Thank you! (and a few feature requests)

[Blu_Haze]

One of the main things that keeps me from using RocketLauncher is how intrusive it feels. I especially don't like the fact that it wants to take control of my game saves and states with no option to turn that off. I prefer to let Retroarch handle that and it would take a lot of compromises to make both of them work together how I would want. It also seems to want to mess with my emulators settings. The lack of controller support without using programs like JoyToKey, or Xpadder, is also a big negative for me. It's a shame, too, because I think that RocketLauncher has several nice features such as HyperPause, MuliGame, and the loading screens.

[Zombeaver]

I may have spoken too soon when I said I got it working... It does show the multigame menu, and the initial load into ePSXe does load the correct disc that I select, but once the game is actually loaded and gets to a disc swap screen, I press the swap menu button, the menu comes up, I choose the appropriate disc to change to, it goes back to the emulator...and says I have the wrong disc in. Game started via Rocket Launcher -> start Disc 1 (via multigame menu) -> select "new game" -> game proceeds normally Game started via Rocket Launcher -> start Disc 2 (via multigame menu) -> select "new game" -> game asks "Insert Disc 1" -> pull up multigame menu via "-" key -> select Disc 1 -> goes back to emulator -> "Wrong Disc" Now that I've figured out why RetroArch was crashing on me, I may just try going back to that. I haven't messed around with the actual video settings much for Mednafen - does it do upscaling like ePSXe?

[Blu_Haze]

Some games (like Metal Gear Solid) look for the opened disc tray signal before it will recognize the new disc. I'm not sure how ePSXe handles this but you might want to look into the keybinds and see if there's a hotkey for opening the tray or a way to switch it to no disc. If there is then you would have to first press the key to open the tray, then bring up the MuliGame menu to select the new disc. You may even need to press the tray hotkey again to "close" it after you select the new disc. With Retroarch I have numpad 0 bound to open/close tray, and numpad 1/2 to switching disks. So with all of my multidisc games I point LaunchBox to the .m3u playlist instead of the individual .cue files and when it's time to switch discs I just press 0, 2, 0 on the numpad. Done. Mednafen doesn't support upscaling as it's more focused on high levels of compatibility and accuracy. Instead you might try a nice shader and see if that makes the games look as good for you. I would suggest giving "CRT Royale NTSC S-Video" a try so long as your machine is powerful enough to run it.

[DOS76]

@Zombeaver during the import on all pages of the forms there is a back arrow located in the top left area of the form if you make any mistakes using that will allow you to go backwards through the import forms.

[Zombeaver]

DOS76 said @Zombeaver during the import on all pages of the forms there is a back arrow located in the top left area of the form if you make any mistakes using that will allow you to go backwards through the import forms.

Huh, okay cool - I'll check that when I get home. I never noticed it. I just looked at the bottom where there's a "next" button and I expected there to be a "previous" button to the left of it but there's nothing there. Thanks for the heads up!

[Zombeaver]

Blu_Haze said With Retroarch I have numpad 0 bound to open/close tray, and numpad 1/2 to switching disks. So with all of my multidisc games I point LaunchBox to the .m3u playlist instead of the individual .cue files and when it's time to switch discs I just press 0, 2, 0 on the numpad. Done.

I can not get this to work. For some reason no matter what I do it's only letting me remap the keys to my 360 controller (which I don't want). I'm fine setting it up like you've got it but unless I assign the key to a button on the controller it won't accept it. Getting pretty frustrated at this point... I have no idea why something so bloody fundamental has to be so convoluted and has so many hoops to jump through.

[polygonslayer]

Zombeaver said Getting pretty frustrated at this point... I have no idea why something so bloody fundamental has to be so convoluted and has so many hoops to jump through.

Yep, I felt the exact same when I was trying to get this stuff working. Took me weeks to get it right at first (especially also getting all working in Kodi.. ugghhh), all via just experimenting and reading forums :( How are you loading the discs? Mine are through daemon tools.

Blu_Haze said One of the main things that keeps me from using RocketLauncher is how intrusive it feels. I especially don't like the fact that it wants to take control of my game saves and states with no option to turn that off. I prefer to let Retroarch handle that and it would take a lot of compromises to make both of them work together how I would want. It also seems to want to mess with my emulators settings. The lack of controller support without using programs like JoyToKey, or Xpadder, is also a big negative for me. It's a shame, too, because I think that RocketLauncher has several nice features such as HyperPause, MuliGame, and the loading screens.

