DrEvil Posted July 9 Posted July 9 The entire VASSAL board-wargame library as a LaunchBox platform — 3,331 games with box art, manuals, and one-click launch (assuming you have downloaded the module) As far as I can tell this is a first, so I wanted to share it: the complete VASSAL library is now a fully-built LaunchBox platform. If you haven't met it, VASSAL is a free, open-source engine for playing tabletop board wargames on a PC — think hex-and-counter classics like Afrika Korps or ASL, but also everything from ancients to sci-fi. Each game is a "module" (a .vmod file) hosted in the official library at vassalengine.org. The library holds 3,557 projects; 3,315 of them have a downloadable module. It's very much alive — over half the catalog had its current module released in the last six years. It is an amazing system. What's in the platform: - 3,331 games in a single VASSAL platform XML — the library's entire downloadable catalog, with title, publisher, year, era/scale/topic metadata pulled from the library's own catalog data. - VASSAL registered as the "emulator." Each game's application path points at its module file, so hitting Play opens the game in VASSAL exactly like launching a ROM. - Art for nearly every game: box covers as Box - Front (3,106 games), the actual game-map scans as Fanart - Background (3,077), and composite counter sheets as gameplay screenshots (3,108). All of it harvested out of the modules themselves, so it's the real components, not placeholders. - Manuals that actually work: 676 games have the rulebook PDF bundled inside their module. Those get extracted automatically — the rules PDF becomes the LaunchBox manual, and any other PDFs in the module (charts, playbooks, scenario books) attach as Additional Apps, one click away on the game's page. - Nothing copyrighted gets redistributed. Every game record carries custom fields with the module's official download URL and its sha256, plus an Installed yes/no stamped from what's on disk. The XML is really an index: you fetch only the modules you want, straight from the official library. (If you want everything, a one-module-per-game mirror runs about 85 GB.) How it was built: the whole platform is generated by a script from vassalengine.org's public JSON catalog (all 3,557 projects censused, zero API errors, politely rate-limited) plus asset extraction from the module files. Regenerating refreshes installed flags, art, and manuals. I built it with heavy AI assistance as part of a larger project around making these games more playable. Some flavor on what the catalog actually contains, from its own tags: WWII is the center of mass (813 games), then gunpowder-era (340), fantasy (305), moderns and ancients; roughly a thousand tactical titles, nine hundred operational, six hundred strategic. If you have any interest in board wargaming, this platform turns LaunchBox into a genuinely spectacular shelf for it. Screenshots attached. Happy to go deeper on how any piece of it works if there's interest. Quote
Windtalker Posted July 9 Posted July 9 Hi, I'm pretty new to Launchbox. Please could you explain how to add the Vassal library? Quote
DrEvil Posted July 9 Author Posted July 9 Adding VASSAL games to LaunchBox — a beginner walkthrough Welcome! Good news: VASSAL drops into LaunchBox really cleanly once you know the trick. I put together a little kit that does all of this for you (attached) — but here's the whole idea in three steps so you know what's going on. The key trick: a VASSAL module (that .vmod file) is your "ROM," and VASSAL itself acts as the "emulator" that launches it. 1) Add VASSAL as an emulator Tools > Manage Emulators > Add. Name it "VASSAL" and point it at your VASSAL.exe (usually in C:\Program Files\VASSAL-3.x). Then on the "Associated Platforms" tab, add a platform called "VASSAL" and set its Default Command-Line Parameters to --load. That's the magic bit — it tells VASSAL to open the module straight away instead of showing its menu. 2) Add your modules as ROMs Tools > Import > ROM Files (or just drag your .vmod files in). Set the platform to "VASSAL" and launch them with the VASSAL emulator you just made. Skip the metadata/art download step. Rename each game to a clean title while you're there. Double-click and it launches. 3) Get the artwork automatically Every module already contains its own cover, board, and pieces. I included a tiny script, extract_art.py, that pulls them out and can drop them straight into LaunchBox's image folders (needs Python + pip install pillow — instructions in the README). There's a Tobruk example so you can see what it produces. The attached kit has: a step-by-step README, extract_art.py, the Tobruk example output, and — for later — a ready-made "VASSAL" platform with the entire 3,300+ game library already catalogued. Start with the README and steps 1–3; save the big XML for when you're comfortable. Shout if you get stuck. LaunchBox-VASSAL.zip Quote
