ExoDos

[Crypt101]

I need a little help understanding how to import the exoDos release into Launchbox correctly.

I know that it is supposed to be a self contained DosBox/ScummVM launcher with LB included but I already have an existing LB/BB installation with MAME and Consoles.

Can someone please either direct me to a guide for:

1) which build I need to use to selectively install only the games I want (lite or full ver. 5)

2) how to import them into LB/BB correctly (I'm fine getting all the metadata and box art etc later using LB and Emu databases)

[DeadVoivod]

 

[eXo]

That's an old link. V5 is out now. Our discord has pinned posts on how to merge eXoDOS with existing LB installs.

[Archmage_R]

On 4/7/2021 at 2:39 PM, eXo said:

That's an old link. V5 is out now. Our discord has pinned posts on how to merge eXoDOS with existing LB installs.

Hope this is not too much of a bother, but I can't seem to find the pinned posts in question. I try searching, but I come up blank. Might be because english is not my first language, and I'm not all that technical.

Could you provide me with a direct link to the topic or explain how I can find it? Thank you.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Archmage_R

[eXo]

sure.

To merge your eXoDOS v5 launchbox files into an existing launchbox installation, do the following:

First: 
Run setup.bat

Second: 
copy .\data\platforms\MS-DOS.xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
copy .\data\playlists\* .xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Manuals\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Music\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Plugins\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Images\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\eXo\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder

[Archmage_R]

On 7/8/2021 at 10:21 PM, eXo said:

sure.

To merge your eXoDOS v5 launchbox files into an existing launchbox installation, do the following:

First: 
Run setup.bat

Second: 
copy .\data\platforms\MS-DOS.xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
copy .\data\playlists\* .xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Manuals\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Music\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Plugins\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Images\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\eXo\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder

Hey, thanks for the quick and helpful reply :). 
One question though, is it safe to do any changes in launchbox? For instance naming the MS-DOS platform to eXoDOS?, or adding any other executables as new versions? (For instance adding fan modded games as extra executables/gog versions etc).
I'm thinking more like in a "future proofing" sense. So that when the next exodos comes out I don't have to overwrite the xml file again, removing all the games I have added to the MS-DOS platform.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Archmage_R

[eXo]

Renaming the platform is likely going to break metadata links to the game images. This is a bug I've noticed with launchbox. If you change a games platform, it loses its images. So I imagine if you rename an entire platform, something similar would occur.

You can add any games you like, but you are correct that a new eXoDOS version will want to overwrite the old one.

Might be better to add those other games as a different platform?

[Archmage_R]

16 minutes ago, eXo said:

Renaming the platform is likely going to break metadata links to the game images. This is a bug I've noticed with launchbox. If you change a games platform, it loses its images. So I imagine if you rename an entire platform, something similar would occur.

You can add any games you like, but you are correct that a new eXoDOS version will want to overwrite the old one.

Might be better to add those other games as a different platform?

Guess I can add the gog versions as MS-DOS (GOG), and the patched/modded versions of games as something else.
I'm a bit unsure what to do with street rod online though, I could make it as an "additional app" for street rod/street rod 2.

Not sure if you are familiar with it? Might be worth adding to exo. (Just a suggestion, I am not trying to tell you what to do, you know best).
Basically a guy bought the license for the street rod games, and got a hold of some data disks that were "lost to time/hard to come by" from ebay. These are original and official disks for street rod that replaced all the cars in street rod 1 with new ones.
So now he has released for free all the street rod games + the version with the new cars as fully working windows versions with controller support and everything. (I do believe they run through dosbox though).

Since he owns the license it is an "official game", and since the extra cars were released for dos back in the day (just in a very small hard to come by quantity), they are actual old non pirated dos games. So as far as I can see they fit with the exo vision.
(https://www.streetrodonline.com/)
 

Here is a video with proof of the data disks existance: 

 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Archmage_R

[eXo]

I would suggest joining my discord channel and posting these games to my submission channel. I'm happy to include them, I just have to get them in my queue

[Archmage_R]

5 minutes ago, eXo said:

I would suggest joining my discord channel and posting these games to my submission channel. I'm happy to include them, I just have to get them in my queue

Sure, will do in the morrow, it's late here. Thanks again for the help.

[hbk4ever]

On 7/8/2021 at 2:21 PM, eXo said:

sure.