Taking over save files? What do you mean by this? Is this with Retroarch? I don't use it myself so wouldn't know. The lack of native controller support is definitly a big negative. Hopefully something they implement soon.

[Zombeaver]

Success! I was finally able to get the controls remapped correctly in RetroArch to what I wanted and after some testing the m3u method works perfectly! "Eject" -> next (or previous) disc button -> "Eject" again (close) and it trucks right on along. Now I just have to go through the process of correcting all my cue sheets, creating m3u files, and re-configuring those games in LB to use Retroarch instead of ePSXe... Then I'll have to see how I can tackle this in PCSX2...

[Blu_Haze]

polygonslayer said Taking over save files? What do you mean by this? Is this with Retroarch? I don't use it myself so wouldn't know. The lack of native controller support is definitly a big negative. Hopefully something they implement soon.

Yeah, the Retroarch module for RocketLauncher remaps your folders to "srm" for in game saves and a "save" folder for states. Any time you launch a game with that module it creates those folders in your main Retroarch directory. It then makes subfolders in each of those for the system. So a Super Nintendo folder, Sega Genesis folder, etc. This becomes a problem because now Retroarch (and any other emulator that I use) no longer knows where to find my game saves. In order to fix this I would either have to use a different config file for each core in Retroarch (which can be a little glitchy) and manually point the save directory to the appropriate folders, or try to edit the Retroarch module for RocketLauncher. There's no option of disabling or customizing this "feature" in the RL GUI. At some point I might tinker with it a bit more and see if I can get it working how I want it, but to be honest I'm finding that BigBox is already providing most of the features that I wanted from RocketLauncher. With BigBox I can view the games artwork, instruction manual, stats, etc. It's hard to justify the time needed to properly set up RocketLauncher when I'd mostly just be using the loading screens.

[Zombeaver]

Holy crap is CRT-Royale gorgeous... So much so that I've converted several other platforms over to use RetroArch at this point. The more I use RA the more I'm actually loving it. It works perfectly with Steam's in home streaming as well, for anyone interested.

[polygonslayer]

Blu_Haze said Yeah, the Retroarch module for RocketLauncher remaps your folders to "srm" for in game saves and a "save" folder for states. Any time you launch a game with that module it creates those folders in your main Retroarch directory. It then makes subfolders in each of those for the system. So a Super Nintendo folder, Sega Genesis folder, etc.

Ah, I see. Didn't know that, then again I haven't really used Retroarch. :)

Zombeaver said Holy crap is CRT-Royale gorgeous... So much so that I've converted several other platforms over to use RetroArch at this point. The more I use RA the more I'm actually loving it. It works perfectly with Steam's in home streaming as well, for anyone interested.

With all the love RA is getting here, I might need to give it a go :)

[Jason Carr]

Hi @Zombeaver, apologies for the late reply on this. Also apologies, I have not read the entire thread. Only the first few posts. Hit me up if there's anything else in the thread that I definitely need to read. I've added #1, #2, and #3 to my list. Per #4, I am using XInput through SharpDX (DirectX), so I'm not sure what the problem would be; that is admittedly going to be very difficult to figure out. Per #5, I don't even really know what Shark is, but if ePSXe is crashing just from using command-line parameters, there's probably not much we can do about it. LaunchBox doesn't do anything special when launching emulators other than give them command-line parameters. #6, good point. That bugs me as well. I'll add that to my list too. Added #7 as well. #8, I don't like that either, but I couldn't figure out a good solution. But lol, I think you're right, we just need to allow moving up or down whether you're in the recent/favorite lists or not. #9 is definitely a problem in some situations, no question. The issue is every emulator does this differently so it's just incredibly difficult to support it properly. I'm still up for suggestions. #10 is a good idea, added. #11, I'll look into how we might be able to streamline that stuff. Thanks for all the feedback, sorry it took me so long to respond. There's some great stuff here. :)

[Zombeaver]

@Jason Thank you good sir! Glad to hear 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 10 are on the list!

Jason Carr said #4, I am using XInput through SharpDX (DirectX), so I'm not sure what the problem would be; that is admittedly going to be very difficult to figure out.

