chyatt6385

This appears to be the best thread to post this in . . . Yesterday, I dusted off Nox and started installing some game apks I got through Humble Bundle. I thought, "Why not add those games to LaunchBox? It would make launching those games so much easier!" As if I don't have enough to do with 20k+ Commodore 64 files . . . So I'm digging around in the emulator settings in LaunchBox. Nox has a command line parameter to load Nox when a package is selected (taken from https://www.bignox.com/blog/command-line-parameters-that-nox-app-player-supports/): -package:<package_name> where <package_name> takes the format of com.doubleeleven.frozensynapseprime for example (the package name for Frozen Synapse Prime I have installed). This information can be found easiest using ES File Explorer, I've discovered. I'll post more on that if there's an interest. So what should the syntax be for "default command-line parameters" in the emulator setup window? Are double-quotes used around the variable, or what? And how does one get rid of the "FULL\PATH\TO\ROM\FILE" in the "sample command" line? That path is unnecessary if the package is called from the Nox command line. And then there's the question of the syntax for the "application path" parameter in the program details. Should just the package name, without a path, be used on that line?

I don't view this as a bad thing, personally. I know I've added something and then wished I had put it a different way after the fact. For these kinds of things, it's good to have moderation. As for wait time, the only thing I can think of is in verifying the information. Unless I know something, I'll verify it as best I can. If I don't have time to do that, or really have no initial starting point for verifying (like 80's computer games, except C-64) I'll pass on it (which is a good, relatively new function).

I wonder, then, if the field is restricted to numeric, if it will toss out the entire entry anyway or just the incorrect data type. I suppose it all depends on the code structure for each entry; either way, it's not an unrecoverable loss. I was thinking about the "too much" bad data as well. As for making a note, they're all AtariST entries so far, and it may be the same person doing it. I've encountered this before with some other non-Windows platform entries though. And I'm ok with rejecting them all for the learning experience of the person who is inputting these; the data isn't really lost, because I found a couple of sites out there with AtariST game info while I was verifying them, so we're not losing a national treasure. I just wish the first pass through isn't simply a pass/fail, and that we could alter the data when it first comes to us for moderation.

So, I've just run into a string of Atari ST games that someone entered with "1,2 (sim)." or "1, 1 vs 1" as a data string for MaxPlayers. As far as I can tell, all other components of each entry is correct. I've rejected a couple or three of them so far, but it looks like someone went to a lot of effort of putting them in, and I'd hate to completely waste their time. What does everyone think about just accepting them all (assuming everything else is correct) and just fixing the one thing wrong with them later? This could be one of those cases that supports the argument for being able to skip over entries and pass/fail them later.

I just synched my collection and realized that there IS a separate entry for at least one addon: Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna. If I remember right, it requires the original Dungeon Siege to play. And then there's Star Wars: Empire at War - Forces of Corruption . . . The longer I sit here and think about it, the longer the list grows. :-)

No, I wasn't thinking it was LaunchBox that was mysteriously attempting to scrape this single DLC out of many. I was sort of putting it out there that the Steam API/DB has its own errors as well. But yeah, I didn't think about the multi-disc option, perhaps because I haven't used it personally.

While importing from Steam, I've seen where the Steam API has included a DLC as a separate "game", even though it requires the base game to play. Don't know why Steam did this, and I keep rejecting it from my personal database. I would think that a new data field within a particular entry within LaunchBox in the local database would be necessary for accommodation, maybe. For what it's worth, I have lots of games with DLC on Steam that haven't been treated this way (Pinball FX2, for example - each table is a separate DLC).

The box front I changed has the Van Helsing II logo on it, which is a different product.

My sources for changing the publisher to XSIV Games is found at IGDB.com (https://www.igdb.com/games/tyrian-2000), at Moby Games (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/tyrian-2000), and at Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_(video_game)#Tyrian_2000_.283.0.29 - click on "show" at the right for the details). The change has had one rejection, so I thought I would post my sources here. The ORIGINAL Tyrian game was published by Epic MegaGames, but not Tyrian 2000.

Well, I hate to be asking so many questions. I just feel like I should, because this isn't MY database, it's a community database - if it were MY database, I'd know what to do with certain things. So, with that in mind, I think consensus is a good thing.

I would guess, then, that it should be ok as long as there are no watermarks in it, right?

