BezelLauncher

[Headrush69]

8 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

In the emulator settings (in LaunchBox) under Startup Screen, can you check the box Hide Mouse Cursor During Game and have that do anything?  

OMG, can't believe I forgot to double check that. 🤦‍♂️ Working now.

8 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

Seems odd that nomousy is not keeping it hidden. 

Yes it is. I double checked and yes using nomousy, the cursor appears when you aim over the bezels.

All good though as working OK with LB's hide mouse. Thanks for the reminder.

[ninjalo]

Hello. Long time lurker, don't post much as I generally find the answers to my questions by searching the forums, shocking, I know lol. But I do have one question. Your plugin is a godsend. I've been trying to get out from under RocketLauncher for a while now, but have been stuck with it due to needing/wanting bezels for certain systems. Every system I've tested with your plugin works great. Anyhow, my question is this, is there anyway to add support for pcsx2-qtx64-avx2.exe? I use that executable specifically because I'm running a Ryzen 7 5700X3D and I get better performance with it on the few games I run in software mode than with the standard pcsx2-qt.exe. When I set pcsx2-qtx64-avx2.exe as the default emulator, I can set up the bezel. but it doesn't show up, it works only if I use the standard pcsx2-qt.exe. I know it's kind of a niche/one off thing, as I'm sure most people are fine with the standard executable. If not, thank you for your plugin anyway, as I'm just a couple of systems away from being able to do away with RocketLauncher altogether.

[JoeViking245]

46 minutes ago, ninjalo said:

don't post much as I generally find the answers to my questions by searching the forums

Refreshing to hear.   Thank you!

46 minutes ago, ninjalo said:

is there anyway to add support for pcsx2-qtx64-avx2.exe?

It should work fine.  Admittedly though, I've never the avx2 variant.  My shoot-from-the-hip guess is that it's running Exclusive fullscreen.  vs. just fullscreen or borderless fullscreen.

 

46 minutes ago, ninjalo said:

thank you for your plugin anyway, as I'm just a couple of systems away from being able to do away with RocketLauncher altogether.

You're quite welcome.  Glad it's helping you work towards your goal. 

[ninjalo]

30 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

It should work fine.  Admittedly though, I've never the avx2 variant.  My shoot-from-the-hip guess is that it's running Exclusive fullscreen.  vs. just fullscreen or borderless fullscreen.

 

 

Definitely not in Exclusive fullscreen, just borderless fullscreen, although for some reason I can't seem to change that. I'm attaching a couple of  screenshots so that you can see what I mean. The first is when using the AVX2 executable, it's like the bezel is there, but not showing, hence the black bars on the sides. But, in the second screen shot you can see that when I use the standard executable, the bezel shows perfectly. I'm using the commandline arguments -batch -nogui so that it doesn't show the toolbar at the top. Sorry for the large images, but they are screencaps of my 1080p screen. I'm wondering if part of it is how Launchbox is handling launching the game. When I use the AVX2 executable, I have to login to RetroAchievements, but when using the standard executable, I'm signed in just fine. Thanks for looking.

Edited October 23 by ninjalo

[JoeViking245]

1 hour ago, ninjalo said:

Definitely not in Exclusive fullscreen, just borderless fullscreen, although for some reason I can't seem to change that.

You can't change that because you have the Graphics API set to Auto.     And that's fine. 

So I turned BezelLauncher back on to test this and was experiencing the exact same thing as you (but with plain QT).  I tried a bunch of different settings and things in the Graphics settings menu (in PCSX2) and couldn't fix it.

I then looked in the Interface menu section and un-checked Game Display - Start Fullscreen.  After finding that it now works, I reverted all the changes I made under Graphics, and it still worked. 😊  One other thing I also noticed was it could get rid of (hide) the top menu bar.  So what I did was, in BezelLauncher Setup - Test, set the Top of the emulator window to y=-20 (20 pixels above the top of the screen).  Then stretched the bottom to the bottom of the screen.

 

 

tldr:  Verify you don't have anything telling it to go fullscreen.  Either in the command line parameters or in the emulator itself.

[ninjalo]

Thank you for your reply. Sorry for the late response, I get up at 3am for work, so I had to go to bed. I've double and triple checked, I don't have anything fullscreen checked, and no fullscreen commandline arguments. The only commandline arguments I use are -nogui -batch. Also, I'm using the Vulkan API since I run a RX6650 XT, I've noticed a lot of the games I play for PS2 run better on Vulkan, probably because I'm using an AMD card. I tried your suggestions and it still isn't working for me. But it's fine, I'm guessing there must have been some decent updates to the regular executable lately, as the games I ran in software mode are running just fine with it now, so I guess I don't really need the AVX2 executable. Just to put this to bed, I'll attach a couple of images of my settings so you can see for yourself. Also, thank you again for this plugin, I've officially, completely migrated away from RocketLauncher now. I put so much work into it I can't bring myself to delete the folder just yet lol. Maybe I'll back it up somewhere, just incase.

