Trying to put all my custom Playlists and genres into one playlist.

[Cnells2000]

i have my launchbox categories here on this screenshot and i want to put all the beat em ups, Rom hacks etc. into one playlist that say Playlists and Genres. then when i open big box if i click that one Platform under the selection list it opens another list with all the playlists & genres. Is this possible?

    

[C-Beats]

What you're asking for is the functionality offered by our "Platform Categories" view. It can be used both in LB and BB. It allows for the use of Categories which acts essentially like a folder that contains other categories, playlists, and platforms and allows for navigation like you're asking about.

[Cnells2000]

On 2/24/2025 at 9:00 AM, C-Beats said:

What you're asking for is the functionality offered by our "Platform Categories" view. It can be used both in LB and BB. It allows for the use of Categories which acts essentially like a folder that contains other categories, playlists, and platforms and allows for navigation like you're asking about.

how would i begin to set this up sir? its kinda confusing

[Retro808]

First when in LB you need to have the view set the "Platform Categories". Then when in that view right click on any item in the left hand pane and choose >Add >New Category. 

Now fill out the details as you want them in the Details tab then in the Parents tab make sure only "Root" is checked. 

Next go to one of your Playlists and right click the name and edit it. Then in the Parents tab uncheck any locations checked there and check only the location for the new Category you made. 

 

Launchbox hierarchy goes like this. 

Category: Categories can contain any number of nested platforms and playlists. Categories can be nested under other categories and under platforms.

Platforms: Platform can have nested Categories and Playlists. Platforms can only be nested under a Category.

Playlists: Playlists can be nested under Categories and Platforms. Playlists cannot have any nested children (other Categories, Platforms, or Playlists).

[Cnells2000]

On 3/9/2025 at 9:46 AM, Retro808 said:

First when in LB you need to have the view set the "Platform Categories". Then when in that view right click on any item in the left hand pane and choose >Add >New Category. 

Now fill out the details as you want them in the Details tab then in the Parents tab make sure only "Root" is checked. 

Next go to one of your Playlists and right click the name and edit it. Then in the Parents tab uncheck any locations checked there and check only the location for the new Category you made. 

 

Launchbox hierarchy goes like this. 

Category: Categories can contain any number of nested platforms and playlists. Categories can be nested under other categories and under platforms.

Platforms: Platform can have nested Categories and Playlists. Platforms can only be nested under a Category.

Playlists: Playlists can be nested under Categories and Platforms. Playlists cannot have any nested children (other Categories, Platforms, or Playlists).

ok so i cant put all of them into a platform.... cant include my category of playlists with platforms

[Retro808]

2 hours ago, Cnells2000 said:

ok so i cant put all of them into a platform.... cant include my category of playlists with platforms

I may be misunderstanding what you mean exactly, but Category can be nested under a platform. You need to make sure in the Parents tab of that Category that you uncheck Root and check the Platform you want it nested under. 

In this pic the first Arcade is the main Platform Category I have all Arcade boards such as Arcade (for Mame), SNK Neo Geo MVS, etc...You can see  I then nested a Category called "Test Playlist Category" under Arcade platform (Mame) then nested a "Test New Playlist" inside that new Category. 

[C-Beats]

3 hours ago, Cnells2000 said:

ok so i cant put all of them into a platform.... cant include my category of playlists with platforms

You need to be in Platform Category view to do what you're doing. You can't add categories to Platform view like you can playlists. That being said like @Retro808 has stated once you're in that view you can arrange things however you want. That view is extremely powerful in how all you can organize your library. You can nest multiple levels as well. Here's a screenshot of some of mine.

[Cnells2000]

i want it nested with a custom platform name i created. i cant see where to implement this. there is no box to check to include this with platforms with this option. i dont want it under nintendo, sega etc. i want it to be a custom platform name. when i go in, i wanted to see all my playlists and genres that i have in there...

[C-Beats]

3 minutes ago, Cnells2000 said:

i want it nested with a custom platform name i created. i cant see where to implement this. there is no box to check to include this with platforms with this option. i dont want it under nintendo, sega etc. i want it to be a custom platform name. when i go in, i wanted to see all my playlists and genres that i have in there...

You can't view categories in platform view. If you want your category at the root and not under anything just set the parent to "Root" and it'll appear there. You can make almost anything you can think of in this view. One thing to remember though is Big Box only shows games at the bottom most levels of your tree. You can't hit a button to view all games in a category for example, you have to select enter and then pick from one of the platforms/playlists that children of it.

If you post up an example of what you want your tree to look like we can maybe help better. Doesn't need to be an image something like:
Consoles > Nintendo > NES > Genres > {List of Genre playlists} (where each '>' means step down a level)

[Retro808]

3 hours ago, Cnells2000 said:

i want it nested with a custom platform name i created. i cant see where to implement this. there is no box to check to include this with platforms with this option. i dont want it under nintendo, sega etc. i want it to be a custom platform name. when i go in, i wanted to see all my playlists and genres that i have in there...

You have to go into the "Parents" tab and tell LB where you want it. 

For example I have a Category called "Playlists" and then in the category I have all of my Playlists. Here is how it is set up.

The first pic shows how it looks in LB. The second pic is the Category Details. Third pic is how the Parents tab looks for the Category (Only "Root" is selected so it falls in the upper most level along with all other Categories"). The last pic is an edit of one playlist and how the Parents tab looks for it (Only the "Playlist (Category)" is checked so it shows up under that category with all other playlists). 

The key is using the "Parents" tab to manipulate where you want things to show up.