Games w/launchers

[Lordmonkus]

Ok I got this sorted for the most part, it's a little messy but it works. Maybe it can be cleaned up with a little tweaking.

Make a new emulator called whatever you want, I called mine Winlaunch. Point that to either the c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe or make a shortcut to the cmd.exe somewhere convenient. I put a short cut in my /emulators/winlaunch/ folder just to keep things organized.

Either method above works just fine, do whichever suits you.

In the "Edit Emulator" window > "Associated Platforms" tab add the command switch /c

Your games will now load. However it will load a command box in behind and it will close the command box on game exit.

I tried setting this up with a bat file to hide the command box using the @echo off command but for whatever reason I could not get games to load using a bat file. I just kept getting a command prompt window.

Maybe someone with deeper knowledge of bat files can clean this up but this is a working quick and dirty way of doing things.

Short version:
1) Make a new emulator pointing to cmd.exe
2) Set that emulator to your Windows platform with the command switch /c

[ckp]

Cool. Nice job.

I think you could hide the command shell by using this instead of only /c:

start /minimized cmd.exe /c

[Lordmonkus]

If I use any sort of bat file I just get a command prompt window open at the location of the bat file.

My knowledge and experience with bat files is such that I can look at them and understand them but creating one from scratch is tough for me. All the stuff I would think to try just isn't working the way I am wanting right now, still working on it and reading up on it though

[Zombeaver]

I'm very confused... why is any of that necessary? You can just uncheck "use an emulator" at which point you can direct the "application/rom" path to anything - .exe, shortcut, whatever - and it'll function just like if you had double-clicked on it in Windows.

[Lordmonkus]

Yes but the point is to have it so we can import a bunch of game shortcut files without the need to go through each game and uncheck that box.

I have now solved it though and it's so simple I am pissed off.

The shortcut I created to cmd.exe that I am using for the "emulator". Right click it and click properties then the Run drop down menu set it to minimized.

[Zombeaver]

Why not just...not choose an emulator when you do the import? When you get to the page that asks you to choose one just leave it blank.

Pretty sure you can uncheck it via bulk edit too if you're doing it after the fact, not positive though.

[Zombeaver]

Also, I can go ahead and tell you that there's a very high possibility that doing what you're suggesting will completely screw up any attempt at in-home streaming on these games, if that matters to anyone. It's going to focus the streaming on CMD. Just having the log window enabled completely screws up PCSX2.

[Lordmonkus]

You asshole, why didn't you tell us this earlier

I thought you had to pick an emulator.

[Zombeaver]

Sorry I hadn't seen this thread until I posted a few minutes ago hahahaha

[DOS76]

When I suggested a .bat I meant an empty one with no code that did nothing just as a dummy place marker then I assumed the shortcuts would just work like it normally would

 

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah I tried hat first @DOS76 and it didn't work.

[Lordmonkus]

So in the end here we have 2 options right now for importing Windows game shortcuts.

Option 1: Import the shortcuts and pick any emulator from the dropdown list. When the import is all done do a bulk edit and choose no emulator.

Option 2: Create an emulator that points to a shortcut file of the cmd.exe with the Run minimized selected in the shortcut properties. Import the games and select this as the emulator.

[Zombeaver]

@Jason Carr am I completely insane or couldn't the emulator selection drop-down in the importer just be left blank in the past? I don't remember having to go through any of this stuff when I imported some standalone PC games previously. I was thinking that there was another page of the importer that you used to be able to just click next on but (in more recent versions) no longer can without making a selection (I'm thinking the "move rom" or "keep in location" page?). If so, did that extend to the emulator page as well?

Again, could be total insanity 

Seems like if you choose Windows as the platform it should just bypass the emulator screen by default. You could always add in a third option to the very first page of the importer and just call it "Shortcuts" or some such and just skip to the last page of the importer where it shows game titles.

EDIT: To clarify, I spoke with lordmonkus about this in chat and evidently the "next" button is just grayed-out on the emulator selection page if you don't choose something. I would have sworn that I had just left it blank for my PC stuff and just continued on.

[ckp]

Yeah, I don't know why the "Choose an Emulator" screen exists after clicking next from choosing the platform "Windows". This wizard could probably be much user friendly for adding PC games without much dev effort. I think adding PC games is probably a big one and very common for people to do.

[Zombeaver]

It should also be mentioned that there is a Windows Game Importer function in LB (under Tools). It basically searches your computer for installed games a bit like nVidia's game "optimizer" in Geforce Experience. It's really slow though... (for me anyway).

I think a simple shortcut importer would probably be easier in most cases though. Especially if you just have one or two games that you want to drop in.

[FistyDollars]

This all seems way over-complicated. The process I've always done for Windows games (that can't just be imported from Steam or Windows Game Importer) is to just click the Add button at the bottom right of LaunchBox, which will make a nearly blank Add Game screen pop-up. From there, change the platform to Windows if it isn't already, and then go to "Application Path" and click Browse. Find the .exe or whatever you use to launch the game (it can be a .bat if you need, I do that for my eXoDOS imported games), and then type the game name in at the top. If you want, you can then search for the game in the LaunchBox Games Database and try to match it. Download or add any images you want, then just click OK. You never need to even touch the emulator field, or really any other fields for that matter. No need to create custom shortcuts or batch files or anything crazy like that.

 

[Zombeaver]

Yeah, agreed @FistyDollars. I've done that in the past as well. The issue is that if you drag a windows shortcut into LB (to a Windows game, for example) there isn't currently a way to just have it not use an emulator by default. I would swear you used to be able to just leave it blank on the import though...

Typically I do what you mentioned as well - just create a new entry. That's not exactly time efficient if you're dealing with a bunch of games though...

[FistyDollars]

2 minutes ago, Zombeaver said:

Yeah, agreed @FistyDollars. I've done that in the past as well. The issue is that if you drag a windows shortcut into LB (to a Windows game, for example) there isn't currently a way to just have it not use an emulator by default. I would swear you used to be able to just leave it blank on the import though...

Typically I do what you mentioned as well - just create a new entry. That's not exactly time efficient if you're dealing with a bunch of games though...

It's not time efficient, but between the Steam and Windows Game importers, there typically aren't many games left over.

Strange about the shortcut dragging, though. I don't normally use the dragging functionality of LaunchBox, so I wasn't even aware that was an issue.

[Lordmonkus]

It depends on how many games you have. I have about 45 Windows games I imported and aren't on Steam and the Import > Windows games function is extremely slow considering it would have to scan about 6 hard drives.

I also keep all my games shortcuts in a folder in my Start menu so for me all I had to do was open that folder and drag all the shortcut files into Launchbox. So either of the options I listed above right now is the most efficient way of importing a bunch of games.

[Zombeaver]

9 minutes ago, FistyDollars said:

It's not time efficient, but between the Steam and Windows Game importers, there typically aren't many games left over.

I've got about 250 games in my GoG Library and over 100 physical PC games  Not all of these are simultaneously installed, of course, but still. I mentioned the Windows Game importer above but I've tested that a couple times and it seems extremely slow, bordering on stalled/crashed. I gave it about 5 minutes and it was still just sitting there. I remember using it quite a while back, but haven't anytime recently

9 minutes ago, FistyDollars said:

Strange about the shortcut dragging, though. I don't normally use the dragging functionality of LaunchBox, so I wasn't even aware that was an issue.

Prior to today I would've said it wasn't an issue. Sure enough though I just tried something random and it won't let you proceed beyond the emulator selection page without selecting something. You could always bulk edit them post-import and choose nothing as the emulator at that point (and that does work), but that's kinda weird/silly.