PadeMoNiuM Prods

This might be a silly question, but have you tried cropping all your banners so they are exactly the same size, and then reassigning them? Even if all the images look identical visually, Big Box can sometimes keep using old dimension data stored elsewhere (cache / metadata). Typical result: 90% of the banners display correctly 10% appear smaller even though the files themselves are identical In that case, it’s no longer really a layout or theme issue, but more of a cache or “ghost dimensions” problem inside Big Box. Things to try: Crop all banners to the exact same resolution Clean / regenerate the image cache Reassign the banners for one or two affected games to see if it fixes the issue Surprisingly, this is often the cause… even though it sounds too simple to be true 😉

A specific sound triggered only when you select a particular game, natively? No: or LaunchBox/BigBox doesn't provide any triggers for individual game audio. At least, not in a clean, declarative, or documented way. Personally, in years of tinkering, I've never seen or used this kind of mechanic. What is possible (and proven): Sounds per system PlayStation, SNES, Mega Drive, etc. Navigation sounds, start, select, back, move Perfect for recreating a "historical" identity (PS1, PS2, etc.) Sounds per playlist/collection Widely used Ideal for setting the mood for a franchise (Castlevania, Zelda, Metroid, etc.) Now that's solid. Clean. Well-executed. What you imagine (sound per game) Here, we're going beyond the usual approach. It's unusual, but not completely impossible… provided you cheat cleverly 😏 Option 1 Use video (the most realistic) You create a theme video for the game You add sound at the very beginning of the video The sound plays automatically when the video starts or Option 2 Integrating sound directly into the view Technically possible But again: not conditional not contextual not customizable per game without creating multiple specific views And that quickly becomes a complex system.😶😅

One more thing I know a lot of people don’t work the way I do. I’ve always had a slightly different workflow. Personally, I integrate everything directly into the background, because my backgrounds are animated. I include the sound logic inside the video itself. In other words, I plan and script the different sound events during editing, and I embed them straight into the video. This way, I don’t need to rely on extra parameters or sound triggers in Big Box. To keep it simple: the sound file is already part of the background video. All sound events are handled there, as part of the global montage. Of course, many people don’t work like this and that’s totally fine. But for me, it’s cleaner, more controlled, and honestly much simpler in the long run. Less setup, fewer dependencies, full creative control.:)

Adding sound packs is very simple. Get your sound pack (back, move, start, select, etc.). Go to the Themes folder in LaunchBox. Open your theme’s folder. Then open the Sounds folder inside the theme. Simply drop your sound pack there. Make sure you double-check the spelling of your files. It has to be exactly correct — for your music folder, for your sound folder, everything. Names must match perfectly. For example, in my Soul Calibur Collection, the spelling is identical to what’s set in LaunchBox. You must respect that, otherwise it won’t be detected. One wrong letter, one missing character, even a single capital letter off — and it’s dead. It won’t work. So: Correct folder Correct file names Proper naming like back, select, move, and optionally start if you want to add one Quick example: on my recent Soul Calibur Collection, I added the Dreamcast sound. Result? It fits perfectly and sounds amazing. 🎮✨ SOUL.mp4 Precision here isn’t optional it’s the difference between “why doesn’t it work?” and “wow, this feels official.” If everything is named properly and placed in the right folder, there’s no issue — it works flawlessly. In your case, the path looks like this: LetterHdd:\Launchbox\Themes\Name of your custom theme\Sounds I also copy it directly into the folder. That way I’m sure the sound will always be there, because it can happen that sound packs get overwritten or disappear during updates. So don’t hesitate to integrate it as well if you’re doing a bit of development in Community Theme Creator — put it directly in the Sounds folder. It’s a simple precaution, but it avoids surprises later on. Then, regarding the possibilities available to developers — for people using the site here — you can add a sound, choose exactly when it plays, and define at which moment it’s triggered. That’s all part of the settings. You can mute a sound or keep it active, use background music or simple sound effects, and even re-parameterize a sound so it plays at a very specific moment. Basically, you can do a lot of things — there are plenty of possibilities. The system supports MP3 and WAV files. You simply add your sound to your media during creation, directly through the site here. But to really go further and unlock those capabilities, you need to use the site itself — that’s where the more advanced development options live.

In practice, you can already do a lot just by working with the audio files. On the forum, when you download sound packs, you will often find (not always, but quite frequently) four types of sounds: back, move, select, and start. The start sound is the most important one. It is the startup sound that plays when you enter a system or a playlist. It sets the atmosphere immediately. The best approach is to check existing sound packs first. If you already have start sounds, you can reuse them or add new ones manually. If a license has a sound that fits well as a start sound, you can easily integrate it. That’s what I did, for example, with Castlevania and Metroid. I added several custom sounds to reinforce the identity of each universe. If you want to go even further, there is another option. If you want a very specific sound when entering a menu or a playlist, you can integrate it directly into the view. When the view loads, the sound plays automatically. Today, between sound packs and direct integration into views, almost anything is possible.

