7.8-beta-1 Released

[Jason Carr]

Alright guys, beta 6 is out, with the auto-populate functionality for playlists. It's a whole lot more flexible than the custom filters were, and it doesn't have the performance issues either, so we should be in good shape with it. It does need some beating on though, so test away.

Tomorrow I'll be headed back to fixing bugs, and I'll start with the bugs listed here in this thread. @Norfair, you may be onto something with the Scrape As possibly causing the sorting issues, so thanks, that could be a big win. Can anyone else confirm that it's happening for Scrape As platforms?

[porterballs]

8 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Alright guys, beta 6 is out, with the auto-populate functionality for playlists. It's a whole lot more flexible than the custom filters were, and it doesn't have the performance issues either, so we should be in good shape with it. It does need some beating on though, so test away.

Tomorrow I'll be headed back to fixing bugs, and I'll start with the bugs listed here in this thread. @Norfair, you may be onto something with the Scrape As possibly causing the sorting issues, so thanks, that could be a big win. Can anyone else confirm that it's happening for Scrape As platforms?

how does the auto-populate function work jason? do i just import my roms and they put themselves in different playlists like Arcade, what about roms already imported thanks

[angelobodetti]

Yea would love to know how auto populate works. Especially for existing roms that are imported. Really looking forward to the "classics" collections (capcom classics, midway classics, etc...)

[deliyuerek85]

@Jason Carr

Is it possible to add the option "sort by" for playlists? Because than I could for example create a playlist with the name "by Date" where all games would be sorted by release date. This would be really cool and I think it would not be so difficult to add.

Edited February 24, 2017 by deliyuerek85

[Napalm2016]

WOW!  Just tried auto populate playlists feature setup a favourite playlist works like a charm, Kudos @Jason Carr keep up the good work Launchbox: King of front ends

[angelobodetti]

21 minutes ago, bundangdon said:

Yep, I tried it too and it's simple and very convenient! It's basically like the smart playlist feature used in iTunes

So is that how you are going to do a "capcom" classics wheel? I thought Jason's last video said LB would make its own. I am waiting for the pre made ones but if not I will follow this method. 

I just don't know if every single capcom game should be included or if there is some real logic behind "classics". Does the Hyperspin XML just have every game or did they identify the "best" ones?

Also - How do you manage playlists without clicking on a game first? Where can I start a new playlist from scratch?

[angelobodetti]

Also with the logic you have in the screeenshot "developer equals capcom" - would it be every cap on game in LaunchBox (regardless of platform)? Or can I specify capcom games within the arcade platform?

[Napalm2016]

25 minutes ago, angelobodetti said:

Also - How do you manage playlists without clicking on a game first? Where can I start a new playlist from scratch?

As far as I'm aware there isn't a manage playlists option yet certainly not that Ive found  at least, currently just right click a game you want to add to a play list select the option Add to play list and select new playlist to create a new one, I believe it is still work in progress I'm sure there will be more to come like the auto split of arcade games etc

[CriticalCid]

Just did a quick test and the auto-population works really well for me. Thank you Jason!

But would it be possible to add support for Custom Fields to it as well? One of the major flaws I had with the Custom Filters was that they didn’t support any Custom Fields. My BitBucket ticket regarding that issue is also one of the highest voted ones

https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox/issues/368/add-the-option-to-include-custom-fields-in

[flores9]

@Jason Carr awsome the new auto playlist feature. But one question, the relationship between every row (filter) are "And" or "Or"??

[angelobodetti]

2 hours ago, bundangdon said:

Sort of. This is just a Capcom as a developer/publisher playlist which means it's any games including computer, console, arcade, etc. However, you can add more conditions/rules in the fields as shown below in order to make the "smart" playlist according to your own preference. To manage this type of playlist, simply select "Playlists" (instead of platforms, genre, etc. and then click on the "+" button which allows you to make a playlist. From there, you'll see the same dialog box as shown below. Hope that helps

 

 

edited, the first picture I posted was incorrect. oops!

Thank you - I did it this way and only got 79 games or so. The functionality is great, the only issue is that not every game scrapes complete meta data. I would say only a small percentage or my Arcade roms have "publisher" filled out.

[Jason Carr]

Thanks for the discussion guys. To clarify, this auto-populate feature is separate from the one that will create playlists for arcade, like Capcom Classics. That feature is still planned, and will not use this auto-populate stuff. We're simply going to include metadata as to what goes in what playlist, and create them on importing Arcade.

