LaunchBox 13.19 - Beta Thread

[skizzosjt]

47 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

I just wanted to pass this along concerning VLC . . I have noticed that the colors are not matching correctly in BB when I use VLC. For example, if I create a background color and use it in a theme and use the same hex code I am using in Photoshop, it looks correct if I use WMP in the BB theme. If I use VLC, the colors do not match. This has been happening in the previous and current versions of VLC used in LB/BB

The surrounding color of the video snap in top right corner are supposed to be the same like in the 2nd SS

Using current VLC

 

Using WMP

as far as I know the difference you notice is to be expected across a VLC vs WMP comparison. I've noticed the same thing. it's video player A handles colors different than video player B. if you want to bore yourself to death then read up on how different media players impact colors.

[The Papaw]

4 minutes ago, skizzosjt said:

as far as I know the difference you notice is to be expected across a VLC vs WMP comparison. I've noticed the same thing. it's video player A handles colors different than video player B. if you want to bore yourself to death then read up on how different media players impact colors.

LOL, not hardly. I was just reporting to the LB team. A color hex code should be universal. There are many reasons the colors could show differently for each user. The OS, GPU or GPU driver, player, etc.. 

This wasn't noticeable to me in LB in the past, as I had always used VLC, but like others now having to use WMP which sucks because I have to covert all my .webm video snaps to .mp4. Maybe the Team needs to investigate it more as more as more folks seem to be encountering the issues with VLC.???

[JoeViking245]

13 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

having to use WMP which sucks because I have to covert all my .webm video snaps to .mp4.

Or.... install the .webm codec on your computer for Windows Media Player. Once you do that they should play.

[C-Beats]

12 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

like others now having to use WMP which sucks because I have to covert all my .webm video snaps to .mp4.

Just need to install the codec afaik. In Microsoft Store search for "Web Media Extensions" (without quotes) and install that, should play fine after.

[skizzosjt]

26 minutes ago, The Papaw said:

LOL, not hardly. I was just reporting to the LB team. A color hex code should be universal. There are many reasons the colors could show differently for each user. The OS, GPU or GPU driver, player, etc.. 

This wasn't noticeable to me in LB in the past, as I had always used VLC, but like others now having to use WMP which sucks because I have to covert all my .webm video snaps to .mp4. Maybe the Team needs to investigate it more as more as more folks seem to be encountering the issues with VLC.???

you're right about hex, it is universal. but that isn't the issue. if media player A "color manages" a particular file type or any file at that, different than media player B, it's gonna be different. if you only ever used one chances are you would never notice the difference. also chances are you notice the difference because of the theme you use, having colors match solid colors in videos. other themes may not really highlight this ordeal. you can see this difference by playing the videos in VLC and WMP in Windows. it's like why colors look different across different displays, except this due to software rather than hardware.

[The Papaw]

9 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

Or.... install the .webm codec on your computer for Windows Media Player. Once you do that they should play.

 

8 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

Just need to install the codec afaik. In Microsoft Store search for "Web Media Extensions" (without quotes) and install that, should play fine after.

Thx fella's. I have the Web Media Extensions package installed. 

I've done converted all the snaps and I still have the color issues that I was reporting

Here;s a quote from Microsofts site:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-11-windows-media-player-unable-to-open/ba731365-8f2f-4a50-8c21-003cb6a36a3c

"Unfortunately, Media Player doesn't support all webm files codecs even if you install the Web Media Extensions codecs from Microsoft Store
However, you can use 3rd party player such as a VLC media player to play all the webm files without a problem"

[C-Beats]

Yeah, that extension should work for anything LB grabs by default though

[The Papaw]

12 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

Yeah, that extension should work for anything LB grabs by default though

No biggy my friend, just sharing what I see. If I had to take a guess, I would have to say my color issue is more related to themes created with CTC as Dave doesn't support VLC like WMP??? 😉

Edited 15 hours ago by The Papaw

[Cineaste]

On 2/11/2025 at 8:15 PM, faeran said:

I did some extensive testing to see if I could reproduce what you are seeing. I set up a new version of LaunchBox, created relative paths to both ROMs and Emulators, but they launched just fine. I then set up a network drive version of LaunchBox, set up network UNC paths that were relative to both ROMs and Emulators, but everything worked as intended.

My LB installation folder is a symbolic link pointing to another drive (moved LB from HDD to SSD). The moment I update to 13.19 all my roms and emulators are unavailable. Switching back to 13.18 fixes it.

Is there something I can do?

[faeran]

5 minutes ago, Cineaste said:

My LB installation folder is a symbolic link pointing to another drive (moved LB from HDD to SSD). The moment I update to 13.19 all my roms and emulators are unavailable. Switching back to 13.18 fixes it.

Is there something I can do?

Can you be more specific to what exactly is your symbolic link and how you are utilizing it?

[Cineaste]

8 minutes ago, faeran said:

Can you be more specific to what exactly is your symbolic link and how you are utilizing it?

This is what it looks like:

LB used to run on D drive before moving to E drive. To avoid the need of updating file paths, I set up a symlink to trick LB into thinking it was still installed on D drive. Does that make sense? I think something changed in the logic for 13.19.

Edited 11 hours ago by Cineaste

[Fursphere]

I used to do a symlink for launchbox.   I finally just gave up on that. 

[MrDeKat]

On 2/11/2025 at 7:36 PM, faeran said:

That could do it, if that's the case for everyone, that should be fixed internally already.

With the last version which appeared today, the achievements and metadata of all platforms work correctly. Thanks for this solution so quick!!!!

[Sbaby]

I just wanted to contribute to the discussion by sharing my experience: in the past, I had created symbolic links for the folders LaunchBox/Videos, LaunchBox/Images/Cache-BB, and LaunchBox\Images\Cache-LB, pointing to a much more performant NVMe hard drive. After updating to version 13.19, I haven't encountered any issues, the symbolic links remained intact and continue to work correctly.

[faeran]

4 hours ago, Cineaste said:

This is what it looks like:

LB used to run on D drive before moving to E drive. To avoid the need of updating file paths, I set up a symlink to trick LB into thinking it was still installed on D drive. Does that make sense? I think something changed in the logic for 13.19.

Ok, interesting. I just set that same thing up, but not seeing an issue, games are still running fine, so something else also must be configured. If you can, zip up your data folder and PM it to me, maybe that will give us some clues.

3 hours ago, Sbaby said:

I just wanted to contribute to the discussion by sharing my experience: in the past, I had created symbolic links for the folders LaunchBox/Videos, LaunchBox/Images/Cache-BB, and LaunchBox\Images\Cache-LB, pointing to a much more performant NVMe hard drive. After updating to version 13.19, I haven't encountered any issues, the symbolic links remained intact and continue to work correctly.

Good to know.

4 hours ago, MrDeKat said:

With the last version which appeared today, the achievements and metadata of all platforms work correctly. Thanks for this solution so quick!!!!

Good deal.