[9.8-beta-1 Released]

It might be cool to have an option to play the game theme song in pause for any games that has a downloaded theme song linked to it...

Edit: I'm not referring to a button to play the theme song, I'm thinking checking a box in Launchbox pause settings to autoplay if available.

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

7 minutes ago, deliyuerek85 said:

That is what I was hoping to be added too actually.

This wouldn't necessarily be a bad addition, but you're adding an extra step to exit a game when we already have keyboard/controller automation. Unless you're wanting a "proper" exit or something... Although when using controller automation with FS-UAE emulator for the Amiga CD32, it just takes me to the emulator menu and does not want to exit, i have to press up to the X to manually close. I've even tried using an ahk script to exit with alt-F4. This emulator also doesn't seem to like the new Pause Screen either, it seems to take over in a way that no other emulator does...
 

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

29 minutes ago, Omen said:

This should work, let me know if it doesn't and I'll see what I can figure out:

vk07sc000::

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000")
{
		Send {m down}{m up}
}

 

I appreciate the help... unfortunately it didn't work.

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

On 4/25/2019 at 11:09 AM, Omen said:

I'd have to disagree with you on that, I think it should support both options. My entire setup uses the guide button as a hold button:

Guide + Start = Exit game. (This will be changed to activate Pause once Pause is more functional.

Guide + LB = Switch display to primary

Guide + RB = Switch display to secondary

Guide + Left Stick button (L3) = Custom script that force closes every emulator (backup kill all for emulators).

Guide + Right Stick button (R3) = Custom script that force closes everything, including BigBox, then restarts BigBox (backup kill all and restore).

Guide + Y = Custom command for each emulator, Cemu for example toggles between the gamepad screen and TV, when using this shortcut. In PCSX2 it switches between hardware and software rendering.

Guide + X = Toggle full screen in emulators.

Guide + B = Turn off controller.

Guide + A = Test shortcut, for testing new commands.

 

Here's an example of my AHK script for Cemu (The other functions like display switching amd turning off the controller are handled by EventGhost):

; This section closes Emu when pressing Guide Button and Start

vk07sc000::

Joy4::

Joy8::

Joy9::

Joy10::

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy8")
{
	Run, L:\Launchbox\System\Scripts\Kill_Emu.exe
}

; This section toggles gamepad screen when pressing Guide & Triangle

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy4")
{
	Send {z down}{z up}
}

; This section closes Emu when pressing Guide Button and L3


If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy9")
{
	Run, L:\Launchbox\System\Scripts\Kill_Emu.exe
}

; This section closes All when pressing Guide Button and R3


If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy10")
{
	Run, L:\Launchbox\System\Scripts\Kill_All.exe
}

Any chance you have an ahk script for a single press to map the guide button to the pause screen now that we have per emulator ahk options? I'm not deadset on keeping these bindings, but currently I have pause set to keyboard key "M" in LaunchBox and controller 'hold Select and press A' in BigBox. Thanks.

 

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

Pause screens are looking awesome! One thing I noticed that would be handy to have in them is the ability to show retroachievements in the pause screen... not sure if that's something that needs to be programmed in or if that's going to be a custom theme implementation for a theme creator. So glad LaunchBox finally has Pause Screens to completely make Rocketlauncher redundant software for me, thanks Jason!

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

8 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Not sure if that is performance-related or not. All my testing with MAME has resulted in very quick transitions. Are you running Windows 7 or 10? What are your hardware specs?

I'll look into the LaunchBox button issue.

I am running Windows 10, i7, 32gb ram, rtx2080. Otherwise, everything else seems to run fine as usual...

Update: I went back and tried a few different MAME games and didn't seem to hang quite as much as the first attempt. It transitioned fairly well but the game audio hangs for a few seconds. I also tried a few systems within RetroArch to compare and everything worked perfectly.

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

4 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

The pause screens are entirely emulator-specific. So I'll need details on what game or emulator it is, first and foremost.

I have only tested pause with MAME v201 64bit so far. Pause technically works, but really hesitates going in and out of the pause screen. Also, not sure if it's only meant to work in BigBox up to this point, but I couldn't get it to work in LaunchBox with the button I assigned in LB settings.

