jrasicmark

So Launchbox can't be portable anymore?

A while ago, I followed instructions on how to make Launchbox portable and install and run it on an external hard drive. The instructions included how to include everything Launchbox needs to run, which I think included DirectX. This was from a laptop that was running Windows 7. Since then, I bought a new laptop with Windows 10 (though I still have the old laptop as well), and I tried connecting my Launchbox external drive to it and starting it up. But I got a message that it needs DirectX. So I downloaded a newer version of it, but it won't let me install it to the external drive; it only lets me try to install it on the C drive of the laptop (but there isn't enough room). I tried to Google what to do, and I haven't found any clear answers, but I did find something that said DirectX is now included in Windows 10. So maybe that's why it doesn't want to allow me to install it on another drive? I just tried downloading the latest version of Launchbox to try to install that on the external drive and see if that works. But if it doesn't, any ideas on how I can get this working again?

I enjoy tinkering with old comic creation programs just for fun (and it's actually a little surprising how many there have been over the years). Strictly speaking, they may not be considered games even though they were probably marketed mostly to kids who were much the same way and for the same reasons they played games. Anyway, I still thought they should be able to import, either through the wizard or manually. And it doesn't seem to be in the database. I found the software on ebay. It's called Comic Book Creator (not the more recent software from Planetwide Games, but a much earlier software with the same name). It's MS-DOS and was made by a company called Hi-Tech in the 1990s. It came with a 3.5" floppy disk, and I have an external floppy drive, so I thought I should be able to easily install it, but my laptop doesn't seem to be able to see the disk. Then I found the same software available on Internet Archive as an ISO file. So I tried importing it both manually and with the wizard, and neither seems to work. I mean, it seemed to pop in visually, but when I double-clicked, it stopped at some kind of welcome to DOSBox window and I had no idea what I should do from that point on. Any ideas?

When I started up Launchbox yesterday, I got a message that said a new version was available, so I clicked to upgrade. Then I get an error message saying I have to quit out of Launchbox to continue with the installation. But the only instance I can find of Launchbox running is the setup itself. So I clicked to continue. Then I got an error message; I can't remember what it said now, but the installation did not complete. So I tried to start my old version of Launchbox by clicking my desktop shortcut, but it doesn't work anymore. I look for where my original Launchbox program was (I think I had the portable version stored on an external drive) and it's gone, too. So I tried to re-download and re-install Launchbox, and I think I chose the non-portable version which installed itself on my hard drive. I was hoping it might somehow see my old collection, but I had to re-import everything. I re-imported all my Windows games, but I can't get it to see the folder on the external drive where all my DOS games had been installed. It only sees an empty folder, even though it isn't empty. How can I get it to see my DOS games? Or do I need to re-install them all over again, too? Also, when I originally installed my Windows games, Launchbox had been able to find artwork for a lot of them, but this time, it can't find any art for any of them. What might I be doing wrong?