8.8-beta-1 Released

[Jason Carr]

1 hour ago, alissongamer said:

About playlists you have to take into account the playlists in which there are no systems with the same name in RL. Capcom Play System II, Capcom Play System III, Cave, Data East Classics, Irem Classics, Konami Classics, Midway Classics, Namco Classics, Namco System 22, Nintendo Classics, Sega Classics, Sega ST-V, SNK Classics, SNK Neo Geo MVS, Taito Classics and Williams Classics.
As for custom playlists like 2 Players, Best Beat 'n Up, Best Shotter, etc ..., they do not exist in RL by default, so I do not know the best solution in this case.

@Jason Carr

Can't you add whatever systems you want to RL?

[Bedwyr]

So this happened on my first test on exiting. To be clear I stopped these and then rebooted: Kodi, Java, Logitech updater, OneDrive, Dropbox, Controller Companion, AnyDVD, and OneNote. Basically anything I could think of that might cause an untoward effect.

After I selected "no" the error happened again.

I wonder if the popup dialogue is not displaying correctly and interrupting or screwing up the interface somehow. Like maybe it actually is a focus problem and focus isn't being properly returned from the (invisible???) prompt dialogue. Today's log attached, just in case.

Debug 2018-10-08 10-25-37 PM.log

Edited October 9, 2018 by Bedwyr

[Rod]

12 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

The first 8.9 beta is out now:

 

 

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the 8.8 release, great stuff.

This is not a beta issue, but hopefully small enough that it wouldn't warrant an own topic.

Currently the items in the "Launch With..." menu seem to be "randomly" sorted.  It would be great if the emulators in that menu could be alphabetically sorted.

Mainly because I'm using version numbered emulator releases (as sometimes new MAME versions break things), so I keep different versions in  the Launch With menu, which would make it more beautiful if they were alphabetically sorted.

 

 

Edited October 9, 2018 by Rod

[Agent47]

12 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

Can't you add whatever systems you want to RL?

You can, but there are a couple scenarios that require some extra work.

For the most part emulators that only emulate a single system are completely fine. Some multi-system emulators are fine too, MAME included.

The snag comes when you have emulators like RetroArch where it emulates a bunch of systems. Some of those modules have system specific checks for bios files, requiring different CLI params, or other automation specific to that system so it needs to know which system it is. Using custom system names with those emulators will require editing the module to include your name or sending the standard RL name from the frontend, or map the standard name to each game, none of which are ideal obviously. I plan on fixing that so you can any system name but I haven't gotten around to implementing it yet since my free time has been virtually non-existent recently but that should change here shortly.

[Agent47]

13 hours ago, alissongamer said:

About playlists you have to take into account the playlists in which there are no systems with the same name in RL. Capcom Play System II, Capcom Play System III, Cave, Data East Classics, Irem Classics, Konami Classics, Midway Classics, Namco Classics, Namco System 22, Nintendo Classics, Sega Classics, Sega ST-V, SNK Classics, SNK Neo Geo MVS, Taito Classics and Williams Classics.

All of these names are supported in the MAME and RetroArch modules FWIW. They might not be in standalone FBA if for some reason you're using that.

[Jason Carr]

11 hours ago, Bedwyr said:

So this happened on my first test on exiting. To be clear I stopped these and then rebooted: Kodi, Java, Logitech updater, OneDrive, Dropbox, Controller Companion, AnyDVD, and OneNote. Basically anything I could think of that might cause an untoward effect.

After I selected "no" the error happened again.

I wonder if the popup dialogue is not displaying correctly and interrupting or screwing up the interface somehow. Like maybe it actually is a focus problem and focus isn't being properly returned from the (invisible???) prompt dialogue. Today's log attached, just in case.

Debug 2018-10-08 10-25-37 PM.log

That's interesting. That popup is certainly not being displayed correctly, but it's not a separate window or anything; it's just an overlay in the XAML, so I'm not sure how the popup would be causing issues (focus would still be on the main Big Box window). This does make me wonder if it's a video driver issue or something of that nature though, since at least the above issue is a rendering issue of some sort.

I'm not really sure where to go next, other than to continue testing to see if it can be relatively consistently replicated in a simple environment. Did you have only one controller connected?

[Jason Carr]

7 hours ago, Rod said:

 

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the 8.8 release, great stuff.

This is not a beta issue, but hopefully small enough that it wouldn't warrant an own topic.

Currently the items in the "Launch With..." menu seem to be "randomly" sorted.  It would be great if the emulators in that menu could be alphabetically sorted.

Mainly because I'm using version numbered emulator releases (as sometimes new MAME versions break things), so I keep different versions in  the Launch With menu, which would make it more beautiful if they were alphabetically sorted.

 

 

Good to know. I probably won't get this in for the 8.9 bugfix release, but I'll add it to my list.

