AstroBob

Hi @erling1000 
Thanks for the great question! You absolutely can do this. When you edit a platform (either right click > edit or by going to Tools > Manage Platforms and double-clicking on one, you’ll see a field called Sort Title.
Whatever value you enter in that field will determine the sorting order for your platforms. For example, if you want all Nintendo consoles to be ordered chronologically, you can input values like Nintendo Console 1, 2, 3, or Nintendo Handheld 1, 2, 3.
This Sort Title field also exists for playlists, allowing you to set a custom sort order that isn’t strictly alphabetical.
Hope that helps! Let us know how you get on.
Cheers,

Hi there, thanks for the question:
The first message is a standard browser warning for less commonly downloaded files. This is normal, and you just to confirm if it asks for any confirmation to proceed.
The second message happens because .crdownload files are incomplete downloads. This usually means the download was interrupted. Check your browser’s Downloads section to resume or restart the download. Make sure your internet is stable and temporarily disable antivirus if it’s blocking the file. Once complete, the .crdownload file will convert to the correct .exe format, which you can use to install LaunchBox.
Let us know how you get on.

Thanks Mark, yes that is our bad. Bit of a miscommunication on our side with the release notes. I'll look to get these release notes updated so thanks for pointing that out. 
Give me a shout if you have any further questions.

Thanks for the update. If the emulator you’re using is RetroArch, please note that the controls configured there are separate from those set in Big Box, so you’ll need to configure them directly in RetroArch.
Depending on your controller, RetroArch is generally quite good at recognizing most common controllers right out of the box. However, if it doesn’t, you can manually configure them using the guide below:
• RetroArch Input and Controls Guide
RetroArch’s configured controls will typically apply across all the platforms you use with it. However, it also allows you to make per-platform or per-game controller adjustments if needed.

Hi Mark, 
Thanks for reporting this. Unfortunately, YouTube recently changed something on their backend which broke the way we stream videos. We're looking into ways we can address this.
I'll try and update you once we have a better idea of when you can expect this to be fixed. Thanks for bearing with us in the meantime.
Cheers,

Hi there,
Thanks for the great question!
If you have Enable Automatic Imports on Startup turned on under the Tools > Manage > Storefront section, LaunchBox will automatically import locally installed games when you first start it up. However, if you’ve deleted those games from your library, they won’t be re-imported automatically. LaunchBox keeps track of which games you’ve deleted to prevent re-importing them repeatedly—this is particularly useful for games you intentionally want to exclude.
That said, the easiest way to bring those games back is to use the Tools > Import > Steam Games option. Here, you’ll be prompted to enter your Steam API key. Once that’s set up, you can select from a list of available games and choose which ones to import.
I hope this helps clarify things! Let me know if you need further assistance or run into any issues.

HI @ChunkyLoverMark,
Thanks for reporting this! To get platform videos working, follow these steps:
1. From any platform view, press the three dots in the top-right corner and select View Settings.
2. Ensure the Background Videos option is turned on.
The platform video will then play in the background of your view. There are also a few additional options, such as hiding the box image, to make things look cleaner.
Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes.

Hi @BlindGuyMcSqueezy thanks for bearing with me there. 
I've run some tests and the best way to do this would be to select all his games for a platform and go to Tools > File Management > Change ROMs folder path for selected games
This will let you set the new directory which should update the application path for all your games.
Let me know if that works for you
Cheers,

Hey @Kefka2b, the only way to do this would be to create actual new Platforms for your Light Gun categories, and then change the Game’s metadata to that new platform, but this isn’t a workflow I’d recommend since you’ll lose association with the original platform.
The best approach seems to be to use your current workflow (where you’ve created a new Category with some playlists for LightGun games). 
It’s not ideal, but you could create two auto-playlists underneath each platform: one for lightgun games from that platform (e.g., NES) and one for normal NES games. 
If you can let me know a bit more about your ideal end goal and how you’re looking to set things up I can try and advise further.
Cheers,

Hi @MJF, thanks for flagging this. Our best guess about what happened to that game is that there may have been another game under the old Steam ID, and the developer may have deleted it and set it up as a new game.
Either way, we've updated it, so it should work now. 
Thanks for letting us know.

