[ ERROR ] Could not connect to Wikipedia.

[ZeusMP]

Hi, whenever I try search for metadata for a game, via right click edit, I always get the "[ ERROR ] Could not connect to Wikipedia", launchbox database seems to connect but will always get the Wikipedia error.  Can anyone give me any ideas on how to fix it please?.

 

Thanks

[ZeusMP]

So just tried it from scratch, fresh install of launchbox, 2 week old windows installation and still happens.  This is the paid for version also if this helps.

I have tried turning firewalls off etc, still no luck.  Is there an ini file to check the address or something?

[Headrush69]

I don't think it's anything to do with your setup.

Lately I've been getting the same error after working for over a year. Maybe something changed with wikipedia API that LB uses.

Not a huge deal since not much gets scraped from there, the LB database and emumovies usually has everything needed.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Headrush69

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah, this is a Wiki error, not Launchbox. No idea if Jason can do anything about it or not but it's not a big deal in any case since the Wiki scraping was always wonky at best, stick to the LBDB for game info and images and EmuMovies if you want videos.

[Mr.Gonfio]

It happens to me too, I don't think is a launchbox bug. Probably Headrush69 is right, wiki must have changed some API related thing.

 

[tallpr24]

i getting this error as well

[qupe75]

I'm getting the error too.

[The Papaw]

I have been getting for a few weeks now, sttarted with maybe to betas back

[Jason Carr]

Per the Wikipedia search, we may be removing it here soon as it hasn't been recommended for ages and generally the LaunchBox Games Database provides better results anyways. If anyone has a good reason that they want us to keep it around, please let me know.

[Jason Carr]

On 1/5/2020 at 11:10 PM, Kovu1102 said:

Some of my pc games do not show up on Launchbox Scraper.. like Need for Speed Heat, Fernbus Simulator and On The Road.. they would of come up on the Wikipedia scraper most likely.. anyone know when we are getting a fix?

While we're never going to have 100% coverage, coverage is very good with the LaunchBox Games Database. I would encourage folks to add any missing games to the LaunchBox Games Database site on the web.

[mohanned85]

@Jason Carr any plans to use games db for scraping games

there link https://thegamesdb.net/

thanks and sorry if was asked

[Jason Carr]

11 minutes ago, mohanned85 said:

@Jason Carr any plans to use games db for scraping games

there link https://thegamesdb.net/

thanks and sorry if was asked

We actually used to use thegamesdb.net way back in the day, but they had so much down time that it was cause for major issues (there were times where the site was down for long periods of time). Our talks with them basically led to them telling us to take all the data and use it ourselves, which was in their license agreement and resulted in us creating the LaunchBox Games Database. So we based our initial data and images around their's, years ago.

So we have quite a history with them. At this point I think the LaunchBox Games Database probably has better games coverage anyways.

[SharkLazer]

I've been reorganizing and re-importing my collection lately and seeing this a lot.

While I don't want the wikipedia, it would be really nice if there was an option to put into the Notes section the links (and summary) from, say, the first 3 google results from the title being searched. I keep having to do that step myself as the first thing on items missing data. Frequently the problem is just that the name didn't line up the right way with the Launchbox expectations and a change there can fix it.

Secondly it would be nice if within Launchbox there was a "search deeper" option that would catch things that were out of order, had slightly different spelling, etc. I've run into a few things that I can't find in the Launchbox game database, but given how unlikely it is that I have something that unique, I just assume that I've searched poorly.

[Androman]

? 40% of my games I have to manually import the database. And they are not totally unknown games, they are available in steam, and many of them even appear in the details on google search.
The Launchbox database needs to improve, add more content.

[neil9000]

10 minutes ago, Androman said:

? 40% of my games I have to manually import the database. And they are not totally unknown games, they are available in steam, and many of them even appear in the details on google search.
The Launchbox database needs to improve, add more content.

Use the steam importer to import steam games, it will scrape steam not our database.

[Jason Carr]

3 hours ago, Androman said:

? 40% of my games I have to manually import the database. And they are not totally unknown games, they are available in steam, and many of them even appear in the details on google search.
The Launchbox database needs to improve, add more content.

The database is open, so feel free.

[SonicFan53]

4 hours ago, neil9000 said:

Use the steam importer to import steam games, it will scrape steam not our database.

Wait, the Steam importer scrapes Steam?

[neil9000]

11 minutes ago, SonicFan53 said:

Wait, the Steam importer scrapes Steam?

Yes.

[SonicFan53]

Wow. I actually thought that every single Steam game was included in the LB Database under Windows.