AstroBob

Hi folks, I wanted to share a consolidated update on the Big Box startup video issue, and first off, thank you again for your patience and for all the detailed reports you’ve shared. We also apologize for the long gaps between updates — this has been a particularly difficult issue to pin down. Where things stand now After extensive investigation, we’ve successfully been able to reproduce the issue internally, but only on specific machine configurations. This was a major breakthrough, as for a long time we couldn’t reproduce the problem at all. Even now, the behavior remains extremely inconsistent and temperamental, which has made debugging especially challenging. On affected systems, the behavior often looks like this: • The startup video may play correctly on the first launch • Subsequent launches frequently skip the video • In some cases, restarting Windows allows the video to play again — but usually only once • Even that pattern isn’t reliable, and results can vary from launch to launch This inconsistency is exactly what slowed progress early on, but having at least one reproducible environment has finally given us something concrete to work with. What we’re doing about it Because of how unreliable the existing behavior is, we’ve made the decision to rebuild the Big Box startup video system from the ground up rather than trying to patch the current implementation. The good news: • Early testing of the new system is showing much more reliable startup video playback • Repeated launches behave consistently across the machines we’re testing • The new implementation is currently in active testing, but results so far are very encouraging We’re confident this is the right long-term solution. Official tracking going forward We’ve now created an official Known Issue report that pulls everything together, what’s affected, what we’ve learned so far, and how we’re approaching the fix. This will be the single place we keep updated going forward, rather than scattering updates across forum replies: 👉 Known Issue: Big Box Startup Videos Not Playing Reliably https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/known-issue-big-box-startup-videos-not-playing-reliably If you’re affected, please upvote that issue to receive updates on when it will land. Thanks again to everyone who reported the issue, tested variations, and stuck with us while we worked through this. We know it’s been frustrating, but we’re finally confident we’re on the right track to resolving it properly.

Hiya, Can you go to Tools > Options, and then under Visual > Filter Side Bar > Game Details, do you have the `Achievements` item checked? This preference is where you configure what shows up in the games detial pane, and this is on my default in fresh builds which is what might explain why you saw it on a fresh install

Hiya, Thanks again to everyone who’s taken the time to report this and help us investigate, and apologies for the long gap between updates while we worked through it. We’ve now created an official Known Issue report covering the Big Box startup video problem. This pulls together what we’ve learned so far, what’s affected, and how we’re approaching a fix, and it’ll be the place we keep updated going forward: 👉 Known Issue: Big Box Startup Videos Not Playing Reliably https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/known-issue-big-box-startup-videos-not-playing-reliably Quick update on progress We’ve been able to reproduce the issue internally on specific machines Because the issue is extremely inconsistent, we’ve taken the approach of rebuilding the startup video system from the ground up Early testing of this new implementation is showing much more reliable behavior across repeated launches The implementation is still in active testing, but we’re confident we’re finally on the right track. If you’re affected, please follow the Known Issue report above for ongoing updates rather than tracking individual forum replies. If you haven’t already shared system details and would like to help further, the Known Issue post also lists the info that’s most useful for us while testing continues. Thanks again for your patience and for all the detailed reports, they genuinely made a difference here.

Hi folks, Wanted to jump in to provide an update on this, and firstly, apologies for the radio silence and lack of updates here. We’ve been closely following the reports in this thread, but until recently we were unable to reproduce the issue internally. We strongly believe this is related to a combination of specific machine environments, but the good news is that we’ve finally been able to track down a machine that does experience the problem, which gives us something concrete to investigate. We’re currently digging in to understand exactly where the issue lies and what’s causing it. Frustratingly, as I’m sure many of you are experiencing, the issue is incredibly temperamental. While we do now have a machine that exhibits the behavior, we’re still not able to consistently reproduce it. For example, in my case on a Lenovo Legion Go, I’m seeing behavior similar to what others have reported: the startup video will usually play on the first launch, but on subsequent launches it’s skipped. Some users have reported that restarting Windows causes the video to work again, but only on the first launch after reboot, with later launches skipping it once more. Even that behavior has proven inconsistent for me personally, sometimes the video is skipped even after a fresh restart. That said, as we continue debugging, it would be extremely helpful if anyone affected is willing to share the following details, as they may help us narrow down a common factor: Machine specs Integrated vs. external graphics Windows OS version How you’re launching Big Box (standalone EXE, via Windows shell, or launched from within LaunchBox) Which startup video are you using (please include a link to the forum download page if possible) Whether you have a single startup video or multiple videos in your startup folder Confirmation that your startup videos are located in LaunchBox/Videos/Startup Which playback engine you’re using (FFMPEG vs. Windows Media Player), and whether switching engines makes any difference We’re continuing to work toward getting to the bottom of this, and we apologize for how long it’s taken to get a solid lead. Once we’re able to consistently reproduce the issue, I’ll likely create a known issue entry so everyone can more easily follow along. In the meantime, I’ll continue to provide updates here as we make progress. Thanks again for your patience and for all the detailed reports, but hopefully we're on the right track to nail this down once and for all

