Custom Badges

[jayjay]

25 minutes ago, Colorman3605 said:

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

By the look of it, it seems there is no particular sort order, well none that I can work out:

For better sorting you will have to create a feature request on Bitbucket. Its not something we have any control over with the badges.

[C-Beats]

Currently they are ordered in the order they are registered to the Badge Management system. Please open a feature request ticket if you would like to see any different logic in regard to that. Make no promises we will be able to deliver, but better to have it on the radar than not.

[PixelDragon]

On 7/12/2021 at 1:39 AM, C-Beats said:

You misunderstand how we acquire the achievement information and are assuming that logic is cached when it is not.

Actually, I was aware of this. I simply hopped that you can find a simple solution.

What I think is that the actual system for adding game and /or the LB database is not the best.

Steams games should be added in the DB (with a boolean for games with achievements) and recognized by their ID not their names... THIS to avoid wrong names or mixed data in LaunchBox : see the simple example of "Him & I" (attached file) who is recognized with the name "Shütshimi" (sic), but has the good poster... this is just unbelievable. And not acceptable in a certain way for those who have paid for a license. I can give you other example if you want, like "The Room three", who wasn't even recognized for import, and some other imports with the wrong name. This is absolutely not a unique case. I give a lot of time to correct the import errors....

I can understand this is a lot of work, and I appreciate the efforts, but I'm a developer too, and seeing the way the DB is built and how the games are recognized. Sorry, I just don't get it...

ROMs have their own CR32 Hash or whatever Hash you want, why don't you use them ?
Steam games have IDs, why are they not in your database, and why don't you use them ?
Same logic for GOG or Epic... or others who could be implemented so easily, and especially without any error.
 

Edited August 10, 2021 by PixelDragon

[C-Beats]

11 hours ago, PixelDragon said:

ROMs have their own CR32 Hash or whatever Hash you want, why don't you use them

Because a hash system is pretty terrible for ROMs and a true rom file isn't even needed to add a game to your LaunchBox library. Heck a FILE isn't even needed. Hash would be different for any variation of the ROM in question. Also would be different depending on any archival file format used for the rom, some could be extracted to get the hash on the contents but not all could be (things like CHD)

11 hours ago, PixelDragon said:

Steam games have IDs, why are they not in your database, and why don't you use them

The GamesDB was built before we had a lot of the storefront integrations. We'd like to get some more things added to the database, but given that you can scrape directly from Steam for any Steam metadata and media this isn't a HUGE priority, especially since the current solution (title search) works for the majority of games (though there are occasional mistakes because of the data in the database).

11 hours ago, PixelDragon said:

Same logic for GOG or Epic... or others who could be implemented so easily, and especially without any error

This would have the same issue as the issue you are running into with title searching. A good ole fashion case of GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). If we have bad data in the database the matches are going to be inaccurate. Currently you are experiencing issues scraping because of title/alt name discrepancies, adding those fields just means that you could then have the same error with the storefront ID information being incorrect. We also would need to add extra logic in the database to handle the same storefront ID being assigned to several games. We'd also have issues if the storefront changed the ID/association at any point as it would make all the data points in our database invalid. Our data integrity would depend on third parties not making any changes to their platform, which is not a bet I'd happily make. Also have to deal with the fact that some IDs ARE correctly tied, but not publicly visible, for example if Steam pulls a game from the store, the ID is still valid, but if you would try to navigate to it's URL you get sent to the Steam store home page. This could cause confusion for end users as well as DB moderators.

11 hours ago, PixelDragon said:

And not acceptable in a certain way for those who have paid for a license

The scrape process is the same both for free version and paid and we do our best to make that very clear to all so they can evaluate the product before making any purchases, specifically for cases like yours. If you are unhappy with your purchase you can contact support@unbrokensoftware.com and see what they can do to help.

11 hours ago, PixelDragon said:

with a boolean for games with achievements

As stated previously, achievements are not a static data point. They change quite a bit. Achievements are added, removed, and modified through out a games life cycle and so if we DID add something like a simple boolean we would also need a cache time and regularly check the id's after the cache is over a certain age, and even then we would get complaints because the data isn't real-time as people expect it to be.

Not saying all your points are without merit. I'd love to get an association system in place within the DB for things like storefront id's and third party associations but we have to weigh the development time and resources carefully between both the websites and the applications we develop. Since the dev team at the moment is two people, there isn't a ton of time to move around to make things happen though. Since the database system works right now for the majority of games it goes up against the decision is usually that our time is better spent elsewhere where there are more pressing obvious flaws and needs that demand more attention, or offer a better "bang for our buck".

