FAQ: LaunchBox Plugin Manager - Everything You Need to Know

[AstroBob]

Hi Folks,

In LaunchBox 13.15 we introduced the plugin manager. While plugins have always been part of LaunchBox in various forms, this update drastically overhauls how you manage them. So we wanted to share some insight and answer some frequently asked questions. 🧑‍🏫

 

What are plugins? ⚒️
Plugins are extensions to LaunchBox that provide additional functionality. There are official plugins that have been built into the app (e.g. our RetroArch integration) and plugins that have been created by our community members (we even have an entire section on the forum where users share their incredible creations). Installing community-made plugins currently requires manually moving files to LaunchBox’s plugins directory.

 

What is the new plugin manager? 🧰
The new plugin manager simplifies installing and managing plugins. It provides a unified interface to see installed plugins, check for updates, repair and uninstall them. It can be accessed from Tools > Manage > Plugins

 

Are community-made plugins compatible with the plugin manager? 🤖
Not yet, currently only official LaunchBox plugins are supported by the new plugin manager. However, we eventually want to allow community-made plugins to be installed and managed here, allowing you to manage all your plugins in one place. When that happens, it will require plugins to be updated by their developers to be compatible with the new framework. For now, community plugins can still be installed manually.

 

What are the default emulator plugins pre-installed with LaunchBox? 🕹️
LaunchBox 13.15 comes with a few plugins already pre-installed. Historically, we've included an integration with RetroArch, allowing us to install, manage and update the emulator for you. Moving forward, we want to apply the same thinking to more emulators.

LaunchBox 13.15 comes with plugins for popular emulators like Dolphin, PCSX2, MAME, ScummVM and RetroArch to help manage their installation and configuration.

 

What is the difference between LaunchBox's emulator plugin, and the emulator itself? 🛎️
This is an important distinction, the emulator plugin is simply used to manage the installation of the emulator and is not the emulator itself. 
That means that updating an emulator plugin, DOES NOT update the emulator.

 

Why did you change this? 🤔
There are some major advantages to this new framework.

We can quickly fix issues with plugins independently from a LaunchBox update, resulting in faster updates to smaller parts of the app. This is particularly beneficial for emulators, which frequently change, ensuring stability even with major updates. A recent example here was when Dolphin rolled out RetroAchievements, it required a specific version of Dolphin to run, we were able to instantly push out an update to our Dolphin plugin that ensured we were grabbing the correct Dolphin version for users. This change also allows us to scan and manage emulator dependency files, such as required BIOS files.

This also helps maintain the functionality of older LaunchBox versions. For example, users on version 13.15 can still receive plugin updates to fix plugin-related features without needing to be on the latest version of LaunchBox.

 

So how do I actually update my emulators? 💽
Go to Tools > Manage > Emulators. For supported emulators, you will see the current version, and a status column indicating if an update to that emulator is available.

To update, edit the emulator, and then select the *update* button.

 

Will you support more emulators as plugins in the future? 🤩
Yes, we plan to support more popular emulators as plugins. In fact, has anyone checked their plugin manager recently?  You might have seen a new addition that will be getting an announcement soon (I'll give you a hint, there's a big "P" in the name 😉).

 

Known Issues ❗
We have seen reports from some users who are getting errors relating to access rights on the default plugin directories. This has been reported when opening LaunchBox, or when opening BigBox via LaunchBox and will usually result in an error that looks like this

Access to the path '\LaunchBox\Plugins\[Emulator]' is denied.

To address this, please try the following steps:

1) Right-click your LaunchBox > Plugins directory and make sure "Read-Only" is unchecked.
2) For the affected plugin, go into the plugin manager and select the option to "repair" the plugin

EDIT: As of LaunchBox 13.16 these issues should have been addressed

 

What does the future look like for the plugin manager? 🌐
While we're initially focused on adding plugins for popular emulators, we plan to create new plugins for a host of LaunchBox functionality. The goal is to give the user a modular framework to allow them to tailor LaunchBox to their needs, and eventually combine the incredible creations from our community in a single interface.

We're just getting started! 🚀