Neon32

you are welcome

im _neon32, i usally dont play steam games but any way you guys can add me also added both of you ^ guys.

i really think that this is a problem related to gamedb database and not the LB but anyway i'll explain this : it seems that LBox automatically retrieves the release dates of games whose name appears on the search field such that they have the release date right besides their name ie like Ultimate Fighter shown in this pic or like -> Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Nintendo Game Boy Advance) (05/06/2003) and if a games name come such that they do not have date next to their name like Ultimate Spider-man shown in the above pic, LB fails to automatically retrieve the date even though they have a release date in the gamesdb website .

Jason Carr said Good point about encouraging users to spread the word. I have zero marketing experience. Anyone have any ideas as to how best to encourage people to spread the word? Agreed about the licenses for beta testers; yes, that was the plan but obviously I do have to draw the line at some point. Everyone on this thread currently will get a license but I'd rather not hand out licenses to everyone who puts in a minimal amount of effort beta testing (otherwise we'll have people just hopping on to do the least amount of effort to grab a license). Significant contributors like all of you obviously are a different story. yay cant wait for Beta program and also this should get many of the users motivated for Beta testing. Jason Carr said Thanks, Conehead. Yes, I can see the advantage of polling the entire community, but my current thoughts are that I'm more interested in the feedback of people who are well-informed, vocal, and involved in the project more than those who really don't know what's going on. Obviously, users who don't understand the issues with not going premium or haven't had the experience to appreciate the ongoing development of LaunchBox are likely to all vote "no, I do not want a premium version" without much thought at all. Therefore, I'd rather work on getting users more involved so they can make more informed decisions from that front instead of just randomly throwing it out there. And yes, we'll certainly keep updating both versions, regardless. The intent will certainly not be "upgrade to premium to keep up to date". It will be "update to premium for these advanced features". thanks i really appreciate this and im sure that people would love your decision .

SentaiBrad said Jason Carr said I've been thinking a bit. This is a pretty controversial topic I realize...but sooner or later, I'm gonna hit a wall with the project financially and probably eventually time-wise too. There's a million things to do yet with the project beyond what we already have, and I think it has HUGE potential. The issue is, the bigger it gets, the more money it will cost to maintain (web hosting, etc.) and the more time it will take to maintain and improve. I'm currently considering a freeware/premium model of sorts, where all of the current functionality is available for free, but you have the option to upgrade to an improved version with special features (like theming, more advanced customization options, etc.). I'm considering this mostly because I want this to be a long-term project, and I don't want to have to limit its features or not make it as good as it could be because I'm scrounging for funds. I also have to admit I would *love* for this project to be a full time focus (as opposed to the side project that it is currently). To be clear, anyone who's donated already would have the upgraded version free for life. I also hate DRM, so that would absolutely *NOT* be included, and the cost of the upgrade would be extremely inexpensive (probably $5 or $10 or similar). If everyone hates this idea, I won't go through with it. Straight up. I want this to be at least somewhat a community decision, as obviously it affects us all. So, to those of us on this thread, let me ask you a few questions: - Would you find it offensive or would it leave a bad taste in your mouth if LaunchBox went to this free/premium model? - Assuming you hadn't already donated, would you pay to upgrade to the better version with advanced features? - Specifically, what would you want to avoid doing if we did move to a free/premium model? Thanks everyone; please do speak up as we need as many people's feedback on this as possible. Obviously this isn't an easy decision to make (and trust me, it's not one that I had planned on making). Let me know. Thanks, Jason I am torn on this. I agree with you, you want it to be full time. You would probably like to hire or recruit some extra help. But on the other hand, if the user feels like they have to pay for the program to any useful, then they just wont use it. They'll stick to current methods or find alternatives. I am not saying I am against it, I am saying the message needs to be clear that the program works just fine, and the same features that you've been used to since launch. Also make it clear you're not forgetting the general user base who doesn't want to donate, doesn't think its worth it, or simply can't - which is the camp I fall in to saddly. I want to donate, and will when I can, but can't just donate when ever. There needs to be a clear structure for the program. Usability, basic scraper functionality and maybe some other Features we can work out will be free. Always free, because if not then what is the point? But if you want some more advanced scrapper options, themeing support, maybe some forum incentives and priority support with the program, you can donate some money. i too agree on this. but you must know that "the community decision " from here will be the view of just 10/20 people so for getting feedback on this from all the LB users you should use some other methods like a one time poll when the users open LB. also, not all are capable of donating even thought they would like using LB so i suggest that before releasing a premium version you should release an equivalent free version which would be stable like the Premium one but would have less features like Themes ,blocked Popup etc. and you could also release updates for the free version just like the Premium but with less features.

i found out whats happening : Lbox gets the launch dates for games whose name appears with release date like :"Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Nintendo Game Boy Advance) (05/06/2003)" when clicked on [search the Gamesdb.net] button . so got any ideas ?

well its up now . i wonder what the problem was .

is the http://thegamesdb.net/ down ? currently i cant access it and it gives me a message " Could not connect: Connection refused"

Vinicius256 said I prefer the OpenEmu based style, and I agree that it's not that great to use on HTPC's or Large TV setups, so the best choice is to make the OpenEmu interface first, and then go after the big screen style, so the users can choose what's best for them to use, just my opinion though. bd00 said OE Style I decided to draft how LB might look with an OE style interface. You may have noticed I added a "charms bar" to the top of the sidebar, with some possible features. me too , but instead of showing all the the consoles you could show only the consoles which the user has games for ie for the games the user has added to the LBox library. this saves the scrollingdown time which a user takes to get to a console which is Alphabetically higher like Sony Playstaion or SNES if the user has a ton of games in the alpha'lly lower Console like NDS(as in my case )

Jason Carr said Hey again conehead; what version of Windows are you running? I can't seem to replicate the issue. Does it happen every time for certain games? Does it populate at all for any games? It's possible that it has something to do with your custom theme, believe it or not. But we should fix it either way. Thanks, Jason it seems that it happens on some games only and im sure its not because of my custom theme. Jason Carr said Oh, just thought of something. If I remember correctly there might be a delay from when you update information in TheGamesDB to when you can download the updated data. So if you had just updated the release date, for instance, it might just be a few minutes before the import would download it. Could that be the issue? and by adding i meant adding it to the launchbox library and not the gamesdb database. but the release date cannot be retrieved even after clicking the "Update notes from gamedb.net" option.

Jason Carr said I agree on the shortcuts though; I've added that to my list. thanks for considering the shortcut and i agree on the star rating thing bd00 said How about banners? e.g. this seems to be good idea than the stars. also can i suggest - "remember last used folder" option where we have to click "browse" while adding a game manually . currently it is really irritating to navigate every time to some folder add a game.

yep this happens even when they have a release date . heres a pic of a game i just added and also , i have been adding info to their database as trafficcone. so i guess i will have to wait for Jason . bd00 said Welcome to the forums btw thanks

i have been getting a small glitch , launchbox sometimes fails to get the Releasedate from the Games db when ever i add game to its library using the add option.

awesme idea : +1

i was thinking about a small feature to indicate completed games . its like a small golden star/any other indications at one corner of the boxart of the games which the user has completed. and also can i request a shortcut for zooming in[ctrl + + ] and zoomin out [ctrl + - ] almost all the programs follow these shortcut so i was hoping that you could use this in Launcbox also.