LaunchBox Beta Testing

[Jason Carr]

Lol, that'd work. Actually, in all honesty, a thread per suggestion/issue is helpful. Just because then we can focus discussion on that particular thing in the thread. I'm not Steam during the work day. Can't really talk much from 8:30-5:00 M-F.

[SentaiBrad]

Well damn.... ok. Work sucks I'll make some threads at some point....

[bd00]

Hi, something came up and I have not had a lot of spare time the past few days. I will be more active in a day or two. I will try test the import wizard tonight in beta3. Looks like Brad is keeping you busy anyway Great work on testing Brad and great work for keeping up Jason Catch you guys later and I will do my best to get some testing done on the wizard tonight.

[SentaiBrad]

Don't worry. Life is a priority, my life is just... eh. So I get to fill it with doing stuff like this. I like doing this anyways, I've always wanted a job doing something PC related.

[Jason Carr]

Thanks, bd; no worries. Life is life. For anyone who's interested in outstanding issues, features, etc., I created a BitBucket issues list a while ago and just opened it up to the public. It's not exactly complete; I've just been using for new issues/requests (I have some old ones I haven't added to it). https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox I'd prefer not to have people entering issues there directly (rather use the forums), but it does serve as a good outlook on what there is to do.

[SentaiBrad]

Cool, that way I can reference this and point you towards it or let you know to add something to it. I wont touch the page though.

[Jason Carr]

Thanks, Brad. Sounds good.

[bd00]

OK, did a quick test with the wizard and it works great (using the variables i stated in an earlier post). The first game I tried actually failed, the installation failed in dosbox, but I don't believe it is a LB related issue. Will look into that further when I get time, just to be sure. Second game I tried worked flawlessly, LaunchBox made the set-up a breeze. No problems at all. Excellent work Now, if only TheGamesDB had a better DOS library! I will do some more testing for you later, but right now I got to go.

[SentaiBrad]

I can say Jason and I looked in to Wikipedia and how to pull info from them. Jason was shocked. It is going to be a lot easier than we realized. They even have a public API! We just need to figure out how to parse the info and put it in the correct fields, and make sure we're pulling the right console and date info. I haven't tested the DOS install features yet, ive just been working on LaunchBox for a lot of other things. I've been trying to break it and get my library going. I've got a lot of it filled in with pictures now. - and : throw off the name scanning in TGDB because a lot of roms use - instead of : because you can't use : in explorer. Also, Disc 1, Disc 2, that sort of thing throws off the searching capabilities too, I often have to remove the Disc 1 portion then add it back after It's found the game. I already went through and removed the [ ] around the Disc portions so that the program would add them in to the title, they are important after all, but I didn't realize it would throw it off this bad.

[SentaiBrad]

So, when you import a rom set, regardless of if it finds a game or not, it still applies the System you said it belonged to. When you import Steam games it doesn't specify games it can't find on TheGamesDB, so when I went to my PC filter to delete everything from there, it didn't remove all of the games. So now I have a bunch of PC games it didn't find that I have to manually delete. I think its good that no matter what you always have the System filter to go by, but not in this case. Edit: Also, when you get the :, - and The more situated can you implement an option to rescan the games to see if It can re-find some of the games? Holy crap I have a lot of stuff that doesn't have data or images.

[Jason Carr]

Alright, here's beta 4. This has batch editing and some other stuff you can check out in the changelog. I do need the batch editing tested well if you can, and of course we still need much more testing on the DOS Game Installation Wizard. Yes, integrating Wikipedia should be very doable. It's still a lot of work, but an API is available and should have everything we need. That said, there's no fanart or anything like that on Wikipedia, so it's not on the same level as MobyGames, but it's an improvement. This new version fixes Brad's complaints on the TGDB name scanning as well. Brad, everything imported from Steam is marked with a status of "Imported from Steam" and a source of "Steam". So trying to find games to delete shouldn't be an issue, and the new bulk editing should let you easily set the platform. I do have plans to add a bulk TheGamesDB search, but haven't done it yet. Thanks guys for all your help.

[SentaiBrad]

Gosh, AUTHOR CODE FAAASSSTEEERRRR. You're not keeping up with me. Good work, really. Just in the bit I've been around its developing quickly, squashing the bugs that probably only happen for me.

[Jason Carr]

Um...so guess what guys... All my complaining about TheGamesDB and their borked search? Um, yeah. I just discovered that all the code for the entire site is open source on GitHub: https://github.com/TheGamesDB/TheGamesDB So I set out to fix the search bug myself, so I could just submit a pull request. Then I discovered that there's another way to search using GetGamesList.php, and the search bugs aren't a problem with that one. So! I'm gonna finally get to fix that search! Isn't it wonderful? I still wish I could communicate with them (meaning I wish they'd respond), but this is progress at least. Edit: Also, for what it's worth, the fact that the whole site is open source means that it ain't ever going away. At some point, if the current owner wants to get rid of it, there's plenty of other people who can take it over (I might be interested). Still going to look to integrate Wikipedia at least, but I'm less worried about the fate of TGDB.

