Game pictures not showing and other questions

[Vlahka]

So I'm super new at this and all these options in the program confuse me some.    My first issue for the moment is some games dont show an icon.  You can from the picture I've attached that it just comes up as grey, but on the right side it has its info and screenshots.   How do I make it show a picture there?

Another question is I've seen videos where the picture on the right side of the screen is a video of the game playing, like a vertical shooter etc so you can get an idea of what it looks like.   Is there an option to enable this or is it in a different theme view?

I was also wanting to make this launchbox portable.  I've seen where you can copy the roms to the folder and it should be fine, but when I tried that earlier all my games seemed to vanish.  So I was wondering how do I do this properly.

I've also seen an option to scan new roms you place into the folder.  Something about merge sets of MAME games give issues or something to add new games in?  I'm sorry if my questions sound like I have no idea what I'm talking about.  Thats mainly because I really am confused from trying to figure out how to fix things.

Thanks heaps for any help.

[JoeViking245]

1 hour ago, Vlahka said:

My first issue for the moment is some games dont show an icon. 

That game isn't showing an 'image' because your selected Image Group is Boxes and that game doesn't have a "Box" image.  [Appears to have only Screenshots].

To have it show a screenshot when no box images are available, go to Tools, Options, Media, Box Front Priorities.  Scroll down and check one or more of the Screenshot options.  You can also Move the currently selected item up or down to set its priority.  It looks like you have a Screenshot - Title and 2 Screenshot - Gameplay images.  If you'd prefer to have the Gameplay image show (if a Box - Front image doesn't exist), Move that item Up, so that it's above Screenshot - Title.

 

1 hour ago, Vlahka said:

Is there an option to enable this or is it in a different theme view?

Most, if not all LaunchBox Themes have videos on by default.  The easiest way to get videos is via EmuMovies.  Once you have an account there, (in LaunchBox)  enter your credentials under Tools, Options, Integrations, EmuMovies.  Then when you go to download media for a game or platform, there'll be a tab for EmuMovies in which you can check a box for which video type you want.

 

 

2 hours ago, Vlahka said:

I was also wanting to make this launchbox portable.  I've seen where you can copy the roms to the folder and it should be fine, but when I tried that earlier all my games seemed to vanish. 

Can you give more details about "all my games seemed to vanish"?  If you copy files from one place to another, they should be in the 'another' location.

[Vlahka]

Thanks for the reply.  I found that screenshot option you mentioned.  Irt wasnt doing anything at first till I read that the option is only premium.  Luckily I had the file but was too slack to put it in till now.  I've checked the screenshot option and moved it up.  That seems to be working fine after refreshing.  Weirdly theres one title that seems to have populated itself about 30 times.  Only one to do it.  When I tried to delete them it gave the message  "Games cannot be deleted from automatically populated playlists."..  How do I work around this?

I think my issue with games vanishing just became a little more clearer with your question.  The 'another location' part.  Where do I find the options that tell the program where to look for roms?

Oh quick question about region priorities.  I have it set to US but I was wondering now if I should be checking europe and japan as well.   I see it says it prioritizes imports and images.  Does this mean japanese games wont appear if I dont have this checked?  Or if theres a japanese game it wont have images since its a different  region picture?

[JoeViking245]

19 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

Weirdly theres one title that seems to have populated itself about 30 times.  Only one to do it.  When I tried to delete them it gave the message  "Games cannot be deleted from automatically populated playlists."..  How do I work around this?

I think the question is, what are your parameters for the Playlist that's making the one game appear 'about 30 times'?  (30 seems like a lot)  Actually, it still shouldn't put the same game on there more than once.  Right click the playlist and see what the Auto-Populate Field/Comparison/Values are.  If it's not confined to one platform, you might be seeing the same game Title that's available under various platforms.

Depending on what your playlist is and how you want your setup to be, if the games you have in that playlist NOW are the only games that you want in there (that is, you don't want LB to automatically add more games as you import them into LaunchBox that meet the criteria of the auto-populate feature for that playlist), when editing that playlist, look in the Games tab and you should see a list of games.  Now click in the Auto-Populate tab, un-check Auto-Populate this Playlist, then click OK.  Now you should be able to remove the games from the playlist as you attempted before.

 

 

38 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

I think my issue with games vanishing just became a little more clearer with your question.  The 'another location' part.  Where do I find the options that tell the program where to look for roms?

