[LaunchBox and game Via steam for use with my steam controller]

@Zombeaver Again, you are precisely correct. I already use the per game settings in Dolphin to pre-load Dolphin controller configs on a per game basis. This is so I don't have to go into the menus and fiddle every time I switch between a game that uses a sideways Wii remote, a GameCube controller and a Wii Remote/nunchuck. Sometimes I just like to play a little NSMBW or Kirby and then throw down an hour or two with Smash before rounding off my time with a little Conduit. All of these need completely different settings for the control dialog and so the auto switching setup is infinitely useful. Gosh, over on the steam controller forums no one is as much an emulator fan as I am, it is so nice talking to some people who actually care about emulation. Good on ya buddy! 

The steam controller is amazing, it really is but it also has some limitations in certain ways that only become apparent when you are trying to use it in a certain way. I mean, gyro control for Wii remote pointing is insanely cool and the software, especially after the newest activator update, has made it almost in feature parody with more complex gamepad solutions like joy2key and Xpadder but it just seems like they limit it in some ways that it simply doesn't need to be. I will still use it, forever and ever more because of some nerve damage I got in both arms from an old injury. The design, physically, is perfect and without the need for the XBOX "death grip" it makes all my symptoms like numbness and tingling go away completely. There still is that strange need for the overlay to work no matter what with no legacy fallback contingency that can be very problematic for certain situations. Hell, I spend half my day on the steam controller forums solving everyone else's problems!

Bah, I should just be happy that LB has allowed me to finally get a moderately decent N64 setup in a way that is comfortable for me personally and be happy with that.

[LaunchBox and game Via steam for use with my steam controller]

@Zombeaver You have precisely hit it spot on. This is exactly the problem I was trying to overcome. If steam would just allow my command line switches to pass through than a clever arrangement of LB options and such can do what I want but alas, it seems like it may just be beyond the scope of possibility. I will just have to keep using Dolphin all on its lonesome. Pretty much everything else, though, I have migrated over to LaunchBox and so far I am very impressed. I have used many a front end in my day and this one seems to be pretty much what I need. With as bad as the UI is for Retroarch or non-existent like Mednafen, this is by far the best solution I have found so far.

Again, thank you for your time.

[LaunchBox and game Via steam for use with my steam controller]

I don't have a link, this is all local. I have 3 steam controllers but I just plug my PC right up to the TV like a normal monitor. I am sure my ramblings were a bit hard to get. I already asked around in the steam controller discussion but no one there uses emulators as much as I do. I figured since LB had some basic steam integration that someone here might have some insight on how steam itself handles non-steam apps and their command lines. No need to worry, either I will figure it out or I won't. If I do, I will be sure to let you all know. I do very much appreciate all of you taking the time to at least try and that means a great deal.

I will say, once you have a steam controller or two and spend the kind of time I have with it, you would probably be right where I am. I just want it to be seamless but I wholly blame Valve for it.

[LaunchBox and game Via steam for use with my steam controller]

@Jason Carr
I DO want to use the LB interface, it's all nice and pretty, plus all the features it has. With the Steam Controller, it loads configs based on what app is launched from steam itself. So it loads up a Launchbox SC config and not my Dolphin config, or whatever emulator I am using ATM. My Dolphin config is 30-40 action sets large so reinputting all of it is not really an option. I can get LB to open Dolphin through steam but it won't load the game because the command line switches like (-b -e -C:\whatever\FZEROGX.GCZ) are not passed through to the emulator from steam itslef. If I load up LB from steam and then load up the game it works fine, as it should but will not recognize my Dolphin SC config and makes a config specific to LB. So, here is the order of operations I would like.

1. Open LB from the desktop like normal
2. Click on a game and it launches Dolphin through steam so my Dolphin configs are preserved

The normal way I do it now that annoys me.

1. Open steam and launch LB from steam
2. Load Dolphin through LB and it works but I lose out on my specific config for each emulator and such I have already made.

Am I making any sense here? I think I might not be. It also is very possible this is just a limitation of steam itself and I will just have to deal with the way steam does it and do it the second way. Call it OCD but having it say I am playing Launchbox and not playing Dolphin in steam also kinda annoys me. I was just hoping you geniuses here would have an idea. Someone somewhere must have had the same idea I have had. May require some new feature somewhere or for Valve to not be so dumb about non-steam games and apps but it's worth a shot.

 

[LaunchBox and game Via steam for use with my steam controller]

Ok, I want a third party app, in this case, launchbox, to launch an emulator, such as Dolphin, THROUGH steam but with passing through custom command line switches to Dolphin, obviously so it can load a game normally. See, I normally use Dolphin through steam and that works perfectly but there are drawbacks. All of my ISOs are compressed 7Z archives so I have to unpack the roms I want to play so that can be a bit annoying. I have decided to try out using launch box and it has that feature to unpack the iso at runtime into a temporary spot and run the game, neat! Plus, it is really pretty and I do like it alot. I have an HDD space constraint so I can't unpack ALL my ISOs at the same time, even with the Dolphin built in compression because it is simply not good enough and it changes the ISO itself so I can never have the unmodified ISO again. I can load LB right from steam and it works and it works quite well. There are a few niggles that make me completely unwilling to make this the normal way I use Dolphin, I will explain.

My EXTREMELY complicated Steam Controller config for Dolphin is not automatically loaded since it is, in fact, loading a launchbox config. Many, if not most, of my other games, are using Retroarch and still other emulators on a per system basis. These emulators do not have the exact same control setup so they would not be compatible with either the Dolphin or the Retroarch configurations. Besides, when I launch Dolphin this way it shows I am playing Launchbox and NOT Dolphin and that just bugs me SOOOO much you have no idea. Call it OCD or whatever but it just feels wrong. 

Ok, when you make a steam shortcut to any game, steam or non-steam, you get something that looks like this. "steam://rungameid/21090" This particular shortcut would launch F.E.A.R. and it does work for non-steam games too. I have been doing some research and if you wanted to have steam pass along command line switches to the game being launched you could add it right to the end like this "steam://rungameid/21090//-Switch1 -Switch2" and it does work but ONLY for steam games! This method will not work AT ALL for non-steam games. Depending on how you set the shortcut up, you will either get the game without the switches or it simply won't work at all. If I use a shortcut to steam.exe and then add the "-applaunch GAMEID" it will also work, but ONLY for steam games and NOT non-steam games at all!

Is there a way anyone can think of that will allow me to launch LB game from steam but also be able to pass command line switches to the Dolphin game FROM the command line so LB can be my first layer? If not, I get that this is super complicated and a VERY fringe edge case here. Thing is, what grinds my gears to no end, is that with a steam game it works, perfectly well with the command line switches. It seems Valve is explicitly blocking non-steam games from having the same convenience. I have been fiddling for the last few hours on this and I simply can't get this to work at all, no matter what I do.

Am I missing something here? Is loading LB from steam the only way to work it and I just have to deal? Also, I know most of you aren't going to be using the steam controller but this is absolutely a game breaker here if I can't use my SC so I will have to just deal with it if this cannot be managed. I am just hoping there are some super smart guys out there that may have some insight on this and can help out.

Thank you VERY much for any assistance anyone can provide, in advance!