[JoeViking245]

15 minutes ago, ninjalo said:

Sorry for the late response

No worries at all.  It's just a hobby and we get to play when we get to play.  

16 minutes ago, ninjalo said:

[...] so I guess I don't really need the AVX2 executable

Sweet!  Now I don't have to download it and test.    And apologies for the assumptions and accusations.  Settings I have are not necessarily settings you have. 😊 (thought it seemed too easy. lol)

 

17 minutes ago, ninjalo said:

Also, thank you again for this plugin, I've officially, completely migrated away from RocketLauncher now.

You're welcome and CONGRATULATIONS!!!  🎉

[The Sapper]

Thank you so much for creating this plugin it's exactly what I was looking for! Would it be possible to allow the game to go over/be infront of the bezel? I use a universal border for all my games and prefer my image to go over the border instead of be adjusted to fit inside of it.

[JoeViking245]

1 hour ago, The Sapper said:

Thank you so much for creating this plugin it's exactly what I was looking for! Would it be possible to allow the game to go over/be infront of the bezel? I use a universal border for all my games and prefer my image to go over the border instead of be adjusted to fit inside of it.

You're welcome.

Well, this is a first.    Can't say that I've ever heard of an emulator or bezel app that purposefully places the bezel on a layer below the game.  

To help me try to understand your request, I searched for how other apps accomplish this, e.g. through their settings.  All I could find was how to fix the erroneous bezel appearing below the game.

With the amount of time spent creating checks and balances and checks to check the checks and balances balancing the other balances, just to make sure the bezel stays on top, I'm disinclined to acquest to your request.

You might try something like ReShade and see if it can do what you're after.

[The Sapper]

43 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

You're welcome.

Well, this is a first.    Can't say that I've ever heard of an emulator or bezel app that purposefully places the bezel on a layer below the game.  

To help me try to understand your request, I searched for how other apps accomplish this, e.g. through their settings.  All I could find was how to fix the erroneous bezel appearing below the game.

With the amount of time spent creating checks and balances and checks to check the checks and balances balancing the other balances, just to make sure the bezel stays on top, I'm disinclined to acquest to your request.

You might try something like ReShade and see if it can do what you're after.

Thanks so much for checking, I'm sure I'll find something! 

[The Sapper]

Hello again, I have put some time into cropping my border to perfectly fit a few key aspect ratios and the result is nearly flawless! The only issue that still remains, and I believe this is an issue for everyone, Is weird green and red colors appearing on the right hand side of where the image and border meet. Attached below is: #1 - My game running by itself without your plugin during a normal section of the game, #2 - My game running through LaunchBox using your plugin during a loading screen in the game (Pitch Black), #3 - My game running through LaunchBox using your plugin during a normal section in the game, #4 - My game running through LaunchBox using your plugin during a loading screen zoomed into the area of colors I have spotted. These same colors appear in the same area regardless of which game I am playing, do you have any idea of what could be causing this, is this intentional to make something work or is it a bug? Any help understanding is appreciated and thank you once again! (My games are all set to not be in fullscreen on both LaunchBox and Dolphin, and are standard 4:3, These colors do not appear on the image file itself and only when using the plugin, the middle is completely transparent) These colors are less visible during gameplay but are 100% still there and noticeable. 

[JoeViking245]

1 hour ago, The Sapper said:

#2 - My game running through LaunchBox using your plugin during a loading screen in the game (Pitch Black)

In the Settings (for Dolphin, for the platform), make sure option (g) is checked.  Be sure to click Save afterwards.

 

1 hour ago, The Sapper said:

These same colors appear in the same area regardless of which game I am playing, do you have any idea of what could be causing this, is this intentional to make something work or is it a bug?

I see what you're talking about.  There's some on the left side also, but gray (at least in my photo editor [after downloading the images] there is).  Arrows show start/stop.  I assume the avatar and "P1" are part of the bezel as well?

 

My guess is it's an artifact on the bezel image.  I say that because the plugin doesn't inject any extracurricular images at all.  

Can you open your bezel image (like with Windows Photos, Paint or Gimp) and see if they're there?  Or share the file here?

[The Sapper]

Quote

I assume the avatar and "P1" are part of the bezel as well?

They are, part of one PNG file.

Quote

Can you open your bezel image (like with Windows Photos, Paint or Gimp) and see if they're there?  Or share the file here?