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

3 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

Yeah, it has some issues. I did a shutdown and restart and can get it to work, sort of. It doesn't like coming in and out of pause. It is slow. There is a lag and then the pause screen comes up. Then I try to unpause and it flashes different screens like it isn't blanking the windows or is alt-tabbing through them. So I will see my underlying LB window, or the game screen quickly before finally settling on the LB window finally. But it often hangs the game window. So I will here the stuck "broken record" sound of the game I was running, but then LB comes back and has it's game video sounds running at the same time. I did get that error box again so I could send a report. Hopefully that will give Jason something to go on. 

I am getting the same thing. It hangs for about 5-10 seconds going in and out of pause with the "broken record" sound of the game.

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

35 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

Well I still can't get pause to do anything. I made the slash / question mark my pause key and nothing happened while playing the game. Then I changed it to J. All I should have to do is press that key in the middle of the game, right? I have my pause theme set to "default". Are there themes I need to install?

I was trying to test it for the first time just about an hour ago too and was running into the same thing. I couldn't get anything to work within LB, I had to go into BB and set a button in controller automation for pause and then it worked.

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

Alright, this has been a huge headache, but beta 6 is out now and I'm hoping the pause screens are a lot more stable than beta 5. Thus far with this beta I have not seen any issues with MAME, Retroarch, or Dolphin in my testing. Other emulators are still up in the air, however, and I still haven't added any real features outside of just showing and closing the pause screen. Let me know how this beta fares compared to beta 5.

Really appreciate your hard work on this feature, I've really been looking forward to it. Will these pause screens be themeable or have the ability to be modified as well, or will they be set as is per update? I'm really curious to see how these will work...

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

8 hours ago, Omen said:

I'd have to disagree with you on that, I think it should support both options. My entire setup uses the guide button as a hold button:

Guide + Start = Exit game. (This will be changed to activate Pause once Pause is more functional.

Guide + LB = Switch display to primary

Guide + RB = Switch display to secondary

Guide + Left Stick button (L3) = Custom script that force closes every emulator (backup kill all for emulators).

Guide + Right Stick button (R3) = Custom script that force closes everything, including BigBox, then restarts BigBox (backup kill all and restore).

Guide + Y = Custom command for each emulator, Cemu for example toggles between the gamepad screen and TV, when using this shortcut. In PCSX2 it switches between hardware and software rendering.

Guide + X = Toggle full screen in emulators.

Guide + B = Turn off controller.

Guide + A = Test shortcut, for testing new commands.

 

Here's an example of my AHK script for Cemu (The other functions like display switching amd turning off the controller are handled by EventGhost):

; This section closes Emu when pressing Guide Button and Start

vk07sc000::

Joy4::

Joy8::

Joy9::

Joy10::

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy8")
{
	Run, L:\Launchbox\System\Scripts\Kill_Emu.exe
}

; This section toggles gamepad screen when pressing Guide & Triangle

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy4")
{
	Send {z down}{z up}
}

; This section closes Emu when pressing Guide Button and L3


If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy9")
{
	Run, L:\Launchbox\System\Scripts\Kill_Emu.exe
}

; This section closes All when pressing Guide Button and R3


If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy10")
{
	Run, L:\Launchbox\System\Scripts\Kill_All.exe
}

 

That seems pretty logical for your configuration, having a more complex in-game command setup. I would assume I fall in the more average user setup and only really needing the exit game command... using hold select and press start for example. A single press on start to pause the current game and a single press on guide as the global pause for more features just seems perfect my setup and possibly most users. My post was assuming it would work the way you're wanting it to but hoping to have the option as a stand-alone keypress.

[9.8-beta-1 Released]

10 hours ago, Omen said:

@Jason Carr Would it be possible to make controller automation compatible with the Xbox Guide button, so that the guide button could be used as the Hold button? The button guide button is vk07sc000 instead of joy1, joy2, ect.

Yes! I was planning on posting this question also. Being able to assign a global function like pause to the guide button for every emulator is the best way to go, if possible. In fact, I wouldn't even assign it as a hold button, I would assign it as the only primary button... with the option to hold for like 3 seconds to activate. It's not really mappable to action buttons within emulators anyway, so it's just sitting there waiting for my favorite new LaunchBox feature to finally take advantage of it.

[9.6-beta-1 Released]

I am experiencing basically the exact same thing with controller lag and no images... although I did see part of a video preview. I was able to get in startup themes but it took forever for it to finally back out of it.

