LaunchBox 13.13 - Beta Thread

[faeran]

Hi Everyone,

Another beta round has started. Beta 1 has just been released with a number of major changes. The major user facing change of this release is the ability to download Dolphin automatically from LaunchBox from within the auto-import workflow and the older ROM import wizard. A number of systemic framework changes were made in order to facilitate this, so any help in testing our imports would be much appreciated. We also have a handful of other changes, like improvements to the auto-import system, the advanced search, and the fixing a number of bugs.

 

Beta 1:

• New Feature: LaunchBox can now automatically download and install the Dolphin emulator during the import or auto-import workflows
• Improvement: The advanced search functionality has been expanded to include the following new filters: Broken, Complete, Favorite, Hide, Installed, PlayMode, Portable, Rating, Region, Series
• Improvement: Several file extensions have been added to the ROM import blacklist, improving accuracy and reducing the chance of including unwanted files
• Fixed: Import stability improved for scenarios involving merging new and existing games
• Fixed: An uncommon issue that could occur during Epic Games imports

 

Beta 2:

• New Feature: PCSX2 emulator can now be automatically downloaded and installed directly within LaunchBox
• New Feature: Download, update, and reinstall supported emulators (including RetroArch, Dolphin, and PCSX2) conveniently from within their dedicated Add/Edit Emulator window
• Improvement: The Manage Emulator window now displays emulator versions and update availability for supported emulators
• Improvement: The advanced search now includes a filter switch for searching your game's notes
• Improvement: The default Dolphin command line now automatically includes full screen mode and disables exit confirmation prompts (only when downloaded through our automatic-imports workflow)
• Improvement: Microsoft Xbox xbe hard drive files now integrate better with our auto-import feature
• Fixed: An issue where emulators downloaded automatically during ROM import even when choosing the manual install option (introduced in beta 1)
• Fixed: An issue where the set media limit wasn't enforced during imports or metadata and media downloads

 

Beta 3:

• Improvement: "View 3D Box Model" option is now available in the game context menu
• Improvement: Updated the MAME metadata file that's included with LaunchBox
• Fixed: Big Box memory leaks have been addressed, allowing it to run smoother and for extended periods
• Fixed: Searching for games with colons (':') should now yield expected results
• Fixed: Various potential null reference errors that could occur within LaunchBox have been squashed
• Fixed: The manual scan for added games no longer gets stuck during the initialization process
• Fixed: Updating MAME now correctly installs the new version to the same folder (introduced in 13.12)
• Fixed: Fixed an issue that caused an error to sometimes appear when retrieving the version information within the Manage Emulators window
• Fixed: Improved stability to prevent the app from crashing when canceling an emulator download

 

Beta 4:

• New Feature: A new "Dependency Files" section is now available for supported emulators within their emulator window allowing you to more easily manage these essential files. Supported emulators include: RetroArch, PCSX2
• New Feature: You will now receive a prompt, with potential solutions, when you try to play a game that requires missing dependency files
• Fixed: The version badge now displays correctly when combining two GOG games
• Fixed: A bug where images could incorrectly be linked to more than one game with similar names
• Fixed: The Amazon Games install flag now sets correctly on startup

 

Beta 5:

• Improvement: The ROM Import Wizard now leverages the new dependency files logic
• Improvement: All Storefront IDs are now accurately displayed in the combine games drop-down window
• Improvement: The PCSX2 command line now automatically updates the fullscreen switch when pointed to the QT version
• Fixed: Wiki/Video URLs correctly update when using "Search for Metadata" from the Edit Game window
• Fixed: Resolved an issue where GOG games already imported were sometimes re-imported as additional applications
• Fixed: Auto rom scanning now accurately detects folders in some situations
• Fixed: The custom field sidebar filter now functions correctly in all circumstances
• Fixed: Legacy versions of PCSX2 will no longer cause the application to open during version lookups on the Manage Emulator and Edit Emulator windows

 

Thanks to everyone willing to help us test our beta releases.

[Joe35car]

Option to choose between Beta or Development versions of Dolphin?

[JoeViking245]

16 hours ago, faeran said:

New Feature: LaunchBox can now automatically download and install the Dolphin emulator during the import or auto-import workflows

I previously had LaunchBox install RetroArch for Atari 2600.  It auto populated many Associated Platforms (which is great!) which included the Nintendo Wii platform (which I did not have a platform for, yet).  Dropped ROMs into the /Games/Nintendo Wii/ folder and after the auto import was complete, launched a Wii game and RA started.

