spiritedusual

Can confirm just had this issue as well. Had to manually rename the title ids in the xml.

Better PC Game Importer View File Better PC Game Importer This plugin automates the process of adding PC games to LaunchBox by intelligently identifying titles and executables while offering bulk folder renaming and shortcut management for titles already imported. It is designed to replace the tedious manual importing process with a smart, heuristic-driven workflow. Can link to my other plugin "The Game Scraper" to help sync folder names. Why does this exist? LaunchBox excels at automatically importing games purchased from major storefronts, but adding independent or DRM-free titles manually often requires navigating deep folder structures to find the correct executable. While some users create shortcuts and house them in a single folder to speed up the process, managing those shortcuts is still a tedious, manual task. This plugin automates that entire workflow—scanning your folders, identifying the best executables, and managing your library with minimal effort. 🚀 Key Features Effortless Bulk Importing: Add dozens of PC games to your LaunchBox library at once instead of one by one. Smart Library Matching: Automatically connects your folders to the correct game titles already in your LaunchBox collection, even if the folder names are messy. Automatic File Selection: Identifies the actual game executable while skipping over "junk" files like installers, setup tools, and uninstallers. Physical Folder Renaming: Renames your game folders on your hard drive to match the clean, professional titles found in your LaunchBox library. Centralized Shortcuts: Automatically creates and stores game shortcuts in a single folder, keeping your library paths organized and easy to move. High-Speed Scanning: Uses a "self-healing" cache to remember your folders, so re-scanning large collections takes only seconds. 📋 Requirements LaunchBox: 13.26 WindowsShortcutFactory: Required for the plugin to generate and manage desktop-style shortcuts. (INCLUDED) 🛠 Installation Instructions Extract the archive to your root Launchbox folder. 📖 How to Use 1. Open the Plugin Open the Tools menu in LaunchBox and click Better PC Game Importer. 2. Configure the Scan Select Folder(s): Choose the folder(s) where your PC games are stored. Both Imported and Non-Imported. Your folder names should match the game titles as close as possible. Platform: Select the LaunchBox platform you are importing into (e.g., "Windows"). 3. Scan and Review Run Scan: Click Scan Folders to begin the analysis. Check Status: Review the Status column. The plugin identifies games as "New Game," "In Library (Locked)," or "Update Link". Fix Matches: If a folder is labeled "New Game" but it is actually already in your library, manually select the corrected title from the game title dropdown. This instantly changes the status to Update Link. The plugin can now match imported titles to mismatched folders via .exe and shortcut paths. Meaning if a folder does not match the launchbox title but that launchbox title has a launch path that is either to a direct .exe or to a shortcut (.lnk) that launches that .exe it will match and let you know that the folder can be updated. Auto-Rescore: Changing a title triggers the plugin to re-score the folder's executables, often finding a better match based on the updated name. Manual Overrides: Use the Selected EXE dropdown or the Browse button if you need to manually pick a specific file. 4. Execute Import Select the games you want to process (Shift + Click works for bulk selection). Rename Folders: Check this box to physically rename your folders on your hard drive to match the corrected titles. Create Shortcuts: Check this to generate .lnk files in your designated shortcut folder. Unlock 'In Library' Games for Editing: Unlocks In Library games for editing. Click Import Selected to update the LaunchBox database and process your files. 🔄 Real-World Workflow Example Imagine you are cleaning up a directory with a mix of new downloads and existing library entries: 1. The New Game: You have a folder named Super_Racing_2024. Since this isn't in your library, it appears in the grid as a New Game with the title defaulting to the folder name Super_Racing_2024. You can leave it as-is or click the field and manually correct it to Super Racing to keep your library clean. 2. The False Positive (clos2): You have a folder named clos2. Because it doesn’t match any games in your library, it shows as a New Game titled clos2. You think this is Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 so you go to the title field and either start typing or drop down and find and select Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. The status instantly changes to Update Link. Because you changed the title, the plugin re-scores the folder—now recognizing that CLOS2.exe is a high-score match because it fits the acronym of your new title. 