Hi Jon,
Welcome to the LaunchBox family! 🙌 Emumovies is indeed a great addition to a MAME Big Box setup. 
If you've recently purchased a Windows license, you should have already received a 25% discount code for EmuMovies. Coincidentally, literally, as of yesterday, we have kindly donated some EmuMovies lifetime codes that we've been giving on our streams. I can't confirm how many of those there will be, but if you were ever curious you can catch the schedule here and pop along next time, it could be your lucky day 😊
 

Hi @Peter007, thanks for confirming, that is definitely the culprit then. Because there is no 7z app there, it cannot extract the theme, since that is what we use to unzip the download.
I have a feeling this may have been a side effect of your original install, being inside another install. It might be better at this stage to run a fresh install of LuanchBox to ensure it has all the relevant dependencies. Then you can copy over your Data folder, along with any media folders (images, music, videos, manuals).
Alternatively, you can simply grab the 7-Zip folder from a fresh install of LaunchBox, but it's hard to tell what else might be missing from your current install, so it might be worthwhile to start fresh.
Make sure to take a backup of your build before attempting any of the above, and let me know if you need further guidance. Keep me posted

Hi @djdaveoc22, thanks for the updates there and for elaborating on your use case. Given what you're trying to achieve, I think we can simplify things to give you exactly what you need.
Assuming this build only needs your 10-ish platforms, organised by star rating, here's what I suggest.
1. In LaunchBox, change your view (on the left-hand side under the search bar) from Platform Categories to Playlists. From there, using my previous method, create auto-playlists for each of your platforms, and set the playlist to be organised by star rating—no need to bother with adding them to any categories, and under the Parents tab, just leave everything unchecked.
2. In Big Box, go to Options > Views > Default Startup View and change the option to Playlists
Assuming you don't have any other playlists already, this means now that when you load Big Box, it will simply show you the playlists you created, and going into those will organise the games by star rating.
Let me know if this works for you and how you get on.

Hi @Sinan, hope you're well
The logic for the multiple apps badge to show is as follows:
The game entry must have AT LEAST 2 additional applications present (that are not documents) Additional apps that are documents (i.e PDFs) will not count or show the badge, and will instead show up under the Additional Documents section Games that only have ONE additional app present will not show the badge Therefore, it depends entirely on what additional apps you have present for those games. If it's showing the badge for most of your games, that sounds like there are 2 or more additional apps present for those games. Depending on how you imported your games and where they came from, there may be some additional apps present there that you don't want.
Hopefully, that helps clarify, let me know how you get on or if you have any other questions

Hi @TommyTomorrow jumping in to see if I can help clarify things here: 
These are the requirements we recommend for Android devices running LaunchBox (taken from our Android Download page)
Currently, LaunchBox for Android is recommended for devices running Android 10, which is several versions behind the latest Android updates. While it’s hard to predict future system requirements, a few key points might help your decision:
1. You’re not forced to update to a newer version of LaunchBox if your device no longer meets future requirements. You can continue using your existing version indefinitely.
2. The lifetime license ensures long-term flexibility and value. Even if you eventually upgrade to a new Android device, you won’t have to worry about repurchasing the app.
At the end of the day, it’s entirely personal preference. There’s always the option to upgrade your standard license later at a discounted price, or you can opt for the lifetime license now if you prefer the peace of mind of knowing you’re covered for both your current device and any future upgrades.
Hope that helps, happy to answer any further questions.

Hi @Opus132, thanks for the question.
The way renewal or upgrades normally work, is that if you own a regular license you can renew for another year of updates or upgrade to a lifetime license for a discounted price.
Full details on what these normally cost and the process to do so can be found below
🔗 https://www.launchbox-app.com/renew
With the upcoming Black Friday sale, we will offer discounts on the already discounted cost of a renewal or upgrade. It’s hard to say what discounts will be offered in the future, since some of our sales do not cover all types of licenses, but this upcoming one in particular has discounts across all our offerings (Windows & Android apps + renewals and upgrades).
Hope that helps clarify, let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers,

Hi @beeboy , thanks for the great question!
To get started, you’ll want to create some playlists in LaunchBox. Any playlists you create can also be accessed from within Big Box.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to automatically import the collections that you’ve created in Steam. However, depending on the size of your collections, it should be relatively straightforward to recreate them as playlists in LaunchBox.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when working with playlists:
You can create playlists using either the auto-populated method, which uses specific fields to fill out the playlist (e.g., Favorite = True), or manually by selecting games. To add games manually, you can right-click a single game or select multiple games using Ctrl + Click, then right-click and choose “Add to Playlist.” You’ll be prompted to name a new playlist or add the selected games to an existing one. You can choose to omit specific playlists from Big Box. To do this, edit the playlist and check the Hide in Big Box option. Playlists can be accessed through the Playlists section, or you can embed them into your platform categories view for easier navigation. In your case, you may want to embed them under the Windows platform Hope that makes sense, let me know how you get on and if you have any other questions

Hi Folks,
We recently published an FAQ on this topic that provides detailed instructions and highlights any important caveats to keep in mind. Sharing the link here in case anyone stumbles across this old thread.
 