It wasn't enough to uncheck RA as the default emulator for Nintendo Wii.  Need to completely remove it.  (Which stands to reason.)  But then nothing would happen when attempting to launch a game.  Restarted LB and still nothing happened when attempting to launch a game.

 

Attempt #1

I removed the Wii platform, closed LaunchBox, removed the ROMs from the Nintendo Wii folder and re-started LB.  Put the ROMs back in the folder and the games were automatically added.  Went to launch one of the games and was prompted with the option to install Dolphin.

Selecting "Yes", the emulator was downloaded and installed.  I did make some QOL changes directly in Dolphin that I would not (and do not) expect the installer to do.

Spoiler

Config Menu Button
Interface - Confirm on Stop
Interface - Pause on Focus Loss
Interface - Show On-Screen Display Messages

Graphics Menu Button
General - Start in Fullscreen

 

Attempt #2

I did try removing the platform in LB and removing the ROMs from the folder, then adding the ROMs back to the folder (without having to restart LB), but the 'added' ROMs weren't detected.  So I went old-school and dragged those ROMs onto LaunchBox which started the Import Games from File Wizard.  After selecting Nintendo Wii as the platform, was prompted with the option to install Dolphin (which was removed prior to this attempt).

[JoeViking245]

11 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

Option to choose between Beta or Development versions of Dolphin?

I imagine the beta version was selected as it's more stable the minimally tested Development versions.

[cheguewara]

I chose "manually download/configure retroarch" when importing a game. but launchbox still downloaded retroarch...

checked the emulators folder within launchbox dir and retroarch was downloaded...

 

Why is the development team so eager to autoimport and autoconfigure everything?

 

I mean it was quite easy to configure and install everything before all this auto-stuff

[zenanomaly]

New issue when importing ROMs: added a few manually across a couple different platforms with no issue, then a prompt came up during  an import asking to install Retroarch. The other option (configure your own) at first looks to bypass this but when the game is about to be added, a "downloading/installing Retroarch" progress bar appears anyway. Cancelling this completely freezes the program, requiring it to be terminated. Restart, retry and the same thing happens.

The frustrating thing is I already do have Retroarch (updated at least once a week), all cores up-to-date and configured for each platform. It's pretty much been the same set-up for years. I don' know why this particular platform (a custom-made MSU-1 scraping Super Nintendo) is pulling a "need RA" flag when there's never been a problem. Is there a new setting option that I'm missing that disables the RA/Dolphin download feature (like the recently added ROM auto add) ? 

If it comes down to having to let LB do its own RA install, will I lose all my existing platform configurations?

[ToniBC]

The Update RA or Dolphin function is interesting and very useful, especially Retroarch's, but the problem is that in Retroarch you would have to be able to choose whether to update to Nightly and the same with Dolphin, since they are the interesting versions and that they recommend.

In Retroarch it is very simple, just change the url, since the file is always the same. The cores, for example, are always Nightly and can be downloaded from the RA itself, just like Dolphin, which updates itself.

Basically it could be a global option for all emulators in which this can be done.

Thank you.

[xevious1974]

On 3/22/2024 at 1:18 AM, faeran said:

Beta 1:

 

• Improvement: The advanced search functionality has been expanded to include the following new filters: Broken, Complete, Favorite, Hide, Installed, PlayMode, Portable, Rating, Region, Series

 

Hi all,

I love the new search function BUT I have a request. It is quite annoying trying to close that window.

When I click in the search field, it appears, and that's ok. But to remove it... Usually I should click again in the search field, or clicking next to it...no, I have to search where to click to close it, if I dont want to use it/changed mind.

Please, I know you can find a very smart way to close that popup/window without using it. I suggest the "click method" or to add a little X in the right up corner or all the solutions.

Please

G

 

[C-Beats]

That window is themable so you can change around the logic a bit. At the moment though I believe it's set so that it's always displayed as long as the search bar has the keyboard focus.

[TheNewClassics]

Quick question, probably unrelated to this beta. But I went to update my MAME set and selected the "Update Emulator" option; it created a separate instance of MAME .264 instead of updating my previously set MAME emu. Was that a new recent change?

