SentaiBrad

Kriven said I've sent you the .xml file. Edit: So on the hunch I had earlier, I went and changed all of my custom platforms to just "PC" and Big Box isn't locking up anymore... Going to miss my excruciating organization. My bigger question is why is it locking up at the mention of custom platforms? Unless I missed that.

garbanzo said Cool idea, I wouldn't have thought to do that. Thanks! A second level of filtering would really be a nice feature. Imagine a second sidebar stacked below the current one. The top could filter to platform and the bottom to genre for example. With a system like that, you could use the top level for broad categories, and wouldn't need multiple instances of the app. Is your goal not attainable with the custom filters?

Kriven said Is it possible to automatically download the manuals from this website? http://www.replacementdocs.com/news.php Anything is technically possible, the real questions are is it legally possible. Granted, I don't mean from each games IP holder- though the FAQ on that site does say it will take down any guide / manual if the IP Holder so wishes- but rather if the site will allow the program to access its database and service potentially 100's of downloads a day. If they do allow it and have an API it just makes it all the more technically easier. As for if it will be implemented, that will need to be Jasons' call and if the community wants this implemented.

To that extent, I am unclear why the folder doesn't just say ./Console/GameName then the images. Also Kriven, in this case editing the console name to Humble could solve this, right? If you want them to stay distinct enough why not distinct their console to origin of purchase? However, I am curious. Why the two versions? Are they not identical?

Jason Carr said Alright, the latest beta is a step forward with this. Images should now be parsed automatically from the proper folders, in addition to the previous folder structure: LaunchBox\Images\Nintendo 64\Front\Mario 64.jpg LaunchBox\Images\Arcade\Fanart\polepos2.jpg And similar. Both the title and the name of the ROM/startup file are used to parse. The folders that are used are all customizable in Manage Platforms. One key issue here is what to do with games with the exact same title, for the same platform, such as Tomb Raider (2013) vs. Tomb Raider (1996). It's not common, but in this case they are currently indistinguishable. I may end up just allowing you to override it with the year in parenthesis attached to the end of the file names. Thoughts? In the other thread I already stated what the solution for video is. Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider (2013). The first being the original. I don't see why that can't apply here? Usually video games don't carry over the same exact name, except for possible reboots.

As far as the same name game, this is commonly solved with Video as Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider 2013. The first being the original. That is how I would solve that. Figuring out whats what will require looking at publish dates.

Kriven said Question: is it possible to make LaunchBox open a specific folder instead of a "game"? It would be much simpler to point to, say "Teen Titans, Volume 3" folder than to each individual comic file. Theoretically... yes? Try creating a shortcut and make a link in LB like you would a game, but choose the shortcut. I.e. C:\Users\Brad\Desktop\Pixel Art.lnk That should open my Pixel Art folder.

Kriven said I don't mind having the process automated. Also don't think the new folder hierarchy is a problem... I prefer having the Images folders apart from the games folders. My thought process, which I do want to state is mine and not necessarily whats going to happen with LB, but I don't think it really matters how the structure is as long as its clean. ./Images/Console/Game/ No need for it to be complex or anything like that. Just as long as we keep the total path name under the character limit. It's also good to note on Windows XP machines that limit is certainly smaller, maybe even Vista. I know 7 and 8 have an expanded full character limit on the path.

