13.19 through 13.22 when using VLC. It might be possible to have used Big Box with VLC and not get a freeze as it was random, but lots of users ran into it with standard casual use. You're trying to say it was "flawless" in in 13.23 and prior. That would include 13.19 - 13.22. To set the record straight VLC was far from flawless in that version range. This was the period that raised the red flag to the devs that something has hit the fan and they eventually waived the white flag trying to fix VLC and went with implementing FFMPEG. So far that has been subpar by comparison. 13.23 was first version to include FFMPEG to replace VLC with VLC no longer being available within the app. Removing VLC is still a hard pill to swallow and I will likely forever be annoyed with it! The media engine has been a crap shoot since February and I'm not optimistic there is going to be an acceptable solution that matches how well VLC worked. They have dug their heels in on FFMPEG which is subpar both objectively and subjectively. They have painted themselves into a corner with no get out of jail free card in the deck left. So....join the club, these events negatively impacted custom themes and video playback in general for me too!

FFMPEG problems still exist.... Big Box AND LaunchBox (previously I only tested this for Big Box, but it occurs on both!) can still freeze up when some videos loop webm videos with vorbis audio codec still have audio distortion/artifacts all videos have their contents slightly stretched out in width compared to VLC (same problem exists with WMP too) new problem, not sure when it started but I notice in latest beta. Progress tracking is not working so great. I have lots of games getting stuck on "Active In Progress" when they should be falling back in an automated fashion to "Active Paused" after not being launched for 30 days. Even manually adjusting last played date through the edit game window isn't changing this. Some games will update only if you load LaunchBox and click on that game entry. Others will not update even if you do that. It's really inconsistent, problem spans across different platforms and game types, ie actual ROM files, exe files, scripts. Don't see a pattern going on here. It needs improvement so the automatic changing works better and more consistent. User should be able to boot LB or BB and have that stuff update at launch. Users shouldn't be forced to boot LB and click on entries for it to force a scan for progress status to update accordingly (but again, this only works for some games). It goes from Not Played to Active In Progress fine or Active Paused to Active In Progress fine. It's the reverse trend that isn't working well. Going from Active In Progress to Active Paused being the problem specifically for what I am witnessing. confirming fix. extra animations and videos restarting don't happen at game exit anymore.

I have tracked this down further. Totally fresh install, imported Steam games in Windows platform automatically, and then I setup Arcade platform with just Contra. Before I run Big Box I am showing I am nuking Big Box settings to prove it is 100% default. For Windows Steam games goes like this, Launch a game, play, exit game......nothing happens...... If I then ALT + TAB to bring up the ALT + TAB window...I can go to a new window and back to Big Box......or just bring up the ALT + TAB window even if Big Box is the only existing window.....once Big Box regains focus it restarts the video and some other animations that would normally only occur when entering the view. This would have been happening to me on my previous post because I have a script that would ALT + TAB back to Big Box at game exit to ensure it has focus If I disable Startup Screens this happens for Steam games regardless of user input. Though, doing some user input like ALT + TAB after game exit will make this bug occur an additional time even. For Arcade platform this bug behaves different when startup screens are or are not enabled. When they are not enabled it looks like it's doing the reanimation stuff twice instead of just once. Notice the game notes goes through the animation twice instead of just once on that video. You don't need to do any ALT + TAB business for Arcade game launching through Retroarch though. Launching Windows (Steam) game with all default settings Big Box Exit Issue - Windows With Startup Screen.mp4 Launching Windows (Steam) game with all default settings, with exception that Startup Screen is disabled Big Box Exit Issue - Windows Without Startup Screen.mp4 Launching Arcade game with all default settings Big Box Exit Issue - Arcade With Startup Screen.mp4 Launching Arcade game with all default settings, with exception that Startup Screen is disabled Big Box Exit Issue - Arcade Without Startup Screen.mp4 This is not some one off user issue when it's a fresh install with default settings. The prior video was my normal install but using the default theme. But reiterating this is not theme dependent, it happens on anyone I have tried on the fresh troubleshooting install or my normal install. Update regarding Windows 10 not playing many webm format videos with FFmpeg in Big Box and LaunchBox (as previously noted seemed to be related to ones using V9 video codec), but having no issue playing them in any media player in Windows. I no longer have this issue. All videos of webm format play video OK now in LaunchBox and Big Box. I didn't update K-lite since last post....same 13.24 beta 1 version of the frontend. I'm not sure exactly what the heck happened between point A and B other than I did allow Windows 10 to run an update in this time frame. Reading on what it contained I'm not wholly convinced that is what resolved it but it's my best guesstimate of what fixed it for me right now. Still though, webm videos with Vorbis audio codec have audio issues only in LaunchBox and Big Box on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Hence why I said only video is OK now. I've also found another issue using FFmpeg Letting certain videos loop, as in just watching them long enough to see them play again, the frontend Big Box will freeze up. I find zero pattern so far though as it happens on different video formats such as both mp4 and webm. Might freeze on a mp4 video looping from SNES platform or a webm video looping from Windows platform for ex but then another webm video in Windows platform loops fine or a mp4 video from Arcade platform loops fine. It's random as if if I check 20 games from a platform maybe 2 freeze. The same videos will always freeze on loop though, so that part of it is repeatable. Task Manager doesn't say Big Box is actually unresponsive though when it happens, but everything freezes, like notes stop scrolling and video/audio stops and no inputs are detected. A couple times this was not recoverable and I had to kill the process with Task Manager. Other times I noticed I could hit the Windows key on my keyboard and this would somehow magically make Big Box usable again. When it was unrecoverable this seemed to happen when I would try to ALT + TAB to another window and then back to Big Box. If I tried hitting the Windows key after that, Big Box remained unresponsive to inputs indefinitely.

