9.8-beta-1 Released

[FlightRisk]

I shut them off globally in the options menu

[Omen]

On 5/7/2019 at 8:57 PM, PanteraZombie said:

I appreciate the help... unfortunately it didn't work.

I was able to get it to work by setting keyboard automation in BigBox as follows:

Shift key: Left Shift Key on Keyboard

Pause menu: M on keyboard

Then use the following AHK script for your emulators:

vk07sc000::

; This section toggles pause screen

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000")
{
        Send {LShift down}{m down}{m up}{LShift up}
}

That will activate pause with a press of the Xbox Guide button.

If you want to use guide + start to activate pause use this AHK script:

vk07sc000::

Joy8::


; This section toggles pause screen

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy8")
{
        Send {LShift down}{m down}{m up}{LShift up}
}

 

[FlightRisk]

RE: missing pause menus

Ok, I went into my NES roms which use Retroarch. So same setup. When I launch the game by double clicking, which uses RL to launch using RA, the pause screen is missing the load, save, reset! If I right click on the game, select "launch with", "Retroarch -> NestopiaLibretro", I get all the menus.

[PanteraZombie]

15 minutes ago, Omen said:

I was able to get it to work by setting keyboard automation in BigBox as follows:

Shift key: Left Shift Key on Keyboard

Pause menu: M on keyboard

Then use the following AHK script for your emulators:

vk07sc000::

; This section toggles pause screen

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000")
{
        Send {LShift down}{m down}{m up}{LShift up}
}

That will activate pause with a press of the Xbox Guide button.

If you want to use guide + start to activate pause use this AHK script:

vk07sc000::

Joy8::


; This section toggles pause screen

If GetKeyState("vk07sc000") && GetKeyState("Joy8")
{
        Send {LShift down}{m down}{m up}{LShift up}
}

 

Awesome! I'll be trying this after work tonight! I also appreciate the script to set it as the hold, I'll play around with both.

[FlightRisk]

Are all "backgrounds" across all of LB the same? My startup backgrounds weren't working, so I turned them on and they work, but now when I highlight a game on my main screen, it takes that background and obliterates my plain background that I want. Can I still use ONE unchanging background for LB, but still have backgrounds that change for startup and pause screens?

[Jason Carr]

7 hours ago, Retro808 said:

I had this happen last night as a fluke, so not sure if related to what FlightRisk is seeing. I then closed LB and deleted the default theme folder then reopened to have LB regenerate it. It worked again. It happened when I was testing a Pause theme I was working on. 

Hmm, pretty sure it's unrelated to removing the theme folder, but I'll look out for that fluke I guess.

6 hours ago, Omen said:

@Jason Carr would it still be possible to add an AHK option for Pause Exit, like save and load have? I've run into a couple of emulators (RPCS3 & CxBx-Reloaded) that use a second window for the game. This causes pause and automation exit functions to only close the game window, leaving the emulator running. Also having the option for an exit AHK would allow for possible future emulator issues.

There is an AutoHotkey script option for resume, which I believe is what you're looking for (the same as pause exit). So that should already be there.

6 hours ago, Retro808 said:

Confirming the Exit from pause with RPCS3 only works if you do it twice. Pause, select Exit, then Pause again and select Exit before the emulator actually shutdowns to BB. 

If anyone gets a script together that works for RPCS3, let me know. I can add it in as a default.

5 hours ago, FlightRisk said:

Here are my steps. I get that RL is probably the issue here, but was hoping for a reason:

1. set default to use RocketLauncher (which runs MAME and is set to have loading and unloading fade screens and bezels)
2. Find a game, right click and select "launch with" and choose MAME 
3. press the pause screen key (J in my case)

I get the expected pause screen with several menu items on it including the load and save states

1. turn off startup screens so they don't compete with launchbox (or leave it. same result)
2. just click on the game which will now launch through RL
3. Press the pause button

This time, I get a pause screen with only 3 items on it; resume game, manual and exit game. Also pause button no longer works, but I can scroll to resume

 

 

Honestly, that's such a complicated scenario that I have no idea. Pause screens are incredibly complicated and involved, so it would take major effort to figure that out. And with Rocket Launcher's screens competing with LaunchBox's, it's going to be a mess any way you look at it.

5 hours ago, FlightRisk said:

This is regarding my "macro" question. Basically, I am just trying to hit one button in order to do a LB menu sequence instead of having to do the same thing over and over manually when testing. For example, If I click on a game, the default right now is set to RL to launch. To test with MAME, I have to right click on the game, scroll to "launch with", then scroll to MAME, then press ENTER. It would be nice to highlight the game and then duplicate those keystrokes with one key or button press.

