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LaunchBox for Android - 1.10 Beta Thread


faeran

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I'm starting a new beta thread for the latest LaunchBox for Android beta, and will handle beta release threads like this moving forward, matching what we do with our Windows beta threads.

This post is reserved for anyone willing to help us with LaunchBox for Android 1.10 beta releases. You can opt into the beta releases in the app by going into Options and enabling the Update to Beta Releases option. Then restart the app and follow the steps.

Beta 1 contains the following changes:

  • LaunchBox now remembers the last filter or platform you've used and selects it by default just like on the desktop; this works for all filter levels and platform categories (with an option available to disable)
  • A new option to whitelist file extensions has been added to the import process
  • Star ratings can now be set via the game menu
  • Added the following new emulators: Yuzu, Flycast
  • Improved the launching of the Yaba Sanshiro 2 and Yaba Sanshiro 2 Pro emulators
  • The theming engine has seen major improvements including a brand new animation engine, a new image control, and a host of new fixes and improvements; the LaunchBox\Themes\Documentation.pdf file has been updated, but in order to see it, first delete your current file then restart the app to have it replenish with the new version (you will not need to do this after the official release).
  • 10 custom themes by Faeran have been created or updated to take advantage of the new theme options (All but 1 have been released and are available in the app)
  • Improved performance across all views
  • Fixed a rare crash that could occur during imports and media downloads

 

Thanks to all who are willing to help us test our betas.

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Nice updates. For me the main pain point for this Android version is the emulator handling (the link to the Play Store version of Retroarch springs to mind since that version doesn't work on so many devices). For the sake of convenience it would be nice to grab the version of Retroarch you want from their site and check for updates for it as well. This might be an unrealistic ask, but it would save some end-user effort 😛 

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7 hours ago, snarfo67 said:

Nice updates. For me the main pain point for this Android version is the emulator handling (the link to the Play Store version of Retroarch springs to mind since that version doesn't work on so many devices). For the sake of convenience it would be nice to grab the version of Retroarch you want from their site and check for updates for it as well. This might be an unrealistic ask, but it would save some end-user effort 😛 

We are actually working on this. We'd like to get an auto-install RetroArch feature going (which would install the APK directly from the RetroArch site and skip Google Play).

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- duckstation doesn't work

- citra-nightly added the ability to launch games externally a few months ago, it works with all other launchers

- the option to add a custom emulator is unclear and does not take all the parameters. 

For example trying to add retroarch's scummvm core:

Name:
com.retroarch

Activity name:
com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture

Path Key:
-e LIBRETRO /data/data/com.retroarch/cores/scummvm_libretro_android.so -e CONFIGFILE /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.retroarch/files/retroarch.cfg -e ROM

It doesn't work, it launches retroarch, but doesn't load the rom, the config and the game

 

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Yeah, launching ROMs from Citra should be able to be implemented now as well which was another sticking point for me. Good point, Jessica. 

I'm not sure how kosher it is to mention other launchers, but I find the way Daijisho handles emulators (not to mention just being a great home screen replacement) is really slick. The only lack in Daijisho's functionality for me is that it has no portrait support. Since I got a telescopic controller, a stylus, and a 2023 model Lenovo Legion Y700 tablet (ETA Prime's video put me over the top on deciding to buy one) my portable emulation capabilities have gone through the roof. I'm either a) in need of a 12-step program or b) the coolest middle-aged guy in town now. Meh, it can be both.

Edited by snarfo67
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On 10/23/2023 at 7:36 PM, UnnUndrgrnd4114 said:

We appreciate the updates. Any chance you can add Vita3K?

