JoeViking245 Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 (edited) Dec. 2, 2023 Depreciated. Please see the official release here: What is it? Use this plugin to display bezels for emulators that don't natively support them. What does it do? It displays a bezel and resizes the emulator window to fit within the bezels transparent area. What's required to make this plugin work? LaunchBox v13.3 (or newer), the plugin file, bezel images and some minor setup. (See Setting up) Do I need to provide my own bezel images? Yes. (See Setting up for where to place them) Will it work with game specific bezels? No. Only bezels on a platform basis will be displayed. Will this work for every platform and emulator? Only platforms using their Default Emulator can be used. Platforms using RetroArch or MAME as their Default Emulator will be ignored. The emulators that have been tested so far all work. Some adjustments may be necessary. (see Emulator Settings) Will this work with storefront games or Windows games? No. Why not just use RocketLauncher? Have you ever tried setting up RL? Can I use my existing RL bezel configuration files? You can use the existing platform.png and platform.ini files from RL. These files should be located under: /RocketLauncher/Media/Bezels/platform_name/_default/something.ini (and something.png) (See Setting up [step #3]) What are the .ini files for? The .ini (configuration) files tell the plugin how to resize and move the emulator window to fit within the bezel. (See .ini Files for more info and Testing for creating and saving them) Can this plugin add shaders as well? No. Disclaimer This works on my test PC. I didn’t test it on my cab because I didn’t want to change my emulator settings to not use fullscreen (see Emulator Settings). Outside of RetroArch and MAME, I don’t use bezels, so didn’t want to mess-up-a-good-thing. This is a beta release and some refinements to the plugin may be needed to accommodate other setups. Depending on how well this works (or doesn’t work) and what (if any) changes need to be made (to work well outside of my test environment), this may later become an “official release”. Until then, no guarantees, express or implied… blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. There is no risk. The plugin makes no changes to LaunchBox or your emulators. If you decide this isn’t for you, simply undo any fullscreen changes you made and (with LB/BB not running) delete the BezelLauncher folder. Special Thanks Special thanks to @MadK9 for the idea, direction and help with testing! Without him, I sure as hell would have never contemplated starting this project. Installing With LaunchBox/BigBox not running... Download the plugin .zip file "Unblock" the file Right-click the file, select Properties, check the box "Unblock", click OK. Or just use 7-zip to open the file Copy the contents (a folder called "BezelLauncher") into your \LaunchBox\Plugins\ folder Start LaunchBox Setting up Start BezelLauncher Setup from the LaunchBox Tools menu, then click Close. This will create the \Plugins\BezelLauncher\Bezels\platform_name\ subfolders Copy your bezel images into their respective platform_name subfolders. Only 1 image file per platform subfolder. See Bezel Images for more information (optional) If you have existing RL platform_name.ini files, copy those alongside the image files Restart BezelLauncher Setup Select a platform you wish to use Check Disabled to enable it Click Test Adjust (Move/resize) the orange frame to fit within the view area of the bezel (See Testing) Click Save [to save the .ini file] Click Save on the main setup screen to add the platform to the list of Enabled platforms. Repeat for other platforms you wish to add You must click "Save" for each platform you've enabled Maintenance After adding/removing platforms or changing default emulators in LaunchBox Run BezelLauncher Setup Click Refresh Continue with Setting up, step #5 Testing To configure the placement of the emulator window within the bezel (Requires an existing bezel image): Run BezelLauncher Setup Select a platform Enable it (if it's not already) Click Test Move and resize the frame Click [and hold] the left or right side of the frame to move it around Click [and hold] the bottom right corner to resize Use the on-screen buttons to fine-tune the adjustments The on-screen display will show information about the emulator window. (You can click and drag the OSD to move it around as needed) x, y = upper left monitor-coordinates of the emulator window w, h = width and height of the emulator window x, y = lower right monitor-coordinates