Alternately, can LB be set to ask every time as an option? IOW, when I double click on it, can it give me a popup with the available emulators and I choose the one I want. That would at least eliminate having to deal with moving my hands between the keyboard and mouse or using the mouse but having to right click and use menus.

For the moment, that's not an option. There is a menu key on the keyboard (to the left of Ctrl) that acts as a right-click.

[Jason Carr]

4 hours ago, FlightRisk said:

RE: missing pause menus

Ok, I went into my NES roms which use Retroarch. So same setup. When I launch the game by double clicking, which uses RL to launch using RA, the pause screen is missing the load, save, reset! If I right click on the game, select "launch with", "Retroarch -> NestopiaLibretro", I get all the menus.

It's probably because your Retroarch emulator is missing scripts for those. Check Edit Emulator and make sure that all the scripts are populated.

[Jason Carr]

3 hours ago, FlightRisk said:

Are all "backgrounds" across all of LB the same? My startup backgrounds weren't working, so I turned them on and they work, but now when I highlight a game on my main screen, it takes that background and obliterates my plain background that I want. Can I still use ONE unchanging background for LB, but still have backgrounds that change for startup and pause screens?

Not currently.

[Jason Carr]

Beta 14 is out now with the following:

• Pause screens default theme updated to show controls information images from EmuMovies for the Arcade platform and cart images for non-arcade
• Retro achievements added to pause screens
• Additional apps that use web URLs, JPGs, PNGs, or GIFs now show up and work on the pause screens as well
• Back key now exits pause screens, same as selecting Resume Game
• Added load and save states and reset game scripts for Sega Model 2 Emulator (will need to reset to default scripts in the emulator settings to use them)
• Updated the built-in Chromium web browser to the latest
• Updated Brazilian Portuguese and Simplified Chinese translations

[Omen]

12 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

There is an AutoHotkey script option for resume, which I believe is what you're looking for (the same as pause exit). So that should already be there.

Sorry I meant the "Exit Game" option. Some emulators don't exit, so I figured the option to add a custom AHK command, like you can with the other options would help.

[RULLUR]

@Jason Carrabout how far are we in getting something of a bulit-in controller mapper without having to hassle with other ones as an Additional App to be Launched with PC & DOS Games or anything else some may want to map a controller to? Isn't there a way to make it happen with some Hotkeying too? The thought of it seems to be bouncing around with me for a while..but unsure how easily it could work though.

[GreenGriffon]

2 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

Beta 14 is out now with the following:

• Pause screens default theme updated to show controls information images from EmuMovies for the Arcade platform and cart images for non-arcade

That's a good start....thank you!

 

[ZeSystem]

Hey, @Jason Carr

Was there a change to command line parameter?

This no longer works only on LaunchBox. Steam would run the game properly, but it doesn't seem like the last parameter "-table_<File>" is being passed on.

If I type "steam.exe -applaunch 442120 -table_WMS_Medieval_Madness" on command prompt, it launches perfectly fine and goes directly to MM.

[FlightRisk]

Quote

@Jason Carr Honestly, that's such a complicated scenario that I have no idea. Pause screens are incredibly complicated and involved, so it would take major effort to figure that out. And with Rocket Launcher's screens competing with LaunchBox's, it's going to be a mess any way you look at it.

Which is more complicated and involved, doing it with exclusive fullscreen mode or is the RocketLauncher way still more complicated? Wondering now that you are in it, if you still think this is the right way to go. No questioning you, just wondering what it looks like to you at this point.

Edited May 10, 2019 by FlightRisk

[Jason Carr]

2 hours ago, Omen said:

Sorry I meant the "Exit Game" option. Some emulators don't exit, so I figured the option to add a custom AHK command, like you can with the other options would help.

Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah, I can see that being useful. Not sure it will make it in for this release though.

1 hour ago, RULLUR said:

@Jason Carrabout how far are we in getting something of a bulit-in controller mapper without having to hassle with other ones as an Additional App to be Launched with PC & DOS Games or anything else some may want to map a controller to? Isn't there a way to make it happen with some Hotkeying too? The thought of it seems to be bouncing around with me for a while..but unsure how easily it could work though.

We're honestly nowhere near it. Ultimately, it wouldn't be that hard to do, but nothing we've done so far is significant progress in that direction.

30 minutes ago, ZeSystem said:

Hey, @Jason Carr

Was there a change to command line parameter?

This no longer works only on LaunchBox. Steam would run the game properly, but it doesn't seem like the last parameter "-table_<File>" is being passed on.

If I type "steam.exe -applaunch 442120 -table_WMS_Medieval_Madness" on command prompt, it launches perfectly fine and goes directly to MM.

There haven't been any changes that I'm aware of that should affect command-line parameters like that, at least not since the 9.7 official release.

