Create a playlist of MAME Clones?

[vaderag]

When I was over on Hyperspin (seems like an age ago) I had a playlist of "MAME Clones worth playing" and I'd like to replicate this on Launchbox

I have all the clones (I think...) and can select the ones I want manually, but I don't know how I can create a playlist where the default for each game is different... is there a way to do this?

Thanks

[vaderag]

Thanks for that, but I don't actually have the HS playlist any more... (the list I have is just in a txt doc)

I'm not sure that's going to work anyway, since i believe it would still just import the grouped parent, and running will launch the default for that grouping, rather than the clone I'm looking to play - this is the key thing i'm trying to overcome

[vaderag]

I'm actually using a split set, and you can get them from Launchbox (unsure on Big Box)
But what I want to do is have an item in a playlist that points to a specific clone/variant

[zugswang]

9 minutes ago, vaderag said:

I'm actually using a split set, and you can get them from Launchbox (unsure on Big Box)
But what I want to do is have an item in a playlist that points to a specific clone/variant

Maybe give an example of what you are talking about ?

Are you saying clones that are NOT picked up by Launchbox when you created your Arcade system ?

[vaderag]

Okay. Example

Cabal has 5 versions available. I can happily launch all of these MANUALLY, but that requires knowledge - knowledge that a version exists, knowledge that a clone is worthwhile checking out

This is a good example as the variant is a TRACKBALL vs JOYSTICK game which is totally worth checking out

I want to create a playlist of games like this (good list here on Hyperspin forum which I helped build back in the day), lets call the playlist "Clones worth playing"

That playlist would only contain the clones that are worth checking out. 

My default for Cabal across everywhere will still be Korea joystick version (or whatever) but the clones worth playing playlist would launch the Trackball version.

I don't know if this is possible right now without splitting out all my clones for items in this playlist everywhere, which I don't want as then you end up with 6 copies of Cabal

 

Similarly I could then also add this clone soft link to the Trackball playlist

[vaderag]

Here's the listMame Clones Worth Playing - mine.txt

The problem with splitting is that you then end up with them everywhere - in all relevant lists

[C-Beats]

Games are added to playlists not apps/versions. There is no way to add just a single app/version of a game to a playlist instead of the entire game.

[vaderag]

4 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

Games are added to playlists not apps/versions. There is no way to add just a single app/version of a game to a playlist instead of the entire game.

Okay, so with that in mind, a different thought track

Is there any way to have a playlist override the hidden flag?
I.e. I hide hidden games everywhere except one playlist? Then I could separate the clones I want but have them hidden everywhere else

The reverse way wouldn't work as I'd need some kind of exclusion in every other playlist

Edited December 22, 2022 by vaderag

[faeran]

Couple thoughts here:

• You could reimport just the clones you want into a custom named platform. You'll need to choose the option to allow to force import duplicate games.
• You could just add the games you want into its own playlist and use a custom field to state that a clone may be important, or list out details for each game as to what's special about the clones.

[Drybonz]

There used to be a "all killer no filler" playlist you could import with a LB addon called LightSpeed that would do exactly what you are looking for... it was abandoned after compatibility with LB broke, but maybe somebody could salvage some of that with an old version of Lightspeed?  Just thinking "out loud".

[vaderag]

11 hours ago, Drybonz said:

There used to be a "all killer no filler" playlist you could import with a LB addon called LightSpeed that would do exactly what you are looking for... it was abandoned after compatibility with LB broke, but maybe somebody could salvage some of that with an old version of Lightspeed?  Just thinking "out loud".

I actually have a number of all killer playlist (lordmonkus posted it I think), but I'm still not sure they in any way allow 'soft' linking to a specific version - sounds like it's not possible. 

22 hours ago, faeran said:

You could reimport just the clones you want into a custom named platform. You'll need to choose the option to allow to force import duplicate games.

This sounds like it might work... is there a way to get a platform to not show anywhere but a specific playlist?

[faeran]

2 hours ago, vaderag said:

This sounds like it might work... is there a way to get a platform to not show anywhere but a specific playlist?

This depends on what you mean by anywhere. If you mean, in Big Box, within the Platform Categories section, then a platform can go into any Category you want (like the Arcade category), or in multiple categories at the same time, by Editing the platform, under the Parents tab.

If you are wanting to add these games as a child of another platform, then you could add all the games into a playlist, then place that playlist into that platform, and remove this new platform from your hierarchy.

[Drybonz]

3 hours ago, vaderag said:

I actually have a number of all killer playlist (lordmonkus posted it I think), but I'm still not sure they in any way allow 'soft' linking to a specific version - sounds like it's not possible. 

I'm all for, and have requested a few times a more robust MAME importing, categories, filtering, etc... but have been told that arcade is not a priority for LB, unfortunately... so, hopefully more people will talk about and request this type of stuff so that it gets some love.

[vaderag]

24 minutes ago, Drybonz said:

I'm all for, and have requested a few times a more robust MAME importing, categories, filtering, etc... but have been told that arcade is not a priority for LB, unfortunately... so, hopefully more people will talk about and request this type of stuff so that it gets some love.

I pretty much exclusively use launchbox for arcade and tbh the mame importing is pretty solid now (I'm rebuilding right now and it's night and day from where it was a few years back!)

Agree tho, there are a few bits (namely things discussed in this thread) that would take it from great to unbeatable