Bigbox and Rocketlauncher demo

[JaysArcade]

I created a short demo of what using Rocketlauncher can do for your set-up. Mostly a demo of the fade screens but also a quick shot of loading from a save state in the Pause menu at 2:43. A few of the transitions in the video look a little rough - including the pause menu transition - due to the recording software getting a little lost and not knowing which layer it was supposed to be recording. The software chokes further on in the video but it still recorded. Oddly enough, the Future Pinball section is the roughest looking as its kind of choppy. The Daphne fade-in transition 40 seconds in is pretty smooth and is more representative of what you'll actually see with most of the emulators when set up properly. The fade out exit screen on that one is pretty smooth also. I might do another video soon but with a camera instead of the software so the transitions can be seen the way they actually look on the screen.

Thanks needs to be given to Retrohumanoid on Youtube for all the Rocketlauncher artwork and for Simply Austin for bringing his channel to the spotlight. Also for the Launchbox theme creators here that do what you do. Thanks!

If you are looking to get your feet wet with Rocketlauncher, I created a tutorial video at the link below.

 

 

Edited December 6, 2016 by jaythompson

[Napalm2016]

Hi Jay

I'm using rocketlauncher primarily for the fade screens as I think it gives a cleaner look while starting emulators through bigbox, I'm just curious where you got the artwork for those fade screens I'm just using the static console images that initially came with rocketlauncher but yours look a lot cooler

[JaysArcade]

Yeah there is a youtuber that Simply Austin mentioned a while back. He goes by the name RetroHumanoid. The links to all his fade stuff are in one of his videos. He's got some good stuff on there that he created himself. Check it out.  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP60Vc-kRYCiJ1y2PvxryA

 

[Napalm2016]

Thanks Jay Ill check it out

[angelobodetti]

I'm having trouble getting Rocket Launcher to load Arcade games properly with bezel from LB. RL thinks it is called MAME not Arcade. 

Any advice? Am I missing a setting somewhere?

works well from RL directly but not from LB or BB

thank you!

[DOS76]

Change your platform to match what RL is expecting so use ctrl+a to highlight all your arcade games then hit ctrl+e to open the bulk edit wizard and change the platform name to MAME then go and find all of your arcade media in Images, Manuals, Music and Videos in LB and change the Arcade folder name to MAME and it should work as RL expects it to. That is why I don't like RA it is too rigid.

[JaysArcade]

You don't have to rename your Arcade platform to get it to work with Rocketlauncher. The way around the naming thing is in the General Options section of the RocketLauncherUI tab in the RLUI, uncheck the Valid Emulators/Modules Only checkbox and then try launching the game through Launchbox/RL. I have my MAME set up this way and it launches just fine, as well as AAE which in LB is named Another Arcade Emulator but in RL it wants it to be named AAE. The bigger problem comes when you set up more systems that Launchbox wants set up in the Arcade Platform by default (just my opinion).

There may be a few more settings to get things working the way you want but this setting here is the one that leads people to believe you have to have the platforms named the same. Its just not true. Being rigid and inflexible? Yeah I would agree with that but there are usually ways to whip RL into shape.

[DOS76]

@jaythompsonthanks for correcting me  there and teaching others how they can get around the naming issue I wasn't aware of that setting its good to know.

[RetroHumanoid]

Hey Jay...just wanted to say,thanks for the shout-out! I have been seeing alot of videos lately popping up with my fade and pause work,yet noone ever seems to acknowledge where it came from. 

[kmoney]

@RetroHumanoid Your fade and pause work with RocketLauncher is truly awesome work and much appreciated!

[Napalm2016]

Yeah thanks @RetroHumanoid downloaded the files haven't had chance to install them yet will have to watch your video but these look awesome great work

[JaysArcade]

4 hours ago, RetroHumanoid said:

Hey Jay...just wanted to say,thanks for the shout-out! I have been seeing alot of videos lately popping up with my fade and pause work,yet noone ever seems to acknowledge where it came from. 

