LaunchBox 12.1 refuses to let me change game folder path.

[mikehiler2]

A little backstory, but briefly. I have a 4TB USB drive connected to my thunderport set as the main LaunchBox directory. All media, including games, go into this drive (H:). I began running out of space due to the large size of newer games. So I bought a 2TB USB drive connected to my other thunderport (G:). Transferred all games I wanted over to the new drive, changed the file paths in LaunchBox to reflect new game destination. I ran a game on each platform to test and they transferred successfully. No issues.

To summarize: OLD location of FULL drive was H:, bought new drive, transferred all games from OLD drive (H:) into NEW drive (G:). Changed game file path for platforms I moved in LaunchBox Platorm Path settings.

When I began adding new games to the new hard drive, importing option stated that the OLD game path (H:) as the destination, not the NEW game path (G:). Using the Nintendo Switch as an example.

I set up the file paths correctly within LaunchBox/Tools/Manage Platforms. After the above Import mistake I went and double checked.

As can be clearly seen, I have the path for games set to the NEW drive (G:). And yet...

To TRIPLE check that everything works correctly, clicking on the "Browse" icon, which is supposed to show the path that's shown in the "Folder Path" section, it directs me to the OLD drive (H:).

I have tried resetting the paths multiple times, I have tried resetting LaunchBox, updating (I'm on the most current version available), restarting my entire computer. Nothing works. Despite the Folder Path for every platform I moved correct, it does not actually lead to that path. Again, the games themselves work, so the paths are working for the games themselves, but whenever I try and import new games LaunchBox defaults to the OLD drive and not the NEW drive, but it shows me that it is pointing at the NEW drive.

I'm at a loss here.

[Retro808]

That is because the path the LB rom import wizard image is showing will always be the LB default games folder. It is an option to allow users to move their roms into the LB infrastructure to keep LB as portable as possible. When you changed the path in the Platforms folder location it does not alter LB's default folder structure in that section of the image. That section will always just be the actual LB default folder location.

Changing the path as you did allows for the "Scan for" and "Delete" functions to scan or delete from the actual folders you have your roms located in. 

[mikehiler2]

Thank you for the reply.

I'm not quite following what you wrote, but I think that I somewhat understand it. So basically the settings that I have changed does NOT change the default location the LB wants to place the ROMs in, correct?

Is there a way to change that? I mean, there is a way to make the entire LB portable, which by default is partially saved in Users/Documents on the computer.

There has to be a way to change the default. Back before I put everything into an external HD I remember having files all over the place. NES in one drive, Saturn in another, and everything worked fine. Are you suggesting that I have to delete the platform and then re-add it pointing it to the new location?

[Fry]

Is Launchbox installed on G or on H?  The import ROMS wizard prompt in your original post is asking if you want LaunchBox to copy your ROM file to the ..\LaunchBox\Games folder. So if LB is on H then it’s going to ask if you want to move it to H. 
 

when you say you’d like to make your LaunchBox installation portable but you have the files spread across two drives, what do you mean exactly by portable?

[mikehiler2]

Sorry for the late reply. I went to sleep.

LB was installed originally on C drive. I have three internal drives on my computer, and in the original configuration I had the majority of games on my C drive, but a few were on separate internal drives. Then I transferred everything to an external HD, (H:). It was already made portable. Meaning I can unplug the USB from my computer and plug it into a different computer and everything is still there and works. However, as the drive (H:) is getting full, I want to have two (2) separate drives. A majority of games and all the media (video snaps, meta data, pictures, etc) on one drive (H:) and the more modern platforms (such as PS3, Wii, Wii U, Switch, 3DS) on a separate drive (G:).

Is the issue because I have the LB drive (H:) portable, so it will only direct everything to the portable drive by default? If so, how can that be changed? If not, I guess I should make it portable no longer.

[JoeViking245]

11 hours ago, mikehiler2 said:

does NOT change the default location the LB wants to place the ROMs in, correct?

Correct.  For the Copy or Move options from the Import Wizard.

 

11 hours ago, mikehiler2 said:

which by default is partially saved in Users/Documents on the computer.

LaunchBox should not / will not place anything in your personal Documents folder unless that's where you initially installed it.

 

11 hours ago, mikehiler2 said:

Are you suggesting that I have to delete the platform and then re-add it pointing it to the new location?