MetaKnight said Hey, I recently picked up LaunchBox since I've long wanted a nice Front End for my collection, and enjoyed it so far and picked up the Premium version (On a different email account.) However, there are a few features I'd like to request. The biggest and most important one is better support for multiple versions of games. http://s18.postimg.org/ussu1u94p/SNES_Roms.png As you can see, there are multiple versions of a Game like Donkey Kong Country 2. I and I'm sure other avid retro gamers with roms have these, and they include multiple languages, older and newer versions, fan translations and romhacks, and more. Now, in current launchbox, if I were to add the whole folder, each one of these would be treated like a different game, and I'd get multiple duplicates appear in the menu. http://s21.postimg.org/pb6r81y9j/SNES_Roms_2.png The current solution to this is adding one version of the game initially, and later adding multiple versions via "additional applications". However, this process can only be done one at a time. Just this one game alone took several minutes to add each version, and I also have to add the original one for it to appear on the menu. There just has to be a better way to handle this. I'd like to be able to associate multiple ROMs with a single game and label them accordingly. I'd also like if I could change the default one, or set it so before the game launches it asks me which version I want to launch. Another feature I'd like to see along with this is better support for multiple regions. I play a lot of Japanese games, and would love if there was a way to label games by their region (Japan, US, and European). I'd like to label games with what language they support, as well as multiple release dates (JP Release, US Release), multiple titles for different regions, multiple publishers for regions, multiple boxart, just better support for games with multiple region releases in general. And finally, two minor things: Currently in the Details panel, Developer and Publisher are on the same line, I'd like if you could set them to appear on separate lines. Also, the name appearing on a licensed copy in the top has to go. It looks off, and if I want to send screenshots to online friends or just post it in general of my Launchbox, I have to take the time to edit out my name, and I don't think I'd ever want to record footage of me using Launchbox when my real name is there for everyone to see. I understand that it's a small little copy protection thing, but can't it just appear in a small menu under settings saying the name of who it's licensed too? The way it currently is deters me from wanting to do things I wouldn't think twice about doing with other programs. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read this and looking forward to 5.0! So LB will see and import multiple versions of a game, you just need to manually rename that part, or use a single version which is what I had to do. As far as I know however, more support should be coming I just don't know when. As far as the name at the top of LB, that can not come off. However, you can talk to Jason to see if you can get the name changed possibly. I get the not wanting to have your real name there. I personally record LB, but I put the program in Fullscreen (F11) and it hides the title bar. Even if it didn't I personally don't mind, but I totally see why others would. So that could be a quick fix for now.

marcelo.magri said locvez said Select the category and then delete all games (Click in the games list, ctrl+a, delete) this will remove the category :) ctrl+a... why didn't I think of it? Stupid me. Thanks! Don't forget the bulk edit when you press Ctrl+A. When two or more games are selected and you hit edit a new edit option pops up. In some cases (not this one) editing works just as well.

Jason Carr said I am planning on revamping this for 5.0. The structure is currently planned to look like this: LaunchBox\Images\Nintendo 64\Front\Donkey Kong 64.jpg LaunchBox\Images\Nintendo 64\Back\Donkey Kong 64.jpg Etc. I haven't 100% decided on that format, but that's the format I'm currently looking at in order to achieve compatibility with EmuMovies data. In the future we may support more options, or if a better idea comes along, a different format. I like the "Platform\Game Name\Front.jpg" format too, but that would be much more of a pain to integrate with EmuMovies data. Since there's really no standard to speak of, I just ran with that. It's up for discussion (I haven't implemented it yet). Another challenge will be moving users' existing images around; not sure how best to deal with that yet either. It would require a custom script. My thinking though, read the XML, read the platform and every game under that platform just perform a simple copy function to the new structure and change the file path in the XML to the new one, then perform a restart on LB.

Kriven said Not really a feature, exactly, and definitely not about the "Clean Images" utility. The Images folder is a giant mess, really, which makes it somewhat problematic to work with. Is there some way to restructure it so that it's more in-line with the way LaunchBox handles Videos and Games organization? So I mean, instead of listing every game in the one directory (which can be messy if you have the same game for multiple platforms [which reminds me***]) the Images folder would look: LaunchBox\Images\Super Nintendo (SNES)\Donkey Kong Country\Front.png I don't know what all the numbers and letters are exactly, but they seem to have corresponding files so I assume they're important... some kind of identifying code for LaunchBox? They slow down my folders a lot, but if they're important that can't be helped. But would it be possible to stash them deeper within the folder hierarchy somehow? ***Also, I was reminded while typing this that I keep meaning to ask about a "Other Games with the Same Name" section. I haven't ironed out how that would work exactly, but I'll create a more detailed request when I have. I believe Jason thought of ways to improve this in the past, but I'm not sure there was ever much request for it. The way LB handles it now, is it creates a folder with a randomly generated ID attached to it on the fly. So its all different for each of us. I don't think that part will change, the random identifier, but I believe those could be organized a bit more. My only concern is that some of those folder names can get to be pretty long. If someone puts their LB directory say in a folder, in a folder then the images folder... that full path name is starting to get long. There are restrictions on the full path name for any given file. So an image inside a games Fanart folder could trip that error for some users. It's certainly situational.. but its something I've come across before structuring mod files for Fallout and Neverwinter Nights.

