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LaunchBox 13.15 - Beta Thread


faeran

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Hi Everyone,

Another beta round has started. Beta 1 has just been released with a number of major changes. The beginning of our new plugin manager has been introduced. At the moment this contains all of our emulator integrations, but will eventually be expanded out to include other categories of official and community based plugins. From a user's perspective, this will allow us to fix issues out of our control more quickly, as well as add content without the need for a full release. We've also overhauled our ScummVM integration to be more in-line with our other emulator integrations. You can now bulk import ScummVM games using our ROM Import Wizard, along with downloading and updating the latest versions of ScummVM. Beta 2 will include more improvements to this integration, but for what we have it's ready for testing.

Full changelog can be found here: https://www.launchbox-app.com/about/changelog

Beta 1:

  • New Feature: This update introduces a new Plugin Manager, allowing for easier management and discovery of plugins for LaunchBox
  • New Feature: LaunchBox is no longer bundled with ScummVM directly. Instead, it can be downloaded via the ROM Import Wizard or the Add Emulator Window, as well as updated/repaired via the Edit Emulator Window. This simplifies the installation process and ensures you have the latest version available
  • New Feature: The process for importing your ScummVM titles has been streamlined through the ROM Import Wizard, allowing for bulk importing of ScummVM games
  • Improvement: Several new command-line variables have been added for increased control over your emulatorsImprovement: Steam searching has been improved to fall back to a title search if the game ID isn't found in the LaunchBox database. This ensures a wider range of Steam games can be accurately identified
  • Improvement: Steam scraping has been improved to better align certain values with corresponding LaunchBox fields. This provides a more consistent user experience when importing Steam games
  • Improvement: Inactive database IDs associated with games will now be automatically cleared or replaced by the Download Metadata and Media wizard. This keeps your LaunchBox data up-to-date and avoids potential errors
  • Improvement: The database search now utilizes information within parentheses when matching games. This leads to more accurate identification of titles with similar names
  • Improvement: The image search fallback logic has been adjusted to remove double spaces when searching for images. This ensures a smoother image acquisition process
  • Fixed: A crash related to the "Emulator Not Configured" popup has been resolved
  • Fixed: The ROM import wizard once again prompts users to confirm whether they want to move or copy the ROMs to their designated game folder
  • Fixed: A bug that prevented the scan for achievements from correctly capturing all achievement progress has been resolved
  • Fixed: 3D box models now properly respect the depth override setting when using a spine image
  • Fixed: A rare error that could crash LaunchBox while checking emulator dependencies has been fixed
  • Fixed: The sample command line box in the Edit Emulator window has been fixed to properly function with all available command-line variables

Beta 2:

  • Fixed: Big Box now opens once again (introduced in beta 1)

Beta 3:

  • Improvement: Scan for Added/Removed ROMs now works with games imported through the new ScummVM process
  • Fixed: Potential crash that could occur during Dolphin updates
  • Fixed: An issue that prevented auto-importing ScummVM games with a relative path in the game folder
  • In a stunning display of red tape acrobatics, the "Manage LaunchBox Themes" and "Manage Plugins" options have successfully navigated the labyrinthine bureaucracy to establish themselves within the Tools > Manage menu

Beta 4:

  • New Feature: Added support for automatic import of Vita3k games that have been added into its virtual hard drive, when the Vita3k emulator is added into LaunchBox and the Automatic Import of ROMs is enabled
  • New Feature: Added support for automatic import of RPCS3 games that have been added into its virtual hard drive, when the RPCS3 emulator is added into LaunchBox and the Automatic Import of ROMs is enabled
  • Improvement: RAHasher has been updated to the latest version, which improves the hashing of PSP games that are in CHD format

Beta 5:

  • Improvement: Our Dependency Files feature will now automatically detect your system directory by reading your RetroArch configuration file
  • Improvement: Optimized emulator file extension priorities to help with MSU systems (This is not 100% complete for this release. More work will go into this one before final release)
  • Fixed: Resolved an issue where Big Box could remain the topmost window unexpectedly
  • Fixed: We will now globally enable overlays within your RetroArch configuration file when you choose to download bezels through LaunchBox

Beta 6:

