This "Image Pack" update broke my understanding of Launchbox, please help.

[SkyHighGam3r]

Ever since the latest update that introduced "image packs" nothing about how LaunchBox/BigBox pulls images in makes sense to me anymore. I used to just go to the folder, pop in the image, reboot and/or refresh image cache and off it went. I already restored "my" images when they were turned off by the update itself, by doing the "legacy" pack thing, but now this folder based image loading doesn't work. 

For example, I have a Playlist called "VR Games" and I made a Clear Logo png for it.
I put it here, but as you can see it will NOT get pulled in by LaunchBox.



I'm having the same problem with things like Platform Icons, where you can see on the left it's a blank space for "Rentals" and "VR Games".

I need help understanding, because if the old folder structure doesn't work, I need to start working in however the new structure works, but I can't figure out how/where any of this is stored or where I am supposed to be putting my art now.

Please help. 
The art/display side of LaunchBox is like 80% of why I love this software so much.
I care less about the games than I do playing with the art systems, and this is making it so much harder.

Edited Sunday at 09:33 PM by SkyHighGam3r

[JoeViking245]

25 minutes ago, SkyHighGam3r said:

Ever since the latest update that introduced "image packs" nothing about how LaunchBox/BigBox pulls images in makes sense to me anymore. I used to just go to the folder, pop in the image, reboot and/or refresh image cache and off it went. I already restored "my" images when they were turned off by the update itself, by doing the "legacy" pack thing, but now this folder based image loading doesn't work. 

There's an article in the LaunchBox Strategy Guide regarding the Media Packs.

See here: LaunchBox Media Pack Feature – Version 13.21 - LaunchBox

[SkyHighGam3r]

13 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

There's an article in the LaunchBox Strategy Guide regarding the Media Packs.

See here: LaunchBox Media Pack Feature – Version 13.21 - LaunchBox

First off, thank you for the link to the "Strategy Guide" I don't think I knew this existed, it's now bookmarked with my other documentation references. Very glad to see this is a thing now.

For the Media Packs, just seeing that path to the images/media packs location made it all click together. I had gone into Images looking for something, but I was looking in "I" for image packs, and then "P" for packs haha. This makes way more sense now.

I can see the value in this new structure, and honestly it will make future edits way easier. I wonder if there's any plan to include system backgrounds or "Banners" in future updates, that would be super useful too.

Thanks so much for the help!

[BeemanDev]

Is there any way to disable this and revert back to the original (simpler) structure if you don't want to use Media Packs?

How do "Media Folders" interact with the existing folders? Is the 
"Images\Platforms\<PlatformName>\Clear Logo\"
folder now deprecated but the 
"Images\Platforms\<PlatformName>\Banner" (Device, FanArt) 
folders still in use?

Are these folders also now deprecated?:-
LB\Images\Badges, LB\Images\Platform Categories, LB\Images\Platform Icons 

It seems now I must create a
"LB\Images\Media Packs\Platform Clear Logos\<My Media Pack Name>\Platforms"
folder and insert my logos in there and then enable it via Tools\Manage\LaunchBox Themes and Media for them to override the default LB ones in "LB\Images\Media Packs\Platform Clear Logos\Nostalgic Platform Clear Logos"

And later also do this also for banners, fanart and other things?

I use my own much simpler structure and symlink LB to it, but Media Packs adds an extra layer of complexity and confusion as to where the images originate from and needing to enable/disable them within LB. If a single LB Media pack covered logos, banners, icons, fanart for Badges Platform, Playlist, Category it would be clearer and the pack could just contain only what you wanted to override. Having a different pack per type seems a bit too granular and over complicated imo.

I've read this BTW
https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/1902408-creating-platform-clear-logo-media-packs-for-launchbox-and-big

Edited Tuesday at 05:42 PM by BeemanDev
edit

[C-Beats]

Easiest way to use a single location for everything is to drop logos in \\LaunchBox\Images\Media Packs\Overrides\Platform Clear Logos. It only supports a single file per entity but if you dump the art there (or point the symlinks) to it correctly it'll work like it always had and then you can manage the logos per platform, category, and playlist via the Add/Edit window (they show as Clear Logo (Override))

[BeemanDev]

OK if I put them here they get picked up and I don't need to make any changes in LB
\\LaunchBox\Images\Media Packs\Overrides\Platform Clear Logos\Platforms\<PlatformName>.png

It is a bit different structurally to before as they would be in 
\\LB\Images\Platforms\<PlatformName>\Clear Logo\<PlatformName>.png

But what about the other media like Banner, they stay where they were? Gonna get confusing but...

[C-Beats]

22 minutes ago, BeemanDev said:

OK if I put them here they get picked up and I don't need to make any changes in LB
\\LaunchBox\Images\Media Packs\Overrides\Platform Clear Logos\Platforms\<PlatformName>.png

It is a bit different structurally to before as they would be in 
\\LB\Images\Platforms\<PlatformName>\Clear Logo\<PlatformName>.png

But what about the other media like Banner, they stay where they were? Gonna get confusing but...

Logos and Icons I believe were the only platform related that has moved at this time.

[BeemanDev]

I tried putting Platform Icons in 
\\LB\Images\Media Packs\Overrides\Platform Icons\Platforms\<PlatformName>.png
but they didn't get picked up, they don't seem to get picked up from 
\\LB\Images\Platform Icons\Platforms

where they used to be anymore either, I checked LB v13.19 and they still work fine there.

I even tried putting them in
\\LB\Images\Media Packs\Platform Icons\Nostalgic Platform Icons\Platforms
So I'm not sure where LB expects them to be now?

TBH I've spent about 6 hours wrestling with this, I just swapped back in the core folder and lb root files to v 13.19 I have and everything works fine again. This 13.21 update definitely causes a lot of issues. Maybe If you could add an option to disable "Media Packs" entirely, that would be helpful so if Users have issues they can simply turn them off.

Edited Tuesday at 11:28 PM by BeemanDev

[C-Beats]

2 hours ago, BeemanDev said:

I tried putting Platform Icons in 
\\LB\Images\Media Packs\Overrides\Platform Icons\Platforms\<PlatformName>.png
but they didn't get picked up, they don't seem to get picked up from 
\\LB\Images\Platform Icons\Platforms

where they used to be anymore either, I checked LB v13.19 and they still work fine there.

I even tried putting them in
\\LB\Images\Media Packs\Platform Icons\Nostalgic Platform Icons\Platforms
So I'm not sure where LB expects them to be now?

TBH I've spent about 6 hours wrestling with this, I just swapped back in the core folder and lb root files to v 13.19 I have and everything works fine again. This 13.21 update definitely causes a lot of issues. Maybe If you could add an option to disable "Media Packs" entirely, that would be helpful so if Users have issues they can simply turn them off.

I'll have to check the code tomorrow when I'm back on my dev machine. I can't remember if theme overrides are higher priority than your personal one. If so this could be related to the theme you are using. Some themes have their own (I believe Big Default for example does this)

[BeemanDev]

FYI I've not changed the theme for LaunchBox or BigBox from the default.
I just swapped in an older different version  leaving all other data unchanged and it came back to life again, a joy to behold!
Maybe if the default nostalgia pack could be disabled and then LB would fall back to use the old structure (at least for a few more versions), that would offer backward compatibility for any issues and aid in bug detection, though IIRC you remove files from the old folders.

Edited 9 hours ago by BeemanDev