By "the program", I assume you mean LaunchBox.  Which leads me to believe "the games seem to vanish" means, after moving your LaunchBox folder to another location and attempting to launch a game, you get a message something like "Unavailable" or 'can't find ROM'. 

The easiest way to alleviate this (in the future) is to place your ROMs inside the LaunchBox folder structure and import from there.  i.e.  /LaunchBox/Games/Arcade/allTheRoms.zip   Then when moving LaunchBox around, the ROMs stay in tact.

In your case, the easiest fix (assuming the games are somewhere to-be-found) is to select the platform in question (on the left panel, and make sure you're in platform view [not playlist]), then click once on one of the games, then press Ctrl+A (to select all games).  Now click Tools, File Management, and select Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games....  Follow the prompts to point to where your ROMs are located for that platform.  You'll need to do that for each platform, individually.

The alternate to that is to, after selecting all games, press Delete on the keyboard.  Select yes to remove the GAMES from LaunchBox, but if asked to delete the ROMs or the METADATA and MEDIA, select NO.  Now reimport the games from the 'another location' (or wherever you laid them to rest).  During the (re)import process, do NOT have it import any images.  Metadata, ya.  When all is said and done, you should be seeing all the same images you had from before.  If not, select View, Media, Refresh All Images.  If you still don't see them, then chances are you didn't select NO.   

 

1 hour ago, Vlahka said:

region priorities.  I have it set to US but I was wondering now if I should be checking europe and japan as well.   I see it says it prioritizes imports and images.  Does this mean japanese games wont appear if I dont have this checked?  Or if theres a japanese game it wont have images since its a different  region picture?

If you have just "US" checked, if the Import Wizard comes across a game (ROM) that doesn't have a US version, it'll import whatever other version it 1st comes across.  If you check all 3 in the order you listed them, if there isn't a US version, it'll look for a Europe version. Then if there isn't a Europe version, it'll look for a Japan version.  Then... if there isn't a Japan version, it'll grab whatever version is left.  Most likely the image downloads does the same thing-ish.  It's not going to not-give you an image (assuming one's available for any region).

[Vlahka]

Really appreciate all the help you're giving me Joe.  Some things make much more sense now.  Especially with the importing of roms.  I always thought there was an option to check that would pull roms from a different drive/folder and into the Launchbox installation.  It could have been a fever dream since that option doesnt seem to exist.  I'll keep in mind to move first and scan second from now on.

With that game I mentioned that pops up 30 times or so, I definitely made sure to select options for it not to duplicate and such.  I looked at it more and it is confusing as while the name is very slightly different, the sizes are exactly the same so I'm not sure why its populated so many.  It seems to be a file called pex#### with a bunch of different numbers after.  Looks to be some poker game.  When I try to delete a game in the listing of launchbox it deletes fine.   Just this one doesnt.  I even deleted the roms from the folder and rescanned and it still seemed to populate.  The game is called Players Edge plus and I've noticed theres a little more than 30.  Probably 100 lol.  I've attached a screenshot.  I only let the system scan the casino games in case there was that 1 or 2 unique games that are worth checking out so I dont have any issue with losing these.

One side question, the mame pack I downloaded had almost 15k files in it.  I know some are duplicates or new revisions etc, but after scanning theres only about 3700ish titles.  It feels like thats a small number for an arcade that stretches back a few decades.  So I was wondering how can I tell if and why some didnt scan?  I remember an option that said not to show broken games, but also one that said not to show games that need CHD in order to work.  Now I didnt put any CHD files in because I didnt want my arcade folder taking up 200-300gb on its own.  But as someone who knows nothing about this sort of thing, am I losing out on titles by not putting those files in?  From what I read they were just a different uncompressed version or something.

I do recall one time last year when I came across Launchbox and started to do a few tests, that one amiga game wouldnt import but I could load it manually with an emulator.  So it made made me curious if this sort of thing would happen, like with this 14k file mame archive.  Wish I could remember what that title was.  I am planning to rescan all the systems I want again so if I come across this again I'll be able to mention it.  Hopefully you'll still be around to handhold me through more questions I expect to have as I go along.  Thanks heaps btw.

 

[JoeViking245]

22 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

I always thought there was an option to check that would pull roms from a different drive/folder and into the Launchbox installation.

You can store and import your ROMs from anywhere you want.  And when you Choose Tools - Import - ROMs, you have the option to select file(s) or folder(s) to import (import from).   When ROMs are imported, their paths_to_the_ROM are typically stored as a relative path (vs absolute).  So if you have them inside the LaunchBox folder structure, their paths will be relative to /LaunchBox/.  If you store LB on an external (portable) E: drive, carry that drive to another computer that sees it as the G: drive, E and G are irrelevant because of the relative paths.

