VLC Deprecated – LaunchBox Now Uses Windows Media Player for Video Playback

[AstroBob]

With the release of LaunchBox 13.21, we’ve officially switched our default video playback engine to Windows Media Player (Legacy) and are deprecating VLC.

This change should improve stability and compatibility going forward, but if you’re experiencing black screen issues or missing playback, we’ve put together a detailed support article to help you out:

👉 Read the full article here

Feel free to use this thread for any questions, feedback, or discussion!

[ransuco]

Hello, I tested video playback with the K Lite Codec Pack, and on some videos, the Windows Player crashed, while the videos worked fine with the MPC Player. Why force the Windows Player in Launchbox when the MPC Player works fine?

Sincerely,

Edited May 1 by ransuco

[trueanimus]

you may want to look into adding pot player instead, i have been using it for a while now and it seems far more stable than media player or vlc

 

[andyco47]

dont cus windows media player is not working for me i have to stay on 13.20. i have tryed everything i can thing of and it still not working just get black screen

what is the difference between Windows Media Player (Legacy) and windows media player ??

in my Windows Features window, expand Media Feature only says windows media player and not Windows Media Player (Legacy)

Edited June 7 by andyco47

[Technous285]

As someone running Windows 11 23H2 (on a Ryzen 9 5900X with RX 6900XT) and Feature-Locked the system using Group Policy Editor to prevent Microsoft from shoving updates down my throat that are more likely to gimp my system than to help anything - I have just updated to LaunchBox 13.22 and had to set it to use VLC as I am unable to get Windows Media Player (Legacy) to install due to the various lockdowns I've had to apply to prevent Windows Updates from gimping my system and hogging my limited-bandwidth connection (barely 25/5mbps on a good day. There are literally no better options where I live than Optus 4G "Mobile Broadband" with a bandwidth cap of 25/5mbps in exchange for no data cap in my part of Rural NSW, Australia).

I'd happily finally drop Win11 23H2 to go with my Linux Mint Cinnamon 22 install full-time, if there was a Linux version of LaunchBox (that didn't need bodging with Lutris or Protontricks), as otherwise I'm doing my best to keep my gaming system free of Microsoft's forced junk like CoPilot, which would gimp the performance of my system if I loosened the lockdowns enough to allow for WMP (Legacy) to be installed.