Ghostlines

Thanks for the advice! That solved the issue I was running into! All four views have a directory defined within the xaml.

Quick question that I'm not sure how to ask, so I'll just give an example... If I were to take RH's GBA theme for this and copy the entire folder into a new theme folder meant for, say, GBA Video for those majesco video carts for example. How could I do this without Big Box referencing the original GBA theme folder? Here's what I did. I took the GBA theme, made a new folder called "GBA Video", copied all the files over into that folder, modified the logo artwork to say "Game Boy Advance Video" and use the GBA SP console image instead of the default but when I go back into Big Box, it's still pulling the original GBA theme art work. I set the individual theme for "GBA Video" so it's pointing to the right folder and I refreshed the image cache. So I'm going to assume there's something inside the folder that's referencing the original GBA theme since all of the contents are copies except for the artwork I edited. The original artwork from the GBA theme is not present in the GBA Video theme folder so I'm not sure why it's showing up. It's probably right in front of my face but I dont know enough about theme making to probably see it. This theme is amazing and I'm very particular about organizing my systems. Hopefully, if it's something easy I could edit in like a line in an xml file, I could help contribute some themes for this. Maybe cover some of the more nuanced systems that could be glossed over.

Namco Arcade Platform Theme View File This is a bit of a frankensteined platform video. I noticed that Namco doesnt have a platform video outside of the unified video so I decided to try and throw one together. Basically, I chopped up a couple official trailers and added in some effects. This isnt going to be anywhere near as good as some of our other creators but it's something to use. Hope you guys enjoy! All video credit save for the very beginning belongs to Namco lol. Submitter Ghostlines Submitted 10/14/2018 Category Platform Theme Videos  

Does anyone have a good video that isnt part of the Unified set that they are using for Namco's arcade platform? It seems like every other manufacturer got some love but Namco lol. Either that or I'm just over looking it. I suppose I could try throwing one together this weekend but I'm a novice so, there's that.

Ok, I got it. It wasnt showing up because there was no game currently in the actual playlist. I'm not sure why you were able to see it in your Launchbox and I couldnt? What I did was manually add a game to the Test.xml itself which forced it to show up in my Launchbox. Then I just deleted it. Thanks again for the help!

That's odd. I still do not see it at all. If I go into the LaunchBox\Data\Playlists folder, I do see the xml for "Test" but when I delete it, it gets added back. This thing is literally nowhere to be found lol. I took some more screenshots:

Gotcha, I was starting to think down that path but I figured I'd ask before I commit to changing how I organize everything lol. Thanks for clarifying!

Ah ok, I see where you're coming from with the platforms. I'm not using them way they were "intended". Well, the cool thing is, it still works! I'll post a screenshot of what I did with platforms within playlists. I love the nested folders feature and it has a ton of potential for organization for someone like me who is very OCD about how my games display. If you take a look at my screenshot, I have a Playlist category, then I added in a platform to it to further organize playlists that were similar. In this case, having several Final Fantasy playlists under one umbrella. Then everything else just stays where it's at. To get this to work, all I did was add in a blank .txt doc to serve as the "game" just to get the platform to appear and stay. The text doc doesnt show up in Big Box which is great, since I was expecting it to but I didnt want it to be visible. Since this isnt how it was designed, could this type of organizing be considered in a future update? This leads me to my next question, Can you have a platform within a platform? I'm going to assume no, based on you saying that platforms were intended for games. I'd be looking to achieve something similar to what I did with the playlists. For example: Console [Category] - Nintendo Entertainment System [Platform] - NES USA [Sub-Platform] - Games - NES Japan [Sub-Platform] - Games - NES Europe [Sub-Platform] - Games If this isnt currently possible, could this be added, as well, in a future update? Lastly, no, I havent used any betas. I created a "Test" category when I was learning how to use nested folders. I also deleted the category but it's still showing up in my Big Box wheel. Is there a way to physically remove that in the xmls or something? Because there is definitely no "Test" category, hidden or otherwise, when I use regular Launchbox. Thanks for getting back to me!

Just a little update for those who might be struggling with this too. I was testing out a few things and got these results: When you make a platform that is meant for only playlists, like the example above, you need to have at least one game in that specific platform portion or Launchbox rejects it from the list. What I did was make a quick little text doc just to serve as a place holder. When you open Big Box, the text doc (Or game if you put in a game) does not show up but the Playlists will. However, I'm not sure why the text doc doesnt show up as an item you can select. I'm ok with this for now as this is more of a work around until its confirmed to be working as intended. With that said, I'm using the Unified Theme and for whatever reason, the new platforms I create to organize my playlists, use the generic Big Box pointer instead of the custom ones I've renamed to match the platform. I'm not sure if that's supposed to happen since it works on pretty much everything else. Lastly, while attempting to figure this out, I now have a Category named "Test" that I created for obvious reasons that I seem to be unable to "delete" despite deleting it. It doesnt show up in Launchbox but it does show up in Big Box. I deleted that Test category but it's still present for some odd reason. I've checked through the root folder and everything else that's collapsible within in. Any advice @Jason Carr ? Is there anything else I can do to help?

