13.9 Beta Thread

[faeran]

Hi everyone,

LaunchBox 13.9 beta 1 has been released with the following changes:

• New Premium Feature: Big Box Themes can now use their own custom background music
• Improvement: Chromium integration has been updated
• Improvement: Updated Epic Games SSO logic so log ins are not required as often
• Fixed: Corrected issues with the EA login screen appearing in the background on startup and when opening Manage Storefronts
• Fixed: The on-the-fly filter was not showing correct results for the Wheel/Yoke controller category
• Fixed: Steam notes weren't always being pulled correctly when scraping metadata
• Fixed: While moving the LaunchBox window it would sometimes hang when the progress bar was being displayed

 

Beta 2:

• New Feature: Big Box has a new view called Game Discovery Center, which allows you to discover your games in new ways. Access it through the system menu, or optionally make it your startup view
• Improvement: Added a View Additional Documents menu option to Game Details in Big Box
• Improvement: LaunchBox will now scroll the selected item into view when a side panel is hidden/unhidden
• Fixed: Epic Game Store re-authentication time-out period has been increased for slower internet connections
• Fixed: Issues with the Theme-specific Background Music (introduced in beta 1)

 

Beta 3:

• Improvement: Adjusted download timeout windows to help reduce download errors when grabbing media
• Improvement: The Fullset MAME Import Wizard is now more performant on lower end hardware
• Fixed: Rare dictionary error when using an Arrange By setting in LaunchBox's Grid View
• Fixed: Sidebar counts for genres with subgenres weren't being displayed correctly until clicked within LaunchBox (introduced in 13.8)
• Fixed: Various errors related to the automated import process
• Fixed: Corrected changes to the Additional App selection in Big Box (introduced in beta 2)

 

Beta 4:

• Improvement: A myriad of changes to the Game Discovery Center to make it even better, including video support
• Fixed: RetroAchievements API is back up and the existing functionality has been re-enabled within LaunchBox and Big Box
• Fixed: (No-SubGenre) Genre Sidebar filter now shows the correct counts in LaunchBox
• Fixed: Added more logic to help with those pesky Xbox auto-import errors
• Fixed: In the Big Box Default theme, the "View Game Details" text binding will no longer show if already in the Game Details menu

 

Beta 5:

• Improvement: The new Xbox login will now automatically attempt to re-authenticate you when your token has expired
• Fixed: Button mappings not working when navigating a manuals from the Pause Menu
• Fixed: Incorrect RetroAchievement header in LaunchBox's Default theme's expanded overlay
• Fixed: Crash caused in Big Box's Platform Categories section, when entering into a category using certain themes

 

Beta 6:

• Re-added the Achievement Profile input mappings in Big Box
• Reduced API calls when loading the RetroAchievement leaderboard
• Fixed: Rare crashes with the automatic storefront imports
• Fixed: A Game Discovery Center list issue when a user had not yet played a game
• Fixed: Game Discovery Center sometimes not displaying the next list until selected
• Fixed: Camera positioning of the wheel for some Big Box views
• Fixed: Navigation bug in Big Box's RetroAchievement profile when the user had no recent activity
• Fixed: When combining games, games imported from Amazon Games or Xbox import wizard didn't generate the correct additional application name

 

Thanks to everyone helping us test this release. It's always appreciated.

[C-Beats]

@Rlad Can you confirm this beta corrects the issue you've reported regarding the Wheel/Yoke controls in the on-the-fly filter not behaving correctly?

[Rlad]

44 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

@Rlad Can you confirm this beta corrects the issue you've reported regarding the Wheel/Yoke controls in the on-the-fly filter not behaving correctly?

Confirmed, Wheel/Yoke filter is now working, thanks. 👍

[Fursphere]

After upgrading from 13.8 to 13.9 Beta 1, I'm seeing a constant popup to install .NET Core.

Closing BigBox makes it go away.  I went ahead and installed it and it seems to have fixed the issue.  Guessing new requirement not included in the current installer package?  This was the specific package the notification pointed me at:  windowsdesktop-runtime-3.1.32-win-x64.exe

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Fursphere

[dbalcar]

On 10/18/2023 at 2:05 PM, Fursphere said:

After upgrading from 13.8 to 13.9 Beta 1, I'm seeing a constant popup to install .NET Core.

Closing BigBox makes it go away.  I went ahead and installed it and it seems to have fixed the issue.  Guessing new requirement not included in the current installer package?  This was the specific package the notification pointed me at:  windowsdesktop-runtime-3.1.32-win-x64.exe

saw that as well,  just install the .net and all good now.

 

I

[neil9000]

On 10/18/2023 at 7:05 PM, Fursphere said:

After upgrading from 13.8 to 13.9 Beta 1, I'm seeing a constant popup to install .NET Core.

Closing BigBox makes it go away.  I went ahead and installed it and it seems to have fixed the issue.  Guessing new requirement not included in the current installer package?  This was the specific package the notification pointed me at:  windowsdesktop-runtime-3.1.32-win-x64.exe

 

 

It will be related to this as your window says "browsersubservice".

On 10/18/2023 at 3:12 PM, faeran said:

Improvement: Chromium integration has been updated

 

[The Papaw]

Is there a switch to turn off the "scanning storefront libraries" when you start LB? 

[Retro808]

50 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

Is there a switch to turn off the "scanning storefront libraries" when you start LB? 

>Tools >Manage >Storefronts

Very first check box on that screen. 

[The Papaw]

4 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

>Tools >Manage >Storefronts

Very first check box on that screen. 