  • Improved: Import a wider variety of MSU-MD files and use more import methods for these files
  • Fixed: Accessing the Plugin window while offline is now possible
  • Fixed: Storefront auto-imports will now fail more gracefully when offline
  • Fixed: RPCS3 virtual hard drive paths are now prioritized during import, taking into account game updates
  • Fixed: The RPCS3 game import process is now more efficient, no longer causing out-of-resource errors

Beta 7:

  • Improved: Preview and bonus game versions are now deprioritized during imports
  • Fixed: Corrected game title parsing from folders
  • Fixed: RPCS3 now prioritizes the base game title during import
  • Fixed: A rare issue that could occur while parsing the "games.yml" file has been resolved

 

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

 

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Hey guys. BigBox isn't starting in the latest beta. I double click it, it opens in task manager for a second or 2 and then closes. I tried reinstalling in a new directory and same problem. I'm running windows defender and even with all settings disabled, the same problem happens. I'll try reinstalling previous version and see if it works.

 

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9 minutes ago, Ultra God Azgorath said:

Hey guys. BigBox isn't starting in the latest beta. I double click it, it opens in task manager for a second or 2 and then closes. I tried reinstalling in a new directory and same problem. I'm running windows defender and even with all settings disabled, the same problem happens. I'll try reinstalling previous version and see if it works.

 

Thanks for the report. We will look into this and if it's something we need to fix, we will get beta 2 out tomorrow.

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34 minutes ago, spycat said:

What are the new command line variables mentioned in the changelog?

%romfilename% - Filename of the ROM WITHOUT extension
%romextension% - Extension of the ROM file (ie, .rom)
%romlocation_noquotes% - Path to the ROM without quotes
%noromfile% - Replaced with empty string, suppresses rom file being added to end of the command line

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1 hour ago, C-Beats said:

%romfilename% - Filename of the ROM WITHOUT extension
%romextension% - Extension of the ROM file (ie, .rom)
%romlocation_noquotes% - Path to the ROM without quotes
%noromfile% - Replaced with empty string, suppresses rom file being added to end of the command line

Three are similar to features existing unless plan is to remove this option in emulator setup. I assume the variable takes precedence vs this?

Screenshot2024-06-13195800.thumb.png.30a495a38e39a3fa86ae658840530fa5.png

Helpful to add a variable for parent folder name for emulators like Vita3K and PS3 where "rom" is eboot.bin within parent folder with game ID needed for emulator.   Or for computers an additional App variable for multi-disks.

 

Quote

Improvement: The database search now utilizes information within parentheses when matching games. This leads to more accurate identification of titles with similar names

Is this impacting media matching or just DB matching only? Prior was to ignore anything in brackets for media matching purposes. 

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34 minutes ago, sundogak said:

Three are similar to features existing unless plan is to remove this option in emulator setup. I assume the variable takes precedence vs this?

An example of one of those might be

-config "D:\emulators\myEmu\Configs\%romfilename%.ini" "FULL\PATH\TO\ROM\FILE"

Where you need both boxes un-checked, but need the ROM filename for a config file. 

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5 hours ago, faeran said:

Thanks for the report. We will look into this and if it's something we need to fix, we will get beta 2 out tomorrow.

When launching Bigbox, seeing this in the application event log, but no error is actually displayed by the program when it crashes.   Running Win11 23H2 (Build 22631.3527).

---

Faulting application name: BigBox.exe, version: 13.15.0.1, time stamp: 0x65ab0000
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.22621.3527, time stamp: 0x83efbeab
Exception code: 0xe0434352
Fault offset: 0x000000000006543c
Faulting process id: 0x0xCC8
Faulting application start time: 0x0x1DABDFF3DDE5DE7
...
Faulting module path: C:\windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: e4fafe57-e5fb-435e-a14c-e8e2d0b382d6
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