Just giving credit where credit is due. Thank you so much for making my Rocketlauncher experience better!

[ckp]

21 hours ago, jaythompson said:

The way around the naming thing is in the General Options section of the RocketLauncherUI tab in the RLUI, uncheck the Valid Emulators/Modules

If you do that and use "%platform%" in LB command parameter, how is RL going to know which emulator to open the rom with? I "think" the LB platform needs to match the platform in RL, unless you don't use "%platform%" in the LB command parameter and specify a specific platform name for every single platform you want to use with RL? 

Edited December 12, 2016 by ckp

[JaysArcade]

I just use the default settings that are applied in Launchbox when you set up Rocketlauncher as an emulator. I couldn't even tell you what those settings are because I haven't touched them since I set up Rocketlauncher. I'm not in a place for me to check those settings right at the moment.

You set up the emulator in the global settings in Rocketlauncher, then you click a platform in Rocketlauncher, even if it is named different and you set the rom path for that platform and set the emulator (which you just set up globally). If you uncheck that Valid Emulators/Modules check box, your games should launch just fine. Inflexible, but not impossible. Try it and see for yourself.

[JaysArcade]

On 12/12/2016 at 10:10 AM, ckp said:

If you do that and use "%platform%" in LB command parameter, how is RL going to know which emulator to open the rom with? I "think" the LB platform needs to match the platform in RL, unless you don't use "%platform%" in the LB command parameter and specify a specific platform name for every single platform you want to use with RL? 

OK man. So I'm going to eat some crow here. I've figured some stuff out since I wrote this. I incorrectly assumed that Rocketlauncher was pulling the emulator name to launch games but you guys are right. It actually pulls the system name. However..... For MAME, you can use Arcade or Arcade Classics as the name and it won't throw an error. The same with AAE - Another Arcade Emulator. And just when I thought I had a good handle on how Rocketlauncher works too...

It appears that unchecking the Valid Emulators/Modules Only checkbox doesn't do what I thought it did.

Apologies if I caused anyone any grief. Like I said in my first tutorial. If you need help with Rocketlauncher, it is probably best to ask on their forum, although I will still try to help if asked.

[ckp]

Good job @jaythompson , now we're all wiser!

[angelobodetti]

@RetroHumanoid Love all of your fade work. Do you happen to have a fade out set or bezels?

Thanks again!

[Styphelus]

You don't have it setup properly. Take the Jaguar game. You have BigBox showing the Loading Game box followed by a fade screen missing the game info, back to Launchbox and back to the emulator. That's not how it's supposed to be. Once you select the game it should go straight to the fade screen (showing rating, game title, developer and year) and straight into the emulator once the game is loaded.  That's how mine works. If I didn't know any better I would see your video and think it's a really messy process.

If you are using Retroarch for the Jaguar, make sure windowed fullscreen is on and fullscreen s off. Otherwise you get that back and forth between the emulator and BigBox. Also, turn off the BigBox Now Loading screen.

Edited December 23, 2016 by Styphelus

[JaysArcade]

There are lots of ways to set up Rocketlauncher. I do have the game details stuff turned off because I don't really care about any of that. The flashing back and forth is more due to the recording software than anything else but I will look into the suggestions you make. I'm all for making my system better so thanks for the suggestions.  I didn't realize you could turn off the now loading box in Bigbox either. I know it looks a little messy but I was really trying to show what RL is capable of not to impress anybody. 

[JaysArcade]

Thanks @Styphelus for the tips. I recorded another short demo - this time externally to avoid the capture software limitations. I removed the redundant Loading Game box and set Retroarch to fullscreen windowed mode. Much cleaner transitions now. I have to admit, I didn't care for the unsolicited advice but I'm glad I listened to you. This video is a much better representation of what to expect with a properly set up Bigbox/Rocketlauncher install.