Using multiple emulators?

[Imgema]

Is there a more convenient method to use multiple emulators per platform? Launchbox allows you to add as many emulators as you want for each platform but you can only play the games with the "default" emulator. To change it you have to go to the options and change the emulator you want to use for each game or do a bulk edit and change it for all games. In another frontend i'm using, when you right click on a game, in the menu that shows up there is an option "run with". When you move the cursor there, another menu shows up with all the emulators that are associated with the platform/game and you can select it from there. You don't have to go through menus and change emulators every time, just right click and select which emulator you want to use. Is there a way to do this in Launchbox? And if not, could this be implemented in the future? It's very convenient for users who have multiple emulators for more options and maximum compatibility.

[SagaXIV]

One way that could work would be to slect the roms you want to run with a different emulator, right click, select edit, then slect the favored emulator for those roms. This would only work in the case you use certain emulators for certain roms, and not, say 2 different emulator for 1 rom. I havnt tested, but I "think" this should work in such case.

[DOS76]

Yeah like @SagaXIV said if you were to use ctrl+a to select the games you know you want to use the alt emulator on then you would just do a bulk edit but not with all of the games highlighted just the ones that you desire to use.

[Imgema]

Yeah, i know that i can set different emulators for individual roms or groups of roms. However, what i'm looking for is a fast way to use 2 or more emulators for each rom, without having to go through menus and changing the settings every time. Since i have setup multiple emulators for each platform already, would it be possible to just right click on a rom and use whatever emulator i want through a "play with" context menu or something similar? This would be great for testing games with multiple emulators for instance. Edit: Here's a similar menu in QuickPlay, when you right click on a rom:

You can add as many emulators as you want and they will appear in this context menu so you can use it immediately. If you just double click on the rom it will launch whatever emulator you have as a default.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Imgema

[DOS76]

No it isn't possible though it is a good idea and would make for a good BitBucket request. Request it and vote for your topic and then link the topic here and I'll vote for it too.

[Imgema]

Ok i made the request

 

https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox/issues/1005/run-with-context-menu-to-be-able-to-run

Edited November 1, 2016 by Imgema

[Styphelus]

The best thing really would be to use rocketlauncher. Those of us who are more advanced users all use it. It's look overwhelming at first because it gives you a ton of options but once you get used to it, it really is the best way to manage and launch your games. It integrates really well with Launchbox too.

[SentaiBrad]

I would consider myself an advanced user and never felt the need to use RocketLauncher. It is not at all required.

[Styphelus]

If you say so. Guess you don't miss having "fade" as the game loads with a nice progression bar hidding all the processes required to startup the emulator and game, bezels for 4:3 displays, multiple emulators per system, shaders for emulators that don't support them, instruction cards that can be brought out in the middle of the game and the "pause" menu, that gives you access to a save and load game manager, access to manuals, maps, cheats, and move lists during the game along with artwork, videos and so on. There's a lot more to it like being able to configure your emulators straight from Rocketlauncher, ability to use ahk scripts to simulate key presses (usefull for PC games with a loader screen) and so on. Those are just the most sought after features. You are missing on a lot of cool stuff by choosing not to use it.

[SentaiBrad]

No, I don't miss any of that. Don't get me wrong, if someone has it already all set up and wants to use LaunchBox, than by all means. We love that people want to choose LB, but we are expanding fast with 1 developer. A lot of people have already told us their concerns, and they don't want to add a second layer on to something that is supposed to be easy. If someone wants to use RL, all the more power to everyone who wants to. I don't begrudge anyone from doing so, but it still isn't required. We were built from the ground up to be self sustaining.

[Jason Carr]

Keep in mind, guys, that I 100% support the use of Rocket Launcher. I've asked Brad to stop arguing against it. For what it's worth, I still think Rocket Launcher is a royal pain to configure, and I'm really hoping that we can figure out a way to configure it somewhat automatically and easily in the future. We will be working to make it easier to use Rocket Launcher very soon. I agree that it should be optional (and it will remain that way), but it also provides some awesome extras for power users especially.

[Zombeaver]

Regarding the topic at hand, I'd really like to see this implemented as I currently have all my PSX stuff setup with Retroarch/Mednafen as the normal emulator and then add ePSXe as an additional app afterwards (so that I have the option if I so choose). Having quick access to use one of several possibilities would be really nice as that would eliminate a lot of manual work. I'd probably use this for arcade games as well for the ones that have crossover between MAME and FBA. I will always prefer less complications to more - the fewer layers required to achieve the desired functionality the better as far as I'm concerned. I think this is functionality that could/should be implemented into LB. RL is all well and good for those that want to go that route, but it's in no way a solution for those of us that don't.

[SentaiBrad]

I forgot about the additional apps feature! I always forget about it, I don't use it enough. That is totally a good solution in this case though. Maybe not the ideal solution, we can certainly imrpove it, but it works.

[DOS76]

It would work for certain games sure yeah having to set up your whole library maunually to do so not such a great solution.

[Zombeaver]

SentaiBrad said I forgot about the additional apps feature! I always forget about it, I don't use it enough. That is totally a good solution in this case though. Maybe not the ideal solution, we can certainly imrpove it, but it works.

Yeah, functionally I'm able to achieve the result I want via the additional app method, but having to 1) enter an app title of "ePSXe" 2) directing it to the ePSXe.exe path 3) adding -nogui -loadbin "[rom path]" command line parameters for every single game can, as you can probably imagine, become pretty time consuming. Being able to add multiple emulators to a usable-per-platform list would be ideal. Most people would probably just pick something that works and go with that but I like to keep my options open. This functionality would make experimentation to find the best emulator option for a particular game faster as well.

DOS76 said It would work for certain games sure yeah having to set up your whole library maunually to do so not such a great solution.

Yep, one-off scenarios are no big deal but when you're talking about doing this for literally hundreds or even thousands of games it becomes a pretty big undertaking.

[SentaiBrad]

Yea, that's why I agree there are improvements we can make on it. Bulk Editing, at least, is fairly simple considering. So it does suck to not have the option automatically available if you want, and having to do it for every game. I was thinking, a check box on the Edit Emulator page to show it in the Launch As menu. This way it reduces clutter? The Associated Platforms page would have a lot more importance than it does now though, because that is how it would know where to display the console.

[Zombeaver]

SentaiBrad said I was thinking, a check box on the Edit Emulator page to show it in the Launch As menu. This way it reduces clutter?

Yes, something like that could work, but it would still need to be platform-specific. I wouldn't want to just right-click on say Metal Gear Solid and have Demul and Dosbox show up in the list. There would need to be some kind of way to specify "This is one of the emulators that I want to be a launch option for platform X". At first I thought of something like an additional checkbox column next to the "default emulator" column now, that just has "Launch with menu" but I have the feeling that would make things overly convoluted.

[progets]

I like this idea. It would allow for an alternate/additional "Rocket Launcher" emulator that would launch directly into its "Pause" feature. No offense but the viewing of manuals in LB and BB is not desirable for cabinet and HTPC setups where you don't want to use a keyboard and mouse. Also, if you already have RL setup with the artwork there isn't a need to duplicate it. I have been using symbolic links to map LB/BB to my media but it's not possible for the media in RL since the directory structure is different (RL creates a folder with the rom name and then puts the artwork in there).

[Imgema]

So, it's been a while, is there any chance we will see this implemented any time soon?

[Charco]

That is so weird, I was thinking about this this morning and was about to post a topic about it! This would be a very handy feature, especially with a platform like Nintendo 64, where some games play better on one emulator than another, being able to switch on the fly like this would be great.