Hey guys, I've been trying to get the hang of the nested folder feature since it's a feature I've been really excited for. I'm not sure if I'm just doing something wrong or if this is a bug? Basically, I was trying to organize my playlists so that they aren't as redundant. For example: PLAYLISTS [Category] - Final Fantasy (Platform) -- Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (Playlist) -- Final Fantasy XV Universe (Playlist) Pretty much just how ETA Prime demo'd it in the update video. So after I create the "Final Fantasy" platform and move the playlists into it, I get the drop down arrow to appear next to the platform's name but it says that there are 0 games in it. Afterwards, when I launch Big Box, the platform within the category is missing entirely. So I guess one question I have is; is this nested folder feature available for Big Box? Or is it something for Launchbox.Next only? Secondly, if I use the nested folders, how do I get content that I've stored in those folders to appear in Big Box? Now this is where I think it might be a bug. While I was trying to solve the "0 games" issue, I imported a single game to an unrelated platform. After doing so, it wiped out my nested folder and dropped my playlists into their own categories. I had to edit them and manually put them back into the "Playlist" category and uncheck the "Root" box so there wasn't a duplicate entry. I know ETA said he'd be doing a tutorial so maybe the answers are gonna be in there but I thought I'd just make a post to bring it to the attention of the community in case it actually is a bug. Thanks for the help in advance!

Ok, I got it to work. I went into the hotkeys menu in Dolphin and manually changed "Load State Slot". Now here's where it gets weird. I have to leave it on "Dinput/0/Keyboard Mouse" in order for it to fire. If I switch the profile to "Xinput", it wont auto load the save state. Despite me manually changing all the hotkeys.

Hmm? Are you using the stable build? Or a development version? I'm on 5.0 stable. I'm gonna try it with F1 instead of F3. I made a save state with F3 just to keep it simple. Also, I think F1 loads from the last save state made, not necessarily one tied to a specific game. I'll let you know if it works!

That's a good idea but I was really hoping I could have automated this. No biggie, I'm sure it will be capable at some point. I appreciate your guys' help!

I just tried that and it didnt work. So when I use ahk2exe to convert the text doc to an exe file, it keeps flagging up my anti-virus. It never did this before, so I'm not sure why it's doing it now. It's finding it as Ludicrous.Q. Looks like a false positive so when I white list the ahk I just made, it doesnt work. So I dont know if that's windows cutting off the exe before it even has a chance to work or not? Have you run into this issue before? Everything I've made for PCSX2 works like a charm and I feel like this is just something stupid I'm over looking.

Does anyone know if you can have Dolphin auto load a save state through an AHK? I was able to get something similar working for PCSX2 thanks to the help of Dragon57. However, the script doesnt seem to transfer to Dolphin despite keeping all the inputs the same. I read through some old posts from three years or so ago and there was talk about adding the the ability to command prompt but I dont think it went anywhere. Thats about all the information I could dig up. Am I just doing something wrong? This is the script: #NoEnv Sleep, 3000 SetKeyDelay, -1, 110 Send {F3} Return If I manually push F3, it works. I've tried having the AHK load before Dolphin, after Dolphin, etc. I've got nothing.

So, I was kind of inspired by The Cutting Room Floor and Hidden palace to curate a playlist of prototypes and betas. Preferably ones that were completed (or mostly completed) games that never saw an official release in the USA. I wasn't looking to include EVERY prototype or beta, but mostly a community agreed upon best of list. I was hoping I could get some of your guys' input on what this playlist should contain. So far I have: Earthbound Beginnings - NES Final Fantasy II - NES Titan Warriors - NES Lobo - SNES Spellcraft - SNES Thrill Kill - PSone Resident Evil 1.5 - PSone Hellgate - Dreamcast Propeller Arena - Dreamcast Beastball - Genesis Beyond Zero Tolerance - Genesis Dragon's Lair The Adventure Continues - Genesis Fido Dido - Genesis It Came from the Desert - Genesis Lufia & the Fortress of Doom - Genesis ResQ - Genesis Sonic Crackers - Genesis Penn and Teller - Sega CD Primal Rage 2 - Arcade Saints Row Undercover - PSP Diddy Kong Pilot - GBA Overstorm - GBA Mini Racers - N64 Resident Evil - GB Warcraft Adventure - PC I could work on artwork and assets for the Unified Theme but I dont really have much experience in creating all those awesome videos like you see from Mr. Baker, CTRL-ALT_DEFEAT, harryoke, and padou. I could try to create something but it would probably be very basic all things considered. So if anyone would like to whip something up, I'm sure it would be better than anything I could do. I look forward to seeing what you guys think and if this has been mentioned before, my bad. I looked through the forum but I didnt see anything.

