billbo Posted July 18, 2016 Author Share Posted July 18, 2016 hi all can I please ask for some help as iam very new to this sort of thing, I have downloaded RetroMania and looking to set up LaunchBox as I have never done any thing like this before I don't know where to start is there a simple step by step guide I can follow ??? iam using win 7. i have some nas,snas,ps2,n64 and atari7800 & i5200 roms. please be aware not very hi tach Thanks you for taking the time to read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 We have tutorials on our YouTube channel that will walk you through how to add games to LaunchBox, and a few tutorials on specific features. You can see them here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSIht6UXIEXIgz4eXAEShxA/featured Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspendedhatch Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 I'm very new too, but it's easy compared to other frontends. There are video tutorials but here it is from the perspective of a new user. First you'll need rom files (games) that you've A) legally ripped from cartridges and discs that you own or B) downloaded illegally from the internet. It's taboo to talk about the B option so you're on your own as to how to do that. Next you need emulators. These are the programs that are game system specific to play games. Some emulators play lots of systems, ie RetroArch, MESS, Mednafen. I highly recommend RetroArch because it covers almost every system, they update/develop every emulator contained within RA, and it handles controllers for you consistently across every system. They're more or less plug n play. Then after you get most of the systems set up, go download emulators to run additional systems or for the features they offer. You'll need an EmuMovies membership which ranges from free for limited downloads to paid lifetime membership for all the artwork, game manuals and video previews. Then you'll need to pay for BigBox. Difference between LaunchBox (free) and BigBox is that LaunchBox is navigated by keyboard and mouse like an application and BigBox is navigated with a controller like a frontend. You use LaunchBox to set up games and emulators for BigBox, but then confusingly LB and BB each has their own individual option settings for how each program looks and behaves. (Makes sense but it seems like the programs should be merged.) Open LB and go to Tools, then down to Import > Rom Files. That opens a wizard that holds your hand through the process. You import one systems rom set, finish out the wizard and then wait about 8 hours for all the artwork to be downloaded. Then you wake up the next morning and do the next system. Open BB and hit escape and go to options. Play with the settings in there to get it looking and behaving how you'd like it. Then go play the games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 You don't need an EmuMovies account. I don't have one and all I miss out on is the game videos but I don't care about that stuff. Just wanted to clear up the wording of "needing" and EmuMovies account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Yea, you get daily bandwidth caps and no access to the video, but if these are things you're not worried about it's not required. We do honestly suggest users get it, if they feel that is media they would like to have though. You can download everything else for free, you would just need to make multiple passes over the course of a month or so because of the daily cap. There is also a speed cap as well. I believe Circo said he was raising these caps a bit, but they still exist. If you just paid for EmuMovies though, the video still wouldn't work, you also need LaunchBox Premium to accompany that, but that too is optional. We would of course love it if you did pick up a premium license (assuming you liked LaunchBox), but it's fine for users to just utilize LaunchBox as free software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbo Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 Thanks very much guys up and running on what I have tried , can I please ask what would be best to run mame 0.37b5 roms ?? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexis524 Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 just go for both LB premium and a paid Emumovies account,It'll make your set-up complete. You're getting so much contect for a fraction of a price. Take the plunge my friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbo Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 alexis524 said just go for both LB premium and a paid Emumovies account,It'll make your set-up complete. You're getting so much contect for a fraction of a price. Take the plunge my friend. I will m8 just won,t to see what you get and see how hard it is to get roms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 billbo said Thanks very much guys up and running on what I have tried , can I please ask what would be best to run mame 0.37b5 roms ?? Thanks This would be the Mame4all rom set if I am not mistaken which is an older Mame used on the Raspberry Pi and other lower end devices. You can run these through Retroarch using the Mame 2000 core which is designed for that specific rom set http://wiki.libretro.com/index.php?title=MAME_2000 or you can use an older build of Mame http://www.mame.net/oldrel.html, scroll down til you find the 0.37b5 (0.41) version and download the binary. Outside of using this rom set on a Pi which I have done I don't have any experience with it otherwise. I would normally suggest using Mame over Retroarch for Mame emulation but in this case I think I would actually recommend using Retroarch. Being such an old version of Mame there are a lot of features not implemented and Retroarch brings a lot of great extra functionality like shaders. Maybe others might have a better suggestion however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 I do if you aren't running low end hardware and you have storage space get the newest ROM set and the latest version of MAME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SentaiBrad Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Yea I would suggest to get the latest version of the rom set, MAME .175 Split, and the latest version of MAME / using the "MAME" core in RetroArch (not the ones with years on them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Yes, updating the romset and Mame version would be best but if that isn't an option for whatever reason then the Mame 2000 core for the romset asked about is my advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspendedhatch Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 I wasn't being critical at all about the subscriptions. I already have the EmuMovies lifetime subscription since I'm coming from HyperSpin. I'm actually quite grateful that LB is leveraging the assets and artwork inspired by HS. The price for BigBox is similar to what I'd spend on liquor this month. So for the price of one dry month I get this evolved frontend that looks to be taking over where HS left off. Only bad thing is that a lot of the artwork/logos that work for me in HS don't seem to be working in LB. Famicom and Super Famicom especially, but also a lot of PS1 and even Nintendo boxes. I'm guessing that it's because the databases are still being sorted out. Now to figure out MAME and SSF... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Mame is easy, SSF is the tricky one but it's very doable, there are some threads around here about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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