LaunchBox 13.19 Big Box startup videos won't load

[leefaster]

Upgraded to 13.19 now bigbox startup video does not load. It goes straight to platforms. I have the folder startup in videos with the video file called startup in it. I am using the default theme. Any ideas?

This worked fine in 13.15 which i upgraded from

Edited February 16 by leefaster
added info

[AstroBob]

Hi @leefaster I've broken this out into a new topic, since after giving this a quick test, startup videos do appear to still be working correctly on our side.

To confirm how you need to have set this up

• Inside your LaunchBox\Videos folder, you need to create a directory called startup. 
• In that directory is where you place your startup videos (it doesn't matter what those are called)

If that isn't how you've got it setup, can you confirm what your directory setup looks like, and what you've named each of your folders and files?

Cheers,

[leefaster]

Hi Bob,

As I said in my original post in Launchbox\videos I have the folder named startup and in this the video which is named startup. I have rolled back to Launchbox 13.15 and everything works. Will probably stick with 13.15 as this seems stable on my Arcade Cab. Thanks for looking.

[Argasoth]

I am having the same issue. It used to work ok in 13.19 (as in it would do it most of the time) - I just updated to 13.20 and now I never get a start-up video. Videos are in C:\Lunchbox\video\startup\ and were working fine before the update.

 

Edited March 2 by Argasoth

[JimmyKudo]

Hello,

 

I am having this issue as well. Everything is set up correctly. Followed the YouTube video too to check for any errors.

[AstroBob]

Hi Folks, 

For those experiencing issues with startup videos after upgrading, it would be great if you could run the following steps to help us narrow down if the issue is with the LaunchBox app or specific LaunchBox builds, since we're unfortunately not able to reproduce this yet. 

Could you try: 

• Install a brand new LaunchBox build in a separate directory (but on the same drive as your current build). 
• Copy over your startup video to this new build, ensuring that in the LaunchBox\Videos folder, you need to create a directory called startup which contains your videos. 

If the startup videos work in this new build, it indicates there is an issue with your existing LaunchBox build, which will help us narrow down next steps.

Cheers,

 

[Jacobjacobs3]

I followed your steps and it did not help unfortunately. I also do not have the option to roll back anywhere that i can find. Thank you

[rick_donculus]

On 3/19/2025 at 7:20 PM, AstroBob said:

Hi Folks, 

For those experiencing issues with startup videos after upgrading, it would be great if you could run the following steps to help us narrow down if the issue is with the LaunchBox app or specific LaunchBox builds, since we're unfortunately not able to reproduce this yet. 

Could you try: 

• Install a brand new LaunchBox build in a separate directory (but on the same drive as your current build). 
• Copy over your startup video to this new build, ensuring that in the LaunchBox\Videos folder, you need to create a directory called startup which contains your videos. 

If the startup videos work in this new build, it indicates there is an issue with your existing LaunchBox build, which will help us narrow down next steps.

Cheers,

 

Hi, AstroBob.

I did as you instructed and installed LB 13.20 into a separate folder.

Created a Launchbox/Videos/startup folder and placed 1 video in it.

Started Big Box, the video plays as desired. Yay!

However, on every subsequent attempt to start BigBox, the video will not play.

I did not make an configuration changes to LB/BB or install any Themes.  Just exit and restart.

Are there any logs I can provide that would help?

Edited April 1 by rick_donculus

[LKADLEC]

I've just done a fresh install as I'm setting up a new cabinet. It doesn't work using 13.21 from a fresh install.

On 3/20/2025 at 12:20 PM, AstroBob said:

Hi Folks, 

For those experiencing issues with startup videos after upgrading, it would be great if you could run the following steps to help us narrow down if the issue is with the LaunchBox app or specific LaunchBox builds, since we're unfortunately not able to reproduce this yet. 

Could you try: 

• Install a brand new LaunchBox build in a separate directory (but on the same drive as your current build). 
• Copy over your startup video to this new build, ensuring that in the LaunchBox\Videos folder, you need to create a directory called startup which contains your videos. 

If the startup videos work in this new build, it indicates there is an issue with your existing LaunchBox build, which will help us narrow down next steps.

Cheers,

 

 

Edited June 9 by LKADLEC

[jlmbkd]

Has there been any updates or fixes to this problem?  I am on 13.24 and the startup videos will still not play.  Videos are in the LaunchBox\Videos\startup folder

[Tsik]

Hi there, I am having the same problem (from 13.20 I think and on) and if I may suggest something that I've tried here, its not a solution to the problem but perhaps it helps a bit to pinpoint where the issue comes from (LaunchBox\PC performance\setup).

