Adding Games Manually to a Platform's XML

[Zhiro90]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently looking for a workaround to bulk add games form from Itch.io and Humble Bundle to Launchbox, my current process involves importing these games into Playnite, exporting them, and then converting the export into xml in a tags format that matches Launchbox's tags using a script. Each game is assigned a unique ID in the process.

The XML tags output appears correct, (otherwise Launchbox crashes) but I'm encountering a problem when I paste the XML segment (including <game> tags and everything in between) into the platforms/windows.xml file. The games do not show up in my library if the platform tag is set to "Windows". However, if I set the platform tag to any other value, the games appear as expected.

Interestingly, if I manually edit the platform within Launchbox to "Windows", the games disappear upon restarting Launchbox.

Could anyone advise if there's a step I might be missing to properly add these games to my library under the Windows platform? Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Edited July 9 by Zhiro90
clarity

[C-Beats]

Can you show the XML you're trying to push in that isn't working? Also you ARE doing this with LaunchBox COMPLETELY closed correct? There is no lingering process in Task Manager when doing this?

[Zhiro90]

Yup. process killed before any editing.

This is an example of the output i work with

 

<Game>
    <GogAppId />
    <OriginAppId />
    <OriginInstallPath />
    <VideoPath />
    <ThemeVideoPath />
    <ApplicationPath />
    <CommandLine />
    <Completed>false</Completed>
    <ConfigurationCommandLine />
    <ConfigurationPath />
    <DateAdded>2024-07-04T10:56:51.931641-06:00</DateAdded>
    <DateModified>2024-07-04T10:56:51.9693808-06:00</DateModified>
    <Developer>Alexander Ocias</Developer>
    <DosBoxConfigurationPath />
    <Emulator />
    <Favorite>false</Favorite>
    <ID>backtheyearningtree</ID>
    <ManualPath />
    <MusicPath />
    <Notes>A quiet space for you.The Yearning Tree is a work in Unity3D WebGL. It is free to experience, and can be played in your browser immediately here: https://ocias.com/games/the-yearning-tree/Estimated play time: 2 minutes.A game by Alex Ocias with audio by Stefano Guzzetti. Built in Unity3D for WebGL.</Notes>
    <Platform>Windows</Platform>
    <Publisher>itch.io</Publisher>
    <Rating>Not Rated</Rating>
    <ReleaseDate>2011-05-19T02:00:00-05:00</ReleaseDate>
    <RootFolder />
    <ScummVMAspectCorrection>false</ScummVMAspectCorrection>
    <ScummVMFullscreen>false</ScummVMFullscreen>
    <ScummVMGameDataFolderPath />
    <ScummVMGameType />
