mathflair

I'm pretty sure you aren't going to be able to launch it from the sidebar unless Jason adds in some new functionality. What you could do is create an empty file in your launchbox directory, add it as a game, and have steam (with big picture mode params) as the emulator. Then when you launched the game, steam would launch in big picture mode.

I can confirm that the new beta does fix the game startup time. Great work!

Xdocument is great and easy to use. It's only downside is it loads the while file into memory. I know a refectory is a big deal, but it might get you most of the speed you want with little other changes. If you want an example of using XDocument with LaunchBox data, feel free to take a look at the source for LaunchBox Tools.

There probably is a lot of overhead with DatSets, but maybe you need their features. I just use .NET's XElement and Linq. It is quite fast, but obviously I don't know all of your requirements.

The time is only really annoying during game launch, I can live with it happening for edits. @Jason Carr, what library are you using for XML? In my tool, I can load my library XML, make a change and save in 2-4 seconds total. I use XDocument.

Interesting, the delay for launching games seems to be non-existent in Big Box. It looks like that code could just be ported over.

I'll release the updated error messages with v1.2. Depending on how some other stuff goes, hopefully I can get all this stuff pushed before I'm away from computer for a while.

I've already split my libraries. Still, this is an unnecessary delay, and I curious about what is being done to fix it. I understand that the emulator settings need to be grabbed and the game's application path, but in my own LaunchBoxTools I can grab that info in about a second, so it doesn't seem like LaunchBox should lockup like this.

The reason for this is a bad CRC block (392AE185, CE14892D, 3511EFB3, BD037A5) on Disney's The Jungle Book. The last CRC value is only 7 characters long instead of 8. This causes the parser to assume that the first line (392AE185, CE14892D, 3511EFB3, BD037A5) is a title because it isn't a CRC. When it reads the next line (the actual title) it throws and error because it isn't in a key/value pair. You know the scraper syntax better then me, am I correct in assuming this is an error? Should I be assuming seven digit CRCs start with a 0? Regardless, I'll modify the error message a little to indicate what line it is.

I've noticed in the past that when I edit a game or launch LaunchBox/BigBox that it will take up to 20 seconds. Now, I have been noticing that launching a game has also been taking a long time. I do have a large ROM collection (~17,000) items, but it seems extreme that it would take so long to launch a game.

Your definitely right that it is a bug. If I use "_at_Jason" I don't get a reference to you. If I use "_at_Jason Carr", I get a reference to you with the extra carr. And if I use "_at_Jason Carr" somewhere in my post, then use "_at_Jason" in that same post, both will reference you, but the "_at_Jason" will become "_at_Jason Carr Carr" and the "_at_Jason Carr" will become "_at_Jason Carr Carr Carr". Example: @Jason @Jason Carr

@Jason Carr Doesn't it just work if you type the space? When I have done that in the past it seems to capture your whole name. Edited: I guess that does tag you, but shows the Carr portion twice. @Jason

@Maddoc1007 I'm looking into adding IMDB scraping in the next version of the tool. Unfortunately, I'll be away from my development machine for most of October, so it probably won't be until November when I can add in IMDB scraping. @Jason Carr This is probably a good version to post to your home page. I've tested all the tools on my own data without problem. Also, do you know if there is a way to edit my original post so that it reflects the current state of the tools? I wanted to be able to keep that post up-to-date for people who are new to thread. If that isn't possible with this CMS, I understand. I also wanted to give special thanks to @sylandro for help testing out this version.

Everyone, I've updated LaunchBox Tools to version v1.1. You can download the latest version here. New in this version is a scraper for the EmuXtras synopsis files. I have also added a tool for hiding duplicate games, helping you to clean up your game collection. Finally, I've updated the bitbucket repo, and there is now a wiki with details on the various tools (https://bitbucket.org/mathflair/launchboxtools/wiki/Home). I've included the Home page for the wiki below: Edited I've moved the description of the new tool to the first post. From now on, I'll keep that post up-to-date regarding the latest version.

@Bil Question for you. Is there a way to export the images as well? I like how this data set has both a CRC value as well as data from hacked versions of ROMs. I can see the value in this data set. I'll do some more testing of the data this evening. I might try to integrate CRC matching at some point as well. We'll have to see.

Done. Same username.

If I could get an account, that would be great. I could use it to test out a bunch of synopsis files.

@Bil I could certainly look into that. Could you send me the synopsis file that caused that error, and I'll do my best to track it down. As for removing keywords, I am certainly amenable to doing that. Could you give me directions on where to find / generate the synopsis files. Edited: I'm actually pretty sure I figured out the error. I'll post a new version after my own testing today.

Wow really, when do you plan to have the EmuMovies stuff in (rough estimate)? Also, will we need to pay for a EmuMovie's subscription, or will that scraping still be free?

@sylandro I agree that select platforms is a little hidden. I don't want to add it back to the main GUI, as in its new form (multiple-selection) it would be cumbersome. Instead, I promoted it to the top level of the menu and show the select platform dialog when the application loads. As for the checkboxes, I tried moving them into two columns, but I couldn't find a look I liked. Maybe I'm just missing some elegant way to do it, or maybe I'm too picky. Any more specific suggestions about a multi-column layour? Latest beta: https://www.launchbox-app.com/wp-content/sp-resources/forum-file-uploads/mathflair/2015/09/LaunchBoxTools-1.exe

@bil I've attached a development build that has parsing of Synopsis files. I based it on the format of the file you uploaded. It seems to be working for me. Give it a try and let me know if it works for you. @Maddoc1007 I did find that there are files for parsing IMDB data. Before I get to writing a scraper for that data, I need to finish two things first: (1) I need to finish testing of this dev build. I have tested everything and it seems to be working, but I want to try using it on a fresh scrape of my data in LaunchBox and make sure it doesn't have any unexpected side effects. (2) I need to write a better readme. The current one is very tech-spec like, and I want something a little more approachable. If you can help out with either of those two tasks, I'll be able to get to the IMDB stuff sooner ;) @bjwest Have you tried using the tool. If not, try playing around with the version I posted in this post. Every scraper / game tool now has a test option, so you can see exactly what they do with your data. Feel free to ask questions as you run into them. I'll be quick with replies.

@sylandro Here is a version of the tools that should work for you. I have made it so that title matching tries to use the actual filename to match against the ini when it can't match against the title. Based on what you described, this should fix your problem. Also, you could tell me if you like the new layout. I rewrote pretty much the whole program, though it still has all the old functionality and then some. I would love to get your feedback on the new version before I post it to the main thread. Thanks!

@bjwest This tool will not download images for you, but it can help you get more of the images. Probably the easiest way to do that is use my tool in conjunction with https://github.com/sselph/scraper. That scraper will create an xml with data for your rom files and also pulls front images. You can then run my tool with this XML file and it will update the games in your LaunchBox library. At this point, you can also re-run LaunchBox's scraper and it will be able to find more images and meta-data.

@Bil I'm currently working on improving the interface, especially the useless progress dialog box currently in use, but once that is done I'll add scraping of the file you mention. It shouldn't be too bad. @Maddoc1007 You mention you are using a previous version of LaunchBox. Do you know, is the XML structure the same as it is now? Also, is there a imdb file I can parse, or would I need to scrape their website?

@Bil I could possibly add this. It is a little more work because I'll have to create a parser, but that should be to bad. One question, how should games be matched? Based on their title or the id before the title? If it is the ID, how do you generate these IDs?