C64Crazy

Yes, I may have been pointing to the zipped version of the emulator. I'll check that first, and also make sure I didn't have launchbox import the roms by unzipping first. Thanks.

Zipped Mame emulator? That could be too. I'll check that first. Thanks!

Oh I see! I thought unzip files on import was asking if I wanted to unzip files before launching Mame, but I guess it imported them unzipped? I chose to keep the ROMs in the same folder I originally unzipped the folder to, so I assumed these files would not be moved or unzipped. So I'll need to delete folder, unzip original file, which produces a folder of zipped ROMs, and then uncheck unzip on import?

Using Launchbox/Bigbox. So just installed MAME 0.185 and when I go to launch a game via Launchbox or Big box using Mame 0.185 as my emulator, I get a small pop up menu that asks where I want to unzip that game's archive. I thought perhaps the emulator settings in launchbox we're set wrong, as I had it set to unzip rom before launching, but unchecking that box still gives me the pop up when trying to launch a game. Obviously I don't want every game I'm playing being duplicated and saved as an unzipped file. I have unzipped my mame roms file, which then produces a folder of zipped individual game roms, and this is the folder I used to import ROMs from. The mame file I have is of split roms. Do I have to unzip this unzipped folder further or what am I doing wrong? I know mame does not need game ROMs unzipped to execute them because it will do it it's self. I'm not sure if the pop up window asking me where to unzip is being produced by launchbox or Mame.

Great info! Thanks...

Ahhh...I did have the joystick active on both ports, so that was probably the issue. So far Winvice has been flawless, but wondering if same deal of activating joystick for both ports can cause issues with certain games. Also wondering in Winvice, how do I set it for full screen to block out background screens, yet have the It retain the proper non HD aspect ratio of a Commodore 64? Meaning, not have it stretch the game to HD proportions.

Has anybody done a tutorial video yet on importing the metadata from gamebase for the Commodore 64 to LB? Would love to do that. From what I've read gamebase has the most extensive metadata for it. Also, a little off subject, which gamebase file is just the game ROMs? I see their package is split into several files online and the descriptions of what is what are not very distict.

Will do that and see. Thanks.

Two controllers are listed in big box. One being my f310, and the other being an Xbox controller which I don't own so I assume setting my f310 to xinput instead of direct is making the OS believe there is an Xbox controller plugged in. I'm using the f310 selection. I then click on controller input ON, and then click on the first little button input window, which is in effect your "shift" key that must be held to then press the function key (like exit current window). A few of the keys on the controller get no response to try to set as my "shift" key. Such as (from memory) start or back or the big Logitech button in the middle. At least two get no response, just can't remember which right now. I'm suspecting I need to set the controller as the Xbox option?

Thanks for the info. I have been using xinput and have played some games on vice, but I don't seem to be able to setup the buttons for exiting current open window on big box premium. At the setup window if I click on first button window certain keys I want to use don't respond to input into the settings window. I'm wondering if instead of selecting the F310 controller I should select the XBox (or whatever) controller also listed? I'm thinking xinput makes windows believe it's mimicking their OS supported Xbox controllers?

Been watching numerous tutorials but still haven't found the answer to this. I want to manually assign metadata to individual ROMs that emumovies didn't have data for even after renaming those ROMs to proper names and reimporting. Also, is there a way to research for those specific ROMs only via WikiLeaks to avoid it adding to or overwriting data for other rooms emumovies already imported data for? I tried the import function from wikileaks with do not overwrite existing data function and it still added to or modified the ROMs already setup by emumovies. More than likely I will avoid trying this again, since I already reinstalled launchbox and roms to erase all that and start fresh. I'd rather just search for box art or screen shots and manually assign them to ROMs with missing data myself.

What I'd like to do is seek missing art & metadata for only 1 rom at a time, having already got most of them via emumovies. I want to seek individual missing ones via Wikipedia or elsewhere. I tried doing this for all the missing ones at once by using the "do not overide existing artwork" or whatever option and directing it to Wikipedia, but it ended up changing some of the box art I already had for the Commodore 64 to other platforms, so I uninstalled launchbox to start fresh. Also, if import still fails to find the artwork, how do I manually assign pictures to individual roms? Finally, if I uninstall launch box will it also delete all pics and metadata, or is that stuff still lurking in some picture folder somewhere that I no longer need. Or, if I simply delete a rom folder and use "clean up missing roms" tool, will it delete all this stuff so I don't need to reinstall lb to start fresh? I mainly don't want unused clutter eating up space on my hard drive. I've been watching the many tutorials for lb but haven't found these answers yet. Some of the videos aren't named specifically for a topic, but rather have general titles like "setting up snes on launchbox", where I'm finding bits and pieces to various lb setup questions I have.

