Noob Question- RetroBeast and KinHank

[Madmax2040]

First let me apologize about being a total noob.  I just downloaded LaunchBox and bought the BigBox premium license.  I really like the videos I've watched showing the layout and ease of adding games.  (Yes I tried searching the forums but didn't find what I was looking for)

Here's my noob question...  I have the RetroBeast 2TB Lightgun drive as well as the 12TB KinHank drive.  They obviously are pre-setup with all the roms, emulators, artwork and everything.  I really don't like the Hyperspin setup, and the RetroBeast is almost impossible (to me at least) to add additional games or systems not already included.  Can I import everything into a new LaunchBox install on a seperate drive, such as the artwork, emulators and everything or just import the roms to the appropriate system folder and let LB download everything?  
As far as the RetroBeast, I like the Lightgun apps that basically setup whatever gun you have and then you're set.  Since that's not a rom, how would I import that into it's own category/wheel selection?  

Basically I don't want multiple front ends/apps and want to make navigating and loading all the games I have as easy as possible for my kids as well as have all the games available from one front end like Big Box.  Oh, I'll be using this on an AtGames Ultimate Arcade Legends using the arcade control panel, but would like to be able to use game controlers for console games and a steering wheel for driving games.   I know...  that's a lot to ask, but first I just want to consolidate everything to one drive and use LaunchBox/Big Box.

Edited February 13 by Madmax2040

[Retro_Rage]

Well I would just use the multi system importer to just import all the roms into Launchbox.

As far as media goes, personally I would download Launchbox's media during import because there are a lot of media types and additional media that it will download. You can always use your own though if it's named the same as either the rom or the game. Just copy it to Launchbox/images/system name/the type of media it is.

On a side note, Launchbox is hands down superior to Hyperspin in my opinion. So Simple, so feature rich and everything you are asking can get done with a few clicks. I switched years ago and have never looked back.

Not the most thurough answer but hope that helps a bit.

[Madmax2040]

Thanks...  I pretty much decided on doing the import and letting LB download all the art and media.  Like you said, I can always add what's on the drive if something is missing.   I have a 20TB drive that should be here tomorrow and I''ll start setting up LaunchBox

How though would I import the light gun calibration and config apps?  On the Beast drive they are on the wheel, you select it and that wheel has everything to get any type of gun configured and calibrated, I really want to keep that functionality.  If there is a way I can just launch the Beast drive from LaunchBox/Big Box and then when I exit the beast drive it goes back to Big Box that would be perfect!  The KinHank drive has a LOT of redundant games as well as systems I can't see ANYONE ever wanting to play on an arcade cab (GameBoy Watch anyone? )

[Retro_Rage]

I don't really use a lightgun with my setup but it sounds like when you click on the wheel in that frontend it probably just executes a bat file. Thats my guess. If it does, then there are probably just files with .bat somewhere on the drive (might also be .cmd). If you just double click on it, it should do the same thing. You can easily just import those into Launchbox the same way you would a regular windows game (i.e. not using an emulator). Launchbox will just launch the bat file in the same way Hyperspin really doesn't have any magic built in or anything to auto setup lightguns (disclaimer, I know there is a new 2 version out but havent tried that yet)

[Madmax2040]

Thanks again for the reply.  One last question...

Can I add to the BigBox wheel?  I mean instead of putting the light gun calibration apps in the Windows collection, can I create another 'Windows' collection and name it Light Gun Apps?  That's how it's set up on Retro Beast.  Actually if possible I'd like to add a CoinOps selection to the wheel that launches the CoinOps drive and run the light gun games from there and then exit CoinOps and it goes back to BigBox.  The only prob I can see is BigBox running in the background and the coinops then the game and things getting bogged down.

[Retro_Rage]

Yes, you can always just import the games again and name it a different platform or... If you just want the same games duplicated just create a playlist. Highlight all the games in Launchbox, right click and click edit/add to playlist/new playlist. If you then check "include this playlist with Platforms" on the bottom, it will essentially be treated the same as a platform. 

As for part 2, since its just running Hyperspin, you can always just import the exe in the root as a windows application (without an emulator) and then just launch it directly. Like you said though, Bigbox will still be running in the background since it thinks it's a game.  The only real way I can see around this would be to create a batch file or something that can kill the Launchbox process and then restart it after. That would be a big pain though and there will be quite a lag waiting for it to close and then re open again. I guess it will really depends on if your system specs can support running without bogging everything down.

[Madmax2040]

Thanks again!

I guess my concern with the RS drive is he seems to have done custom setup and I'm afraid if I just move the gun apps they won't work.  The drive itself with the attract mode video and everything is pretty cool, but he made it almost impossible to add to the wheel and add games in the Light Gun Drive.

My goal is to make this simple and fun so the 12 year old and 15 year old can just load and play without needing to have a degree in computer programming lol.  

[Madmax2040]

If anyone else is interested, I found a GREAT YouTube video on how to import Windows applications (not games) that can be launched from BigBox.  Now I can launch RetroBeast Coinops from Launch Box!!