If you have your [Nintendo Switch] Platform already setup in LB, but all the existing games are pointing to the old folder location (H: drive), all you need to do is Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games.  Select all games (select one, then hit Ctrl+A) and then click Tools and you'll find the option to Change there.

When you want to Scan for Added Nintendo Switch ROMs, LB will look inside the Game - Folder Path you set for that Platform ("G:\LaunchBox 2\Games\Switch").

If you want to create your [Nintendo Switch] Platform from scratch, with your roms located in the 'new' (G: Drive) folder, use the Import Wizard and select Use the files in their current location.

 

14 hours ago, mikehiler2 said:

clicking on the "Browse" icon, which is supposed to show the path that's shown in the "Folder Path" section, it directs me to the OLD drive (H:).

Initial clicking of the Browse button will always start from LB's main folder.  Not from the Path that's in the field adjacent to it.  If you look at it from the point of a self contained, portable app, that's ideally(?) where you'd have all your assets: images, videos, manuals AND emulators and roms.  Again, it's browsing to a 'starting point'.

[Retro808]

20 minutes ago, mikehiler2 said:

Sorry for the late reply. I went to sleep.

LB was installed originally on C drive. I have three internal drives on my computer, and in the original configuration I had the majority of games on my C drive, but a few were on separate internal drives. Then I transferred everything to an external HD, (H:). It was already made portable. Meaning I can unplug the USB from my computer and plug it into a different computer and everything is still there and works. However, as the drive (H:) is getting full, I want to have two (2) separate drives. A majority of games and all the media (video snaps, meta data, pictures, etc) on one drive (H:) and the more modern platforms (such as PS3, Wii, Wii U, Switch, 3DS) on a separate drive (G:).

Is the issue because I have the LB drive (H:) portable, so it will only direct everything to the portable drive by default? If so, how can that be changed? If not, I guess I should make it portable no longer.

Where you have your main LB folder is where LB will look. So whether you have on in internal D drive or an external J drive the \LaunchBox\games folder will always be pointed to that root folder. Which is why the wording states "my LaunchBox games folder" and not simply something like "my roms folder".

Even if you change the rom folder path in the platform LB will still want to have a process to allow the user to move or copy roms into the LB folder structure. By "portable" we mean that everything, roms, media, emulators, settings are all contained in the LB folder and you can then move the entire LB folder anywhere you want and everything goes with it. Not solely meaning portable as in it being on an external drive.

So currently there is not a way to change it so the options in the image below change to that new folder.

 

[mikehiler2]

7 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

 

If you have your [Nintendo Switch] Platform already setup in LB, but all the existing games are pointing to the old folder location (H: drive), all you need to do is Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games.  Select all games (select one, then hit Ctrl+A) and then click Tools and you'll find the option to Change there.

 

That is what I am trying to do. Set the paths to the new location so that when I import a new ROM for a platform it imports them to the NEW (G:) location.

As mentioned above, all the games that I want to be moved within LB are set to the NEW drive (G:). The individual games are set to the NEW drive (G:) within the "Launching" option under "Edit Game." It's set.

I also tried the "Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games" that you suggested and agreed to all prompts. Yet whenever I try to import a new game it still wants to import to the old location (H:), not the path I literally just set up using the "Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games" method (G:).

[Retro808]

3 minutes ago, mikehiler2 said:

That is what I am trying to do. Set the paths to the new location so that when I import a new ROM for a platform it imports them to the NEW (G:) location.

As mentioned above, all the games that I want to be moved within LB are set to the NEW drive (G:). The individual games are set to the NEW drive (G:) within the "Launching" option under "Edit Game." It's set.

I also tried the "Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games" that you suggested and agreed to all prompts. Yet whenever I try to import a new game it still wants to import to the old location (H:), not the path I literally just set up using the "Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games" method (G:).

If you already have the games in the Switch roms G: folder choose the option to "Use files in their current location".

If you have them somewhere else and are trying to get LB to move them into that G: folder location LB currently will not do that. And as mentioned changing the folder path in the platform will not allow LB to do this either. It is just not currently a feature.

 

[mikehiler2]

15 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

By "portable" we mean that everything, roms, media, emulators, settings are all contained in the LB folder and you can then move the entire LB folder anywhere you want and everything goes with it. Not solely meaning portable as in it being on an external drive.

I am aware of this. I understand that many people don't seem to grasp the concept, but I am well aware of it. But still, thank you for that.