So missing something here because ran into issue. Manually via windows renamed ROMs with missing or bad meta data to proper names and used lb function to wipe the meta data (art) that was now no longer attached to a rom. Reimported meta data from emumovies and that fixed most, but some still could find no box art etc from launch boxes online database. Easy enough I thought, I'll re import but this time point scraper to Wikipedia, which the scraper has as an option for, and also to set it not to over ride any already existing metadata that was not deleted for ROMs. It went ahead anyway and overwrote my commodore 64 box art for most of my ROMs with arcade or other platform versions. Have no idea what I did wrong, so now gonna delete all the ROMs in folder, use function on launch box to wipe all meta data for the now non-existing ROMs, and then import my rom folder and scrape data online all over again to start fresh. Lacking an answer to what I'm doing wrong, I think trick is to first scrape from Wikipedia option, then rescrape from launchbox online source to overwrite. Obviously the "only overwrite non existing meta data" option didn't seem to work for me. Nightmare, but at least I played some games today. I'm probably doing something wrong in entire process that caused this issue, but that's my best option until told otherwise.

So with my first images (metadata, whatever you want to call it) import via tools on LB I've found several games with images and information from a completely different game. Obviously this is due to my game rom file not being named properly. I see there is a "Clean Up Images" function under tools, that says it will search for and delete any images that there is no longer a game rom present for. Great, just what I'm looking for. But first I'll need to rename improperly named roms to the right name so that Clean Up Images will see a particular game Rom no longer exists and delete those images. I'd then want to re-import the missing images for the games that are now named properly. What I'm wondering is if there's a function on LB that guides you through all these steps? Or do I have to use my windows file editor first to rename the Roms, then run Clean Up Images, and then use some other function I'd assume exists (haven't looked for it yet) to import missing game data? Also, when Clean Up Images deletes images no longer associated with a rom file, does it also delete any other data that might have been downloaded for it, such as instructions, music, etc? I don't want to have any no longer needed data still floating around on the hard drive taking up space. I don't have a paid EmuMovies account where I'd have videos, but I have noticed music playing and screen snapshots for some of the games that I want to make sure gets deleted by the Clean Up Images function.

Just a small update: I switched to Vice for Commodore 64 Emulation. The CCS64 Emulator was giving me a few issues, such as a glitch causing it to try to load bad file names when I'd launch games via LB, etc. This was only after successfully LB launching a few games that it began to happen. Even games I had just loaded ten minutes prior with no problem would now cause the dreaded Commodore 64 "bad syntax" or no such file found error. I wasn't particularly impressed with it's interface either, and found that it was causing certain games to input ghost responses as well (such as making Mario walk left when I wasn't touching the joystick). So I erased the emulator and installed Vice in LB, and every single issue above has been fixed. I'm sure CCS64 is a great emulator, and the auto fast loading/auto deactivation really is great, but I didn't feel like digging into why I was experiencing such problems. Vice has been smooth sailing thus far. I much prefer the interface, and I guess I'll just put up with having to press Alt W to fast load and then pressing it again to deactivate it. I'm guessing I can assign that to a button on my F310 joystick, just not sure yet if I can do that through Vice or need to use some 3rd party key mapping app. I'll look into that later. Time to play a few games. Any other assigned keys to joystick buttons that people seem to like would be of interest too, such as spacebar, F1, Y, N, etc.

BTW what threw me for a loop was when I added my own MAME emulator before it did not require me to assign associated platform info. I'm guessing that's because MAME is already related to LB and so it knows what platform to associate it with. That minor issue might be good to point out in the ADD portion of the setup...that if it's a emulator not known prior this will have to be done, and that you can name it anything in NAME Emulator, then select pathway, then setup Associated Platform.

Thanks, will check that out. And yes, it's clear now the error popup window is saying to assign a platform, but that clarity is after the fact for me. I assumed they either meant you didn't pick the right platform in the prior drop down menu, or LB was being picky because you aren't picking any of the emulator names that come after the ADD emulator option. Hindsight is 20/20 though, now I know obviously. Thanks again.

Ahhhh! That got it done. Wow, they really should post that and the other above issues/info in a prompt window for setting up a new platform or emulator. I would have never known that was the issue judging by the error message. Seems like all of the above is an obscure dead end with no way out to a newbie on LB like me. I know they've put great effort into making LB easy to use, so if anybody from LB is reading this might be a good idea to explain all the above issues/solutions in the ADD EMULATOR setup window. Romset art importing as I type...Thanks a billion! Now to set up the logitech f310 controller in LB, Bigbox, & CCS64, play a few games, and then turn my attention to putting together a modern MAME romset for use with the latest emulator. THAT I'm not looking forward to. I know it's going to be an even more daunting task, not due to LB, but due to the nature of MAME. Oh BTW, what controller mapping in assigning buttons do you recommend in CCS64? Think I saw a post from you on that which sounded like a good idea...mapping certain function keys and spacebar, etc, to certain buttons on the controller to speeding through intros and such without having to screw around with the keyboard. A simple list of what you assign to what would be of big help. I also need to find out what buttons people generally assign to what for LB/BB functions, escaping emulators, etc. Have no clue yet what the most common assignments people use are and would like to follow the trend on that. Thanks again!