Perfect! Instead of putting the code in the AHK Script section of the emulator, I converted it to an .exe. I set that .exe to launch before the main app when launching PCSX2 from launchbox and it auto loaded my save state! I'm going for a seamless experience with my launchbox and being able to boot directly from a save state adds to the immersion. For example, I have been wracking my brain for almost two months on how to load directly into Hyper Street Fighter Alpha without having to download/convert memory card saves, navigate menus, and otherwise launching Street Fighter Alpha Anthology proper. This opens so many more doors for hidden games within games. Thank you so much for your help!

I've been searching for hours but I cant seem to wrap my head around how to use AHKs. I've copy/pasted ones people have posted on the forums but anything I try to write doesnt work. It also doesnt help that I dont understand how it works. I've been reading tutorials for the past hour and I'm still not understanding it. Here's what I'm trying to do; When PCSX2 opens, I'd want an AHK to press F3 just once to auto load a save state. Is this even possible? My theory is, I could write an AHK.exe and have it load before the launch of the rom in the additional apps feature. Can someone with more experience show me if this possible, please?

I'm gonna have to do a little digging then. The last thing I was able to find so far was a post from 2010 that says an old version of PCSX2 could not load from a save state.

I think I may have found a solution that is way simpler for what I was originally trying to do. So instead of ripping the ROM off of the PS2 disc itself, I created a save state right at the title screen for the game I wanted. With that said, is it possible to have launch box launch a PS2 iso with a PCSX2 save state? If so, what the command line I would use?

Two reasons. One, the game has all sorts of graphical issues and slowdowns when emulated. I imagine that's due to how the game itself is structured since it's a compilation. I could never get it work properly on my old modded PS2 with HDLoader either and that was the explanation given back in the mid 2000's when the game came out. Two, I kind of want a seamless launch experience for Bigbox. If the game itself actually ran properly, you'd then have to unlock it or enter in whatever code was necessary to access it since it's a hidden game. If the game was able to be ripped off of the disc similar to how we have the others (ssf2t.zip, sfa3.zip, sfiii3.zip, etc...) I could directly launch it, in theory. I guess it would depend on if the ROM is even playable in MAME since MAME doesnt have a listing for it or if you'd need to use some other emulator like FBA or a standalone CPS2 emulator. To a lesser extent, I'd like to this with Metal Gear 1 & 2 from the MGS3 Subsistence disc but there's less hoops to jump through to get to those when you launch the disc. So I just made two listings in Launchbox and had it launch the ISO instead of the MSX ROMs.

Yeah lol. I was reading the post and the outdated post it linked to thinking I was missing something. I have no clue how Capcom wraps their ROMs to be played on PS2, so I dont even know if it's possible to pull it off the disc. I'm going to assume either A) It's not possible because it's encrypted or, B) No one really ever thought about it because it's a pretty obscure thing to do. I've seen people from Mugen forums open the ISO and rip sprite animations from that specific disc so It got me thinking if it was possible. Especially since ROMs were pulled directly off of Gamecube games. I've also ripped my game and tried to peek into the ISO but I dont think I have the tools to get more than just surface level stuff. I'm also not well educated on this kind of process so I'm learning as I'm attempting to do it. Which makes it difficult to convey what I'm trying to do. Thanks for trying to help though!

I did a quick search on the forums and didnt see this question already asked. Is there a way to rip ROMs from a PS2 disc, for example? I did some searching on Metal Gear 1 and 2 that were officially translated for the MGS3 Subsistence bonus disc and the general consensus is that the ROMs probably arent running through an MSX emulator but rather using assets unique to the retail copy. Basically, no known way to extract the ROM from the disc to see if it would run through an emulator. So with that said, I started looking into other PS2 collections like Street Fighter Alpha Anthology. Which apparently runs a ROM like it would run through MAME, if I understand the information correctly. So in theory, you'd be able to extract the ROM from the disc. There's no real point since those have been dumped for years now but what about Hyper Street Fighter Alpha? It's only a versus mode that combines all the alpha games similar to Hyper Street Fighter II. Is there a way to dump that specific game and run through MAME or some other emulator? I'm going to assume the ROM is packed like the other arcade versions of the game but I have no way to verify this. Are there tools to explore a PS2 disc and it's contents? Or are there smarter people than me who can find this information out for the sake of preservation? The other reason I ask, is because Street Fighter Alpha Anthology doesnt seem to be compatible with the emulator I'm using at the moment and it's an unlockable game. I think it would be cool if could be a stand alone ROM that could be booted by whatever emulator can run it. I'm sure there are other games this could apply to as well. I've seen this done with Nintendo Gamecube games like Animal Crossing and Ocarina of Time Master Quest, so I'm curious if this could apply to PS2 and Xbox.

I think they're great but I prefer the authenticity of replicating how the original box would have looked. With that said, why not both? Since both methods look great, it could just be another option. Thanks for all the hard work in creating this media.