Here are some instructions on how I did this if you want to add these manually.

Short write up on how to add the recent "PROGRESS" badge to a theme created/published with CTC CTC currently does not have this feature natively (as of v3.3.2) but it is quite easy to add manually after publishing with some basic understanding of Big Box theme code Add a new badge to your theme in CTC. It can be ANY badge since we need to edit this code after publishing it. Give the element an appropriate name that will be easy to find, for ex "Badge - Progress" Open the particular view XAML file in some text editor and then search for the element's name. Sticking with my example, I would search for "Badge - Progress" Find this line within the element's code and change the badge name (BadgeName) from whatever you selected in CTC to instead be "Progress" My ex here I started by using the "Completed" badge name within CTC and selected the corresponding image file to be used within CTC. Since I declared an image file within CTC it will look like this and I will need to remove the ImagePath. So the line would look like this once published <coverFlow:FlowBadge x:Name="Badge6img" DataContext="{Binding ActiveGame}" BadgeName="Completed" ImagePath="LAUNCHBOX_THEME_FOLDER/Media/Badges/Badge_Completed.png" And I am changing it to this <coverFlow:FlowBadge x:Name="Badge6img" DataContext="{Binding ActiveGame}" BadgeName="Progress" Finished edit will look something like this Now the caveat here is this will only use the default badge icons which are included with the frontend. What it does is based off the selected game's progress value, it will automatically use the the appropriate image file. If you want to use custom images, there is some additional steps to take One method would involve simply replacing the default images with your custom ones. This is by far the easiest way to use custom images. But note this means the custom ones will also be used in LaunchBox rather than just the Big Box theme If you wanted LaunchBox to maintain default images, and only the Big Box theme to use custom images there are ways to do that too. One method involves using scripts to copy image files around. First make a direct copy of the default progress badges directory since this will be used to be copied into the appropriate default directory only when LaunchBox boots. So one script can be setup in LaunchBox Startup Applications to run only when LaunchBox boots, this one copies the default images from the duplicate directory into the default directory. A second script would be used only when Big Box boots, this time copying your custom images into the default directory. This method is only used by me due to I didn't feel like editing more XAML code manually..... AHK syntax for this is very simple. Only one line of code required. Providing link to docs here and example below. The 1 parameter at end is to overwrite which is required since the files already exist. FileCopyDir, C:\My Folder, C:\Copy of My Folder, 1 https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/v1/lib/FileCopyDir.htm However, it is also possible within the XAML code to declare a specific image. This would require you adding a new badge element for each and every progress badge you want to use in CTC though. So, this is what I meant by more manual editing is required. You would still do the exact same edits I mentioned above, but now we must declare the image location and use a different visibility condition. So just like above select the specific badge image file within CTC and it will be properly declared in the published code. Without using proper visibility condition the badge image is going to show on every game. We must use the ActiveGame's Progress value to determine this as shown below. Note that the value you want to use will correspond with values listed in LaunchBox's Progress drop down field. Hence why here for a specific Done/Mastered badge, we must use "Done / Mastered" for the value as that is how it is exactly listed in LaunchBox We changed this line.... <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding ElementName=Badge6img, Path=HasBadge}" Value="True"> to instead read like this.... <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding ActiveGame.Progress}" Value="Done / Mastered"> Final edits would look something like this You would now need to make the same type of edits to any additional badge elements you added that are meant to display a specific progress badge.