So I've rejected one game a few days ago for two reasons: It had a website watermark (disallowed per mod rules) and it was a gameplay and not a trailer video. Are we accepting only trailer videos, or are gameplay videos acceptable as well? I've run across another one of those, and I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm thinking we shouldn't accept them, though.

For entries I've made, if it has an MMO component, I've just left the field blank simply because I don't know how many maxplayers their servers will handle. Maybe make an "MMO" field with yes/no input, like the co-op field? MMOs seem to be really popular now.

I've run across a couple of entries while moderating the DB that have "Multiplayer" entered in the "MaxPlayers" field. I rejected the first one because of multiple issues and not just this; I'm not sure if I should reject this one or not, because it's the only issue with this entry. I want to reject it, because I think "MaxPlayers" should expect a numeric value and not a string. Any guidance?

I think I have a Q-Link disk image for the Commodore 64 lying around here somewhere . . . :-) It's the same thing, really. There were even some parts you could access offline with it, I think. And I approved the entry for PlayStation Home.

Reminds me of that social thing on the Nintendo Wii (1st generation), where you create a "Mii" . . . <shudders> Well, if Second Life is a game, I suppose this is a game too. :-) After all, Neverwinter Nights evolved into a social media-type thing too, only without financial transactions and such, and I think Path of Exile and Gems of War are similar, where players come and just sit and chat and not really play; I'm sure there are many many more examples out there that I'm not aware of.

While moderating, I ran across a new entry for "PlayStation Home", which seems to be an "operating system" or dashboard for the Sony PS3. I'm leaning toward rejecting it because it's not a game, but I thought I would throw the question out there to see what others think about it. If you created the entry, I'd like to hear from you as well and your thoughts as to why it should be included. Part of the reason why I ask is that I have quite a few "utilities" in my own LaunchBox, but I know they're not games so I wouldn't think of submitting them as such. Or someone could suggest that I reject it and move onward in the queue.

I know that a few days have elapsed since OP, but I've just started moderating the database, and I'd like to give you my viewpoint. I marked one entry for deletion that had the Wikipedia URL but had THREE items of wrong information, according to what was at that Wikipedia URL. I marked two entries for deletion because they were duplicates of the entry just before them, but had maybe one or two MORE items of information filled in than the first one, as if someone added a new entry because, "Ooops, I forgot to add this." Apparently, the items sent for moderation are sent in chronological order, so I had no choice but to mark the two extra ones for deletion. I let one slide and approved it simply because the MONTH of release was incorrect, according to Wikipedia, but nothing else was wrong about the entry, and I really didn't want to do that, but it wasn't THAT messed up. Only a purist would care about the exact month of release; I just care about the year, personally, and maybe they saw March somewhere else besides Wikipedia, which said October. My suggestion is that if you provided a Wikipedia URL, make sure the dates/publisher/etc. match because I check that first, then see what I can find via Google. That's how >>I<< moderate, and I've marked nearly 50 for deletion in just two days. Granted, I messed one of them up, but the DB wouldn't take my change ("Chronicles: RuneScape Legends") when I tried to add the colon and capitalize the S. And one of the early ones I marked for deletion, I didn't understand that "ENTER" was the same as hitting the "submit" button, so I didn't get to enter a more complete explanation. I'd hate to have a conversation about primary vs. secondary sources, but perhaps there is a need . . . I haven't searched the forum for that conversation yet, if someone would care to post a link to an existing one.

RE: the wiki I found that by accident, really. Google is useful like that. ;-) Seriously, though, I think that for some people (including myself), having all the content organized with a table of contents and whatnot is a whole lot easier and less frustrating that having to search through the forums, because depending on how the search is defined, you may get either too much or too little information - not everyone may call something the same thing that you do. Good example: I saw, while downloading the Steam videos, that they had a .webm extension, so I went through the different conversion software I have to find something that would convert .mp4 to .webm. I couldn't find anything with options labeled that way, so I went to Google and found out that .webm is the HTML5 specification and that VLC will do it quite nicely. While I normally don't mind a good hide-and-seek for information, that wasn't the only bit I wanted to know about something related to LaunchBox, and the rest of what I wanted to know about other things I couldn't readily find. I remember the issue I had with figuring out how to include Windows apps a couple of months ago; I searched for the info and couldn't readily find it before I asked. Stuff like that could be included in the wiki. I wonder how many other users (or worse, potential users) find themselves similarly situated and give up on a good program like LaunchBox because it's too hard for them to find out how to do what they want to do. So that's MY pitch for the wiki. RE: YouTube stuff From an intellectual property standpoint, I think the trailers, being advertisement and containing their characters/game ideas etc., would be owned by their corporate creators, but there's Fair Use to consider as well. I don't know if I've ever heard about a corporation being concerned about someone spreading around their advertisements. Copying elements for other uses would be a legal issue, I think. I'm no lawyer, and I don't play one on TV or in a video game . . . Almost all of the videos I've downloaded so far, as far as I can tell, were uploaded by the developer/publisher to YouTube and not something someone else threw up there. I didn't really mean the wholesale scraping of gaming videos, just the official trailers for games that somehow didn't make it to Steam - which are truly not many, overall. "Dwarfs! F2P" and "LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga" are a couple of them. And I never got Retroarch to work using the instructions in the earlier video a few months ago. I shelved that project and went back to using the other various individual emus I already had. I'll see about picking it back up after I figure out some other stuff. I think I have yet to download an actual video from EmuMovies. I have wondered if they even have videos. Maybe when I get finished cataloging my Commodore 64 collection I'll run across some, but I don't think I've seen any yet.

