Dal

Are you guys into retro threads as well as retro gaming This was an April 2016 thread and probably way out of context now to bump

Jason Carr: Sorry, the vid was supposed to be set to unlisted but YouTube must have choked :) I think you may have just opened Pandora's box though tell me that hehe @Antropus (aka Kris): I'd been so caught up in setting everything up that it hadn't even crossed my mind to filter out the rubbish. I know Mame updates the list now every month so I imagine I'd need to run the filter each time just in case there was a batch of working games coming on. Thanks for pointing this out and also running the numbers for me. This looks very promising as far as getting it down to a manageable amount. Is there a link somewhere for the app (I seem to have missed it if it was any listed in your signature)? It looks awesome! WD!

Haha I'm so sorry for this video I'm about to impose on anyone who is unfortunate enough to end up watching :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIdPIahAp0I&feature=youtu.be The error log which I talk about at the end... when you've fallen asleep or started writing to ask me to never post another video :) System.ObjectDisposedException: Cannot access a disposed object. Object name: 'GameDetailsControl'. at System.Windows.Forms.Control.MarshaledInvoke(Control caller, Delegate method, Object[] args, Boolean synchronous) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.Invoke(Delegate method, Object[] args) at LaunchBox.Controls.GameDetailsControl.<VlcVideoPlayer_EndReached>b__15_0() at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state) at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart() I hope this has highlighted some issues. In fairness this time running Big Box Mode hasn't been as bad an experience. Perhaps I've done something to alleviate CPU usage or some kind of caching has occurred, my problem is primarily that I don't understand yet how to help myself so forgive anything that sounds like I'm criticising LaunchBox. Anyway thanks so much for baring with me on this one. Cheers Dal PS: I Think I kept calling 'VLC' VCN, there's too many acronyms in the computer land for my brain to function. I can't think and hold a phone at the same time

Video playback on the web is fine (YouTube). This also goes for downloading a MP4 and playing it through Windows Media Player. I can fast forward/rewind, skip, close and move to the next video with no problems. Everything keeps ups. I close Windows Media Player while the movie plays and the program quits instantly without it continuing to play in the background. I'm unsure what else to test. Is there anything I can do in LaunchBox to change the way Videos play or perhaps run more tests to find the issue? Here's a video I've uploaded (not publicly listed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFyoc9Z7_T4 There was actually an error appeared which I'd not seen before. Anyway the video shows me flicking between which isn't too bad but the exiting of the program which leaves the video playing in the background as you should be able to hear. It's early here so the sound may not be great. I'll take another video today and post which will show the symptoms in Big Box Mode I'm having. Is there any log files I can share to help understand this problem? Thanks again

Renaming the Video directory (I didn't want to delete) has sped things up a lot! There may be more to this video issue though as I wanted to see how video plays in normal desktop view of LaunchBox and check on how the paths were entered (I set this up a while ago so couldn't remember). A game information panel popped open at the side and the video began to play (frame rate was fine). I then just decided to rename the folder so I closed LaunchBox and went to browse for the folder within Windows. Problem was, although LaunchBox had closed I could still hear the video playing in the background. It actually caused a crash report to appear. Although I only removed the videos from the Arcade list I've been playing around with Big Box mode and when I go into NES which still shows video the sluggish response time comes back. I can obviously fix this by removing the videos again across all the other emulators lists but I wonder if it isn't some kind of codec issue. When I play a video (i.e. stop on a game and the video starts to play) it continues to try to play even when I move onto the next game. This then takes some time for the system to put on the brakes and halt to playback. If I do this a few times the problem worsens to a point where it just looks likes its struggling. I wonder if I manage to get videos to play properly (and stop immediately) that this solves the whole issue. I'm not sure if there's an underlying issue that isn't ultimately causing a problem. Windows 10 in general runs reasonably quick (i.e. starting windows, browers etc) although this is a dedicated cabinet so I don't have very much installed. Maybe I'll check YouTube and desktop video playback using MS Media player and report back with any issues. Maybe there's incompatible video drivers, missing codecs or some issues with IRQ or some other system/BIOS setting. At this point I'd be guessing without further investigating but I thought I'd at least update the thread with the current state of resolution. Thanks

Thanks Jason & SentaiBrad I'll have a look at the Windows Media Option and double check my version for Big Box Mode + LaunchBox before submitting this post... Here's some information... Windows 10 Pro (Updates on) Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) 145 Processor (2.80 GHz) Installed memory 4.00 GB (3.75 GB usable) System type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor Display adapters: ATI Radeon 3000 Graphics Mame Arcade Rom List: 33,364 NES: 792 SNES: 789 SMS: 279 SMD/SG: 781 LaunchBox Versions: 5.9... I've only accessed Big Box Mode so after launching the standard desktop LaunchBox it's asked me to update. The software is now version: 5.10 I've changed the option for Windows Media Player Engine (took a bit of finding as I didn't realise it was a changeable option, no worries though as I wouldn't have probably messed with it anyway). I had already set all the transitions to 'none' anyway. It's still very 'sticky' in navigation. Is there any way to drop the video playback completely? I'm not looking for a miracle. I do realise that this isn't the best spec. It's just what was originally in the cabinet to start with. I've only upgraded the RAM and installed Windows 10 for improving security/system performance however if I can get Big Box Mode to come down to a level that can cycle the games comfortably then I don't think there's going to be anything wrong with it. Like I say, Mame runs great so this really is just a front end issue which I'm hoping to resolve. I bought into LaunchBox because it is awesome, these problems don't have any reflection on this BTW! Thanks