We have found a number of bugs in the latest beta that I'm currently working on, including issues with displaying platform categories in LaunchBox and no games listed under All (among other things). Working on the bugs; I should have a beta out later today.

[Jason Carr]

3 hours ago, flores9 said:

@Jason Carr awsome the new auto playlist feature. But one question, the relationship between every row (filter) are "And" or "Or"??

When using the same field twice in the list, it's an "Or". That way you can specify to include two different developers, for example. Otherwise, it's an "And". So you can stuff like this:

"Show me games for the NES where the developer is Capcom or the developer is Namco."

Adding a line for Platform equals NES, Developer equals Capcom, and developer equals Namco should result in the above.

[FistyDollars]

31 minutes ago, angelobodetti said:

Thank you - I did it this way and only got 79 games or so. The functionality is great, the only issue is that not every game scrapes complete meta data. I would say only a small percentage or my Arcade roms have "publisher" filled out.

And THAT is why we need people helping us with the LaunchBox Games Database. The metadata is only as accurate as we are.

[Kevin_Flynn]

3 hours ago, flores9 said:

@Jason Carr awsome the new auto playlist feature. But one question, the relationship between every row (filter) are "And" or "Or"??

I'd like to see something like this. If the 'Advanced Operator' is blank then default to 'AND'

 

Edited February 24, 2017 by Kevin_Flynn

[Jason Carr]

5 minutes ago, Kevin_Flynn said:

I'd like to see something like this. If the 'Advanced Operator' is blank then default to 'AND'

 

Unfortunately that's more complicated for end users than I think is wise to implement for LaunchBox. That interface would cause a whole lot more confusion which I want to avoid. The combination of same-field OR and cross-field AND should cover the vast majority of situations, and I'm doubtful that users are going to run into significant problems with it. Let me know if you have a use case though where that custom operator logic is necessary.

[Kevin_Flynn]

5 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Unfortunately that's more complicated for end users than I think is wise to implement for LaunchBox. That interface would cause a whole lot more confusion which I want to avoid. The combination of same-field OR and cross-field AND should cover the vast majority of situations, and I'm doubtful that users are going to run into significant problems with it. Let me know if you have a use case though where that custom operator logic is necessary.

How does it currently handle multi-values i.e. genres.

For example: 

Developer: NES

Genre: Adventure AND Action

 

Here's another example:

System: Playstation

Genre: Action

 

OR

 

System: Playstation 2

Genre: Puzzle

(1 AND 2) or ( 3 AND 4)

 

How could I accomplish combinations like these?

Edited February 24, 2017 by Kevin_Flynn

[angelobodetti]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

Thanks for the discussion guys. To clarify, this auto-populate feature is separate from the one that will create playlists for arcade, like Capcom Classics. That feature is still planned, and will not use this auto-populate stuff. We're simply going to include metadata as to what goes in what playlist, and create them on importing Arcade.

We have found a number of bugs in the latest beta that I'm currently working on, including issues with displaying platform categories in LaunchBox and no games listed under All (among other things). Working on the bugs; I should have a beta out later today.

Will this functionality work for already imported collections?

[cammelspit]

@Jason Carr Auto Playlisting for the win! Now you can get rid of that custom filter nonsense. This is MUCH better and it's FASt to populate the lists too!

I did come across a few small things I think you might want to think about. I just made, on a whim, a playlist with all the batman games for every system. I had to revert my combined roms because of issues before and I haven't gotten around to recombining them because I can only do one platform at a time. So what I thought would be cool is to combine all versions of batman returns into one entry, pick my favorite version for all platforms as the main rom and have one entry. I didn't expect it to work that way but here is what I found when I tried to do it. All roms were combined but I ended up with one entry for each platform, not a bad fail safe and probably what most people would want. I think it would be cool to be able to allow it to combine those into one entry if I prefer it for my playlist if I desired. I know this would require you to separate combinations into playlists and platforms separately but it's something to think about at least.

 

As always GREAT work Jason!

[Jason Carr]

1 hour ago, Kevin_Flynn said:

How does it currently handle multi-values i.e. genres.

For example: 

Developer: NES

Genre: Adventure AND Action

 

Here's another example:

System: Playstation

Genre: Action

 

OR

 

System: Playstation 2

Genre: Puzzle

(1 AND 2) or ( 3 AND 4)

 

How could I accomplish combinations like these?

That's a good point on ensuring Adventure AND Action works; I'm not sure what would be best for that, but I'm up for taking ideas. However, the "(1 AND 2) OR (3 AND 4)" logic is more complicated than I intend for the feature to support. I just don't see that as being a common need, and I'd rather keep it easy to use.