Fugus

Trying to organize a system where each game has its own folder and the DLC and updates are tagged with (DLC) and (UPD). Is there any way to exclude all the files with those tags from being imported? No huge hurry or anything if this feature isn't implemented yet as I likely won't be mentally up for setting the stuff up for a while due to RL stuff but just trying to figure out if its possible.

@flanx I hate to say this, but mind if me or you just post what you have done so far the downloads section. It looks like it might be a while for me to really be able to focus on this and someone else might want to take over. Had surgery last Wednesday, it was something I signed up for and while it only had minor complications, I DRASTICALLY underestimated how much it would wipe me out.

Just an update, things are not going how I planned so likely won't be able to start on this for a while longer. But thank you for the work you have done.

Sure thing, I have my nephew staying with me for now and am preparing for surgery next week, but after that I already told everyone to leave me alone for the next few days at which point I will start scouring through that. Much appreciated. Will try and go through it and make them as best I can after I get a chance and then I will upload what I can into the database while uploading the finished products on the website so others can fill in any I miss or when I get too burned out and have to take a break. My hopes is to have 1 set that matches the back of Wii games and another that matches the backs of Wii U games.

Much appreciated again. I am thinking, since I suck at actually doing the artistic part. If you are up for it, I could go through every Wii and Wii U entry in the database and make a listing of all the different setups from the back of the box by just cropping that part out when I come across a new one, then when I got ahold of every variation of it, I could upload it here so you could make one that looked good. If not, what software do you think would be a good one to make these look pretty well.

Can do, what software should I use to setup a good order for them? And mind if I uploaded the finished product to the downloads section? And the only other missing controller I can think of or find is the uDraw tablet.

Thanks, if you don't mind me asking, what would be a good thing to use to arrange them into the proper orders? Want to try and make variations for each of the setups for the Wii and Wii U and then upload them to the database if I can figure it out. Edit: And noticed 2 missing icons. The Gun thing like they used in 007 https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/images/71963-007-quantum-of-solace And the balance board thing. And, after I have it all setup, mind if I uploaded the finished stuff onto the downloads section?

Much appreciated sir. To say I have no artistic talent is generous, I have negative ability at it if that is possible.

Yes sir, Exactly what I am talking about. What I am thinking about is having the different versions of that being uploaded into the database for each game and then BigBox theme could display them per game so you can see what you need for each game without having to manipulate the 3D Box or manually view the media just to check it. Not sure how many variations of it there are or who would have the time to manually add the appropriate one to each game but figure if they can get created and uploaded onto the sites download section, people will start adding them to the games and themes can start including them.

Guessing by the long delay that either it can't be done or no one knows how to.

Kinda torn here. Using the default theme, I am using platform videos for the background on that screen at which point I need the fade set to 0% but using screenshots and fanart for the backgrounds of the games at which point it looks blown out with how bright they look compared to the videos playing in the foreground or the screenshots that display for the ones with missing videos. Anyway I can set the Platform fade to 0% but the game select fade to 15%?

On the back of Wii and Wii U games, many of them have a picture at the top of the box of the types of controller setups it supports. My basic request would be for of a high quality set of the possible setups that different games can use and can potentially be added to each games database entries. This would allow players to use them instead of downloading the full boxart to have them as they are needed and would make it much higher quality than many entries have on just the boxes. Also, it opens the ability for theme creators to be able to use that image for their theme where you could have the box load up like normal but the actual control information could also load up somewhere on the page so people can see without having to rotate the box. Nothing elaborate or overly big or anything like that, just what it looks like on the top right hand corner of the box of their boxes.

Oh, my apologizes, didn't know it applied to the whole thing given its nature since this section had no games of any kind, just box art and manuals. Not sure how I could post them then, because this guys work is better than what I have found anywhere is and his collection was pretty close to complete, at least for US releases.

Has manual scans of the manuals for: Game Boy Game Boy Color Game Boy Advance Super Nintendo Playstation 2 Atari 2600 And the box art for the Playstation 2 And the collections are more full and at a higher level than what I have found at most other places. Especially the instruction manuals, EmuMovies needs to recruit this guy.

Ok, thank you.

