LaunchBox Beta Testing - 6.8+

[Jason Carr]

7 hours ago, ALIE said:

OK tested it out not exactly what I was hoping for  any chance of a traditional Screensaver that could go through images.  Not sure if there's a bit bucket ticket for this. 

Hi @ALIE, that would be a completely separate thing to implement, so unfortunately that's not likely to happen for 6.9. We'll probably need a new ticket for something like that on Bitbucket.

[audunv]

I don't believe that Jason ever got the Amiga games to work they are still one of the problem systems that need some care.

I know. But I'm wondering why it's not working when the filenames are in the database?

Is it something wrong with the logic that match the names. For example is the underscore removed from the filename before trying to match the name?

I don't know. :-)

[Jason Carr]

Thanks guys for all the feedback and the VLC and imports testing. I just put out a new beta that I think really refines the Attract Mode features. The wheels and CoverFlow now accelerate and decelerate properly as a typical wheel would. I've also added options for not switching between filters and maximum and minimum speeds. Let me know what you guys think.

We will hold off on implementing a random direct-to-game option that doesn't scroll through the wheels until a later version, largely because that will require a completely different solution code-wise (none of the existing code that I've built would work for that, though it probably won't be that difficult to build when we do). Same goes for a screensaver-type images/videos solution. I also probably won't get around to implementing a "wait for video to finish" option for this version either, so hopefully the customizable per-game time can get you close enough for now. I do still want feedback on it all though because we will implement everything eventually, and we may still tweak some things before the official release.

Per the VLC testing, I will send those errors back on to higankanshi. For Daphne/Atari ST I'm glad to hear that things have at least been improved for those platforms. I will be adding support for the multi-disk launching eventually, but that probably isn't too high of a priority for the moment. Same goes for Daphne since it's a pretty small library of games.

Thank you all! Let's hear your feedback on the new beta.

[Jason Carr]

5 minutes ago, audunv said:

I know. But I'm wondering why it's not working when the filenames are in the database?

Is it something wrong with the logic that match the names. For example is the underscore removed from the filename before trying to match the name?

I don't know. :-)

The problem is that Amiga file names are not consistent enough and there's no reliable source that we've found that has a list of all the possible file names and their proper game names. I do still have some ideas/options to make it work though, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

[Zombeaver]

20 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

The wheels and CoverFlow now accelerate and decelerate properly as a typical wheel would. I've also added options for not switching between filters and maximum and minimum speeds. Let me know what you guys think.

Nice! Looking forward to checking that out!

20 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

We will hold off on implementing a random direct-to-game option that doesn't scroll through the wheels until a later version, largely because that will require a completely different solution code-wise (none of the existing code that I've built would work for that, though it probably won't be that difficult to build when we do).

Knowing that it will be implemented eventually is all I needed to know!  Thanks!

20 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

For Daphne/Atari ST I'm glad to hear that things have at least been improved for those platforms. I will be adding support for the multi-disk launching eventually, but that probably isn't too high of a priority for the moment. Same goes for Daphne since it's a pretty small library of games.

Understood. I did have a thought about something that could improve it though it would still require some manual setup for each game - is there any way that some kind of switch could be implemented to pull the path from an additional app? So like in the example I gave for Atari ST, if both the first and second disk got pulled in as additional apps you could use a custom command line parameter of -fullscreen %romfile% %addapp2% and that would inject the rom path from the second disk additional app into the command line (rather than having to type it all out)? Not a huge deal, but it would save some additional time. Just throwing stuff out there! I'll still fiddle with this stuff regardless 

Thank you!

[Jason Carr]

Thanks @Zombeaver. Yes, I think when we implement the multi-disc stuff we'll probably end up pulling them from the additional apps.

[Lordmonkus]

22 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

 For Daphne/Atari ST I'm glad to hear that things have at least been improved for those platforms. I will be adding support for the multi-disk launching eventually, but that probably isn't too high of a priority for the moment. Same goes for Daphne since it's a pretty small library of games.

