Archive Cache Manager

[Nixx]

I didn’t update it or used it in a long time, but bigbox profile has a module that reproduce most of the archive cache manager feature, and since it’s an external program, it probably still work just fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3SGPnVr8SU

[Corkscrew]

Started running into issues with 13.27-beta-1 unfortunately
 

 

[smargorps]

I have also been having with the 13.27 betas with 2.17 ACM.  Ran into it first with beta-1, still happening beta-3.  Coming right from it working just fine on 13.26, it stops working.  Then after reverting back to 13.26, it's fine again.  Would really like to stay up to date with the releases, but until LB can do this functionality on its own, I might just have to stay on 13.26. 

 

Edited April 27 by smargorps

[deathshakespeare]

Hi guys,

As a hard user of Archive Cache Manager, I tried to came up with a solution for the problems we're having after the 13.27 beta update. 

Master **fraganator** left the code public at github so I decided to give it a try. 

After a deep AI effort (I'm no developer at all), this version is working FOR ME. 

Basicly Launchbox changed the way it handles zip files extraction so this version came up with a aproach that handles this. (The explanation is on the readme file)

This version is compiled to work only with Launchbox 13.27 +

Might be necessary run launchbox as administrator in some cases.

 

As this project is not mine, I won't mess with the original code or version (actually I can't!)

If someone is willing to give it a try, let me know if it works for you as well. 

 

 

 

ArchiveCacheManager_LaunchBox_13_27.zip

[smargorps]

@deathshakespeare I was so excited to see this post, but it's not working for me, at least.  I re-updated to 13.27-beta3, copied your files into place, pulled it up and I'm still getting the same error message I posted above.  I did need to change my cache path back to what it was, which I thought seemed a little weird, but it otherwise didn't see all the previously archived games I had in there. 

I tried a couple different games and same thing.  I will try to attach the logs.  I also tried with running it as Admin

I downgraded back to 13.26 with the 2.17 ACM that was working for me previously and it was right back to working.  I will try to attach those as well for comparison.

I don't know if it matters, but I pull my games from my server, which is mapped to my Z:, which again, was working until 2.16 broke.  Then the 2.17 got me going again. 

Maybe I'm still doing something wrong.  Maybe I have a setting wrong or something, I don't know.  But if the expectation is that it should pretty much drop in, I end up with the error when I do that.  I know you're not a developer and may not just know right off the bat, but maybe it sparks someone else to have an idea too.

Thank you so much anyways, I will keep my fingers crossed. 

WORKING-events-2026-04-30.log NOT-WORKING-events-2026-04-30.log

[deathshakespeare]

10 hours ago, smargorps said:

@deathshakespeare I was so excited to see this post, but it's not working for me, at least.  I re-updated to 13.27-beta3, copied your files into place, pulled it up and I'm still getting the same error message I posted above.  I did need to change my cache path back to what it was, which I thought seemed a little weird, but it otherwise didn't see all the previously archived games I had in there. 

I tried a couple different games and same thing.  I will try to attach the logs.  I also tried with running it as Admin

I downgraded back to 13.26 with the 2.17 ACM that was working for me previously and it was right back to working.  I will try to attach those as well for comparison.

I don't know if it matters, but I pull my games from my server, which is mapped to my Z:, which again, was working until 2.16 broke.  Then the 2.17 got me going again. 

Maybe I'm still doing something wrong.  Maybe I have a setting wrong or something, I don't know.  But if the expectation is that it should pretty much drop in, I end up with the error when I do that.  I know you're not a developer and may not just know right off the bat, but maybe it sparks someone else to have an idea too.

Thank you so much anyways, I will keep my fingers crossed. 

WORKING-events-2026-04-30.log 10.07 kB · 0 downloads NOT-WORKING-events-2026-04-30.log 18.08 kB · 0 downloads

@smargorps

I Compiled a new version with corrections based on your log file. 

Plese try it. 

I recommend that you do not use your old config.ini, save it some where and try with a whole new configuration.

You might have to point to the cache folder again e set the emulator configs manually again. 

ArchiveCacheManager_smargorps.zip

[smargorps]

14 hours ago, deathshakespeare said:

@smargorps

I Compiled a new version with corrections based on your log file. 

Plese try it. 

I recommend that you do not use your old config.ini, save it some where and try with a whole new configuration.

You might have to point to the cache folder again e set the emulator configs manually again. 

ArchiveCacheManager_smargorps.zip 51.4 MB · 0 downloads

@deathshakespeare 

!!!!!!!

That seems to have done it! 

I re-updated to 13.27-beta3, dropped your files in and went to check it out.   The config it came with was of course much less set up than mine, but I started with just changing the directory, so it at least saw my original cache.  I was able to run stuff that was already cached (which had stopped working on the previous updates), but it wasn't working to try to pull new/unarchived stuff.

I figured it might be related to not having actually set the rest of it up, but to try to save some time setting it back up by hand, I decided "might as well try" and I dropped my original config in.  It started working with new pulls, existing archives, everything else I've checked so far!  

Despite the warning to not use the original config and it seeming to work when I did, do you know of any other reason to not expect that to be okay long term?

Otherwise, I appreciate it so much!  I don't know what else I can do besides say thank you so much, but if there is anything, let me know!

Was it possible that this fix "for me" was something that was general enough that it might also actually end up helping more people, or was it coded to something so specific in my logs that you wouldn't expect it to work for others?  Partly just curious, but partly might be good to warn people that it wouldn't work, or definitely let people know if it might work as an alternative to your original version.