[ZeSystem]

1 minute ago, Jason Carr said:

There haven't been any changes that I'm aware of that should affect command-line parameters like that, at least not since the 9.7 official release.

Hm, it's only not working on LaunchBox at the moment.

Could you look into this? "-applaunch 44210" is clearly working since Steam is launching the game, so I think "<File>" is maybe giving a wrong parameter?
Is there any way for us to debug what command parameter is actually being sent when we click on the game?

[Jason Carr]

5 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

Which is more complicated and involved, doing it with exclusive fullscreen mode or is the RocketLauncher way still more complicated? Wondering now that you are in it, if you still think this is the right way to go. No questioning you, just wondering what it looks like to you at this point.

The Rocket Launcher way (making everything windowed) is still way more complicated and extremely finicky. I'm very glad we took the fullscreen exclusive mode approach. It's more performant and allows for a mostly generic approach, whereas Rocket Launcher's approach absolutely requires custom code and custom scripts for every single emulator, and they require changes more often. At least with this approach, unknown emulators have a good chance of working, even if I never code anything for them. It's a no brainer in my opinion.

The one thing we can't do with this method is bezels for emulators that don't support them. But with Retroarch continually getting support for more and more cores, I don't see that as much of an issue, and I don't foresee us adding that any time soon.

[FlightRisk]

Quote

@Jason Carrsaid: It's probably because your Retroarch emulator is missing scripts for those. Check Edit Emulator and make sure that all the scripts are populated.

 

So why didn't you just say so!? (said in my best Lou Costello voice)

This is what has been happening in my Arcade roms with MAME too!

Remember, if I click on an Arcade MAME game OR NES (only tests so far) which runs MAME/RetroArch respectively, through Rocket Launcher I don't see the "load", "save" or "reset" menu options in my pause screen

If I right click on an Arcade or NES game and select "launch with" and select MAME/Retroarch - NestopiaLibretro, I see all the menus

If I use the LB menu for "tools -> manage emulators -> and click on MAME or RetroArch, then go to the game pause screen tab, then look at the "reset", "save" and "load" subtabs, I see scripts in there! Viola, I learned something.

But if I "manage emulators" for RocketLauncher, I don't see any scripts. So, has this been my issue the whole time. And I could put scripts in there, but they would only work for RL at its level as if it were an emulator. So if I put RA scripts in there, it will work, but only if RA is the only emulator RL uses. If I call MAME or another emulator from RL the scripts won't match.  I guess that there is probably not a solution for that, eh? (other than use the emulator keys for that directly)

[FlightRisk]

Quote

@Jason Carrwrote: Pause screens default theme updated to show controls information images from EmuMovies for the Arcade platform and cart images for non-arcade

Technically, is what happened that you added an Arcade.xml to sit in the "pause themes\default" folder next to the Default.xml? So if it is the Arcade platform you substitute "Box3DOrNormalImagePath" for the default "FrontImagePath" and "ArcadeControlsInformationImagePath" for the "CartFrontImagePath". What is the difference between "FrontImage" and "Box3DOrNormal"? Guess I don't understand what "normal" stands for since that isn't an image type in the images\<platform> folders.

And this is a GREAT solution for now. I can imagine some pretty cool, scrolling menu themes that give you access to all the different media types like seeing the marquee, advertisements, commercials on video, etc.

Edited May 10, 2019 by FlightRisk

[Jason Carr]

1 hour ago, FlightRisk said:

So why didn't you just say so!? (said in my best Lou Costello voice)

This is what has been happening in my Arcade roms with MAME too!

Remember, if I click on an Arcade MAME game OR NES (only tests so far) which runs MAME/RetroArch respectively, through Rocket Launcher I don't see the "load", "save" or "reset" menu options in my pause screen

If I right click on an Arcade or NES game and select "launch with" and select MAME/Retroarch - NestopiaLibretro, I see all the menus

If I use the LB menu for "tools -> manage emulators -> and click on MAME or RetroArch, then go to the game pause screen tab, then look at the "reset", "save" and "load" subtabs, I see scripts in there! Viola, I learned something.

But if I "manage emulators" for RocketLauncher, I don't see any scripts. So, has this been my issue the whole time. And I could put scripts in there, but they would only work for RL at its level as if it were an emulator. So if I put RA scripts in there, it will work, but only if RA is the only emulator RL uses. If I call MAME or another emulator from RL the scripts won't match.  I guess that there is probably not a solution for that, eh? (other than use the emulator keys for that directly)

Yeah, I don't know of a solution to using Rocket Launcher with startup or pause screens. Guess it's a good thing we've been going around saying it's not supported.

Lol, but really, I don't recommend trying to mix Rocket Launcher and LaunchBox startup/pause screens. It's mostly unnecessary and completely haphazard.