of the emulator window • If any of the values are red, they are off the screen • The OUTSIDE edge of the frame is the emulator window extents After adjusting, click Save. This will overwrite any existing configuration file. Parameters Depending on the emulator and the bezel, you may need to check 1 or more of the following parameters: (h) hideStuff Check this if you see the desktop behind bezel while the game is loading. This adds a black background during the startup process. (s) startupSleeper “Hide stuff” for a little longer during startup (3 seconds) (l) longerSleep Same as above (4 seconds) (g) hideGameStartup Check this if LB Game Startup screen is showing behind the bezel at game startup When selecting a platform, if the plugin detects an emulator that has been tested, “suggested” parameters will be shown. Your mileage may vary. Emulator Settings For the plugin to move/resize the emulators’ window, you will need to disable fullscreen in the emulator(s). This may be as easy as removing "-f" or "-fullscreen" from the Default Command-line Parameters (depending on the emulator). Beyond that, of the emulators I've tested, the only one that needs to have its Default Command-line Parameters altered is SuperModel. You will need to manually set the resolution. Start BezelLauncher Setup Select your Super Model 3 platform and Enable it Click Test and after adjusting the frame to where you want it, make note of the W(idth) and H(eight) #'s shown in the OSD. Save and Close. (Be sure to click Save on the main Setup screen to save Enabled as well.) Edit your SuperModel emulator (in LaunchBox) and set the Default Command-line Parameters to "-res=W,H" (no quotes, no spaces and replacing W & H with the #'s noted above) Example: -res=1420,1076 Bezel Images Spoiler When you run BezelLauncher Setup for the 1st time, the plugin creates subfolders for each of your eligible platforms. They are created in: \LaunchBox\Plugins\BezelLauncher\Bezels\platform_name\ Place your bezel image in the \platform_name\ folder for each platform example: \BezelLauncher\Bezels\Sony PSP\PSP_bezel.png - The filenames can be anything you want. As long as it has a .png file extension. - Only one image per platform subfolder. .ini (configuration) Files Spoiler The .ini files contain the monitors' coordinates for placing the emulator window. The Upper Left x,y coordinate and the Lower Right x,y coordinate Example: Upper Left X Coordinate=240 Upper Left Y Coordinate=100 Lower Right X Coordinate=1680 Lower Right Y Coordinate=1080 Folder Structure Spoiler D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\BezelLauncher\ BezelLauncher.dll BLSetup.xml D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\BezelLauncher\Bezels\ D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\BezelLauncher\Bezels\platform_name\ anyFileName.ini anyOtherOrTheSameFileName.png D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\BezelLauncher\Logs\ log [date/time].txt (Up to 5 files max) SetupLog [date/time].txt (Up to 5 files max) BezelLauncher (v1.0-beta-1).zip Dec. 2, 2023 Depreciated. Please see the official release here: BezelLauncher - Official Release As always, any thoughts, views, opinions, [constructive] criticism, comments and suggestions are welcome. Edited December 2, 2023 by JoeViking245 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadK9 Posted June 5, 2023 Share Posted June 5, 2023 It still doesn't make the coffee though, really thought you may have figured that out by now But seriously, i love this, finally got rid of RocketLauncher, stand alone emus will always be better than retroarch, I've not had any real issues other than ones that were operator error, in other words couldnt read simple instructions. But yes it works does a lot more than the initial idea, for anyone using stand alone emus and want bezels, this is a no brainer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bundangdon Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) This is great! My only question is, you have 3DS as one of your examples-images, but Citra and the 3DS didn't come up in my list while setting up the plugin. Any ideas or tips on how to get 3DS and Citra (Canary or Nightly) working? Also, I can't seem to get it to fit properly with BigPEmu. While the bezel shows up, the display size of BigPEmu has shrunk down to a tiny 800x600 on the right corner of my 3840x2160 screen Edited June 6, 2023 by bundangdon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nixx Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Interesting, can we have the source code ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted June 6, 2023 Author Share Posted June 6, 2023 3 hours ago, bundangdon said: Citra and the 3DS didn't come up in my list while setting up the plugin. Any ideas or tips on how to get 3DS and Citra (Canary or Nightly) working? Is the Default Emulator for your 3DS platform Citra? Or is it RetroArch, and Citra has the Associated Platform 'Nintendo 3DS', but is not 'checked' as the Default Emulator? Make sure Citra is the Default Emulator. 