The Choose Platform drop down menu was prior to this. I've already selected Commodore 64 in that. The next step being Chose Emulator, which nothing shows in the drop down, so I clicked on ADD...which brings me to naming the emulator drop down, and none of the emulators listed are related to the CCS64. I then just typed in that for the name, and chose the Emulator Application Path to the emulator, but if I try to proceed with Import an error popup window says "Please enter at least one applicable platform in grid". So back to square one. It seems to want me to pick an emulator name in the drop down that it offers, none of which are remotely related.

BTW don't know if it matters, but my unzipped CCS64 folder does not show the program with an exe extension. It just describes it in the folder as an application. I assume this is no biggie? But when I chose it as the application path launchbox lists it with an exe extension. I'm guessing this is completely unrelated to the NAME EMULATOR error issue I'm having.

No dice on trying what you said. I named the Emulator CCS64, chose the pathway to the exact file, and when I try to proceed further in Import a error popup window appears and says "Please enter at least one applicable platform in grid". I'm guessing it's wanting me to pick from one of the options it offers in the NAME EMULATOR drop down menu. Time for a smoke, I'm getting frustrated!

Thanks will try all that. You're the reason I'm using CCS64, having dug up a lot of old posts on Commodore 64 emulators. Sounds like a great one. I was leaning towards Winvice until I saw your remarks about the fast auto loader that automatically activates when it senses drive activity, and deactivates automatically avoiding compatibility issues. Seems like a major drawback to vice having to manually turn it off after each load, and from what I've read doesn't seem as compatible to some games. I'll get back to you on how this pans out when I try what you've suggested, watched prior posted video, etc. Thanks...

I'll check out the C64 Setup video hoping it provides some answers, but when I launched LB for the first time and chose Import Roms it automatically launched a video by ETA Prime, which was related to installing the SNES but obviously is a How To Video on Importing Roms. Great video, but it didn't address the issues I'm running into. First, he was able to click on the little blue link to surf the web for his emulator of choice. Doesn't show on mime having picked Commodore 64 for platform, so I installed CCS64 manually. Second, he was able to find the emulator in the Name Emulator drop down. Doesn't show in mine, and I even tried placing the CCS64 emulator in the exact same folder he used. As said, when following his instructions but using ARCADE as the platform, I was able to find a mame emulator via the little blue link, installed it, and then found it in the NAME EMULATOR drop down menu. That has since been aborted due to other issues (outdated MAME I installed that won't run on Windows 10), so I figured I'd tackle the 64 first. My best guess right now is that the little blue link puts the emulator in a place LB will see as options and that I'm mistakenly putting in the Emulators folder I created, or that somehow LB is made aware of only emulators imported via that little blue link. Shot in the dark right now. Will watch the above video and hope it sorts it out.

So I installed some game roms, created a folder under Launchbox named Emulators (I think this is where they should go?), and installed the CCS64 Emulator for the Commodore 64 in that folder. Using the Import Roms tool, I picked my rom path and chose the Commodore 64 platform. So far so good, but when it comes to the next step of selecting emulators no emulators at all show in the drop down menu. So, I clicked on the ADD button and the drop down window for Emulator Name won't show CCS64 as an option. In fact, far as I can tell, all the emulator names it lists don't seem to be any kind of emulator for the Commodore 64. I don't seem to be able to find the emulators it does show as options in any of LB's folders, because I was thinking perhaps I've put CCS64 in the wrong folder and it should go elsewhere. What am I missing here, and where are those emulators it lists hidden, because I suspect that's where CCS64 should go? Bit of prior info- Before this I had tried to use LB Import Roms to download the emulator through it's system, thinking it wouldn't recognize it done manually, but that little blue Text link to surf the web does not show up when using Commodore 64 as the platform setting. It did before when I chose Arcade as the platform when first attempting to set up MAME (which I've aborted doing for now but that's a different problem). While I love what I see so far in potential having paid for Bigbox, it's been several days and I've yet to set up my first game platform on this thing, having run into several roadblocks. I'm mainly shooting for C64, Amiga, and 1980's to early 90's MAME stuff. It was easy as "pie" on the Retropie. Everything I've read says LB is so easy to use. I'm sure that's true. Just having some bad luck in my particular wants and needs of platforms and corresponding emulators I guess.

Thanks. Just copied that for future reference. And far as lb launch commands go, I believe when importing emulator setup you enter the command line -fullscreen so it launches the emulator that way? Wondering if ccs64 defaults to a good aspect ratio or if there's a prefered one for a large screen?