3. Fixing Broken Links: You notice Portal in your library is currently pointing to a configuration tool instead of the game. You check Unlock In Library, which scans your existing games and makes them editable. You can now use the Selected EXE dropdown on the Portal row to switch the executable from config.exe to portal.exe. 4. The Cleanup (Rename & Shortcut): Before finishing, you check the Rename Folders and Create Shortcuts boxes. Rename Folders: The physical folder Super_Racing_2024 will be renamed to Super Racing on your hard drive to match your corrected title. Create Shortcuts: Instead of pointing LaunchBox to an EXE buried deep in subfolders, the plugin creates a Super Racing.lnk in your central shortcut folder. LaunchBox will now launch through that shortcut, making your library paths clean and portable. 5. The Result: You click Import Selected. The plugin physically renames the folders, generates the shortcuts, updates your existing Portal path, and adds Super Racing to your LaunchBox database all at once. TIPS: This plugin works best when your folders are named correctly. If you use this you should check out my other plugin, "The Game Scraper". You can download metadata, media, and hltb data. It also integrates nicely with this plugin to help you sync folder names after The Game Scraper changes the title to match Steam. Any bugs or questions please feel free to ask. I'm also in the Discord. Thanks to 7nseccmem for helping test this. Submitter spiritedusual Submitted 05/15/2026 Category Third-party Apps and Plugins  

C64 Exo Flashpoint Merger View File Project Merger Plugin for LaunchBox The Project Merger Plugin is a high-performance utility designed to integrate massive retro-gaming collections—including the eXo collections, C64 Dreams, and Flashpoint—directly into your LaunchBox library. Rather than moving or duplicating terabytes of data, this plugin utilizes symbolic links (symlinks) and surgical XML injection to make external collections behave as if they were natively installed within your LaunchBox directory 🛠 Requirements LaunchBox Version: 13.26 or higher If merging Flashpoint and you want the images then download the Flashpoint image archive from the flashpoint site (https://download.unstable.life/ultimate-direct/14_packed/) and extract them to your flashpoint directory. This is only required if you have Flashpoint Infinite. Flashpoint Ultimate comes with the images. ❓ Why This Plugin Exists When you know how Launchbox works the concept of merging installs is not difficult. However, it is a pain to do and can cause issues if you mess things up. I wanted a way to automate the process and merge the projects in to an existing launchbox install in a way that would not change the users existing library, be neatly organized, have a small storage footprint, and be non destructive to the original project files. 📂 Supported Projects The plugin is fingerprinted to recognize and process the following specific directory structures: eXo Collections: eXoDOS. exoDOS Lite, eXoWin3x, eXoWin9x, eXoAppleIIGS, eXoScummVM, eXoDREAMM, eXoDemoScn, and eXoIF. Can be merged in either individual projects or if you've already merged exo projects. C64 Dreams Flashpoint: Support for both Ultimate and Infinite. 📖 How to Use Extract the content of the archive to your /plugins/ folder. Download and follow the instructions to install/unpack your desired projects (exo, c64, and/or flashpoint). Start launchbox and go to the tools menu and select the plugin. In the plugin window browse to your source project folder. If you have multiple projects select the root folder that contains the project sub folders. The plugin will auto populate with the projects available for import. There is a "Dry Run" option enabled by default if you'd like to see get an idea of whats about to happen otherwise uncheck that option. Click start import. The plugin will create a backup of your parents and platform xml files prior to making changes. These can be found in the plugin directory. You will get a UAC prompt about half through the process. This is required to create symlinks. A full import of all the projects on a destination NVME takes about 10 minutes. If you run in to issues or want to remove a project the second tab is for you. You can get a very basic idea of what the condition of the install is in, repair it, or uninstall one or multiple projects. Additionally, If there is ever an update you simply update the project at the source and select repair on the second tab. 