LaunchBox 13.19 Big Box startup videos won't load

[Tsik]

Hey @AstroBob the fact that you being able to track down a machine that does experience the problem is good news and thanks a lot for the update.🙂

Below I provide the information you asked form 1 of the 2 machines I own :

1. Desktop PC Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3220 CPU @ 3.30GHz, 
                          RAM   4,00 GB
                          SSD Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500G
                          Intel(R) HD Graphics (32 MB)
                          Windows 10 (x64)

2. I tried launching BigBox with every-single-way there is (from LaunchBox, from cmd, from BigBox.exe (double click)  but usually from a batch (.bat) file.

3. All the above tested also with a fresh install with no custom plugins installed with just a video in the appropriate folder and the appropriate settings only for that  reason.

4. I use only one video in .mp4 format (link) but edit it (with CupCut) to just 20sec. Also i tried other irrelevant video files in other formats such as .wmv, .mpeg, .m4v, 3gp, .avi).

5. File location bellow:

 

5. Lastly i've being using both FFMPEG and Windows Media Player with the K-Lite basic codec pack installed and updated. as provided by the LaunchBox installer.

Oh and of course the latest LauncBox version 13.24

As a final thing that just right now came to my mind to point out is that I also have VLC media player (v3.0.21) installed on the system but not as a default app.

 

Merry Christmas  to everyone, developers, community members and a massive thank you. 🎄

Edited December 24, 2025 by Tsik

[5thWolf]

Same issues for me only with BigBox playlist/platform videos. Hope this gets figured out soon. My arcade feels broken without the intro videos.
 

[Electroball]

@AstroBobThat sounds promising!  Hopefully my answers will help:

• Machine specs

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

 

• Integrated vs. external graphics

One of each

 

• Windows OS version

Windows 11 25H2

 

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

Standalone EXE, launched from Kodi, or launched from Launchbox: plays videos roughly 1 time in 3

By dropping it into my startup folder - C:\Users\Electroball\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup: Plays startup video every time.

 

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

My own, but I also tried Retro Glitch and that was the same: https://forums.launchbox-app.com/files/file/5234-retro-glitch/

 

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

Tried between 1 and 6.  Makes no difference.

 

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

Confirmed.  This is the path:
"D:\Emulation\FrontEnds\LaunchBox\Videos\Startup\Startup.mp4"

 

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

Tried both.  Makes no difference.

[AstroBob]

Hiya,

Thanks again to everyone who’s taken the time to report this and help us investigate, and apologies for the long gap between updates while we worked through it.

We’ve now created an official Known Issue report covering the Big Box startup video problem. This pulls together what we’ve learned so far, what’s affected, and how we’re approaching a fix, and it’ll be the place we keep updated going forward:

 

👉 Known Issue: Big Box Startup Videos Not Playing Reliably

https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/known-issue-big-box-startup-videos-not-playing-reliably

 

Quick update on progress

• We’ve been able to reproduce the issue internally on specific machines

• Because the issue is extremely inconsistent, we’ve taken the approach of rebuilding the startup video system from the ground up

• Early testing of this new implementation is showing much more reliable behavior across repeated launches

 

The implementation is still in active testing, but we’re confident we’re finally on the right track.

If you’re affected, please follow the Known Issue report above for ongoing updates rather than tracking individual forum replies. If you haven’t already shared system details and would like to help further, the Known Issue post also lists the info that’s most useful for us while testing continues.

Thanks again for your patience and for all the detailed reports, they genuinely made a difference here.

[retr0gamer42]

I have this issue as well and posted the details of my Mini PC I set up to be my Big Box emulation PC exclusively in the ticket.

I was just wondering, did anyone figure out a workaround or method by now to have the startup video play at least more reliable at the start of Big Box, particularly after a fresh boot of Windows? My goal is to keep Windows hidden as well as possible and have a kind of ultimate Super NES Mini experience, however not with Big Box replacing the Windows Shell (at least yet), so I replaced the Windows logo at the Windows loading screen with a Big Box logo, set a Big Box wallpaper at login screen and desktop wallpaper, a Big Box logo as the user logo, the user called Big Box, the desktop is completely hidden and the taskbar hidden by default.

I tried different methods, putting a shortcut of Big Box into the users startup folder and the Task Scheduler with various settings (with and without highest priority, with or without a delay), but it always works about 4 out of 10 times. When closed and launched again manually from the start menu it works most of the time (maybe 9 out of 10 times), however this is of course no fun, I just want to push the power button of the Mini PC, enjoy the startup video and have my controller already in my hands and my friends be impressed 😉

So anything someone figured out by now as a temporary workaround? Or since it is three months later now any news about a fix and a guess when it might be available maybe in a bete release, since I really care about getting this to work this would be a reason for me to test my luck and switch to the beta releases 😄