DaveC1964 Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 (edited) I have seen menus used for Android and Raspberry pi and they seem much easier to use with a joystick and on a TV (no micro fonts). I tried LB but it takes forever to load on a low spec PC, it doesn't seem practical if I know for example I just want to play a SNES game. I don't need to wait 4 minutes for a whole environment with 30 systems in it to load first. It is also confusing to get things working right many times. Is there something simple and fast loading that is available? I would actually like a stand alone UI that maybe could directly load cores or emulators. For example I want to play SNES, I just pick the SNES icon on the desktop and it only loads resources for SNES not every other system too. This would save a lot of load time and make configuring easier because I know the settings I make will just be for SNES and not change or overwrite settings for some other system. I know about Retroarch but honestly the UI is awful. It is a mess and not laid out logically making it confusing and a chore to use and configure. When you want to play something you need to go through a bunch of useless questions. Many times you aren't even sure what configuration is being saved for what system. It doesn't even remember last used game or specific ROM path per system. You need to dance through the directory tree every single time. Is there a quick fast solution? Thanks. Edited June 6, 2019 by DaveC1964 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 There is not. It sounds like this product isn't for you and you are looking for something else. Good luck in that endeavor. The best you can do is setup multiple instances of LB and only load one system into each one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil9000 Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 Yeah, this just sounds like you do not want a frontend at all. That is the whole point of a frontend, to have everything together and organised inside of one UI. Sounds like you just need to associate romfiles with the specific emulator they use so double clicking a rom will open it in the emulator of your choice. Everything you mention as negatives are actually positives for 99.9% of people and that is why they use a frontend in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted June 6, 2019 Share Posted June 6, 2019 10 hours ago, DaveC1964 said: I would actually like a stand alone UI that maybe could directly load cores or emulators. That's exactly what LaunchBox is. AKA, a Frontend. 10 hours ago, DaveC1964 said: Is there a quick fast solution? Have multiple instances of LaunchBox 'installed' and set each one up for each of your individual 30 platforms, respectively. So you'd have something like: D:\LaunchBox-SNES\ and D:\LaunchBox-N64... etc. From there, create shortcuts on your desktop to each LaunchBox.exe and naming them accordingly. With 30 platforms I'm guessing you have A LOT of games. Assuming LB has been given the time to build it's cache files (which on 1st time around can take some time, especially with a lot of games) it shouldn't take 4 minutes to load. Keep in mind, what it's mainly loading [basically] are the image files for each game (via cache). Given that, next best option is to upgrade components of your system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC1964 Posted June 7, 2019 Author Share Posted June 7, 2019 15 hours ago, neil9000 said: Yeah, this just sounds like you do not want a frontend at all. That is the whole point of a frontend, to have everything together and organised inside of one UI. Sounds like you just need to associate romfiles with the specific emulator they use so double clicking a rom will open it in the emulator of your choice. Everything you mention as negatives are actually positives for 99.9% of people and that is why they use a frontend in the first place. That would be ok if it were fast. The thing is if I just want to play a SNES game I don't need to load data for all systems I have emulated first and wait all of that time for all of the thumbnails to load etc. Associating ROMfiles is not practical if you have 5000 C-64 games etc. It seems like LB is good if you only have a few systems emulated with only a handful of games for each one. Either that or a beast PC with a big fast SSD that you never turn off. I am sure many do have that setup but I am running this on a GPD Win 2 handheld. I like to have the games on a portable. I was looking for a more lean frontend for a low spec PC such as that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC1964 Posted June 7, 2019 Author Share Posted June 7, 2019 15 hours ago, JoeViking245 said: That's exactly what LaunchBox is. AKA, a Frontend. Have multiple instances of LaunchBox 'installed' and set each one up for each of your individual 30 platforms, respectively. So you'd have something like: D:\LaunchBox-SNES\ and D:\LaunchBox-N64... etc. From there, create shortcuts on your desktop to each LaunchBox.exe and naming them accordingly. With 30 platforms I'm guessing you have A LOT of games. Assuming LB has been given the time to build it's cache files (which on 1st time around can take some time, especially with a lot of games) it shouldn't take 4 minutes to load. Keep in mind, what it's mainly loading [basically] are the image files for each game (via cache). Given that, next best option is to upgrade components of your system. Will multiple instances work? I wasn't sure if each one would step on the other with registry entry conflicts etc. Upgrading components isn't possible, I want to use this on a portable (GPD Win 2). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 2 hours ago, DaveC1964 said: It seems like LB is good if you only have a few systems emulated with only a handful of games for each one. Either that or a beast PC with a big fast SSD that you never turn off No, it runs well on a modest PC as just fine. 2 hours ago, DaveC1964 said: Upgrading components isn't possible, I want to use this on a portable (GPD Win 2) The GPD Win 2 is a very low powered device with extremely poor integrated graphics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 7 hours ago, DaveC1964 said: I wasn't sure if each one would step on the other with registry entry conflicts etc. That's the beauty of it. LaunchBox itself is portable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC1964 Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 (edited) 19 hours ago, Lordmonkus said: The GPD Win 2 is a very low powered device with extremely poor integrated graphics. Exactly, which is why I need a low overhead front end. Also why I need something that will work well on a tiny screen (even though it has HDMI out too) It emulates everyting through Dreamcast well so it is all I need for a portable. Edited June 8, 2019 by DaveC1964 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC1964 Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 13 hours ago, JoeViking245 said: That's the beauty of it. LaunchBox itself is portable. Is Big box portable as well in case I decide to upgrade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Yes, BigBox uses all of the same database and paths as Launchbox, it's just a different UI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC1964 Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 1 minute ago, Lordmonkus said: Yes, BigBox uses all of the same database and paths as Launchbox, it's just a different UI. Thanks. Is there a demo version of BB to test and see how it works before buying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 There is not as that would require some sort of DRM which Jason is against doing. However, if you do buy it and find it doesn't meet your needs you can ask for a refund and Jason will provide you with one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC1964 Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 Yes I hate DRM. If this had DRM I for sure wouldn't buy. There could be separate versions though, a demo version and a purchase version but that is fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 That would require Jason to maintain 2 versions which would be a lot of extra work for little to no gain at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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