Retrofrogg

Lol well put! I am now an Apple ecosystem user having moved my main machine over to OSX a few years ago (for various reasons), though I don't think I'm a "fanboy" or even a cult member! In fact I run LB on Windows on a "Bootcamp" partition on my MacBook which seems to work well.

"@JamesBond@ge persuaded me to buy an old CRT monitor; it subsequently set fire to the house and I hold him responsible". Don't worry, it indeed has nothing to do with you, I was just messing around!

Yes, don't worry I won't cite you on the insurance claim, I was just being a little facetious. I do look on eBay from time to time - though need to do some more research on the particular monitor that I would need to go for.

@JamesBond@ge LOL; yes, I think that description does apply to me in some ways. Perhaps I can make a recess in the wall for it

@eXo - yes, perhaps "intended for" was not the right way to put it when making an analogy to DOS games. As you point out, unlike MAME games, the games produced for DOS were not intended for any particular machine but for a range of PC compatibles. I would however rephrase and say that shaders can be helpful to re-create the feel of the original monitors that the games were played on - and acknowledge that this will differ between individuals. I would suspect that the majority of DOS games were played on CRT type monitors rather than flatscreens. For you, as you say, scan lines and screen curvature were something to work around. For me, trying to eliminate these was never on my radar and I just enjoyed the games as they were on (originally) my parents' Amstrad 1512. Thankfully, we both sensibly agree that this should be an option to enhance the current experience - though you say that in relation to eXoDOS this becomes tricky. I take it that you are therefore not aware of any other possibilities here within the realm of emulation, other than using a different version of DOSBOX which does support this feature? PS - I have indeed considered getting hold of an old monitor like the above. I have not taken the plunge largely due to space and aesthetic issues though maybe one day!

@eXo - other processing would include screen curvature for one. Fisty puts it quite well above - MAME and Retroarch are able to employ complex shaders that utilise various processes to re-create the feel of the original monitors that the games were intended for. Applying this to the DOS games would really bring things to life and take away the feel that we are playing an emulated version on an LCD screen. I will look into the shaders you mention and report back though. @Jason Carr - glad to hear that you recognise the issue and plan to address it, cheers!

@eXo - yes, I am sure that the game is being rendered fine. I am trying to recreate the effect of the monitor that the game would have been run on - which would indeed include scanlines, and often other processing. Is this possible? Hope this is more clear. @Jason Carr - the build in PDF reader in Big Box works fine for all the PDF manuals; just not the extra PDF items that are listed under "additional apps". It's almost like Big Box does not treat things listed under additional apps as PDFs. Is this the case?

Many thanks eXo. @Jason Carr - any thoughts regarding the above and the extra PDFs (hint books etc) working in LB but not BB? @eXo - the reason that I was looking into using a different version of DOSBOX was because I was keen to apply some kind of shader effect to make the games more like they did on the original machines. I understand that the standard DOSBOX cannot do this, though that there are other versions which can. Please correct me if I am wrong! From your reply however it sounds like this might be untenable, and if so no problem. Perhaps there might be another workaround.

@Jason Carr, I've noticed another problem that might be linked. I tried deleting a video for a game by going to edit, then the "other" tab, then deleting the "game video path" and then clicking OK. The video for the game continues to show in LB however, and when I go back to game edit, the path has re-appeared. This is in the latest beta of Launchbox Next. Any thoughts?

Got vol's 1-3 up an running in LB. Only thing is, the "additional apps" (e.g. hint books, etc) open fine in LB as PDFs, but in BB I just get a blank screen when trying to open these. Manuals themselves open fine in BB. Any idea what's going on? Also, does anyone know how I can use a different version of DOSBOX with some of these games? I tried editing the games, but the use DOSBOX box isn't even ticked!

I have just noticed another issue with LB Next. If I press CTRL+I in LB to view the images associated with an item, then not all the images show up. The current one I am looking at has front and rear box art (as you can see when you edit the item), but only the front box art shows when browsing the images fullscreen!

Actually, somehow the default video playback app had been changed; I returned it to VLC and that seemed to fix the problem!

When I launch a game in LB Next (MAME), the video in LB Next keeps playing in the background! How do I turn stop this from happening.

A lot of my games have extra PDFs (hint books, etc) listed under additional apps. In LB they show up when I right-click on a game with the PDF symbol next to it, and when I click on them the PDF opens. In BB, the same files appear but when I click on them I just get a blank screen. The manuals in BB work fine however!

Interesting. Hopefully @Jason can comment.

Yes, no instances running. But when I start LB up again, the games are still there and a new MS-DOS.XML is created. Is this expected behaviour?

In preparation for a new set of MS-DOS games, I deleted the old MS-DOS.XML file in LaunchBox\Data\Platforms. The plan is to copy in the new XML supplied by the eXoDOS set. However, when I start up LB Next, The MS-DOS platform is still there with all the games contained within. When I exit LB Next, the MS-DOS.XML file reappears! What am I doing wrong?

I have a 1TB SSD in my laptop also though the Windows partition is only around 550GB. Looking forward to multiple TB SSD prices coming down!

I found that too. However, if you have the ROMs on the NAS and the rest local then that seems to run fine.

Thanks for your reply CriticalCid, and thanks for all the great work! I’m not referring to background videos - I’m talking about the background image that appears (if it is turned on) when you select games. I want it to be more faded/opaque so that it doesn’t detract from the images and info on the screen!

That is excellent dragon57, thanks so much! Nice selection of various handhelds but without any NIntendo Game & Watch, perfect!

Great theme - using Criticalzone blue. Problem is - the background fade setting doesn't seem to work. Is there anything that can be done about this? Thanks

Is it possible to hide a platform yet? I have a generic platform for handheld games, but have separated it out into NIntendo Game & Watch and Electronic Handheld Games. How do I make these 2 playlists show, but not the generic platform? Thanks!

Instructions unclear, PC stuck to light fitting.

In the digital realm, perhaps not! Just keen to make sure I get it right first time, as I've got a knack for crapping things up sometimes.