LaunchBox 13.6 Released!

[faeran]

Version 13.6 - Released July 24, 2023

Full Changelog: https://www.launchbox-app.com/about/changelog

 

 

• New Feature: LaunchBox can now automatically import all installed PC games from supported storefronts on startup, without requiring any user interaction (Steam, GOG, Epic Games, Amazon Games, and Ubisoft Connect); this will be enabled by default on all new installations of LaunchBox. To enable it for existing LaunchBox installations, go to Tools > Options > General > Automated Imports.
• New Feature: LaunchBox now has a brand new Default theme! The previous Default theme has been renamed Old Default and the previous Old Default theme has been renamed to Old Default (Legacy). Use Tools > Manage LaunchBox Themes to switch themes.
• New Feature: LaunchBox now has its own notifications system that helps better track information and errors; history is also available in the new notifications center (bell icon) in the top right of the window. The notifications center is available in both of the Default themes, and can be easily added to any custom themes. A new option is available under Tools > Options > General > Notifications to switch between LaunchBox notifications, Windows notifications, and message boxes.
• New Feature: Big Box's Default theme now has battery indicators to help identify your current battery level if using it on a battery-powered device (also available to be added to custom themes)
• New Feature: Big Box's Default theme now displays important controller inputs that will dynamically change based on a user's controller mappings (also available to be added to custom themes)
• Improvement: LaunchBox can now better manage storefront installations and uninstallations and can update the user interface to track them
• Improvement: The PS3 ROM import improvements that were introduced in 13.3 now work with more ROM types
• Improvement: LaunchBox now supports custom theme plugins (for theme developers)
• Improvement: LaunchBox platform icons in the sidebar now have a HasImage binding (for theme developers)
• Improvement: Steam game matching has been significantly improved to reduce any chance for false matches
• Fixed: Rare overflow error thrown from LaunchBox's platform details view
• Fixed: Corrected some visual issues when the LaunchBox Image View was set to be one column wide
• Fixed: In some cases LaunchBox wouldn't open on the same screen it was closed on
• Fixed: Steam metadata occasionally wasn't being returned in English
• Fixed: Some storefront import wizards were not updating the game selection counts correctly
• Fixed: The Big Box FlowImage control was incorrectly using Big Box settings to grab platform background images
• Fixed: Deleting an item from the list of media in the LaunchBox game details wasn't removing it from the list control
• Fixed: Potential issue in Big Box where it could not regain focus in some situations on touchscreen devices (such as the ROG Ally)

[kurzih]

Hi,

Where did the Old Default (Legacy) Theme go? It's included in the changelog, but somehow vanished from Launchbox:

Visually I still prefer non-rounded uncropped corners for boxes, which is for default themes only available from the very first (legacy) one. 

+ other more practical functions which I prefer in the legacy one (mostly using LB for editing stuff, and BB for playing) - like where is the "ADD" button in the new theme, without the need to open the menu with right-click?

Edited July 25, 2023 by kurzih

[neil9000]

1 hour ago, kurzih said:

Hi,

Where did the Old Default (Legacy) Theme go? It's included in the changelog, but somehow vanished from Launchbox:

Visually I still prefer non-rounded uncropped corners for boxes, which is for default themes only available from the very first (legacy) one. 

+ other more practical functions which I prefer in the legacy one (mostly using LB for editing stuff, and BB for playing) - like where is the "ADD" button in the new theme, without the need to open the menu with right-click?

It will be available in the in app theme downloader shortly, but it is considered legacy and will not be updated with new features going forward.

[impydave]

Another excellent update! but I have to say I'm sticking with the old default theme. Not really a fan of the new default sadly, really don't like the Game Details tab, the game title is way too large, possibly would look better centered, also the massive "play" button just doesn't look right at all.

[rawride]

excellent

[C-Beats]

4 hours ago, kurzih said:

like where is the "ADD" button in the new theme, without the need to open the menu with right-click?