    <SortTitle />
    <Source>itch.io</Source>
    <StarRatingFloat>0</StarRatingFloat>
    <StarRating>0</StarRating>
    <CommunityStarRating>0</CommunityStarRating>
    <CommunityStarRatingTotalVotes>0</CommunityStarRatingTotalVotes>
    <Status>Imported from itch.io</Status>
    <DatabaseID />
    <WikipediaURL />
    <Title>Back The Yearning Tree</Title>
    <UseDosBox>false</UseDosBox>
    <UseScummVM>false</UseScummVM>
    <Version />
    <Series />
    <PlayMode>Multiplayer</PlayMode>
    <Region />
    <PlayCount>0</PlayCount>
    <PlayTime>0</PlayTime>
    <Portable>false</Portable>
    <Hide>false</Hide>
    <Broken>false</Broken>
    <CloneOf />
    <Genre>Action</Genre>
    <MissingVideo>false</MissingVideo>
    <MissingBoxFrontImage>false</MissingBoxFrontImage>
    <MissingScreenshotImage>false</MissingScreenshotImage>
    <MissingMarqueeImage>false</MissingMarqueeImage>
    <MissingClearLogoImage>false</MissingClearLogoImage>
    <MissingBackgroundImage>false</MissingBackgroundImage>
    <MissingBox3dImage>false</MissingBox3dImage>
    <MissingCartImage>false</MissingCartImage>
    <MissingCart3dImage>false</MissingCart3dImage>
    <MissingManual>false</MissingManual>
    <MissingBannerImage>false</MissingBannerImage>
    <MissingMusic>false</MissingMusic>
    <UseStartupScreen>false</UseStartupScreen>
    <HideAllNonExclusiveFullscreenWindows>false</HideAllNonExclusiveFullscreenWindows>
    <StartupLoadDelay>0</StartupLoadDelay>
    <HideMouseCursorInGame>false</HideMouseCursorInGame>
    <DisableShutdownScreen>false</DisableShutdownScreen>
    <AggressiveWindowHiding>false</AggressiveWindowHiding>
    <OverrideDefaultStartupScreenSettings>false</OverrideDefaultStartupScreenSettings>
    <UsePauseScreen>false</UsePauseScreen>
    <PauseAutoHotkeyScript />
    <ResumeAutoHotkeyScript />
    <OverrideDefaultPauseScreenSettings>false</OverrideDefaultPauseScreenSettings>
    <SuspendProcessOnPause>false</SuspendProcessOnPause>
    <ForcefulPauseScreenActivation>false</ForcefulPauseScreenActivation>
    <LoadStateAutoHotkeyScript />
    <SaveStateAutoHotkeyScript />
    <ResetAutoHotkeyScript />
    <SwapDiscsAutoHotkeyScript />
    <CustomDosBoxVersionPath />
    <ReleaseType />
    <VideoUrl />
    <AndroidBoxFrontThumbPath />
    <AndroidBoxFrontFullPath />
    <AndroidClearLogoThumbPath />
    <AndroidClearLogoFullPath />
    <AndroidBackgroundPath />
    <AndroidBackgroundThumbPath />
    <AndroidGameTitleScreenshotThumbPath />
    <AndroidGameplayScreenshotThumbPath />
    <AndroidGameTitleScreenshotPath />
    <AndroidGameplayScreenshotPath />
    <AndroidVideoPath />
    <HasCloudSynced>false</HasCloudSynced>
</Game>

[C-Beats]

ID should be a GUID, not a string. I'd start by changing that. Outside of the fact that you're also missing the application path required to actually launch these games that's the only thing that immediately stood out as wrong.

[Zhiro90]

Tried this one

<Game>
    <GogAppId />
    <OriginAppId />
    <OriginInstallPath />
    <VideoPath />
    <ThemeVideoPath />
    <ApplicationPath>..\Game Folders\Test\Test.exe</ApplicationPath>
    <CommandLine />
    <Completed>false</Completed>
    <ConfigurationCommandLine />
    <ConfigurationPath />
    <DateAdded>2024-07-04T10:56:51.931641-06:00</DateAdded>
    <DateModified>2024-07-04T10:56:51.9693808-06:00</DateModified>
    <Developer>Alexander Ocias</Developer>
    <DosBoxConfigurationPath />
    <Emulator />
    <Favorite>false</Favorite>
    <ID>312ca8d9-c0cb-4265-9472-d0f48727cb6c</ID>
    <ManualPath />
    <MusicPath />
    <Notes>A quiet space for you.The Yearning Tree is a work in Unity3D WebGL. It is free to experience, and can be played in your browser immediately here: https://ocias.com/games/the-yearning-tree/Estimated play time: 2 minutes.A game by Alex Ocias with audio by Stefano Guzzetti. Built in Unity3D for WebGL.</Notes>
    <Platform>Windows</Platform>
    <Publisher>itch.io</Publisher>
    <Rating>Not Rated</Rating>
    <ReleaseDate>2011-05-19T02:00:00-05:00</ReleaseDate>
    <RootFolder />
    <ScummVMAspectCorrection>false</ScummVMAspectCorrection>
    <ScummVMFullscreen>false</ScummVMFullscreen>
    <ScummVMGameDataFolderPath />
    <ScummVMGameType />
    <SortTitle />
    <Source>itch.io</Source>
    <StarRatingFloat>0</StarRatingFloat>
    <StarRating>0</StarRating>
    <CommunityStarRating>0</CommunityStarRating>
    <CommunityStarRatingTotalVotes>0</CommunityStarRatingTotalVotes>
    <Status>Imported from itch.io</Status>
    <DatabaseID />
    <WikipediaURL />
    <Title>Back The Yearning Tree</Title>
    <UseDosBox>false</UseDosBox>
    <UseScummVM>false</UseScummVM>
    <Version />
    <Series />
    <PlayMode>Multiplayer</PlayMode>
    <Region />
    <PlayCount>0</PlayCount>
    <PlayTime>0</PlayTime>
    <Portable>false</Portable>
    <Hide>false</Hide>
    <Broken>false</Broken>
    <CloneOf />
    <Genre>Action</Genre>
    <MissingVideo>false</MissingVideo>
    <MissingBoxFrontImage>false</MissingBoxFrontImage>
    <MissingScreenshotImage>false</MissingScreenshotImage>
    <MissingMarqueeImage>false</MissingMarqueeImage>
    <MissingClearLogoImage>false</MissingClearLogoImage>
    <MissingBackgroundImage>false</MissingBackgroundImage>
    <MissingBox3dImage>false</MissingBox3dImage>
    <MissingCartImage>false</MissingCartImage>
    <MissingCart3dImage>false</MissingCart3dImage>
    <MissingManual>false</MissingManual>
    <MissingBannerImage>false</MissingBannerImage>
    <MissingMusic>false</MissingMusic>
    <UseStartupScreen>false</UseStartupScreen>
    <HideAllNonExclusiveFullscreenWindows>false</HideAllNonExclusiveFullscreenWindows>
    <StartupLoadDelay>0</StartupLoadDelay>
    <HideMouseCursorInGame>false</HideMouseCursorInGame>
    <DisableShutdownScreen>false</DisableShutdownScreen>
    <AggressiveWindowHiding>false</AggressiveWindowHiding>
    <OverrideDefaultStartupScreenSettings>false</OverrideDefaultStartupScreenSettings>
    <UsePauseScreen>false</UsePauseScreen>
    <PauseAutoHotkeyScript />
    <ResumeAutoHotkeyScript />
    <OverrideDefaultPauseScreenSettings>false</OverrideDefaultPauseScreenSettings>
    <SuspendProcessOnPause>false</SuspendProcessOnPause>
    <ForcefulPauseScreenActivation>false</ForcefulPauseScreenActivation>
    <LoadStateAutoHotkeyScript />
    <SaveStateAutoHotkeyScript />
    <ResetAutoHotkeyScript />
    <SwapDiscsAutoHotkeyScript />
    <CustomDosBoxVersionPath />
    <ReleaseType />
    <VideoUrl />
    <AndroidBoxFrontThumbPath />
    <AndroidBoxFrontFullPath />
    <AndroidClearLogoThumbPath />
    <AndroidClearLogoFullPath />
    <AndroidBackgroundPath />
    <AndroidBackgroundThumbPath />
    <AndroidGameTitleScreenshotThumbPath />
    <AndroidGameplayScreenshotThumbPath />
    <AndroidGameTitleScreenshotPath />
    <AndroidGameplayScreenshotPath />
    <AndroidVideoPath />
    <HasCloudSynced>false</HasCloudSynced>
</Game>

It doesn't show up and actually upon closing launchbox, the entry disappears from windows.xml! Only if I set platform to anything else (such as windows 2) does it show up in the library, and gets deleted if I change the platform back to windows from within launchbox (same behavior as before, basically).

Edited July 8 by Zhiro90

[C-Beats]

You didn't make a copy of the Windows.xml file and leave it in that folder by chance did you? The issues you're running into sounds like the type of issue that occurs when there is a backup/copy file in the data folder. If there is you need to move it out of the folder and then try again.

[Zhiro90]

That was it! I was backing up the old windows xml as windows.xml.bak in the same folder. Moving it to a different folder solved the issue. Thank you so much! (curiously it seems to work with a string ID, but i'll keep the GUIDs)

Edited July 9 by Zhiro90