Sorry but I got another gripe with FFmpeg. FFmpeg just like WMP messes up the videos "width". Only the "width", height is not impacted. I put "width" in quotes because it's not really width. As in it's not taking for ex a 1920 pixel wide video and making it 1930 pixels wide. The width of the video would still be 1920 pixels, but, the contents of the video get stretched out wider when using FFmpeg just like it always has with WMP. VLC did not do this this by comparison. It always has been more difficult to identify this occurring with WMP due to videos have a black screen blip and reset when returning to platform wheel, but it's always been there in previous version of the frontend using WMP too. still there on latest 13.24 beta 1 Here is a video for reference. For easiest way to see what I am talking about is to pay attention to the outer edges of the N64 controller on the left, where it is exactly when I am in the N64 game wheel. Like place your mouse cursor there for a good visual indicator. Then notice when I back out to the platform wheel it suddenly looks like the entire image stretches out width wise. Watch in fullscreen to make it easier to see too. This is not theme specific, but unless you have some sort of theme setup like what I am using here it would go unnoticed. For someone who wants a nice seamless transition between wheels where it looks like only part of the view updates when you back out to previous wheel, this is jarring and ugly to see. Big Box FFmpeg width issue.mp4

maybe this is what you are looking for circled in red then use the slider on the left hand side to make your entries appear smaller or larger. I know this isn't zooming but if you needed text bigger/smaller font sizes can be changed here in Options There might be some other options available I am not aware of, I haven't really done much customization to LaunchBox, only Big Box

there is a problem that has been occurring since version 13.22 the official release. All betas and official releases since then reset game videos and animation type stuff happen when exiting any game from any platform. It's 100% recreatable every time. So for example I boot Contra from the Arcade platform. Upon exiting, the game video actually resets to the start. You can briefly see that it is paused right where it left off but then it resets instead of continuing where it left off. Then at the same time all the text and badge images, etc, the chunk of info in top right area of the default theme will re-animate as if you just entered the view. Seems like it's doing all the stuff it would do if you just went into the view, rather than returning from exiting a game. This is noticeable and 100% recreatable on every custom theme too. Both video resetting and other animations reoccurring at exit when they should not be running. If I reinstall v13.21 or earlier the problem is not there. I then reinstall v13.22 or anything newer and the problem exists. The problems exist on default and custom themes regardless of the media player I have selected. Video for reference using v13.24 beta 1.... Big Box Game Exit Issue.mp4

Windows 11 on the official 13.23 release FFMPEG is working much better! especially in Windows 11 since all video formats I have are playing in Windows 11. There are some issues though in Windows 11 regarding audio for webm format videos that also happen to occur in Windows 10. Seems I find a pattern with webm if they are having audio issues they are using Vorbis. It is not 100% throughout the entire video. Might be sounding crackly or like milliseconds of audio drop out for a few secs, then plays ok for 10 secs, then the next 4 secs sound bad. But it's always the same spots in every video. The issues do not move around, always consistent when played in LaunchBox or Big Box. webm files using Opus sound OK though. I can also take these files using Vorbis, re-encode in Handbrake changing only audio codec to Opus and now the audio plays OK in LaunchBox and Big Box. I've encountered likely the same crash a couple other users have mentioned in LaunchBox. When a video is playing in LaunchBox in Windows 11 and I click on something else in LaunchBox, sometimes, it hard crashes. No error report window. Attempts to reproduce it are not consistent. This has not happened to me on Windows 10 though. Windows 10 Windows 10 is much better too for FFMPEG. Really good job on fixing the previous problems so quickly. But I do notice webm format videos are problematic. And only some webm videos. I start to notice a pattern between ones that do or do not play at all due to mostly older videos, games released in 2020 or prior do play, while newer ones do not. I started looking at video's properties and there is a pattern where every single webm video that does not play in LaunchBox or Big Box in Windows 10 is using V9 video codec. I can take these webm files using V9 codec, re-encode them using Handbrake using V8 codec, and changing nothing else, and now they play in LaunchBox and Big Box on Windows 10. Going in opposite direction, I can take a working webm file using V8 codec, re-encode using V9, and now it doesn't work in LaunchBox or Big Box. Opus audio codec seems to work better too. Vorbis will still work in the sense the file will play in LaunchBox and Big Box, but there is usually some audio issue going on like I mentioned above. So, I found the best recipe for settings was to use V8 and Opus passthrough if file was already using Opus, or changing it to Opus if it was using Vorbis. AV1 codec works too. The only webm video codec I can encode through Handbrake and the file will not play in LaunchBox or Big Box in Windows 10 is V9. For webm videos that play in LaunchBox and Big Box in Windows 10 since they are using V8, but are using Vorbis for audio, if I re-encode them changing just Vorbis to Opus, audio now sounds OK. To clarify all these webm format videos play fine in Windows 10 and 11 through any media player. It's just in LaunchBox and Big Box the problems exist. Windows 10 & 11 In LaunchBox and Big Box, using FFMPEG, viewing any video fullscreen regardless of its format, the frame rate looks worse when viewing it normally. Sort of like the video is dropping frames or something.

