Nabizzles Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 Would really love the ability to add or duplicate platforms that aren't in the prepopulated available list. With the new Dosbox-Pure core, you can play MS-DOS games in .zip - which works on Android, so you don't have to go through MagicDosBox anymore... even though I love that emulator, I would be fine with MS-DOS running in Retroarch in order to use the Launchbox frontend. Also would love a seperate platform categories for hacks, translations and what-not. I know you're essentially just one dude, Jason, working like a boss on this - and I commend the effort - but I've been playing with Daijisho, which is a brand new front-end that supports MS-DOS. The longer this feature takes, the longer I start eyeing the competition - and I've been an avid Launchbox user since forever. Is there a way we can setup a poll for next version features on the Android client like you guys do on the main Windows Launchbox? I'm sure tons of people on here would vote for different features on the roadmap than what's being delivered. (I, for example, would have loved to see this feature added before theme support) Just my .02! Again, love the work you're doing and love that Launchbox is getting better every month! Keep up the good work - and please note this is not criticism, just a friendly suggestion! PS- AetherSX2 and Redream directly launching games is dope. Would love Yaba Shanshiro 2 Pro & IrataJaguar to finally get added to that ever diminishing list. (one can always hope) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frayleaf Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 22 hours ago, Jason Carr said: LaunchBox for Android 1.4-beta-1 is out now with the following: All games views can now be sorted by any field (both ascending or descending) via the top menu Last Played and Play Count fields are now updated when playing games Added Date Added, Date Modified, Last Played, and Play Count fields to game metadata edits Imports now populate the Max Players and Release Type fields, which were previously missed Happy testing. Can you make it possible to sort by community rating? Seems like it sorts by metadata rating, which seems to be unrated on a lot of games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted June 30, 2022 Author Share Posted June 30, 2022 On 6/29/2022 at 2:58 PM, frayleaf said: Can you make it possible to sort by community rating? Seems like it sorts by metadata rating, which seems to be unrated on a lot of games. Sorting by community rating should already be possible in beta 1. However, it does require that the game has at least 5 community ratings before the rating is used (otherwise, one person's random rating would affect the sorting). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted June 30, 2022 Author Share Posted June 30, 2022 LaunchBox for Android 1.4-beta-2 is out now with the following: All games views will now remember the previously selected game A new option to select a random game has been added to the top menu of games views A new option to change the ROMs folder path for a particular platform has been added to the top menu of games views LaunchBox can now optionally be used as the home screen for your device (you can choose your home screen app in your device's Default Apps settings); however, we don't currently recommend it because of Android's shortcomings with exiting games/emulators and the inability to launch non-game applications Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabizzles Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Jason Carr said: LaunchBox for Android 1.4-beta-2 is out now with the following: LaunchBox can now optionally be used as the home screen for your device (you can choose your home screen app in your device's Default Apps settings); however, we don't currently recommend it because of Android's shortcomings with exiting games/emulators and the inability to launch non-game applications Oh no... 😭😭😭 There goes Samsung Dex support.... Literally the one thing that kept me from going to ArcBrowser... it was nice knowing you guys. I guess I'll just have to slum it in the cesspool with all the DIG users now... Edited June 30, 2022 by Nabizzles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frayleaf Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 (edited) 46 minutes ago, Jason Carr said: LaunchBox for Android 1.4-beta-2 is out now with the following: All games views will now remember the previously selected game A new option to select a random game has been added to the top menu of games views A new option to change the ROMs folder path for a particular platform has been added to the top menu of games views LaunchBox can now optionally be used as the home screen for your device (you can choose your home screen app in your device's Default Apps settings); however, we don't currently recommend it because of Android's shortcomings with exiting games/emulators and the inability to launch non-game applications Does that mean I can change the folder path for games to an external (portable) SD? Also, is there a way to store videos/images on external SD? I switched my SD to internal storage because it seemed the only viable option when exporting. As a result, transfer times are much longer. Edited June 30, 2022 by frayleaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luca82 Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 with this latest beta, can i start DS games with drastic? with the last stable update this possibility was broken! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabizzles Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 (edited) 20 hours ago, Nabizzles said: Oh no... 