For importing Arcade (MAME ROMs), you want to use Tools - Import - MAME Arcade Full Set.  MAME is a unique animal from all other emulators.  Which based on the options you mentioned, that's what you used.  

 

42 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

I even deleted the roms from the folder and rescanned and it still seemed to populate. 

I presume 'San for added [removed] ROMs'.  MAME is a unique animal, and because of that scanning for added/removed ROMs [in Arcade] is not advised.  For Arcade, don't use the scan.  Stick with the Full Set Import Wizard.

For the Player's Edge Plus series of Casino games, there are 608 of them (245 are parents, the rest are clones).  My advice, don't include Casino games when importing.  Maybe add a couple of the working ones manually, sometime down the road.

 

 

1 hour ago, Vlahka said:

One side question, the mame pack I downloaded had almost 15k files in it.  I know some are duplicates or new revisions etc, but after scanning theres only about 3700ish titles.  It feels like thats a small number for an arcade that stretches back a few decades. 

With only 15K files, that's either just a partial set or more likely a Merged set.  My Non-Merged set has 40.6K files.  Keep in mind these files also include Device files, System files and BIOS files.  Which aren't 'games'.  

If you filter ONLY Arcade machines (no casino crap etc.) and games that are considered 'working' and 'imperfect' (they work, or pretty dang close-to-it) and remove all clones, you're looking at just over 3.1K games.  Same criteria with clones, 8.8K games.  

Regarding CHD's, only a handful of the 200+ Gig are considered working.   With 3700ish titles (minus Casino) already, you ain't missing too much.  

 

1 hour ago, Vlahka said:

I do recall one time last year when I came across Launchbox and started to do a few tests, that one amiga game wouldnt import but I could load it manually with an emulator.

Amiga is a part of MAME's Software Lists ["softlist"].  Softlists are a whole separate ROM set (as are CHD's) and require a different technique to import and run.  Softlists consist primarily of consoles (Atari 2600 etc.) and computers (Amiga etc.).  The Arcade Full Set Import Wizard won't import these because they're not Arcae machines.  At this point in your development, I suggest staying away from them (for the time being ).   

 

I recommend using the MAME Arcade Full Set Wizard and using the defaults (below).  Also check the box to skip CHD's.  You may also want to "Skip Clones Entirely".  As you evolve, you may learn that the clone of a particular game is "better" than the parent (for whatever reason) and you can change that 1 game at that time.

"Skip Clones Entirely" may be misleading.  (discussed previously, regarding region priorities.)

 

[Vlahka]

Yes you're correct, the set I'm using is a merged set .258 version.  I used the tools--import---rom files option to bring them into the launchbox program.  Going by your method of using full mame set import feature, will my library be any different if I leave it as is?  Like are there any issues I would be getting now compared to doing it the other way.  And if so should I delete the arcade imports I've done and rescan as full set?

I quickly went through the casino games and seen only 1 I'd want to keep.  So if I cancel out importing casino games, how would I go about adding a future title?  And I've noticed I have a section here called CHD Required.  None of these games want to load.  If I was to grab just these specific CHD roms, how would I scan them in?  Or should I put the select chd files into the folder my merged set of mame roms are in and import mame set?

Regarding screenshots for games, I've populated almost all of them but theres a small handful that look like this... how would you suggest I fix this?

 

 

[JoeViking245]

I'm not sure what'll happen if you import over your existing platform.  It may or may not remove all the Casino shtuff.  But it would give you a clean 'starting point' if you did remove the existing platform and use the MAME import Wizard.

 

19 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

I quickly went through the casino games and seen only 1 I'd want to keep.  So if I cancel out importing casino games, how would I go about adding a future title?

Make note of the File (ROM filename).  i.e. pex2150.zip.  After you're done with the 'proper' import...

Tools - Import - ROM Files.  Select "Add Files".  Navigate to and select pex2150.zip.  When you get to the "How would you like to import..." screen, uncheck "Skip casino games".  On the last screen before clicking Finish, you should see

 

33 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

If I was to grab just these specific CHD roms, how would I scan them in?

