What media do you download?

[Gaz70]

Just a question out of curiosity as I'm new.

I imported some Atari 2600 games and ticked to download all media. It wanted to grab over a million files!

There's obviously a balance between sensible and completeness so I was just interested to know what other people opt for?

[JoeViking245]

26 minutes ago, Gaz70 said:

Just a question out of curiosity as I'm new.

I imported some Atari 2600 games and ticked to download all media. It wanted to grab over a million files!

There's obviously a balance between sensible and completeness so I was just interested to know what other people opt for?

There's probably a ton of factors involved here. Like sensible vs. completeness. And even that depends on the individual.  It really boils down to what do you want to look at. And possibly to a greater extent, what the theme you're using will show (vs. what it will never show because it's not an option).

In LaunchBox, what 'will show' is less of a concern.  Whereas in Big Box. the Theme you use will dictate if "that image" will ever be displayed.  e.g. for Arcade, I don't think I've ever seen a Theme that will display the Arcade-Circuit Board image.  Granted, in both LB and BB you can see all images you have for a specific game in the Game Details.

The image types you chose will (can) also depend on the platform you're downloading them for.  Going back to Arcade, arcade cabinets never came in a box, so a real Box-Front image will not exist.  But users have created box-front images for arcade. Though I've yet to see one that shows "the wooden crate".   For this, many will use the Arcade-Flyer Front image.  Myself, I like the nostalgia of the Arcade-Cabinet image.

For all other platforms, at minimum (my opinion) you'd want:

• Clear Logo
• Box Front
• Box Back
• Box-Spine (if available)
• Fanart-Background

The Box-Front is (typically) the games main image. That, plus the other box images mentioned make up the 3D box model (the one you can rotate to see all sides).  In LaunchBox, the logo and background images are what will show on the top of the Game Details panel.  Which is both sensible and complete.

Note: The Box 3D Model is different from the Box-3D image.

Depending on the Big Box theme being used, it may make use of a Cart-Front (or Cart-3D) or Disc (e.g. Wii) image. I think I've seen it more so in the game details section.  The Default [game] Startup Theme will use the Disc image for GameCube, Wii, PS1, PS2 and Sega Dreamcast.

Screenshot images are a whole 'nother thing. Mainly because there can be a gazillion gameplay images per game, but only one can ever be displayed at a time.  Which actually holds true for ALL image types.  That said, if you have 2 different Box-Front images for [Atari 2600] Adventure, only one of those will be (can be, actually) shown when you select that platform. However, if you select a different platform then go back to Atari 2600, the 'other'' image might get displayed. It selects them randomly (id there's more than one).  I believe it works that way for Screenshot-Gameplay images shown in Big Box as well.  But seriously, I don't think even in "completeness" mode, anybody needs a dozen gameplay screenshots.

After you get a baseline for what images you want, then come to a realization of only the images you need, the cherry-on-top for media is gameplay videos.  If you have a paid EmuMovies account, they can be brought in (imported/downloaded) the same time as images.

 

Just don't forget about actually playing your games too!!