I am thinking about this mainly in regards to if you updated a fresh install and it assigns an entry in the database that later gets deleted for one reason or another, when you do an update at a later date, how will you be able to know? Will it give a warning message about it or will that game just never get updates to the entries or media again unless you discover it manually?

@Freestate Funny enough, me and you are the 2 most recent posters on that one. The sad thing is, if we want to go with what you are suggesting, it will require either a moderator handling each submission to ensure they don't or the ability to delete many default fields within the games. Like for games released on the WiiU through digital release only, that would require the "Box-Front", "Box-Back", "Box-Spine", "3D Box", "Cart-Front","Cart-Back", "3D Cart", and any other relevant fields be full on deleted or blocked from ever having submissions in them or people WILL be trying to media to them constantly because those gaps can create some really annoying situations in getting stuff in order. Specially with how some (Like myself) would prefer there be a default box in those areas to keep collections nice, organized, and uniform, then you have others who feel a fan-art box doesn't fit but the media icon does and leaves you with some obscure media icon with no text as to what it is with many games having icons that don't even give enough information on what a game is, then you have others who just feel that that area is forever be blank. And if it must be blank, than it needs to be greyed out or deleted to prevent the other 2 schools of thought trying to fill that slot and if it wants the other two than it would need a moderator overseeing it or at least a set rule by the moderation in what can potentially fill those slots which will still have some who didn't read it trying the other stuff and some people who just mindlessly hit "Accept" on moderation systems. I personally have only tried to moderate submissions a few times but mainly just keep hitting skip for 99% of it because I didn't know enough to accept or reject on the submissions.

My part about separating them into 2 databases wasn't about them being good games or not. It was based on the logic that the official/unlicensed/Virtual Console database would have a finite number of entries to it and would eventually be completed. Once it was completed, the alterations on it would be virtually nothing outside of media entries which would also eventually stop. No more having your games entries being just deleted from the database as it was merged with a clone or someone created another one of the exact game and so its original entry was deleted. When it comes to homebrew/hacks/aftermarket those can theoretically go on forever with new entries and that list would always been messed with because of it. So, the first list would be the one that most people collected and with a finite number of entries could really be perfected and then more or less locked while the other one would basically go on forever because there will never be a full stop to people making stuff to them for a long time. That was my logic to those changes. Off-topic, one thing they really need to address in the entries is the resolution of the submissions. If the resolution of the system is 160 x 192 pixels, then the screenshot shouldn't be in HD or higher. Since the clear logo will never realistically take up more than 1/32nd of your screen, why does it need to be so big that I have a 1440p monitor and it has to scale it down to even fit on it for some of them. Have me a lifetime membership to Launchbox and to EmuMovies but resorted to ScreenScraper for the screen shots and clear logos and for the movies as well due to their database approach to it since EmuMovies gives too many mismatches given their method. All I have to with the scraper is make sure my front box art matches and I know the screenshots, clear logos, and movies also match. Also, if you check some of the singing and guitar movies, they ended up just being a movie of the game asking for them to insert the controller.

No clue. I would love to have them appoint a few people to maintaining and auditing the database to check and make sure it is consistent. Like we both agreed to with splitting the hacks apart from the rest. If they could do that and hammer down a concrete set of the official games, that would make maintaining them so much easier. Actually had a game's ID on the NES get deleted entirely from it being merged with another game as they were clones if I hadn't noticed it, that game would never get an update again as I am assuming Launchbox wouldn't also remove that ID and inform me of it yet. Just to have all the entries being set in stone for those, then have the media would be that much easier to deal with. Just being able to put Fan Box Art for the games that have no official box art would be a huge deal that would help many but then you have others coming behind them and voting to have it deleted or renamed to another type. Wouldn't need a full time member just to handle auditing it if the users on the database could agree to some kinda consistent rule set but with that conflict of ideals playing out on the media moderation ends up with issues. Edit: Also hoping they eventually start including movies. Already have a lifetime membership to Emu Movies but the lack of database gives it too many false positives unless you are checking each file manually and know exactly what each game is to compare it against. Also noticed that many of the singing and dancing games is just a video of it asking you to insert the device. Edit again: Also learning to use Skraper for Screenshots and Videos due to the database nature of it and the screenshots matching console resolution for the ones I have come across. Was weird replacing 35MB of GBC color screenshots with another one at 1.91MB just due to the resolution change. The box art though, definitely better to use the Launchbox database as they tend to be clearer and, unlike the screenshots, the increased resolution can actually matter.