"Everything is bad so you can't get infected!"

Maddoc1007 said Hi @jasoncarr AVG's newest virus defination updates is showing LaunchBox yet again as a virus, i would advise anyone who uses AVG not to have it set to remove virus's immediately as it will just delete the LaunchBox exe and the shortcut but not touch anything else folders backups etc, it shows it as IDP.ALEXA.42. This is a false positive yet again from AVG only its new update definations tonight Whilst having this version of LaunchBox on computer since last beta update and avg only showing it now weeks later GO FIGURE they seem to like to do this for LaunchBox every few weeks (Do they dislike it or something) , i think you should contact them and ask why they seem to be targeting LaunchBox every so often, i did a full system scan with Malwarebytes with the latest version and updates and LaunchBox is like always as CLEAN AS A WHISTLE See below results from Malwarebytes So for anyone with AVG antivirus make sure they have it set to ask before removing threats otherwise they will lose their Launchbox exe and shortcut. This isn't necessarily for your benefit Maddoc, but everyone. So its not that they're targeting LaunchBox, they target known methods that Viruses, Worms and Trojans use to infect a system. They're not necessarily claiming LB is a virus, but rather it is acting like a virus. Unless people report it as clean and something gets changed on the back end then it will still keep being claimed. I use IOBit Advanced System Care, Windows Defender, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and I never get issues with false positives. Keep in mind, it does find issues every so often when I did something dumb but fighting viruses is about prevention not eradication. Get a good FREE antivirus software. You don't necessarily need to pay for this software for it to be good and have good practices online. I.e. don't download porn. Don't click on a bunch of ad's. Don't even run ad's on websites that you don't trust. Running ad's on websites is a good idea when its a website you trust like YouTube, IGN, Twitch etc. That is how people get paid for example on YT. If you don't see an ad on my video I will not get paid for it no matter how many views it has. So be selective with the ad's you show. Some websites can get duped in to running a malicious ad too, so sometimes they don't even know it. LaunchBox will never be a virus. The software just doesn't like how it handles certain things. Edit: Though, I would suggest purchasing a Malwarebytes license. It's active Website and IP Blocking portion is fantastic. It will actively block known bad IP's from websites, ad's, torrents etc from being able to try and connect. Granted some websites will not load because of this, but that is good. It's trying to keep you safe actively. Prevention first.

Cabirus said SentaiBrad said If its a fresh install, changing the XML back or starting with a new one may not fix it. Thanks, that did it! Import seems to be working now. No problem. Hope it didn't send you back too far.

Cabirus said Hello, is there a solution yet? I'm having the exactly same problem with LaunchBox 4.9. The import worked flawlessly with my Sega 32x collection (only 35 games). But with N64 or NES-Roms the error message above pops up and nothing gets imported. I already tried repairing/reinstalling .NET to no avail. I seem to have .NET 4.5 installed, if that is any help. Thanks for any help! Jason and I posted in a thread about the problem you are describing. Did you update and get the issue or is it a fresh install? Also, in LaunchBox, under the update tab in settings, check to allow Beta updates. See if this fixes the issue. If its a fresh install, changing the XML back or starting with a new one may not fix it.

jpaparone said Last version I was using was 4.1 (hadn't updated in awhile) - purchased a premium license, and downloaded 4.9 installer - now I get the following error when I attempt to open Launchbox: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at LaunchBox.Search.LocalDb.GetPlatforms() at LaunchBox.Search.LocalDb.GetValidPlatformName(String name) at LaunchBox.Data.Platform..ctor(String name, String folder, String defaultName) at LaunchBox.Data.DataManager.Load() at LaunchBox.Data.DataManager..ctor(Boolean bare) at LaunchBox.Program.Main(String[] args) I'm hesitant to delete/uninstall because I don't know how to save all of my imports/metadata/etc Just back up your current LaunchBox.xml file. This holds all of your entries and metadata. As long as you keep this XML with your current image folder everything will carry over. This could be an issue with the XML, this could not. Rename both the XML and Images folder something like LaunchBox.bak and Images bak. Then start up LB. It will generate two new files for you. This should give us some sort of indication.

A Virtual Machine is not a good troubleshooting tool for Games. A Majority of them do not work because they do not have proper 3D Support or even proper DirectX support for certain versions.

