Auto Start a game when Big Box starts up

[allotherstaken]

I have Big Box already automatically starting on window startup, but I am wondering is there any way to have it start up a certain game. It goes to my last playlist right now. 

 

Edited August 13, 2020 by allotherstaken

[Retro808]

13 hours ago, allotherstaken said:

I have Big Box already automatically starting on window startup, but I am wondering is there any way to have it start up a certain game. It goes to my last playlist right now. 

 

There is not an option to do that. Perhaps a pluguin could be made or even an AHK to do that but as far as BigBox goes it cannot launch directly into a game.

[allotherstaken]

4 hours ago, zugswang said:

How lazy do you want to be mate ?

Do you want it to play it for you too ? ?

?? That's a good one. I am always messing with my machines. Here is the latest idea. I am adding a Philips Smart Plug to the main machine so I can tell Alexa to turn on "Arcade" and have the different machines automatically start into their own certain game. Then when you walk into the room it really looks like an actual arcade. Or with the Smart Plug you could do this remotely. I think I have it all figured out until that last step of starting a certain game. I never stop messing with my machines. I almost like working on the machines more that I do playing them. 

[Kiinkyfoxx]

13 hours ago, allotherstaken said:

I have Big Box already automatically starting on window startup, but I am wondering is there any way to have it start up a certain game. It goes to my last playlist right now. 

 

 

6 hours ago, allotherstaken said:

I am adding a Philips Smart Plug to the main machine so I can tell Alexa to turn on "Arcade" and have the different machines automatically start into their own certain game

So do you want to pick a specific game for it to auto load into or will the last game played on that machine be acceptable?

I have just had a play with mine and got the following two options both with AHK

1) Auto loads the first game in the first platform 

2) Auto load Bomberman on the NES platform 5 out of 5 times on a trial run.-That is the 8th platform on my system and I just picked a game on that Platform.

Would either of these work for you?

When you have BigBox automatically starting on Windows startup have you done that by setting BigBox as a replacement for Explorer in the shell or by using a shortcut in the Start up folder?

Cheers

Edited August 13, 2020 by Kiinkyfoxx

[allotherstaken]

Last game played would work great. I have Bigbox in the Start Up folder. Had to look up what you meant by AHK (autohotkey) ?

Thanks

[Kiinkyfoxx]

So there are two ways to do this-and I am going to take the easy and lazy way of doing it

Download the two files below

Place the LaunchScript.dll in the Plugins folder inside the LaunchBox folder-you might need to unblock this file in properties to make it work

Place the other one in AutoHotKey folder inside ThirdParty folder.

Then load BigBox and it should work. It will let any load up video you have play and then when it gets to platform selection screen it will wait 1 second and then enter that platform, it will then wait 1.5 seconds and then load which ever game is showing-Now this works here on the theme I have so hopefully it will work for you as well

!!IMPORTANT!! This assumes you have keyboard mappings set up so that Enter/Return is select. If not then you will need to open the ahk file in a text editor and change the {Enter} to whatever key you have it set to. List of keys per ahk can be found here

https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/Send.htm

If you are struggling just let me know what key you have for select

If you want to know more about the plugin then read this

 

The plugin was made by @jayjay and not me, so major thanks to them for it.

That should all work, but depending on your computer you may need to adjust the sleep part, mine is an old computer and it works well here so hopefully should be fine.

Cheers

Edit:

The ahk was set up to work when no game details screen is shown in theme, but I have now updated the ahk below so that it can be edited to work if you have the game details screen showing, also commented the ahk.

If not showing game details screen should work as is, if showing game details screen then uncomment the lines in ahk as stated.

 

LaunchScript.dll

OnStartupCompletedBB.ahk

Edited August 14, 2020 by Kiinkyfoxx
Updated ahk and extra info

[allotherstaken]

@Kiinkyfoxx Thanks a million. Look forward to trying it out. Also thank @jayjay for the plugin. Will let you know how it works. 

Game On!

[Kiinkyfoxx]

Here is how to do it for a specific game that wasn't the last played.

I decided to put this up now so that if someone comes along in 6 months and asks I haven't got to try to remember

Basically adjust the below ahk to get to the game you want and then save it as OnStartupCompletedBB.ahk and follow instructions in post above

Again this assumes you have keyboard settings so that arrow keys are move around and Enter/Return is select

This requires the following in Options

It works if you skip or show the game details screen, you just need to un-comment two lines out if you use the game details screen as I don't

If you have a massive amount of platforms and games then this is going to be a nightmare, plus if you want something in the second half of the alphabet it might make more sense to go backwards rather than forwards.

There is most likely a better way of doing this and if anyone finds it then please feel free to improve this, but I have seen this asked before and normally the answer is no it cannot be done so this is a current work around-I understand that if you have 200 platforms and decide you want a game from Platform 99 that this is a long winded and awkward way....but it is better than nothing

Obviously sleeps can be changed for your computer, I used sleep as the windows all have the same name and exe so couldn't figure out any other way of doing it, if somewone else can then please improve on this.

SetKeyDelay , 200,     ;you might need to change this delay depending on your computer
#SingleInstance Force
Sleep, 500        ;a little wait so platforms ready
Send {Down 8}        ;the number of turns needed until the platform you want-change the number to suit
Sleep, 1000
Send {Enter}        ;select that platform
Sleep, 1500
Send {Right}        ;gets search bar up
Send {Left}
Sleep, 200
Send {Enter}        ;selects search bar
Sleep, 3000        ;waits for search option to load
Send, Bomberman        ;types in the name of your selected game-change to suit
Sleep,1000
Send {Enter}        
;Sleep, 2000        ;uncomment this line if using game details screen
;Send {Enter}        ;uncomment this line if using game details screen
Sleep, 2000        ;gives time for BB to find game
Send {Enter}        ;loads the game
ExitApp

Edited August 14, 2020 by Kiinkyfoxx

[allotherstaken]

All is working now. Thanks again @Kiinkyfoxx  @jayjay for the great script and plugin. Had to tweak the delay numbers a little. Mine keep getting hung on the last step when it goes to click play. For me that is where I had to add the longest delay. I also removed the semicolon to use the game details. I like to be able to see the new high scores feature. But now I can tell Alexa to turn on "Arcade" and both machines start and by the time you walk into the room, games are ready to play. It's the simple things in life that make me smile. ?

Game On!

[allotherstaken]

After booting up many times now, it seems to still hang up on that last command, but not all the time. I can't seem to get it consistent. Sometimes it goes thru, other times it does not. Can't seem to figure out. This is with game details on. I will keep trying to play with the time and see if I can find the right setting. 

Still better than what I had. All I have to do to finish is hit the return one time and it launches the game. 

[Codetalker]

Is it possible to include it in your autostart? Create a shortcut to launchbox in that folder by pressing Windows + R and typing shell: startup. Otherwise, launchbox can be used to replace the Windows shell (this will replace explorer.exe). It should work if you do everything right, because I did so for my graphic tablet and everything is okay. I am working with all the time because I follow different ideas on https://partnersinfire.com/passion-fire-2/art/drawing-ideas/, and trying to improve my style as a digital artist.

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by Codetalker