Jason Carr

Alright, here's beta 6. I'm hoping this will be the last beta before we release, and I'd like to release tomorrow if possible. There haven't been many breaking changes since the last beta; it's been mostly minor tweaks. So whatever general testing you can do would be appreciated.

bd00 said Bulk editing is working great, have not encountered a problem yet. However, when bulk editing the emulator there is no option to add a new one, only select from a list of already added ones. Personally, I am not sure about the whole wizard type approach you have took and I would prefer just the normal edit window with the incompatible fields greyed out. This would make for quicker and easier editing. Less menu's, better visual representation and such. Also, since the notes field is now occupied by the game description, it may be worth adding something like a "tags" field. Yeah, regarding the wizard approach, I wanted stupid easy, and also easy-ish to develop. As Brad said, unfortunately doing a multi-edit dialog like the one we have would be more trouble than it's worth (and also potentially a bit too confusing for non-power users). I do plan to allow multiple changes per iteration, but not for this release (need to get it out). For the emulator, in an effort to keep it simple, I do think I'm going to leave that off (the ability add and edit emulators in bulk edit). I have a to do item to allow editing emulators outside of games, so that should hopefully make that less confusing. Agreed on the notes field, we do need some sort of user customizable field that isn't tied to game description. I'll add an item for that. Thanks, bd.

bd00 said Ok, I did a little more testing with the dos wizard and revisited the issue (i mentioned previously) earlier this morning. However, I was using beta3 because I did not stop by the forums before hand. The problem game I had initially when testing, turned out to be just that, a problem game. I tried installing it using DOSbox independently (not using LB) and I encountered the same error. It had nothing to do with LB and in the end I came to the conclusion that there is a problem with the disc image. Moving on, I tried 3 more games using the wizard (all ISO's though) in a fresh instance of LB each time. I tried different deviations (for each game) following on from the ISO option (e.g. do/don't move game, do/don't mount, etc.) and it worked without problems each time. Physical discs are a problem for me, i do have them, but they are in the attic somewhere and I really can't be bothered with the hassle. However, if push comes to shove, I suppose I could drag my lazy behind up there, equipped with my head lamp and venture into the cluttered maze of cardboard boxes. Hmm, I must remember to take bread crumbs, so I can find my way back... maybe a survival kit... and I can't forget my... "LunchBox" ... ahhh that was terrible... i am digressing. Anyway, I will download beta5 and do some more testing on the wizard, but I will switch the main priority to the bulk editing. I will try to report back tonight with the results. Ha, yeah, physical activity is hard. Thanks for testing that stuff. Good to hear. What games did you test?

SentaiBrad said Yay, look, I am breaking it! Error Code System.ArgumentException: Parameter is not valid. at System.Drawing.Bitmap..ctor(Int32 width, Int32 height, PixelFormat format) at LaunchBox.GameGui.RefreshImage(Game game, Size size) at LaunchBox.GameGui.RefreshImage() at LaunchBox.GamesControl.Application_Idle(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponent.FDoIdle(Int32 grfidlef) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.ShowDialog(IWin32Window owner) at LaunchBox.Program.HandleException(Exception ex) at LaunchBox.Program.Application_ThreadException(Object sender, ThreadExceptionEventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.OnThreadException(Exception t) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProcException(Exception e) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG& msg) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.OnRun() at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.DoApplicationModel() at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.Run(String[] commandLine) at LaunchBox.Program.SingleInstanceApplication.Run(Form form, StartupNextInstanceEventHandler startupHandler) at LaunchBox.Program.Main(String[] args) So, what I was doing was adding DOS games manually. I went in to the folder: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Pools Of Darkness (1991)(Strategic Simulations Inc). I realized I already added the game and I went to back out of the import. So from the menu that asks you to select the proper exe for the game you're importing I just hit cancel and got this. Edit: Actually, I take that back. It was after you select the exe and the edit screen pops up. I hit the search button and realized I already added the game, so then I hit cancel from that menu. Alright, apparently I had already fixed this; Brad and I confirmed with the latest beta that I'll put up tonight.

Welcome, Jay. Good idea; I've added it to my changes list: http://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox

Agreed, Brad. It's possible that I could work with them to build an import from Wikipedia or something else. Anyways, here's 3.2 beta 5. This version is now feature complete for the full release of 3.2. I fixed the search for TheGamesDB as I referenced above, and added the ability to name your imported ROMs by folder name instead of file name. We still need the Install DOS Game Wizard and the bulk edit feature tested the most. Also now, the new search could use some testing as well. Thanks folks.

Um...so guess what guys... All my complaining about TheGamesDB and their borked search? Um, yeah. I just discovered that all the code for the entire site is open source on GitHub: https://github.com/TheGamesDB/TheGamesDB So I set out to fix the search bug myself, so I could just submit a pull request. Then I discovered that there's another way to search using GetGamesList.php, and the search bugs aren't a problem with that one. So! I'm gonna finally get to fix that search! Isn't it wonderful? I still wish I could communicate with them (meaning I wish they'd respond), but this is progress at least. Edit: Also, for what it's worth, the fact that the whole site is open source means that it ain't ever going away. At some point, if the current owner wants to get rid of it, there's plenty of other people who can take it over (I might be interested). Still going to look to integrate Wikipedia at least, but I'm less worried about the fate of TGDB.

Alright, here's beta 4. This has batch editing and some other stuff you can check out in the changelog. I do need the batch editing tested well if you can, and of course we still need much more testing on the DOS Game Installation Wizard. Yes, integrating Wikipedia should be very doable. It's still a lot of work, but an API is available and should have everything we need. That said, there's no fanart or anything like that on Wikipedia, so it's not on the same level as MobyGames, but it's an improvement. This new version fixes Brad's complaints on the TGDB name scanning as well. Brad, everything imported from Steam is marked with a status of "Imported from Steam" and a source of "Steam". So trying to find games to delete shouldn't be an issue, and the new bulk editing should let you easily set the platform. I do have plans to add a bulk TheGamesDB search, but haven't done it yet. Thanks guys for all your help.

