Persistent Bug - Crash of LaunchBox at Displaying ISO Path on External Disk (H:)

[Sbaby]

Hi,

I would like to report a bug already reported in December 2023, which unfortunately has not yet been fixed and continues to be very annoying. The problem manifests itself as a complete crash of LaunchBox, forcing me to manually intervene in Activity Manager to terminate the process. I believe the crash happens when I attempt to display the ISO path to my PlayStation 3 library in the platform management menu, which resides entirely on an external disk (H:) that is not connected at that time. In fact, if I connect the disk and H: is present, the crash does not occur.

It would be very helpful if this problem could be solved, as I do not wish to keep my 4 TB external disk connected to the computer at all times, preferring to use it primarily on the PlayStation 3 console.

I have uploaded a demonstration video of the problem in the discussion regarding beta 13.9, which may be helpful to verify the described behavior.

 

Video download here : https://forums.launchbox-app.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=103542&key=6273a923bc974065854487d41c8bd3b8

 

I hope you will seriously consider this report, considering that a year has already passed 🙏

Edited October 30 by Sbaby

[AstroBob]

Hi @Sbaby 

Thanks for the report and apologies for the delayed follow-up. Firstly, thank you for the detailed reproduction video of the crash. I can confirm that this is a known issue, and we’re able to reproduce it on our end. This issue has been known for some time and is tied to how LaunchBox’s core handles missing file paths in the “Manage Platforms” window or when editing a platform. When a platform’s game directory is on an external drive that gets disconnected, LaunchBox attempts to locate that path, leading to the crash.

Without diving too deeply into technical details, this logic is fundamentally embedded in LaunchBox’s core system. Addressing it would require a significant rewrite of this core architecture. We have an ongoing initiative aimed at reworking LaunchBox’s underlying structure, which we discussed in our recent AMA (attached here). I completely understand any frustration and confusion why it may seem that a relatively simple issue would require such a substantial effort to resolve. Unfortunately, this is a side effect of LaunchBox’s aging architecture. We recognize the need for some fundamental architectural changes to address issues like this more effectively in the future.

That said, we closely monitor error reports and are aware of how frequently this crash affects our users. Based on usage data, we know this impacts a small portion of our community, and LaunchBox’s functionality in most areas remains intact when paths are missing. For now, we don’t have immediate plans to address this specific issue, though it’s likely to be resolved as part of the ongoing fundamentals rework.

I realize this isn’t an ideal short-term solution, and it’s frustrating to hear we’re not able to provide an immediate fix, especially as this has affected your workflow. However, I hope a transparent answer on where we stand helps clarify our thinking and the reasons this hasn’t been addressed yet.

I apologize that I’m not able to offer a more immediate solution today, but please be assured the team is aware of this. We’re hopeful that with the ongoing rework of LaunchBox’s codebase, issues like this will eventually be resolved and lead to an even better experience for our users.

Please let me know if you have any further questions. I’d be happy to discuss this further.