TeknoParrot Manager BETA -- looking for testers

[Stiles]

Hey everyone,

I've been building a PowerShell tool that automates the tedious parts of running a large TeknoParrot collection -- registering games, copying controls between games, deploying ReShade/dgVoodoo2/crosshairs, GPU and force-feedback fixes, and more. It's heading toward a 1.0 release and I'd really appreciate some extra hands testing it on libraries and setups different from my own before then.

Who this is for: anyone with a sizeable TeknoParrot collection (dozens to hundreds of games), especially if you store games as ZIPs on a NAS, use LaunchBox/HyperSpin 2/RetroBat/Batocera as a frontend, or want crosshairs/ReShade/dgVoodoo2 set up across many games at once instead of one by one.

What it does:

• Automatic registration -- scans extracted games, matches them to the correct TeknoParrot profile, and registers them (never overwrites existing registrations)
• Fuzzy matching for shared-executable platforms (NESiCAxLive and similar) using profile codes and an optional community dat file
• AutoSync -- extracts game ZIPs from a NAS/local source into a staging folder, skipping anything already extracted
• Control propagation -- bind one game per control type, the script copies those controls to every other game of that type
• Crosshair setup (321 included designs, visual preview grid) for lightgun games
• ReShade and dgVoodoo2 deployment, auto-detected per game
• GPU compatibility fixes (AMD/NVIDIA/Intel) and force feedback setup (native FFB Blaster + free third-party plugin)
• Frontend setup -- writes registered games directly into LaunchBox's own library (new this version, more below), exports to HyperSpin 2, and a RetroBat/Batocera naming mode switches extraction to the folder convention those frontends expect
• LaunchBox export specifically -- since that's most of you here: generate the export XML against your real LaunchBox install, run the import wizard, and confirm titles, platform, emulator path, and profile arguments all come through correctly and the games launch
• BepInEx update checks, game repair, restore-from-backup, and a read-only library health check
• Preview/dry-run mode -- see exactly what a run would do before anything is written
• Restore-from-backup, to make sure a bad run is always recoverable
• Auto-detect of your TeknoParrot install path on a fresh machine/profile
• Unattended mode for scheduled/overnight runs

New this version:

Direct LaunchBox integration. The script can now add your registered games straight into LaunchBox's own library -- no import wizard needed. It checks LaunchBox is closed first, backs up the files it's about to change, and never duplicates a game already there. The first time you use it, you choose how TeknoParrot games should appear: mixed into your existing Arcade platform, a separate "TeknoParrot" platform, a platform with a name you pick, or both Arcade and a dedicated platform at once. Your choice is remembered for next time. If anything looks wrong afterward, there's a one-step restore for the LaunchBox files too, separate from the existing TeknoParrot backup. If you'd rather not let the script touch LaunchBox directly, the old manual-import reference file and wizard instructions are still there as a fallback.

Full feature list and setup instructions are in the README included with the download.

Specific things I'd love help testing:

• AutoSync against your own NAS/ZIP library -- especially large libraries (100+ games) and supplementary/secondary source folders
• Less common platforms: NESiCAxLive fuzzy matching, Konami PC arcade (.dll-based games), Sega Chihiro/cxbxr (.xbe), pcsx2x6/Lindbergh (.elf)
• RetroBat / Batocera folder-naming mode, if that's your frontend
• Control propagation across mixed control types (wheel, gun, trackball, twin-stick) -- make sure nothing crosses wires
• ReShade/dgVoodoo2 deployment on games with OpenParrot or BudgieLoader (these get special-cased destination handling)
• GPU fix and FFB setup on AMD and Intel GPUs specifically (most of my own testing has been NVIDIA)
• Preview/dry-run mode -- confirm it matches what actually happens when you apply for real
• The new direct LaunchBox integration specifically -- try all four platform choices, confirm games actually launch from LaunchBox afterward, and try the restore option to make sure it cleanly undoes things
• HyperSpin 2 export against an existing frontend library
• Restore-from-backup, to make sure a bad run is always recoverable
• Auto-detect of your TeknoParrot install path on a fresh machine/profile

Before you run it: this is a beta. It backs up your UserProfiles automatically at the start of every run, but please test on one game after each run rather than assuming a full library pass worked. Preview mode (mode 1 or 2 will offer it, or pass -DryRun) lets you see what would happen with zero files written -- great for a first run against a library you haven't tried this on before.

How to report bugs or give feedback:

• Best: open an issue on GitHub -- https://github.com/Jumpstile/teknoparrot-manager/issues -- include your TeknoParrot-Manager.log, what mode you ran, and what you expected vs. what happened
• Or reply in this thread if you'd rather not use GitHub -- I'll pick it up either way
• If something writes data wrong or a registration looks broken, the restore option under menu 9 will get you back to a known-good state immediately, for either TeknoParrot's own profiles or LaunchBox's library files

Got ideas for LaunchBox/BigBox-specific additions?Now that it writes directly into LaunchBox rather than just producing a reference file, I'd like to hear what else would help on the frontend side -- BigBox-specific behavior, playlist/theme interactions, or anything about how registered games look or launch in Big Box mode that feels rough. I haven't automated the exit script or startup-screen settings some people configure by hand in LaunchBox's emulator setup, since I don't have a verified script to inject automatically -- if you've got a known-good one you use, I'd be curious to hear about it. I can't promise everything will make it in before 1.0 (feature work is mostly paused while I stabilize for release), but it's exactly the kind of input I want to start collecting now.

Download, README, and changelog: https://github.com/Jumpstile/teknoparrot-manager/releases

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to kick the tires -- the more setups this gets tested against before 1.0, the better.
 

Edited 1 hour ago by Stiles
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