faeran

This is actually built into the program and I'll try and explain why. All of those folders that you see there, the application expects that they are reachable, as they play important roles throughout the application. As an example, let's say you are using Box - Front images in LaunchBox, but you changed that folder to an external drive and then that drive was unplugged, you would then find yourself in a situation where you could open the application, it would make it to the main screen and then it would crash when it couldn't access that folder. There would be no way out of that crash other than to edit the xml files. In saying that, we are looking into easing this off a bit for a future update, which should include Game folders being able to not be there, while still upholding some restrictions that would stop users from being able to fall onto themselves, but in a more graceful way.

Beta thread for 13.24 hotfix release has been opened:

Hi all, Thought I'd open a new thread for this hotfix release. This one will be short-lived as we want to get this hotfix out as soon as we can, but we will be able to hopefully track better beta specific feedback here. Beta 1 came out a week a bit ago that addressed: Fixed: Big Box no longer crashes on launch for systems with unstable hardware video decoding, especially on some RTX 30 series cards and certain integrated GPUs Fixed: Custom theme video controls now function correctly with the FFMPEG engine, preventing crashes in affected themes Beta 2 has now been put out with the following: Improvement: The Storefront Manager now opens instantly, with login checks handled in the background instead of delaying the window Improvement: Startup Videos and Theme Manager previews now properly follow your selected video engine setting Improvement: You can now launch a game directly from the Game Discovery Center using a keyboard or controller mapping Improvement: All HTTP calls have been upgraded to HTTPS for improved security and reliability Fixed: FFMPEG no longer leaves videos running in the background after launching a game under certain situations Fixed: Music playback is now smoother and less prone to stuttering Fixed: Music compatibility has been improved across more audio file types Fixed: When videos were set to start after a short delay, their audio would overlap with the game music instead of replacing it as expected Fixed: Transitions will no longer trigger unexpectedly when returning from a game Fixed: Badge changes from media packs now apply correctly without needing to restart LaunchBox or Big Box Beta 3: Improvement: D-Input controllers such as DualSense, DualShock, and Nintendo Pro controllers should now have right analog stick support Improvement: You can now launch a game directly from the Game Discovery Center using a keyboard or controller mapping Improvement: When importing ROMs during the Welcome Wizard, LaunchBox now sets the platform s Game Folder to the folder you imported from, instead of using the default location Improvement: The new Auto-Import Media settings are now properly respected during realtime scans Improvement: Unselecting all image types during the Welcome Wizard is now more accurately respected during first-time imports Fixed: A crash has been resolved when multiple media imports happen at the same time Fixed: When videos were set to start after a short delay, their audio would overlap with the game music instead of replacing it as expected Fixed: Custom theme video controls now function correctly with the FFMPEG engine, preventing crashes in affected themes Fixed: The Welcome Wizard s ROM import process now better mirrors the in-app importer by combining games and filtering out unwanted files Fixed: Games in the Image Grid now always display their correct and up-to-date artwork, even in rare cases where images previously failed to appear Fixed: Custom platform names during import are now more reliably scraped with the correct platform values Things to help test with: If you were affected with the inability to access specific websites using the http protocol and you were finding certain third party services were unable to connect through LaunchBox, it would be nice if you could re-test and see if beta 2 fixes that for you. Users that run Big Box with Background music, Platform specific music, Game music, and Videos, this is the time to test all the different areas in Big Box and see if things are back to how they were before the last update. If you were experiencing issues entering into the Theme Manager window, we could use confirmation that you are no longer experiencing that.

You can see if this tutorial is still of any value:

Did you update to 13.24 beta 1, that would most likely fix that for you since it contains a specific fix for people on 30 series GPUs.

You'll want to go into Big Box Options and tell us which Video Playback engine you are set to use in there. If nothing is set, set one and see if it works for you.

You can somewhat get what you are after, but maybe not in the same kind of visual you were thinking of. You can combine games together in LaunchBox and give each version you have a custom name. Then in Big Box, you can click on a game to get to the game menu and then click on the "Launch Version" button and get presented with all of your different game versions. So it would be a list like: Hack 1 Hack 2 Translation V1 V2 USA Whatever you want to call it You select the version and it launches into the emulator and you play.

Did you update to 13.24 beta 1 yet?

Unfortunately, that is purposeful. We only bring over the artwork that was made for the Android app. It's limited due to a number of factors, things like storage and performance limitations. However, if you are wanting a very specific image type/group to replace one on Android (like 3D Box Image instead of Box - Front), it's possible that could be done through some workarounds using the Windows application and porting it over using the Export to Android functionality. On a side note, which types are you hoping to have over on Android?