To merge your eXoDOS v5 launchbox files into an existing launchbox installation, do the following:

First: 
Run setup.bat

Second: 
copy .\data\platforms\MS-DOS.xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
copy .\data\playlists\* .xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Manuals\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Music\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Plugins\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Images\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\eXo\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder

As I already have most of my platforms setup already, is there anyway to leave my exodos games in the same place I downloaded them?  For instance, would I be able to edit an xml file or game path and point Launchbox to exodos' current location without having to move the 500GB in games to the Launchbox installation folder?

[JoeViking245]

13 hours ago, hbk4ever said:

point Launchbox to exodos' current location without having to move the 500GB in games to the Launchbox installation folder?

In your Exodus Platform, select all the games (click one of them, then press Ctrl+A).  Then click Tools, and select Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games.

 

[hbk4ever]

11 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

In your Exodus Platform, select all the games (click one of them, then press Ctrl+A).  Then click Tools, and select Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games.

 

Thank you sir.  I didn't know Launchbox would interpret DOS games as rom files.  Thank you for your help regarding my noob issue.

[HerpDerp67]

On 7/8/2021 at 1:21 PM, eXo said:

sure.

To merge your eXoDOS v5 launchbox files into an existing launchbox installation, do the following:

First: 
Run setup.bat

Second: 
copy .\data\platforms\MS-DOS.xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
copy .\data\playlists\* .xml from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Manuals\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Music\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Plugins\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\Images\MS-DOS\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder
move .\eXo\*.* from the exodos folder to your launchbox folder

Thanks Exo. The whole process was a little confusing. Should I delete all of MS-DOS / Windows games? I am also assuming that the pre-mentioned entries should be deleted before I migrate exodos into LaunchBox? Great project!

[eXo]

I guess I'm confused... as I don't know how what I wrote is confusing. You literally just hav to run setup. Then copy some xml files. and then move some folders.

Anything beyond that is not necessary. 

 

LB stores games by platform, and each platform has an XML file. If you already have DOS games in your pack, and your platform is specifically named MS-DOS, then the eXoDOS xml will overwrite that xml, and you will loose whatever you already had in that category. Likewise, my win3x pack is filed under Windows 3.x. So, unless you have a platform with that name, it will not overwrite anything.

Now, if you do have DOS or Windows games, and they are under a different platform name - you will end up with both in LB now. Something like MS-DOS and DOS for example. If you don't want one of those platforms, for example, let's say your old DOS platform had 10 games in it that are already in eXoDOS. Then you simply remove that platform from LB.

If that doesn't answer your question, then I'll need some more specific details on what exactly has confused you.

[HerpDerp67]

Your explanation was quite clear and concise. Apologies, I should have not used that word. I was just a bit concerned about my current setup of LB. I need to move my data (Dos, Windows) before I import the rest of the project. Thank you for the speedy reply. Apologies for being a bit dense.

[Fursphere]

In case anyone finds this thread (as I did), I put together an easier way to make this integrate with an existing setup.   Windows 'symlinks'

I put exodos in d:\exodos and ran setup.bat.  Let it do its thing.   I also put exowin3x in D:\eXoWin3x\

my existing launchbox is setup in d:\launchbox

I used the following commands to 'symlink' the important parts of exodos into the existing launchbox setup without having to move or copy anything.    This same approach works for exowin3x as well (see below)

 

exosdos links...

(File links)
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Platforms\MS-DOS.xml" "D:\eXoDOS\Data\Platforms\MS-DOS.xml"
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\eXoplugin.dll" "D:\eXoDOS\Plugins\eXoplugin.dll"

(optional playlists - I prefer not to use these, but included them as they were mentioned in the Exo's instructions)
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS 3dfx Games.xml" "D:\eXoDOS\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS 3dfx Games.xml"
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Games with CGA Composite.xml" "D:\eXoDOS\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Games with CGA Composite.xml"
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Games with Gravis Ultrasound.xml" "D:\eXoDOS\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Games with Gravis Ultrasound.xml"
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Games with MT-32.xml" "D:\eXoDOS\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Games with MT-32.xml"
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Games with Sound Canvas.xml" "D:\eXoDOS\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Games with Sound Canvas.xml"
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Remote Multiplayer.xml" "D:\eXoDOS\Data\Playlists\eXoDOS Remote Multiplayer.xml"
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\Installed eXoDOS Games.xml" "D:\eXoDOS\Data\Playlists\Installed eXoDOS Games.xml"

(directory links)
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\exo" "d:\eXoDOS\exo"
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\Images\MS-DOS" D:\eXoDOS\Images\MS-DOS
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\Music\MS-DOS" "D:\eXoDOS\Music\MS-DOS"
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\Manuals\MS-DOS" "D:\eXoDOS\Manuals\MS-DOS"
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\Videos\MS-DOS" D:\eXoDOS\Videos\MS-DOS

 

exowin3x links...