Can just press CTRL+N and skip the UI entirely

[neil9000]

33 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

Can just press CTRL+N and skip the UI entirely

Or drag & drop, i have never used the add game button in the 7 years i have used Launchbox.

[KingSlayer420]

46 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

Or drag & drop, i have never used the add game button in the 7 years i have used Launchbox.

Me either! I didn't even know it was there. I always use drag and drop method.

[Sargon]

There seems to be a problem with spacing on the new theme.  There is extra space being left underneath the game text.  I have show badges unchecked, but it looks like there is still empty space being left for "something".

[Orionsangel]

Hi, so the new layout looks cool, but where is the option to see box art in full screen? The magnifying glass with the plus in the middle is gone in the new default? I love that feature. I had to return to the old default.
 

[Rlad]

2 hours ago, Orionsangel said:

Hi, so the new layout looks cool, but where is the option to see box art in full screen? The magnifying glass with the plus in the middle is gone in the new default? I love that feature. I had to return to the old default.
 

Hover over the clear logo/fanart top of game details column, a 'view in fullscreen' button will appear.

[Orionsangel]

Nothing is happening. I shouldn't have to leave the box art area to see the fullscreen image. It was more convenient before.

Edited July 26, 2023 by Orionsangel

[BiRaitBec]

Hello there, here cause this time i didn't participate in the beta, and just had time to test the new theme with the new release.

I have to be honest and i switched back to the previous one, i find the new one very underwhelming in terms of design and also in terms of available editing, especially the game details and the box art spacing.

You have added much more variations than before, whilst not adding any new editable element. Like why could we not decide to have badges vertical like before instead of forcing it down? or why can't we rule the game details new elements like the original elements? If i don't want to see the play and install button, why not giving  the option to turn it off like any other option in the game details. Also the groups feels a bit of a waste in terms of space. I mean, i can see people scrolling with their thumbs on a 6 inch screen being ok for it, however scrolling all the way on pc is a bit more tedious than before for no real added new information or relevant thing.

Also why the clear logo title background picks from the screenshots? It is a bad idea because you never know which screenshots are taken and they end up more often than not just pairing badly with the clear logo itself.

Also on the steam and epic importers, why all my libraries are taken into account, even games i received for free and do not really play ever, i would much more prefer if there was an option to only import actually downloaded games, and not unavailable  ones.

I much enjoy the notification system being done inside Launchbox, instead of windows annoying pop up, and i also like the one column fix which in my case happened often and really happy now it is resolved.

Hope to see the theme way more developed, and that more options to edit even the new elements introduced are being added.

[BiRaitBec]

These are same settings, yet the new theme seems to not respect the parameters, the spacing is too off, and should even be less than the old one because of the missing badge column, the text on Battle of Olympus game in the original is there and looks neat, while on the new one there is no text. The game details as you can see doesn't say anything relevant and it even takes more space. I understand we have the old theme option always so it's not of course a concern for me cause i like the old one with the QoL improvements you made, just suggestions to make the new theme overall more appealing. 

Thanks again for the work you do in every update.

 

   

[OdinsPlayground]

Great update! Regarding the new theme, I would love to be able to see Game Title on selected game, without having to enable it on all games and without having to use the game details bar. I have a lot of Japanese games on various platforms, and now I can't see the title on them without enabling those other features which clutter the design (in my view). I know you can hover games, but definitely think it's just easier to have the name visible below while it's selected. 

[SolarisSpell]

Hello, "good news, everyone"

Thanks for the great work. The updates and constant improvement of Launchbox are appreciated. I love how this new theme is coming along. It's like a hybrid of Default with Big Details.

To the comments that have been made, I wanted to add asking if we can have ways to configure to adjust the theme to our liking. With so many different users, we each give value to different parameters, so making something perfect for everyone I understand is impossible, but at least we can make adjustments to adapt it to what we are looking for.

I don't know how to program and the times I try to make modifications I end up going crazy until I get something (and then there is an update and it erases everything I did XD).