[Jason Carr]

39 minutes ago, Agent47 said:

You can, but there are a couple scenarios that require some extra work.

For the most part emulators that only emulate a single system are completely fine. Some multi-system emulators are fine too, MAME included.

The snag comes when you have emulators like RetroArch where it emulates a bunch of systems. Some of those modules have system specific checks for bios files, requiring different CLI params, or other automation specific to that system so it needs to know which system it is. Using custom system names with those emulators will require editing the module to include your name or sending the standard RL name from the frontend, or map the standard name to each game, none of which are ideal obviously. I plan on fixing that so you can any system name but I haven't gotten around to implementing it yet since my free time has been virtually non-existent recently but that should change here shortly.

 

33 minutes ago, Agent47 said:

All of these names are supported in the MAME and RetroArch modules FWIW. They might not be in standalone FBA if for some reason you're using that.

Okay, thanks @Agent47. I assume this means that it wouldn't be as simple as just sending over the playlist name instead of the platform name if a playlist was loaded. Would it work just to add a new variable that sends the playlist name if the user is in a playlist (as well as the platform)? For Sega Classics, for example, this means that the Arcade platform name would be sent along with the Sega Classics playlist name.

[Bedwyr]

2 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

That's interesting. That popup is certainly not being displayed correctly, but it's not a separate window or anything; it's just an overlay in the XAML, so I'm not sure how the popup would be causing issues (focus would still be on the main Big Box window). This does make me wonder if it's a video driver issue or something of that nature though, since at least the above issue is a rendering issue of some sort.

I'm not really sure where to go next, other than to continue testing to see if it can be relatively consistently replicated in a simple environment. Did you have only one controller connected?

Correct, only the SN30 modkit (SNES Bluetooth PCB). I could try and replicate using the XB1 controller. Possibly the N30 one as I recall FFII used only one or two of the four face buttons.

Another random thought is that it's still because of the popup, but the popup doesn't display at all. Like not even the yes/no. Somehow I still clear the query condition but BB stops responding correctly after I do.

Also, FWIW, I'm running a GTX 1060 on 411.70. The CPU is a new Core i7 8700K. Windows 10's status is just before the October update (which MS pulled I hear). I can't really think of disabling anything else except for core system functions like Bluetooth or Windows Defender (not even gonna think about that one).

[Jason Carr]

23 minutes ago, Bedwyr said:

Correct, only the SN30 modkit (SNES Bluetooth PCB). I could try and replicate using the XB1 controller. Possibly the N30 one as I recall FFII used only one or two of the four face buttons.

Another random thought is that it's still because of the popup, but the popup doesn't display at all. Like not even the yes/no. Somehow I still clear the query condition but BB stops responding correctly after I do.

Also, FWIW, I'm running a GTX 1060 on 411.70. The CPU is a new Core i7 8700K. Windows 10's status is just before the October update (which MS pulled I hear). I can't really think of disabling anything else except for core system functions like Bluetooth or Windows Defender (not even gonna think about that one).

Sure, I think it would be helpful to try and replicate using an Xbone controller, because I think that should rule out whether the issue is related to controllers or not.

I do think the popup might be a lead. Do you know what popup it is? I'm not really seeing any that would make sense in that scenario (I don't know of any popups that would show up on exiting a game and returning to Big Box). By chance, do you have any plugins installed?

[Bedwyr]

3 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

Sure, I think it would be helpful to try and replicate using an Xbone controller, because I think that should rule out whether the issue is related to controllers or not.

I do think the popup might be a lead. Do you know what popup it is? I'm not really seeing any that would make sense in that scenario (I don't know of any popups that would show up on exiting a game and returning to Big Box). By chance, do you have any plugins installed? 

I'm 99% sure it is the prompt for the beta just after your emergency release. No plugins, just regular setup and media.

[DOS76]

well if its the beta prompt just open LB and see if it lets you run the update and then next time you open BigBox it shouldn't prompt you again.

[Bedwyr]

1 hour ago, DOS76 said:

well if its the beta prompt just open LB and see if it lets you run the update and then next time you open BigBox it shouldn't prompt you again.

Well that works ok once. I've had this behavior through multiple beta and release versions.

Anyhow, I replicated the same behavior with the XB1 controller under the same conditions as the SN30 controller.

To be crystal clear about how the system responds, I can do three things: navigate with D-pad, press the exit button and get the exit sound effect (but not actually exit the game's page), and on the top button maximize the 2D box art which looks like this (I normally use 3D box art btw):

Edited October 10, 2018 by Bedwyr

[Jason Carr]

15 hours ago, Bedwyr said:

Well that works ok once. I've had this behavior through multiple beta and release versions.

Anyhow, I replicated the same behavior with the XB1 controller under the same conditions as the SN30 controller.

