LAUNCHBOX ON LINUX IS ALIVE MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, I got it to work permanently.
If you have previously read my posts, it's basically what I did, but then when you select Launcbox on Lutris, go to Wine Configuration and change the compatibility from Windows 10 to Windows 7. I will explain why later.
OK, I have installed Launchbox twice on my brand spanking new PC twice, and on my laptop too, everything is working, there is the ocasional freeze on my gaming PC, but I assume it is because of brand new hardware that Linux and Mesa Kernels are not 100% stable yet.
My new gaming PC specs:
OS: Fedora 38 Beta.
Linux Kernel: 6.2.10-300.fc38.x86_64(64-bit)
Mesa: 23.0.1
Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme X670E v1.0
CPU: AMD 7950X3D
GPU: MSI AMD RX 7900 XTX
RAM: Corsair 64 Gb 6000Mhz 36CL
MSI Laptop GE63VR 7RE Raider:
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon
Linux Kernel 5.15
Mesa: 23.0.1
CPU: i7 7700HQ 2.8Ghz x4 (i think it is 4 core and 8 threads)
Ram: 32Gb
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 (GP106M)
driver on lutris: the default Nvidia proprietary driver
Ok, so the main thing about Lutris is to be running the latest Wine Version. When I started this, I was using lutris-GE-Proton7-33, but if I remember I was able to get it to work with 7-28, not sure of 7-27, currently I am using 7-42 (at the moment of writing this post, 7-43 just popped).
I used Launchbox 13.2
Guide:
On Lutris, on the left side, go to Wine, select the configuration wheel icon, open it, and in Runner options, change the Wine version to lutris-GE-Proton7-33-x86_64 or above, avoid the lutris standard wine version, Eggroll Proton Wine is the way to go.
Now at the top left corner, press the cross icon to add a game, select the "Install a Windows game from media" option.
Type a name for your game, I choose Launchbox, press continue, then press the install button. A installation directory will appear, just press Install.
Now it is the time to select the file LaunchBox-13.2-Setup.exe , wherever you have it stored in, and press Continue.
It will start to install Launchbox, just follow the normal installation as if you were doing it on Windows, but expect it to crash while installing Dot Net 4.8, or right after completing it and attempting to install DirectX.
After it crashes, press Close on the Lutris installation window. Now, on Lutris, you will see the game, for simplicity sake, I will just call the game Launchbox.
We will need to install Launchbox again, but this time we will be doing it from inside the directory we just created. Copy the LaunchBox-13.2-Setup.exe file, into somewhere inside ~/Home/Games/launchbox, I drop it inside the Desktop directory, so ~/Home/Games/launchbox/drive_c/users/<my_pc_name>/Desktop/<here> .
In Lutris, select Launchbox but don't start it, at the bottom, there will be two pairs of buttons, left is the Play button with an up arrow for settings, right is the Wine button with the up arrow for Wine settings.
Press the up arrow for the Wine settings, and select "Wine Configuration", a window will open, in the Applications tab, at the bottom is the Windows Version, switch it from Windows 10 to Windows 7, then press Apply, then Ok.
Press the up arrow beside the Play button, and select "Configure". Go to Runner options tab and make sure the Wine Version is one of the latest GE-Proton, at this moment "lutris-GE-Proton7-42-x86_64" , then go to the Game options tab and on "Executable", navigate to the LaunchBox-13.2-Setup.exe file, you coppied inside the Launchbox directory so we can install it again. On Prefix Architecture , set it to 64-bit or to Auto. Press Save.
Now press Play, it should start going through the Launchbox install process, but it will be different from the previous install attempt. Before, it tried to download Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable, dot Net Framework 4.8 and dotNet Core 3.1.6 dependencies and install them. This time it only does for 4.8 . The install will terminate abruptly, but don't worry, it should have been a success.
Go back down to the arrow up beside the Play button, select "Configure" again, on Game Options tab we are chaning the "Executable" path again, this time to ~/Home/Games/launchbox/drive_c/users/<my_pc_name>/LaunchBox/LaunchBox.exe , and press Save.
Press Play, Launchbox should start. It will take a little while to load, just give it time. Just remember, it is not as stable as it is in Windows, have patience.