Hi Folks,
We recently published an FAQ on this subject that goes into detail on how to do this and any caveats to take into account. Linking here in case anyone comes across this old thread
 

Hi @radio5 
Thanks for the update. Unfortunately, continuing to host your build on a Google Drive instance will likely continue to yield this type of error. Historically, when LaunchBox directories are hosted in a location where the file system is continuously being modified (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.), it can cause all sorts of problems with file locking or can mess up the permissions that LaunchBox needs to run properly.
While you may have seen success in the past with this setup, we’ve never been able to guarantee that it will work 100% of the time. This is because it largely depends on what Windows is doing with those files, and we have no way of knowing when the syncing service is modifying files that LaunchBox requires.
Although this particular error you’re seeing is related to our new plugin .dll files, there have been issues in the past with other file types, such as image files, database files, etc.
I realize this is frustrating, especially since you’ve used LaunchBox in this way without errors in the past. However, this isn’t a workflow we can fully support, as we have no control over what the syncing service is doing with the files that we need access to.
That said, I completely understand the desire to have LaunchBox backed up to a cloud storage solution. I personally do this with Dropbox as well. My suggestion would be to ensure that Google Drive is not running when you are using LaunchBox. As long as syncing is paused while LaunchBox is in use, it shouldn’t have any issues. The conflicts arise only when both LaunchBox and Google Drive try to access the same file simultaneously.
I realise it may not be the perfect solution, but hopefully, this shines some light on the cause here.
Give me a shout if you have any further questions here.

Yes, however that is only for when you are importing a game. If you have that ticked, it will let you import a game even if it already exists in your library.
What I was referring to, is that there's no function such as (right click > duplicate entry). However you certainly can import a duplicate copy using the import wizard, and simply manually creating a new entry that uses the same LaunchBox DB ID, it will let you do that no problem.

Hey @itsmeblake, what view are you looking at those games on in BigBox? 

A way to verify is to do a search for Gear 5 in BigBox. If it finds it, it indicates that the specific view or playlist you're looking at if filtering out the games, whereas if nothing is showing up, it indicates the game is specifically being hidden from Big Box.
Let me know if a search brings anything back as that will point us in the right direction

Hi Folks, 
I just wanted to let everyone know that this issue has been addressed in our latest beta release. You can find details on it below: 
 
Thanks for bearing with us while we got that fixed, please let us know If anyone is still having this issue on the beta

Hey @Echostorm, 
Thanks for the excellent question. I personally use LaunchBox and Big Box exclusively on handhelds (I use a Legion Go), but the experience is largely similar. Here are some tips I can offer from my experience:
 
Initial Setup
 I definitely recommend hooking the ROG Ally up to an external monitor and keyboard for the initial setup process. Getting LaunchBox installed, importing ROMs, etc., is certainly doable on the handheld, but save yourself the hassle by connecting it to a screen and peripherals to make the process easier. Big Box
That said, once all the setup is done, Big Box is absolutely the best way to experience your LaunchBox library on the go. Simply map the Ally’s built-in controller to controls in Big Box, and you should be good to go (it may even do this automatically for you). You’ll then be able to navigate through your library, launch games, etc. To make things even easier, consider mapping the Big Box pause menu to your controller. This gives you a unified way across all emulators to exit, save/load states, view the manual, etc. On my Legion Go, I have it mapped to clicking in the right stick + down on the D-pad (yes, you can combine multiple button inputs like this). I use the above method to also map different views in Big Box. For example, one of the four directions on the D-pad loads a different Big Box view, which saves you from navigating back through menus. Other useful options to map to the built-in controller in Big Box are search and filter. These allow you to quickly narrow in on specific games (and with search, you can use the Ally’s touch keyboard to quickly type in the game you’re looking for). The Game Discovery center is a great view to use in Big Box and looks excellent on the Ally’s screen. For themes, this comes down to personal preference. I stick with the good old default, but it’s up to you. Just be mindful of the Ally’s TDP. It’s something you don’t have to worry about on a desktop, and while Big Box will perform just fine at lower TDPs, if you use a very complex theme, you may want to consider bumping up the TDP to ensure smooth performance. Finally, consider having Big Box boot automatically when the ROG Ally is turned on, or at least make it an app that can easily be launched from Armory Crate, ROG’s own launcher. With 13.16, Big Box has a trial mode that you can use to test out if you don't already own a premium license. RetroArch
Retroarch should largely work out of the box on the ally if you've installed it through LaunchBox. It will automatically pick up the build in controls. Only thing you might want to do is set certain hotkeys for things like quitting retroarch, screenshots, fast-forward etc Phew, I hope that wasn’t too rambly! In short, LaunchBox & Big Box can absolutely work well on a handheld. Feel free to ask any follow-up questions if you have any!

Hey @RolandofGilead, thanks for reporting this.
Right off the bat, this sounds like LaunchBox is auto-importing some hidden files from your LaunchBox directory, given the fact that they are re-appearing once you delete them. Here's how you can verify that:
- From the options menu, confirm if LaunchBox has Auto ROM imports enabled. You can turn that off if you don't want LaunchBox to auto import your games
- If you want to leave it on, it's likely there are hidden files in your games directory. You'll need to enable hidden files in Windows explorer, and then check if your games folders if there are any temp files there. I can't say for certain but these may have been caused 
Let me know how you get on and if that is indeed the issue