 

 

Not a developer but Vita3K is the system I'm primarily interested in so I thought I'd provide what I've seen. There's a thread on Reddit saying that Vita3K poses some issues due to the UI being written in C++ and that the the game gets decompressed on install which causes issues with direct links. I've also done some testing with the Daijisho link below but wasn't successful. The dev's probably has this info already but just in case:

https://github.com/TapiocaFox/Daijishou/blob/main/docs/daijishou_player_template.md#vita3k

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Some beta feedback - Had a few random crashes using the wheel view but otherwise things have been fine. Been using Yuzu primarily and noticed that when exiting a game it brings me back to the Yuzu front end vs. Launchbox (not sure if anything can be done about that). But otherwise great progress

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On 10/23/2023 at 7:36 PM, UnnUndrgrnd4114 said:

We appreciate the updates. Any chance you can add Vita3K?

 

 

18 hours ago, cult said:

Not a developer but Vita3K is the system I'm primarily interested in so I thought I'd provide what I've seen. There's a thread on Reddit saying that Vita3K poses some issues due to the UI being written in C++ and that the the game gets decompressed on install which causes issues with direct links. I've also done some testing with the Daijisho link below but wasn't successful. The dev's probably has this info already but just in case:

https://github.com/TapiocaFox/Daijishou/blob/main/docs/daijishou_player_template.md#vita3k

We'd love to make this happen, but after investing a bunch of time into this emulator, there were a number of key factors that would stop this from happening. Cult lists out some of them in his post.

We'll definitely try again if anything significant happens with this emulator that could potentially solve them. If anyone knows a dev there, we'd love to talk to them to see if something can be done.

18 hours ago, cult said:

Some beta feedback - Had a few random crashes using the wheel view but otherwise things have been fine. Been using Yuzu primarily and noticed that when exiting a game it brings me back to the Yuzu front end vs. Launchbox (not sure if anything can be done about that). But otherwise great progress

Thanks for the feedback. Going back directly to LaunchBox usually requires the emulator itself to have some kind of exit hotkey or exit option. I haven't checked yuzu specifically, so you'd have to dig around their settings and see if they have one.

On 10/25/2023 at 11:44 PM, Jessica said:

- duckstation doesn't work

- citra-nightly added the ability to launch games externally a few months ago, it works with all other launchers

- the option to add a custom emulator is unclear and does not take all the parameters. 

For example trying to add retroarch's scummvm core:

Name:
com.retroarch

Activity name:
com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture

Path Key:
-e LIBRETRO /data/data/com.retroarch/cores/scummvm_libretro_android.so -e CONFIGFILE /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.retroarch/files/retroarch.cfg -e ROM

It doesn't work, it launches retroarch, but doesn't load the rom, the config and the game

 

On 10/26/2023 at 12:20 PM, snarfo67 said:

Yeah, launching ROMs from Citra should be able to be implemented now as well which was another sticking point for me. Good point, Jessica. 

I'm not sure how kosher it is to mention other launchers, but I find the way Daijisho handles emulators (not to mention just being a great home screen replacement) is really slick. The only lack in Daijisho's functionality for me is that it has no portrait support. Since I got a telescopic controller, a stylus, and a 2023 model Lenovo Legion Y700 tablet (ETA Prime's video put me over the top on deciding to buy one) my portable emulation capabilities have gone through the roof. I'm either a) in need of a 12-step program or b) the coolest middle-aged guy in town now. Meh, it can be both.

Thanks for the feedback. We will definitely look into some of this for future updates. We'd love to better support custom emulators and allow users more freedom with setting them up. For RetroArch in-particular, we'd just simply love to provide users a way to type in or somehow choose their own core that we may not have gotten around to adding yet. Good news about Citra, we have that on our list to take a look at.

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Feedback from Vita3K devs:

"I don't know all the specifics of it, but v8 introduced forwarders. I'm not sure if that functionality is exposed to frontends, though.
I feel like the best solution would simply be the devs coming here to talk...
Macdu is almost always open to constructive conversation
Instead of just "uh oh! Doesn't work! Guess we'll wait for something to happen!"
Like pls just come here we love contribs ❤️
that was a bit passive aggressive but the point is valid I think"

You are welcome to join them on the discord Vita3K Android channel :)

Edited by oyehia
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