Hippyshake

Thanks for the invitation to announce updates in the forum, Jason. In the interest of semi-usefulness, I'll stick with reviews. I'm kicking it off with a game that will be released later today on Steam - Selfie: Sisters of the Amniotic Lens. Enjoy the read!

Jason Carr said Thanks guys. I think I have the artifacts on closing issue fixed. I just hide the window before I start shutting everything down, so it appears to just magically close right away. ;) The slowness issue was extreme. I actually played with it via screen sharing and it was absurdly slow, and *everything* was slow, from opening up the menu to adding a game, everything. And this was with 0 games, on a fast machine, so there was obviously something wrong. But I couldn't identify what it was. But we're talking like 5 seconds to do the most minuscule operations. The double keypress issue supposedly only happens when LaunchBox is running. So yeah...that makes zero sense. Indeed. I'll play around, but I'm not sure where to begin to emulate that. I added a premium option to prefer Steam banners for box art, and allow downloading Steam banners from Add/Edit. Oooh, awesome idea! And more incentive for people to buy. :) @CliveBarker: That's [expletive deleted] pretty.

Jason Carr said The real question is...were you ever? Waaaaaaaaaaay off topic, but you (whoever you are) reminded me of something I saw years ago. It's a bit long, but one of the coolest things I've ever seen a group of people do: http://improveverywhere.com/2003/03/22/the-moebius/

CliveBarker said I have Windows 7 Ultimate with Aero enabled and I don't suffer any graphical glitches when I close LaunchBox. It only freezes for like 1 second max. I think you're combining a couple of things, Clive. The Aero complaint was only that it made LB look "ugly." :D How's it look to you?

Jason Carr said Very cool, will do. Be sure to update us here on the forums whenever you post a new article. :) Thanks. The new domain is up at http://www.bundlejunkie.com/ but there's no new content yet. I need to fix that horrible layout first. :P

Jason Carr said The other puzzling things to me right now, are these: - I've had a couple users complain about LaunchBox being really slow. It seems to be extremely rare, and apparently only affects certain systems. I'm guessing that the systems have something wrong with them, but it makes LaunchBox impossible to use and I have no idea what is causing it. I did notice that with versions 4.8 beta 7 and 8, but beta 9 seems to be much faster. I don't know why, or if that's everyone's experience, but it is for me. - Somebody is reporting another odd situation: when LaunchBox is open, keys are pressed twice for every key press on his keyboard. Wut wut? I haven't figured that one out yet. I've heard of this happening with Win 7 64-bit. Have him try going into Start, then Control Panel and open the Keyboard Properties. Try to change the Repeat Delay and Repeat Rate settings, this seemed to fix the problem last time I came across it. Unless the claim is that it only happens with LB? - Apparently in Windows 7 with Aero LaunchBox looks really ugly when closing with the latest versions. I haven't taken the time to install Windows 7 on a physical machine, so I haven't troubleshooted this yet. I don't have Aero installed, but I can play with that tomorrow (I'm on Win 7 Home Premium, 64-bit). Are there any screencaps from him that I could reference as to said "ugliness"? ;) - Finally, apparently when you have your Start bar docked on the left on a multi-monitor setup, LaunchBox maximizes improperly (doesn't fill the screen right). That I can't test, as I only have one monitor hooked up (I have a spare, but not the cable). Sorry about that. So those are the things that are currently on my WTF list. Anything anybody can figure out with any of those would be tremendously helpful as well. :) No pressure, John. ;) No worries, my friend. I'll get back to you tomorrow. :)

Jason Carr said I've trained them to respond for me. ;) I'd reply, but it's clear now that I'm not really talking to you.

I'm not sure why your children care about my posts, but the more important question is: How in the world do you find time to do what you do with three kids? I have one grandson and I'm running in circles most of the day! :D

That's what I figured. I got a bunch of timeout errors too, but those are to be expected. The banners are a really streamlined look; I think I'll keep it that way for a while. If there's any other info you want, or something you want me to try, just ask.

Holy cow, I am. I should stop posting for a while. :) EDIT: Couldn't figure out what you were talking about for a bit. lol

I thought I'd start a thread of sites of site I use that others might find useful, too. Feel free to add any you use! GOG Games Without Manuals (& Where To Find Them) - A GOGMix I made a couple of years ago. It needs updating, but most of the info is still accurate. Is There Any Deal? - Tracks bundles, imports your Steam Wishlist and notifies you if any games on it go on sale, lets you create your own presets and filters...good stuff. Replacement Docs - Missing a manual for your VIC-20 copy of "Blue Meanies From Outer Space?" It's here. Steam Library Filters - An extremely powerful tool to sort your Steam library using tags, and much better than any other method I've yet seen. The best part? You don't have to log in, as it simply uses your Steam ID.