For example, what do I modify to adjust the carousel? In games I like to have the video and images, but in the platform I don't need it, so I would want to remove it in the platform and give more size to the 'most played', 'last played' and 'random' boxes which are buttons that I love and I would want to put them vertically occupying all the space gained from removing the carousel. 

In the details of the game I give value to time and now that information is not seen if you don't scroll (maybe with a bigger resolution you see the information differently, but I only see up to the play button and two more lines). If I could remove the title text from above the carousel I could gain space. Maybe even if I make the top box with the logo smaller I could get all the information up to the manual and it would be great.

I understand that we can not be asking for custom settings for each one, so I think it would be nice if you could give us customization guidelines for those who do not know how to program.

Thanks

[kurzih]

3 hours ago, SolarisSpell said:

To the comments that have been made, I wanted to add asking if we can have ways to configure to adjust the theme to our liking. With so many different users, we each give value to different parameters, so making something perfect for everyone I understand is impossible, but at least we can make adjustments to adapt it to what we are looking for.

I completely agree with that and that would be a perfect solution, but I guess quite hard to do the code behind it. a Simple GUI Theme editor without any visual studio coding knowledge based of the current Default theme to tweak it as you would prefer (for me I'd first get rid of most of the curvatures, especially on the cover images) or perhaps a more realistic approach would be to add "advanced" settings in Launchbox's Main Window Theme involving theme visuals/elements in the options menu. There are a ton of options already available, but it looks like there is some demand for even more.

[SolarisSpell]

1 hour ago, kurzih said:

I completely agree with that and that would be a perfect solution, but I guess quite hard to do the code behind it. a Simple GUI Theme editor without any visual studio coding knowledge based of the current Default theme to tweak it as you would prefer (for me I'd first get rid of most of the curvatures, especially on the cover images) or perhaps a more realistic approach would be to add "advanced" settings in Launchbox's Main Window Theme involving theme visuals/elements in the options menu. There are a ton of options already available, but it looks like there is some demand for even more.

I try to modify parts of the code, or modify numbers to try to adjust it, but I can't get it to work. Sometimes it seems like changing something doesn't do anything, so I don't know what I'm modifying or what I should be modifying.

In my case, I have managed to remove the carousel image in the platform details (now you only see the small image to select). But I've been trying for hours to make the last played, most played and random buttons appear vertically and it's impossible. I can't get anything to work.

 

For your case, I've tried going to BoxesContentView and have changed  

<Border Height="{Binding ActualHeight, ElementName=ContentImage}" Width="{Binding ActualWidth, ElementName=ContentImage}" Background="#2A2B34" BorderThickness="0" CornerRadius="10"/>

After setting that CornerRadius to 0 now game boxes are not rounded. Does that help?

Edited July 26, 2023 by SolarisSpell

[kurzih]

22 hours ago, SolarisSpell said:

I try to modify parts of the code, or modify numbers to try to adjust it, but I can't get it to work. Sometimes it seems like changing something doesn't do anything, so I don't know what I'm modifying or what I should be modifying.

In my case, I have managed to remove the carousel image in the platform details (now you only see the small image to select). But I've been trying for hours to make the last played, most played and random buttons appear vertically and it's impossible. I can't get anything to work.

 

For your case, I've tried going to BoxesContentView and have changed  

<Border Height="{Binding ActualHeight, ElementName=ContentImage}" Width="{Binding ActualWidth, ElementName=ContentImage}" Background="#2A2B34" BorderThickness="0" CornerRadius="10"/>

After setting that CornerRadius to 0 now game boxes are not rounded. Does that help?

Yes, that made a significant difference, thank you!

[knapman]

New theme seems nice, i'll probably swap to default and enjoy some of the new UI additions. The only thing standing out to me at the moment is the dynamic scaling of elements in the details bar, I like a large game video preview but the title and play button get huge, personally i'd like to clamp the max size of those elements.

Poked around and made some edits, it does feel like the those elements were a bit disproportionate compared to the rest of the UI in this arrangement, a before and after.

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by knapman