I’ve already created almost all of these themes and have them ready. I simply won’t share them here, since my work seems to be “too much” and doesn’t really fit the quality criteria expected.I’m also a bit worried it might be too long for you : one minute is clearly far too long, you were right. And of course, there’s the risk of getting three stars. The themes are probably just too polished.So please give me some time to lower my standards a bit and come back with simpler, less refined themes. Maybe then they’ll get five stars.These themes took a lot of work, but going forward I’ll avoid editing and animation. I’ll just use a frame and drop my characters in. I’ll deliberately downgrade things so they can be rated more comfortably.They won’t be one minute long anymore : 30 seconds should be safer.Thanks for your recommendations in your last rating on my Terminator theme. Message received: I’ll tone my work down accordingly. Thanks for the valuable advice. *Of course, I’m joking 😆 this was mainly to put things into perspective. Rating an individual theme out of context is still quite strange, especially when far less technical content often goes unnoticed. No hard feelings. If I took the time to reply, it’s because the rating stood out and that was precisely the goal of the theme. Sharing is already a strong act. It’s something we too easily forget. Someone who shares: takes time, exposes themselves, accepts the judgment of others, and gives away something for free that required skills, energy, and sometimes hours of work. That alone is already a win. It’s already a positive contribution to the community.Giving a low rating in that context without a global framework, without an honest comparison, without any prior exchange is: demotivating stifling,anti-creative. But it’s part of the game, and I accept it. So please don’t take my reply the wrong way it’s simply a logical response.

Yes and it's not the end ! They delight us (if this list is real ) Hogwarts Legacy - December 11 Jurassic World: Evolution 2 - December 18 Desperados 3 - December 19 Total War: Warhammer - December 20 Tropico 5 - December 21 Chicken Police - Paint it Red! - December 22 Loop Hero - December 23 Lego Batman - December 24 Commander Keane - December 25 Farming Simulator 2022 - December 26 Slime Rancher 2 - December 27 Terraria - December 28 Detroit: Become Human - December 29 Mortal Kombat 11 - December 30 Red Dead Redemption 2 - December 31

Hi everyone, I wanted to share a quick field report after spending some time with version 13.24 as someone who works heavily with videos, cinematics, animated views, and complex interface flows. This isn’t a rant, just an honest and balanced overview with both positives and negatives. ⭐ The Positive Points Better controller support, especially for the right analog stick (very welcome when navigating Big Box frequently). Some transitions and UI behaviors in Big Box feel a bit more stable. A few import-related fixes are helpful. And as always, LaunchBox remains a solid and feature-rich frontend. ⚠️ The Negative Points (Real impact on heavy video-based setups) Since the 13.24 update, several users including myself and some of my contributors have noticed a significant slowdown, especially for setups that rely on: a lot of videos, cinematic views, intros/outros, triggers, high-bitrate footage, and fully animated interfaces like Nostalgic Bedroom. Even on powerful machines with top-tier SSDs (980 Pro, etc.), the navigation feels less fluid, transitions take longer, and scenes that used to be instant on 13.22 now show delays or stutters. 🎬 The Video Player: the Core Issue The switch to the Windows Media Foundation player has clearly changed Big Box performance. For creators who push video usage to the limit, the new player shows: lower fluidity, more latency, weaker handling of multiple videos, and an overall drop in responsiveness. VLC, in previous versions, handled all of this without struggling. 💤 About the Screensaver In my case, the built-in screensaver doesn’t help and actually gets in the way. I already create my own intros, my own moods, my own cinematic loops. So my “screensaver” is built directly into the experience. The Big Box screensaver actually interrupts these sequences, so it doesn’t fit the type of projects I produce. Not a complaint just the reality for heavily cinematic themes. 🔍 Conclusion 13.24 definitely brings some nice improvements, but the video player change has a noticeable impact on creators who use Big Box to its full potential. For now, version 13.22 remains the smoothest option for video-heavy projects. I hope this feedback helps guide future updates keeping the useful new features while preserving the video performance that made Big Box so strong. Thanks for the hard work and for reading.

@Jabb3rJaw Yeah, I know exactly what you mean and welcome to the real world of LaunchBox themes. It’s not that you did anything wrong; it’s simply that the ecosystem was never designed to be plug-and-play like Hyperspin. Here, if a filename doesn’t match the LaunchBox database perfectly… the theme just won’t show up. And yes, a lot of creators upload their videos “as is,” without following the official naming conventions, which breaks the automatic sync. @CTRL-ALT-DEFEAT does amazing work ; seriously but like many veterans, he posts his themes raw, without always renaming them for automatic compatibility. So you end up sorting and renaming everything yourself. And yeah, it takes time… but it’s not your fault. That’s simply how Big Box works. The real difference in LaunchBox is naming discipline. As soon as you use No-Intro names, everything lines up. No surprises, no invisible themes, no missing videos. No-Intro is basically the backbone of the whole system. And then there’s @Suhrvivor really clever guy who organized everything into predefined folders. Check out his post: he set up a structure so clean that it’s basically plug-and-play. You download, drop everything at the root… and bam, it just works. Honestly, this kind of standard should be enforced by the staff. Not to restrict creators, but to make everyone’s life easier. When the base is clean and filenames follow a universal logic, the entire user experience changes. And despite the little headaches here and there, what you wrote is really motivating. Knowing that a single theme makes you want to turn your PC back on — that’s exactly why we keep creating. For that little spark. That moment when you dive back into your collection just because the vibe pulls you in. In the end, you’ll see… you’ll spend more time looking than actually playing. And that’s where the magic really happen