Feature Specific Tutorials! I need help from the community!

[SentaiBrad]

This thread has been moved to here:

 

So obviously, we get a lot of questions asked daily, and a thread in this same forum section was all about a FAQ that sadly got forgotten about. However, the FAQ only goes so far to cover the more simple aspects of LaunchBox, our Database and Jason and myself. Feature specific tutorials are meant to be all about one specific thing, preferably the things that users are having the most trouble with. Now, I see a lot of questions every single day on the Forums, BitBucket, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Steam and everything in between. My question is what do you want to see me cover the most first? I have a short quick list that I came up with and I wold like you to add to it! Feature Specific Tutorials List (so far): Updating Rom Paths with Notepad++ Controller Automation RetroArch Shaders RetroArch custom configs Some of these things have been covered in the tutorial series for systems for sure, but they do need to be broken out for more easier viewing. That is a very quick list I could come up with (my mind is drawing a blank) of thing that I see daily. If you have anything else to offer, please let me know. This sub forum is still locked in an awkward way. You can reply here but it has to be approved. It was supposed to be so that only I or Jason could make threads here, but it's broken for some reason. So if your post doesn't show up automatically or has a notification above it that is why.

[Beatlemaniac19]

My big request is an A-Z setup of RetroArch. Jason gave a pretty good tutorial on downloading it and the initial setup, and you gave a good tutorial on how to update it. However, a complete 20-30 minute tutorial explaining all of the features of RetroArch would be amazing. Here's a possible itinerary: -Navigate people to watch Jason's RetroArch configuration first and also navigate people to watch your updating RetroArch video with annotations at the beginning of the video -General configuration settings per RetroArch (go through all options) -How to set up autoconfigs for certain controllers (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4) -How to set up hotkey configurations (i.e. fast forward, rewind, save state, load state, record etc.) -How to create folders for save files and save states for each core -How to enable cheats (how to enable cheats where they are already listed in RetroArch and how to add new cheats to the cheats database) -How to enable shaders (which shaders should be used for which consoles etc. How to set up multiple shaders and enable a hotkey to switch shaders on the fly) -how to change graphics plugins (for polygon based consoles, and which graphics plugins are the most accurate) -Any other feature that you feel is important

[Beatlemaniac19]

Note: After joining the live developer session, the new Libretro frontend Phoenix, may be better to use as a Libretro frontend, if it has the same functionality as RetroArch and is more user-friendly.

[SentaiBrad]

I think I mentioned this to you previously, but I did an updated tutorial to Jason's and his links out to mine too. It's a newer user friendly tutorial for SNES in RetroArch and LaunchBox. It assumes nothing and covers the basics. I do tell people as often as I possibly can to watch that tutorial as it starts from 0, and it's updated. Jason's version is a little older and I waited several months before covering SNES for that same reason. It is also worth noting that a lot of stuff on your list is covered in my tutorials or you don't need to do anything to use them. Like Save State and Save Load is not something you need to specify. You can change them, but they're already set by default. All you need to do is look in the control menu's in RA. You also don't need to set controller options for 360, Xbox One, PS3 or PS4 controllers, it automatically sets your controls for you when you plug in these controllers. As far as Phoenix goes, it looks to be like they're aiming for FrontEnd control and not just a simple GUI replacement. RetroArch as is doesn't need a massive rewrite like this though. If it is closer to something like a MAME UI vs regular MAME, then that would be nice in the long run, but I doubt that they are moving in that direction.

[imdavid555]

Just some ideas: - Add artwork/bezels for mame - Rocketlauncher tutorial once the plug-in for LaunchBox is released. - ScummVM tutorial. - Some AutoHotKey scripts stuff you can do for Windows/DosBox/ScummVM games. - I saw this mentioned on Youtube comments by Ali Essa, that front page BigBox demo video is pretty outdated. Almost a year old. There has been a ton of new features added and it should be updated.

