LaunchBox won't launch Retroarch for Arcade

[fishboxtf]

Hi

I am having issue that all Arcade games in LaunchBox cannot be launched, even though the emulator itself can runs all games without launchbox no problem.

 

Below are the screenshots

Please note, I only use retroarch for arcade but it appears that in associate list there isn't Arcade at all.

No error message, just nothing happens when you try to launch.

 

Thanks

[fishboxtf]

Also, I just noticed ever since I have chosen RetroArch, Launchbox had went on downloaded just about every, single, core that on the list of RetroArch, even though I only has FBNeo to upload! Which means all those junk are there for nothing, went into manage emulator, chosen the core as FBNeo, it can finally start something but with error message saying missing file


Very smart system, and yet it still says missing core.

 

Extremely frustrating!

[JoeViking245]

4 hours ago, fishboxtf said:

Very smart system, and yet it still says missing core.

Yeah, RetroArch is pretty smart when running it from its UI. 

The error message you show is actually referring to your contra.zip ROM.  Specifically, appears it can't find the ROM.

Try un-checking "Remove file extension and folder path".  This way it'll send the full path to where the actual ROM is located.

Then in Associated Platforms, when you added "Arcade" (or whatever you decided to call the platform), make sure "Extract ROM" is un-checked.

[fishboxtf]

Thanks, I will give it a try later, sorry being a noob, but where do I go to un-checking "remove file extension and folder path"?

Much appreicated 

[JoeViking245]

1 hour ago, fishboxtf said:

Thanks, I will give it a try later, sorry being a noob, but where do I go to un-checking "remove file extension and folder path"?

From your 3rd screenshot above...  Tools < Manage < Emulators - select RetroArch.

[fishboxtf]

Hi

Thanks I have also done a clean install this time, under Arcade as emulator and making sure the system doesn't just download a ton of useless cores, also ensureed remove file extension and folder path as well as extract ROM are not ticked

Still nothing

So what else can I do?

 

Thanks

[fishboxtf]

However, If i use the option says Open Arcade and it goes to retroarch and from there the games can be started with no issue

So why can't LaunchBox just start directly?

[fishboxtf]

OK, I figured it out:

two issues when setting up retroarch in LaunchBox that caused the issue - the correct core under emulator management must be selected in order to work

1. upon initial setup, LaunchBox selection of cores does not contain FBNeo core, it has all the other useless ones but not the one I need.

2. upon initial setup, LaunchBox has no selection of Arcade as a choice under Associate platform, this could also be the reason that it constantly view the retroarch has missing cores, as it is constantly assuming that RetroArch is used for other platforms which it didn't detect cores

So the solution would be 

1. do not use the name "retroarch" to setup you emulator, change it's name under whatever, in my case Arcade, then go through normal process, 

2. once it's all set, then edit the emulator, you can then see Arcade is now associated platform, and then chose core, I can finally see FBneo, once it's done, the game will launch from the launchbox.

I really think this is something that could have been ironed out in previous updates, hopefully in future udpates LaunchBox can be smarter.

[JoeViking245]

29 minutes ago, fishboxtf said:

Thanks I have also done a clean install this time, under Arcade as emulator and making sure the system doesn't just download a ton of useless cores, also ensureed remove file extension and folder path as well as extract ROM are not ticked

Still nothing

You called the emulator Arcade, which led LaunchBox to believe it was going to be MAME.  So it auto-filled the command-line parameters and had 2 boxes checked.  You un-checked "Remove file extension...", but you need to also un-check "Remove quotes" like in you first post.

The default command-line parameters that were auto-populated (for MAME) are incorrect for RetroArch. Delete that.

Which brings us to the Associated Platforms section.  You didn't assign the core to the platform. Your 2nd post indicates that it was, in your old install (because you at least got the FBNeo error message.

 

43 minutes ago, fishboxtf said:

However, If i use the option says Open Arcade and it goes to retroarch and from there the games can be started with no issue

That's just because it's just opening RetroArch.  When you start a game directly from the RetroArch front-end, and you tell it (or just load) a FBNeo game, it knows what core it needs to load to make it work.  So it does [work].

 

47 minutes ago, fishboxtf said:

So why can't LaunchBox just start directly?

Because you didn't tell LaunchBox to tell RetroArch which core it needs to use.  

[JoeViking245]

5 minutes ago, fishboxtf said:

OK, I figured it out:

You hit submit reply before I finished typing. lol

Glad you got it working.

[fishboxtf]

The first time I installed, I used RetroArch, and I had two issues

1. associated platform does not contain Arcade, but must have at least one platform selected to proceed

2. there was no Fbneo core, possibly by defauly Launchbox doesn't use Retroarch for arcade

As a result, it turned out to be downloading a whole ton of cores but still cannot open arcade games, once I chose the fbneo core which only shows up after installation, it went on with error screen

this is why I had to do a clean install and use a different name, and this time, under the different name, LaunchBox didn't assume all the platforms and cores, hence allowing me to choose Arcade as associate platform and FBNeo as correct core.

So yeah, there is no way to tell LaunchBox in the first place what I wanted to do.

But all's well if it ends well. So thanks for the help!