BeemanDev

Yes, this still happens, it hangs for ages and may eventually crash but normally just sits there with the hourglass cursor. Nothing in logs since Edit Platform/Parents/Arcade = ticked + OK clicked. Ahh after about ten minutes the Edit Platform dialog closed OK, except the platform wasn't moved to the category. Looked at logs and saw this A bit later in logs got I was able to fix it in Parents.xml which had a second entry for the platform I was categorising, which I just deleted, restarted LB and all OK now <Parent> <PlatformName>Mame</PlatformName> </Parent>

FYI I've not changed the theme for LaunchBox or BigBox from the default. I just swapped in an older different version leaving all other data unchanged and it came back to life again, a joy to behold! Maybe if the default nostalgia pack could be disabled and then LB would fall back to use the old structure (at least for a few more versions), that would offer backward compatibility for any issues and aid in bug detection, though IIRC you remove files from the old folders.

I tried putting Platform Icons in \\LB\Images\Media Packs\Overrides\Platform Icons\Platforms\<PlatformName>.png but they didn't get picked up, they don't seem to get picked up from \\LB\Images\Platform Icons\Platforms where they used to be anymore either, I checked LB v13.19 and they still work fine there. I even tried putting them in \\LB\Images\Media Packs\Platform Icons\Nostalgic Platform Icons\Platforms So I'm not sure where LB expects them to be now? TBH I've spent about 6 hours wrestling with this, I just swapped back in the core folder and lb root files to v 13.19 I have and everything works fine again. This 13.21 update definitely causes a lot of issues. Maybe If you could add an option to disable "Media Packs" entirely, that would be helpful so if Users have issues they can simply turn them off.

OK if I put them here they get picked up and I don't need to make any changes in LB \\LaunchBox\Images\Media Packs\Overrides\Platform Clear Logos\Platforms\<PlatformName>.png It is a bit different structurally to before as they would be in \\LB\Images\Platforms\<PlatformName>\Clear Logo\<PlatformName>.png But what about the other media like Banner, they stay where they were? Gonna get confusing but...

Is there any way to disable this and revert back to the original (simpler) structure if you don't want to use Media Packs? How do "Media Folders" interact with the existing folders? Is the "Images\Platforms\<PlatformName>\Clear Logo\" folder now deprecated but the "Images\Platforms\<PlatformName>\Banner" (Device, FanArt) folders still in use? Are these folders also now deprecated?:- LB\Images\Badges, LB\Images\Platform Categories, LB\Images\Platform Icons It seems now I must create a "LB\Images\Media Packs\Platform Clear Logos\<My Media Pack Name>\Platforms" folder and insert my logos in there and then enable it via Tools\Manage\LaunchBox Themes and Media for them to override the default LB ones in "LB\Images\Media Packs\Platform Clear Logos\Nostalgic Platform Clear Logos" And later also do this also for banners, fanart and other things? I use my own much simpler structure and symlink LB to it, but Media Packs adds an extra layer of complexity and confusion as to where the images originate from and needing to enable/disable them within LB. If a single LB Media pack covered logos, banners, icons, fanart for Badges Platform, Playlist, Category it would be clearer and the pack could just contain only what you wanted to override. Having a different pack per type seems a bit too granular and over complicated imo. I've read this BTW https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/1902408-creating-platform-clear-logo-media-packs-for-launchbox-and-big

There are a lot of fields available but I noticed that "Platform Category" is not available as a Field in the auto-populate playlist tab. EG I have multiple platforms under the Arcade Category (Separated out Capcom 1 2, 3, Dice etc) but the playlist Atari Classics uses platform = "Arcade" as a filter so misses other ones in different Arcade Platforms under Arcade Category. If playlist filter could be set to Platform Category = "Arcade" it would solve the issue <PlaylistFilter> <Value>Arcade</Value> <FieldKey>Platform Category</FieldKey> <ComparisonTypeKey>EqualTo</ComparisonTypeKey> </PlaylistFilter>

It is there, original post says:- eg "Box - Back_Japan.jpg" => equivalent to being at "LB\Images\Atari 2600\Box - Back\Japan\Space Invaders.jpg" I've written code to do it now myself, using symlinks, can reverse process too. Injecting all the metadata in myself as LB importer did some things I didn't want, also Injects Game.xml/Platform.xml, copies Bezels to RetroArch, de-dups, lots of other stuff. Tested loads but yet to unleash on my real data. Temporarily side tracked, rewriting my MameSL importer I wrote a few years ago. Hopefully one day I can release it all, but don't hold your breath. This is revisit 3, over last decade to tame the emu beast.