Thank you guys very much. Sorry for lashing out; it's been a tense week for me in my personal life. I play with my cataloging my collections (books and games mostly) to help relax, which actually added to the frustration. I noticed there's a wiki . . . And that's what I was really looking for to begin with. Any news on the development of it? Any help needed? I know there's a plethora of videos available on YouTube, but not everybody is a visual learner, and when information in them goes out of date (like maybe the Retroarch videos?) the old vids never get removed. And lastly, for all the Steam games that don't have videos to download (love that new feature!), I've downloaded trailers -preferably from official sources - from YouTube and converted them to the proper format. Any ideas on how to handle those? Should they be contributed? Or should just the instructions on how to do so be enough?

Sure, whenever you can get around to it. I'm in no hurry. Just pencil me in on your schedule. Better yet, I'll have my people get with your people and we'll do lunch and discuss it. Now that we've swapped snark, would it be too much trouble to make that available? I figured there was some magical unspoken reason why it was set the way it was. I'm getting really frustrated with the way the whole LaunchBox web/forum/help/documentation system is set up; I can't seem to be able to find the information I need. I've synched my library with the DB collection and find that several of my games are missing and at least one was marked incorrectly. I'd like to be able to help with that, but I can't help if I can't figure out where to find the freakin instructions on helping. I'm nearly ready to give it up as a lost cause. I'm thinking maybe I'm just getting too old for this and I should just play with my database by myself.

So what's the issue with setting the doc to be unable to download? I don't care to sit in Google Docs all day to read it or have to constantly open the site to view it; I want a local copy.

I found the thread I think DOS76 was referring to (it was buried pretty deep) and found a kludge that works based on what he said. Instead of putting all the .lnk files directly on the desktop and clutter it up, I created a separate folder on my desktop called "Store Apps" and started putting the .lnks in there. I already had a link to Tiny Death Star on my Classic Shell start menu, so that was easy. I put a link to AoE:CS in the folder, and it works as well. Now I just have to manually put links to the rest of my Windows Store games there. But at least I know it can be done, and that's a good thing.

Thanks to all the replies. First, I tried FistyDollars idea. The instructions opened up an explorer window that showed my Quick Links menu and not specifically my apps. Perhaps something changed in Windows 10? Perhaps I should have specifically asked for Windows 10 help in the OP instead of including Win8, thinking the two essentially operate the same way. Sorry, that was my fault for not being specific enough. Using CriticalCid's advice, I went to ConcreteLlama's post about how he got his game there. This was a bit more helpful; I found the actual .exe files to the games I wanted to enter into my database. I tested it with first Star Wars: Tiny Death Star (I installed it under Win8 before Disney killed it) and Age of Empires: Castle Siege. In both cases, after entering the entire path in the Application Path box, when I attempted to execute them through LaunchBox I got an error dialogue: "An error occurred while trying to launch the game. This application can only run in the context of an app container." Again, thanks for the help; if anyone can think of any other ways to get past this challenge, I'm open to suggestions.

I searched the forums first, and didn't see an answer . . . I've been trying this evening to add some game apps to my collection database, but I can't find where the application path is to enter them. Does anyone know of an easy way to do this? Or IS there any easy way to do this? Or is this something where I just need to keep digging? I can't even rightly recall exactly where in the directory path the apps are found. An import function to do this would be nice.