💻 How does it work? Retro Exo and C64 Dreams are simply just highly curated Launchbox libraries by themselves. They both utilize a custom project folders at the root of their Launchbox folders. With this in mind and remembering our goal of small storage footprint and wanting to keep the source intact we can move over dependencies and symlink anything else. In broard terms the games and media themselves are all still at their source while things like emulators and config files are copied over. You could technically play a game on exodos and then pick it back up where you left off on your merged launchbox folder. There are also dependent plugins for C64 Dreams and Retro Exo that get added in as well. I include these in the plugin folder because depending on which version of the project you are importing you may have an out of date version so the plugin contains the most up to date for you. Flashpoint is a little different. It looks similar to Launchbox but it is not Launchbox thus we must convert it to something Launchbox can understand. There are over 200k titles in Flashpoint. The plugin scans the source Flashpoint directory finds the sql database and converts it in to a Flashpoint.xml. It does the same for the playlist json files converting them to xml files. Additionally, the images folder is nothing like what Launchbox needs. Thus it finds all images in the Flashpoint folder and creates symlinks of them to your destination Launchbox directory. Finally, we extract ClifP from the plugin folder to bridge Flashpoint and Launchbox and actually run the games. To get the archive imported without conflicting with the users current library we rename the platforms to identify them as purely the project they represent, ie MS-DOS = eXoDOS, AppleIIGS = exo AppleIIGS, etc... Additionally, to keep it clean we create "master platform categories" such as "Retro Exo" and nest all the projects/platforms under the master platform category. IE: Retro Exo (Master Category)>eXo DOS (Project Category)> "exo dos platform and playlists go here". The plugin does all the xml injections and edits in the background. ⚠️ WARNING Flashpoint Scale: Flashpoint is incredibly resource-intensive, featuring approximately 200,000 titles and nearly 500,000 images. It's recommended you use an SSD as your destination Launchbox install for best performance. StableBit DrivePool Incompatibility: During development, it was identified that StableBit DrivePool does not handle large volumes of individual files and symbolic links effectively. Attempting to use this plugin on a pooled drive can and will cause system crashes that wont resolve after a restart. I spent about 24 hours in windows recovery and physically unplugging drives to get my system to boot again. Please ensure you are targeting a standard physical drive to maintain system stability. A final word on compatibility. While I tested several games across all the projects during the course of development I cannot guarantee that this is truly 100% working. Thus any and all feedback is appreciated. Eventually I plan on creating a custom media pack for this plugin so everything has, icons, clear logos, and videos. Submitter spiritedusual Submitted 04/26/2026 Category Third-party Apps and Plugins  

Wow whoever made that plugin must be super cool

I've thought about adding mobygames but Id need an API key to test it and like you mentioned it costs money to get an API and I'm not interested in paying for that access.

Batch Strategy Guide Importer View File Strategy Guide Importer & Manager A plugin to automatically batch-match and attach PDF strategy guides to your LaunchBox games, complete with a management tab to safely bulk-remove them. ⚠️ IMPORTANT: Requires LaunchBox Version 13.25 or newer. ✨ Key Features Smart Matching: Ignores special characters and perfectly matches your PDFs to your LaunchBox database (e.g., Spider-Man Web of Fire.pdf matches Spider-Man: Web of Fire). Auto-Brand Extraction: Automatically tags the publisher in LaunchBox if formatted correctly (e.g., names it Strategy Guide (BradyGames)). Built-in Deduplication: Skips PDFs that are already attached to prevent menu clutter. Safe Bulk Removal: A dedicated tab to scan for and unlink attached guides. (Note: This only removes the database entry; it never deletes your actual .pdf files). 📥 Installation Create a folder named Strategy_Guide_Importer inside your LaunchBox\Plugins\ folder. Drop the plugin .dll file inside. (Optional) Right-click the .dll, select Properties, and check Unblock if Windows blocked it. Restart LaunchBox. 📖 How to Use Open LaunchBox, go to Tools, and select Strategy Guide Importer. To Import: Use Tab 1 to select your PDF folder, review the matched platforms/games, and click Save. To Remove: Use Tab 2 to scan your library for currently attached guides, check the ones you want to unlink, and click Remove. 🛠️ File Naming Best Practice For the best automatic matching and brand extraction, name your PDFs like this: Game Title - Guide Publisher.pdf (Example: Final Fantasy VII - Prima.pdf) Submitter spiritedusual Submitted 03/02/2026 Category Third-party Apps and Plugins  