Presence of file "LB\Games\<Platform>\Platform.xml" => using games in sub folders named "LBGameName [year]" as per current import option (year is optional). Platform.xml may also contain metadata used to override the LB platform metadata on first import. Can be used to add custom platforms Each Game sub-folder optionally contains a Game.xml file used to override metadata when the game is first added. File has <Game> tag with 1+ static fields (Completed, Developer, Favourite, Notes, Platform, Publisher,Rating, DatabaseID, WikipediaURL, Title, Version, Broken, Genre, ReleaseType, MaxPlayers, VideoUrl) (same as Game Tags in current LB\Data\Platforms\<platformName>.xml file). Can be used to add missing/custom games. Each game folder also contains all the media for that game named MediaType_SubFolder (Subfolder optional) eg "Box - Back_Japan.jpg" => equivalent to being at "LB\Images\Atari 2600\Box - Back\Japan\Space Invaders.jpg" --Example file structure @ C:\Emu\LaunchBox\Games\Atari 2600\Space Invaders [1980]\ Box - 3D.png Box - 3D-02.png Box - Back.jpg Box - Back_Hack.jpg Box - Back_Japan.jpg Box - Back-02.jpg Box - Front.jpg Box - Front_Hack.jpg Cart - Front.png Clear Logo.png Fanart - Background.jpg Game.xml Manual.pdf Screenshot - Gameplay.png Space Invaders (Hack).zip Space Invaders (Japan).zip Space Invaders (USA).zip Video.mp4 Video_Theme.mp4 Video_Trailer.mp4 Bezel.png So, why do this? .Games/Meta are self contained so easy to quickly drag & drop game(s) from PC to other PC/android with all data to easily recreate .Variants are auto-grouped together (as current with folders) .No confusion over which rom or media LB is actually linking to. Easier to see what's missing and add new media. .Game.xml file allows easy addition of missing platforms/games or media/meta packs to be shared. Platform.xml can be used to add new platforms. .Leaves existing naming structures intact, just bolts on to top as simpler (imho) alternative file structure. Code-wise should be a lot easier than current, as files are all prenamed so all guesswork is eliminated. Just needs media location function to handle new location alternative. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.

Hi some issues/suggestions regarding BezelProject integration 1) You could create the default bezel for each core by creating eg: ..\RetroArch\config\PCSX-ReARMed\PCSX-ReARMed.cfg to point to input_overlay = ":/overlays/Sony-PlayStation.cfg" input_overlay_opacity = "1.000000" Setting opacity in the core overlay means you don't have to inject it into every game.cfg file (a bit messy and hard to undo without editing every file) as they will inherit it (I tested it and it works). However I often set mine in the core.cfg to 0.4, but with them written into every game.cfg they get overriden, so I had to search/replace and remove them all. 2) I note you download then unzip the bezel project into:- ..\LaunchBox\Metadata\Temp\BezelProject\.. and then delete the zip. However the temp\BezelProject folder is also deleted when exiting LaunchBox, so when you re-run it to get more bezels it re-downloads the large zip from BezelProject again. Is there a way to persist these to avoid that? either keeping zip to be re-unzipped as needed or keeping the folder, maybe it could go in the cache folder. 3) A minor point I notice is that you keep the Bezel Project system names such as GC for GameCube as:- ..\RetroArch\overlays\GameBezels\GC\*.cfg/.png I set these up myself last year but retained the Launchbox system names so:- ..\RetroArch\overlays\GameBezels\Nintendo GameCube\*.cfg/.png I understand maybe this was done for consistency with BezelProject, but I see they also store the core bezel as:- ..\RetroArch\overlays\Nintendo-GameCube.cfg so there isn't really a naming convention as such. So also core default would be:- ..\RetroArch\overlays\Nintendo GameCube.cfg/.png I did actually store it in same folder as rest to keep it tidier:- ..\RetroArch\overlays\GameBezels\Nintendo GameCube\Nintendo GameCube.cfg/.png It makes it a bit easier to track down issues. 4) if anyone wants to upload the bezels to RetroArch on XBOne you need to search and replace 🙂 = ~ and / = \) in the ..\RetroArch\config\system\*.cfg files. eg:- ..\RetroArch\config\PCSX-ReARMed\Time Crisis (USA).cfg input_overlay = ":/overlays/GameBezels/PSX/Time Crisis (USA).cfg" changes to input_overlay = "~\overlays\GameBezels\PSX\Time Crisis (USA).cfg" I also recall when doing it on BigBox Android that I had to use a full path (was last year not rechecked):- input_overlay = "/storage/emulated/0/RetroArch/overlays/GameBezels/PSX/Time Crisis (USA).cfg"

