Bezels using Rocketlauncher with Launchbox

[Joe35car]

Been down this path before and I still can't figure out whats wrong. So what I'm trying to do is use standalone Dolphin which works fine. Retroarch Dolphin core is terrible. So I want to use the Project Bezels and I use Rocketlauncher and Dolphin as the emulator. When I launch a game from Rocketlauncher it works and shows the bezels for each game. When I try and launch using  Launchbox and use Rocketlauncher as the emulator the game is hidden behind the bezels. It has to be some setting in Launchbox since it works with Rocketlauncher outside of LB. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks

[skizzosjt]

Some games I still launch with RockerLauncher for the sole reason of getting bezels on emulators that don't natively support them. I think RL is superior in this regard, gotta give credit when it's due. I have bezels working along with either startup/shutdown screens through LB or RL's fade screens. So I tried to see if I could recreate the problem, and I think I did....any chance you have startup screens enabled in LB? The startup/shutdown screens from LB are usable, but need extra tinkering in this situation. I don't think it changes focus appropriately to the emulator if you have startup screens enabled in LB but launch a game with RL. It's not the bezel's fault, nor is the game hidden behind the bezel, (technically, the whole idea of bezel is the game is "hidden" behind it. the bezel is a transparent image and only hides stuff on either left/right side while letting the game show through the transparent center) It's actually hidden behind the startup/shutdown screen's window. I have done this for even Steam games being launched through RL and got it working, but you need to use a script to get it automated. Otherwise you could do an ALT+TAB just once, it brings the emulator to the front. If you want to automate with a script, this example works for me, you may need to adjust the sleep time depending on how fast your system boots the game and how long you have the startup screens going for. The key here is the WinActivate line must be triggered after the startup screen has faded out. This would need to be added as an additional app to the specific game(s) in LB or you could add it to the running script of the RL emulator if you want it for all games using RL.

WinWait, ahk_exe dolphin.exe
Sleep, 6000
WinActivate, ahk_exe dolphin.exe

 

if this is the cause and you don't want to deal with the above solution, another easy way to fix it is to disable startup/shutdown screens in LB. but if you want something at startup and shutdown, then enable the fade screens in RL instead since those work with default settings, no extra considerations required.

 

and if that is NOT your problem.....sorry for a rambling post unrelated to your issue lol. I'm not sure what else it might be if that is the case

[Joe35car]

Thanks for the reply. At work now will try it out tomorrow and let you know. I just said it's hidden behind the bezel because I can hear it. The actual screen is one of the default backgrounds in RL. Thanks again. 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Joe35car

[Joe35car]

OK so I disabled the starter screen in LB and it works. My other question is that it works for other system with the starter screen checked and some systems it doesn't ? Why is that? Thanks again. 

Edit. Disregard this part 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Joe35car

[Joe35car]

I'd like to try the script you pasted but not sure where to put it.

 

Thanks

Edited October 21, 2022 by Joe35car

[Joe35car]

Also since we're on the subject how come if I use MAME as the emulator in LB that it doesn't use the bezels for example in Colecovision. It used the default one instead of using individual game bezels? If I can fix this I can bypass LB on some systems.

Edited October 21, 2022 by Joe35car

[dragon57]

7 hours ago, Joe35car said:

Also since we're on the subject how come if I use MAME as the emulator in LB that it doesn't use the bezels for example in Colecovision. It used the default one instead of using individual game bezels? If I can fix this I can bypass LB on some systems.

If you want bezels from The Bezel Project to be used under MAME for what is commonly called 'Software List' systems like ColecoVision, NES, etc., I don't think LaunchBox supports this type of install yet (devs, please correct me if I am incorrect). You would need to use the Windows app from the Project to convert and install MAMA related bezels for the supported systems.

[skizzosjt]

13 hours ago, Joe35car said:

I'd like to try the script you pasted but not sure where to put it.

 

Thanks

This spot, the Running Script field, will apply it to all games being launched through your RocketLauncher emulator in LaunchBox. Go to Tools > Manage > Emulators and then select RocketLauncher to get to this window. This would only be useful if you exclusively use RL for dolphin emulator games only. If you use more emulators through RL then you need it per game(s), proceed below.

 

 

If you want to set it up per game(s) you need to paste it into an .ahk file. Paste it into a text file, but save it with the .ahk extension. Then in LB go into your game(s) edit window (select the game(s) and then hit CTRL + E or right click and then click on edit/bulk edit). Click on Add Application and add this new .ahk file you just created as an additional application by selecting it in the Application Path field. You must check "Automatically Run Before Main Application" for this particular script to work and lastly give it a name in the Application Name field. Here's an example of me using a script for another game like this.

This assumes you have the .ahk extension recognized by Windows to run these files with AutoHotKey already. So if you need to do that, click on the .ahk file you created and since no program is associated with the file extension it will ask you what program you want to use to open it. Make sure you have the checkbox selected "Always use this app to open .ahk files". Click on "More Apps" then scroll down to the bottom and click "Look for another app on this PC". Browse to your LaunchBox folder LaunchBox\ThirdParty\AutoHotkey and then select "AutoHotKey.exe".

[skizzosjt]

got thinking about this more since I was reminded you cannot actually bulk edit the additional application field unless you get a plugin to do that. so it's doable, but you need the plugin to do it in bulk. otherwise you gotta do it 1 by 1 (which will take very long if you have a large library), sorry I forgot to mention that in my last post.

the easier method I wish I shared from the start is creating a new instance of RocketLauncher in your emulator list. Name them per the emulator you want them to be used for. As an example "RocketLauncher - Dolphin" and "RocketLauncher - DuckStation" and so on. This way each instance of RocketLauncher in the emulator list can have its own unique script in the running script field.

so pick whichever path makes most sense for yourself since you have options to choose from to get to your goal