Launchbox Second Screen Companion View File Second Screen Companion - View Manuals, Guides, & Media on your Phone! Second Screen Companion is a lightweight LaunchBox plugin that instantly turns your smartphone or tablet into a dedicated companion hub for whatever game you are currently playing. Whenever you launch a game, the plugin silently starts a local web server. Just scan a QR code, and your phone will instantly load a beautiful, dark-mode hub containing all of the game's manuals, strategy guides, artwork, and media so you can browse them while you play! 🌟 Features The Companion Hub: A sleek, mobile-optimized webpage that automatically uses your game's Clear Logo and Fanart Background for a premium look. Comprehensive Media Scanner: Automatically finds and serves: 📖 Documents: Game Manuals and Strategy Guides (pulled dynamically from your Additional Apps). 🖼️ Artwork: Front/Back Box Art, Discs, Carts, Clear Logos, Fanart, Storefront Posters, and dozens of other image folders. 🎵 Media: Automatically plays your game's Theme Music or Gameplay Videos right in your mobile browser via native HTML5 players. Smart Image Viewer: Transparent PNGs (like Clear Logos or isolated box art) are displayed over a dark-mode checkerboard background so they always look perfect and never vanish into a black screen. One-Click Network Setup: Built-in tools to automatically open the required Windows Firewall ports so you don't have to mess with command prompts. 🛠️ Installation Download the latest release zip file and unpack in your LaunchBox\Plugins\ directory. You might have to right-click the dll file, go to Properties, and check the "Unblock" box at the bottom (this is required by Windows for downloaded DLLs). Extract the Second Screen Companion folder directly into your LaunchBox\Plugins\ directory. (You should have a folder path that looks like: LaunchBox\Plugins\Second Screen Companion\WirelessScreenServer.dll and QRCoder.dll) 📱 How to Set Up & Use Open LaunchBox. Go to the top menu and click Tools -> Second Screen Companion Settings. You can leave the Default Port as 8080, or change it if you have conflicts. Click Apply Network Rules (Admin). This will trigger a Windows prompt to automatically open the port in Windows Firewall for the server. (You only need to do this once!) Click Test Connection QR. Scan it with your phone's camera. If your phone and PC are on the same Wi-Fi network, you will see a green "Success!" screen. Play a game! The next time you launch a game, access the host pc ip on the port assigned. The hub will automatically populate with all the media for the active game. ⚠️ Troubleshooting / Notes Same Network Required: Your phone/tablet and your LaunchBox PC must be connected to the same local network/Wi-Fi. Missing Media? The plugin strictly reads the media you have stored in your LaunchBox folders. If LaunchBox doesn't have a manual or video for the game, the hub won't display it. Browser Caching: Mobile browsers like to cache things. If you swap games and the phone still shows the old game, just pull down to refresh the page! Submitter spiritedusual Submitted 03/01/2026 Category Third-party Apps and Plugins  

The Game Scraper View File The Game Scraper for LaunchBox The Game Scraper helps fill in missing metadata, artwork, trailers, play times, and useful custom fields for your LaunchBox games. It is especially helpful for PC games that were added manually instead of imported from Steam, but it can also help with console, handheld, arcade, and mixed libraries by using sources like Steam, IGDB, SteamGridDB, MobyGames, ScreenScraper, YouTube, and HowLongToBeat. This guide is organized by how much control you want. Basic user: you just want metadata, images, and videos with the least amount of setup. Intermediate user: you want to tune the main Batch Settings tab and choose where your data comes from. Advanced user: you want full control with the Custom Workbench. The Game Scraper has come a long way since being a Steam metadata/media downloader. Its complexity has ballooned, making it very difficult for me to test everything. If you run into a problem, please message me first. If you like what this does and use it, please provide a 5-star review! Install The Plugin Close LaunchBox. Extract The Game Scraper into your LaunchBox Plugins folder. Reopen LaunchBox. Select one or more games. Right-click and choose The Game Scraper. Files That Come With The Plugin These are the normal files you may see in the plugin folder. TheGameScraper.dll - The main plugin file. LaunchBox loads this to add The Game Scraper to the right-click menu. DiscoveryData.json - Built-in mapping data used to normalize Discovery Tags and player-perspective labels from Steam and IGDB source terms. SteamKit2.dll - Support file used for deeper Steam lookup features. ZstdSharp.dll - Support file included with the current SteamKit2 package. Keep it if it was included in your download. WindowsShortcutFactory.dll - Support file for shortcut/path handling and Better PC Game Importer-style PC game cleanup. yt-dlp.exe - Required for YouTube video searching and downloading. ffmpeg.exe - Required for video merging and video format handling. deno.exe - Used by the video tools for some YouTube challenge handling. Keep it if it was included in your download. TheGameScraper.pdb - Optional. Only useful for debugging. Files The Plugin Creates The