----

Application: BigBox.exe
CoreCLR Version: 6.0.2724.6912
.NET Version: 6.0.27
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for '<Module>' threw an exception.
 ---> System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Token 1000243 is not valid in the scope of module System.ModuleHandle. (Parameter 'typeToken')
   at System.ModuleHandle.ResolveTypeHandle(Int32 typeToken, RuntimeTypeHandle[] typeInstantiationContext, RuntimeTypeHandle[] methodInstantiationContext)
   at System.ModuleHandle.GetRuntimeTypeHandleFromMetadataToken(Int32 typeToken)
   at BigBox.Exporters.AttributeObserver.PatchStatelessConnection(Int32 item_count)
   at CodeComposer.CollectBatchRegistry(Int32 item_count, CodeComposer )
   at Unbroken.Authentication.ProducerObserver.ReadStatelessDatabase(IntPtr var1, Type caller)
   at ServiceComposer.CollectBatchRegistry(IntPtr var1, Type caller, ServiceComposer )
   at Unbroken.Authentication.ProducerObserver.CollectStatelessQueue(IntPtr first, Type ivk)
   at DatabaseComposer.CollectBatchRegistry(IntPtr first, Type ivk, DatabaseComposer )
   at Unbroken.Authentication.ProducerObserver.StartStatelessDatabase()
   at CompareBatchAccount()
   at .cctor()
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---

 

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11 hours ago, Ultra God Azgorath said:

Hey guys. BigBox isn't starting in the latest beta. I double click it, it opens in task manager for a second or 2 and then closes. I tried reinstalling in a new directory and same problem. I'm running windows defender and even with all settings disabled, the same problem happens. I'll try reinstalling previous version and see if it works.

 

Same here.

Tried loading it 10 times and nothing happens.

Works fine when using 13.14

Edited by zugswang
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10 hours ago, sundogak said:

Three are similar to features existing unless plan is to remove this option in emulator setup. I assume the variable takes precedence vs this?

Screenshot2024-06-13195800.thumb.png.30a495a38e39a3fa86ae658840530fa5.png

Helpful to add a variable for parent folder name for emulators like Vita3K and PS3 where "rom" is eboot.bin within parent folder with game ID needed for emulator.   Or for computers an additional App variable for multi-disks.

We don't plan to get rid of these options as they generally work for everything. The added arguments are for those who REALLY customize their command line to do more non-traditional things like load config files via CLI. It also helps with some emulators that have more problematic command line arguments that don't generally work with the standard LB process flow.

10 hours ago, sundogak said:

Is this impacting media matching or just DB matching only? Prior was to ignore anything in brackets for media matching purposes. 

I realize the term "parens" and "brackets" aren't always the same across regions. We are referring to '(' and ')' not '[' and ']'. That being said, yes this is used in the logic to match DB items. Namely we're looking for publisher. This is mostly for games that have two games with the same title but different publisher. In the DB the title should be "Title (Publisher)" which also corresponds to how the ROMs are typically named. This process should do a better job picking the DB item that matches the ROM in question.

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Beta 3 is out with the following:

  • Improvement: Scan for Added/Removed ROMs now works with games imported through the new ScummVM process
  • Fixed: Potential crash that could occur during Dolphin updates
  • Fixed: An issue that prevented auto-importing ScummVM games with a relative path in the game folder
  • In a stunning display of red tape acrobatics, the "Manage LaunchBox Themes" and "Manage Plugins" options have successfully navigated the labyrinthine bureaucracy to establish themselves within the Tools > Manage menu
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I'm still with 13.14 official so I can't test for myself.
Regarding the variables %romfile% and the new %romfilename%
Am I right in assuming that while %romfile% returns a value that depends on the "Remove file extension and folder path" setting, the new %romfilename% variable is independent of that box's setting?
If that's the case then this new variable is most welcome indeed.
 

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On 6/13/2024 at 4:25 PM, faeran said:

 

  • In a stunning display of red tape acrobatics, the "Manage LaunchBox Themes" and "Manage Plugins" options have successfully navigated the labyrinthine bureaucracy to establish themselves within the Tools > Manage menu

 

 

Lol...  I feel there's an interesting story here...

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4 hours ago, spycat said:

Am I right in assuming that while %romfile% returns a value that depends on the "Remove file extension and folder path" setting, the new %romfilename% variable is independent of that box's setting?

Correct. With these new variables it's now possible to grab any individual part of the rom path and then add quotes manually where needed (or use the noromfile to stop the romfile from being added at all). The Edit Emulator window's sample command has been updated so that all of these variables are correctly reflected in it as well to help avoid confusion and allow you to play around with it and see what the outcome would look like.