[SentaiBrad]

Yea, that is fantastic. If it is open source, maybe there can be very specific clients that don't get distributed and you can import Data.. I know that would never be a public thing, but for a select few. I doubt it. Either way, at least we can work through some of the issues instead of creating a set of new problems.

[Jason Carr]

Agreed, Brad. It's possible that I could work with them to build an import from Wikipedia or something else. Anyways, here's 3.2 beta 5. This version is now feature complete for the full release of 3.2. I fixed the search for TheGamesDB as I referenced above, and added the ability to name your imported ROMs by folder name instead of file name. We still need the Install DOS Game Wizard and the bulk edit feature tested the most. Also now, the new search could use some testing as well. Thanks folks.

[SentaiBrad]

Yay, look, I am breaking it! Error Code System.ArgumentException: Parameter is not valid. at System.Drawing.Bitmap..ctor(Int32 width, Int32 height, PixelFormat format) at LaunchBox.GameGui.RefreshImage(Game game, Size size) at LaunchBox.GameGui.RefreshImage() at LaunchBox.GamesControl.Application_Idle(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponent.FDoIdle(Int32 grfidlef) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.ShowDialog(IWin32Window owner) at LaunchBox.Program.HandleException(Exception ex) at LaunchBox.Program.Application_ThreadException(Object sender, ThreadExceptionEventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.OnThreadException(Exception t) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProcException(Exception e) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG& msg) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.OnRun() at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.DoApplicationModel() at Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.WindowsFormsApplicationBase.Run(String[] commandLine) at LaunchBox.Program.SingleInstanceApplication.Run(Form form, StartupNextInstanceEventHandler startupHandler) at LaunchBox.Program.Main(String[] args) So, what I was doing was adding DOS games manually. I went in to the folder: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Pools Of Darkness (1991)(Strategic Simulations Inc). I realized I already added the game and I went to back out of the import. So from the menu that asks you to select the proper exe for the game you're importing I just hit cancel and got this. Edit: Actually, I take that back. It was after you select the exe and the edit screen pops up. I hit the search button and realized I already added the game, so then I hit cancel from that menu.

[bd00]

Ok, I did a little more testing with the dos wizard and revisited the issue (i mentioned previously) earlier this morning. However, I was using beta3 because I did not stop by the forums before hand. The problem game I had initially when testing, turned out to be just that, a problem game. I tried installing it using DOSbox independently (not using LB) and I encountered the same error. It had nothing to do with LB and in the end I came to the conclusion that there is a problem with the disc image. Moving on, I tried 3 more games using the wizard (all ISO's though) in a fresh instance of LB each time. I tried different deviations (for each game) following on from the ISO option (e.g. do/don't move game, do/don't mount, etc.) and it worked without problems each time. Physical discs are a problem for me, i do have them, but they are in the attic somewhere and I really can't be bothered with the hassle. However, if push comes to shove, I suppose I could drag my lazy behind up there, equipped with my head lamp and venture into the cluttered maze of cardboard boxes. Hmm, I must remember to take bread crumbs, so I can find my way back... maybe a survival kit... and I can't forget my... "LunchBox" ... ahhh that was terrible... i am digressing. Anyway, I will download beta5 and do some more testing on the wizard, but I will switch the main priority to the bulk editing. I will try to report back tonight with the results.

[SentaiBrad]

Beta 6 should be tonight if Jason has done more than I think. He's been working tirelessly. I'm running a Beta 6 build and the search functions have greatly increased. The scan you do when you import roms was very very strict. Now its still strict, but the rules for searching have been expanded upon greatly. Out of a set of 150 roms he had, all that were in the DB were found on the initial scan. I've found a higher % on initial import too. So this next full release will be huge. On a side note, I've started adding in more DOS games again too. I finished up most of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games and I am filling out more and more slowly.

[bd00]

Bulk editing is working great, have not encountered a problem yet. However, when bulk editing the emulator there is no option to add a new one, only select from a list of already added ones. Personally, I am not sure about the whole wizard type approach you have took and I would prefer just the normal edit window with the incompatible fields greyed out. This would make for quicker and easier editing. Less menu's, better visual representation and such. Also, since the notes field is now occupied by the game description, it may be worth adding something like a "tags" field.

[SentaiBrad]

We talked about the wizard approach. I personally don't mind it, but with one option at a time it sucks. He also told me that the edit menu for multi edit would be a nightmare. My suggestion was to keep using the Wizard but let us select multiple fields at a time. We can expand the wizard here and there so a coding nightmare could be avoided.