Thank you all! Let's hear your feedback on the new beta.

Yeah, no rush on these features especially for Daphne since like you said it is just a small number of games.

You get to them when you can, hopefully there is an easy way to implement it like how @Zombeaveris saying.

[kmoney]

@Jason Carr I just got a chance to test out the newest beta with the added in new options with attract mode and I got to say this is by far the best attract mode with any frontend I have tried especially with the added options so the user can set it up to there custom liking.

A new bug I have found is while attract mode works great with the game wheels view and the coverflow w/ videos view with the boxes up top, I have found an issue with the coverflow with videos and boxes at the bottom view. The reason being is those first 2 views I mention cycle back around to the first game when you land on the last game of the list. But the coverflow view with the boxes on the bottom does not cycle back around to the first game on the list when you get to the last game. 

A lot of times when I was testing today once it got to the last game in that coverflow view it would just stay there on that same last game on the list and just keep playing the same video over and over without attract mode kicking in. I think what is confusing it is that view does not cycle back to the beginning once you get on the last game.

[Riffman81]

9 hours ago, Mute64 said:

You still want to here the way i do it? Its pretty much the " manual " way compared to the programe lordmonkus suggested.

 

By the way @Jason Carr the new attract mode is awsome! ... ive had one crash so far when watching attract mode with VLC... and im testing now with WMP, so far no crash.

@lordmonkus Best shell works great on Windows 10! Just set to BigBox.exe, restart and bam! Easy as cake I recommend it for anyone looking for a quick and easy way to boot straight into BigBox and hide Windows. @Mute64 I'd still be interested in learning to do this manually though if you wouldn't mind sharing. Simply because Windows update sometimes tends to mess with things like this and should I ever need to do it manually, I'll know how. I don't update my cab to often and for the most part, it's only connected to the net to update frontend related stuff. @Jason Carr would it be possible to have a shell feature built straight into BigBox? I'd imagine it wouldn't be to hard to implement, but I'm no programmer so what do I know Thanks guys, this makes my cab experience with BigBox a whole lot better!

[Lordmonkus]

Awesome to hear, glad to see that little program still working in Windows 10. I just wish bbLean worked in Windows 8 and 10 like it did for 7 and earlier. Something changed in 8 and using bbLean just doesn't quite work right anymore, it sorta works but there are bugs.

[Riffman81]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

Hi @Riffman81, sadly we still need a feature to reset play counts and stuff. It's obviously accessible directly in the XML, but I imagine it'd be a royal pain to reset them all manually. Not sure if we have a ticket for that but we should definitely add one if not.

Hi @Jason Carr I Added a ticket for this

[Jason Carr]

Thank you @kmoney, great to hear. Yes, you've nailed that CoverFlow issue. To fix it we'll just need to make CoverFlow loop properly, and I can do that before the official release.

@Riffman81, thanks for adding that ticket. I'm thinking shelling would probably be better done by a third-party app, just because I'm afraid of the support tickets we'd get if we integrated it. "Oh noes! I can't access my computer anymores!"

[Riffman81]

Just now, Jason Carr said:

Thank you @kmoney, great to hear. Yes, you've nailed that CoverFlow issue. To fix it we'll just need to make CoverFlow loop properly, and I can do that before the official release.

@Riffman81, thanks for adding that ticket. I'm thinking shelling would probably be better done by a third-party app, just because I'm afraid of the support tickets we'd get if we integrated it. "Oh noes! I can't access my computer anymores!"

Yeah, I didn't think of that. I'd imagine it would be more trouble then it's worth. As I said though, bestshell.exe seems to do the trick and I'm quite happy sticking with that.

[Zombeaver]

@Jason Carr One other thought - this is sortof outside the multi-disk thing but would help with it as well. Would it be possible to implement a command-line parameter append function?