Brad, have you seen this error since? I still can't reproduce it, so I might just call it a fluke.

Thanks, Brad. I'll be putting up a new version tonight that should fix the object reference bug.

Come on, Brad, why can't you read my mind!?

Sure, thanks. I think for bugs that you find in the beta releases, they do probably go best in the beta testing thread. Other bugs I figured troubleshooting was a good place for.

Thanks, Brad. Sounds good.

Thanks, bd; no worries. Life is life. For anyone who's interested in outstanding issues, features, etc., I created a BitBucket issues list a while ago and just opened it up to the public. It's not exactly complete; I've just been using for new issues/requests (I have some old ones I haven't added to it). https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox I'd prefer not to have people entering issues there directly (rather use the forums), but it does serve as a good outlook on what there is to do.

Wow, weird. That one's gonna suck to troubleshoot. Because we might not ever see it again. Let me know if you do see it again. Looking into that error, it could be some bad memory in your system, but not necessarily. It also could be one of the low-level Windows calls I make, though none of those have been changed in a very long time. So the fact that I've never seen it before likely means that it's pretty ridiculously rare. Anyways, do let me know if you see it again. I'll experiment with changing filters to see if I can maybe make it happen. I suppose that it is possible that somehow the filters code I wrote could be causing the problem.

Lol, that'd work. Actually, in all honesty, a thread per suggestion/issue is helpful. Just because then we can focus discussion on that particular thing in the thread. I'm not Steam during the work day. Can't really talk much from 8:30-5:00 M-F.

Thanks, Brad. All sounds good. I did recently add another large new feature: bulk game edits (finally). That one was seriously needed, badly. So I'm done adding big new features for this particular release, but might work in some tweaks (from your list above). We'll get them all tackled, though, of course. Thanks for starting a new thread for unrelated discussion, that should help. Looking forward to you and bd's testing results on the DOS wizard. The auto-update folders would certainly be nice; I'll add it to my long-term list. We'll have to talk about what you mean by the smaller images. I'll likely have a new release for testing tonight, but the DOS stuff won't be touched. It'll only be new stuff (and maybe some changes per bd's list above). So don't let that stop you from testing. We still really need the DOS stuff tested well, especially. Thanks, Jason

Alright, here's beta 3. Been talking over IM to Brad to see if I could improve the performance, and I think this should significantly help. The filters drop downs now only populate when you actually drop them down. It's not quite as pretty, but saves a whole lot of waiting time with large collections, and you can still use the filters without populating the drop downs. I also sped up game population in general. And of course I fixed that wizard issue that you found, bd. Can you retest? Thanks to all.

Brad, in your laggiest setup: - How's the performance when you first start the app? - How's the performance when you edit and save a game? - How's the performance when you change filters or arrangement? Mainly, how do they all compare. There's slightly different stuff going on in all three scenarios so it might help identify some of the culprits. I need to come up with a huge collection so I can test. I think I'll probably import a bunch of ROMs. Thanks, Jason

Yeah, agreed. I have an old Pentium II just for that. But that said, it certainly would be nice to be able to run them all from one machine.

Okay, sure. Interesting. I'm hoping I can work on the performance some this weekend and put the next beta out.

Jason Carr said SentaiBrad said Also it may be more trouble than its worth, but the way you wrote the program is there a way to have a debug console? I was thinking there could be a debug console and a way to write that console to a txt file and we can post it for you. That way you can get developer and code specific notes that bd and myself just can't see, and maybe an even more accurate resource count. Edit: Also you can add me to steam if you'd like, I can still make my posts here on the forums so my findings are logged, but if you have more questions or anything like that you're more than welcome to do that there. That goes for anyone else on the forums. http://steamcommunity.com/id/SentaiBrad/ Just added you on Steam. I do like to keep most discussions open and documented though, of course. A debug console is a great idea, but of course it would take a long time to implement (as I haven't built any debugging messages and I'd have to add them everywhere). Still, I could add it and then just add in debug messages when necessary (when something needs debugged), so I'll probably do that next time run into something that's tough to resolve. Might take a while for performance though. Sorry, I should have clarified better, but I'm more interested in the total RAM usage with a large library. It is possible that the high disk usage was due to too much RAM being used. What is your total RAM usage with a huge library, after slowly scrolling through it all?

SentaiBrad said Also it may be more trouble than its worth, but the way you wrote the program is there a way to have a debug console? I was thinking there could be a debug console and a way to write that console to a txt file and we can post it for you. That way you can get developer and code specific notes that bd and myself just can't see, and maybe an even more accurate resource count. Edit: Also you can add me to steam if you'd like, I can still make my posts here on the forums so my findings are logged, but if you have more questions or anything like that you're more than welcome to do that there. That goes for anyone else on the forums. http://steamcommunity.com/id/SentaiBrad/ Just added you on Steam. I do like to keep most discussions open and documented though, of course. A debug console is a great idea, but of course it would take a long time to implement (as I haven't built any debugging messages and I'd have to add them everywhere). Still, I could add it and then just add in debug messages when necessary (when something needs debugged), so I'll probably do that next time run into something that's tough to resolve. Might take a while for performance though.

Oh indeed.

What I'm most curious about, though, is how performance is (and 3D acceleration even perhaps?) between VirtualBox, VirtualPC/Hyper-V, and VMware. Brad/Ed, have you compared them?