plugin also creates a few files and folders while you use it. config.json - Stores saved settings, source choices, credentials, overwrite choices, video options, and Custom Workbench routes. TheGameScraper.log - The main troubleshooting log. It records what the plugin tried, downloaded, skipped, and sent to the Fixer. Basic User: Just Get Metadata, Images, And Videos Use this path if you want the plugin to clean up your games without thinking about every source and every field. This is the best first run for most people. Basic API Setup For the best Auto experience, add your IGDB and SteamGridDB credentials before running a batch. Steam does not need an API key, but IGDB and SteamGridDB do. SteamGridDB API key: needed for SteamGridDB artwork. IGDB Client ID and Secret: needed for IGDB metadata, keywords, themes, videos, and player perspective. This matters because Auto mode can use Steam first for PC games, then use IGDB and SteamGridDB to fill gaps or handle non-Steam games. If you are scraping mostly PC games that Steam can easily identify, you can try Auto without these. If you are scraping console, handheld, arcade, retro, non-Steam PC games, or a mixed library, you should add IGDB and SteamGridDB first. Where To Get The Keys SteamGridDB API key: get it from your SteamGridDB API preferences page: https://www.steamgriddb.com/profile/preferences/api IGDB Client ID and Secret: follow IGDB's official setup guide: https://api-docs.igdb.com/#account-creation Quick IGDB Credential Steps Sign in or create a Twitch account. Enable two-factor authentication on the Twitch account. Open the Twitch Developer Portal from the IGDB setup guide. Register an application. Set the application type to Confidential. Use localhost for the OAuth Redirect URL if you do not have another redirect URL. Create a new client secret. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret into The Game Scraper. After entering credentials, use Check API Status. The status lines under each provider tell you whether the plugin sees what it needs. Best Simple Setup Select a small group of games in LaunchBox. Right-click and open The Game Scraper. Stay on Batch Settings. Add your IGDB Client ID and Secret if you plan to use IGDB. Add your SteamGridDB API key if you plan to use SteamGridDB artwork. Click Check API Status. Set Primary Metadata Source to Auto. Turn on Enable Metadata & Image Scraping. Turn on Download Videos if you want trailers. Set video Source to Steam for the easiest Auto workflow. Leave overwrite options off for your first run. Click START BATCH. If the Fixer appears, review the games it could not confidently match. For a simple first run: Auto + IGDB + SteamGridDB + Steam videos is the easiest starting point. Auto mode follows this workflow: For PC/Steam-style games, it starts with Steam for metadata, standard images, and Steam videos. If Steam cannot confidently identify the game, it can check IGDB when IGDB credentials are configured. If Steam identifies the game but some details are missing, IGDB can safely fill gaps when the IGDB match is verified. If Steam artwork is missing, SteamGridDB can fill standard artwork when a SteamGridDB API key is configured. If a Steam video is not found, Auto can fall back to YouTube. For non-Steam games, console games, arcade games, handheld games, and retro platforms, Auto uses IGDB for metadata, SteamGridDB for standard artwork when configured, and YouTube for videos. What Basic Mode Can Add The plugin can fill in: Title, developer, publisher, notes, series, release date, rating, play mode, genres, and community rating. Box/front cover, banner/header, fanart background, clear logo, and gameplay screenshots. Trailers from Steam or YouTube. HowLongToBeat play times. Discovery Tags and Player Perspective custom fields. Installed status for PC games, if you enable that option. Intermediate User: Customize The Main Tab Use this path if you want more control, but you still want the normal batch screen to do most of the work. The main Batch Settings tab is where you choose the main source, video behavior, overwrite behavior, API keys, and extra options. What Changes When You Pick A Source Instead Of Auto When you choose a source directly, the plugin stops using Auto's full fallback chain and follows the source you picked. Steam Metadata comes from Steam. Fields filled from Steam can include Title, Developer, Publisher, Release Date, Genres, Notes/Description, Play Mode, Controller Support, Community Rating, and Discovery Tags from Steam tags when Discovery Tags are enabled. Images come from Steam's standard store/library artwork: Box - Front from the portrait library image, Clear Logo, Fanart - Background from the Steam hero image, Banner from the Steam header image, and up to 5 Screenshot - Gameplay images. Image sizes are usually consistent because Steam uses fixed artwork types. The portrait box art uses Steam's library_600x900_2x image, the hero is the wide library_hero image, the banner is the smaller