LaunchBox is spawning multiple instances of RetroArch when changing roms?

[BitSenpai]

How do I force LaunchBox to use a single instance of RetroArch? As I'm swapping between games in the LaunchBox library I'm ending up with dozens of RetroArch instances in my Windows 10 Taskbar, each running a different rom.

[Your Friendly A.I Overlord]

29 minutes ago, BitSenpai said:

How do I force LaunchBox to use a single instance of RetroArch? As I'm swapping between games in the LaunchBox library I'm ending up with dozens of RetroArch instances in my Windows 10 Taskbar, each running a different rom.

If you start a game, do you also exit the game? You can exit a game by pressing the escape key or using the LaunchBox controller automation to set up a button (or button combination) on your controller to exit a game.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Koroth

[BitSenpai]

For ease of use I would like to not have to remember to press escape x2 every time I want to load a different ROM.

I'll use the autohotkey tool inside launchbox to execute e.g. taskkill /f /im retroarch.exe (& other emulators) every time a new rom is loaded if there's no other way.

Edited July 4, 2021 by BitSenpai

[Your Friendly A.I Overlord]

7 minutes ago, BitSenpai said:

For ease of use I would like to not have to remember to press escape x2 every time I want to load a different ROM.

RetroArch natively closes with the escape key, so it should close by pressing escape once. If that doesn't work you can copy/past the following autohotkey script to: LaunchBox > Tools > Manage Emulators > RetroArch > Running AutoHotKey Script tab.

$Esc::
{
WinClose, ahk_exe retroarch.exe
}

or:

$Esc::
{
WinClose, ahk_exe {{{StartupEXE}}}
}

 

[neil9000]

1 hour ago, BitSenpai said:

For ease of use I would like to not have to remember to press escape x2 every time I want to load a different ROM.

You can turn off the need to press it twice in the Retroarch settings, also if you set a button combo to exit in Launchbox you can just hit that controller combo to actually exit retroarch as Launchbox registers you pressed your combo, and then sends escape to Retroarch, no script needed.