LaunchBox for Android 0.6 Beta Released!

[Jason Carr]

8 hours ago, bri0528 said:

They are in z64 format and not zipped.....

Then I'm not sure what's going on. I'll add that to my list to test N64 with Retroarch.

6 hours ago, PiperCalls said:

The Boy's Got No Control...

Installed LBA on my Shield TV (2nd Gen). As a test case I exported 1 platform (Sega 32x) over. Everything exported fine and I can see all my 32x games in LBA. I can launch the games fine from LBA. Here's the problem, there is something wrong with the controller in LBA. The first/top game is highlighted and if I try to scroll down to the next game the highlight immediately jumps back to the first game. It's almost like someone is pressing Up on the controller continuously. I can press Y on my controller and get the settings menu but there doesn't seem to be anything in there about controller settings. I am using the stock Shield TV Controller that came with the unit and the controller works fine in all other apps including RA.

As a side note, RA 1.7.8 dropped last night (at least on my Shield TV) and as indicated in the PSA (https://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-1-7-8-important-changes-for-people-using-the-google-play-build/) the cores no longer work. You either have to reset the core URL or just uninstall and re-install RA (and redown the cores)...which is what I did and it is working fine now with RA.

Thanks...Piper

PS: I can record a video of the offending event if needed.

Per the controller, I'm testing with the exact same hardware, so that's baffling. Any chance you have another controller connected? Or maybe a keyboard or any other input devices connected?

[Jason Carr]

4 hours ago, GonjaT said:

Would be nice to have an "exit" button or a close button. Back button only brings up the side menu/ exits side menu, I have to launch recent apps screen and swipe away launchbox. This is on my phone and shield TV. 

I would even be fine with the back button from the root of the app to have a pop up asking "are you sure you want to exit" with yes or no buttons. 

Thanks. 

Agreed, I do plan on adding that.

[Jason Carr]

I just submitted version 0.11 to the Play Store, and I'm hoping it will resolve the rest of the startup crashes and such. Here's the change log for this version:

• Fixed crash/white screen on first start after accepting permissions
• Improved error handling on startup
• Now searches for only folders with actual content (avoids using an empty folder when exported platforms exist elsewhere)
• New splash screen

That crash on startup was doing me in, so I hope I've finally got it fixed. Turns out it was only happening in my release builds and never in my debugging builds, so no wonder it was so difficult to track down. I know there are still issues launching some emulators; I'll be back to that tomorrow to try and fix those issues.

Not sure how long it will take for 0.11 to go live on the Play Store, but hopefully it'll be live soon. Thanks all.

[Jason Carr]

One more thing; we may still run into some weird permissions errors, but at least the app should tell you that now instead of just crashing. Let me know if anyone sees any permissions-related error messages (or any error messages at all for that matter).

[Jason Carr]

FYI, the 0.11 update is live now.

[GonjaT]

15 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Agreed, I do plan on adding that.

I don't know if you feel like you sometimes have a thankless job or not but either way, I just wanna say that I have been apart af various apps/communities that all being fun and what not, did not have what you and this community offer, you are extremely passionate with what you do and I want to personally say thank you for all the incredible work you do! Fantastic and just incredible how you work with the community and fan base. A++ have a great day.

 

Ps, I have been excited for an android version a really long time lol

[GonjaT]

0.11 splash screen is awesome, would be nice to have it stay on screen another 1 or 2 seconds longer. ?

[bri0528]

31 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Then I'm not sure what's going on. I'll add that to my list to test N64 with Retroarch.

It was an error on my part.  I had not updated links to filenames before exporting to Android.

Another question: Is there a workaround for Sega CD bins and cues to get those working?

[Jason Carr]

1 hour ago, GonjaT said:

I don't know if you feel like you sometimes have a thankless job or not but either way, I just wanna say that I have been apart af various apps/communities that all being fun and what not, did not have what you and this community offer, you are extremely passionate with what you do and I want to personally say thank you for all the incredible work you do! Fantastic and just incredible how you work with the community and fan base. A++ have a great day.

 

Ps, I have been excited for an android version a really long time lol

 

56 minutes ago, GonjaT said:

0.11 splash screen is awesome, would be nice to have it stay on screen another 1 or 2 seconds longer. ?

Well thanks; it's been a stressful past few days because of the bugs that I didn't predict, but I do find it all very rewarding. I'm happy to have 0.11 out finally.

53 minutes ago, bri0528 said:

It was an error on my part.  I had not updated links to filenames before exporting to Android.

Another question: Is there a workaround for Sega CD bins and cues to get those working?

Not currently, at least not that I'm aware of. You might be able to figure out by manually copying files though, not sure. I'll have a fix for that in before the official release though.

[TRS1977]

Version .11, Nvidia shield

An unexpected error occurred while trying to initialize Launchbox folders:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object 

[Skidda420]

6 hours ago, TRS1977 said:

Version .11, Nvidia shield

An unexpected error occurred while trying to initialize Launchbox folders:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object 

yeah getting same thing, got to the splash screen finally and get that error (Nvidia shield), allows to click the 'hamburger' icon but go to 'about launchbox' and sometimes it will crash sometimes it keeps going. Progress!!! woohoo

 

[Hellzknight666]

I'm using an Nvidia Shield TV Pro. I'm having an issue while I'm browsing. If I try to navigate down it keeps trying to scroll back up to the top. It's like "up" is being held down on another controller. This doesn't always happen, but it does happen a lot. If there is a solution, please do tell.

