Custom Badges

[Shelibor]

@jayjay

Hi,
there is a new Launchboxversion with a Controller-Manager included, wich I think is very useful.

May I kindly ask you to implement Controller Badges for costom Controllers in your software please

[jayjay]

@Shelibor I have attempted to get this to work with the latest launchbox but I cant resolve a system drawing mismatch error. Im not willing to spend anymore of my free time trying to fix it. Sorry mate. Next time I get some time off work I'll attempt it again but for the foreseeable I wont be updating this.

[Shelibor]

@jayjayI understand, still you did good work, ty for this, seriously.

[jayjay]

Solved the problem by switching the badge to .netcore, turns out it wasn't as "long" as I thought it would be. 

Updated OP.

[zeznic]

Thanks for the update, but it is giving me the following message when I click compile. Do I have to install something else to make it work? I also tried running from another location but got the same error message.

 

'D:\Installed' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

D:\Installed programs\LaunchBox Custom Badges>

[JoeViking245]

@zeznic For a temporary fix, try moving the program into a folder/subfolder(s) without spaces.  i.e.

D:\LaunchBoxCustomBagdes\

[jayjay]

Oops sorry. Turns out I needed quotes around the paths and quotes around the whole command. Redownload the zip from the OP, Hopefully that fixes it.

[PixelDragon]

I try to find a way to make a Steam badge, for games who have achievements, but can't find a way.
Do you have any idea ?

[Colorman3605]

I tried both versions to create custom badges. both work but version 1 gives me problems starting Launchbox. If I observe the resource management, launchbox.exe (there are two, ???) begins the opening phase but then disappears (always both * .exe), I have to try at least twice for the program to start normally. Version 2, with badges created identical to those created with the version 1 program, works not giving problems when starting Launchbox but the various badges are inserted in a list in random order at each start. Has this happened to anyone else? Are the listed problems known and if so, is there a solution? Thank you!

[JoeViking245]

8 minutes ago, Colorman3605 said:

the various badges are inserted in a list in random order at each start

Are you talking about when you click "Badges"?  That list? [Enable Favorites.  Enable Unplayed...]  If so, that's done that way on purpose to give you a 'fresh look' each time which also allows you to 'see' badges you may have missed before.  Just kidding.  That's a LaunchBox thing, not a plugin issue.

If that's not the "list" you're talking about, could you elaborate?

[Colorman3605]

Yes, the list is that.

[Colorman3605]

The real problem is to understand why with version 1, all badges work but then I have problems starting Launchbox while with version 2 no.

In version 2 in the item "index" you have to insert particular values, I put numbers in sequence starting as if they coninuassero the items already inserted in the list "badges" in Launchbox.

[JoeViking245]

7 hours ago, PixelDragon said:

find a way to make a Steam badge, for games who have achievements

I don't think Steam Achievements are accessible through the LaunchBox API.  So someone would need to create a plugin for that, or you put in a BitBucket feature request and hope a lot of others would like to see that as well.

[Colorman3605]

Maybe I solved the problem for version 1. Starting the badges with the value of the "index" entry from 1 onwards and not from 30 (by default there are already 29 badges in the list) I have not had any problems so far. The badges list will be a bit messy but it doesn't matter.

[PixelDragon]

18 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

I don't think Steam Achievements are accessible through the LaunchBox API.  So someone would need to create a plugin for that, or you put in a BitBucket feature request and hope a lot of others would like to see that as well.

They are already accessible, they appear in the games details, same for RetroAchievements.
So the logic can be : if a steam game have achievements in game details, just show a badge.
Honestly, I don't see why RetroAchievments and Steam badges are not a part of the official release, it's just a boolean condition... the logic is already there.

I will try to see what I can do on BitBucket, or eventually code it myself as a plugin.
 

[JoeViking245]

19 minutes ago, PixelDragon said:

Honestly, I don't see why RetroAchievments and Steam badges are not a part of the official release, it's just a boolean condition... the logic is already there.

Probably because not enough people voted for it. (if it was even on BitBucket or in a poll, to begin with).

To a degree, the logic is there in LaunchBox.  However the datum is only retrieved OnSelected(IGame).  So when a game is selected, it's only then that LB looks to see if Achievements exist for that game. If it caches any of that, no idea.  But it wouldn't be enough to populate a complete 'list' of badges.

As you've already seen, there is the plugin for RetroAchievement Badges.  (Personally I don't even use it.)  But the Boolean doesn't take place until after data is gathered, sorted and stored and other logic is considered.  Actually getting the "list of games" and the respective Platforms that have achievements without spamming RetroAchievements API was kind of a P.I.T.A.   Regardless, it is 'just a plug' and is not supported by the LaunchBox Team.  Though I think the desired end result is the same.  ?

That all said, this is where BitBucket and "popular demand" come into play.   Or the other option of creating a plugin yourself.

[C-Beats]

4 hours ago, PixelDragon said:

They are already accessible, they appear in the games details, same for RetroAchievements.
So the logic can be : if a steam game have achievements in game details, just show a badge.
Honestly, I don't see why RetroAchievments and Steam badges are not a part of the official release, it's just a boolean condition... the logic is already there.

I will try to see what I can do on BitBucket, or eventually code it myself as a plugin.
 

You misunderstand how we acquire the achievement information and are assuming that logic is cached when it is not. When changing the game inside of LaunchBox and opening Game Detail, we at that time send calls to the appropriate APIs to get real time achievement data for that game. With RetroAchievements we aren't even 100% it's the right ROM file, its a Platform/Title match. We NEVER do this en masse (none of the APIs we hit even support batch processing that I'm aware of), and we NEVER save the information because when they should or should not appear relies on several data points, and changing even one of them could potentially change the results given (depending on the information source). What achievements are available to a game isn't static information either and can change at the whim of the achievement source. It is because of those reasons that we don't save any achievement data to file, which also means we cannot create a badge for them. We COULD potentially do this scan every time you entered a platform but that would take quite a bit of time to process and you could quickly hit API limits and get any API keys you are using banned.

If you were ok with the badge potentially showing outdate or bad information, someone could create a plugin or app that queries your library much the same way we do for games that have achievements and then save what ever information you wanted to in a Custom Field, and then create a badge off that field. You could then just update the field with the plugin or app whenever you wanted.

[jayjay]

The LB Custom Badge.zip in the OP has been updated. The "Index" option has been removed as LB sets this for us.

Thanks @C-Beats for helping me out with that.

[C-Beats]

Always willing to help those helping the community. Thanks for putting the work into the plugin.

[Colorman3605]

9 hours ago, jayjay said:

The LB Custom Badge.zip in the OP has been updated. The "Index" option has been removed as LB sets this for us.

Thanks @C-Beats for helping me out with that.

How does Launchbox set badges for us? In alphabetical order, in order of insertion or ...