Big Box crashes on first button press

[ayatollahbaloney]

I've set BB to launch on startup on my new Windows 10 installation. I've set up PS2, NES, SNES emulation and got them working. But when I boot up the PC, BB starts, and when I press "A" to select a system, BB freezes. It doesn't respond to anything. Only "solution" is to fetch a keyboard, pull the PC out of the shelf to connect it, press ctrl-alt-del, awkwardly use task manager with the keyboard, then start BB manually again. 

How do I go about finding the problem? 

 

 

 

[ckp]

I used to have that happen to me until I enabled all controllers in the BB controller settings.

Does it also happen when manually starting BB? 

[ayatollahbaloney]

Yes, it also happens when manually starting BB. But apparently only the first time. 

I've played around a bit, and it would appear that the x360 wireless receiver windows driver is the issue. It works fine on Linux, but on windows it is pretty much useless. 

[DOS76]

Are you using Windows 10? There shouldn't be any issues with the 360 wirleess receiver drivers as I have a few of them and they are working perfectly

[ayatollahbaloney]

2 minutes ago, DOS76 said:

Are you using Windows 10? There shouldn't be any issues with the 360 wirleess receiver drivers as I have a few of them and they are working perfectly

Yes, I am using Windows 10. The receiver and controller are working fine on linux, but windows driver seems to not handle it correctly. The dongle is of the china variety however, so I might have better luck with the original receiver. 

[DOS76]

ah you are using an after market dongle that could possibly be the issues all of mine are offical MS variety

[ayatollahbaloney]

I have now switched to using DS4 controllers, and Big Box still hangs on the first button press. Process must be force closed using task manager. 

So the cause is not the shoddy chinese receiver, but "something else" that mysteriously makes BB lock up. I've spent way too many hours trying to set this up, so I'm giving up and reverting to retropie. 

[ckp]

1 hour ago, ayatollahbaloney said:

I have now switched to using DS4 controllers, and Big Box still hangs on the first button press. Process must be force closed using task manager. 

So the cause is not the shoddy chinese receiver, but "something else" that mysteriously makes BB lock up. I've spent way too many hours trying to set this up, so I'm giving up and reverting to retropie. 

that's a major bummer. maybe THE man himself @Jason Carr can help? i think controller problems have been quite an active topic lately.  don't give up. try a little bit more in case anyone has an idea. it's going to help the product and other users, even if it can be frustrating for you.

[arcath]

So it seems I am having a similar problem.

My machine boots up from Win8 and Big Box starts. I use the controller to do anything and Big Box freezes up and the only thing that will fix it, maybe 50% of the time, is hooking a keyboard back up and pulling up task manager. Only then will Big Box become responsive again.

I thought it was my 360 controller and/or the wireless dongle but its doing the same thing with a usb snes buffalo controller.

Suggestions?

[ayatollahbaloney]

1 minute ago, arcath said:

So it seems I am having a similar problem.

My machine boots up from Win8 and Big Box starts. I use the controller to do anything and Big Box freezes up and the only thing that will fix it, maybe 50% of the time, is hooking a keyboard back up and pulling up task manager. Only then will Big Box become responsive again.

I thought it was my 360 controller and/or the wireless dongle but its doing the same thing with a usb snes buffalo controller.

Suggestions?

 

What is your setup?

 

I set up a new PC with W10, hardware: i5-7400, GTX 1050, and 8GB RAM. Tried using wireless X360 controllers with a (admittedly shoddy) chinese receiver. Tried using DS4 controllers via bluetooth and via the USB dongle. Tried using an ipega bluetooth controller. 
It doesn't always freeze, but it freezes far more often than it works. 
Waiting for a while before pressing does not appear to help. 

I have given up for now, but if this issue is solved, I may reconsider later on. 

[arcath]

53 minutes ago, ayatollahbaloney said:

 

What is your setup?

 

I set up a new PC with W10, hardware: i5-7400, GTX 1050, and 8GB RAM. Tried using wireless X360 controllers with a (admittedly shoddy) chinese receiver. Tried using DS4 controllers via bluetooth and via the USB dongle. Tried using an ipega bluetooth controller. 
It doesn't always freeze, but it freezes far more often than it works. 
Waiting for a while before pressing does not appear to help. 

I have given up for now, but if this issue is solved, I may reconsider later on. 

I'm on  a ASUS VM40B with 8gb ram running win8.1 with official MS dongle and 360 controller and/or USB controller.

I would say it freezes up on me 50% of the time? I assumed it was the 360 dongle since the drivers are shit in anything other than win10 but i was having the same problems with the buffalo usb controller. 

When I break out the keyboard and bring up task manager, it's hit or miss if Big Box will become responsive or not. Been trying a few different things but nothing seems to show any results.

The only thing I haven't really tried, which I am hesitant to do, is take the plunge and reformat with win10 on this box.

[Jason Carr]

Sorry to hear about these issues guys. I've looked into the controller stuff pretty extensively and the only thing I can find on the issue is that it's probably corrupted or buggy drivers or a corrupted DirectX install. We use both DirectInput and XInput for controllers. I haven't ever been able to replicate these issues so it's been difficult to understand exactly what is going on. I'm sorry I don't immediately have a solution for you guys. I hate to ask, but have either of you guys tried installing a fresh copy of Windows (or tried another computer) to see if that resolves the issue?

[ayatollahbaloney]

My install is a brand new PC with a clean install of W10. I can remove all trace of DX and try reinstalling that. 
 

[arcath]

13 minutes ago, ayatollahbaloney said:

My install is a brand new PC with a clean install of W10. I can remove all trace of DX and try reinstalling that. 
 

Yeah, let us know... I am am my wits end with this atm. 

I rebooted the machine 7 times before it was playable. 4 times the controller was DoA, 2 times the controller stopped responding after pressing a button or two, and the 7th reboot I managed to start a game.

As for a fresh windows install... I am currently looking for a cheap enterprise/education key for win10 as I want to replace the default shell with Big Box and the only way to easily do that is with Shell Launcher which doesn't work with my pro/home keys.

[ayatollahbaloney]

If your controller was DoA after boot, driver/dx issues do seem more likely imho. Even so, controller input shouldn't be able to make BB freeze completely. 

Using BB as a custom shell sounds very interesting, mind doing a howto or something if you figure it out?

[DOS76]

Okay on the off chance this is your issue when BigBox becomes unresponsive do you have a mouse connected or just a gamepad and when you say you are plugging in a keyboard and going to ctrl+alt+delete do you have a mouse connected then also? The reason I'm asking is people have had issues with losing focus in the past and a simple left click from the mouse puts the focus back on BigBox which I don't think a keyboard of gamepad will do.

[ayatollahbaloney]

I do not have a mouse connected. Alt-tabbing "out" of BB (it's the only open app) and back does not help. 

[DOS76]

Yeah if you have a mouse to test with it could help but I would think alt-tabbing would give focus back to an app so sounds like it probably isn't it.

[ayatollahbaloney]

Takes a few seconds to test, I can do that after work.

[arcath]

This is what I am seeing on my end.

I't doesn't seem like it's losing focus but I don't have a mouse atm to check that. I can look at that this weekend.