Setting up Big Box with KODI for first time. Running Setup Log

[dmaker]

I'm intending this thread to be my experience with setting up Big Box (BB) with KODI for the first time. I will post my issues, if any, and initial impressions, etc. My goal: to have BB integrated with KODI using a wireless controller and no keyboard input ever required. I wish to be able to launch BB from Kodi and select and play games and when done return to Kodi, ideally with no keyboard input required at any point. I hope this is possible. Underlying hardware: I have an Asrock htpc. It was the highest end model they had at the time, 3 or so years ago now. It is a Core-i5 with 4GB of RAM running on an SSD. Kodi works flawlessly with my old xbox 360 media remote. This remote worked with no setup required, so it has been the only remote I ever needed for Kodi. For my wireless game controller, I have chosen a Logitech f710. This has worked in the past, so the drivers are already present. I have installed BB and setup emus for Genesis, NES, SNES, and Arcad ( using MAMEGUI32). I also purchased a lifetime sub for emumovie for added scraping metadata goodness. The games have all scraped fine and the emus have been setup. I used the recommended ones by LB (Snex 9x, Kega Fusion, etc). I went into each emu and configured them to use my f710 with no issue. I installed the kodi addon for BB and that works fine as well. I have also configured BB to use my f710 too. So far, most things are working as intended. I can launch BB from Kodi just fine. I can then pick up my f710 and start browsing platforms and games and launch games. Snes 9x does not launch fullscreen, but I am sure I can fix that easily enough. My biggest issue right now is in still needed the keyboard for ESC key. I don't know how to tell the emu to exit from my f710. So, I could use a hand there. Also, when I exit BB, it does not return to Kodi, it takes me to my Windows desktop with Kodi minimized. I guess, at this point, those would be the two issues I am dealing with. I really don't want to have to pull out my keyboard to quit emus, or to alt-tab back to Kodi. That kind of makes things less than ideal for me. I want my htpc keyboard to remain in its spot under the coffee table and only pulled out when really necessary. Is this possible? Also, later I need to fine tune things such as mapping keys per emu for save state, load state, etc. But right now, I am focusing on core functionality. Side note: I tried to set this up with Retroarch, but had issues with input. I configured each core separately, but it still did not provide me with any input when I launched a game. I am happy to table that issue for now. I really don't mind using a separate emu for each platform as long as they work they way I want them to. At some point down the road, I may revisit the Retroarch setup. I like the idea of Retroarch, but right now I have bigger fish to fry. Another longer term goal will be to use a 360 controller. I am giving my 360 to my nephew. I recently bought a PS4, so my 360 is powered off and in a box. I still have 4 controllers and the 360 IR usb transmitter for Windows. I will hold on to two of those controllers and eventually look toward moving to 360 controllers. The f710 is fine, but the 360 controller is better, I think. It feels more substantial and is more comfortable. I selected the f710 for my first attempt at setting this up since I knew the drivers were already present back from when I had setup Rom Collection Browser with XBMC a couple of years ago. Thanks.

[DOS76]

Ok for your first issue with SNES9x go to tools click manage emulators and then go to SNES9x select it and then hit edit after that go to the associated platform tab and type in -fullscreen as the default command line parameter. That should fix that issue To add the esc to exit emulators that don't have it built in copy this code and paste it in to the Auto Hot key tab in managed emulators ; This section closes Snes9x when pressing Escape $Esc:: { Process, Close, {{{StartupEXE}}} } The first line with the ; isn't part of the code just a description to explain what it is you can make all of your emulators use this same code or you can amend the first line to contain the proper name of the emulator it all depends on how picky you are about it. Then to get your controller to use the ESC key you have to go into Tools and click on options. On the left there will be a menu go to where it says AutoHotKey in the input section and click it from there you will check the check box at the top and set your button combos to Escape from the emulators. I don't use Kodi I'm a Plex Home Theater guy myself and instead of using LaunchBox through Kodi I launch Plex through LaunchBox so I don't have a clue as to how you will solve that issue.

[dmaker]

Thank you Derek! You solved two of my issues right away. I followed your tips and now snes9x launches full screen and I mapped left trigger plus right trigger to exit the emu. I tested and it works great. Small wishlist item: is it possible to use only one key for ESC? Also, I selected left trigger plus right trigger since most of the games I emulate have no use for a L trigger or a R trigger. But I am guessing that if I ever decided to emulate N64 or such platforms, this mapping could be an issue? For Genesis, NES, SNES, TGFX16, etc...this will be no issue at all. Thanks again, two issues put to rest on Day 1 is very impressive. You have been very helpful.

[DOS76]

I don't know using just one key would be kind of iffy since it would be too easy to mistakenly exit out of your game.

[dmaker]

Yeah, upon reflection, I have to agree with you. One other thing, I was wondering about. I only stumbled across emuvideo after already scraping two platforms: Genesis and SNES. I love the way it brings in music and video preview. It did a remarkable job with NES and MAME. I would love to retro add that to my Genesis and SNES games. I have figured out how to do this manually and have done so for the games that I am most likely to play often, but is there a way to do it for an entire platform, after the fact, so to speak? I saw something on the emumovies home page about a service. I downloaded it, but have yet to install it, as I'm not 100% sure what it does. Are you familiar with Emumovies DSU 2.2? Based on the description, it sounds like maybe it runs in the background and fills in missing metadata? I am not sure, however. That would be great if it did. I don't really want to have to scrape two platforms from scratch to include the emumovies content. But when first scraped, I had no idea what emumovies was. http://emumovies.com/forums/files/file/321-emumovies-dsu/

[DOS76]

Go into your Genesis platform and hit Ctrl+A this will select all of your games then go up to tools and click download Metadata and Images this will open a wizard run through the wizard and the only think you have to watch out for is one of the form will give you opitons to replace all of your metadata download new metadata but not change any existing fields and a third option that I can't recall exactly what it says just choose the don't change any existing fields option and this will scrape all of the missing available files from EmuMovies I've done this my self to retroactively add stuff to my files so it should work like a charm.

[dmaker]

Again, thank-you. I think I need to trim down my games library a bit. The SSD in my htpc is only 128 GB. If I start pulling in all the mp3 and mp4 files that emumovies has to offer, then I'm likely to fill up very soon. There are a ton of games in my library that I will, realistically, never even launch. So I probably need to do some trimming before I open up the flood gates for all that stuff from emumovies for games that I will likely do no more than gaze at the box art. But damn, I do enjoy browsing box art :) Thanks. Day 1 has been hugely successful in my opinion. I have basically hit the goal of my core functionality on my first install. The only really outstanding issue is the BB kodi launcher not exiting back to kodi. Otherwise, most of my hopes for this install have been met. I'll revisit things tomorrow. Thank you again.

[DOS76]

I understand that. My LaunchBox folder on this computer is 65GB I have a 500GB SSD, 5TB, 1TB and 500GB data drives in this computer with over 11,000 games most of which I'll never play either.