I've found other systems which allow this to be done which is a really helpful idea to navigate. Big Box mode should allow perhaps a button to be held (i.e. a shifted key) and a push to the right jumps to the next letter or left to jump back. So hold down a shifted key (i.e. P1 Side Button 1 + Push Right) jumps from number 1 to 2 and the list shows the games starting with '2' then pressing right again would jump to '3' and eventually on to 'A', 'B', 'C' ...etc.

Hi I bought Big Box late last year and have held off working with it as I've been building myself a man cave :) After powering up the cab I have for the first time in a while I was looking forward to having a go at setting this up. I've managed to add some systems although they all actually use Mame as the Emulator. I am finding that trying to cycle through the games is a complete headache as it seems to get extreme lag... I start at the top of my games list and after waiting several seconds at a blank screen the list eventually shows (fair enough this is a big list to initially load). After waiting several more seconds the game graphic loads (i.e. fan art, box art, in-game video etc). I press down to go to the next game and the video seems to take a few seconds to stop before the next game loads. It's as if the video is hindering the performance (maybe). I pull down to jump down a jump down maybe a couple of pages worth and it randomly had to go through loading in some of the games I've passed over before it eventually catches up. This can take around a minute or two to catch up and the problem worsens (wait time increases) the more I skip by (including page jumping using the buttons to page down). The system was already working under GameEx which is what it had on when I bought it. I've since installed Windows 10 (it had XP) and increased the memory. Windows 10 runs very smoothly and I've not seen any issues with game play other than Big Box Mode acting very slowly. I've since tried to turn off all of the fan art and dumbed down the amount of graphical assets which were loading (can't see an option to stop the videos from playing though) Also Big Box mode crashes when I try to look at Sources screen (I don't know what this screen is, I just found it on the menu and decided to take a look). Sources screen is a blank screen with Sources in white text at the top left. I try to return to main menu then back to the emulator list but I seem to get stuck in a loop of returning back between both sources screen and options menu (i.e. return to menu, return to sources, return to menu, return to sources...) I'm not sure if this is a common problem as searching the boards seems to produce other posts with sluggish response times but none mention the video symptoms I've experienced (from what I've read) so thought I'd post and see what the community thought. Many thanks Dal

Just a thought but what if you used a completely 100% transparent png? That would either show black or you would see the layer under which would be Big Box's default theme. I'm new to this software and haven't really started dabbling with custom options as yet so not sure if png is supported or not. The other way would to just take a solid colour and produce a plain image. Hope this helps. If you need any help creating a transparent image then I can sort that out for you if you send me the current png's that you want to replace.

Anyone got any other suggestions that aren't mentioned yet?

Ok, got stuck watching JackSepticEye, an hour later I've watched 3 more vids... I'm hooked, the guy is so funny xD

Yeah, I heard of Cap-man, that Pac-Man game completely ripped it off!

I know, spotted this a couple of weeks ago and had instant blood pressure issues xD Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock...

Thanks guys, good info and solutions. I especially like the GOG stuff, I bought my first game (Settlers IV) there not that long ago and bookmarked them for future use. I've got a arcade cabinet but that's running XP which isn't connected to the web. I was hoping to convert the OS to Windows 7 together with a rebuild of a PC but use LaunchBox as the main interface. I know I can connect the ROMS but was hoping to have all my collections on there. Not to worry though, sounds like GOG may at least fill in some of the blanks. The solution regarding other platforms could also be a good answer but I tend to find PC games have a bit more content over their console ports, especially the earlier eras but it may be a compromise at the very least. It's not often I get excited about software but this LaunchBox is truly a great project and I'd love to help support it. I'll invest in the Pro version in the next couple of months (starting a new job next week after being made redundant back in September). Really appreciate the advice Thanks very much Cheers Dal

WOW! Cheers for the absolute breakdown Brad! Appreciate it! My dream was to have potentially all of my old collection of PC games accessible from LaunchBox. I didn't really fancy running a VM to go through installing XP or Windows 98SE but by the sounds of what you're saying, it may be the closest I'll get to being able to run these games. I guess the follow on question would be; Am I able to link the game in LaunchBox so that it loaded the game with just a click. I'm sure having Windows 7 Pro version it comes with a windows emulator for (98?) and XP? Thanks very much Dal