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Excited for the ScummVM import, but it's not importing a large amount of games that are playable by loading straight in the emulator. My game folders are under /Games/ScummVM, my ScummVM installation is the one downloaded from LB under /ThirdParty/ScummVM and it's updated (but it doesn't load games launched from the LB app, games need to be run in ScummVM itself), and I've done a mass add in ScummVM to ensure everything is "loaded". I've used "Add Folder" import to add the /Games/ScummVM folder and chose to scan subdirectories, force importing dupes, and using folder name for game name but it still leaves a bunch out. Here's the games that are not imported each time:

Bargon Attack
Beneath a Steel Sky
Blues ABC Time
Broken Sword 2 The Smoking Mirror
Castle of Dr. Brain
Codename Iceman
Conquests of Camelot
Conquests of the Longbow The Legend of Robin Hood
Cruise for a Corpse
Day Of The Tentacle
Discworld 1
EcoQuest 1 The Search for Cetus
Elvira 1 Mistress of the Dark
Elvira 2 The Jaws of Cerberus
Fascination
Fatty Bears Birthday Surprise
Fatty Bears Funpack
Flight of the Amazon Queen
Freddi Fish & Luthers Maze Madness
Freddi Fish & Luthers Water Worries
Freddi Fish 1 The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds
Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist
Full Throttle
Future Wars
Gabriel Knight Sins Of The Fathers
Geisha
Gnap
Gobliiins 1
Gobliins 2
Goblins 3
Gold Rush!
Hero Quest So You Want To Be A Hero
Hoyle Official Book Of Games Volume 1
Hoyle Official Book Of Games Volume 2
Hoyle Official Book Of Games Volume 3
Hugo 2 Whodunit
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Inherit the Earth Quest for the Orb
Island of Dr. Brain
Jones In The Fast Lane
Kings Quest 1 Quest for the Crown
Kings Quest 2 Romancing the Throne
Kings Quest 3 To Heir is Human
Kings Quest 4 The Perils of Rosella
Kings Quest 5 Absence Makes the Heart go Yonder
Kings Quest 6 Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
Kings Quest 7 The Princeless Bride
Labyrinth of Time
Lands of Lore The Throne of Chaos
Laura Bow 2 The Dagger of AmonRa
Leather Goddesses of Phobos 2
Leisure Suit Larry 2 Goes looking for Love
Leisure Suit Larry 3 Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals
Leisure Suit Larry 5 Passionate Patty Does a Little Undercover Work
Leisure Suit Larry 6 Shape Up or Slip Out
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Lighthouse
Living Books Cat in the Hat
Living Books Dr. Seuss ABC
Living Books Green Eggs and Ham
Loom
Lost in Time
Manhunter 2 San Francisco
Maniac Mansion
Mixed Up Fairy Tales
Mixed Up Mother Goose
Mixed Up Mother Goose Deluxe
Monkey Island 2 LeChucks Revenge
Myst Masterpiece
Nippon Safes Inc
Pajama Sams Lost And Found
Personal Nightmare
Phantasmagoria
Playtoons 2 Case of the Counterfeit Collaborator
Plumbers Dont Wear Ties
Police Quest 1 In Pursuit of the Death Angel
Police Quest 2 The Vengeance
Police Quest 3 The Kindred
Police Quest 4 Open Season
PuttPutt and Fatty Bears Activity Pack
PuttPutt Goes to the Moon
PuttPutt Joins the Parade
PuttPutts Fun Pack
Quest for Glory 2 Trial by Fire
Quest for Glory 3 The Wages of War
Riven
Road
Rodneys Fun Screen
Sam and Max Hit the Road
Sfinx v1.1
Simon the Sorcerer 1
Simon the Sorcerer 2
Slater & Charlie Go Camping
Space Quest 1 The Sarien Encounter
Space Quest 2 Vohauls Revenge
Space Quest 3 The Pirates of Pestulon
Space Quest 4 Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
The Dig
The Feeble Files
The Legend of Kyrandia 1
The Manhole
The Secret of Monkey Island
Voyeur
Waxworks
Ween The Prophecy
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders

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