To be crystal clear about how the system responds, I can do three things: navigate with D-pad, press the exit button and get the exit sound effect (but not actually exit the game's page), and on the top button maximize the 2D box art which looks like this (I normally use 3D box art btw):

If we can determine if it's really the update notifications that are causing the issue, that'd be awesome, as I have some ideas that would probably fix it. I'd say go ahead and update to the latest and we can check to see if it still happens (I am putting out an official release here shortly though). If it really is the update notifications, that should be all I need to know to get it fixed, hopefully.

[Bedwyr]

25 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

If we can determine if it's really the update notifications that are causing the issue, that'd be awesome, as I have some ideas that would probably fix it. I'd say go ahead and update to the latest and we can check to see if it still happens (I am putting out an official release here shortly though). If it really is the update notifications, that should be all I need to know to get it fixed, hopefully.

I could coordinate with you so that I do tests with a fully updated copy (like hold off on a beta for a single evening to see if it replicates or not). I could, for example, spare 15 minutes later tonight if you're going to launch a full release before that (I'm CDT).

[Jason Carr]

2 minutes ago, Bedwyr said:

I could coordinate with you so that I do tests with a fully updated copy (like hold off on a beta for a single evening to see if it replicates or not). I could, for example, spare 15 minutes later tonight if you're going to launch a full release before that (I'm CDT).

I'm releasing this official release this morning, and then there won't be any betas out for at least a couple of days, so that should work well. Another option would be to simply just temporarily disable the updates, or just temporarily turn off your Internet connection. But it shouldn't be an issue anyways.

[Bedwyr]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

I'm releasing this official release this morning, and then there won't be any betas out for at least a couple of days, so that should work well. Another option would be to simply just temporarily disable the updates, or just temporarily turn off your Internet connection. But it shouldn't be an issue anyways.

There's the oddball remote possibility that if I did that and the issue is more embedded in the update process itself, you'd get a false positive from me. But yeah, while not universe-heat-death impossible, highly unlikely. Ok. I'll try to get everything updated and try again tonight, both controllers, 15 minutes each.

[Rod]

On 10/9/2018 at 5:44 PM, Jason Carr said:

Good to know. I probably won't get this in for the 8.9 bugfix release, but I'll add it to my list.

That's great, thanks ?

[Chris Kant]

 i have had now the chance to test the nested folder thing in BigBox.

In launchbox beside some workflow things (like not possible to copy playlist and just change one thing like the platform to have it on every platform etc etc etc) the it is a great feature so far and help to have a better overview. I also want to have a playlist feature where I can choose artwork specific things like -- for this platform show me all games without a video or without an card image etc etc. on the other hand it would be nice to have a good media manager within launchbox.

what I absolutely not like it the way how the playlists are implemented in BigBox.

I choose the platform (i.e. NES) where I have 4 Playlists. in this platform there are no longer any games, and I am only able to choose between the playlists. I always thought (like in Launchbox) choosing the platform gives me all games and the playlists are the playlistwise reduced ones from ALL. and it is really ugly because I don't have clear logos for all or videos and the screen is fully black.

 

as an Idea... we can go into the platform in BigBox (like NES) then we see all games in it. if we want to have the limited view by Playlist within this platform can we not have a way to choose by playlists like on a specific playlist button? and when we press that button there is the chance to choose between ALL, or the playlists or maybe also included standard playlists like genre, beginning letter or so? what do you think about this @Jason Carr

[rexryan]

4 hours ago, Chris Kant said:

 i have had now the chance to test the nested folder thing in BigBox.

In launchbox beside some workflow things (like not possible to copy playlist and just change one thing like the platform to have it on every platform etc etc etc) the it is a great feature so far and help to have a better overview. I also want to have a playlist feature where I can choose artwork specific things like -- for this platform show me all games without a video or without an card image etc etc. on the other hand it would be nice to have a good media manager within launchbox.

what I absolutely not like it the way how the playlists are implemented in BigBox.

I choose the platform (i.e. NES) where I have 4 Playlists. in this platform there are no longer any games, and I am only able to choose between the playlists. I always thought (like in Launchbox) choosing the platform gives me all games and the playlists are the playlistwise reduced ones from ALL. and it is really ugly because I don't have clear logos for all or videos and the screen is fully black.

 

as an Idea... we can go into the platform in BigBox (like NES) then we see all games in it. if we want to have the limited view by Playlist within this platform can we not have a way to choose by playlists like on a specific playlist button? and when we press that button there is the chance to choose between ALL, or the playlists or maybe also included standard playlists like genre, beginning letter or so? what do you think about this @Jason Carr

Everything your wanting to do is available from just me playing around it's a matter of knowing when you want to use a Category then playlist or a playlist alone. I attached a picture if this is what your trying to obtain. in my pic all games and prototypes are playlist because im not breaking them down any further. Genre and 2 player are categories and inside are playlist.