Yup, you are right. That is planned to be solved before we release the 13.24 hotfix. How did you update a game's metadata? Edit the game and make a change, run the metadata and media wizard? Do you remember the options you chose? A specific example would help us test this.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any theme that has really delved deep and changed all potential views to be readable for that screen size. Most themes tend to stick to altering a few platform/filter and game views and tend to leave out the pop-up / child views. I don't know every theme though, so there could be one!

Pretty sure that's already done with horizontal wheel 2, but it's been a long time and I could be mistaken.

Are you able to provide which version of LaunchBox you are on, which theme you are using in Big Box, the version of the theme, where you got the theme, and which Video Playback engine you are using in Big Box (under System Menu > Options > Videos). Also, are you running anything in Big Box when it happens, Attract Mode or Screensavers. Is there a particular section in Big Box you are leaving it in when this happens. Does your computer go to sleep or monitors turning off after a certain time, or are there any power options that you have that turns off pieces of your computer, like USB ports, network, hard drives, things like that?

Anyone can edit themes, there just may be some getting up to speed with how to using the documentation found here: https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/collections/8448047-theming You'll see in this section it calls out the 2 mame high score files that would need to be added into the theme and edited: https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/9450321-big-box-views#2o0t1cbcppz

Yeah, a lot of hardware specific things going on that's only a problem for users using that specific piece of hardware... whatever it may be. We are looking into music this week and hope to have some kind of solution that's less prone to the whims of Nvidia and driver makers.

While I'm not 100% what setting you changed, what you would be looking for is a setting in the emulator you are using, not a setting in LaunchBox. It's possible if you list the emulators you use, someone might be able to direct you to that setting in that emulator for you.

I can understand that frustration. The good news, at least with your example, is that's why that kind of thing is themeable. Anyone could create a 640x480 optimized Big Box theme and change almost everything about it, including the MAME High Scores window there. That would definitely be an interesting experiment. However, I would assume not many people have had a desire to do so up until now because even if they are playing on a cabinet, they most likely are using some kind of modern display in it. I would definitely be interested in seeing one made though.

That's how Sega Master System rolls. You could either remove the Bezels, or you could press F1 when you are playing a game, scroll down to Core Options > Video > Core-Provided Aspect Ratio and set an aspect ratio that fits your Bezel. You may then need to go back a level, then enter into Manage Core Options and choose to Save Content Directory Options.

Can you zip up your data folder and send it to me in a PM.

Oh I see, you are using JAKAMY's theme. You may want to reach out to him with your concern, he may be able to update the theme for you.

It's supposed to save that on exit. Quickly test this by switching back to the image grid, then closing LaunchBox. Make sure it closes without issue and that the background process finishes up and exits task manager. Then open LaunchBox again and see which view is loaded.

What happens if you update to 13.24 beta 1, does it solve any of your crashes? Neither are the same crash, unfortuantely.

The most common reasons a game would "break" is you update to a newer version of MAME and the hi2txt program ends up having a harder time deducing the scores for that game in this new version of MAME. The way the MAME High Scores solution works is that it's game agnostic, it says "hey hi2txt, a game was launched, do your thing." Hi2txt sends a snapshot of the leaderboards at game launch, then another at game exit, and LaunchBox compares and sends up all scores that aren't the same up to the leaderboards.

Sorry to hear. Your screenshots tell some kind of story, although there's not enough screenshots to get a full picture. The things of note that probably don't have to do with your concerns: You've custom named your Wii, Dreamcast, and GameCube platforms, which might be a clue there. Just not sure what clue that is You've set a sort order on them, which means your list in both LaunchBox and Big Box will be set to that order and not platform title alphabetical. This means, for example, your Wii platform will appear at the bottom of your Consoles list, your GameCube will appear above your TurboGrafx-16 platform.. and your Dreamcast will appear even above that, yet your Big Box screenshot shoes part of the list that wouldn't contain any of those 3 platforms Your Dreamcast platform might be missing a Scrape As value. Probably not relevant, but you will run into other issues because of it, like the fact it's showing up in both your Root of your Platform Categories section and inside of Consoles. If you feel like you are missing games that should have been imported into LaunchBox, we could use some better screenshots, like a screenshot of your file explorer inside one of the platforms including the full path to the folder, a screenshot of the method you used to import them into LaunchBox. You should take screenshots of each page of the wizard you are using just to be safe. If not using a wizard, you should explain which process you are using. Last, you should take a screenshot of you editing the platform and going into the folders tab.