Huge Issue With Artwork

[smallsbig]

Now this may just be a huge issue for me and i MAY BE in the small minority here that owns multiple front ends and keeps them all running BUT i noticed that Launchbox renames its artwork when it is used ? for instance see Capture 1 . Notice how it needs that _01 at the end of it to be seen as the box art?

Now look at Capture 2 . THIS is how every other front end I currently use requires the files to be named to work correctly ... I believe it follows the GOODNAME structure? Its been so long since I have had to deal with front end artwork someone im sure can correct me if im wrong .

ANYWAY what makes this an issue is as you can see even though i am clearly using the same artwork i would need to either copy all existing artwork and rename it to suit Launchboxes requirements OR go into every game individually and point it to the correct fine and HOPE it does not get renamed .

I can certainly see how the numbering system would be helpful if we have multiple single types of art we want to cycle through such as US box front JAPAN box front EURO box front but in almost every other case the system becomes quite cumbersome to work around . NOW a TON of my artwork was downloaded from emumovies so the originating files are sound ... it is only when importing in launchbox that launchbox must change the file name for some reason .

Any work arounds out there? Pulling my hair out here

 

[Jason Carr]

Hi @smallsbig, yes, this is currently a pain point when using the same image folders for various frontends. LaunchBox shouldn't rename any existing files you have, but if you download additional media, it will use its own naming convention. There's not really a good way around this since LaunchBox supports so much more images than most other frontends.

[smallsbig]

no i dont want to come across as not thankful for that specific feature because thats an amazing one ... maybe just eliminating the need to search for an _01 on the file and mach a string within would work? Im certainly not a coder so getting my thought across will be hard for me to have it sound right but ill try

 

Lets say we have BATMAN for Gameboy ... CURRENTLY to find the default box art it seems as though launchbox says " FIND BATMAN_01 , FIND BATMAN_02, FIND BATMAN_03"

BUT

would it be possible to change the system to say add a variable to the end of the first one like this "FIND BATMAN*, FIND BATMAN_02,FIND BATMAN_03"

 

THAT way it would not interfere with EXISTING installs BUT would find at least SOMETHING from other front end art folders and auto import that  as well as any additional artwork we may have . NOW since most other front ends (that i use anyway) Only HAVE the ability to serve that one box art for batman it should be perfect. ALSO if coming from as Hypersp**(<--censored on purpose) the art folders are already sorted much like launchbox so pointing the system modification / folders tab to the pertinent folder would also auto populate for us .

 

Just some thoughts ... i hope i came across with my thought in a sensible manner lol

[Jason Carr]

I think I see what you're saying, or at least I have an idea. We could make the first image always skip the _01, which would probably improve things. Is that what you mean?

[smallsbig]

i think so . I see the system always requiring seeing the _01 after an image to populate it as maybe a pothole ... whereas if it only looked for the game name with variables after it may auto populate what we already have ? Rather than going into every game , clicking on edit , adding picture, selecting what picture it is , clicking okay . Pointing launchbox system to an artwork folder thats filled with the naming conventions that say emu movies and other systems use would be a huge boon to the ease of use and setup for folks im sure .

 

Like in my original example

Batman The Movie (Europe)

already exists in the folder

Launchbox is just looking for something to fill that slot so it looks for

Batman The Movie-01

This does not exist so it returns no cover

Changing the system to instead look for a variable for the first file that matches

Batman The Movie*

would in turn provide a match and something pretty to see

Maybe even setting a toggle in options for folks who would like to continue using their existing method (i mean i dont know if that would be necessary as it would still be looking for Batman The Movie-02 , Batman The Movie-03)

I hope im not over explaining it and making it sound like a complicated process My wife tells me I tend to over explain things

[Zombeaver]

It doesn't require _01 and that's not the default convention LB uses either - it's a hyphen not an underscore, so Game-01 not Game_01. Game_01 might still work (I'm honestly not sure) but that's not LB's standard naming convention. Underscores are typically for characters that are unusable in Windows file names like colons. It looks for your library title, your rom name minus special characters, and your rom name with all special characters. You can then add numbers on top via -01, -02, etc. if you have multiple.

I made a post about what LB does and doesn't look for here:

 

On 8/30/2016 at 2:51 PM, smallsbig said:

Changing the system to instead look for a variable for the first file that matches

Batman The Movie*

It already does this. If your library title is "Batman The Movie" and your artwork is "Batman The Movie.jpg" it will match. Equally, if it's "Batman The Movie-01.jpg" it will match, but it doesn't have to be named with a number.