Congratulations, you installed LaunchBox on Linux, but it is not over yet, as there are some differences, main one is you cannot drag and drop your roms folders as it will cause a crash.
You have to install Retroarch manually. And you have to do this first before adding any roms, so things will go smoothly.
ATTENTION!!!
At this point, pop up windows will go in and out of rendering, often just displaying black, it helps if you have previously installed Launchbox on Windows and so have some experience with adding rom libraries manually. Usually, just pass your mouse icon over areas in the window to cause them to render again, like the buttons.
OK.
At the top left corner, to the right of Launchbox, press the burger menu icon, then Tools > Manage > RetroArch >Download/Install (can't remember which one) .
After that, same burger menu icon, Tools > Import > Rom Files , a window will pop up, just press Next at the bottom right corner, Then it will ask to add rom folder, search for the add button and press it, here the window is divided into two parts, the left for the path and the right for the rom folder. It is important to point at the directory where the rom folder is in the left part of the window and not at the rom folder directly, if you don't do this, you will only get a white screen on the right side.
Press Next.
It will ask what system it is for, if your folder is properly labeled, it will select the proper system, if not, then select it manually.
Press Next.
It will ask what emulator, since we only have RetroArch, it should be the only option.
Press Next.
It will ask if you wish to copy the roms to another location, in Launchbox, or use the current location of the roms folder, I usually just go with the current location to save space.
Press Next.
Then it is a series of questions about metadata options and Bezels, I always just press Next.
It will add the roms to the Left now, and if you choose the standard metadata and bezel options then it should be downloading and updating the roms info and images.
NOW Congratulations!!!!!!!! You did it.
Enjoy LaunchBox, and consider getting a license. I am not affiliated with the Launchbox crew, I just appreciate what they have done with this software.
WARNINGS!!!
It is still unstable, but when comparing it to my laptop with Linux Mint, I think the problems I am suffering from on my gaming PC is mainly because of brand new hardware and the Linux and Mesa kernels still having compatibility issues and Fedora Beta is, well, a beta release.
On Linux Mint, it is much more stable, I don't have LaunchBox freeze for a good 2-5 minutes sometimes. The LaunchBox does not jitter when scrolling up or down with my mouse, I think this is because of Mesa 23.0.1 and my GPU 7900 XTX versus the Mesa 23.0.1 and the GTX 1660 on the laptop, maybe Nvidia is better with Launchbox, but they are both using DXVK.
On Fedora, LaunchBox freezes and crashes if I try to minimise it. On Linux Mint, that does not happen.
There is no need to go to Winetricks and install/add DLL Components, I tried to do this on Fedora, added dotnet48, vcrun2015,dotnetcore310, those components then changed the compatibility to Windows 7 and it just started to work.
Curious, on my laptop, I just changed the compatibility and Launchbox just started working.
I have shutdown and restarted both PCs many times and Launchbox continues to work. I have played 7 games so far, a total of 2.5 hours and it works fine.
The error I was getting previously on my old gaming PC that had Ubuntu 22.04 was an error saying system out of ram, or something like that, after some research, I found out it was because on earlier Wine versions, the Wine prefix architecture was set at 32-bit and it caused conflicts with libraries, so you need to set it to 64-bit.
And I did set it, but I still got the error, problem was Windows 10 compatibility, I came across some forum posts talking about making changes to the Wine regedit on Lutris, but this is way beyond my capabilities, I am not an intelligent person, I have often difficulties learning, I am just glad I figured this out and can help the community.
Maybe someone who is well versed can figure out the reason of this error and perhaps give us a fix, because Launchbox on Windows performs better in Windows 10 compared to Windows 7 according to the Launchbox website.
Also I am running my libraries from a Nas (trueNas Core), mounted on a folder in my Desktop through NFS. LaunchBox reads the roms just fine!!!
I apologize for the long post, but there was a lot to say.
Hope you all enjoy it, and happy gaming.
PS: For MAME, Probably same as RetroArch, just manually add it, I have not tried it yet, but should work.
PPS: It also works with Windows 8 and 8.1 compatibility, but seems a bit less stable than 7, only tried this on my new gaming PC with Fedora, haven't tried with the laptop.