 

[PixelDragon]

12 hours ago, C-Beats said:

Not saying all your points are without merit. I'd love to get an association system in place within the DB for things like storefront id's and third party associations but we have to weigh the development time and resources carefully between both the websites and the applications we develop. Since the dev team at the moment is two people, there isn't a ton of time to move around to make things happen though. Since the database system works right now for the majority of games it goes up against the decision is usually that our time is better spent elsewhere where there are more pressing obvious flaws and needs that demand more attention, or offer a better "bang for our buck".

 

I'm happy with the app in general, it's better than nothing, and it's currently the best you can find.
It's just the "dev" part of me, who think things can be developed more efficiently.

Anyway, keep the good work. I will see what comes in the future, and maybe I will develop my own plugins to satisfy my specifics needs.

Edited August 11, 2021 by PixelDragon

[C-Beats]

4 minutes ago, PixelDragon said:

It's just the "dev" part of me, who think things can be developed more efficiently.

While efficiency is a great goal that one should always work towards unfortunately in the real world there are times it has to take a back seat to overall progress. You could spend a serious amount of time making one sub process extremely efficient, but in the end the net gain just isn't enough to justify the amount of time it takes to gain that efficiency. We do our best to make the software as efficient as we can but we also have to measure the efficiency of our time, effort, and monetary spend as well. We are for-profit business and need to make sure we are maximizing returns so we can continue to work on the products we all know and love. I'm sure you understand, though I'm as equally sure it can be irritating at times as a both an end user and fellow developer.

9 minutes ago, PixelDragon said:

and maybe I will develop my own plugins to satisfy my specifics needs

Hope you do, always fun to see what tools the community puts together to fill each others needs. You run into any issues building a particular plugin, don't be afraid to reach out. Will do my best to answer any questions you have.

[Prestonjezek]

So if I am reading this all right would I be able to make badges for the amount of players each game supports? I would love to have a badge that shows 1P, 2P, or 4P. This way when I am scrolling through games by myself or with friends it is easier to visually see how many of us can play a game before launching it.

 

[Syllius]

I'm trying to do this very thing at the moment. Is there an equivalent for MaxPlayers? I tried it as a custom field, but I'm not getting any reaction. Tried with multiple images, contains instead of equals, still no go...

[JoeViking245]

4 hours ago, Syllius said:

I'm trying to do this very thing at the moment. Is there an equivalent for MaxPlayers? I tried it as a custom field, but I'm not getting any reaction. Tried with multiple images, contains instead of equals, still no go...

 

@Prestonjezek you may interested in this too.

 

You'll need to type the code for Max Players manually.  I don't know if it needs to go the in Advanced tab or in the C# Code: section. So I did it in both.

The code for maximum 2 players is:

game.MaxPlayers.Equals(2)

 

[Syllius]

Thank you very very much!!

[Cyberbyte_010]

On 7/1/2022 at 1:51 PM, JoeViking245 said:

 

@Prestonjezek you may interested in this too.

 

You'll need to type the code for Max Players manually.  I don't know if it needs to go the in Advanced tab or in the C# Code: section. So I did it in both.

The code for maximum 2 players is:

game.MaxPlayers.Equals(2)

 

This has a lot of promise. Think this would fit in more with the Wii. Remember on the back of Wii games, there was a icon for various user controls. Wiimote icon with a number of how many players for that game, a Nunchuk, Balance Board, Motion Plus and Wii Wheel Icons for those games that need them etc. If say there were Boolean values already built in, into the Wii metadata database (ie, Nunchuck/Balance Board = True/False) alongside the Player Count that's already there, would be so simple to plug the relevant icons in and away u go. That would have to be at the dev level, and not at a user customisation level though... Adding those custom values to every Wii game in a collection, let alone multiple collection, would be a pain....

Edited July 16, 2022 by Cyberbyte_010
Spelling

[C-Beats]

You already get this controller information when scraping Nintendo Wii games. You can then use the auto-populate playlists, on the fly filter, or manage controller menus to help you find which game has which controller

[Cyberbyte_010]

8 hours ago, C-Beats said:

You already get this controller information when scraping Nintendo Wii games. You can then use the auto-populate playlists, on the fly filter, or manage controller menus to help you find which game has which controller

As u said, we can use the filter and the game controller lists to filter out what kind of controller your looking for and narrow down what games requires that kind of controller. And that works if your going into it, wanting to play a game with 'that' device in mind, i.e. the Balance Board. But that isn't the same as seeing badges, at a glance, while skimming a collection, finding a game u want to play, but finding out after loading the game that u need to dig out the Balance Board or something to do anything with it. And the badges system, while amazing, is made to be very general, and not drilling down to what kind of input device. For example, there's the Wiimote, Motion Plus. Nunchuk, and Balance Board, all in 1 category, Motion. All good in theory, they're all motion devices. But that 1 category corresponds to 1 badge, the motion badge. So the Motion badge, in the Wii's case, is pretty pointless, as the console and every game for it. is geared round motion. It doesn't actually tell u anything. Of course all this can be modified at a user level, and given my OCD, I probably will spend a weekend doing that lol. But I do think plugging the controller info into the games database, separating the Wii devices into their own category and badges, and badge for No. of players, would be a good quality of life update. and in the meantime, we have this amazing little tool to make them ourselves.