Sorry if It's a repeat post. Just wanted to get my issue out there.

Besides that issue, I'm pretty satisfied with it. I look forward to future updates.


Edit: Seems that my issue is with my controllers right joystick. Somethings wrong with the deadzones on it. It's the official Nvidia Shield controller btw (second version). Will test with my other one, but I don't think I will have further problems. I didn't realize that you could navigate the menus with the right joystick. lol

Edited August 27, 2019 by Hellzknight666

[Jason Carr]

13 hours ago, TRS1977 said:

Version .11, Nvidia shield

An unexpected error occurred while trying to initialize Launchbox folders:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object 

 

7 hours ago, Skidda420 said:

yeah getting same thing, got to the splash screen finally and get that error (Nvidia shield), allows to click the 'hamburger' icon but go to 'about launchbox' and sometimes it will crash sometimes it keeps going. Progress!!! woohoo

 

Gotcha, looking into that.

5 hours ago, Hellzknight666 said:

I'm using an Nvidia Shield TV Pro. I'm having an issue while I'm browsing. If I try to navigate down it keeps trying to scroll back up to the top. It's like "up" is being held down on another controller. This doesn't always happen, but it does happen a lot. If there is a solution, please do tell.

Sorry if It's a repeat post. Just wanted to get my issue out there.

Besides that issue, I'm pretty satisfied with it. I look forward to future updates.


Edit: Seems that my issue is with my controllers right joystick. Somethings wrong with the deadzones on it. It's the official Nvidia Shield controller btw (second version). Will test with my other one, but I don't think I will have further problems. I didn't realize that you could navigate the menus with the right joystick. lol

Ah, I see. Yes, the right joystick is used to navigate more quickly through the items in the list. I can probably add an option to disable that though.

[edinhosp]

Since the retroarch core to atari 5200 isnt user friendly, i managed to install and run the games with kat5200.

In android is the same. Atari 5200 roms dont work with retroarch core (atari800_libretro), but the android version of kat5200 run the games on android. Would be nice the emulator be in Default Emulator list option in Emulator Settings.

[Skidda420]

so odd question, I've exported my games from my PC and have put them in their own folder (about 289 GB worth of data). I'm wanting to move that data onto my Nvidia shield's external drive. Is there a specific folder I should be putting these in? Because I have attempted this already and put the folder onto the root of my external drive and Launchbox is not detecting any games or platforms on the system. This may have already been asked I'm sure, my apologies if so. Through reading prior posts, I'm assuming it's this file structure that I'm looking for, please correct me if I'm wrong.

/Android/data/com.unbrokensoftware.launchbox/files/LaunchBox/Data/(xml files)

Edited August 27, 2019 by Skidda420

[Bobafett74]

So I just downloaded LB for the nvidia shield tv.  When I open it it’s just white with menu on top left.  Says Platforms and options.  When I clock Platforms nothing happens.  Only available Option is to change Language.   What am I missing?   How can I get games on Launchbox?

[Jason Carr]

3 hours ago, edinhosp said:

Since the retroarch core to atari 5200 isnt user friendly, i managed to install and run the games with kat5200.

In android is the same. Atari 5200 roms dont work with retroarch core (atari800_libretro), but the android version of kat5200 run the games on android. Would be nice the emulator be in Default Emulator list option in Emulator Settings.

Thanks; I will look into adding kat5200.

2 hours ago, Skidda420 said:

so odd question, I've exported my games from my PC and have put them in their own folder (about 289 GB worth of data). I'm wanting to move that data onto my Nvidia shield's external drive. Is there a specific folder I should be putting these in? Because I have attempted this already and put the folder onto the root of my external drive and Launchbox is not detecting any games or platforms on the system. This may have already been asked I'm sure, my apologies if so. Through reading prior posts, I'm assuming it's this file structure that I'm looking for, please correct me if I'm wrong.

/Android/data/com.unbrokensoftware.launchbox/files/LaunchBox/Data/(xml files)

I haven't yet tested the Shield with external drives, so honestly it should work, but I'm not certain if it will at this point. That said, no matter what storage device you put the files on, they should be in that exact same folder. I plan to do some further testing with the Shield and external drives here soon.

11 minutes ago, Bobafett74 said:

So I just downloaded LB for the nvidia shield tv.  When I open it it’s just white with menu on top left.  Says Platforms and options.  When I clock Platforms nothing happens.  Only available Option is to change Language.   What am I missing?   How can I get games on Launchbox?

Please read the first post of this topic.

[Jason Carr]

I just submitted version 0.12 to the Play Store, and I think the app is finally getting to the point where it should be mostly there. Here are the changes:

• Added parsing Android games back in, with an option to disable
• Fixed emulator launching issues for many different emulators
• New Exit option in the main menu
• Improved error handling for launching emulators
• Improved searching and error handling for initializing the root folder
• Improved error handling for corrupt data
• Now notifies the user to export via the desktop application if no data is found on startup

Please let me know how this version fares, especially for folks that were seeing errors or issues. Also, I don't have any good lists of emulators for Android outside of what we already have, so if anyone knows of any good lists or is missing any of their favorite emulators, please let me know. It would be nice if launching emulators on Android were as simple as launching a command line on Windows, but sadly, it's unnecessarily complicated, so there's not really a good way to easily allow the user to add custom emulators.

[Jason Carr]

New update is live now.

[DOS76]

When can we start making feature requests? I'm thinking a option to skip letters like is present in BigBox would make navigating the menu quicker for large platforms.