LaunchBox for Android New Version - Beta Testing

[SupaGrova]

On 8/17/2021 at 10:32 AM, Jason Carr said:

The Nvidia Shield TV is unique in that it only allows you to write to the "NVIDIA_SHIELD" folder in the root of external storage. Where is your LaunchBox folder? It should be under "/NVIDIA_SHIELD/LaunchBox" for any Nvidia Shield TV devices (and it should default to that if that "NVIDIA_SHIELD" folder exists).

Unfortunately, the LaunchBox app never created this folder..

[Jason Carr]

3 minutes ago, SupaGrova said:

Unfortunately, the LaunchBox app never created this folder..

Are you looking on internal or external storage?

[SupaGrova]

8 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Are you looking on internal or external storage?

the app is installed on my external storage. I checked and the nvidia shield folder is in my internal storage. I even tried to switch my app to internal. Same errors...

 

[Jason Carr]

1 minute ago, SupaGrova said:

the app is installed on my external storage. I checked and the nvidia shield folder is in my internal storage. I even tried to switch my app to internal. Same errors...

 

Where the app is installed doesn't matter as to where the LaunchBox folder is, so that's worth noting. Is there an NVIDIA_SHIELD folder on your external storage? If not, try creating one.

[SupaGrova]

8 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Where the app is installed doesn't matter as to where the LaunchBox folder is, so that's worth noting. Is there an SHNVIDIA_SHIELD folder on your external storage? If not, try creating one.

I just tried that also..No dice. I even tried to copy the launchbox data folders from my phone and place it inside the NVIDIA_SHIELD folder on both storage places and on the root of both storage places..

[TheMadMan007]

So I've got a Nvidia Shield TV Pro (2017). I never deleted the app, so I went to install the new beta, and it would just fail installation. So I uninstalled the original app, and installed the new beta. It installed fine, but it is just sitting on the Initializing Folders. A couple errors popped up (Read-Only File System, and Object Reference not set) , and then just sat at the Initializing folders launch screen for the last half hour

[SupaGrova]

Just now, TheMadMan007 said:

So I've got a Nvidia Shield TV Pro (2017). I never deleted the app, so I went to install the new beta, and it would just fail installation. So I uninstalled the original app, and installed the new beta. It installed fine, but it is just sitting on the Initializing Folders. A couple errors popped up (Read-Only File System, and Object Reference not set) , and then just sat at the Initializing folders launch screen for the last half hour

Yeah, the same situation I'm having now. I've been chatting with Jason about it. Hopefully we can figure out a solution here.

[Emacfpv]

Will there be a way to launch a game and then when the game is closed for Launchbix to get automatically back open, rather than going to the homescreen? That would help with making the experience a little more streamlined I think!

 

[Jason Carr]

3 hours ago, Emacfpv said:

Will there be a way to launch a game and then when the game is closed for Launchbix to get automatically back open, rather than going to the homescreen? That would help with making the experience a little more streamlined I think!

 

Android is a complete failure in this regard. Controlling that process properly is impossible, sadly. If you fully exit the game/emulator, it should automatically take you back to LaunchBox. But often times you have to use the app switcher to completely exit the app in order for it to work.

4 hours ago, SupaGrova said:

I just tried that also..No dice. I even tried to copy the launchbox data folders from my phone and place it inside the NVIDIA_SHIELD folder on both storage places and on the root of both storage places..

 

4 hours ago, SupaGrova said:

Yeah, the same situation I'm having now. I've been chatting with Jason about it. Hopefully we can figure out a solution here.

Strange. I have the same device and I've been testing it on since the beginning. I'll do some further testing with a complete reinstall/device reset and see if I can replicate. I do know that there are several ways to configure your external storage; how is your external storage configured? It should not be configured as "device storage". Maybe that's the issue?

[ItchyRobot]

I can't seem to find the Export to Android function in Launchbox. Is that going to be brought back into Launchbox soon?
Or, am I overlooking it?

[Emacfpv]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

Android is a complete failure in this regard. Controlling that process properly is impossible, sadly. If you fully exit the game/emulator, it should automatically take you back to LaunchBox. But often times you have to use the app switcher to completely exit the app in order for it to work.

 

 

So my only question is why not have LaunchBox be a “launcher” on android so you can set it as a Home Screen itself, rather than just an application that launches applications? I mean I know technically it may require some changes but I am just curious as to why this road wasn’t taken?

[Jason Carr]

31 minutes ago, Emacfpv said:

So my only question is why not have LaunchBox be a “launcher” on android so you can set it as a Home Screen itself, rather than just an application that launches applications? I mean I know technically it may require some changes but I am just curious as to why this road wasn’t taken?

I suppose we could provide that as an option...though it's not really one that I would want personally. We can consider that going forward though, not a bad idea.

35 minutes ago, ItchyRobot said:

I can't seem to find the Export to Android function in Launchbox. Is that going to be brought back into Launchbox soon?
Or, am I overlooking it?

It's available in the latest beta on the desktop. It will be out in the official release next week.

[Jason Carr]

@SupaGrova @TheMadMan007 I can't seem to replicate those issues for the life of me; starting to wonder if we have different devices somehow, or at least different Android TV installations. Can you both go to Settings > Device Preferences > About and share with me the Model Number, Version, and SHIELD Android TV SW Version fields?