Thanks much @Retro808, you the man!

[rodww]

I've been getting this error when using the automatic storefront updates checkbox turned on, every time I launch LB since v13.8, and is still present in v13.9 beta 1.

 

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

App:     LaunchBox
Version: 13.9-beta-1
Theme:   Default
Type:    System.NullReferenceException
Site:    System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Processes.AutoImportGame] ScanForGames(Boolean ByRef)
Source:  LaunchBox

   at Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Desktop.Processes.Scanning.ScanForGames(Boolean& hasExpiredCredentials)
   at PoolRequest.ConnectSupportedInterceptor(Boolean& hasExpiredCredentials, PoolRequest )
   at LaunchBox.Definitions.MockSpecification.NewJmsSerializer(List`1& task)
   at MockTag.ConnectSupportedInterceptor(List`1& task, MockTag )
   at Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Desktop.ViewModels.MainViewModel.<>c.ChangeJmsState()
   at Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Threading.<>c__DisplayClass0_0.InterruptScopeHelper(Object )
   at Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Threading.<>c__DisplayClass0_0.CancelAspectReg()
   at System.Threading.Thread.StartHelper.Callback(Object state)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
--- End of stack trace from previous location ---
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Threading.Thread.StartCallback()

Recent Log:

   9:15:34 AM Exception

 

I've also reported the bug through the regular channels.   Unchecking the box seems to prevent the error for now.

Thanks,

Rod

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by rodww

[Fursphere]

On 10/21/2023 at 7:19 AM, neil9000 said:

It will be related to this as your window says "browsersubservice".

 

 

Makes sense.  I only saw it on one out of four installs.    Thanks.

[Retrogamer4423]

Hello. Since the last stable release, I have noticed that launchbox takes a very long time to boot. I wonder what could be the cause of this. Even though I am using 3500/3000 M2 ssd, it takes more than 10 seconds to boot.  In older versions, it didn't open this slow even on hdd. Is there any way to speed this up?

[C-Beats]

2 hours ago, Retrogamer4423 said:

Hello. Since the last stable release, I have noticed that launchbox takes a very long time to boot. I wonder what could be the cause of this. Even though I am using 3500/3000 M2 ssd, it takes more than 10 seconds to boot.  In older versions, it didn't open this slow even on hdd. Is there any way to speed this up?

Tools > Manage > Storefronts. Turn off automatic imports.

[Jabb3rJaw]

18 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

imports

Thanks for this! I will be trying this later today as my start up seemed to take a long time as well. 

[rodww]

1 hour ago, C-Beats said:

Tools > Manage > Storefronts. Turn off automatic imports.

Thanks, as mentioned in my note I was aware of the workaround to turn it off to fix which I have done, but wanted to report the issue.

[The Papaw]

I've noticed an odd behavior with LB / BB and 2 monitors.  All my startup and pause themes are defaulting to the monitor that I have BigBox set to use when launching a game even if launching from Launchbox.

For example, if BB is set to launch on monitor 2 all my startup and pause themes will use monitor 2, as they should.

if BB is set to launch on monitor 1 all my startup and pause themes will use monitor 1, as they should.

However, if I have BB to launch on monitor 2 and launch a game from LB on monitor 1, my startup and pause themes are still using monitor 2 rather than monitor 1

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by The Papaw

[Retrogamer4423]

I have launchbox 13.6 on my 4 terabyte hard disk. When browsing games in Launchbox, the game videos change smoothly on the info screen on the right side. However, on my 4 terabyte m2 ssd disk, launchbox 13.8 hangs while opening videos and freezes while browsing games. Launchbox opening is faster on 4 tb SSd m2, hdd is slower. But hdd 13.6 has faster response and video visual launch. By the way, I also keep game import settings such as steam, gog, epic, ea off from the showcases screen, but the latest version is still slow. My system is i7 13700KF, 32 gb 6000 mhz ddr5 Ram, Z790 motherboard and RTX 4070 12GB graphics card 

[Cadu]

1 hour ago, Retrogamer4423 said:

I have launchbox 13.6 on my 4 terabyte hard disk. When browsing games in Launchbox, the game videos change smoothly on the info screen on the right side. However, on my 4 terabyte m2 ssd disk, launchbox 13.8 hangs while opening videos and freezes while browsing games. Launchbox opening is faster on 4 tb SSd m2, hdd is slower. But hdd 13.6 has faster response and video visual launch. By the way, I also keep game import settings such as steam, gog, epic, ea off from the showcases screen, but the latest version is still slow. My system is i7 13700KF, 32 gb 6000 mhz ddr5 Ram, Z790 motherboard and RTX 4070 12GB graphics card 

This behaviour is exactly what I reported in this ticket
https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox/issues/8124/video-playback-in-launchbox-details-bar

[Retrogamer4423]

I found out that the problem is caused by the launchbox default theme. When I switch to different themes, video and image transitions are faster. I think the default theme completely refreshes the game info screen every time I change the game. This causes the lag. In short, the problem is not with the launchbox but with the way the theme works. Default theme game info screen should be edited.

[neil9000]

5 hours ago, Retrogamer4423 said:

I found out that the problem is caused by the launchbox default theme. When I switch to different themes, video and image transitions are faster. I think the default theme completely refreshes the game info screen every time I change the game. This causes the lag. In short, the problem is not with the launchbox but with the way the theme works. Default theme game info screen should be edited.

That's not a bug, it's by design and intended to act that way. A dev will have to explain why, but there are very valid reasons for choosing this approach.