3 hours ago, bundangdon said: Also, I can't seem to get it to fit properly with BigPEmu. While the bezel shows up, the display size of BigPEmu has shrunk down to a tiny 800x600 on the right corner of my 3840x2160 screen Did you run Test to set the emulator window size? (And then Save?) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted June 6, 2023 Author Share Posted June 6, 2023 3 hours ago, Nixx said: Interesting, can we have the source code ? Not that I'm hording the couple hours of work my team and I put into this... but feel free to use DotPeek or ILSpy. None of my plugins are encrypted (or whatever people do to keep prying eyes out of it). So all code will show up using either of those. Showing off all my coding disfunctions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bundangdon Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said: Is the Default Emulator for your 3DS platform Citra? Or is it RetroArch, and Citra has the Associated Platform 'Nintendo 3DS', but is not 'checked' as the Default Emulator? Make sure Citra is the Default Emulator. Did you run Test to set the emulator window size? (And then Save?) Thanks a lot for the quick response. That definitely helped me with 3DS, as it's now working after I checked it as the "Default Emulator". However, I think there's an odd issue with the measurements. When I run the test, set the emulator windows size and save for BigPEmu, it's the same results as before. Also, I tried to manually change the measurements in the .cfg file but nothing changes. Would you be willing to share your BigPEmu cfg? Otherwise, it's possible I may have an issue with the BigPEmu emulator's video settings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted June 6, 2023 Author Share Posted June 6, 2023 8 minutes ago, bundangdon said: definitely helped me with 3DS, as it's now working after I checked it as the "Default Emulator". Whew. Gotta love a 'simple fix'. 10 minutes ago, bundangdon said: I tried to manually change the measurements in the .cfg file but nothing changes. Would you be willing to share your BigPEmu cfg? Otherwise, it's possible I may have an issue with the BigPEmu emulator's video settings. I didn't touch anything in BigPEmu. (I don't think) I put it on my computer in Feb this year, added it to LB, but never added any games. This morning added Atari Kart, ran BezelLauncher Setup to Enable it, clicked Test, Saved, Saved, Closed. And got what you see above. Can you share the most recent "log xxx.txt" file (in \BezelLauncher\Logs\) (after having launched a Jaguar/BigPEmu game) Here's the video section of my BigPEmu....cfg file. My monitor is 1920x1080. Thought the W and H are set here, it still resizes. So maybe it's one of the other settings. "Video": { "Display": "\\\\.\\DISPLAY1", "DisplayWidth": 1920, "DisplayHeight": 1080, "DisplayBitDepth": 32, "FirstColNTSC": 176, "WidthNTSC": 1280, "FirstLineNTSC": 14, "HeightNTSC": 240, "FirstColPAL": 196, "WidthPAL": 1280, "FirstLinePAL": 14, "HeightPAL": 288, "DisplayMode": 0, "VSync": 1, "ScreenScaling": 0, "ScreenAnchor": 0, "ScreenFilter": 0, "ScreenAspect": 2, "LockAspect": 1, "ScreenEffectForceHDR": 0, "HDROutput": 0, "HDRGamma": 1.0, "HDRScale": 3.75, "ForceHorizontalOverscan": 0, "DisableScreensaver": 0, "DispVer": 1 }, My Atari Jaguar ini file looks like: Upper Left X Coordinate=240 Upper Left Y Coordinate=0 Lower Right X Coordinate=1680 Lower Right Y Coordinate=1080 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerSchlachter Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 in the early German morning hours I discovered another wonderful plugin from you! Very cool! Will definitely be used. You're like a spoiled child when it comes to shaders, but you can overlook that. Super good for standalone emulators! Nevertheless, for BigPemu I recommend the following shader, I've experimented with it bunglingly. Duimon eventually perfected the shader and optimized it for BigPemu. Download: https://github.com/Duimon/Duimon-BigPEmu I am currently testing the following tool for my Steam Games, so of course it would also work for other programs. But that's not nearly as clear and intuitive as your plugin! https://www.emuline.org/topic/1420-shader-crt-multifonction-kick-ass-looking-games/ I'll run a few emulators through your plugin over the weekend and report back. 