(File links)
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Platforms\Windows 3x.xml" "D:\eXoWin3x\Data\Platforms\Windows 3x.xml"

(Not needed if you already did Exodos plugin)
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\eXoplugin.dll" "D:\eXoWin3x\Plugins\eXoplugin.dll"

(optional playlists - I prefer not to use these, but included them as they were mentioned in the Exo's instructions)
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\Installed eXoWin3x Games.xml" "D:\eXoWin3x\Data\Playlists\Installed eXoWin3x Games.xml"
mklink "D:\LaunchBox\Data\Playlists\Retro Learning Pack.xml" "D:\eXoWin3x\Data\Playlists\Retro Learning Pack.xml"

(directory links)
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\exo\eXoWin3x" "D:\eXoWin3x\eXo\eXoWin3x"
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\Images\Windows 3x" "D:\eXoWin3x\Images\Windows 3x"
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\Music\Windows 3x" "D:\eXoWin3x\Music\Windows 3x"
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\Manuals\Windows 3x" "D:\eXoWin3x\Manuals\Windows 3x"
mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\Videos\Windows 3x" "D:\eXoWin3x\Videos\Windows 3x"

 

The only goofy one is mklink /d "D:\LaunchBox\exo\eXoWin3x" "D:\eXoWin3x\eXo\eXoWin3x" as it assumes the \exo\ folder in launchbox already exists, as it was created during the exodos links.  

One of the benefits to doing it this way is it allows the stand alone exodos launchbox setup to continue to function, and doesn't double the storage needs, as its shared with the symlinks.  And symlinks can span mutiple drive letters if that's a consideration as well for you.

anyway, have fun!

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by Fursphere

[vaderag]

Sorry to revisit this thread - I have a machine with Exodos installed (and only Exodos) and I want to move _a subset_ (currently in a playlist, ~60 games) to a different machine with an existing Launchbox setup

Is there an easy way / step by step to do this?

I've already embarked on copying the zip files and trying to recreate the directory structure but I realise I'm going to lose a bunch of stuff and no idea how much of that will autodownload...

Thanks

[vaderag]

Just wanted to revisit the question above - I tried an import by just taking the zip files, extracting them and then using the MS-DOS import but (as suspected) the vast majority of games didn't get found by Launchbox in the DB. And that's before I even tried running them (I have no idea if Exodos is running any wizardry...)

How can I export a list of games from a working Exodos LB setup into a different machine?

[Yazanko0o]

In addition to those things mentioned by our friends above, to have these nice subcategories,

 

add the content "Parent Tags" of the <eXoDosSetup>\Data\Parents.xml file, to the <YourLaunchboxSetup>\Data\Parents.xml within LaunchBox tag after old parent tags that you already have,

Quote

Please do NOT replace your existing launchbox Parents.xml file to prevent losing your current configuration.

<LaunchBox>

[Old Parent Tags]

[Content Here]

</LaunchBox>

here is the exodos Parents.xml content you need to copy,

<Parent>
    <PlaylistId>1e87a075-0745-4083-84e5-ded997d31604</PlaylistId>
    <ParentPlatformName>MS-DOS</ParentPlatformName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlaylistId>68c56cfb-b801-4f43-8c84-701c81b53b8c</PlaylistId>
    <ParentPlatformName>MS-DOS</ParentPlatformName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlatformName>DOS Magazines</PlatformName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlatformCategoryName>Computers</PlatformCategoryName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlaylistId>a0e07e13-547d-4dd7-b82c-3185f157fb4c</PlaylistId>
    <ParentPlatformName>MS-DOS</ParentPlatformName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlaylistId>b6b61188-656d-4775-8fdf-1bb5dca02aa6</PlaylistId>
    <ParentPlatformName>MS-DOS</ParentPlatformName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlaylistId>4d77a375-ee49-4da4-8186-1155c5ecb278</PlaylistId>
    <ParentPlatformName>MS-DOS</ParentPlatformName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlaylistId>2f7300e9-b25f-4bfa-b6b1-6a3fc281f157</PlaylistId>
    <ParentPlatformName>MS-DOS</ParentPlatformName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlaylistId>e64fb51c-ff5d-4fbe-919c-aa2249d78117</PlaylistId>
    <ParentPlatformName>MS-DOS</ParentPlatformName>
  </Parent>
  <Parent>
    <PlatformName>MS-DOS</PlatformName>
    <ParentPlatformCategoryName>Computers</ParentPlatformCategoryName>
  </Parent>

Edited May 4, 2023 by Yazanko0o