Steam header image, and screenshots use Steam's full screenshot URLs. Videos come from Steam when Steam video downloading is selected. IGDB Metadata comes from IGDB. Fields filled from IGDB can include Title, Developer, Publisher, Notes/Description, Series, Age Rating, Wikipedia URL, Video URL, Release Type, Release Date, Community Rating, Genres, Play Mode, Discovery Tags from IGDB themes/keywords when Discovery Tags are enabled, and the Player Perspective custom field. Images come from IGDB when Override Steam Images with SGDB is off: Box - Front from the IGDB cover, Fanart - Background from the first IGDB artwork image, and up to 5 Screenshot - Gameplay images. IGDB image sizes are different from Steam. Covers use IGDB's cover_big size, artwork uses IGDB's 1080p size, and screenshots use IGDB's screenshot_huge size. IGDB does not provide the same standard logo/banner set that Steam does in the normal main-tab workflow. Turn on Override Steam Images with SGDB if you want SGDB to fill standard artwork instead. Videos use the IGDB-linked YouTube video first when IGDB has one, then fall back to a YouTube search. MobyGames Metadata comes from MobyGames. Fields filled from MobyGames can include Title, Developer, Publisher, Notes/Description, Series, Age Rating, Region, Release Type, Max Players, Release Date, Community Rating, Genres, Play Mode, and Alternate Names when MobyGames has them. Images come from MobyGames media candidates for the normal LaunchBox categories: Box - Front, Clear Logo, Fanart - Background, Banner, and up to 5 Screenshot - Gameplay images when those items are available. Image sizes vary because MobyGames media is submitted per game, platform, and region. The plugin prefers better regional matches and larger images when it has choices. Videos still use the normal video setting, such as YouTube, if video downloading is enabled. ScreenScraper Metadata comes from ScreenScraper. Fields filled from ScreenScraper can include Title, Developer, Publisher, Notes/Description, Series, Age Rating, Region, Release Type, Max Players, Release Date, Community Rating, Genres, Play Mode, and Alternate Names when ScreenScraper has them. Images come from ScreenScraper media candidates for the normal LaunchBox categories: Box - Front, Clear Logo, Fanart - Background, Banner, and up to 5 Screenshot - Gameplay images when those items are available. Image sizes and styles vary by platform, region, and language. Your ScreenScraper region and language settings help decide which version is chosen. Videos come from ScreenScraper's normalized video when ScreenScraper video downloading is selected. SteamGridDB Override This is not a metadata source. It only changes the standard artwork pass. When enabled, SGDB can replace the normal source artwork with Box - Front, Fanart - Background, and Clear Logo from SteamGridDB. SGDB artwork is usually cleaner and more uniform than older provider media, but it does not fill every LaunchBox image category from the main tab. Manual Manual mode is for games you already know need human help. Instead of trying to choose a match automatically, the plugin sends the game to the Fixer so you can pick the correct result, paste a supported source URL or ID, or enter a better search term. Use this when Auto keeps finding the wrong game, when a title has many versions, or when you already have the exact Steam, IGDB, SteamGridDB, MobyGames, ScreenScraper, HowLongToBeat, or YouTube page you want to use. Main Tab Options Explained Enable Metadata & Image Scraping Turns on the normal metadata and image pass. Overwrite Metadata Allows the plugin to replace existing text fields in LaunchBox. Leave this off if you only want to fill blanks. Overwrite Images Allows the plugin to replace existing image files. Leave this off if you want to keep your current artwork. Override Steam Images with SGDB Uses SteamGridDB for standard image categories when possible. This is useful when you prefer SteamGridDB artwork styles or want better artwork than Steam provides. Mark Installed Marks selected PC games as installed after scraping. Non-PC games are skipped for this option. Discovery Tags Adds a custom field with useful tags from Steam and IGDB. These can help you build LaunchBox playlists around themes, features, or style, and are integral to the Discovery Curation Center plugin. Better PC Game Importer Sync If Better PC Game Importer is installed, this can help keep renamed PC game folders, shortcuts, and LaunchBox paths in sync after cleanup. Video Options Download Videos Turns on trailer downloading. Source: Steam Best for a simple PC setup. Steam videos come directly from the Steam Store when available. Source: YouTube Useful when Steam does not have a trailer or when you want YouTube results. YouTube matching is careful and may skip games when it is not confident. For older games, try changing the YouTube suffix from trailer to gameplay if trailers are hard to find. Source: ScreenScraper Useful for retro games when