Attached below is the png file I have done these tests with (First image). I actually cropped this from the OG image (Second image) in gimp to make it work perfectly with your plugin, as before fitting it inside would cause the image to be adjusted (Placing black borders on the top and bottom of the screen) as I think dolphin does that with windowed games.

[JoeViking245]

14 hours ago, The Sapper said:

as before fitting it inside would cause the image to be adjusted (Placing black borders on the top and bottom of the screen) as I think dolphin does that with windowed games.

Try...

• use which ever bezel (maybe the original?)
  • If you change the physical bezel image file while LaunchBox is open, restart LB. (see below**)
• Edit the 'window' size (Test) in BezelLauncher Setup
  • Set the outside of the orange border to the edge of the transparent area
  • Save and close
• Open Dolphin (right-click a game and select Open Dolphin)
• Click Options - Graphics Settings
• Set Aspect ratio to Stretch to Window

 

Since the black bars are minimal, the minor "stretch" should not make it notably distorted.

 

**One thing I discovered is, if you change/swap the physical bezel file while LaunchBox is open, the plugin still uses the original bezel image. As if it's caching the image on 1st open, and not reloading it after changing the file.  The fix: Don't swap bezel image files while LB is open.   If you do swap images, restart LB. 

The proper fix is for me to look at the code and see what's going on.  But TBH, that's not going to happen.  Since day 1, I've always contended that I'm pleasantly surprised this thing even works like it does.  Testimonies of users saying they've done-away-with/migrated-away-from Rocket Launcher says a lot!!!  And I really don't want to screw something up.  

[The Sapper]

Quote

One thing I discovered is, if you change/swap the physical bezel file while LaunchBox is open, the plugin still uses the original bezel image. As if it's caching the image on 1st open, and not reloading it after changing the file.  The fix: Don't swap bezel image files while LB is open.   If you do swap images, restart LB.

I actually found this out pretty early on and have been restarting LB every-time I change my border!

Quote

The proper fix is for me to look at the code and see what's going on.  But TBH, that's not going to happen.  Since day 1, I've always contended that I'm pleasantly surprised this thing even works like it does.  Testimonies of users saying they've done-away-with/migrated-away-from Rocket Launcher says a lot!!!  And I really don't want to screw something up.

I completely understand, if I accomplished something like this I wouldn't want to risk messing something up haha.

I'm doing the "Stretch to Window" setting now, but something I forgot to mention is that when the game is starting up and is incorrectly positioned for 1 or 2 seconds (Image is beyond the borders) the color glitches are not present.

Using "Stretch to Window" yields the same results on both the cropped and uncropped borders.

I seriously appreciate the time you have put into trying to help me out, and being so quick to the responses as well, this is really the only plugin on launchbox offering what I want so I think I can live with the small errors in an otherwise perfect application. Best of luck on future projects and I hope you have a great rest of your day!

[The Sapper]

QUICK UPDATE - ISSUE HAS BEEN FIXED

Setting the borders on both the left and right-hand side exactly one pixel outside of the transparency space not only confirms "when the game is starting up and is incorrectly positioned for 1 or 2 seconds (Image is beyond the borders) the color glitches are not present" by the colors no longer being present but ALSO, for whatever reason, does not cause the game/plugin to crop that one pixel on either side. This is amazing!

Image #1 - Game running without Plugin

Image #2 - Game running with Plugin but one pixel on either side is past the transparency boundary

Image #3 - Game running with Plugin but one pixel on either side is past the transparency boundary (During a loading screen to highlight/make it easier to see the fact the colors are not there)

I've tested with Dolphin and other emulators and everything works with this fix! Thank you once again

[JoeViking245]

55 minutes ago, The Sapper said:

QUICK UPDATE - ISSUE HAS BEEN FIXED

Setting the borders on both the left and right-hand side exactly one pixel outside of the transparency space not only confirms "when the game is starting up and is incorrectly positioned for 1 or 2 seconds (Image is beyond the borders) the color glitches are not present" by the colors no longer being present but ALSO, for whatever reason, does not cause the game/plugin to crop that one pixel on either side. This is amazing!

I was in the process of suggesting the one pixel beyond while at the same time getting the turkey going in the smoker... and well... you figured it out.  Well done.   (and my suggestion was more of a "hope that works". )

 

59 minutes ago, The Sapper said:

I've tested with Dolphin and other emulators and everything works with this fix! Thank you once again

You are quite welcome!  Glad to hear the others are working as well.  Enjoy!

[The Sapper]

2 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

I was in the process of suggesting the one pixel beyond while at the same time getting the turkey going in the smoker... and well... you figured it out.  Well done.   (and my suggestion was more of a "hope that works". )

 

You are quite welcome!  Glad to hear the others are working as well.  Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