Emulator Manager (Question)

[Alan Ribas]

I saw that LaunchBox has a really cool tool for updating the emulators that are installed on it. However, I noticed that not all of them work properly.

As you can see from the screenshot I took (attached), all systems that do not have their version recognized also do not have the possibility of checking their update.

Is there any way to solve this? Some plugin that I haven't installed yet, perhaps?

 

Thank you very much for your help.

[JoeViking245]

Only certain emulators have that feature available.  Generally the more popular (recommended) ones. Which coincidentally are also ones that regularly have updates.  If you go to Tools < Manage < Plugins... you can see which ones are available. (or just at the section your screen comes from. )

[Alan Ribas]

I understand.

But creating this type of plugin for other, not so popular emulators is a lot of work? Well, it's rare to find a frontend that does something like this. And if this feature were extended to other emulators, it would make LaunchBox even more prominent among frontends, in my opinion.

But what exactly do you call popular? Because the emulators Mesen, mGBA, Redream, Duckstation, among others, are the references when it comes to emulating their respective systems. PCSX2 is to the PS2 what Duckstation is to the PS1, for example.

And continuing on the subject, I have a suggestion. Wouldn't it be interesting to create a button in the emulator manager that says "Update All" (so we don't have to click on each one).

Or better yet, an added tool, perhaps in the same place where, once selected, LaunchBox would check for emulator updates after starting the frontend (but without blocking the user. Something running in the background).

In any case, congratulations to the developers. The frontend is excellent.

[JoeViking245]

24 minutes ago, Alan Ribas said:

But creating this type of plugin for other, not so popular emulators is a lot of work?

It can be.  But mostly (aside from programming knowledge) time.

You can always Request A Feature (above under Help & Support).  Be specific.

29 minutes ago, Alan Ribas said:

And continuing on the subject, I have a suggestion. Wouldn't it be interesting to create a button in the emulator manager that says "Update All" (so we don't have to click on each one).

See here and remember to upvote it as deemed necessary.

Feedback - LaunchBox

[Alan Ribas]

On 7/4/2025 at 12:24 AM, JoeViking245 said:

It can be.  But mostly (aside from programming knowledge) time.

You can always Request A Feature (above under Help & Support).  Be specific.

See here and remember to upvote it as deemed necessary.

Feedback - LaunchBox

 
Using AI, I managed to create a plugin for the Mesen emulator. It can update the emulator. The problem is that after the update, the cloud symbol doesn't disappear from the status bar. Can someone take a look and improve this code to make it 100% functional?
I'm not a programmer. So don't use technical terms. 

what was written below was a summary of what was done that I asked the copilot to do.

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
 

I've been developing a custom emulator plugin for Mesen using the LaunchBox SDK. The plugin is functioning well overall — it identifies the executable, downloads updates from GitHub, and installs them successfully. However, I'm running into a limitation: the plugin does not trigger the automatic update verification behavior seen in official plugins like Xemu. Specifically, the status icon remains a cloud even after updating, and the “Update” button does not behave as expected.

Here's a brief summary of what I've implemented:

• Plugin inherits from EmulatorPlugin
• Implements GetInstallableVersions() using GitHub API to retrieve the latest release tag dynamically
• Uses GetCurrentVersion() to detect installed version from the executable
• Executes install logic via InstallEmulator()

I attempted to implement a CheckForUpdate(IEmulator emulator) method, and also tried inheriting from IEmulatorUpdatePlugin, but neither interface or class (EmulatorUpdateCheckResponse) seems to be available in the SDK version I have.

Is there any way for third-party developers to enable update verification behavior and interact properly with the LaunchBox update system? If there's a more complete or updated SDK with those interfaces, I'd love to request access or guidance.

Thanks for your time, and I appreciate any help or suggestions!

Best regards,

Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Mesen.dll Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Mesen.dll MesenPlugin.txt manifest.json