utopicide

Hi, Please add "Select Random Game (Ctrl+Alt+Q)" to the list of commands that can be configured via game controller mappings. It would be such a joy to be able to run this command while browsing my collection with the controller. Or, if there's a technical or philosophical reason that command wasn't included in the mappings list, please let me know so I can stop wishing for it! :) Thanks, Aaron

I use RocketLauncher with the Launchbox front-end plugin. After installing this beta, launching any game produces an error like the one below. Apparently, the Launcher is looking for the platform xml file in a "Core\Data\Platforms" subfolder, rather than the "Data\Platforms" subfolder where it is normally located.

HI all, I strongly prefer Japanese box cover art, as it is frequently vastly superior to its Western counterparts. (I'm a PC Engine fan, and the Western cover art is often downright hideous.) If I choose Japan as my preferred region when importing combined ROMs, I get my preferred Japanese cover art, but the default ROM will also be the Japanese variant, which is not good because I don't speak Japanese. If I choose North America/World/United States as my preferred region(s), I can play the games in English, but the inferior box art displays in Launchbox. Currently, the only way to accomplish my preference is to set up multiple instances of each platform--one for playing, and one for prepping images--and then moving image files around on the hard drive. It's a big hassle. Am I missing something? Ideally, I'd be able to set region preference for cover art and ROM combination independently (and maybe I can, and I just don't know how). Or, maybe there are other, more efficient workarounds. I can't be the only person with this preference, and I'd be grateful for any ideas on how to do this more easily. Cheers, Aaron

FYI, after deleting the plugins folder and installing 8.x beta, the Plugins folder (just the folder itself) has been re-created, but it is now empty (no Unbroken DLLs or any other files). Not sure if that's what you expect, given your statement that the framework DLLs get overwritten with each new version. It appears that the beta is not installing the plugin framework, unless there's some weird edge case bug that's preventing it in my case. I only deleted the Plugins folder before installing the beta, but I can't delete everything and make a completely clean install, because I have a ton of customization in e.g. the Data folder. (Edit: corrected "I only deleted the Plugins folder before deleting the beta" to "I only deleted the Plugins folder before installing the beta".)

More feedback: I had forgotten that I had downloaded the plugin framework separately. I downloaded it a long time ago, and I'm not sure if I had an outdated version (though it worked fine with 7.x). Be advised that there may be a compatibility issue between the latest beta and the Unbroken plugin framework DLLs. When I get time, I'll reinstall the latest plugin DLLs from the site, as well as my own simple custom plugins, and reply here if any crashes result. (Or, if you'd rather I use the bug tracker, let me know and I'll post there.) Edit: To directly answer your question above, I *believe* that the only things left in the plugins folder before I deleted it were the official Unbroken framework files (DLLs and language folders). Unfortunately I deleted the files permanently so I can't say for sure. Will keep you posted if I run into issues reinstalling the plugins later.

Per my previous post, I am now attempting to reinstall the beta. Deleted Plugins folder, to make it "pristine", since I was using custom plugins at one point (even though I had deleted all my custom files). Began install of LaunchBox-7.16-Setup.exe...Success. After install, installer automatically launches LB...Success. Prompt appears that new beta is available. Would I like to install it now?...Yes. LB automatically closes and begins new beta installer. Installer completes successfully. After beta install, installer automatically launches LB...unexpectedly, success! (This is where I was getting the error.) Apparently, there was something about my Plugins folder that was preventing the latest beta from loading successfully, and deleting the folder (step 1 above) resolved it. So, I'm good to go. Don't know if this information is useful to you or not, but now you know FWIW. Cheers, Aaron

Hi Jason, Since I see you're reading the thread, I'll reinstall one more time to reproduce the error and make sure I'm describing it correctly. Stand by.

Tried the following steps, and still got the same error: Removed my custom plugins from the Plugins folder. Downloaded and re-installed 7.16, which was successful. After LB starts, it offers to install latest 8.x beta. Beta appears to install successfully. When Beta actually starts itself (after install), progress bar goes well until towards the end, when the progress bar shows "Loading Plugins". At that moment, I get the error.

FYI the installer errored out when it tried to install, and didn't complete. Now, when I try to start LB, I get the following error (see below). I tried removing the simple custom plugin I had put into the Plugins folder, but I still get this error. For now, I'm going to try reinstalling the previous version, and hope that it works. Will update with any new info. Unable to load one or more of the requested types. Retrieve the LoaderExceptions property for more information. App: LaunchBox Version: 8.0-beta-1 Type: System.Reflection.ReflectionTypeLoadException Site: System.RuntimeType[] GetTypes(System.Reflection.RuntimeModule) Source: mscorlib at System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.GetTypes(RuntimeModule module) at System.Reflection.Assembly.GetTypes() at Unbroken.LaunchBox.Root.LoadPlugins[T](IEnumerable`1 assemblies, ConcurrentDictionary`2& plugins) at (String , Form ) at Unbroken.LaunchBox.Root.LoadPlugins(String folderPath, Form splashForm) at (String[] ) at Unbroken.LaunchBox.Desktop.Program.Main(String[] args) Recent Log: 7:32:57 PM Exception

Desktop mode has a "Select Random Game..." command in the Tools menu. Is that command available anywhere in Big Box? Ideally, I'd be able to invoke it from a controller button. Perhaps there's a way to do this via AutoHotKey script, or some other way? Thanks in advance.

Ah! That makes sense, thank you.

neil9000 and dos76: I was talking about source to the plugin and not LaunchBox itself, though my original post could have been clearer. igotdvds: Thank you for the offer to help, it is much appreciated. My first question is: How do you reference the LaunchBox DLLs from within a standalone app? I can only get the LaunchBox API to function if I call if from within a plugin called from a running instance of LaunchBox, and I'm hoping if I can get a direct reference in a standalone app, it may make debugging a lot easier.

Am I posting these questions in the wrong place? Or is activity on developing plugins just kind of quiet? I'm trying to connect to the community, but I wonder if I'm doing something wrong--for instance, if there's some larger protocol that I'm not following. I welcome any constructive criticism or advice on engaging with the community.

I sincerely hope this isn't presumptive or rude, but you can't know if you don't ask--would it be possible to see the source code for this app? I have some ideas for apps that I'd like to build, but I'm a bit of a programming novice. Since there are few examples building on the Launchbox API, it would be hugely instructive to see how you've gone about building this application. If the answer is no, it's no problem, of course. As I said, I'm not a professional programmer, so I'm not familiar with all the etiquette surrounding this type of thing. If the request is rude in any way, please chalk it up to ignorance rather than malice. Cheers, Aaron

Hi, I'm trying to programmatically set a game's additional application to its default. There is no e.g. SetAsDefault method on the IAdditionalApplication object, and my attempts to replicate this functionality with a custom method have been unsuccessful. For one thing, I'm barely good enough at programming to productively attempt such a routine. For another, when I use IGame's TryRemoveAdditionalApplication method, it seems to only partially succeed, deleting the data but leaving an empty container (an IAdditionalApplication with all visible fields set to empty) that I can't otherwise get rid of. Please advise: 1) Is there a way to set an additional application as the game default that I am not seeing? 2) If not, can one be added to the API (i.e., by Jason)? 3) If not, does anyone have a working routine I can drop into my code, or can otherwise advise me on how to accomplish? Thank you! Aaron