Hmm... strange. The keyboard still works just fine through streaming, and the 360 controller's inputs work fine in the emulators themselves. I'm not sure what the difference would be other than, like I said, the input plugins in various emulators seem to all actually say "Button A", "Button X", etc. when you're mapping via Xinput as opposed to "Button 1", "Button 2", etc. like it's listed in BB. Take a look at this for example. The first one is from PCSX2 and the second is Dolphin. I'm not sure if there's any real significance to the discrepancy, but I'm just throwing stuff out there. I'd be happy to help in any way I can, or test anything you need. If you have two computers on the same network that both have Steam installed and a 360 controller you can test it. In the Steam UI you just have to go to Steam -> Settings -> In-Home Streaming -> Enable Streaming on both computers. Then you just have to add Big Box as a non-steam app and you're pretty much good to go. Launch Steam Big Picture on the computer you're trying to stream to, find Big Box, hit "Stream". Again though, if there's any way I can help with this, or anything you need me to test, please tell me.

Jason Carr said Per #5, I don't even really know what Shark is, but if ePSXe is crashing just from using command-line parameters, there's probably not much we can do about it. LaunchBox doesn't do anything special when launching emulators other than give them command-line parameters.

You're right! I hadn't thought of it quite like that - I just knew that I could use Shark without ePSXe crashing when I used it normally, but I wasn't using command line parameters like --nogui for that; I'm sure that's what's causing it. I think Shark may just be coded poorly. It's not a big deal. Basically it's just a mod to ePSXe that adds a couple features including external pad plugin support; namely Pokopom's Xinput plugin. You can patch in the plugin without Shark though, by way of PeteOpenGL2Tweak. I've got that working just fine.

Jason Carr said #8, I don't like that either, but I couldn't figure out a good solution. But lol, I think you're right, we just need to allow moving up or down whether you're in the recent/favorite lists or not.

Yeah, I realized after posting that that favorites were probably the issue (since it adds a second line). Maybe you could add in a "if cursor position=on favorites, up input=move up platform list, else=move up to favorites list" or some such.

Jason Carr said #9 is definitely a problem in some situations, no question. The issue is every emulator does this differently so it's just incredibly difficult to support it properly. I'm still up for suggestions.

RetroArch+Mednafen have a pretty brilliant solution of using m3u's with a list of the .cues that you want to use, but like you said that's dependent on the emulator's support itself. RetroArch+Mednafen have taken care of the issue for me, for PSX titles, but there isn't a PS2 core for RetroArch (and probably won't be any time soon). I wonder if there's a way to tie in PCSX2's CDVD -> Iso Selector to some kind of autohotkey command? RocketLauncher has an interesting feature called MultiGame which theoretically patches on-the-fly disc switching in on top of the emulator (I had some mixed results with it), but I think there's a lot about RL that leaves something to be desired. RetroArch took me a bit to get working the way I wanted, but it's a cakewalk compared to the convoluted mess that is RL.

Jason Carr said #11, I'll look into how we might be able to streamline that stuff.

This one isn't nearly as big of a deal once I noticed the "Use Custom Command-Line Parameters" option under a game's "emulation" tab. Doing it that way makes it a one-step process rather than about five. No biggie!

Jason Carr said Thanks for all the feedback, sorry it took me so long to respond. There's some great stuff here. :)

No problem! And thank you!

[Blu_Haze]

Jason Carr said #9 is definitely a problem in some situations, no question. The issue is every emulator does this differently so it's just incredibly difficult to support it properly. I'm still up for suggestions.

@Jason I have a suggestion for how LaunchBox could handle multi-disc games. Would it be possible to look for duplicates when importing and identify the disc number based on the file name? For example if someone was importing something like Final Fantasy VII with a naming convention similar to this: Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 1).cue Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 2).cue Final Fantasy VII (USA) (Disc 3).cue The way things work right now LaunchBox will create 3 library entries as if each disc was a separate game. Instead it could see that these are duplicates and bundle them together. Then when you import a multidisc game you'll only have one entry for Final Fantasy 7. When you select that game and choose to play it a small sub-menu could open asking which disc you wanted to run. When it's time to change discs you could just save the game there, quit the emulator, and then choose disc 2 when you start it back up instead of disc 1.