ScreenScraper has a direct normalized game video. Resolution Chooses the video height requested for YouTube or Steam downloads. Max Duration Used for YouTube searches so long videos, reviews, and playthroughs are avoided. Videos exceeding this length will be ignored. Overwrite Existing Allows existing videos to be replaced. HowLongToBeat Options Turn on Enable HLTB Scraping if you want LaunchBox custom fields for: HLTB - Main Story HLTB - Main + Extra HLTB - Completionist HLTB - Co-Op HLTB - Vs. Length Category Length Category is created from the best available main play time. If Main Story is missing, the plugin tries Co-Op, then Vs. The length categories are: Quick (< 5h) Standard (5-15h) Extended (15-30h) Long (30-60h) Massive (60h+) These categories can help you build playlists like quick games, long games, or massive games. FlareSolverr is optional. Normal HowLongToBeat use does not require it, but you can enter a FlareSolverr URL as a fallback if HowLongToBeat blocks normal access in the future. Other API Credentials Some sources work without keys. Others need your own credentials. IGDB and SteamGridDB are covered in the Basic setup above because they are useful for Auto mode. Add these other credentials only when you use the related features: MobyGames API key: needed for MobyGames metadata and images. ScreenScraper user and password: needed for ScreenScraper metadata, media, and account quota checks. Use Check API Status after entering credentials. The status lines under each provider tell you whether the plugin sees what it needs. The Fixer The Fixer opens when The Game Scraper cannot confidently match or download something. That is a good thing. It means the plugin is asking before it puts questionable data into your library. The Fixer can help with: Metadata with no match. Low-confidence matches. Missing artwork. Ambiguous HowLongToBeat results. Missing videos. Other scraping problems. Depending on the tab, you can: Pick from possible matches. Paste a Steam, IGDB, SteamGridDB, MobyGames, ScreenScraper, HowLongToBeat, or YouTube URL when supported. Type a better title or search term. Skip the row. Retry selected rows. Purge scraper-added data for rows in that tab. Purge is meant for scraper-added data. It does not wipe your game title, platform, launch path, emulator, favorites, play stats, or normal LaunchBox-owned settings. Advanced User: Custom Workbench Use Custom Workbench when you want to choose the source for each kind of data instead of choosing one main source for the whole scan. This is for users who want control over the final library look and are comfortable deciding where each field should come from. Example Workbench setup: Metadata from IGDB. Ratings from Steam. Box art from SteamGridDB. Screenshots from MobyGames. Retro logos or title screens from ScreenScraper. Custom Workbench is for metadata and image routing. Videos and HowLongToBeat are controlled from the normal Batch Settings sections, not from Workbench source rows. How Custom Workbench Works Open The Game Scraper. Choose Custom Workbench. Pick a Default Source if you want to quickly set many rows. Review the Metadata rows. Review the Images rows. Set any row you do not want to Skip. Set overwrite options carefully. Click START BATCH. Each row uses the source you choose for that row. If you route a field to one source and that source does not have the data, the plugin will not quietly swap to a different source for that field. That makes the Workbench predictable. It also means you should choose sources intentionally. Workbench Metadata Rows Depending on your configured credentials, the Workbench can route metadata such as: Title Description Developer Publisher Release Date Genre Play Modes Series Community Rating Discovery Tags Player Perspective Workbench Image Rows Depending on your configured credentials, the Workbench can route images such as: Box / Cover Box - Back Box - Spine Box - 3D Cart - Front Cart - Back Cart - 3D Disc Banner Hero / Fanart Background Logo Icon Screenshots Screenshot - Title Screen Advertisement Flyer Bezel Arcade Marquee Arcade Cabinet Arcade Control Panel Arcade Circuit Board Manual The Workbench shows a short source summary for each row so you can see what kind of media that source usually provides. Screenshot Limit The Workbench can download multiple screenshots. Use Screenshot Limit when you want to cap how many screenshots are downloaded per game. Leave it blank if you want the Workbench to download everything the selected source provides for that row. When To Use Each Advanced Source Steam Best for PC store metadata, Steam tags, official artwork, banners, logos, and screenshots. IGDB Best for broad game metadata across many platforms, especially non-PC games. SteamGridDB Best for polished artwork, alternate covers, grids, heroes, logos, and artwork rescue passes. MobyGames Best for platform-aware metadata, release context, covers, screenshots, and physical media scans. ScreenScraper Best for retro and arcade