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bundangdon Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 14 hours ago, JoeViking245 said: I didn't touch anything in BigPEmu. (I don't think) I put it on my computer in Feb this year, added it to LB, but never added any games. This morning added Atari Kart, ran BezelLauncher Setup to Enable it, clicked Test, Saved, Saved, Closed. And got what you see above. Can you share the most recent "log xxx.txt" file (in \BezelLauncher\Logs\) (after having launched a Jaguar/BigPEmu game) Here's the video section of my BigPEmu....cfg file. My monitor is 1920x1080. Thought the W and H are set here, it still resizes. So maybe it's one of the other settings. "Video": { "Display": "\\\\.\\DISPLAY1", "DisplayWidth": 1920, "DisplayHeight": 1080, "DisplayBitDepth": 32, "FirstColNTSC": 176, "WidthNTSC": 1280, "FirstLineNTSC": 14, "HeightNTSC": 240, "FirstColPAL": 196, "WidthPAL": 1280, "FirstLinePAL": 14, "HeightPAL": 288, "DisplayMode": 0, "VSync": 1, "ScreenScaling": 0, "ScreenAnchor": 0, "ScreenFilter": 0, "ScreenAspect": 2, "LockAspect": 1, "ScreenEffectForceHDR": 0, "HDROutput": 0, "HDRGamma": 1.0, "HDRScale": 3.75, "ForceHorizontalOverscan": 0, "DisableScreensaver": 0, "DispVer": 1 }, My Atari Jaguar ini file looks like: Upper Left X Coordinate=240 Upper Left Y Coordinate=0 Lower Right X Coordinate=1680 Lower Right Y Coordinate=1080 I think it had something to do with with "DisplayMode": 0 in the BigPEmu cfg file. I changed it from "2" to "0" and now I can line it up properly. Thanks again for the help! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skizzosjt Posted July 8, 2023 Share Posted July 8, 2023 hey joeviking I finally had a moment to try this out and reporting with a thumbs up! my constructive criticism would be game specific bezel options would be a desirable feature to add. but current functions worked as expected and it has been smooth sailing thanks to the detailed instructions given! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadK9 Posted July 8, 2023 Share Posted July 8, 2023 32 minutes ago, skizzosjt said: my constructive criticism would be game specific bezel options would be a desirable feature to add. Can pretty much confirm that won't happen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted July 8, 2023 Author Share Posted July 8, 2023 11 hours ago, skizzosjt said: hey joeviking I finally had a moment to try this out and reporting with a thumbs up! my constructive criticism would be game specific bezel options would be a desirable feature to add. but current functions worked as expected and it has been smooth sailing thanks to the detailed instructions given! Thanks for the thumbs up (and noticing the (possibly tldr:) instructions )! Regarding the request/suggestion for adding the option for game specific bezels, I was happy just to be able to get the platform bezels working on my PC. I will add it to feature request list. However, at this time with only 3 'it works' (4, including me), I'd like to see more interest and confirmations for the project before dedicating any more time to it. (and hopefully get it out of beta someday) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skizzosjt Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 On 7/8/2023 at 9:16 AM, JoeViking245 said: Thanks for the thumbs up (and noticing the (possibly tldr:) instructions )! Regarding the request/suggestion for adding the option for game specific bezels, I was happy just to be able to get the platform bezels working on my PC. I will add it to feature request list. However, at this time with only 3 'it works' (4, including me), I'd like to see more interest and confirmations for the project before dedicating any more time to it. (and hopefully get it out of beta someday) a guy can hope! lol I get it, it's what we all do here I think. First we set out to resolve something for ourselves, and just happens sometimes it makes sense to share. So I get it that it's more of a personal project and interest would need to be seen to invest more time developing an additional feature Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockarollo Posted August 18, 2023 Share Posted August 18, 2023 On 6/6/2023 at 9:43 AM, bundangdon said: This is great! My only question is, you have 3DS as one of your examples-images, but Citra and the 3DS didn't come up in my list while setting up the plugin. Any ideas or tips