[Zombeaver]

Blu_Haze said The way things work right now LaunchBox will create 3 library entries as if each disc was a separate game. Instead it could see that these are duplicates and bundle them together. Then when you import a multidisc game you'll only have one entry for Final Fantasy 7. When you select that game and choose to play it a small sub-menu could open asking which disc you wanted to run. When it's time to change discs you could just save the game there, quit the emulator, and then choose disc 2 when you start it back up instead of disc 1.

You can basically do this already. When you get to the final screen of an import, just remove the additional discs (keeping the first one), then right click on the game in Launchbox -> click edit -> additional apps tab -> "add application" -> check the "use emulator" box -> browse to disc 2 -> put "Disc 2" or "Final Fantasy VII Disc 2" or whatever you want in the "Application Name" field -> hit okay (repeat steps for additional discs). Now when you right click on the game, it shows a new entry for "Disc 2" or whatever you named it. No need to have multiple entries for multiple discs. Probably a few too many steps but yeah... The problem with this method is that it closes the emulator, and then relaunches with a different disc. That's not always going to work because sometimes games don't prompt you to save for the disc change. You can kindof get around it with a savestate and then renaming the savestate file to the name of your second disc...but yeah that's not a good solution at all. The m3u method for RA+Mednafen is WAY easier and faster than all this.

[Jason Carr]

Thank you guys; I wasn't aware of the m3u solution but that seems great. Maybe we could just implement that and hope that eventually other emulators follow suit. @Blu_Haze, yes, I do have plans to improve the import process for multi-disc games. :)

[Blu_Haze]

Zombeaver said You can basically do this already. When you get to the final screen of an import, just remove the additional discs (keeping the first one), then right click on the game in Launchbox -> click edit -> additional apps tab -> "add application" -> check the "use emulator" box -> browse to disc 2 -> put "Disc 2" or "Final Fantasy VII Disc 2" or whatever you want in the "Application Name" field -> hit okay (repeat steps for additional discs). Now when you right click on the game, it shows a new entry for "Disc 2" or whatever you named it. No need to have multiple entries for multiple discs. Probably a few too many steps but yeah...

That's a great workaround, thanks. I've been using the playlist method with Mednafen with my PS1 games, but unfortunately other emulators like PCSX2 don't support that feature and make you use the GUI. As far as I'm aware pretty much all PS2 games offer an option to save the game right before swapping discs so this should work even if it isn't nearly as convenient. I still think that it would be helpful to automate detecting additional discs for the average user, but since the additional apps method works then this can be put on the backburner for a while until more important features are implemented. With all of the new updates recently I don't see how Jason finds the time to sleep as it is.

[Zombeaver]

@Jason I think I've figured out what the problem is with the 360 input over streaming! I think the logo that pops up for Big Box when you initially launch it is causing the Steam stream to "lose focus" and the inputs aren't being sent to the correct window as result. I created a batch file that's simply "start /min" that I added as a "non-steam application" for the purposes of doing a direct stream of the desktop itself (normally you add an application and it just streams the contents of that window, when you close whatever program the stream just ends, but doing it this way basically tricks Steam into thinking you're running a program when it's just your entire desktop) - when I launch Big Box through the streamed desktop the inputs from the controller work! I think what's happening when trying to launch Big Box as an application to stream is that it's taking that initial window popup as active and then doesn't know what to do after it disappears. The reason this occurred to me is I ran into a somewhat similar problem with PCSX2 where it kept wanting to focus on the log window that's enabled by default. Disabling it fixed the problem. Would it be possible to add in a toggle to turn off the initial Big Box logo and just launch directly into Big Box? I would bet money that will fix the problem.

[Jason Carr]

Oic, interesting. Sure, I'll add a to-do to allow disabling the logo. :)

[Zombeaver]

@Jason Not to be a hyper turbo ultra nag-o-tron, but any idea when the logo disable could be implemented? My Steam Link finally showed up yesterday. Everything's working great and Big Box looks sweet on the living room TV...but I still have to use the wireless keyboard to control the UI. I did some reading and was considering trying to do a WinWait+WinActivate auto-hotkey script for the focus issue, but that's just sortof a hack and I'm not sure that it will even work. The Steam Link seems to have issues with some games that use launchers (where it pops up with a little window that's like "play game / settings / website link" etc.) and I think that's essentially what's happening with Big Box. If it's any incentive I'm planning on making a nice big detailed tutorial on how to set everything up in LaunchBox to work best with the Steam Link / In-Home Streaming once I get all the kinks worked out.