LaunchBox for Windows 13.25 Released!

[AstroBob]

Version 13.25 - Released January 27th 2026

Release Summary

Full Changelog: https://www.launchbox-app.com/about/changelog

 

New Features:

• New Premium Feature: Platform Documents let users attach and organize manual or document entries for each platform, shown in the platform details panel and sidebar context menu, in a custom order
• New Premium Feature: You can now rearrange and remove filter sections in the Side Bar - Tools > Options > Visuals > Filters Side Bar > Section Management
• New Feature: You can now bulk-update all your emulators at once using the new "Update All" button in the Manage Emulators window
• New Feature: You can now choose whether to delete associated media files when removing games, with a new checkbox and safer file handling
• New Feature: Star ratings can now be updated in bulk using the Bulk Edit wizard
• New Feature: A new Beta Spotlight window appears during beta rounds to highlight new testing areas and features, replacing the Welcome screen and including a quick action button for feedback
• New Feature: The Themes & Media Pack Manager now includes an "Open Folder" button to quickly access installed files in Explorer

 

Improvements:

• Region priority logic for game images has been improved to better match your region settings, especially when multiple regions are listed
• Add and Edit Game metadata searches now support partial word matching, prioritizing exact matches and filtering by platform
• The 3D Model viewer adds a new rotation lock menu with Free Rotation, Lock Horizontal, and Lock Vertical options, saved across both LaunchBox and Big Box
• The Edit Game window now includes Next/Previous buttons, allowing you to quickly navigate through the list you opened it from
• Progress automation now supports a customizable whitelist of allowed values for finer control
• The Side Bar quick filter now supports additional options for more convenient filtering
• Improved cloud sync accuracy

 

Fixed:

• Screensavers no longer flash a game in-between the previous and next game during transitions, resulting in smoother visuals and audio
• Improved date handling to prevent crashes in certain locale-specific calendar scenarios
• Restored Steam trailer downloads and resolved associated crashes.
• The Xbox importer now works correctly again, allowing Xbox games to be imported without errors or failures
• Game Progress will no longer change to unintended values under certain conditions, ensuring progress tracking remains accurate
• Various music related issues that could cause stuttering, freezing, or crashing during playback
• The Xemu plugin update 1.2 is now integrated, resolving issues with downloading the emulator and required dependency files
• The default LaunchBox theme will no longer attempt to load Related Games items until the Related Games tab is selected
• A small text issue on the MAME filtering page in the ROM Import Wizard

 

 

Known Issues:

 

[Indeep]

😀Thx!

[powerhouse]

The last update is breaking many themes from working properly specially if you set the Platform tab to be your main startup screen. Even the OldDefault theme option is showing black backdrops and not loading images properly.

I had to rollback to 13.24 and turn off all updates.

[Maddoc1007]

It has even broken newer Bigbox themes. startup video is hit or miss whether it will start before Bigbox.  In theme no video or video borders showing, borders around logos not showing also no background image showing except default background image in the Aetherial theme had to rollback to 13.24 and also turn off all updates.  

[JaredN]

Same here! I switched back to 13.25 beta 3.

Honestly, couldn't you test your changes in beta before breaking everything in a final release?

I love BigBox and have a lot of respect for your work, but I feel that lately, adding new features has taken priority over stability, and that's a real problem for me.

[AstroBob]

Hi Folks, thanks for the reports and apologies for any issues caused here. 

We've identified 2 issues with Big Box, and already have a fix for the background images issue you're experiencing. We've published more details in a known issues post here: 
 

We'll keep that post updated once we have a hot-fix ready. I totally understand the frustration as these we're not present in beta-3, and we've elaborated on this in the above post.

Thanks for bearing with us there, I'll keep y'all posted as we get these fixed up.

[Darren Wilson]

I'm having repeated issues trying to import folders with a large number of files. It freezes during the import process and the "not responding" error appears. I've had to restart a dozen times now.

[Shredder_guitar]

I was waiting to say anything, but yeah, This update presented some issues for me and it has been a complete nightmare to roll back. I had to do a fresh install of 13.24 and quickly shut off updates and also copy files from a known working build to get it opperable again while also setting back some work I've done since. 

[powerhouse]

 

17 minutes ago, Shredder_guitar said:

I was waiting to say anything, but yeah, This update presented some issues for me and it has been a complete nightmare to roll back. I had to do a fresh install of 13.24 and quickly shut off updates and also copy files from a known working build to get it opperable again while also setting back some work I've done since. 

You only needed to look for the UPDATES folder inside the Launchbox folder and run the 13.24 update setup again. Then install it in the same folder location and thats it.

You do not lose anything and everything remains the same.

[Shredder_guitar]

11 minutes ago, powerhouse said:

 

You only needed to look for the UPDATES folder inside the Launchbox folder and run the 13.24 update setup again. Then install it in the same folder location and thats it.

You do not lose anything and everything remains the same.

Wasn't that simple in my case, but thank you. I am back to working state at this point for the moment...some work has been undone...but about 90% back to where i was. 

Edited 22 hours ago by Shredder_guitar

[ancient_mu_mu2]

When I updated I had the sidebar turned off.

After updating, I am unable to turn the sidebar on. It makes no difference whether I press Ctrl+S or select from the dropdown menus, my sidebar will not come back.

[AstroBob]

16 hours ago, ancient_mu_mu2 said:

When I updated I had the sidebar turned off.

After updating, I am unable to turn the sidebar on. It makes no difference whether I press Ctrl+S or select from the dropdown menus, my sidebar will not come back.

Thanks for this report, we've confirmed this and already fixed it up, it's pending the upcoming hotfix release.

 You can upvote the known issue report for it here to know when it goes live. Also it lists a temporary workaround if you're stuck without a sidebar currently:

🔗 https://feedback.launchbox.gg/p/section-sidebar-cannot-be-shown-or-hidden