Jump to content
LaunchBox Community Forums

Confused - Using retroarch but LaunchBox won't run the emulator


jon

Recommended Posts

Hi Before I buy BigBox, I have been trying to sort out the basics of LaunchBox. I love it, but I am having some terrible issues. I am a bit confused as my Atari 2600 and Nes collection work right out of Launchbox using RetroArch. However, I just imported my Master System collection, selected RetroArch as the Emulator after installing the Core, and Launchbox refuses to load any games. Double clicking does nothing. So I imported my Genesis/Megadrive collection and the same. I checked a couple of games under Edit Game and the emulation is "Retroarch". To check, I have the cores for NES as nestopia_libreto.dll and Master System is picodrive_libreto.dll As a point my Colecovision collection also refuses to run. If I run them from RetroArch they work - no problem. What the heck am I doing wrong? I love this front end more than i did hyperspin. But i need it to work before i buy the lifetime version. Cheers Jon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

LaunchBox is by default configured to use the genesis_gx_plus core for both MegaDrive and Master System. You need to go into tools manage emulators and then select retroarch and edit go to the associated platforms tab and change either the to the picodrive core or in RA download the genesis core.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

so I uninstalled and reinstalled Launchbox, removed all emulators from retroarch and only put one back. I installed Pico for Megadrive in Retroarch, and then loaded it into LaunchBox bt again, Launchbox fails to load the emulator, but Retroarch does. Please can someone advise? Or perhaps AttractMode is a better option.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You don't ever really need to remove or reinstall LaunchBox for pretty much most reasons. There are specific cases where that can happen, but usually not. That almost never solves the problem. In terms of dealing with RetroArch, I would point you towards the Tutorial series on our YouTube channel that is designed to help users out. I can tell you that it is working, but you have some settings off. RetroArch takes some configuring to get right unless you utilize the default cores that LaunchBox suggests, and those suggestions have long been out dated. Click the YouTube link in my signature or click the tutorial button at the top of the forums. I did a tutorial on most of the Sega consoles (pre Saturn) that will probably answer a lot of questions for you.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do you have the genesis gx plus core in RetroArch or do you only have the picodrive core LaunchBox is telling RetroArch to load this core by default -L "cores\genesis_gx_plus_libretro.dl" if you want to use the picodrive core you have to change it to read -L "cores\picodrive_libretro.dll"
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you by chance using a archive that has multiple ROM files like a good set or one that contains all regions I've seen this cause issues before because RA will let you drill into the archive and pick the ROM you want while from LB it will just fail.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There shouldn't be an issue Genesis should work fine have you tried changing the core to the picodrive core in LaunchBox and seeing if it will work with Picodrive instead? The games with the multiple regions I'm assuming they aren't in archives.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

jon said I think it does contain all regions, however so does my SMS folder and that works oK.
Your SMS roms may have the right (or working) rom first alphabetically where your Genesis ones may not. I believe when you load a zipped file with multiple roms in it through Launchbox it loads the first file it finds and that file may or may not even be a rom file, it could be some sort of other file. Try extracting one of the actual rom files out and tell Launchbox to load that rom instead of the zip file. I can tell you without question the the Genesis GX core will load every single rom file you can throw at it as long as the file itself is not corrupt. I have 777 Genesis roms and every single one of them works flawlessly but I also do not keep my roms in zip files, all my roms are extracted. The only thing you should be using the Pico core for is the 32X games.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the files in my Genesis folder are BIN files - the first file is "3 Ninjas Kick Back (USA).bin" I moved the file to my desktop, and added it to LaunchBox via "Import Roms" option calling it Mega Drive. I assigned Retroarch as the emulator. When I double click "3 Ninjas Kick Back (USA)" game in LaunchBox, the mouse pointer spins a bit and the stops, and then nothing happens. When I launch Retroarch, I can locate the game, and run it fine using Genesis GX Core. Seems LB is still not happy with something. Cheers JB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK! I think I may be getting somewhere. I just added a ROM and put it under Sega Genesis. And it loaded under LaunchBox. Will try some more and report back. Seems LB doesn;t like the term "MegaDrive" for my ROMS!!! (which are a mix of US and Europe). Cheers JB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right. Now I am all sheepish and feeling like a right goon. it appears that my source folder for ROMs is called "Sega Genesis". I have being trying to import the ROMs into the "Sega Mega Drive" part of LaunchBox so I assume the folder name where the ROMS are located need to have the same description as the LaunchBox import name. Is that correct?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Associated Platform name needs to match the name of the platform you use in LaunchBox. So if you are calling it Mega Drive, then you need to edit your RetroArch Associated Platform names to match. This is why I said to watch the tutorials the other day. :P Don't forget to use the Scrape As feature if you call it something other than the default platform so you can scrape it as the proper platform so you can get all the metadata and media properly associated and downloaded.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...