[SentaiBrad]

Sweet, thank you @imdavid555. A new Demo is probably a really good idea actually. These are more basic though and less tutorialy, but the two can compliment each other nicely. ScummVM! Yes. That is a system tutorial I've been wanting to do for months. Jason asked me to wait on it *cough cough!* but I think sooner rather than later (unless the change happens next week) I am just gonna have to do the tutorial, then make an update video to it. So that might be next weeks. That is easily one the most requested left that I haven't done. AHK is a great idea, but I am not a coder. I will look for some good scripts, but if someone can find good ones for Windows and DOSBox functionality, or can create some I will certainly show them off and explain AHK more. I do have a plan to cover Overlay's in RetroArch which will cover quite a bit. I admit though that MAME emulation was previously behind, but it seems to be getting semi-regular updates, so I will probably end up doing both. I don't know if it will be a combined tutorial, but it seems like it could be.

[Beatlemaniac19]

The RocketLauncher plugin just came out! :) A tutorial on this asap would be great!

[Beatlemaniac19]

Here's another tutorial idea: how to backup and sync your LaunchBox folder. My computer just recently crashed and I lost a lot of data that I didn't have in the cloud (i.e. all of my roms, media etc.) Can you do a tutorial on how to backup your LB folder? I sort everything emulation related in the LB folder, but I don't know the best way to back it up. Also, if you could show how to sync it so that your LaunchBox can be synced in real time, it would be the icing on the cake. What I mean is since I have a Big Box setup on my TV (I use a gaming PC to hook it up to my TV), I don't want to have to unplug my external hard drive and sync the changes from PC to PC. If there's a way to be able to sync all of the changes I make on my desktop to my PC through the cloud so I can immediately have my up to date stuff on my home theater setup, it'd be ideal.

[SentaiBrad]

Yea, that's actually a super unique tutorial request. I've never thought to do this either! I can see that being two tutorials, as that would be a ton of info all at once, but this is exactly why I asked the community! I use the program daily, so does Jason, and now we have Kirsten, but we're the team behind the product and not the direct paying customers. So usually, most users have a way different perspective on these sort of things. Features Jason thinks would be awesome are not what the majority would want (Like the my collection social features), and my set up is way different than yours, or Derek's, or Cid's, so sometimes I just simply wont think of it because I don't use it. The second option, for syncing across your network, there is software out there, but I will have to take some time and test this out with mine and my wife's PC, so this will actually take some time to get to honestly. Both will be worked in to the rotation though, so thank you for the suggestions!

[Beatlemaniac19]

I'm all for backing up our data via the cloud and making sure that we never lose all of the work that goes into making our collection beautiful. However, we need to be cautious. I've heard stories about the "security" of backing up our stuff on the cloud. I just did a quick Google search and came up with this article about Dropbox's surveillance of copyrighted material on their cloud service: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/how-dropbox-sort-spies-your-files-for-dmca-infringement.html There may be other cloud services that do this as well, but I just wanted to bring this potential risk into the forefront. I can't speak for everyone, but most of us only get games we own and want to back them up digitally to preserve gaming culture. However, unfortunately, the emulation scene has a bad wrap (unfairly). I just don't want anyone to get in trouble. I don't want to sound paranoid, but I don't want to put anyone at risk. This is why I didn't back any of my games up, because of this grey area. I know all the games I have I own, I just don't want the headache. What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you know any other way to back up our stuff without the risk of other entities watching us, even though we're not doing anything wrong? Another thing to consider is that a lot of people have terabytes of info and that's not exactly easy to back up on the cloud. Is there any offline solution you guys know of?

[SentaiBrad]

In terms of DropBox, I would actually only be showing off how to back up LaunchBox specifically, as I don't have the cloud size nor the money to do that, and I would actually assume most don't want to either. So when I do this, backing up everything including games and emulators would most likely be saved for pc to pc syncing.