If done correctly, the CHD will be in a folder named after the games 'short name'.  i.e .  Game: "Big Buck Hunter Call of the Wild".  The CHD should be "BBHCOTW_V3.02.05_CF.CHD" and the [short name] folder it's in should be "bbhcotw".  Place that folder in with your MAME ROMs.  Follow the same steps as above, this time looking for the file "bbhcotw.zip" (it should already exist in with your MAME ROMs) and make sure Skip CHDs in unchecked.  Side note: This particular game will also require the BIOS file "iteagle.zip" which should exist in with your MAME ROMs as well.  You don't need to do anything with it.

 

47 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

Regarding screenshots for games, I've populated almost all of them but theres a small handful that look like this... how would you suggest I fix this?

The highlighted game is a handheld game.  Which if using the Full Set importer, you'd only get if you uncheck "skip non-arcade games".  Play it once, decide "well, that's kind of dumb', and don't uncheck "skip non-arcade games".  

But to answer your question, Edit the game, if it doesn't have a LBDB ID#, click Search... and select (in this example) the Game & Watch game it lists.

Now on the left, go to Media - Images.  And in the bottom right, click Download Media.

[Vlahka]

I decided to delete all my entries in launchbox and restart.  The first thing it wanted me to do was choose something to install so I went with the mame full set.  I selected to skip clones, skip casino games, and this time keep non arcade games..  This time it found 5000 titles instead of 3700.  I've noticed a few strange things though.  There are more duplicate titles showing up.  Not like heaps of anything, but every page or two scrolling will show a couple.  Usually its like a japanese and a US version of the game, something that makes sense.  But still confusing to see when it didnt do that before.  I can easily just delete them manually as I go so no huge issue.  But there are some other weird things like an entry showing a gameboy.  When I load it up its just the gameboy scree, not a game at all.  I'm not sure why things like this would show up but theres a few there.  Again I can manually remove them.

What really surprised me though are the casino games are still listed.  I dont know if it looked into the image folder and decided the games are there too or something.  But I deleted all the plex files too so they wouldnt get scanned but they are still listed.  Also Arcade seems to be shown 3 times now in this screenshot. Is this a normal thing?

 

 

 

[JoeViking245]

10 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

But there are some other weird things like an entry showing a gameboy.

GameBoy is part of the Soflists.  But there is a System File for it in your non-merged set. Just no game ROMs.  This would be considered one of non-arcade games you decided to allow importing.

 

14 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

What really surprised me though are the casino games are still listed.  I dont know if it looked into the image folder and decided the games are there too or something.  But I deleted all the plex files too so they wouldnt get scanned but they are still listed. 

When using the Full set Import Wizard, it will check that you have 'what appears to be' a full set (when you select the folder).  But when adding the games, it doesn't look at your physical files.  It goes off what your-version-of-MAME tells it are all-the-files, then removes 'whatever' from being imported based on the filters you choose.  Thus a Full Set Importer.  Not 'Import Only the ROMs I Have'.  Did I mention that MAME is a unique animal?

 

 

22 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

Also Arcade seems to be shown 3 times now in this screenshot. Is this a normal thing?

You're in Platform Category view.  If you switch to Platform view, it'll only appear once.

What you have is an Arcade Platform (1st and 3rd one) and an Arcade Category (middle one).  Right-click one of the Platform ones and select edit.  Go to the Parents tab and uncheck "Root".  Now when in Platform Category view, you'll see the Arcade Category  and inside of it will be the Platform  (along with all the playlists).

[Vlahka]

Thankfully the casino ones and the pex files delete now so I can fix everything in my own time.  Two questions, one simple one scary...  With the game and watch games they dont look complete.  Like backgrounds missing etc.  A while back I spent time and gathered all the panels and stuff so the games look exactly like the handheld version.  I know how to make them work if I'm using MAME, but where do I put these folders/pictures when using launchbox?

So my scary question, I did the root check like you said and now it wont open.  The little window pops up saying 'loading interface', and then it just shuts down.  I've checked its not already running in the background but it seems to be broken.  Whats a quick fix for this?

Edited November 5, 2023 by Vlahka

[JoeViking245]

2 hours ago, Vlahka said:

With the game and watch games they dont look complete.  Like backgrounds missing etc.  A while back I spent time and gathered all the panels and stuff so the games look exactly like the handheld version.  I know how to make them work if I'm using MAME, but where do I put these folders/pictures when using launchbox?

I'm going to pass the buck on this one.  Search the forum.  ("game & watch" and/or "game and watch").  