media, regional artwork, cartridges, discs, wheels/logos, title screens, flyers, manuals, and arcade/retro image categories. Advanced Advice Use Auto for broad cleanup. Use Custom Workbench for targeted passes. For example, you might run Auto first to fill the basics, then run Custom Workbench later only for box backs, cartridge art, manuals, or alternate logos. Be careful with overwrite options. The Workbench is powerful, and overwrite settings apply to the rows you route. Troubleshooting A Game Went To The Fixer The plugin was not confident enough to choose automatically. Pick the right match, paste a direct URL, enter a better title, or skip it. YouTube Videos Do Not Download Make sure deno, yt-dlp, and ffmpeg are up to date. Also include a cookies file in your plugin root. If it still fails, check the log. YouTube is not a games database. We rely entirely on search to match. The plugin is designed to search for the game and platform, when it is not a PC game, then the suffix in the settings. For instance, Metal Gear Solid Sony PlayStation Trailer. This will likely not get you the correct result since trailers were not really a thing back then. Changing the suffix to Gameplay will likely get you something, but you will need to play around with it. YouTube is meant as a source of last resort. The plugin will actively try to verify and reject videos that do not match to prevent false positives. When in doubt, use Manual mode and supply the URL directly. A Source Does Not Appear Some sources only appear after you enter the required credentials. Add the credentials, check API status, close and reopen the plugin if needed, and try again. Existing Images Or Data Did Not Change Check the overwrite options. With overwrite off, the plugin usually tries to preserve what you already have. HowLongToBeat Stops Working HLTB access can change over time. The plugin uses normal direct access first. If that fails and you have a FlareSolverr URL configured, it can try that as a fallback. Large Fixer Queues Feel Slow Large batches can create large review queues. Work through one tab at a time, use paging, and avoid huge purge operations unless you are ready to wait. Something Looks Strange Open the full log from the summary window or check TheGameScraper.log in the plugin folder. The log shows what source was used, what was skipped, and why something went to the Fixer. Good First Runs PC Steam Cleanup Mode: Auto IGDB credentials: Added SteamGridDB API key: Added Metadata and images: On Videos: On Video source: Steam Overwrite metadata: Off Overwrite images: Off Overwrite video: Off PC Artwork Upgrade Mode: Auto or Steam Metadata and images: On Override Steam Images with SGDB: On SteamGridDB API key: Added Overwrite images: On only if you want to replace existing artwork Retro Metadata And Media Mode: Auto, IGDB, MobyGames, or ScreenScraper Add credentials for the source you want Metadata and images: On Videos: Optional Use the Fixer for uncertain matches Advanced Physical Media Pass Mode: Custom Workbench Route box backs, spines, carts, discs, flyers, manuals, or title screens to MobyGames or ScreenScraper Set unrelated rows to Skip Use overwrite carefully Quick Source Cheat Sheet Source Best For Needs Credentials Steam PC metadata, Steam artwork, Steam trailers No IGDB Console, handheld, arcade, retro, non-Steam metadata Yes SteamGridDB High-quality artwork upgrades Yes MobyGames Platform-aware metadata, covers, screenshots Yes ScreenScraper Retro and arcade media, regional art, direct retro videos Yes YouTube Trailer fallback and manual video help No API key, but video tools are needed HowLongToBeat Play-time custom fields No Manual Send games to the Fixer so you can choose or paste the right match yourself Depends on the source you choose Final Recommendation If you are new, start with Auto and a small batch. If you want to tune the normal experience, stay on Batch Settings and adjust sources, videos, overwrite options, and credentials. If you want full control, use Custom Workbench for focused passes after your library already has the basics. Submitter spiritedusual Submitted 12/28/2025 Category Third-party Apps and Plugins  

add me to the list of users that have crashing problems with ffmpeg.

Hi thank for sharing your experience with this. I don't think we had the same issues. My problems started months ago well before the ffmpeg issue. I fixed my issue by installing a new LB instance and slowly adding my xml files from the first install to the new one. I discovered that certain xml files would cause the infinite save games issue. I have a lot of xmls so in the end I just used it as an opportunity to download full romsets and create 1g1r dats to have a both a more complete yet efficient collection.

The creator of the steam scrapper updated recently and I was able to download new trailers. If this is an issue with the newest beta maybe try sharing it in the beta thread to get some exposure to the team?

what version are you on? Newest beta?