Windtalker Posted July 9 Posted July 9 Thank you very much, I will try this tomorrow, and get back to you if I get into difficulty. Quote
Windtalker Posted July 10 Posted July 10 I have followed your instructions, and am at the point where Launchbox displays a grid of all my Vassal games(over 600), and when I click on any one, I see the 'Play' button, which launches my chosen game. However, at the moment, I cannot see ANY of the artwork. Is there an easy way to extract the artwork from ALL my games at once? Also, could you run through how I can add the whole library, using your XML file? Quote
DrEvil Posted July 10 Author Posted July 10 (edited) Excellent - thanks for testing this out. It worked!. The readme in the zip has instruction for you to copy the included xml into your platforms directory in your launchbox folder structure. I also included a python script that pulls and places all artwork from you modules. If that is beyond your ability, let me think about whether I can legally distribute my artwork collection. I certainly cannot distribute the modules themselves as they belong to VASSAL Edited July 10 by DrEvil Quote
DrEvil Posted July 10 Author Posted July 10 OK - I am comfortable with sharing all the artwork from the modules but not strictly copyrighted material such as manual. I'll post again with the art collection when I have it Quote
Windtalker Posted July 10 Posted July 10 25 minutes ago, DrEvil said: Excellent - thanks for testing this out. It worked!. The readme in the zip has instruction for you to copy the included xml into your platforms directory in your launchbox folder structure. I also included a python script that pulls and places all artwork from you modules. If that is beyond your ability, let me think about whether I can legally distribute my artwork collection. I certainly cannot distribute the modules themselves as they belong to VASSAL Thanks again. I've re-read the readme file, but (and it's probably me being stupid!) I can't see the instruction how to copy the XML into the Launchbox folder structure. Could you highlight where it is, please? Quote
DrEvil Posted July 10 Author Posted July 10 Not stupid at all — that's a fair snag, because the README never says "copy the XML" as its own step. Here's why: You don't handle VASSAL.xml as a loose file. It's already sitting inside the zip's Data\Platforms\ folder. So the instruction is the one in Option B, step 3 — "copy both the Data and Images folders into your LaunchBox folder." When you copy that whole Data folder in and choose Merge, Windows drops the XML into the right place automatically: LaunchBox\Data\Platforms\VASSAL.xml That's the only place it needs to go. There's no separate XML step because copying the Data folder is the XML step — it carries the file to its home for you. So, concretely: 1. Open the zip, you'll see Data and Images. 2. Drag Data into your LaunchBox install folder (e.g. C:\LaunchBox) → Merge/Replace. 3. That puts VASSAL.xml at C:\LaunchBox\Data\Platforms\VASSAL.xml. Quote
DrEvil Posted July 10 Author Posted July 10 Glad you got the platform running and launching modules — nice work getting over the hump. Here's the easy path for both the game list and the artwork. I've bundled it all into one zip (link below): the full ~3,300-game VASSAL index plus box art, map backgrounds, and counter-sheet screenshots. It does NOT include the modules or rulebooks — you grab those from vassalengine.org as you go, and every entry already has the official download link built in. Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AWbZstZTYBiRntU8J2kZVDeyW49oLDJD/view?usp=drive_link (about 2.7 GB) Install (there's also a READ-ME-FIRST.md in the zip with these same steps): 1. Close LaunchBox. 2. If you just want art for the games you've already added — copy only the "Images" folder from the zip into your LaunchBox folder (e.g. C:\LaunchBox) and choose Merge. Any game whose title matches will light up with its art. That's it. 3. If you also want my full ~3,300-game list — first back up your existing Data\Platforms\VASSAL.xml (copy it somewhere safe), then copy both the "Data" and "Images" folders in and choose Merge/Replace. 4. Start LaunchBox. A few things so nothing looks broken: - The entries default to C:\VASSAL Games for the module paths. If you keep your .vmod files somewhere else, use Tools > Change ROM Paths to repoint them. Art shows either way. - "File not found" when you hit Play just means you haven't downloaded that module yet — open the game's Additional Apps, use the vassalengine.org link, drop the .vmod in your folder, and Play works. - Blank cover on a game? LaunchBox matches art to the game's title, and characters like : / ? get turned into _ in the filename. That's almost always a title/filename mismatch — a quick rename of the image fixes it. Shout if anything doesn't show up and I'll help you sort it. Quote
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