dmaker

I have launchbox running on two different PC's. One one of them today, when I launch a game in Bigbox, it no longer launches in fullscreen. Nothing has changed in the settings. I have compared the settings to the other machine and they are identical, but for some reason on one, they no longer will launch full screen. Not really sure where to start looking to troubleshoot this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. EDIT: I just tried again and it seems to be better. At least with Fusion it is now. Haven't tried others. I was, and still am, having odd issues with something else that was maybe related. I'll start a different thread for that.

I'll focus next on figuring out how to use Nvidia Gamestream (or possibly Steam Link as well) to push Bigbox to my TV vs directly connected via HDMI. If I can easily figure that out and it's simple enough to just do that using my current, new laptop, then I'll just do that for the infrequent times that I get an opportunity to Bigbox on the big screen. If so, then I have no real use for my previous gaming laptop and will have to find some other purpose for it. Perhaps a Plex server. I've ran Plex on it in the past, but it had a tendency to crash when transcoding. Maybe I will give that another whirl at some point. Right now my current Plex server is a vm running on ESX on a headless Dell R710. So no gpu to speak of for transcoding. Not a huge deal, as I only use Plex if I am away from home and software transcoding is fine enough for a single stream.

Well, going to call time of death on this portion of the POC. After installing Geforce drivers on the win10 vm, the display adapter looks proper in Device Manager, but some simple benchmarking showed that it was not being used. Task Manager had no entry for Nvidia adapter either. So it looks like kind of a faux sense of success. After reboot, even with disabling adapter first, as soon as I enable it, Windows shuts it down with error code 43 There are some convoluted looking workarounds that I just don't have the appetite for bothering with right now. GPU passthrough doesn't look much easier with Hyper-V either--even assuming Windows Server would have drivers for consumer level gaming parts like GTX 980 or Killer NIC either. Re-installing Windows 10 on the laptop now. Moral of the story so far: ESX sucks on gaming hardware. Not a big surprise. I do have a license for Vmware Workstation Pro that I can use on the machine after I install Windows if I want to do some virtualization. The only issue with that is the I would most likely virtualize something like Linux Mint or some other distro for fun, but accessing the desktop is a pain in Linux. There are no great and fast options like RDP. You always have to fiddle with stuff like VNC or third party apps like NoMachine. It's too bad that Vmware Workstation does not use the VMRC, that would be awesome as that tool is out of band and just as responsive as Windows RDP.

This is becoming quite the headache. After a couple of hours, I finally got esx 7 installed on the MSI gaming laptop. I had to create a custom iso with the usb nic drivers. Several minor hiccups later and I can now create vm's on the new esx box. It took more tinkering to get gpu passthrough working only to find out that Nvidia blocks passthrough with consumer cards. Windows disables the device after Geforce installation with error code 43 after a restart of the vm. Apparently you can install the drivers and then disable the card before every reboot. I saw a couple of other permanent work arounds but a quick glance at the instructions and I'd be up for another few hours doing that probably. Going to try the disable work around first...

It's really too bad that Windows is just not an HTPC friendly kind of OS. Launchbox is hands down the best front end available for any platform. After using it, it's hard to consider anything else. But trying to do LB plus other HTPC type tasks on a Windows machine connected to a TV is not as smooth as it could be. It's pretty tricky to do everything with a gamepad or remote control. Android TV is great for that task. Kodi can have shortcuts to favorite apps so that you never really need to leave the Kodi interface if you don't want to. Windows, not so much. But I cannot forgo my beloved Launchbox. Even when I had Batocera up and running, the metadata was crap. Plus you had to donate money to ScreenScraper if you wanted to overcome the daily free API call quota. But all it scraped, that I could see, was a small video that runs when you hover over the game icon. No sidebar with description, info, etc. At least not that I could see. Admittedly, I only spent two days with it, but given the visuals, lack of information and the absolute flakiness of the controllers, it was time to move on and get back to a Launchbox driven solution. Plus with Windows I have the benefit of RDP so that I can tinker with things without sitting in front of my TV. That is a huge plus. If Batocera provided an image that was ESX friendly, I may have stuck with it a bit more, but there really are no remote desktop, or even KVM, options for that solution. ESX would have provided me with a nice VMRC based out of band remote control. That would have been great, but you cannot build a vm off an .img file.

If all else fails, I can always just figure out how to use Gamestream and Bigbox with my current laptop and the ShieldTV. I'm just trying to find some sort of fun purpose for my previous laptop as the specs are more than enough to run some decent emulators.

