LaunchBox's version of VLC can't play YouTube videos

[SsjCosty]

I recently discovered that the VLC player packaged with LaunchBox cannot play YouTube videos, whereas the one properly installed on my local machine can. The problem, as I discovered, is the "lua" folder, which holds VLC add-ons. In a standalone VLC installation this can be found under C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua. However, the "lua" folder does not exist in LaunchBox's distribution of VLC. Does anyone know if this was intentional?

For YouTube, VLC specifically needs the youtube.lua addon file.

Thanks!

[neil9000]

1 hour ago, SsjCosty said:

I recently discovered that the VLC player packaged with LaunchBox cannot play YouTube videos, whereas the one properly installed on my local machine can. The problem, as I discovered, is the "lua" folder, which holds VLC add-ons. In a standalone VLC installation this can be found under C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua. However, the "lua" folder does not exist in LaunchBox's distribution of VLC. Does anyone know if this was intentional?

For YouTube, VLC specifically needs the youtube.lua addon file.

Thanks!

Well the included version of VLC is obviously included to work with Launchbox/Bigbox i don't no if it was even ever considered that it would be used for any other reason than that. I do also know that it is also a custom version of VLC to a certain extent as Jason worked with someone in order to customise some .dll's specifically for use with Launchbox/Bigbox, i'm not sure what, or how much was customised but that specific feature may of been excluded for a very good reason like system stability, or other very justifiable reasons. @Jason Carr would have to comment more specifically on that though for obvious reasons.

[Jason Carr]

@SsjCosty Generally, we reduce the VLC folder down to only what is needed to try and reduce download size, as VLC is very large. LaunchBox and Big Box can't play YouTube videos by default anyways, or am I missing something? What are you trying to do that needs YouTube support?

[SsjCosty]

That's OK. I have previously used the "Additional Apps" feature when editing game details to add a "Play Trailer" or "Video Review" option, which would basically run VLC with the Youtube link as a command line parameter. I'm now thinking of adding a plugin to allow you to add Youtube videos to your games though ?

I can still use the integrated VLC. I can simply check if the youtube.lua addon file exists and automatically download it if it doesn't.

[Jason Carr]

1 minute ago, SsjCosty said:

That's OK. I have previously used the "Additional Apps" feature when editing game details to add a "Play Trailer" or "Video Review" option, which would basically run VLC with the Youtube link as a command line parameter. I'm now thinking of adding a plugin to allow you to add Youtube videos to your games though ?

I can still use the integrated VLC. I can simply check if the youtube.lua addon file exists and automatically download it if it doesn't.

Ah, I see. That makes sense. Yeah, if that works, then go for it. That also sounds like an awesome plugin idea.

[SsjCosty]

Thanks Jason! Implementing the plugin interface(s) was a great idea! ?

[SsjCosty]

Follow-up: I have finished my plugin! It's called Online Video Links and is available as open-source on GitHub and I've posted it to the LaunchBox forum too.

Cheers!