corrupt launchbox xml

[gizmo]

hi we are slowly going our games and now we get a message about launchbox xml is corrupt , how can we recover the system apart from reinstall , it does say about recover from backup but no idea what to do any advice would be great thanks

[DOS76]

You go into the backup folder and take one of the file copy it and paste it in your LB folder then rename it LaunchBox.xml and try to start it, if that doesn't work choose another backup and repeat until one of them launches.

[adu]

Got the same problem a few days ago. I just go to the line mentionned in the error message, and discovered that the was replaced by </Laun and that caused the error. Just take a look at the line mentionned in your error message and see if the XML tag is not partially deleted.

[Jason Carr]

Hi @gizmo, you'll definitely want to restore a backup from the Backups folder per what @DOS76 said. It's not recommended to manually tweak the XML per @adu because you never know what could be missing.

[DOS76]

I recommend making your own separate backup periodically also and keep it on a different computer just so you can never lose your many hours of work.

[spektor56]

Jason Carr said Hi @gizmo, you'll definitely want to restore a backup from the Backups folder per what @DOS76 said. It's not recommended to manually tweak the XML per @adu because you never know what could be missing.

Jason, have you considered using SQLite/SQLCompact + EFCore for the launchbox xml? SQLite/SQLCompact is ACID compliant and requires no installation so it should help prevent these types of issues in the future. XML is decent to use for settings if you want the user to be able to change settings directly through the XML but in this case you really dont.

[Jason Carr]

Hi @spektor56, sadly I'd have an angry community if I switched to SQLite or any other database for the moment. Too many people are making use of the LaunchBox.xml file externally. Otherwise I would probably consider it at this point. I will be going back soon to try and figure out how people's XML files getting corrupted on occasion. It shouldn't be happening in a crash because I only overwrite the LaunchBox.xml file once the file is successfully saved to a temp folder...so there must be something else going on.

[gizmo]

hi many thanks for your replys , what i was doing just before it crashed i was trying to load some Commodore - VIC-20 , at the moment i have lost about 1 months work so a bit fed up at the moment but i will have another go some time with launchbox just got to sort out some games etc thanks

[SentaiBrad]

gizmo said hi many thanks for your replys , what i was doing just before it crashed i was trying to load some Commodore - VIC-20 , at the moment i have lost about 1 months work so a bit fed up at the moment but i will have another go some time with launchbox just got to sort out some games etc thanks

That's why if you sort the XML files in your backup folder by date and choose the most recent XML file and replace your broken XML file with that back up as Derek suggested, then it should work and not set you back as far.

[Lmagnus87]

I also have a problem with my launchbox.xml and I got this error message

System.DllNotFoundException: Unable to load DLL 'xinput1_3.dll': No se puede encontrar el módulo especificado. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E) at SharpDX.XInput.XInput.XInputGetState_(Int32 arg0, Void* arg1) at SharpDX.XInput.XInput.XInputGetState(Int32 dwUserIndex, State& stateRef) at () at LaunchBox.GameControllerHandler.GetCurrentDevices() at (String , String ) at LaunchBox.GameControllerHandler.InitializeDevice(String id, String name) at (Boolean , Boolean , String , String ) at LaunchBox.GameControllerHandler.Initialize(Boolean enableGamepad, Boolean useAllControllers, String gamepadId, String gamepadName) at (MainForm ) at LaunchBox.Forms.MainForm.InitializeController() at (MainForm ) at LaunchBox.Forms.MainForm.LoadSettings() at (MainForm , Object , EventArgs ) at LaunchBox.Forms.MainForm.MainForm_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl() at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl() at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m) at (CustomFormBase , Message& ) at LaunchBox.Forms.CustomFormBase.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

So I delete the file Here is my .xml Maybe Its time for reorganize the way that save all plataform meta data For example 1 .xml for each platform SuperNintendo.xml Amiga500.xml A7800.xml MSDOS.xml Vectrex.xml Windows.xml ... .. . and then Launchbox.xml with the address of those platform files

[gizmo]

SentaiBrad said

gizmo said hi many thanks for your replys , what i was doing just before it crashed i was trying to load some Commodore - VIC-20 , at the moment i have lost about 1 months work so a bit fed up at the moment but i will have another go some time with launchbox just got to sort out some games etc thanks

That's why if you sort the XML files in your backup folder by date and choose the most recent XML file and replace your broken XML file with that back up as Derek suggested, then it should work and not set you back as far.

hi thanks for your reply but i was woundering why it crashed ? but we have started again from scratch

[SentaiBrad]

That is a controller driver error not an XML error. Switching the way we handle the XML's will not improve or change anything significantly if at all. Actually, loading times when you're in LaunchBox would take longer if the XML was split up.

[Lmagnus87]

I know that the loading process will be longer if xml is split up but less messy. Maybe only 2, platforms and LB/BB settings I just "fixed" my xml copied and pasted a default LB/BB settings