I'm in the process of re-installing Windows on the old gaming laptop. If I am going to try to use Gamestream, then I am going to need Windows to see a full Nvidia gpu, not a generic one that ESX would provide, without gpu passthrough. Using gpu passthrough will lock up that whole gpu for that single vm, thus making any other vm's created on that laptop unable to even use the generic 3D acceleration. So not really much point in going that route. My current plan is to finish the Windows 10 install, restore Launchbox from a backup and see about using Gamestream while the laptop sits in my basement (but using gigabit wired connection to same LAN as the Shield TV). I am still going to have to figure out how to actually control an emulator once using Gamestream. Not really sure about that part. If at some point I need to just bring the laptop back upstairs and into the TV cabinet and connect it to the TV via HDMI, then so be it. That makes controlling Bigbox simple as I have several bluetooth controllers that I could use. The Nvidia gamepad is great for this purpose and if I can't get this to work the way I want it to with Gamestream, then I will not really need that gamepad for my Shield. I don't game directly on the Shield as a decent front end for emulators is non existent on Android TV platform. So it might as well get connected back to the Windows 10 machine running Bigbox. This is mostly for fun/POC We only have the one TV and I rarely get alone time with it anyway Most of my Launchbox gaming is done on my current laptop. I just thought I would try and create some sort of dedicated retro gaming console out of the previous laptop, but Batocera was a giant headache to setup and very flaky in my short experience.

Actually, a new idea popped into my head. If I install ESXi 7 standalone on the laptop and create a Win10 vm and successully passthrough the GTX 980M, then I could potentially use that for Gamestreaming Bigbox via the ShieldTV...? I would have to figure out how to control an actual emulator, though. But if I could get this working, I could then move the ESX-laptop to my basement server room (i.e. a tiny rack in root cellar where everything is gigabit wired connected throughout the house and keeps everything nice and cool), and would not need to have it running in my upstairs living room and hdmi connected to the TV. That would be ideal. I ordered a USB3 to gigabit ethernet adapter from Amazon since ESX will not recognize the killer nic in the laptop. that adapter will arrive sometime today... I'd be happy to run Bigbox on a VM and Gamestream it via my Shield. It would be nice if I didn't have to passthrough the whole gpu, but I don't think that would really work as Windows will need to recognize it as an Nvidia gpu for Geforce to install. Just using the shared "3d accleration" in ESX would not fit that bill as the gpu will show up as SVGA3D or some such. This is fine for creating vm's with generic D3D and OGL, but not for something like Gamestream. Or I could just not bother with ESX at all and just re-install Windows on the laptop and do the Gamestreaming that way too. The original thought was that I would create a few vm's on the laptop that could benefit from generic acceleration vs my rack mounted ESX server in my basement that has no gpu to speak of. Hence providing a somewhat more responsive desktop for some virtual machines, but it's not terribly important.

Does anyone use this? A couple of months ago I replaced my gaming laptop with a newer one. The old is still pretty decent, core-i7, 32 GB RAM, 2x128GB PCI SSD (used to be in RAID0), 1TB SATA SSD, Nvidia GTX980M, so I left Launchbox installed and popped a usb cooling pad under it and stuck it in my TV cabinet and connected the hdmi to the tv. This works fine, except Windows is exceptionally bad at trying to be an HTPC where you want minimal mouse usage. Switching between apps like Kodi, Netflix, Youtube, and Launchbox/Bigbox was super annoying and not very wife friendly. So this weekend I decided to try Batocera. I had to break the Intel Rapid Storage RAID and installed Batocera on one of the 128GB PCI SSD and selected the 1TB SATA SSD for internal storage for Batocera. My biggest issue now is my mame collections needs some serious curating as there are way, way too many duplicates, but also I cannot seem to find a controller sweet spot. I have tried a PS4 controller and the Shield TV gamepad. Both work, but with issues. The Shield controller was working pretty well but it does not work at all with the pre-installed Kodi that comes with Batocera. The PS4 works great (both games and Kodi) when it feels like it, other times it's completely laggy and will stick on certain presses rendering it useless. So now I am thinking I will just stream Bigbox from my new laptop. It has an RTX 2070 and as mentioned I also have an Nvidia Shield connected to my TV. So I set it up last night and it was working great until I tried to play a game. So I guess what I am wondering is how do you get the Nvidia Shield gamepad that is connected to the Shield to work in emulators when using Gamestream? I cannot launch a game, all I seem to be able to do is browse my collection when using Gamestream. If I can't get Batocera working the way I want, I think I might just install ESXi 7 standalone, create a Windows 10 vm and passthrough the gpu and see how that goes and then go back to using Window and Launchbox If anyone does use Gamestream with Bigbox, I would love to hear how you handle this. Side note: if anyone knows of a good tool to help trim a mameset, that would be awesome. Doing it manually (with 37K files) is not all that feasible. All I really want are playable US versions of games. Thank you.