[C-Beats]

16 minutes ago, TheNewClassics said:

Quick question, probably unrelated to this beta. But I went to update my MAME set and selected the "Update Emulator" option; it created a separate instance of MAME .264 instead of updating my previously set MAME emu. Was that a new recent change?

Fairly certain MAME previously was only ever downloaded during the Fullset Importer and yes I believe it always installed to a new folder (but I haven't looked into code to confirm)

[TheNewClassics]

Thanks for the info. For whatever reason, I'm almost positive the second option ("Update MAME") was just downloading and replacing the current MAME setup I had previously. But either way, I'll know for the future now. Thanks

[C-Beats]

17 hours ago, TheNewClassics said:

I'm almost positive the second option ("Update MAME") was just downloading and replacing the current MAME setup I had previously

You very well could be right, at the moment I'm not even sure what option you're referring to. I don't recall MAME having any sort of "Update" option anywhere. I admit I haven't had the time to really dig into it.

[faeran]

Beta 2 is out with the following:

• New Feature: PCSX2 emulator can now be automatically downloaded and installed directly within LaunchBox
• New Feature: Download, update, and reinstall supported emulators (including RetroArch, Dolphin, and PCSX2) conveniently from within their dedicated Add/Edit Emulator window
• Improvement: The Manage Emulator window now displays emulator versions and update availability for supported emulators
• Improvement: The advanced search now includes a filter switch for searching your game's notes
• Improvement: The default Dolphin command line now automatically includes full screen mode and disables exit confirmation prompts (only when downloaded through our automatic-imports workflow)
• Improvement: Microsoft Xbox xbe hard drive files now integrate better with our auto-import feature
• Fixed: An issue where emulators downloaded automatically during ROM import even when choosing the manual install option (introduced in beta 1)
• Fixed: An issue where the set media limit wasn't enforced during imports or metadata and media downloads

 

Thanks everyone for the continued help with testing our betas. As mentioned before, a lot of the backend code was re-arranged to get us to this point, so the help with testing is very much appreciated.

[crusadeRGP]

Improvement: Added logic to improve the ability to import SNES MSU-1 ROMs

 

This was added last version and works well. Can Sega Mega Drive MSU-MD be looked at as well? I've found the importer to not find the correct file extension which is .md but will usually add .cue or .wav and the game will not load in Retroarch. Thanks

[ToniBC]

I like the option to update the emulators, but they are not updated to their latest versions (Nightly) and it causes problems, because if you update Dolphin by Dolphin itself and then Launchbox tells you that there is an update, because it uses older versions and If you update, then Dolphin asks you to update again.

On the other hand, when updating, it does not respect the emulator path and puts the version in the default Launchbox path, modifying the entry and in many cases losing our configuration.

The route would have to be maintained when updating.

[The Papaw]

I know it has been mentioned by others already, and after using the Auto Import feature for a while, I kinda agree now and think it would be handy to have the ability to toggle on/off for each platform or "All" instead of just given the choice of on or off. 

[The Papaw]

Not sure if beta issue or on my end but I have my PS3 roms stored on NAS. I was adding some new PS3 roms and was running out of room on the hdd I was using for them. I decided to move/change them to a different hdd.

I copied the 3TB of games to new hdd, then tried to change the games Folder path location used in LB. I right click on the platform, edit, go to folders, choose new path, and when it asks if I want to move, I say no. That's as far as it gets, mouse cursor turn busy, the edit box dialog moves behind LB and I can't get back to it. All I can do is kill LB in task manager. This happened in current beta and previous beta. I let it sit for about 15 minutes thinking is was because it was doing something behind the scenes with such a big chunk of data.

I had to edit the xml file to accomplish the file location change. 

[JoeViking245]

2 hours ago, The Papaw said:

I copied the 3TB of games to new hdd, then tried to change the games Folder path location used in LB. I right click on the platform, edit, go to folders, choose new path,

There is also the option Tools, File Management, Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games (select all games in the platform, then do that).  That doesn't change the default path though.  

[The Papaw]

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

There is also the option Tools, File Management, Change ROMs Folder Path for Selected Games (select all games in the platform, then do that).  That doesn't change the default path though.  

Thx @JoeViking245 I'll have to check that out, but if as you say, doesn't change the default path, I doubt the Auto Import would work by doing that way, correct??