I think the only other thing I thought to bring up was maybe editing the version number in the Settings?  I don't know what all the etiquette is when you're just throwing something together like this as a "quick patch" or whatever and not really trying to make it an official "update".  But even for your original version, it was nice to see 2.16 as a proof that it wasn't the 2.17 I was using, but it was partly weird to "downgrade" at that point, and I'd imagine might also be confusing for those who might actually be going from 2.16 to yours.. Or just to confirm somewhere in it that it just plan isn't the same 2.16 from the original github you started with or whatever.  Just a thought!

But thank you again so much, this is so cool!

 

 

[deathshakespeare]

That's so cool that it worked for someone else!

I changed the version to 2.20 and I'm also putting the actual version of the code here. 

Thanks @fraganator for the code and sorry for messing it up with AI. Desperate times, desperate measures. 

@smargorps this version is generic enough to work for more people (I hope everyone else), it just treads the case of the output file being named file.7z or file.zip, which was your case.

 

 

 

ArchiveCacheManager_V2.20.zip Code_archive-cache-manager_2.20.zip

[smargorps]

@deathshakespeare 

Got updated to the new version number, everything still works great!  

Ah, yeah, it's interesting that was the case because my sets are inconsistent, so it's almost just as likely I might have tried something from the other format and not even have known until later.  Glad to have gotten that cleaned up then.

But thank you again.  I hope it can help others as well.  We can't be the only ones in this predicament.

[duerra]

The disappearance of @fraganator and hacked fixes (that I'm grateful for) to this super important extension leave me anything but at-ease!

[Clutz450]

You should all go and upvote the feature request I submitted a while ago about making this type of addon an official part of LaunchBox.  Maybe if it gets enough upvotes it will become something they actually make happen. 

 

https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/feature-request-to-have-launchbox-cache-my-games-from-nas

Edited yesterday at 12:37 AM by Clutz450

[deathshakespeare]

15 hours ago, Clutz450 said:

You should all go and upvote the feature request I submitted a while ago about making this type of addon an official part of LaunchBox.  Maybe if it gets enough upvotes it will become something they actually make happen. 

 

https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/feature-request-to-have-launchbox-cache-my-games-from-nas

That would be great. I went there and left my vote and comment.

Edited 21 hours ago by deathshakespeare

[ojed4r]

First of all, huge thanks to @deathshakespeare for updating this essential plugin. I haven't had the chance to test this updated version since I've been stuck with v13.18 due to a bug introduced on v13.19 and that hasn't been fix AFAIK, could be related to the .NET 9.0 update. Basically, if you extract a zipped ROM small in size (a couple of MBs) while you have startup screens enabled, LB creates a second instance once you launch the game, and even if you shut down LB completely, the program stays open in the background. I go more in depth regarding this issue in the following forum post:

I appreciate if anyone can check if this bug keeps occurring with the updated plugin. To test it, just enable startup screens on BigBox and run a zipped ROM small in size like the one I used in the video, then, close LaunchBox and check if an instance of the program is active using task manager. Looking forward to hear any updates. Thanks!

[deathshakespeare]

4 hours ago, ojed4r said:

First of all, huge thanks to @deathshakespeare for updating this essential plugin. I haven't had the chance to test this updated version since I've been stuck with v13.18 due to a bug introduced on v13.19 and that hasn't been fix AFAIK, could be related to the .NET 9.0 update. Basically, if you extract a zipped ROM small in size (a couple of MBs) while you have startup screens enabled, LB creates a second instance once you launch the game, and even if you shut down LB completely, the program stays open in the background. I go more in depth regarding this issue in the following forum post:

I appreciate if anyone can check if this bug keeps occurring with the updated plugin. To test it, just enable startup screens on BigBox and run a zipped ROM small in size like the one I used in the video, then, close LaunchBox and check if an instance of the program is active using task manager. Looking forward to hear any updates. Thanks!

@ojed4r 

I couldn’t simulate your exact scenario on my end, but I’ve put together a 'brute force' solution that might solve the issue.

I added an optional checkbox in ACM to shut down all additional LaunchBox or BigBox processes (aside from the main ones) immediately after a game closes.

Since I'm not entirely sure how this might interact with other features, I’ve kept it optional.

I tested this on LaunchBox 13.27 Beta 2. I haven't moved to Beta 3 yet because of some unrelated issues I’m experiencing with that build.

I’m counting on you to test this against the actual problem, and if it works, please try it on Beta 3 as well so we can see if it holds up.

ACM2.20_ProcesssGuard.zip

[ojed4r]

47 minutes ago, deathshakespeare said:

@ojed4r 

I couldn’t simulate your exact scenario on my end, but I’ve put together a 'brute force' solution that might solve the issue.

I added an optional checkbox in ACM to shut down all additional LaunchBox or BigBox processes (aside from the main ones) immediately after a game closes.

Since I'm not entirely sure how this might interact with other features, I’ve kept it optional.

I tested this on LaunchBox 13.27 Beta 2. I haven't moved to Beta 3 yet because of some unrelated issues I’m experiencing with that build.

Man you're our hero! This new setting definitely could help to avoid that bug. Can I test this on v13.26 or it has to be on Beta 2? I want to check if maybe the bug was fixed on the latest stable release.

[deathshakespeare]

14 minutes ago, ojed4r said:

Man you're our hero! This new setting definitely could help to avoid that bug. Can I test this on v13.26 or it has to be on Beta 2? I want to check if maybe the bug was fixed on the latest stable release.

It won't work on 13.26 unfortunately. This version will work only on 13.27+

Launchbox changed a few things about handling zip files at this build.

[ojed4r]

25 minutes ago, deathshakespeare said:

It won't work on 13.26 unfortunately. This version will work only on 13.27+

Launchbox changed a few things about handling zip files at this build.

Ok, I will check it out when I have the time. Thank you so much for the help!