Also, what happens if you delete (or just rename if you don't want to lose the data) all of the LaunchBox folders you have in the root of either internal or external storage, or either of the NVIDIA_SHIELD folders? Does LaunchBox start up?

If the Shield is reporting a read-only folder error, then for some reason LaunchBox just can't write to whatever folder it's using. The problem is we don't know what that folder is at this point. Also, assuming you have an external drive of some sort attached, you might try temporarily detaching it to see if the issue is the drive somehow.

Edit: One last thing: make sure you have the latest beta installed (beta 6). If you need a download of beta 6, let me know.

[SupaGrova]

10 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

@SupaGrova @TheMadMan007 I can't seem to replicate those issues for the life of me; starting to wonder if we have different devices somehow, or at least different Android TV installations. Can you both go to Settings > Device Preferences > About and share with me the Model Number, Version, and SHIELD Android TV SW Version fields?

Also, what happens if you delete (or just rename if you don't want to lose the data) all of the LaunchBox folders you have in the root of either internal or external storage, or either of the NVIDIA_SHIELD folders? Does LaunchBox start up?

If the Shield is reporting a read-only folder error, then for some reason LaunchBox just can't write to whatever folder it's using. The problem is we don't know what that folder is at this point. Also, assuming you have an external drive of some sort attached, you might try temporarily detaching it to see if the issue is the drive somehow.

Edit: One last thing: make sure you have the latest beta installed (beta 6). If you need a download of beta 6, let me know.

I have beta 4 I believe. Can you please send me the link to beta 6? Maybe that might make a difference.

Nvidia Shield info-

Model number P2571, Version 9, Serial version: 8.2.3(32.6.518.0)

 

 

[Jason Carr]

1 hour ago, SupaGrova said:

I have beta 4 I believe. Can you please send me the link to beta 6? Maybe that might make a difference.

Nvidia Shield info-

Model number P2571, Version 9, Serial version: 8.2.3(32.6.518.0)

 

 

Interesting, so my model number is actually greater (it's P2897). Honestly I wasn't aware that was a thing (I thought there was only one model). So that could be the issue, or at least the discrepancy. I'll send you a link to beta 6.

[SupaGrova]

1 hour ago, Jason Carr said:

Interesting, so my model number is actually greater (it's P2897). Honestly I wasn't aware that was a thing (I thought there was only one model). So that could be the issue, or at least the discrepancy. I'll send you a link to beta 6.

Looks like beta 6 is doing the same thing☹️Here's what I have gathered so far:

After installing the app(either internal or external) it boots up and asks for storage permission. After I grant it the app permission it immediately crashes. I believe this is right at the creating folders message at the bottom(that may not be the exact words, it closes so fast its hard to tell.)

When I re-open the app is when I get the read-only file system error and the object reference error. These messages appear at the "initialing folders.." step. 

The folder "com.unbrokensoftware.launchbox" is created in Android/data/ folder but no LaunchBox folder is created on the root of the storage or in the NVIDIA_SHIELD folder.

I tried disconnecting my external drive but receive the same messages and outcome.  What I did notice is that the Shield has a section for "special app access" and one of the option is to "Modify system settings" within that section you can choose which apps can have permissions. Unfortunately, Launchbox isn't listed but other third party apps are.  Maybe in a future release a option could be added there so that the app can bypass something to enable write access. Not sure if this works or not.

[adam1972]

I just sent an email about this as well but in case someone else is having the issue.. Where do we get the Betas from?  I go the initial (at least for me)  LaunchBox-Android-0.34-beta-4.apk but after that.. I've seen several iterations come up in conversation but no emails or links... Did I miss a post somewhere on a seperate frum link or something?  How do we get the links to upgrade the currently installed Betas?

Edited August 22, 2021 by adam1972

[dragon57]

5 minutes ago, adam1972 said:

I just sent an email about this as well but in case someone else is having the issue.. Where do we get the Betas from?  I go the initial (at least for me)  LaunchBox-Android-0.34-beta-4.apk but after that.. I've seen several iterations come up in conversation but no emails or links... Did I miss a post somewhere on a seperate frum link or something?  How do we get the links to upgrade the currently installed Betas?

You should be able to update from within the app itself. Make sure betas are enabled in options, then restart the app. It should see and ask for permission to download and install the beta.

[adam1972]

4 minutes ago, dragon57 said:

You should be able to update from within the app itself. Make sure betas are enabled in options, then restart the app. It should see and ask for permission to download and install the beta.

past 2 nights I have been doing just that.  Restarted the phone as well...  On my OnePlus and my Tivo 4K.. BOTH have Beta enabled, one of the first things I did when I got the APK..  Never once got prompted.  I just now simply opened the app and clicked on the platforms icon (as I've done before) and it prompted me to update (at least on my OnePlus 7 Pro)..
What in tarnation? 

[Jason Carr]

1 hour ago, adam1972 said:

past 2 nights I have been doing just that.  Restarted the phone as well...  On my OnePlus and my Tivo 4K.. BOTH have Beta enabled, one of the first things I did when I got the APK..  Never once got prompted.  I just now simply opened the app and clicked on the platforms icon (as I've done before) and it prompted me to update (at least on my OnePlus 7 Pro)..
What in tarnation? 

It won't prompt you to update if there's a connection issue and it can't reach the servers, so that's probably what was going on. I'm not aware of any connection issues on our end though.