17 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

Even if you change the rom folder path in the platform LB will still want to have a process to allow the user to move or copy roms into the LB folder structure. So currently there is not a way to change it so the options in the image below change to that new folder.

Why is that, though? You can have multiple file paths within the LB root, directing to different drives for games, and importing to those specific platforms have no issues. So why cannot it be changed? If I have to I'll delete the platform, media and all, and redo everything directed to the new drive if I have to, but I'm trying to avoid that. My internet isn't fastest on the planet, so redownloading everything (like the media) is going to take a while.

[neil9000]

1 minute ago, mikehiler2 said:

That is what I am trying to do. Set the paths to the new location so that when I import a new ROM for a platform it imports them to the NEW (G:) location.

As now stated several times that wont work like that. What you want is to already have the files in that folder, you then edit the path in Tools/Manage Platforms/folders tab. You then add any new games to the folder you want to use, then select the platform in the left bar and head to Tools/Search for Added Roms/For Name Of System. That will look in your actual Switch folder for any new games and add the new ones, you do not need to run the full import wizard to add games to a system you already have setup, just set that path you already know about, and use the search for added roms tool. The way you are doing it is that you want Launchbox to move the games to your  G folder, why are you relying on Launchbox for that when its a native feature of Windows itself?

As stated if choosing the move or copy options in the actual import wizard, that will ALWAYS move them into the Launchbox/games/Name of Platform Folder, if you dont want them moved there choose the "Leave my files in there current location" option.

[mikehiler2]

4 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

If you already have the games in the Switch roms G: folder choose the option to "Use files in their current location".

If you have them somewhere else and are trying to get LB to move them into that G: folder location LB currently will not do that. And as mentioned changing the folder path in the platform will not allow LB to do this either. It is just not currently a feature.

 

Everything is already set to the new folder in the new drive. Everything works. EXCEPT when I want to import a NEW game. Then LB wants to import to the OLD location.

[neil9000]

1 minute ago, mikehiler2 said:

My internet isn't fastest on the planet, so redownloading everything (like the media) is going to take a while.

You can keep media and re-use it, it is not deleted when you delete a platform unless you specify that it is.

[Retro808]

5 minutes ago, mikehiler2 said:

Why is that, though? You can have multiple file paths within the LB root, directing to different drives for games, and importing to those specific platforms have no issues. So why cannot it be changed? If I have to I'll delete the platform, media and all, and redo everything directed to the new drive if I have to, but I'm trying to avoid that. My internet isn't fastest on the planet, so redownloading everything (like the media) is going to take a while.

This is how Jason originally coded it and likely never revisited it since it has not been something many users have asked about. To be honest I think I have only seen this questioned maybe 2 or 3 times. Most users typically already organize their roms in a folder structure they prefer and just have LB leave the roms there. Or have LB move them into the main LB folder.

The best option it typically to already have the roms in the folder you want and use the Scan option to tell LB to scan it for new roms.

 

[neil9000]

Just now, mikehiler2 said:

Everything is already set to the new folder in the new drive. Everything works. EXCEPT when I want to import a NEW game. Then LB wants to import to the OLD location.

As stated, use the search for added roms feature, NOT the import wizard.

[mikehiler2]

1 minute ago, neil9000 said:

As stated, use the search for added roms feature, NOT the import wizard.

Ok. I guess this is what I'm going to have to do. Thank you for your patience and answers.

[mikehiler2]

2 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

I am not sure why. I would assume that it has not been something not many users have asked about. To be honest I think I have only seen this questioned maybe 2 or 3 times. Most users typically already organize their roms in a folder structure they prefer and just have LB leave the roms there. Or have LB move them into the main folder.

 

Not to sound condescending or anything, but that's a real shame. It would, in mind, be a common issue. People run out of storage space on their drives, so adding a new drive and having the new media going to that new drive would seem to be something that would be easy to do.

Nevertheless, thank you very much for the replies. It actually did help, even if it didn't give me the answer that I wanted.

I suppose LB is made is have a platform and all related media set to a specific drive, and I guess you can have multiple drives set to multiple different platforms so long as you have everything for that platform going to that drive. And that makes sense if you think about it. So, in retrospect, I suppose I was asking too much, or at least OVERcomplicating a simple issue.

Thanks again everyone.