[9.6-beta-1 Released]

This is one of my more anticipated features, awesome to see it's being implemented! I think this screen might be a good place to also manage startup videos with the option to randomize.

[Pre-configured SumatraPDF + JoyToKey to view PDF's with a controller in LaunchBox]

2 minutes ago, Kondorito said:

Hey guys! Sorry for bumping this old topic. I have the same issue. @PanteraZombie, were you able to resolve this?

No, I haven't messed with it in a while... I'm thinking it might have something to do with the the code to move the mouse cursor to the bottom right of the corner of the window, but we can now easily hide the cursor within BigBox. Or it might need tweaking to force the focus on the magazine.

[9.2-beta-2 Released]

Awesome work with the new update Jason! The new startup and shutdown screens are working great once tweaked for a few emulators, even for Windows games. I have a question though... I know how to duplicate and rename platform xmls for disc games to get them to spin, but is there a way to make it work per game? I'm just thinking I might run into a situation where a computer platform might have both cds and disks/carts. Thanks!

[9.2-beta-1 Released]

14 hours ago, Chris Kant said:

hey @Jason Carr can you make the playlist option under "right click --> add to playlist" a bit more useful? maybe building a folder structure within the playlist folder per system where the playlist is located? else the manuell adding to a playlist is not really human anymore ?

 

Another thing this affects that I just noticed, is that it now takes forever to load the platform/playlist theme video downloader. With the newest version, the new playlists created for system genres etc. inherit the platform theme video anyway. Maybe these new playlists should only be included with a checkbox or some kind of option.

[9.2-beta-1 Released]

30 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

Make sure you actually have fanart for the games you are testing, and also that you dont have background fade set to 100%.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I was looking in the xaml file, what ended up working was setting my background priorities in LaunchBox options. Everything was unchecked.

Edit:

Although this works now, this overrides my default custom background for LaunchBox that I prefer as a global background. I'm sure this will be worked out later in the Game Startup options for more specific settings.

[9.2-beta-1 Released]

12 hours ago, neil9000 said:

Awesome, just had a quick play and seems to be working well so far. Ill give it more of a beating over the course of the day, but so far looking great.  

How are you getting the game backgrounds to show? By default, I'm just getting a black background.

[9.2-beta-1 Released]

This is great to be able try this feature out so quick! One thing I noticed that was cool and wasn't expecting, is that the disc spins for disc games on the start up screen if you're already using a theme that supports it. I did notice that PCSX2 is one of the emulators that stays covered by the startup screen and never shows the game. This first iteration without even being themed yet is already showing a lot of promise. Looking forward to watching the progress in future betas!

[Startup Screens, Pause Screens, and Bezels Discussions]

I'm more looking forward to startup screens and pause menu. Bezels and fades aren't necessary to me, more of a nice option to have. For the startup screen, it would be nice to display the platform image with the current game selected logo. Along with the game details such as number of times played and/or last time played. Videos or animations would be great too.

Pause menu, I would like to see a quick way to access a controller button layout image for that system... I.e. n64 button layout translation for my Xbox controller [maybe even have the ability to select it as the background of the pause menu]. Access to save states, manuals & artwork. Ability to view retroachievements for the game you're in. Would also love to be able to have the pause menu mappable to the Xbox home button, as that would be a nice global shortcut for that. 

Love all the progress launchbox/bigbox has been making, and even more excited about these new features coming! Thanks.

[AutoHotKey exit emulator function also exits Launchbox.Next]

Holding select and pressing start to exit the emulator first exits the emulator and then automatically closes Launchbox.Next. It seems to only be happening within Dreamcast, I'm guessing it's because of the NoMousy AHK exit script I'm using. This doesn't happen in regular Launchbox and works perfectly. Not sure if the script is necessary but I'm using this:

Run, E:Program Files\LaunchBox\NoMousy\nomousy.exe /hide
$Esc::
{
        Run, E:Program Files\LaunchBox\NoMousy\nomousy.exe
    Process, Close, demul.exe
}

 

Edit:

No longer an issue with current updates and new mouse cursor hiding features.

[Pre-configured SumatraPDF + JoyToKey to view PDF's with a controller in LaunchBox]

This works almost perfectly for viewing magazines... but I'm having a problem with it opening and not being the active window. In BigBox, when I open a magazine, it displays it but the controller continues to control BigBox behind it. I have to use my mouse to left click on the viewer to active it. So far I've had no luck finding a solution...