Is there a proper documentation for Launchbox and BigBox somewhere? Besides lengthy youtube tutorials?

[retroernie]

Hi,

I purchased Premium recently and the app is working fine, but the fact that there is no proper documentation drives me crazy. Sometimes I just want a quick reference for something specific, for example an overview for controlling BigBox by keyboard or stuff like that. I don't want to watch hours of youtube videos to find this information. The forums are not very convenient as a reference for certain things. Sure, I can ask for everything right here in the noobs channel, but I would really prefer an actual documentation.

Did I overlook anything?

(Also, I'm somewhat annoyed that I have to register with BitBucket just to request a feature...)

Edited October 13 by retroernie

[JoeViking245]

2 hours ago, retroernie said:

I purchased Premium recently and the app is working fine, but the fact that there is no proper documentation drives me crazy. Sometimes I just want a quick reference for something specific, for example an overview for controlling BigBox by keyboard or stuff like that. I don't want to watch hours of youtube videos to find this information. The forums are not very convenient as a reference for certain things. Sure, I can ask for everything right here in the noobs channel, but I would really prefer an actual documentation.

Did I overlook anything?

(Also, I'm somewhat annoyed that I have to register with BitBucket just to request a feature...)

The menu systems in LaunchBox/BigBox are designed to be 'somewhat' intuitive.  Ya, you'll need to look through them to see what's there.  For your example you go to the System Menu < Options < Keyboard Mapping.  Fortunately, there's not a bazillion menus/sub-menus to navigate through like you'd find in, say, PhotoShop. (maybe not the best example. But you get the idea.)

The search feature here on the Forums is 'OK', at best.  But you kind of need to know exactly what you're looking for.  No fuzzy matching of search terms.  I'm sure you'll find that the case on any forum.

I find that internet search engines (i.e. Google) can do a real good job of finding what you need.  When searching, start the query with LaunchBox (or BigBox) and then the terms you're looking for.  i.e. "BigBox keyboard control".  The 2nd hit on that search was a Reddit post "How to control BigBox with the keyboard?".

 

So you might could say, the Forums is the documentation, and Google is the index.  

[retroernie]

Thanks for elaborating. I agree, the application itself is quite intuitive and the menu structure is not too complex to get a good overview. Also, searching on google (or reddit) works quite well. I'm not so happy about the forums for many (common) reasons; for example, some things are outdated and even in cases where there is an accepted answer, it is often necessary to read further for some important context. I sometimes feel lost in tangential aspects.

Still, I would prefer a quicker and less lateral-thinking way to access some information. The keyboard control question was just meant as an example for something that could easily be referenced on the website itself. I guess I'm just a bit old fashioned as I'm used to getting into new apps by reading and later coming back to some central documentation. I also learned that it's quite common for gamers to just refer to youtube videos without much further explanation; this is something I probably won't get used to 😞

[AstroBob]

Hey @retroernie,  thanks for sharing your concerns. Like you, I also prefer having searchable documentation and everything in one central place.

The main reason we haven’t done this in the past is due to the rapidly changing nature of emulation. While LaunchBox itself isn’t overly complex, the real power—and complexity—comes from the vast number of workflows that can be configured (emulation, media, metadata, plugins, etc.). Historically, we’ve leaned on YouTube to cover these workflows in-depth, which is why our videos tend to focus on specific themes or topics, showcasing a variety of features within LaunchBox.

However, as you pointed out, these videos can quickly become outdated because of frequent updates to both emulators and LaunchBox itself. While forums and places like Reddit do provide useful information, I agree that it’s far from perfect and requires users to know exactly where and how to search to get the best results.

That said, official documentation is something we’ve discussed internally. If we were to pursue this, it would require a significant rewrite of most of our content to ensure we’re presenting the most up-to-date workflows. Although we don’t have immediate plans for this right now, we are actively reassessing whether it’s a project we can undertake. We’re a small team, and most of our resources are focused on development, but I completely agree that an app that facilitates a level of complexity would benefit greatly from a centralized reference.

I appreciate this doesn't resolve any of your immediate concerns, but I hope this helps clarify our thinking here, and we really appreciate your feedback.

[BigLee]

Only videoed I have seen, I’m premium also but I still can’t get LB to work .

[cpujunkie]

A nice wiki database thing like the retroarch/libretro wiki