Some beginner questions about Launch box and emulators

[WInzen]

Hello

Super Noob Questions:

• Is there a list of the best / popular emulators for each of the above platforms, when using LB and BigBox as the front end?   Im using mame for arcade / CHD but not sure what to use for all the others...?

 

• Is there a quick way to add image enchancements to mame 227?   My older versions of MAME  had a menu option called "image enhancements" which allowed me to add various scan lines / super eagle / 2xSaI etc. Many visual options I believe are called shaders.  Mame 227 doesnt seem to have this or i cant find it.  Is there a way to add such a menu option which I can select on the fly for each game in the service menu?

 

• Theme editing?    I really like the hyperspin wheel.  I am using Unified theme but the platform1 wheel and pointer vanishes instantly.  Is there a way to make them fade out after a while but then come back when you touch the controller etc.? Currently it vanishes in instantly and never comes back.

 

• If I buy the temporary emu movies subscription , can I bulk update all my games with trailer videos snaps and do i keep them even after the sub expires ?

 

• I am building an EMU pc system. I notice BIGBOX and emumovies with all bells and whistles, as well as the many system roms take up much more space than I was told.  I was going to buy a 256gb ssd but now Im thinking I need a 512gb ssd ? What do you think?

 

Thank you for helping with my noob questions....:)

 

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by WInzen

[Lordmonkus]

3 hours ago, WInzen said:

Is there a list of the best / popular emulators for each of the above platforms, when using LB and BigBox as the front end?   Im using mame for arcade / CHD but not sure what to use for all the others...?

 

3 hours ago, WInzen said:

Is there a quick way to add image enchancements to mame 227?   My older versions of MAME  had a menu option called "image enhancements" which allowed me to add various scan lines / super eagle / 2xSaI etc. Many visual options I believe are called shaders.  Mame 227 doesnt seem to have this or i cant find it.  Is there a way to add such a menu option which I can select on the fly for each game in the service menu?

 

3 hours ago, WInzen said:

Theme editing?    I really like the hyperspin wheel.  I am using Unified theme but the platform1 wheel and pointer vanishes instantly.  Is there a way to make them fade out after a while but then come back when you touch the controller etc.? Currently it vanishes in instantly and never comes back.

You can edit themes but you need to do it manually by editing file using a text editor.

3 hours ago, WInzen said:

If I buy the temporary emu movies subscription , can I bulk update all my games with trailer videos snaps and do i keep them even after the sub expires ?

Yes. Once you have videos you do not need to keep an account active to use them.

3 hours ago, WInzen said:

I am building an EMU pc system. I notice BIGBOX and emumovies with all bells and whistles, as well as the many system roms take up much more space than I was told.  I was going to buy a 256gb ssd but now Im thinking I need a 512gb ssd ? What do you think?

Rule of thumb when it comes to storage: You can never have too much and buy as much as you can.

[WInzen]

51 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

 

tHANKS for fantastic reply!  You do do much for this site!

So there is no way to change visuals on the fly with mame 227? 

Is a way round this beyond editing a file every time you want to change ? a plugin or something ?

What if some games will need different visuals?

eg

simpsoms = scanlines vs  turtles = no scanlines

Or is there another version of mame 227 ?

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by WInzen

[Lordmonkus]

I can't remember if you can do it from within the Mame UI or not, I just edit the ini file and call it a day.

[WInzen]

40 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

I can't remember if you can do it from within the Mame UI or not, I just edit the ini file and call it a day.

thank you i have worked out now how to activate the shaders! 

I have a ini file in mame / ini folder called "arcade.ini"

and I wrote "video bgfx" in there and now i have access to the shaders! Woot! 

But when i close the game i lose that shader setting  

Is there a way of making it stay on the last selected shader for each game I play ?

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by WInzen

[Lordmonkus]

If you are making edits to the mame.ini file it should stick unless your mame.ini is resetting for some odd reason.

[JoeViking245]

In you arcade.ini file, do you have "writeconfig" set to "1"?

[bundangdon]

9 hours ago, WInzen said:

Hello

Super Noob Questions:

• Is there a list of the best / popular emulators for each of the above platforms, when using LB and BigBox as the front end?   Im using mame for arcade / CHD but not sure what to use for all the others...?

• Theme editing?    I really like the hyperspin wheel.  I am using Unified theme but the platform1 wheel and pointer vanishes instantly.  Is there a way to make them fade out after a while but then come back when you touch the controller etc.? Currently it vanishes in instantly and never comes back.

 

• I am building an EMU pc system. I notice BIGBOX and emumovies with all bells and whistles, as well as the many system roms take up much more space than I was told.  I was going to buy a 256gb ssd but now Im thinking I need a 512gb ssd ? What do you think?

 

Thank you for helping with my noob questions....:)

 

 

Just some friendly advice for a few of your questions

I'd definitely check out the Emulation Wiki, as it gives some really good information as to which emulators are the best for each system

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Main_Page

As for theme editing, I highly recommend the Community Theme Creator, which is relatively easy to use and comes with a lot of nice features too

Community Theme Creator for BigBox - Third-party Apps and Plugins - LaunchBox Community Forums (launchbox-app.com)

Coming from someone who's upgraded their SSD a few times, I'd say that having more space is always better, and a 512gb SSD can easily be found for less than $100. Although if you're playing a lot of the latest systems (PS2, Wii, 3DS, etc.) then you'll probably need an extra (non SSD) hard drive just to store them on, especially if you have a large amount of games.

Hope that helps!

[WInzen]

10 hours ago, bundangdon said:

thanks! I will

 

[WInzen]

14 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

In you arcade.ini file, do you have "writeconfig" set to "1"?

hello thanks for asking. 

In my ini file I only have "video bgfx"  that's it..nothing else.  That has activated the hidden mame shaders but theyre temp.

I was told that mame doesn't support any way to keep "last shader setting set". 

My goal would be to have a way to choose in game, the best shader for that game individually and then have it stay that way ...unless i changed it.  That seems  a logical system.  MAny systems have an internal hisotry / memory but I dont think that is how mame works ....yet ?

Im also trying to edit BIGBOX to make platform wheel 1 and pointer appear on launch, then fade after a few seconds but come back when touched. 

Right now it fades immediately and never comes back.  My only solution has been to remove fading which is less than ideal as it looks bad

 

[JoeViking245]

2 hours ago, WInzen said:

I was told that mame doesn't support any way to keep "last shader setting set".

I just looked at the tutorial posted above about "Mame BGFX Shaders" and from there followed the link to MAMEDev's "BGFX Effects" and your right, both in the tutorial and in the MAMEDev link, they are pretty clear that you can't save changes on-the-fly.   But the good thing is that you can 'save settings' (create files) for game specific ini files.  Or if you have something specific to a bios set (say neogeo) you can create an ini file for it (neogeo.ini).  Which will save a lot of time over creating ones for each game in the set.