😭😭😭 There goes Samsung Dex support.... Literally the one thing that kept me from going to ArcBrowser... it was nice knowing you guys. I guess I'll just have to slum it in the cesspool with all the DIG users now... And now... what was once mighty has fallen. I don't know why developers do this. DIG has a feature where DIG launches right when the device gets turned on. This is much better than setting up the frontend to be an actual Android launcher. Once an app is set up to be an android launcher, it no longer works in Android Desktop modes (so say goodbye to Samsung Dex and the Motorola/Xiaomi Desktop solutions), and it usually stinks at being an overall launcher. Why not just keep it as a regular application so it can be used everywhere and just have a feature that makes it startup once the system is turned on? This satisfies those that just want the frontend to be front and center on all those single purpose systems and it still takes care of the high-end users like me. Not being able to use Launchbox in Samsung Dex is a dealbreaker. I literally bought this Samsung Galaxy Tab 8 Ultra for emulation and Launchbox. Who was asking for this? Why did you work on this, Jason? What was the need for it? Was there some huge clammoring of people to have Launchbox be a launcher on their phones? Who wants that? I can't even imagine an nvidia shield user wanting this. They want their main launcher to switch apps and Launchbox to play games. It's such a niche usecase. I can see why someone with a Retoid Pocket 2 might want this, but you still have to do a ton of customization on those little Android handhelds - and trying to do those customizations with Launchbox acting as your Android launcher seems miserable. It's not designed for productivity. It's designed for making retro gaming beautiful. On my GPD XD+, when I turn it on, it launches DIG. It's perfect. Right into games. And then when I want to do something else on it, I minimize it and I get my regular android homescreen. This seems like the decison that takes care of everyone. Sorry for the long post. I am just really passionate about this. Trying to shoot for feature parity is important... god knows, I get it. But man. This just kills one of the best features of Launchbox for all of us Samsung, Motorola, and Xiaomi users out there. Now everytime I try to use video out on my phone or my tablet, Launchbox will not run on the external display. Because Samsung uses Dex for that purpose. Unless I want to mirror my screen, which sucks. Who wants to mirror a screen that's 21:9 on a tv? I'm really heartbroken over this decision. What I used to enjoy... What I get now with this new version... Edited July 1, 2022 by Nabizzles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-Beats Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 Am I missing something? How is an optional feature not on by default (and required to be configured via your device's settings) negatively impacting your ability to use the app the way you want? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabizzles Posted July 1, 2022 Share Posted July 1, 2022 58 minutes ago, C-Beats said: Am I missing something? How is an optional feature not on by default (and required to be configured via your device's settings) negatively impacting your ability to use the app the way you want? All apps that work as Android launchers don't work in Dex or other Android Desktop environments. Even if the feature is off. ArcBrowser and Daijisho do the same thing. They won't even run in Dex because desktop environments ARE a type of Android Launcher and you can't run launchers within those launchers. But like I said, DIG works just fine because there's no launcher feature in the app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted July 2, 2022 Author Share Posted July 2, 2022 On 6/30/2022 at 4:17 PM, Nabizzles said: Oh no... 😭😭😭 There goes Samsung Dex support.... Literally the one thing that kept me from going to ArcBrowser... it was nice knowing you guys. I guess I'll just have to slum it in the cesspool with all the DIG users now... 19 hours ago, Nabizzles said: And now... what was once mighty has fallen. I don't know why developers do this. DIG has a feature where DIG launches right when the device gets turned on. This is much better than setting up the frontend to be an actual Android launcher. Once an app is set up to be an android launcher, it no longer works in Android Desktop modes (so say goodbye to Samsung Dex and the Motorola/Xiaomi Desktop solutions), and it usually stinks at being an overall launcher. Why not just keep it as a regular application so it can be used everywhere and just have a feature that makes it startup once the system is turned on? This satisfies those that just want the frontend to be front and center on all those single purpose systems and it still takes care of the high-end users like me. Not being able to use Launchbox in Samsung Dex is a dealbreaker. I literally bought this Samsung Galaxy Tab 8 Ultra for emulation and Launchbox. Who was asking for this? Why did you work on this, Jason? What was the need for it? Was there some huge clammoring of people to have Launchbox be a launcher on their phones? Who wants that? I can't even imagine an nvidia shield user wanting this. They want their main launcher to switch apps and Launchbox to play games. It's such a niche usecase. I can see why someone with a Retoid Pocket 2 might want this, but you still have to do a ton of customization on those little Android handhelds - and trying to do those customizations with Launchbox acting as your Android launcher seems miserable. It's not designed for productivity. It's designed for making retro gaming beautiful. On my GPD XD+, when I turn it on, it launches DIG. It's perfect. Right into games. And then when I want to do something else on it, I minimize it and I get my regular android homescreen. This seems like the decison that takes care of everyone. Sorry for the long post. I am just really passionate about this. Trying to shoot for feature parity is important... god knows, I get it. But man. This just kills one of the best features of Launchbox for all of us Samsung, Motorola, and Xiaomi users out there. Now everytime I try to use video out on my phone or my tablet, Launchbox will not run on the external display. Because Samsung uses Dex for that purpose. Unless I want to mirror my screen, which sucks. Who wants to mirror a screen that's 21:9 on a tv? I'm really heartbroken over this decision. What I used to enjoy... What I get now with this new version... 18 hours ago, Nabizzles said: All apps that work as Android launchers don't work in Dex or other Android Desktop environments. Even if the feature is off. ArcBrowser and Daijisho do the same thing. They won't even run in Dex because desktop environments ARE a type of Android Launcher and you can't run launchers within those launchers. But like I said, DIG works just fine because there's no launcher feature in the app. I would appreciate if we could have more civil discussions over things like this. We had no intentions of affecting that aspect of the app (Dex support). The fact that it's a problem at all is an Android shortcoming. Most likely we will revert that change, because we use Dex occasionally ourselves, and the home launcher support is not a feature that I feel like we should prioritize anyways. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted July 2, 2022 Author Share Posted July 2, 2022 On 6/30/2022 at 4:58 PM, frayleaf said: Does that mean I can change the folder path for games to an external (portable) SD? Also, is there a way to store videos/images on external SD? I switched my SD to internal storage because it seemed the only viable option when exporting. As a result, transfer times are much longer. Yes, it should. We built it for our own use, so that we could use the export tool from the desktop app, but then put the LaunchBox folder on internal storage and the ROMs on external storage. Yes, you can store everything on the SD card if you want. I'm not sure what you're referring to as "the only viable option". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frayleaf Posted July 2, 2022 Share Posted July 2, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Jason Carr said: Yes, it should. We built it for our own use, so that we could use the export tool from the desktop app, but then put the LaunchBox folder on internal storage and the ROMs on external storage. Yes, you can store everything on the SD card if you want. I'm not sure what you're referring to as "the only viable option". Whenever I tried to relocate the launchbox folder to my external SD before, it would say it couldn't write to the folder, and wouldn't let me. And since the games were stored in that folder from the exporter, seemed like my only option was to use that folder on internal. But I guess since we can change platform location now should work, will have to test. Thanks! Also: 1. for wheel with details view for platforms, can we get wrap around scrolling? I have 55 platforms running, and it kinda stinks to have to scroll through the whole list every time. 2. Would be sweet to have the option to reorganize, or even just favorite certain platforms so they can be accessed more easily. Would like to be able to organize my handhelds/consoles/pc/arcade grouped together in order, without having to do it by some naming trickery at export. Edited July 2, 2022 by frayleaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted July 2, 2022 Author Share Posted July 2, 2022 2 hours ago, frayleaf said: Whenever I tried to relocate the launchbox folder to my external SD before, it would say it couldn't write to the folder, and wouldn't let me. And since the games were stored in that folder from the exporter, seemed like my only option was to use that folder on internal. But I guess since we can change platform location now should work, will have to test. Thanks! Also: 1. for wheel with details view for platforms, can we get wrap around scrolling? I have 55 platforms running, and it kinda stinks to have to scroll through the whole list every time. 2. Would be sweet to have the option to reorganize, or even just favorite certain platforms so they can be accessed more easily. Would like to be able to organize my handhelds/consoles/pc/arcade grouped together in order, without having to do it by some naming trickery at export. If you had permissions issues before, you will still have permissions issues. Nothing was changed in that regard. Devices *shouldn't* have any permissions issues at this point, but there are some devices that have faulty versions of Android, unfortunately. Requests noted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabizzles Posted July 3, 2022 Share Posted July 3, 2022 (edited) On 7/2/2022 at 10:59 AM, Jason Carr said: I would appreciate if we could have more civil discussions over things like this. We had no intentions of affecting that aspect of the app (Dex support). The fact that it's a problem at all is an Android shortcoming. Most likely we will revert that change, because we use Dex occasionally ourselves, and the home launcher support is not a feature that I feel like we should prioritize anyways. That wasn't my intention to be uncivil. I guess when I initially wrote it, I didn't write it with a snarky tone. More of a questioning and disappointing one. My apologies. It's great to hear that eventually it will be removed. Take a look, when you get the chance, at how DIG does the autostart with Android function. I believe this basically serves the same purpose and is more elegant for the majority of use cases. Thanks again! Edited July 3, 2022 by Nabizzles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted July 4, 2022 Author Share Posted July 4, 2022 LaunchBox for Android 1.4-beta-3 is out now with the following: Fixed issues launching Nintendo DS games with the DraStic emulator Reverted the home screen support due to it causing issues with Dex and possibly other environments 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabizzles Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 11 minutes ago, Jason Carr said: LaunchBox for Android 1.4-beta-3 is out now with the following: Fixed issues launching Nintendo DS games with the DraStic emulator Reverted the home screen support due to it causing issues with Dex and possibly other environments Thank you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RooKie123 Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 The decision about launcher feature are good, I love Drastic. You pay atention to repair the broken things. To add to to do list melonDS whould be the next. God work keep going,now are the best game frontend in android. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gustavo Oliva Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 Hey, first time posting here. Love Launchbox. Also happy to see that Dex support is back, since that's my main use case. Feature suggestion: have a "favorites" button to toggle favorite games on/off. I have tons of games, but just a few favorites. So this avoids loading tons of box arts unnecessarily. Another implementation option would be to add "Favorites" to the list of filters. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted July 5, 2022 Author Share Posted July 5, 2022 LaunchBox for Android 1.4-beta-4 is out now with the following: A new Recently Played filter is available in all filters lists that shows all your recently played games (though it will only show games that you play with this new version going forward since previous versions weren't tracking game plays) New settings for Show All Games Filters and Show Recently Played Filters are available in the Options menu A new setting to Include Non-Game Android Apps is available in the Options menu The Options page has been organized with categories to make it much easier to navigate Image fading is now smoother and doesn't flicker on the edges Fixed an issue where native Android game metadata and media changes were not saving Fixed an issue where some old and/or miscategorized Android games were not importing on startup 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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