[smallsbig]

im sorry i could have SWORN i typed

Batman The Movie-01

above as an example but oh well ive never been one to soap box semantics

Anyway it seems Jason knew pretty directly what i was referring to because as i stated and still holds true ... if files are named with anything after the game name itself as in Batman (USA).jpg launchbox does not seem to find them , as most other front ends have come together on a sort of universally accepted naming structure (i belive good name is the standard most widely used now? Dont quote me i could be wrong) this creates a huge issue with those of us running multiple front ends because having to have a special set of images special named to how launch box likes them is a pain and going in to set each game with the direct file ... right click .. edit ... add picture erc etc etc can be pretty cumbersome for thousands of games . This is why my original suggestion was to add a variable after the game name to resolve the issue

 

pretty sure itll get sorted though ill just keep trying those betas jason puts forth

Edited September 15, 2016 by smallsbig

[Zombeaver]

40 minutes ago, smallsbig said:

if files are named with anything after the game name itself as in Batman (USA).jpg launchbox does not seem to find them

Did you actually read the linked post that I included above? 

I'll quote it directly since you seem to have missed it:

On 9/7/2016 at 10:05 AM, Zombeaver said:

Let's say you have an entry in your library that's titled "Final Fantasy VI" and an associated rom file named "FF6(1994)(Squaresoft).zip".

In this scenario, your media could be named in any of three ways (actually four if you include appended numbers but we'll get back to that) and it will automatically associate with your LB/BB entry. It could be named based on the library title, the rom file name minus special characters, or the rom file name with all special characters.

Final Fantasy VI.mp4 - matches the library title; this will work 
FF6.mp4 - matches the rom file name minus special characters; this will work 
FF6(1994)(Squaresoft).mp4 - matches the rom file name with all special characters; this will work 
FF6(1994).mp4 - includes special characters from the rom file, but not all of them; this will not work 
FFVI.mp4 - doesn't match either the library title or the rom name; this will not work 

So no, I'm afraid you're incorrect. It matches based on any of three possible ways, four if you include appended numbers ala -01, -02, etc. which can be added on top. It'll match based on your library title, the rom file name minus special characters, or the rom file name with all special characters. Now, is it possible you're using prexisting files from other frontends that don't fit into any of those scenarios? Of course. But your statement above simply isn't correct. Again, it's based on  your library title, the rom file name minus special characters, or the rom file name with all special characters. Any of those will work. And at no point do any of them require -01 to be at the end.

Let's look at an even more complex example.

The 7th Saga [Library title]

7th Saga, The (USA).zip [rom name]

The box image for this can literally be named any of the following ways and it will be recognized.

The 7th Saga.jpg

7th Saga.jpg

7th Saga, The.jpg

7th Saga, The (USA).jpg

That's probably the most robust name matching logic that I've encountered in any front-end frankly.

Edit: One additional thing I noticed while testing the above is that appended numbers were passed through in the case of the full library title (The 7th Saga) and the full rom name (7th Saga, The (USA)) but not in the case of the partials (7th Saga and 7th Saga, The) so you could have The 7th Saga-01.jpg or 7th Saga, The (USA)-01.jpg and it would be recognized but not 7th Saga-01.jpg or 7th Saga, The-01.jpg. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not. Any of them will work minus numbers though.

[smallsbig]

dunno i must be a special snowflake .. i point the system to tho cover photos in my hyperspin folder that already exists and nothing happens ... nothing shows ... same with my folders i use for fan art and backgrounds and so on and so forth ... If it wasnt an issue that i havent myself tried to work through and solve ... i wouldnt have posted it as one . I set the folders pointed to the ones i use for every other front end i own and Launchbox acts like its seeing nothing ...UNTIL i change a file to have the -01 in the file name ...

 

thanks for your help though its been super informative

[Zombeaver]

6 hours ago, smallsbig said:

Launchbox acts like its seeing nothing ...UNTIL i change a file to have the -01 in the file name ...

So just so I'm absolutely certain I'm on the same page, you're saying that you can have

Game X.zip

Game X.jpg

And in this scenario it doesn't match, but then changing it so that you've got

Game X.zip

Game X-01.jpg

And it suddenly starts working? Because something is very wrong if that's the case. Those numbers are designed to be added on top of preexisting matching conditions - not as a prerequisite for them to match. All of those 7th Saga examples I listed above were literally tested while writing that post. They do not exhibit the behavior you're describing.

Can you provide a complete rom file name along with your library title and the complete image file name as an example of this? I feel like we're missing something here.

[Jason Carr]

LaunchBox should be finding games by titles with no issues. The -01 suffix should never be required in order for the image to be picked up. If a particular image is not being picked up, then we have a glitch and I'll need a specific example in order to research it. The only time the -01 stuff comes into play is when saving *new* images.