Sorry for the issues here, this isn’t an issue your end, but an issue with the EmuMovie’s API being down at the moment. Unfortunately this has happened a fair few times recently but usually resolves itself after a day or so. Might be worth trying again once you’re back and hopefully should be up and running again

Hi Folks, Thanks for the report. We do have an official troubleshooting guide regarding performance, with multiple steps and optimisations that you can take that may help out. I’m attaching it below: - https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/9454889-troubleshooting-launchbox-and-big-box-performance It would be great if you’re able to run through that guide and make some of the suggested tweaks to see if that helps, and also please make sure you’re on the latest 13 version (currently 13.24), since we are continuously adding optimisations and improvements around performance. Let us know how you get on and if any of those suggestions make a noticable difference for you

Hi there, Sorry for the delayed reply here. May I ask are you able to update to the latest beta 13.25 beta-3, since there have been some fixes to the screensaver mode in this version. If it still happens on this version let us know - How to update to beta versions

Just adding for anyone else stumbling upon this post, we have a troubleshooting guide specifically for instances of LaunchBox / Big Box getting stuck in task manager. - https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/0507346-troubleshooting-another-instance-is-already-running-error It provides some steps you can take to try and troubleshoot this if it continues to happen

Hi Folks, Just to let everyone here know we have a feature request scoped for this which you can access here: - https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/favorite-tag-game-controller-mapping-and-filter-side-bar-pinning Please don’t hesitate to upvote it to follow along with updates. Cheers,

Hi Folks, I’m not sure if this is 100% related but Epic Games recently updated their terms of service, which needs to be accepted on their website before the imports will work. If you log into the Epic Games store via your browser, if you are prompted to accept the new terms, once you do so imports should work again. If not let us know and we can rule this out and see what next steps would be

Hi everyone, We’ve just released a new beta version of LaunchBox that restores Steam trailer downloads and resolves the related crashes. You can get the fix by updating to the latest beta (currently 13.25 beta-3). To learn how to update to a beat build, check out our guide here: 🔗 https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/4797671-launchbox-beta-versions If you’d prefer not to update to a beta build, don’t worry — this fix will be included in the upcoming official 13.25 release. Thank you for your patience while we worked to resolve this issue.

Hi folks, apologies for the delayed follow-up on this. Unfortunately, there is no official fix for the Microsoft Storefront integration just yet. We’re still working on it, but whenever these backend changes occur with each storefront provider, it often requires us to rewrite a significant portion of our integration code. We’re facing similar issues at the moment with a backend change to Steam, which we’ve been prioritizing and hope to have resolved very soon. We’re due to push our official Android and Windows updates in the coming weeks, so for full transparency, it’s very likely that we won’t have a fix for the MS Storefront integration ready in time for that release. Rest assured, though, that we are actively working on it. The workaround that @kmeyer1212 suggested is a good one, if you have shortcuts, you can still point your game entries to those. And as of a recent release (I believe 13.24), Windows shortcuts are now handled properly with auto-ROM imports and directory scanning. I know this isn’t ideal, but we’ll be sure to update the official bug report as soon as we have more information. Thanks for bearing with us.

Hey there! 👋 Welcome to the LB family! So when you close Big Box, the default behaviour will not automatically open LaunchBox. If you want to do that, from Big Box's system menu, there's an item called Switch To Desktop Mode which will close Big Box gracefully and take you into LaunchBox. Likewise, in LaunchBox, if you click the LaunchBox logo in the top left, there's an option to go straight to Big Box, without needing to close LaunchBox down first. If you’re seeing the “Another instance of LaunchBox or Big Box is already running” message, it’s likely that the app didn’t fully close due to a background process hanging. We’ve put together a guide that walks through common causes and steps you can take to resolve it: 👉 https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/0507346-troubleshooting-another-instance-is-already-running-error If you continue to see that error after following the steps in that guide, feel free to reach out—we’ll be happy to help investigate further!

Black Friday is here, and we’ve dialed our prices back like it’s 1999 😎 Everything on our site is discounted with savings up to 50% off. From Windows to Android, upgrades, renewals, and bundles – if it’s on our site, it’s on sale. 👾 What’s on Sale: LaunchBox Premium for Windows LaunchBox for Android Renewals and upgrades Bundles -------------------------- 🔗 Purchase link: -------------------------- We’re incredibly grateful that our community looks forward to this time each year, it’s truly become a LaunchBox tradition. For our friends who celebrate Thanksgiving, we hope you enjoy a wonderful long weekend filled with great food, relaxation, and plenty of gaming. And of course, let us know what you’ll be playing! 🎮 Happy Black Friday, and happy gaming! 💙 The LaunchBox team

Hiya, thanks for the update, and apologies that this thread has been a bit quiet recently. We’re currently gearing up for the next round of this beta, which includes a new set of fixes. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to reproduce your specific crash just yet and so can’t guarantee that it will address this issue specifically, but rest assured that we’re reviewing all of the logs and reports shared here to help us pinpoint areas for improvement. We genuinely appreciate you taking the time to send them over. Thanks again for keeping the reports coming, and apologies for the recent lack of acknowledgment. We hope to have a new beta ready soon so we can continue narrowing these issues down.