I set my Servostiks up via Rocketlauncher a few years ago, makes such a difference. As a fairly recent LB convert, I am progressing through migrating stuff over. After about 20 mins, reading up on Blinky, I stumbled across this and wanted to say thanks. First thing I checked is the LB Metadata for games I know will vary:- Pac-Man = 4-Way Joystick (Joystick) 1941 = 8-Way Joystick (Joystick) Robotron = Double 8-Way Joysticks (Joystick) Bubble Bobble = Horizontal Joystick (Joystick) Defender = Vertical Joystick (Joystick) Atari 2600: Acid Drop = Atati Joystick (Joystick) For it to handle these variants it would need multiple comma seperated entries for the 4-way/8-way names in the config? Also it might be easier to config if the game controllerSupport entry just needed to contain a 4-way/8-way name? (so Robotron would match to "8-Way Joystick") Cheers

I notice rom Beat _Em & Eat _Em.zip will NOT match art Beat _Em & Eat _Em (USA).jpg Which bought me here. I anticipated that contents of parentheses would be stripped + subsequent trailing spaces trimmed first, from both comparators? Strangely if there are no special characters in name such as Bee-Ball.zip it will match Bee-Ball (USA).jpg Is this a bug in the matching code for names with both special characters AND parantheses? PS: I don't like the subfolders for countries it creates or the -01 suffixes, as it makes it less compatible with other front ends, so removed them all. I could just remove the country suffixes, but would then lose info.

Wow, very impressive. I too went down the emulation rabbit hole 7 years ago, trying to tame the beast. I wrote code for about a year to automatically configure Hyperspin/Rocketlauncher, match up artwork, audit everything, rename, write config files. Though it worked, and was very fast, after much optimisation, it was too awkward to use for a public release and abandoned once I'd used it to auto set up about 140 emulators. One day I'll revisit but in C# (preferred language) not powershell, which I (mistakenly) thought would be fun to learn at the time, which it was but just ends up messy and hard to maintain + no front end. Out of curiosity (and probably ignorance) can you not just use (memory/register) snapshots to avoid truedrive on c64? As well as dropping straight into the game? (been contemplating this for Spectrum games where Kempston needs turning on + key presses to get into game) What was the need for batch files for every game? sounds convoluted. I managed to tame the few Spectrum games by saving .opt files from Retroarch to save specific emulator settings per game, mainly to map gamepad to specific keys. I forsee in the quest for the holy grail of one front end to rule them all, it will end up having to be web based version of a (skinable) Big Box/Attract Mode front end. Then using filters or say loading a 'C64 Dreams 'playlist to self-curate from your favourite curators. I know there are web sites like thegamesdb that index games but afaik they don't have a nice web based UI or a way to launch games.

FYI, I ended up doing a totally clean install of Launchbox, then porting media from previous 'upgraded' install back into it + merging in old settings to new install using beyond compare, and so far it hasn't given this crash again. Bit of a pain, but so far so good.

Siunce upgrading to v12.4 from v11, whever I try to scan for new media or new roms I get crashes which say they have been reported to LaunchBox. I found a report from Nov 5th on this, but no fix as of yet? pad block corrupted App: LaunchBox Version: 12.4 Type: Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.InvalidCipherTextException Site: Int32 PadCount(Byte[]) Source: BouncyCastle.Crypto at Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.Paddings.Pkcs7Padding.PadCount(Byte[] input) at Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.Paddings.PaddedBufferedBlockCipher.DoFinal(Byte[] out