[Retro808]

2 minutes ago, mikehiler2 said:

Not to sound condescending or anything, but that's a real shame. It would, in mind, be a common issue. People run out of storage space on their drives, so adding a new drive and having the new media going to that new drive would seem to be something that would be easy to do.

Nevertheless, thank you very much for the replies. It actually did help, even if it didn't give me the answer that I wanted.

I suppose LB is made is have a platform and all related media set to a specific drive, and I guess you can have multiple drives set to multiple different platforms so long as you have everything for that platform going to that drive. And that makes sense if you think about it. So, in retrospect, I suppose I was asking too much, or at least OVERcomplicating a simple issue.

Thanks again everyone.

Not condescending at all. A valid concern for your particular use. Honestly though for a single developer (well we have 2 now) to think of each and every "common issue" to already have steps implemented is a daunting task so sometimes, things we as users think should already be there, are not yet implemented. I have been on this forum for over 3 years helping and this request is not as common as one would think it would be.

Either way, always share with us your requests and feedback. It helps. If you want to make any feature requests use the link located at the top of the forum under "Help & Support". It is the best place.

[neil9000]

9 minutes ago, mikehiler2 said:

Not to sound condescending or anything, but that's a real shame. It would, in mind, be a common issue. People run out of storage space on their drives, so adding a new drive and having the new media going to that new drive would seem to be something that would be easy to do.

But why though? You are asking Launchbox to do something that every OS supports natively and takes like two seconds to do, why would you spend time building a feature that imitates what the OS does, i just dont understand that at all. So you downloaded a new Switch game and you want to add it to Launchbox, you go to your "Downloads" folder in Windows, right click/copy, or click CTRL-C, open your G/Switch folder and right click/paste, or simply CTRL-V, then in Launchbox just click the scan for added roms feature to add the new rom file. That is actually quicker and easier than what you are wanting to do, as well as being more flexible.

Maybe i'm missing something here but they way you are wanting to do this is actually the slower and more complicated way to do it.

14 minutes ago, mikehiler2 said:

I suppose LB is made is have a platform and all related media set to a specific drive,

You can have roms anywhere you like, on multiple drives or in multiple folders, no issues at all. You i assume are also aware you can also import games by simply dragging them onto Launchbox. So add them to your G folder, than drag onto the Launchbox window to import from that location, thats even quicker.

[mikehiler2]

3 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

But why though? You are asking Launchbox to do something that every OS supports natively and takes like two seconds to do, why would you spend time building a feature that imitates what the OS does, i just dont understand that at all. So you downloaded a new Switch game and you want to add it to Launchbox, you go to your "Downloads" folder in Windows, right click/copy, or click CTRL-C, open your G/Switch folder and right click/paste, or simply CTRL-V, then in Launchbox just click the scan for added roms feature to add the new rom file. That is actually quicker and easier than what you are wanting to do, as well as being more flexible.

Maybe i'm missing something here but they way you are wanting to do this is actually the slower and more complicated way to do it.

Yes, that's why I stated that perhaps I was overcomplicating a simple issue. The way I was describing, in retrospect, while it may have seemed important to me at the time, would actually make things more complicated. LB, from what I've gathered, is a frontend that's all about simplicity. Having branching and overlapping file structures would seem to me to be a difficult task to implement. As well as mostly not needed in most cases.

7 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

You can have roms anywhere you like, on multiple drives or in multiple folders, no issues at all. You i assume are also aware you can also import games by simply dragging them onto Launchbox. So add them to your G folder, than drag onto the Launchbox window to import from that location, thats even quicker.

It is quicker, and that was the original issue. Either through dragging the ROMs into LB or using the import feature caused the issue that I stated in the beginning, which hasn't changed. It was originally on (H:) drive. I moved all ROMs to the new drive (G:), but whenever I import or drag and drop, and I want to use the "Import Games from Files Wizard" and I want to "Move the files to LaunchBox games folder" it defaults to the OLD location (H:), even though in every setting I can find I have the "LaunchBox games folder" set to the NEW drive (G:).

I wanted to do this instead of "Use files in their current location" because most of the time, when I download the ROMs, they are in my "Downloads" folder and I didn't want the added step of having to manually move the files to the new drive in the correct games folder and then import them into LB. I just wanted to move the files from my "Downloads" folder directly into LB and have LB do that for me while also having it download the media without me manually transferring the files first. It was a saving time issue.

But, if this is what I have to do, then that's what I have to do.