Can Launchbox access roms located on an external USB key on Nvidia Shield ?

[Elhora]

Hi everyone

I'd like to know if it's possible (or if there is something special to do)  for Launchbox installed on an Nvidia Shield  (version 9.1.1  33.2.0.157) to look for games located on an external USB key ?

I've put all my roms there, i can see my usb key from within many application on my Shield, but not within Launchbox... that makes me perplex.

 

[Vader]

On 11/4/2023 at 5:20 PM, Elhora said:

Hi everyone

I'd like to know if it's possible (or if there is something special to do)  for Launchbox installed on an Nvidia Shield  (version 9.1.1  33.2.0.157) to look for games located on an external USB key ?

I've put all my roms there, i can see my usb key from within many application on my Shield, but not within Launchbox... that makes me perplex.

 

Yes, you can. Go to the hamburger menu, select "import games". From there, select "folder of games to import" and if the shield has picked up your usb drive correctly, you should see two folder paths on the "select this folder" screen. One of these paths should be to your usb drive. If your usb drive is not shown on the list, then you might have an issue with the drive itself, such as formatting etc.  Hope this helps.

[Elhora]

On 11/8/2023 at 10:35 PM, Vader said:

Yes, you can. Go to the hamburger menu, select "import games". From there, select "folder of games to import" and if the shield has picked up your usb drive correctly, you should see two folder paths on the "select this folder" screen. One of these paths should be to your usb drive. If your usb drive is not shown on the list, then you might have an issue with the drive itself, such as formatting etc.  Hope this helps.

What i mean is Launchbox doesn't see the USB Key.

The USB Key is seen by all my Shield emulators (Retroarch, msx.emu, Lemuroid, etc....) and programs (Kodi, File Manager, etc.)  but NOT by Launchbox. When i click on Import games, the only storage i see is the 16Go drive of the Shield, not my 128Go USB Key.

The Key has been formated on my Shield when i plugged it, and the ROMS have been put on it via network with FX Manager. It seems that just Launchbox doesn't see my USB Key

Edited November 13, 2023 by Elhora

[Vader]

2 hours ago, Elhora said:

What i mean is Launchbox doesn't see the USB Key.

The USB Key is seen by all my Shield emulators (Retroarch, msx.emu, Lemuroid, etc....) and programs (Kodi, File Manager, etc.)  but NOT by Launchbox. When i click on Import games, the only storage i see is the 16Go drive of the Shield, not my 128Go USB Key.

The Key has been formated on my Shield when i plugged it, and the ROMS have been put on it via network with FX Manager. It seems that just Launchbox doesn't see my USB Key

I know what you mean. It's possible that the issue is that launchbox does not recognize usb drives formatted by the shield. I have used drives formatted in windows and those have been recognized by launchbox on the shield. You might want to try that.

[Elhora]

17 hours ago, Vader said:

I know what you mean. It's possible that the issue is that launchbox does not recognize usb drives formatted by the shield. I have used drives formatted in windows and those have been recognized by launchbox on the shield. You might want to try that.

But when i plug an USB Key that i use on Windows, the Shield tells me that it must be formatted by the Shield to be used...

[skizzosjt]

2 hours ago, Elhora said:

But when i plug an USB Key that i use on Windows, the Shield tells me that it must be formatted by the Shield to be used...

what format are you formatting the USB drive to within Windows? if the shield is asking that when the device gets plugged in it is because you are using an incompatible format for the Shield

Shield's website says it can use FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, and HFS+ which would cover the vast majority of users.

however, I know diddly squat about android, so for all I know, the issue lies here.....

quick goggle suggests android devices can use FAT32, EXT4, EXT3, and exFAT

based on that, I would suggest using FAT32....exFAT being a distant 2nd choice. but it suggests NTFS would not work with android and that is the common format type for Windows now-a-days and potentially what you have been trying to use. don't use EXT4 and EXT3.....I don't know squat about them either, other than they are not going to be compatible between your devices.