Oh its a game!!! Yea, what setting are you using? The Wiki says it works. Is there a setup exe, bat or com to run? If not try assigning more RAM in the DOSBox.conf file or increasing your CPU Cycles. I'll see if I can find any more info.

axe1942 said Has anybody had any luck running noctropolis on launchBox? I been trying for days without any luck. :( I've actually never heard of this. Is it an emulator? If it is, what is it doing when it launches?

DOS76 said I originally only imported 1 ROM I just deleted it and then added VBA and set it to default for all 3 versions of Gameboy then I imported the ROM folders for all three platforms individually and now everything is all good. Yea, but editing the emulator for a game should work. If I am testing an emulator with LB I'll edit one entry. I've done this a dozen times, so if its not switching properly this might be an issue.

EVIL EVIL MOOONKEEEY.

CryoBreeze said It would be helpful if filters were more flexible and powerful by being able to individually modify certain fields by filtering by what something is not. (Particularly for just taking specific titles out of certain filters) For instance I might want all of my games that aren't completed for a sort of backlog of games, but that wouldn't include games that don't have any real goal, so I might want to add "NOT genre: sandbox" to the filters. In addition filtering by custom fields (which i understand is on Jason's radar from reading a different post) seems to me to be a must for any kind of custom filters, and I'm sure the usefullness of filtering what something is NOT will only become more powerful with more things to filter by. Finally, an easier menu for mass adjusting of fields (some of the databases aren't quite right/setting custom fields for larger libraries is a hassle whenever custom fields become useful) than opening the settings for each game individually and navigating to the fields and then setting them seems necessary. In my mind this would be more of a checklist of games to add/modify at a time, and then the operation to perform (add genre, add playmode, set playmode, set genre, set custom field, add to custom field, etc.) The difference between adding and setting would be very important as setting could mess up other filters/narrow the genre or playmode of a game too harshly (some games are multiplayer and singleplayer, horror and fps, etc.) Since the two biggest features of the premium launchbox IMO are the custom filters and the theater view, it seems like custom filters need a bit more power. I know that custom filters are going to be getting a bit of an upgrade soon enough, exactly when is hard because Jason is alone in coding. However, as far as Bulk Editing goes this already exists. When you select 2 or more roms at any given time then right click -> edit, this brings up the Bulk Edit feature. Ctrl + A will select all of the roms in the given current view and from there you can bulk edit. Sorry if I can't help much else, quite honestly I don't use custom filters all that often, so I can't speak on their behalf, I just know what Jason has stated in the past and that custom filters are getting an upgrade. Bulk Edit may need an update as well for what it offers to you to edit, but I haven't run in to any issues personally with it.

DOS76 said Ok I still don't know how to get it to work though. I have VBA as my emulator but it seems to still be using the Retroarch command line parameters. I don't know what the problem is but I feel like you are giving me an attitude about me posting this which is totally unwarranted. I think I have figured out what to do I have to add the emulator first and then import the games. I tried it the other way first and that is why I had the Retroarch parameters still set. I changed the name set the path to VBA but it still thought I am using Retroarch. No attitude, just we already went through this in the OP's exact duplicate thread and this thread was supposed to be closed for this reason. That's all. Click on a game, then Ctrl + A to select all of the roms in that system. Assuming you have just a system selected. Right Click -> Edit. This will bring up the bulk edit feature. Select from the drop down menu Emulator. Then select the proper emulator in the next window. This should change all of the roms emulator of choice. To make double sure, go to your emulator window. Edit VBA. Then under where it lists the consoles select all of the check boxes for the default. Setting the default emulator is key when freshly importing the roms. Editing what emulator they use after they've been imported requires use of the edit or bulk edit feature.

DOS76 said After reading this I tried to add my Gameboy Emulator to LaunchBox and it wanted to use RetroArch I then changed it to Visual Boy Advance which it allowed me to do however when it launches it says it doesn't support the file type -L I can then go into the emulator and load the same files. I have never ran into this default emulator setting is that new. I am not to sure that I like that feature. I believe that the issue is with the associated platforms which still shows all of the options for Retroarch and lists the default command line parameters even after unchecking all the boxes I still get the -L error. I imagine that the same thing would happen if I was to try to use DeSumMe for NDS (which would be my preference). Anyway that we can get around this. He posted this twice to which PS4 and I have already responded. I've actually already asked Jason to close this thread.