The positives THE COLORS! FFMPEG actually matches color management that VLC uses! this is the fix I've been waiting for! Category, platform and playlist videos recall their time position when going from a one of those wheels, into a downstream wheel, and then returning to the upstream wheel. Not exactly something I would call a show stopper if it did not work like this, but it's a win regardless since it's how VLC worked. I did not run into any videos that did not play when using Windows 11, even before I updated K-lite pack. (Windows 10 is another story though, detailed below) The negatives USING WINDOWS 11 Everything else is worse compared to both VLC and WMP. With FFMPEG videos don't start at their actual start. They are instead starting playback a few seconds into the video. To elaborate I end up with videos showing as a black screen then after a few seconds they start playing, but, several seconds into the video rather than at the start (00:00:00). I see this behavior in the default theme and ones I've customized If you go into the platform/playlist wheel or game details screen at a particular point in transitions the audio from the video continues to play from the previous screen, while the video on the current screen also plays. so FFMPEG allows two videos to play at once somehow. Only can see one of them, but the previous screen video audio will continue to be audible. Once backing out of current screen and returning to previous screen the behavior returns to normal only hearing the audio of the visible video that is playing. USING WINDOWS 10 All above issues mentioned under Windows 11 applies to Windows 10 too and then are more specific to just Windows 10 detailed below FFMPEG doesn't work really at all for me in Windows 10. (almost) every video is a black screen and never plays video or audio. some videos change to a green screen instead after waiting long enough. idk, it's a mess from my perspective. the only videos I've gotten to play back using FFMPEG in either LaunchBox or Big Box are just a few random webm format videos (4 webm format videos played - out of the 164 webm format videos I have - all Steam trailer vids). Not a single mp4 file played in either LB or BB. When a video does play with FFMPEG it looks bad. Audio sounds OK I think, no crackling or crazy misalignment, but video wise it's awful. Seems like a slide show with frames dropping off. for videos not playing at all, vast majority of the videos I have tried, they seem like they are gonna be a black screen with no audio forever.....if you wait long enough, say maybe 30secs, they switch to being green instead and you might hear some audio chirp but nothing else happens.....at this point is when Big Box becomes unresponsive having to wait several seconds for inputs to be recognized. Fans ramp up, it's clearly super busy trying to do something when this occurs. Performance will feel terrible until it seems Big Box has not tried to play a video for a bit, then it goes back to normal. So overall performance using FFMPEG feels worse relative to VLC or WMP, but this specific performance behavior I only saw on my Windows 10 system, but not the Windows 11 one. All issues can be seen on the default theme too regardless of using Windows 10 or 11. Already updated k-lite pack to latest 19.1.5 basic version on both Windows 10 and 11 systems. I was on a version from a couple months ago, 18 point something on both of those systems....regardless the update didn't change any behavior with FFMPEG on either system.

this feature exists! as long as you're on v1.21+ (1.21.0 is latest as of making this post)

Most common way is likely using the custom launch parameters. Edit the game and go to the launching > emulation section and toggle on using custom command line. you enter can enter the command for the preferred different core in it. Another way would be to setup another emulator instance in your emulator list for Retroarch but this time select a different core in the associated platforms list. then you assign this different instance of Retroarch as the emulator for that game. You can also add more cores for a platform on a single instance of Retroarch in the associated platform list, but it wouldn't choose that one each time by hitting the play button like normal. It would require right click play with to select the intended different core or using the game details screen then play with if within Big Box. A few choices to suit different use cases

not really a feature but it is possible. you can manually open the appropriate xml file and change the value. you can enter that you played a game for 5000 hours that you never played if you really wanted to.