It's actually kinda a pain in the ass to format as FAT32 in windows now-a-days since it's such an old/deprecated file system (windows 98 era if I'm not mistaken) and isn't an option given anymore on disks over 32GB.....which your 128GB is surely larger than that. you will need to make use of some 3rd party tool or maybe do some work-around tricks. Perhaps if you create a 32GB (or smaller) partition on the 128GB disk is will allow you to format it as FAT32. then you can expand the partition to the whole 128GB disk. just a theory, no idea if that would work or not. either way,  you likely formatted the 16GB one as FAT32 and everything works, but the 128GB one is likely NTFS and will work fine in Windows but will not work in the android ecosystem

[Vader]

59 minutes ago, skizzosjt said:

what format are you formatting the USB drive to within Windows? if the shield is asking that when the device gets plugged in it is because you are using an incompatible format for the Shield

Shield's website says it can use FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, and HFS+ which would cover the vast majority of users.

however, I know diddly squat about android, so for all I know, the issue lies here.....

quick goggle suggests android devices can use FAT32, EXT4, EXT3, and exFAT

based on that, I would suggest using FAT32....exFAT being a distant 2nd choice. but it suggests NTFS would not work with android and that is the common format type for Windows now-a-days and potentially what you have been trying to use. don't use EXT4 and EXT3.....I don't know squat about them either, other than they are not going to be compatible between your devices.

It's actually kinda a pain in the ass to format as FAT32 in windows now-a-days since it's such an old/deprecated file system (windows 98 era if I'm not mistaken) and isn't an option given anymore on disks over 32GB.....which your 128GB is surely larger than that. you will need to make use of some 3rd party tool or maybe do some work-around tricks. Perhaps if you create a 32GB (or smaller) partition on the 128GB disk is will allow you to format it as FAT32. then you can expand the partition to the whole 128GB disk. just a theory, no idea if that would work or not. either way,  you likely formatted the 16GB one as FAT32 and everything works, but the 128GB one is likely NTFS and will work fine in Windows but will not work in the android ecosystem

The usb drive I am testing with is a 500gb drive formatted in NTFS. My shield recognizes it, as is, without any modifications. I would recommend that you format your drive in exfat or NTFS. Below is a screenshot showing the drive being recognized by Launchbox on my shield. 

[skizzosjt]

1 hour ago, Vader said:

The usb drive I am testing with is a 500gb drive formatted in NTFS. My shield recognizes it, as is, without any modifications. I would recommend that you format your drive in exfat or NTFS. Below is a screenshot showing the drive being recognized by Launchbox on my shield. 

I think you meant to quote the OP rather than me

But, am I missing something here? we're in the Android section of the LB forums and everything I read says NTFS is not compatible with Android

if the OP was using LB/BB on Windows I would agree that NTFS certainly makes the most sense. But I do not understand the NTFS recommendation for use with Android? Yes, NTFS will work on the Nvidia Shield, but if a user is on an Android device when trying to access the Shield, I would believe the NTFS drive will not be recognized by LB on the Android device due to the incompatible file system.

 

[Vader]

6 hours ago, skizzosjt said:

I think you meant to quote the OP rather than me

But, am I missing something here? we're in the Android section of the LB forums and everything I read says NTFS is not compatible with Android

if the OP was using LB/BB on Windows I would agree that NTFS certainly makes the most sense. But I do not understand the NTFS recommendation for use with Android? Yes, NTFS will work on the Nvidia Shield, but if a user is on an Android device when trying to access the Shield, I would believe the NTFS drive will not be recognized by LB on the Android device due to the incompatible file system.

 

You are correct, I quoted the wrong person. But anyways, I agree that NTFS should not work on android devices, but when I plug in my usb drive formatted in NTFS it works and is recognized on my shield. It's a PNY 500gb usb drive.