LaunchBox for Android New Version - Beta Testing

[Jason Carr]

0.42-beta-1 is out now with the following:

• Games can now be filtered by Platform, Genre, Developer, Publisher, Rating, Play Mode, Region, Series, Status, and/or Source fields

• The default root filter can now be changed to any of the above filtering options (Options > Default Root Filter)

• A default secondary filter option has also been added that will allow you to add a second filter to default navigation (Options > Default Secondary Filter); this will allow you to navigate by platform and then by genre, for example

• Fully dynamic and nested filtering is now available, which means you can filter to anything at any time; long press on a platform or filter and select Filter, or choose Filter from the top menu of any games list

• An All Games option has been added to all filter views

• Added the ability to customize all platform/filter media; you can long press on a platform or filter and select Edit Media to change all media items

• The Android games list will now only show apps that are in the Android Game category; unfortunately though, Android apps are often miscategorized, so it might not be perfect

• The Arcade platform now supports the RetroArch Flycast core

The new dynamic/nested filters system is extremely effective, to the point where I'm wondering if we should actually do something similar on the desktop. Also thanks to @faeran for some beautiful new genre banners:

Remember that this is a beta release, so you'll need to check the box in Options to update to beta releases in order to use this version. We're hoping to get help from everyone in this thread to get rid of any bugs and get the official release out next week.

[Nabizzles]

19 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Editing/matching games is coming soon. I'll also add those emulators to the list.

You're doing God's work, man. Thank you!

[Nabizzles]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

0.42-beta-1 is out now with the following:

• Games can now be filtered by Platform, Genre, Developer, Publisher, Rating, Play Mode, Region, Series, Status, and/or Source fields

• The default root filter can now be changed to any of the above filtering options (Options > Default Root Filter)

• A default secondary filter option has also been added that will allow you to add a second filter to default navigation (Options > Default Secondary Filter); this will allow you to navigate by platform and then by genre, for example

• Fully dynamic and nested filtering is now available, which means you can filter to anything at any time; long press on a platform or filter and select Filter, or choose Filter from the top menu of any games list

• An All Games option has been added to all filter views

• Added the ability to customize all platform/filter media; you can long press on a platform or filter and select Edit Media to change all media items

• The Android games list will now only show apps that are in the Android Game category; unfortunately though, Android apps are often miscategorized, so it might not be perfect

• The Arcade platform now supports the RetroArch Flycast core

The new dynamic/nested filters system is extremely effective, to the point where I'm wondering if we should actually do something similar on the desktop. Also thanks to @faeran for some beautiful new genre banners:

Remember that this is a beta release, so you'll need to check the box in Options to update to beta releases in order to use this version. We're hoping to get help from everyone in this thread to get rid of any bugs and get the official release out next week.

When will this show up for download? I have had the Beta option checked in my Launchbox Options for a while now and have never seen a Beta Update yet, only the official ones. Is there a timeline from being published to being notified in the app that it's available for download?

[Jason Carr]

10 minutes ago, Nabizzles said:

When will this show up for download? I have had the Beta option checked in my Launchbox Options for a while now and have never seen a Beta Update yet, only the official ones. Is there a timeline from being published to being notified in the app that it's available for download?

It should prompt you when you restart the app, but of course you'll need to make sure you have a decent connection. You can use the Android app switcher to swipe up and close the app. Then just restart it, and you should be prompted to update.

[Nabizzles]

3 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

It should prompt you when you restart the app, but of course you'll need to make sure you have a decent connection. You can use the Android app switcher to swipe up and close the app. Then just restart it, and you should be prompted to update.

Thank you! It took a while, but finally showed up. 

[Ally68]

Just a question love the app any timeline on adding dos  using magic dosbox now?

[Boris]

I'd like to second a recommendation from around page 7 of this thread where someone suggests the option to make this a launcher. I use an old phone with a Kishi and it is 100% dedicated to playing games. As long as I could get to other apps through the Android section, this would be ideal for my situation. I would still need to access the file browser occasionally, for instance. Great product! 

[Jason Carr]

On 10/4/2021 at 7:29 PM, Ally68 said:

Just a question love the app any timeline on adding dos  using magic dosbox now?

I will put this on the list, so hopefully soon. DOS can be a challenge though, because imports are really hairy. Hopefully we can make it happen.

17 minutes ago, Boris said:

I'd like to second a recommendation from around page 7 of this thread where someone suggests the option to make this a launcher. I use an old phone with a Kishi and it is 100% dedicated to playing games. As long as I could get to other apps through the Android section, this would be ideal for my situation. I would still need to access the file browser occasionally, for instance. Great product! 

Noted.

[Juzzotec]

On 9/6/2021 at 6:20 AM, Vader said:

Hey @Jason Carr

Here is a video recording that I did, which shows the studdering when trying to scroll through the games using the wheel view. I also tested this with the text list with details view and the scrolling was a little better, but even with this view the list whould studder on occation. 

I'm also experiencing the same stuttering on my nvidia shield pro 2019. I never noticed this behaviour in the previous release. A bit unusual as this is running off an SSD.

[Vader]

9 hours ago, Juzzotec said:

I'm also experiencing the same stuttering on my nvidia shield pro 2019. I never noticed this behaviour in the previous release. A bit unusual as this is running off an SSD.

@Juzzotec This is something that has been discussed at length on this forum. The issue has to do with the read/write speed of the drive you are using.  it is strange that you are having this issue with an SSD drive as those are supposed to be faster. I would recommend checking the read/write speed of your drive to see what it is running at. Also make sure that the launchbox folder is copied to the ssd drive. Finally, I would try uninstalling launchbox and reloading it to see if that fixes the issue.  If it still continues it might be your drive. Just some thoughts.