Currently if you have an emulator setup with its own special command-line parameters and you use the "use custom command-line parameters" function in a game entry, it uses those instead of what's setup in the emulator entry. So, for example, the emulator entry could be setup with -fullscreen but if I tell it to use something custom in the game entry, I would still have to type in -fullscreen as part of it. Would it be possible to add in a separate check box next to the "use custom command-line parameters" and call it something like "Append Command-Line Parameter" so that rather than replacing the whole thing, it just adds it to whatever is in the emulator entry? That way, in this specific scenario, I could have the emulator just setup to have -fullscreen %romfile% at all times, and the only thing I would have to add in is the path to the second disk (or %addapp2% if that were implemented) in the game entry. This could actually help with some other scenarios as well.

[billyc999]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

The problem is that Amiga file names are not consistent enough and there's no reliable source that we've found that has a list of all the possible file names and their proper game names. I do still have some ideas/options to make it work though, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

not sure if it will be of use, just one of the files i made for HS

amiga.xml

[audunv]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

The problem is that Amiga file names are not consistent enough and there's no reliable source that we've found that has a list of all the possible file names and their proper game names. I do still have some ideas/options to make it work though, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

I know that is a problem.

Here are some info from the latest whdload collection from 2016-01-21. I also attached the dat files for the collection if that is something you can use. 

             __  __

            / / / /  The WHDLoad Complete Collection as at 2016-01-21.

           / / / /  

          / / / /  This collection is based on the hard work of

         / / / /  KillerGorilla (KHWHD) and continued by Retroplay,

__  __  / / / /  TheCyberDruid and Magix (WHDownload).

\ \ \ \/ / / /

 \ \ \/ / / /  Plus all the installation creators at WHDLoad & JST!

  \ \/ /\/ /

   \__/\__/  Long live the Amiga!  :-)

 

 The folder structure looks likes this: -

+WHDLoad Collection

|-Applications

|-Cracktros

|-Demos

|-Games-JST

|-Games-WHDLoad

|-Games-WHDLoad-Beta

|-Magazines

\-Magazines-Beta

 

 

 

 

WHDLoad Collection (2016-01-21).zip

[ALIE]

WOW updates in Big Box.  When was this added  but nice now I only need LB when adding games. 

[DOS76]

@Zombeaver

44 minutes ago, Zombeaver said:

"Append Command-Line Parameter" so that rather than replacing the whole thing, it just adds it to whatever is in the emulator entry

Brilliant!

[Zombeaver]

The more I think about it there are actually quite a few scenarios where it would be useful. For example I use custom configs for all of my PCSX2 stuff, which requires that you direct it to the folder where the config file is located. With the append function you could put everything but the --cfgpath= function into the emulator entry. If the option to include no spaces in the append was present, you could even put --cfgpath= in the emulator entry and the only thing you'd have to put into the game entry parameter field would be "[the config path]".

There are plenty of other potential applications.

[Pat]

13 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

The problem is that Amiga file names are not consistent enough and there's no reliable source that we've found that has a list of all the possible file names and their proper game names. I do still have some ideas/options to make it work though, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

I love the Amiga! It was the first system that was in my own room - so I had access 24/7 (much to the displeasure of my parents). 

The way I manage my Amiga games is by having separate configuration files for each one.
This does sound like a lot of work but it's actually not so bad. Plus, it gives me a lot of options for each game. Sure, you could play 90% of the games by using a standard Amiga 500 setup and a one button joystick but  by having a separate config, you can add more RAM, additional disk drives, faster CPUs, map other gamepad buttons, and so on. 
While some Amiga games use additional RAM, for example, others go crazy when there is too much or simply crash. 

Granted, a lot of these problems are gone when you use WHDLoad but there is still the option of mapping your gamepad (makes many Amiga games a lot more playable - especially mapping Joy Up to Button A so jumps are a lot easier when not using a Competition Pro Joystick).

Great thing about using UAE-Files is, you can name them whatever you whish and import works flawlessly.