Just try and put a BigBox shortcut into "%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp" or per user "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" and restart the PC. BigBox should auto-start right after Windows login. In my case this is the only way I've got BigBox startup video to show up every-single-time! That said I assume perhaps (and I hope not) the issue at least on my end lies on my PC performance [i5-6500 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 8,00 GB RAM and an AMD Radeon (TM) R7 370 Series (2 GB)]. 

Perhaps the developers read this and tell us their opinion.
@AstroBob Thanks in advance.

[robodan79]

I’m having this same problem with startup videos not starting with a fresh install.    
We need a solution for this.    It worked fine with the old VLC player.
Thanks,

Dan

[Bockz69]

Are we getting any king of fix for this?

[Bockz69]

i have noticed that it will work after restarting computer. then after it works the first time it doesn't work again until after restarting pc

[Tsik]

@Bockz69 Thanks for sharing your find, this might help... May I ask about your PC specs? (If you wish to share of course 🙂)

Edited December 15 by Tsik

[Electroball]

I'm having the same problem.  I also thought that restarting the computer fixed it, but I have noticed that even that is hit and miss.  So I tried loading and closing Big Box about 15 times and I noticed that the intro video played roughly one time out of three.

I copied the installation to a different machine and it was exactly the same on that too. 

@Tsik I don't think your performance has anything to do with it as I had the same problem on:

• A PC with a Core i5-12400F @2.50GHz CPU, a NVIDIA GeForce 5060 TI 16GB graphics card and 32GB RAM
• A  laptop with Intel Core i5-9300H @ 2.40GHz, onboard graphics and 16GB RAM

[Tsik]

@Electroball Thank you for the time you spend for testing this. This shows that it is indeed not a performance issue on our end (your PCs are beasts compared to mine). One question if you mind though, have you ever tried instead of restarting BigBox restart the PC itself and start BigBox as sooner as you can after logging in to desktop?
That way only the startup video plays every time for me but only once every restart... 😞 just like @Bockz69's posted above.

Again thanks for sharing your find. 👍

[Electroball]

@Tsik  I copied the BigBox shortcut into my Startup folder and yes I can confirm that it does seem to play the startup video every time in this scenario.  

[Tsik]

Ok that's "one step" good news that this behavior isn't just happening only to me, appending the fact that as you found its not a memory/performance issue then perhaps is something blocking/conflicting the video playback like a startup app or a windows service that before it starts the playback works. Or some-kind of a bug in the LaunchBox/BigBox code that is relative to that. I really don't know what else could be wrong because it seems that this does not affect everyone (even in a fresh/new LaunchBox build).

Edited 20 hours ago by Tsik

[AstroBob]

Hi folks,

Wanted to jump in to provide an update on this, and firstly, apologies for the radio silence and lack of updates here. We’ve been closely following the reports in this thread, but until recently we were unable to reproduce the issue internally. We strongly believe this is related to a combination of specific machine environments, but the good news is that we’ve finally been able to track down a machine that does experience the problem, which gives us something concrete to investigate.

We’re currently digging in to understand exactly where the issue lies and what’s causing it.

 

Frustratingly, as I’m sure many of you are experiencing, the issue is incredibly temperamental. While we do now have a machine that exhibits the behavior, we’re still not able to consistently reproduce it. For example, in my case on a Lenovo Legion Go, I’m seeing behavior similar to what others have reported: the startup video will usually play on the first launch, but on subsequent launches it’s skipped. Some users have reported that restarting Windows causes the video to work again, but only on the first launch after reboot, with later launches skipping it once more. Even that behavior has proven inconsistent for me personally, sometimes the video is skipped even after a fresh restart.

 

That said, as we continue debugging, it would be extremely helpful if anyone affected is willing to share the following details, as they may help us narrow down a common factor:

• Machine specs

• Integrated vs. external graphics

• Windows OS version

• How you’re launching Big Box (standalone EXE, via Windows shell, or launched from within LaunchBox)

• Which startup video are you using (please include a link to the forum download page if possible)

• Whether you have a single startup video or multiple videos in your startup folder

• Confirmation that your startup videos are located in LaunchBox/Videos/Startup

• Which playback engine you’re using (FFMPEG vs. Windows Media Player), and whether switching engines makes any difference

 

We’re continuing to work toward getting to the bottom of this, and we apologize for how long it’s taken to get a solid lead. Once we’re able to consistently reproduce the issue, I’ll likely create a known issue entry so everyone can more easily follow along. In the meantime, I’ll continue to provide updates here as we make progress.

 

Thanks again for your patience and for all the detailed reports, but hopefully we're on the right track to nail this down once and for all