on how to get 3DS and Citra (Canary or Nightly) working? Also, I can't seem to get it to fit properly with BigPEmu. While the bezel shows up, the display size of BigPEmu has shrunk down to a tiny 800x600 on the right corner of my 3840x2160 screen you dont need plugins or 3rd party apps for bezels in bigpemu the dev added a way for translating mega bezel shaders for ra to bigpemu dstack presets for all games i play with that emu i made a dstack preset for loading a bezel ( you can do more than loading a bezel with this preset ) recorded a video time ago showing my jaguar bezels 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deaks Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 I’ve got sega model 3 working ok but model 2 doesn’t show it flashes on for a second then disappears I’ve tried all settings but with no luck any ideas? thanks for your efforts it’s much appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted August 26, 2023 Author Share Posted August 26, 2023 1 hour ago, Deaks said: I’ve got sega model 3 working ok but model 2 doesn’t show it flashes on for a second then disappears I’ve tried all settings but with no luck any ideas? thanks for your efforts it’s much appreciated To clarify, the bezel flashes for a second, then disappears? And the emulator/game is still running fine? I just tested with the 'recommended' settings (BezelLauncher parameters: g h) and had no issue. Can you launch a Model 2 game, (wait for it) then exit game. Then share the most recent Log file. (located in \Plugins\BezelLauncher\Logs\log 2023-xxxxxx.txt) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deaks Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 Yes it shows up for a split second then disapears if i press Alt +Tab It shows up so it is running im a NOOB so sorry if im not much help here is the log thank you LaunchBox version: 13.6.0.0 Total plugin emluated platforms: 2 Total plugin enabled platforms: 2 Loading Sega Model 2 Looking for .ini and .png files... Found: Sega Model 2.ini Found: SegaM2.png Saved: Sega Model 2 Enabled is set to: True Total plugin emluated platforms: 2 Total plugin enabled platforms: 2 Loading Sega Model 2 Looking for .ini and .png files... Found: Sega Model 2.ini Found: SegaM2.png Exiting Setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeViking245 Posted August 26, 2023 Author Share Posted August 26, 2023 17 minutes ago, Deaks said: Yes it shows up for a split second then disapears if i press Alt +Tab It shows up so it is running im a NOOB so sorry if im not much help here is the log thank you K. So everything's there, it just that [for some reason] the bezel is getting sent behind. Pressing Alt+Tab brings it forward. And then [question] the bezel is showing AND the emulator window is sized correctly (vs. the emulator is actually full screen [not resized a little smaller] behind the bezel and the bezel is covering up the sides)? The log file you shared is actually the setup log (SetupLog 2023xxxxx.txt). There're actually 2 types of log files in there. log 2023-xxxxxx.txt and SetupLog 2023-xxxxxx.txt. I was looking for the prior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deaks Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said: K. So everything's there, it just that [for some reason] the bezel is getting sent behind. Pressing Alt+Tab brings it forward. And then [question] the bezel is showing AND the emulator window is sized correctly (vs. the emulator is actually full screen [not resized a little smaller] behind the bezel and the bezel is covering up the sides)? The log file you shared is actually the setup log (SetupLog 2023xxxxx.txt). There're actually 2 types of log files in there. log 2023-xxxxxx.txt and SetupLog 2023-xxxxxx.txt. I was looking for the prior. Sorry about that thanks again LaunchBox version: 13.6.0.0 BLSetup.xml loaded Total emluated platforms: 2 Total enabled Platforms: 2 Checking game: Desert Tank Platform: Sega Model 2 Setting up to load bezel Platform: Sega Model 2 Emulator: emulator_multicpu Parameters: OnAfterGameLaunched... LBstartupHWND: 0 00:00:10.0340023 Bezel files exist: D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\BezelLauncher\Bezels\Sega Model 2\Sega Model 2.ini D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\BezelLauncher\Bezels\Sega Model 2\SegaM2.png Lx:154 Ly:2 W:972 H:716 waited for EmulatorHWND: 00:00:00.5031062 EmulatorHwnd:1508340 Showing Bezel BezelWindowHWND: 2884800 startupSleeper: 0 Game exited Closing BezelWindow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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