[The Papaw]

@JoeViking245 @C-Beats @y2guru @jayjayI love this app, but need a little help. I have created a badge for "partial gamepad support". I works in LB, but it shows both the regular gamepad badge along with my partial badge I created. I can't figure out how to get LB to show only the partial one. Having simliar issues in Bigbox themes I create, I have found a work around in BB using a custom field, but not the best solution. Any pointers guys?

Edited August 5, 2023 by The Papaw

[C-Beats]

7 hours ago, The Papaw said:

@JoeViking245 @C-Beats @y2guru @jayjayI love this app, but need a little help. I have created a badge for "partial gamepad support". I works in LB, but it shows both the regular gamepad badge along with my partial badge I created. I can't figure out how to get LB to show only the partial one. Having simliar issues in Bigbox themes I create, I have found a work around in BB using a custom field, but not the best solution. Any pointers guys?

You'd just turn off the built in badge and only use the partial. If going that route with badges I'd make a "fully gamepad support" badge along side the one you made and then just turn those both on and a game should only have one or the other and display the way you are wanting.

[The Papaw]

3 hours ago, C-Beats said:

You'd just turn off the built in badge and only use the partial. If going that route with badges I'd make a "fully gamepad support" badge along side the one you made and then just turn those both on and a game should only have one or the other and display the way you are wanting.

Thank you Sir!

[Omifi]

Would it be possible to make a custom badge for games that are combined into one but have Retroachievements? For example many mame games after using the fullset importer have RA support but the compatible version is not always the version displayed. If this is possible could someone walk me trough on how its done.

[JoeViking245]

4 hours ago, Omifi said:

Would it be possible to make a custom badge for games that are combined into one but have Retroachievements? For example many mame games after using the fullset importer have RA support but the compatible version is not always the version displayed. If this is possible could someone walk me trough on how its done.

It's not possible using this [threads] application.  Additional Apps (the versions not 'displayed') don't have a property to indicate it has RetroAchievements.  So there's nothing to filter to.

[PixelDragon]

17 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

It's not possible using this [threads] application.  Additional Apps (the versions not 'displayed') don't have a property to indicate it has RetroAchievements.  So there's nothing to filter to.

Yes, that's right, you need to import your games without combined them, or select the default game to launch, individually.
In case you didn't know, there is a native badge that shows games who have multiple versions, it can help if you do it manually.

My advice is to import your game without combined them, by platform.
Scan for achievements, by platform.
Then fusion the games who have the same RA achievements set, manually (or delete the games you will not use).
At this point, you will be able to customize your preferences with new custom fields and custom badges.

Be aware that there his some case to case exceptions, like regional version who have different sets, and different platform game who have the same Achievements : NES & FDS games for example.

[Tsik]

@JoeViking245 or
@C-Beats or
@y2guru or
@jayjay or anyone who can help...

I am try to create a custom badge for games that do not support Gamepad so using this plugin i create an icon and a .dll from the plugin so that when the Controller support category Gamepad is 'equal to' 'not supported' ( game.GetControllerSupport().Where(x => x.Key.Category.Equals("Gamepad") && x.Value.HasValue && x.Value.Equals(0)).Select(x => new { Key = x.Key, Value = x.Value }).FirstOrDefault() != null ) LaunchBox shows the badge and everything worked perfect till here!

On a second attempt i would like to create a ReatroArch  and a MAME (separate) badges when its respective emulator is in use by using the plugin 'Emulator' tab and 'Title' 'Contains' the word "RetroArch" or eg. "MAME" ( Unbroken.LaunchBox.Plugins.PluginHelper.DataManager.GetEmulatorById(game.EmulatorId).Title.Contains("MAME") ) so the respective badge will show.

The Problem is that as i enable the new emulator plugin budges  from the menu, though the Emulator badges worked as expected every other badge (even the stock ones) relative to 'Controller Support' is Vanished !!!

I think thart it has something to do with the Emulator path being other than Retroarch or MAME related or even empty (launching eg. batch files).

Thanks a lot for your hard work trying to make LaunchBox the best and most versatile Frontend out there. 😄