[Nabizzles]

On 10/8/2021 at 3:02 PM, Jason Carr said:

I will put this on the list, so hopefully soon. DOS can be a challenge though, because imports are really hairy. Hopefully we can make it happen.

Noted.

I'd look at how DIG did their MagicDOSBox integration. Pretty good solution. Much better than how ArcBrowser did theirs. 

[C0ntrA]

9 hours ago, Vader said:

@Juzzotec This is something that has been discussed at length on this forum. The issue has to do with the read/write speed of the drive you are using.  it is strange that you are having this issue with an SSD drive as those are supposed to be faster. I would recommend checking the read/write speed of your drive to see what it is running at. Also make sure that the launchbox folder is copied to the ssd drive. Finally, I would try uninstalling launchbox and reloading it to see if that fixes the issue.  If it still continues it might be your drive. Just some thoughts.

Also experiencing it here.

Only a select few consoles seem to suffer the slowdown in the wheel.

SNES is one example I personally notice the most.

Using an ssd as adopted (where I moved my Launchbox folder to).

I think it's something more than "just drive speed", it makes no sense as it doesnt affect every game category.

[TechBoi]

Title View Wheel With Details Naming Title In Wrong Region Language Text? Is this some sort of bug? If I change to a different view like wall all looks OK and has English Title text. It's a full USA ROM set and label titles are correct

[bigsmall999]

Hi, I'm having an issue with games not loading in RA using LB - posted here with more details and log.

[Jason Carr]

@Juzzotec @Vader @C0ntrA The performance issues on the Shield could honestly be caused by any number of issues, including the fact that the Shield is not really all that powerful of a device. We have to remember that most modern phones are significantly faster than Shield TV devices (and also cost more). In my testing, the wheels on my Shield are not always 100% smooth. Personally, I never expected them to be due to the Shield's hardware.

If you feel like you're seeing new issues with the newer versions, I'm doubtful that that's really the cause, because nothing really changed in that regard. It's probably more likely to be the fact that you've added more games to your collection, or you're viewing a platform with more games in it, which of course increases the hardware requirements for that wheel.

Don't get me wrong, I always have plans to optimize things to make them run more smoothly, but I do need to temper expectations; obviously you will get a smoother experience on better hardware than what the Shield devices have available in them. You will also get better performance if you use a faster drive for the media content, but I'm not promising that you're going to get a "perfect" experience. Still, I will do some further testing and review the code to see if there's anything we can do to improve performance on Shield devices. But I don't expect it to always be 100% smooth on Shield devices.

[Jason Carr]

@TechBoi Did you download those images in a previous version, or the latest version of LaunchBox for Android? I have fixed some related issues like that in previous versions, so it would be best to delete the platform and the media and re-import/download it. I'm guessing that will fix that issue.

[Jason Carr]

3 hours ago, bigsmall999 said:

Hi, I'm having an issue with games not loading in RA using LB - posted here with more details and log.

Responded in the thread.

[C0ntrA]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

@Juzzotec @Vader @C0ntrA The performance issues on the Shield could honestly be caused by any number of issues, including the fact that the Shield is not really all that powerful of a device. We have to remember that most modern phones are significantly faster than Shield TV devices (and also cost more). In my testing, the wheels on my Shield are not always 100% smooth. Personally, I never expected them to be due to the Shield's hardware.

If you feel like you're seeing new issues with the newer versions, I'm doubtful that that's really the cause, because nothing really changed in that regard. It's probably more likely to be the fact that you've added more games to your collection, or you're viewing a platform with more games in it, which of course increases the hardware requirements for that wheel.

Don't get me wrong, I always have plans to optimize things to make them run more smoothly, but I do need to temper expectations; obviously you will get a smoother experience on better hardware than what the Shield devices have available in them. You will also get better performance if you use a faster drive for the media content, but I'm not promising that you're going to get a "perfect" experience. Still, I will do some further testing and review the code to see if there's anything we can do to improve performance on Shield devices. But I don't expect it to always be 100% smooth on Shield devices.

I think an "expectation" for smooth scrolling is there because of experiences with other front ends using the exact same hardware.

If a person experiences this already, it's not a far stretch to wish for the same result under a new front end.

Of course every front end has its quirks and such, that's the reality.

But again, some categories slow down even to the point of force closing Launchbox, some don't.

The most likely reality is that this has something to do with the way Launchbox is currently built, rather than storage speed limitations, again referencing the fact that other front ends don't suffer this anomaly.

Other than that though, this front end is performing quite well.

 

[Vader]

3 hours ago, C0ntrA said:

I think an "expectation" for smooth scrolling is there because of experiences with other front ends using the exact same hardware.

If a person experiences this already, it's not a far stretch to wish for the same result under a new front end.

Of course every front end has its quirks and such, that's the reality.

But again, some categories slow down even to the point of force closing Launchbox, some don't.

The most likely reality is that this has something to do with the way Launchbox is currently built, rather than storage speed limitations, again referencing the fact that other front ends don't suffer this anomaly.

Other than that though, this front end is performing quite well.

 

 

@C0ntrA @Jason Carr

 

I have this same feeling as well. I too have an "expectation" but don't look down on the product because I feel that the product is awesome as it is. Jason is doing an awesome job. I think in time a solution will be found. 

[C0ntrA]

1 hour ago, Vader said:

 

@C0ntrA @Jason Carr

 

I have this same feeling as well. I too have an "expectation" but don't look down on the product because I feel that the product is awesome as it is. Jason is doing an awesome job. I think in time a solution will be found. 

Of course! That's why we are here, because Jason and the Launchbox team are developing a premium front end, and we are providing feedback to hopefully help assist in its success!

It's my primary Front End even now, for good reason. It's clean, versatile, and looks amazing as an Android TV setup (my individual use).

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by C0ntrA