This is probably crazy, but I'd love to see you guys develop a media player akin to Kodi/Plex. You've got Launchbox/Bigbox and Musicbox. Add a media player to that portfolio and provide an all in one interface for the three would be a dream come true. I can kind of get there by adding a platform called Media (or whatever) and put shortcuts to Netflix, Amazon Prime video and Kodi. The kodi shortcut is very finicky for some reason. Works one day, not the next. You guys develop awesome apps. I'd love to see an all in one app like this. That way I could get the same functionality of my Nvidia ShieldTV combined with the awesomeness of Bigbox and Musicbox all in one Windows based HTPC.

Awesome! Thank you for the speedy response!

I recently imported a full mame set and I left the high score option checked. But now I find that I don't really want it. I have to scroll down to get to the information that I do want for a game as the high score stuff displays first. Is there a way to remove that data, or display it under everything else? Thanks

Seems the hole in my wall has too many ethernet in it to fit in an hdmi cable too. Does anyone know if hdmi to ethernet adapters will work with a switch in the middle? One of the ethernet that does through my wall to my tv cabinet connects to a small gigabit switch. If the switch does not present a problem, then I'm good to go once I get a pair of adapters.

What is the range on bluetooth? Would it work through a drywall to another room? Or I could just get a bluetooth dongle, as you mentioned. Actually, I think I have a Logitech F710 around somewhere. Not sure if that would be a problem with the other wireless dongle in the room, though for my universal remote.

Perhaps wifi gamepads do not exist. Bummer. I could run a long usb cable to a usb hub in the other room and use a usb gamepad. I'm not sure if I should be concerned about potential receiver confusion. In the same room is a usb receiver for my Logitech universal remote. Would having two receivers like that in close proximity be a problem? I feel that wifi gamepads should be a thing. That would be very handy.

I recently purchased a new MSI GE75 Raider laptop. Which means I now have my previous one (MSI Dominator Pro with GTX980) lying around. I am trying to think of something fun to do with it. I already have a dedicated Plex server and since the GTX 980 won't transcode x265, there is not much benefit to moving that role to this device. I have more than enough file server space on my LAN as well, so I thought maybe I could make my older gaming laptop into a dedicated BigBox machine. It does sit in my home office right now which is behind one wall from my TV room. When I bought the house I created a small hole between the drywall for ethernet cables, so I could run a long HDMI cable from the laptop to my TV easily enough. I was hoping maybe to get some tips that anyone might have about doing this. Is there a wifi gamepad that is recommended for instance? I'd rather go wifi than usb if I could. Or any other general tips that people might have? Thanks

Same here. I would have happily paid 4x that amount. Android was sorely lacking in a decent emu frontend, and LB/BB is, by far, the best out there in my opinion. Seeing it ported to Android is something I have long wanted to see happen.

There is an Android version available now. It is, I think, $5 in the Play Store. I have it on my Shield TV. I haven't had too much of a chance to try it out yet--too busy with City of Heroes

I'd contribute.

I do have a Geforce GTX 908M in my laptop, so I could stream to my Shield, but that doesn't really interest me for some reason. I like being able to do everything I want to do using the game controller and (for the most part) not even needing to leave Kodi. I can add Android apps to the favorite bar in Kodi and just launch Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Prime, Arcbrowser, etc from Kodi and then when I exit those other apps, I return back to Kodi. Very wife friendly. Agreed, re front ends on Android. Not much to write home about. I tried about 4 of them, but settled on Arcbrowser. It's no Bigbox, but it's functional. I'd contribute to a Gofundme or something to get this started. Maybe Nvidia would be interested in collaborating?

Thank you for the update.

I know this has been asked before, but I was curious if your position has changed at all given that Android TV seems to be spiking a bit in popularity. I recently bought an Nvidia Shield TV and I love it, but I would love it so much more if I could use Bigbox rather than my current launcher, Arcbrowser. I have a license for Bigbox on my Windows laptop and I think it's the best thing since sliced bread, and I would happily pay more for an Android license. There just is nothing that compares to Bigbox and I miss having it on my HTPC. I switched to a Shield TV because going from Kodi to Bigbox, or Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc on Windows is a hassle. The Bigbox plugin worked better than the rest, but Windows/Kodi for HTPC is kind of a single purpose solution, imo. Doing much beyond just Kodi becomes a hassle. With the Shield TV I can do all of the above and with a built in game controller. If I could get Bigbox as well, I'd have the perfect setup!

Thank you very much! One other quick question if anyone knows the answer. Does scroll game details work? Nothing seems to happen when I select it. I saw a couple of other threads when I searched that seemed to indicate that the feature does not work?

Hi, I enabled remember separate view for each platform, but I cannot seem to figure out how to then actually create a view for each platform. I've scrubbed through all the options, and I don't see it. Thanks

I think I get it now. It's too bad, I was hoping I could save myself the trouble of playlisting each game and just make a playlist of out of a genre in a few clicks and then have that playlist appear under Platforms. Oh, nevermind. Was easier than I thought. I just held down the shift key and quickly selected all games in the Role-Playing category and added them to a playlist. Easy peasy!