 

2 hours ago, Vlahka said:

I did the root check like you said and now it wont open.  The little window pops up saying 'loading interface', and then it just shuts down.  I've checked its not already running in the background but it seems to be broken.  Whats a quick fix for this?

"The little window"?  As in you unchecked the Root box in the Parents tab.  Click OK to close the Edit Platform window. Exited LaunchBox.  Restarted LaunchBox (after waiting a little).  And the loading window that says "Loading Interface..."  ...  that window?

If it's a different 'little window', exit LB, wait a minute-ish, restart LB. 

[Retro808]

2 hours ago, Vlahka said:

Thankfully the casino ones and the pex files delete now so I can fix everything in my own time.  Two questions, one simple one scary...  With the game and watch games they dont look complete.  Like backgrounds missing etc.  A while back I spent time and gathered all the panels and stuff so the games look exactly like the handheld version.  I know how to make them work if I'm using MAME, but where do I put these folders/pictures when using launchbox?

 for this?

The game artwork for Game & Watch goes in your Mame's \artwork folder where you have Mame.exe located. So if you have the mame emulator files located in a \Mame folder the artwork goes \Mame\artwork. Each game should have its own folder of image data. 

Example: Game & Watch Ball files would be located in \Mame\artwork\gnw_ball\[All image and lay files]

You just need to make sure Mame knows to use them when you launch the game. LB has nothing to do with those files. If they are not showing when you launch a game hit "Tab" on your keyboard and then in the "video options" make sure to select the proper view (see image below). Depending on how many images you have and how the lay file is set up you may have multiple options. 

[Vlahka]

Thanks retro, it should be easy for me to get that working then.

 

As for launchbox, this is the window I get while its launching and then just closes itself.  It doesnt go passed this point.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Vlahka

[Vlahka]

Ok issue fixed..  I went into the backup folder and copied one of the slightly older ones into the data folder and overwrote whatever I broke.  Working for now.  Lets see how long till I break something again.

[JoeViking245]

5 hours ago, Vlahka said:

Ok issue fixed..  I went into the backup folder and copied one of the slightly older ones into the data folder and overwrote whatever I broke.  Working for now.  Lets see how long till I break something again.

Glad you found the backups!  Unchecking Root for the Arcade platform wouldn't cause any issues (that's how mine is).  Unless you also unchecked the box for the Arcade platform category.  Even then, that'd just make it not appear at all when viewing Platform Categories.

[Vlahka]

I'm not confident in what I did do, but I think I'll be fine with leaving the extra arcade listing there

Question regarding backgrounds for games.  I'm sorting out the older Game and Watch games.  I've downloaded the custom artwork and placed them in the Mame folder.  When I launch them in launchbox I get the game as it should look, which is great.  But its just the screen and nothing else.  I recall playing with Mame a while back and I could choose to load it up in screen only or showing the whole front plate of the handheld with the screen, the dpad and buttons etc.  Launchbox seems to only do the game screen.  The art is in the files for the faceplate to show so I was wondering is there a way I can select how to load it up or am I fixed only with the screen and no faceplate option.

[Retro808]

23 minutes ago, Vlahka said:

I'm not confident in what I did do, but I think I'll be fine with leaving the extra arcade listing there

Question regarding backgrounds for games.  I'm sorting out the older Game and Watch games.  I've downloaded the custom artwork and placed them in the Mame folder.  When I launch them in launchbox I get the game as it should look, which is great.  But its just the screen and nothing else.  I recall playing with Mame a while back and I could choose to load it up in screen only or showing the whole front plate of the handheld with the screen, the dpad and buttons etc.  Launchbox seems to only do the game screen.  The art is in the files for the faceplate to show so I was wondering is there a way I can select how to load it up or am I fixed only with the screen and no faceplate option.

Did you do what I mentioned in my prior post? The last part of my posts says you have to launch a game and select the view to use the lay file/image. 

 

[Vlahka]

Oh yes sorry, I was so distracted with the crashing that I forgot.  Thats great thanks.I also have my files all zipped up and not in folders.  Seems to work so I'll leave it.

I've come across a few duplicates in my library listing.  Some games I can delete no problem, but theres some that give me the message -"Games cannot be deleted from automatically populated playlists.".  They wont delete.  Is there a way to quickly remove or hide these?

[JoeViking245]

This goes back to my 2nd post.  'Why is the playlist showing duplicates?' and 'Is it actually the same game, or from 2 separate platforms?'

In the end, you need to remove the duplicates from the platform they originate from.