Does nothing in Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS games where your main box designations have literal menu icon's as their boxes in the database. You are still stuck pruning it all because it won't be showing the fan art because it has menu icons labeled as the default. And you are mistaken in how I applied it. I never said anything about putting stuff where it shouldn't go at all. The only thing that I think should go in the box-art sections is actual box art, if that file has no applicable box art since it was never released in a box, then fan art boxes could fill the void but only fan art boxes. A fan art box art is still box art. When it comes to hacks, I can definitely see the potential issues with it. Honestly would love to see the official/unlicensed/pirate section split from the aftermarket/homebrew/hack section. Then you could legitimately have the previous section eventually complete of entries and locked so it was set with only the media changing on them till those finally filled out and was locked as well while the other section could always remain in flux because there is always more added.

For me, I feel that if the game has an official release with an official box than that should be the thing in the box. If it's like a game that was finished but never released or a WiiWare title and has no official box to go with it, a fan art box should be allowed to go in the box section, just keeping it a permanent blank spot seems like a waste, especially if you are trying to make your set visually consistent. Really suck if you go to 3DS or Wii U or something and half the boxes are actual box arts and the others are just some weird icon that has no description or anything on it that the system menu shows because that was put in their box section when it wasn't even a box just looks sloppy. If they REALLY want to keep that level of separation I would ask for a new designation in the database where the community could designate the default image per database where Launchbox will always grab that default unless you tell it to ignore the default and just go for specific types like we do now. For the screen shots, those should be at the same resolution of the game itself and the box art and clear logo and all there should be some reasonable size limitations. I have came across clear logo's over 6MB each and so big that even on my 1440p resolution monitor it has to shrink it to fit on the screen and there is no reasonable excuse for a clear logo to take in 1/32nd the screen let alone ALL of it and then some.

I have noticed that there seems to be two schools of thought when it comes to the media. 1) That if the game never was officially released, it should not have a default front box type of at all, it can only have fan art boxes. This is somewhat understandable if they are going to be completely literal about it. These people also feel the same way when it comes to WiiWare titles that they aren't supposed to have a box that is anything other than it's menu icon, anything else should be labeled as fan art. Then you have.... 2) That the best images should be set as the menu box for a game. If the game is a virtual console release that has no box, a decent one should at least be there as a placeholder and that having all the best versions of them there along with the officially release leads to the most readable and visually pleasing "Out of the box" results that require less tinkering to get looking decent. If it's a WiiWare title, it can have a box there to at least hold the place. What is the general views of it here? When it comes to moderation both of them seem to be pretty common. Also, off topic, why do people feel the need to have insanely big images? I can understand having the box being able to fill a 4k monitor I guess for people wanting to use it on their big screen across the room. But having the clear logo filling the 4k monitor is a bit much and having a game with a resolution of 720x576 but screenshots posted at 1440x1080, it just seems excessive and either that screenshot is a lot of wasted space or they increased the rendering on their emulator at which point it isn't representative of the native game anymore.

When I start Launchbox, it seems to start at around 2GB which is a bit high but not too bad in this day and considering just how much artwork it has loaded. But have noticed that if I am messing around and configuring the media, that usage can get pretty high and will start making the entire UI lag. Had to restart it twice yesterday while configuring a system as it hit 10 GB the first time and 7GB the second time and the higher that usage gets, the more it lags. Is there a memory leak or something? I know restarting it clears it and it goes back down and it doesn't really seem to climb like that unless you are messing with settings from what I can tell but changing the media around can make that thing explode.

This is one really jacked up where they have 2 different games half merged into a single one. Ghostbusters and Garfield with an alternative name of Mikey Mouse IV https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/images/111846 Edit: Nevermind, evidently it is 1 game that they re-tiled into 2 completely different games from the description.