[Beatlemaniac19]

That makes sense lol. Pretty easy solution I might add. If you do a tutorial on this can you do a two step process then? You could show how you set up backing up and syncing our LaunchBox folders in Dropbox and/or Google Drive and then also how to backup your games and emulators from PC to PC? Maybe if there is a sync button you can click in LaunchBox/Big Box to make this automatically pull the data from the cloud after you set up the process, it could make it a one click process. I recommend Google Drive, if possible. It's free for up to 15 gigabytes of storage. All you need to do is get a Gmail, if you don't have one.

[SentaiBrad]

DropBox has the ability to create folders that automatically upload to your account, and download to other PC's. So you set up the folder on two PC's, you put your LaunchBox folder in there, and it automatically uploads. On the second PC, once the upload is done it automatically downloads to the second PC. If GoogleDrive has something like this, then sure. Amazon Drive would also probably be a good choice. With these programs, you can actually just have your LaunchBox install in these folders, run it and utilize LaunchBox like normal, but it uploads and downloads in the background which is why DropBox was always suggested from us in this manner. Obviously that doesn't work well if you don't have the space for it though. Just my images would blow a 15GB limit (less for DropBox) out right away, hence why I would potentially showcase just the important stuff.

[Beatlemaniac19]

Alright. If you do plan that tutorial then I'm definitely looking toward it :) Btw what external hard drive do you recommend? I've had external hard drives crash in the past (probably because I got cheap ones). Ideally, I want to get an external hard drive that has a huge terabyte size (6 TB + minimally) and has a low probably of failing. Also, if the external hard drive is recoverable if it fails, then that's the cherry on top. What do you recommend? Whatever is the best external hard drive, I'd like to buy two so one can be used for gaming and the other can be used as a safety backup.

[SentaiBrad]

Western Digital or HGST drives are some of the best, and they do cost more because of it. I got an 8TB Western Digital external for $250 that I took out of the case and put in to my PC (8TB internal was way more expensive), and it works great. The Western Digital MyBooks are great drives. I have 2 4TB's and the 8TB in my PC. Some drives can be recoverable, but it's usually a crap shoot.

[subatomic09]

Would kill for a video tutorial about setting up RocketLauncher with RetroArch and using LaunchBox as a frontend (well, not actually kill... maybe just punch someone's arm excitedly). I've been looking and looking for a step-by-step guide that would help me make sense of the overwhelming number of options. Specifically, I've been reading about how RL can do clean entrances and exits so you never see the OS and I love that idea, but I like to use core-specific configs in RetroArch to make use of different shaders and controller schemes.

Any plans for a tutorial like that? Thanks!

Edited August 24, 2016 by subatomic09

[Lordmonkus]

Well you don't need Rocket Launcher to do core specific or even game specific configs in Retroarch but I do understand your want to use RL for the clean loading and exiting.

I don't use RL myself however so I cannot make a tutorial on it. If I did use it I would be happy to make one.

[Charco]

I would like to set Launchbox up in a similar way, a tutorial video would be much appreciated!

[subatomic09]

13 hours ago, lordmonkus said:

Well you don't need Rocket Launcher to do core specific or even game specific configs in Retroarch but I do understand your want to use RL for the clean loading and exiting.

I don't use RL myself however so I cannot make a tutorial on it. If I did use it I would be happy to make one.

Thanks for the reply, @lordmonkus. Maybe this is something @SentaiBrad can tackle (as if he doesn't have enough on his plate). 

I already have the core-specific configs set up in RetroArch, I just need to know how to make sure RL launches RA with those configs when I select a game in Big Box. What I really want RL for is its clean entrances and exits.

Edited August 24, 2016 by subatomic09

[Lordmonkus]

if you got the configs made all you need to do then is go into Launchbox and for each game edit it and on the emulation tab of the edit window check enable custom command line parameters and add the line:

-L "cores\core_name.dll" -C "path\to\gameconfig.cfg"

So for example

-L "cores\genesis_plus_gx_libretro.dll" -C "config\sonic2.cfg"

But the Rocket Launcher stuff someone like Brad or someone else who knows more about it can hopefully help you out.