I've been really getting into them in a big way this year (used to play Nethack back in the day). I'll show you mine, now let's see yours. I need new games to play!

While creating a new series, I came across a few Steam games in my collection that I haven't yet played and don't really know much about. I thought it would be helpful to have a "View this game on Steam" (or GOG, Desura, whatever) link in the Details pane, as I often like to see reviews from other players to help me decide if I want to play or not. Comments, criticisms, thoughts?

Ok, much coolness in this beta! I started with three clean installs. On the first scan (only for Steam games), I received 520 (origin) errors from TheGamesDB for the following games: Crayon Physics Deluxe Painkiller Recurring Evil Alien Shooter 2: Conscription EDGE Miner Wars Arena X-Blades Viking: Battle for Asgard Real Warfare Tomb Raider Chronicles On the second pass (starting clean again), I only received a 520 for X-Blades. The third pass, I selected only Steam banners for my images, and every single game installed a banner. I must say, I really like the look, too: Fantastic update, Jason!

I'm sorry for the delay; I got unexpectedly busy today. I'm importing Steam now, so I'll get back to you in a few hours, after I've had a chance to check these out and test individual imports as well.

Jason Carr said I would absolutely love that. I'll be sure to link to you one way or another. :) Awesome, thanks. I'd ask that you wait to link me until I get a few done, please. I've purchased the domain name bundlejunkie.com too, as I really want to make this a site that's dedicated to Indie devs/publishers and bundles. I'll be focusing on specific bundles, games, and developers, with regular content.

No worries, I did it just because I wanted to. :) How would you feel about me doing a series of tutorial / tips posts?

Jason Carr said So, last night I put out a new beta that allows you to download Steam banners upon importing from Steam. And should also work in the Download Metadata and Images wizard. I could really use some help testing that, if anyone is interested. :) I can do that in the morning, Jason.

Ah, that makes a bit of sense, then. It struck me as odd that he was firing while only using the thumbsticks, but then I thought it plausible that his handlers had modified the controls to make it easier.

I know, right? I know a little conversational Japanese, but not enough to fill in the gaps between the few words I do recognize.

SentaiBrad said www.IsThereAnyDeal.com helps me out a lot. I log in through Steam so it knows what I own and knows whats on my wishlist. So I get e-mails every day about sales from across the web. It only sends me e-mails if its a game on my wishlist that can be activated through Steam and it sends me e-mails about bundles. Sometimes its faster than the bundle sites, sometimes its slower. But in the e-mail any game that you own that's in a bundle will be crossed out. That has helped me a lot too, cause im a Bundle-holic and now LaunchBox-holic too. I haven't been able to really buy bundles recently cause we've been broke... but yea. So many good ones recently. :( I second Brad's ITAD recommendation. Although it doesn't cover pre-order bundles (such as the ones at Groupees), I usually check it a few times a day to see the specials. As Brad said, it will also notify you if anything fromf your wishlist goes on sale. Good stuff. Speaking of cheap games, Gog just went into beta on Galaxy yesterday. It seems they were keeping some things out of the alpha that have suddenly appeared. Still a long way to go though, imo. A lot of the "functionality" is simply the embedded website within the client. Still, it's good to see some forward momentum again. Jason Carr said Hahahahahaha, home page, here we come! ;) Actually, I posted this yesterday and threw it on my Steam activity feed... :D The site is new, but I already get 20-25 hits a day. Figured it was worth a shot.

SentaiBrad said That's because it is in the upper left. Windows design changed. Good gravy. Hey, at least I'm consistent in my inability to pay attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkuO-8hfGhM Probably plays better than I do.

SentaiBrad said As far as redudancy goes, we do. LocalDB is a GDB backup that Jason started to perform several months ago. He updates it a lot, but... the more time goes on the more and more creating our own database becomes prutinent. [snip] They're down time only goes to strengthen a resolve for our own dedicated database. As I update TheGamesDB with new games, should I update the LocalDB as well, to make things easier?

Jason Carr said Per the game details, I see what you're saying. But generally, I would think that it would make sense that you're only favoriting or editing one item, because only one item's game details are displayed. True, but using [control]+[left mouse-click] allows several games to be selected at once, as in any directory. Once they're highlighted, the natural expectation (at least to me) is that any action taken on one, will be taken on all. I thought it would save me a few steps to "batch favorite" by just clicking on the heart as opposed to right clicking on a game, selecting Edit, the window popping up, me clicking "Next," then choosing "Favorite" from the drop-down menu, then "Next, then clicking "Favorite," then "Next" again). Yes, I'm really that lazy. :) [EDIT to add: I'm not saying you should actually do this (although I'd love it); I'm just explaining my thought process.] Just noticed something while writing that post though: there's no "Back" option, although the window tells me there is: