LaunchBox auto populate too many empty folders inside the “Retroarch\saves” directory at startup due to the new (early access) save management capabilities in version 13.16!

[Tsik]

Hi everyone,

I would like to address this one in case someone shares any information about this issue, but first let me explain the problem I have with more detail:

 

1^st of all I must say that I LOVE this new feature and I find it super useful in every way! 😃

2^nd I understand that this feature is in early access but I would like to point the issue at this point in time so that the developers keep it in mind for the future updates (if they are not already know it).

 

Now to the point.

My retroarch.cfg file is set like this (only the sorting files part):

…

sort_savefiles_by_content_enable = "true"

sort_savefiles_enable = "true"

…

 

As you see both core name AND content directory sorting are enabled.

This allows me to use multiple cores for the same system and take advantage of the individual cores best features (eg. N.E.S system with FCEUmm core for light-gun games and Mesen core for all the other games for more accuracy) keeping all of them under the same content directory folder. (eg. “N.E.S\Mesen” and “N.E.S\ FCEUmm”)

 

At the other hand this also allows me to have a more “compact” and organized saves folder rather having every save game file loose in the “\saves” folder, or have in a generic “\saves\core_name” folder with every save-game file loose inside and not mentioning the systems like Naomi 1\2 or Sammy Atomiswave which uses nvram files.

 

Alongside the all the above, some games files (usually those with multiple disks or DosBox games) exist in their own separate folders under their system directory (eg. DosBox “MS-DOS\3DChess\” or some Sharp-X1 games eg. “Sharp X1\Ys (Falcom)\”), so for those games the “saves\core_name” sorting is out of the equation. For those games I use an additional cfg file in “config\core\core_name.cfg or \rom_name.cfg” adding the lines below

…

# Sort Saves ONLY By Core Name:

sort_savefiles_by_content_enable = "false"

…

to override to the retroarch.cfg.

 

So after all this my “\saves” folder structure looks like this:

 

So I use this setup for a very long time and I’m really happy with it.

The problem now begins as LaunchBox starts, reads (i suppose) the retroarch.cfg file and starts auto-populate saves folders in order to find those save files which then makes my saves folder after couple of seconds look like this instead:

(Hint: Look how many items has created!!!) 🤪

 

As you see there are waayy too many folders in there which most of them (except those actually used) are just empty!

The thing is that LaunchBox looks only the retroarch.cfg file and not the additional config files under “config\core\*.cfg” as how to look for save files.

*(could be “core_name.cfg” and\or “content_directory.cfg” and\or “rom_title.cfg”)

 

As I already said i REALY LOVE this save feature and I would like to be able to use it with my current setup, so any kind of enable/disable option in the future as the only way of resolving it will be REALY sad 😔.

 

If anyone has any information about this issue I’m having, perhaps the developers for the upcoming updates I would like to know.

Or if anyone knows or suggests another way of resolving and\or organizing the save files please share.

 

Thank you all in advance. 😀

Edited September 28 by Tsik

[Tsik]

Ok, quick update as i missed in the Beta (13.17) Thread, @faeran wrote :

Quote

 

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Posted September 20

Hi All,

It's time for another beta round. 13.17 beta 1 is out with the following:

• Fixed: Game saves weren't always being detected on startup correctly

We've also added some extra logging which should hopefully help us track down a few of the crash reports some people have been seeing related to the import games bug using the ROM Import wizard or drag/drop wizard, and the delete platform bug. It would be beneficial for a user experiencing either of those to update to this beta, turn on debug logging and get it to crash, then post your logs here.

 

Beta 2:

• Fixed: Microsoft Xbox ISO files could fail to properly be identified using some import methods like the ROM Import Wizard
• Fixed: Resolved an issue that prevented game changes made in the Game Details view from being persisted to the database
• Fixed: Multiple null reference exceptions that could occur under certain conditions
• Fixed: Switching between Text List view to another view in Big Box would sometimes fail to load the correct information in the new view

 

Beta 3:

• Improvement: Optimized the fetching of RetroAchievement hashes to reduce API calls and prevent user timeouts
• Improvement: Disable automatic ROM import for specific platforms in the Edit Platform window
• Improvement: Simplified plugin names for better clarity
• Fixed: Resolved some play time sync issues
• Fixed: Corrected region sorting errors when combining games
• Fixed: The RetroArch plugin no longer creates unnecessary save folders

 

Thanks Everyone.

at the Beta 3 section " RetroArch plugin no longer creates unnecessary save folders"

So i will report back when i will be able to test it.

Thanks ! 😄

Edited October 5 by Tsik

[Tsik]

OK, Reporting back from version 13.17

Everything now works perfect.!!!

Thank you all.

The best community ever.! 😃 😄

[AstroBob]

Thanks for confirming that and for bearing with us while we got this sorted. Much appreciated 🙌