Files opening in winrar, unzipping to rom folder, and/or getting errors in retroarch when launching? SOLUTION

[tastyratz]

I just thought I'd share. I had a problem setting up and testing Launchbox that was driving me nuts.

I'm not really sure if this needs a bug report because it shouldn't be handling things this way, a feature request to implement error checking and notification that's not there, or just a helpful guide for anyone else who seemed to come up dry searching.

 

Problem:

When you try to launch a game instead of the game opening either
A: The file opens in the default program instead (for me it was winrar)
or
B: The emulator launches and for me gives an "Uncorrectable data at sector 0" error sending me to the Saturn dashboard. Instead of unzipping the rom to the temp folder to launch as it's supposed to, it unzips in the rom parent directory (and leaves a mess)!

 

Both of these scenarios were happening to me on some systems and I had no idea. Sega CD worked great in retroarch but Saturn in retroarch did not work. Bin/iso/Cue were named correctly in the cue/file.  3do would just open the rar file quietly. Debug logging was turned on but there was ZERO indication of issues in the logs. Removing and re-adding my Saturn platform did nothing.

 

Solution:
3do: I apparently never added the 4do core to retroarch- oops!
Shouldn't this normally pop an error of some type if the platform was marked as roms / or matching an "emulator required" scraper?

Sega Saturn: I had to add the core to retroarch after setting up the emulator. Even after selecting it in the drop down, it didn't like beetle. I set the core to mednafen_snes, closed out, "launched" a game, then went back and set the core to mednafen_saturn again. After this, my games started extracting to the proper location and launching successfully.

 

Neither case was related to my roms but I would think should have popped some kind of message to console/debug logs. Is error handling and notification not yet integrated or perhaps broken?

 

My searches I ran just came up with "I reinstalled", had XML issues, or problems with the rom files themselves. but it looks like it's much simpler to solve. This looks like something specific within LB.

I hope this helps someone else going nuts just like me!

Edited September 15, 2020 by tastyratz

[neil9000]

7 minutes ago, tastyratz said:

Neither case was related to my roms but I would think should have popped some kind of message to console/debug logs. Is error handling and notification not yet integrated or perhaps broken?

Not really as there is no right or wrong emulator. Launchbox allows you to use any emulator or Retroarch core you like, it also has no built in "knowledge" of what emulators are for what systems or file types that they use, it just does as its told. If you dont tell it a core as in the case of your 3DO it cant load a rom as it essentially doesnt know how to as a emulator hasnt been specified.

Essentially its on the user to make sure that a emulator supports a system and that that emulator also supports the file type being loaded, Launchbox has no preconceptions here and will simply try to do what you ask it to. Launchbox also doesnt know if a rom has failed to load, it simply passes it off to the emulator per the settings you have set, it has no way to know whether or not once passed if that rom loaded OK or not, its done its job at that point and if the rom fails to load that will be in the emulators log file and not Launcbox's. 

[tastyratz]

29 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

Not really as there is no right or wrong emulator. Launchbox allows you to use any emulator or Retroarch core you like, it also has no built in "knowledge" of what emulators are for what systems or file types that they use, it just does as its told. If you dont tell it a core as in the case of your 3DO it cant load a rom as it essentially doesnt know how to as a emulator hasnt been specified.

Essentially its on the user to make sure that a emulator supports a system and that that emulator also supports the file type being loaded, Launchbox has no preconceptions here and will simply try to do what you ask it to. Launchbox also doesnt know if a rom has failed to load, it simply passes it off to the emulator per the settings you have set, it has no way to know whether or not once passed if that rom loaded OK or not, its done its job at that point and if the rom fails to load that will be in the emulators log file and not Launcbox's. 

Thank you,

I feel like there might be a mix here too though. why did the unzip extract directory change based on lack of emulator or specific retroarch core?
Also, if LB unzipped a rom, shouldn't it do a files present success check prior to launching the rom? (in case of corrupt file, full drive, etc).

Also, in the case of 3do - it was imported as a rom and had no associated emulator. Wouldn't that be easy to tell and pop a message "Warning, no emulator associated with platform". If it has nothing to do after opening the file, shouldn't that notify in some way to console? Nevermind to the debug log.
Maybe a checkbox similar to Zinc if that's actually an intended configuration?

This was driving me nuts for awhile and there was no trace of error which I'm used to seeing coming from Hyperspin.

Hopefully this helps someone else too!

Edited September 15, 2020 by tastyratz