Hi Folks, Thanks for reporting this and apologies for the issues here. We’ve identified a known issue where LaunchBox can crash when trying to download videos from Steam. We believe this is caused by a change to Steam's backend that we use to pull video media, and manifests in a few different situations (like editing metadata or using the import wizard). We’re actively working on a fix, and we’ll post updates on our known issue report here: 🔗 https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/launchbox-error-when-attempting-to-download-video-media-from-steam In the meantime, you’ll find a list of steps in that post to help you avoid the crash. If you upvote that post, you'll automatically get updates once we have confirmed a fix. Thanks for bearing with us while we get this sorted.

Hiya, thanks for flagging this. We're digging into this with the team to see what's up here. In the meantime, would you mind sharing the specific game page you edited so we can dig into those specific changes on our side? Thanks for bearing with us on this.

We’re currently investigating an issue where LaunchBox crashes when attempting to download trailer videos from Steam — this can happen when editing metadata, using the media import wizard, or running automatic imports on startup. It seems to be caused by a recent change on Steam’s end, and we’re actively investigating a solution. 📌 Follow our known issue post here for updates and to be notified once fixed, and it also outlines steps you can take to mitigate the error temporarily. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted!

Hiya, You’re not alone here. I’d personally love for this to be a thing, and it’s definitely something we’ve considered. We have an ongoing feature request for it, which you can follow and add your support to: https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/identify-games-with-retroachievements-sets-but-invalid-hashes The biggest blocker right now is that we don’t maintain a direct link between a RetroAchievements game page and our LaunchBox Games DB game page. That means any searching we do to look up game info on RA would rely on names, which isn’t foolproof and can easily lead to errors (for example, if the game names in LaunchBox don’t match those on RA). Ideally, our Games Database would include a field containing the RA game page ID (also tracked here): https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/add-retroachievements-game-page-id-to-launchbox-games-database With that in place, we could reliably look up the correct page and flag games that have sets but don’t match your files. We’re not saying this will never happen, but this is where things stand at the moment.

Amazing! Looks great, nice touch on the front panel there 😉

Thanks for pointing this out folks. We've fixed up this link on the forum. Thanks for flagging it!

Request in question incase anyone else is interested: 🔗 https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/shortcut-for-favoritestags-in-screensaver

Hi there, Thanks for the update report there. To close out the screensaver transition bug, this just got released today in 13.25 beta-1. Regarding the new issue you reported, we're already aware of this and actively working on changing how that works. It's not avaliable just yet, but I'l take not of this post to let you know when there's something you can test. Thanks so much for reporting these things though! Definately keep them coming if you notice anything else

Hey folks, really appreciate you both laying all this out in detail. To provide a bit of backstory: VLC has always been a bit of a double-edged sword for us. On one hand, it had some really powerful capabilities that made ambitious themes possible. On the other hand, it has always been heavier than Windows Media Player in terms of resource use, and once we hit versions 13.19 through 13.22, the old VLC wrapper started freezing Big Box randomly for a lot of users. That was the red flag that forced us to take a hard look at things. The real problem is that the .NET wrapper we used to make VLC work inside Big Box has not been updated in over 8 years. Once it started breaking down, we were stuck because we could not patch it ourselves, and the author is long gone. Even if it still worked fine for some users back on 13.18, the truth is it was a ticking time bomb. Every new Windows, .NET, or driver update risked breaking it further, and there was no path forward. That is why we moved to FFmpeg in 13.23. It is not perfect yet, and you are absolutely right to call out the regressions with TransitionPresenter, IsContentVideo, complex grids, and higher bitrate files. VLC could handle those scenarios better, and we know this change hit curated builds and custom themes especially hard. But FFmpeg gives us something we can actually maintain and improve. Unlike VLC, it is not frozen in time and we can keep iterating on it. I also want to set expectations clearly. Rolling back is not really an option. If we reintroduced VLC, we would just be bringing back instability and freezing that we cannot fix. It might look like a step forward for some users, but it would be a step backward for everyone else in the long run. What we can do is keep improving FFmpeg to close the gap. That is where your feedback is huge. @Bussifrog, if you are open to it, we would love to test your theme directly so we can see exactly where the playback is falling short. The more complex examples we can test against, the better job we can do making sure FFmpeg holds up under those loads. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to explore this We hear you. This was not just a cosmetic change, it affected real projects. But our goal is to build a video engine that is stable today and sustainable for tomorrow. VLC had the features but not the stability. FFmpeg has the stability, and now we are focused on bringing the features up to par. Thanks again for the honest feedback. Please keep the specific examples coming, because that is what helps us move this forward.

Hi Folks, Thanks for the report here. I can confirm the same issue you're seeing on my end. I've gone ahead and created a bug report on our end to investigate this. You can follow the post for updates and to know once we've got this fixed up. - https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/microsoft-store-login-does-not-complete-in-manage-storefront Thanks for the report here and apologies for the issues there