Why is Launchbox so slow?

[izzishor]

10 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

In the same menu that you clear image cache there is a menu item to build the image cache so you wouldn't need to do this step. It does take some time as it generates all cache images for all the games in your setup, but would be a safer way of doing that then the AHK script.

I press that as well, I ommited to write that. I do press it, however it starts 'loading' and then after 10-15 minutes the progress bar disappears and it doesn't seem it's caching anymore (because my CPU fans and it SSD activity becomes idle) then I turn on the script and start the scrolling :))) ty for the answers.

[C-Beats]

5 minutes ago, izzishor said:

I press that as well, I ommited to write that. I do press it, however it starts 'loading' and then after 10-15 minutes the progress bar disappears and it doesn't seem it's caching anymore (because my CPU fans and it SSD activity becomes idle) then I turn on the script and start the scrolling :))) ty for the answers.

I'd turn on debug logging (via LaunchBox) and try it again, then take a look at the logs and see if there are errors in there that may explain what is going on. I've not heard any reports of that tool not working before (and it hasn't been touched in all the time I've been on the project) so I'd be curious as to why you are seeing that issue.

[Nixx]

For me the annoying thing about bigbox is that info don't load when you are browsing, only once in 'selected' mode after like 3 seconds on a game.
I fixed it on a theme with the community editor like this : 

 

 

Basically, if you want something to show up while browsing, you have to change it's update mode like this on the community editor :

The image can also slow down your browsing, in my case, i show two images while browsing, the clear logo and a box art.
The clear logo is compressed in cache, so it's not a problem if you use it. I had to modify manually the code xaml code of the view generated by the theme creator to use them though.

For the box image, it was more complicated, i ended up making a plugin that make a compressed & shrinked version of all my box image and save them as Uplay thumbnail (i don't use Uplay). And then, i put them as priority like this : 

That way, i keep the original images files without tampering them.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Nixx

[charchar]

Maybe it helps others so I’ll write the fix for me here.  I had terrible stuttering and menu lag in both LB and BB. No load time issues just awful menu navigating. I was darn close to moving to another front end.  Tried everything including using NO MEDIA whatsoever. Still menu lag. Then I made a change that I had ignored previously because others had indicated it would help boot time which wasn’t my problem. Anyway, I unchecked all the auto-populate playlist boxes which I had used to populate a couple dozen custom playlists previously. Completely changed everything. BB is snappy now even with videos running.  Zero stutter.   LB is mostly better too but generally not as responsive as BB.  

I don’t understand why this works unless the playlists are constantly refreshing but it worked.  Hope it helps you too. 
 

Edited May 19 by charchar

[charchar]

Well this is unfortunate but after a couple of weeks of smooth operation, the stutters have returned. It’s not about playlists this time as I’ve removed all of them during debugging.  Other debugging includes going full text/list view with no game details. No graphics to load at all and still the game list stutters. So it can’t be slow access to graphics. And it can’t be playlists.  I’ve removed all controllers. The system is strong enough to run AAA titles on steam without issue so it’s not that.
 

IDK what else to try.  I may have to punt LB BB after all this work. 

[charchar]

So I figured it out. It’s definitely a pitfall people here should consider but the fix might be outside LB. I use Pixelcade with ledblinky integration. Lesblinky sends marquee image requests to Pixelcade as the front end game list scrolls. 
 

My Pixelcade is on its own power switch. Power on and everything works well. If I power it down (as common when building instead of playing) then menu navigation in LB/BB stutters. I assume due to a failure/retry upstream as the marquee selected per game cannot be delivered. It’s binary and 100% reproducible. 
 

I’m thinking that the fix needs to come from Pixelcade or the way Ledblinky is integrated with it. But if you use this combo as well, don’t fall into the trap I did.  

[Pademonium bac]

I'm really not a textbook case here 🤣
The software is already well known for its display delays and I often get teased when I show my prods to my colleagues at retrobat who have performances well above mine! An example here where bob morane regularly does performance tests!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEueRzE4sGg

It's quite edifying
It must be said that I don't spare any means to enhance my collections: 2k background / Video transitions
If I can give you 1 or 2 pieces of advice, even though the users here are all well versed, I'm not sure I'll be able to teach you much, but I'll go for it

The 1st thing, and I won't teach you anything, is that it's night and day between a samsung m2 ssd and a sata disk. It changes your life, and following the example of developers who almost impose an ssd for all AA titles today, it's almost become compulsory for a launchbox player, as the gain in fps is so significant.

Secondly, as you know, the more media you have, the heavier the overall target, so choose your media carefully! For my part, it's a clear logo/a video and a 3d box, no more (and that's already a lot). When I create my box I immediately uncheck all the superfluous folders which I feel polish the whole (amazon files, epic etc) in order to make something clean.
I also uncheck all solicitations that could have an impact on performance: game suggestions, mame score, user note updates, etc.
I remove all transitions (fade etc)
and finally I use iobit advanced system care coupled with an accelerator and an app that simulates predefined overclocking.

 thirdly: try as far as possible to put everything in the game and media root. if you have your launchbox and your games on a separate disk it will slow down your overall experience enormously! it seems logical but it's important to remember

Edited September 4 by Pademonium bac

[Pademonium bac]

It made me want to do a " Crash Test on NB "

( Principle of the crash we test the frontend's ability to adapt and we mistreat it ^^ so we scroll and we see how it reacts)

Just for fun and laughter!

Well I'm surprised and pleasantly surprised! (I wasn't even on an SSD) given what I have behind in background + media and metadata and animation

it's even very good! Not perfect but there is a big window to improve all that  

Once again I am far from being an optimization model.

4 minutes of torture for my launchbox :