Expanded Achievement Integration for More Platforms

📋 Summary LaunchBox currently supports achievement integration from RetroAchievements, Steam, and GOG. This request proposes expanding support to include additional storefronts such as Epic Games and Xbox/Microsoft Store 🎯 Feature Overview Enhance LaunchBox’s achievement ecosystem by integrating achievement data from additional supported storefronts and services. Core targets include: 🎮 Epic Games 🎮 Xbox / Microsoft Store 🎮 (Bonus) PSN support, possibly for PS3 titles used in RPCS3 This would include syncing earned achievements, progress tracking, and enabling badges or progress displays similar to what’s already available for Steam, GOG, and RetroAchievements. 🛠 Example Use Case A user installs Alan Wake Remastered from the Epic Games Store and can view achievement progress in LaunchBox. Games from the Xbox app on Windows show Xbox achievement data automatically. PS3 titles loaded via RPCS3 display trophy progress using local trophy information (or pulled from PSN information, if available) 📦 Benefits Creates a unified view of a user’s gaming progress across all major platforms. Enhances library insights and encourages more engagement with achievement systems.

AstroBob 4 days ago

2

LaunchBox for Windows

“Games Completed” Binding Not Showing Accurate Count

🔍 Description: Following changes introduced in LaunchBox 13.22, the Games Completed binding no longer reflects accurate data. It’s meant to display the total number of completed games (e.g., Games Completed: 650), but it’s currently not linked to the new progress tracking system. 💡 Fix Required: Update the binding to reference the new Progress Status field introduced in 13.22 Ensure the correct total is displayed wherever this binding is used 📘 Notes: This issue stems from the transition to the new progress tracking system in 13.22. The binding is still used in several themes and needs to be updated to reflect the new logic.

AstroBob 4 days ago

Known Issue

🐛

Bug Report

“Completed” Icon Always Showing in Old Default Theme

📝 Description: In 13.22, some users have reported that all games appear marked as “Completed” in Big Box when using the Old Default theme or older custom themes. This is due to outdated controls that weren’t updated to support the new progress system. 💥 Impact: Affects users using the Old Default Big Box theme or themes built on older controls Visual issue only – your game data is not being changed The “Completed” icon may always appear, even for games that are not completed 🔍 Cause: Legacy theme logic includes an old C# binding that shows the “Completed” graphic by default, unless specifically told not to. This wasn’t updated during recent changes. 🛠️ Status: The issue has been identified and is on our internal list to be fixed in a future update ✅ 🚧 Workaround: We recommend switching to a modern or officially supported theme to avoid this behavior for now.

AstroBob 4 days ago

Known Issue

🐛

Bug Report

Identify Games with RetroAchievements Sets but Invalid Hashes

📋 Summary Enable users to audit their LaunchBox library by identifying games that have a RetroAchievements set available, but where their local ROM does not match the required hash to unlock achievements. 🎯 Feature Overview Add functionality to flag games that are eligible for RetroAchievements but are currently not compatible due to a mismatched hash. This could appear as a new badge variant (e.g. a slashed achievement icon), a playlist filter option, or be included in audit/export tools. 🛠 Example Use Case A user scans their library and sees badges showing which games could support RetroAchievements but currently don’t because of incorrect or outdated ROMs. They filter or create a playlist of these titles and update the ROMs accordingly to gain compatibility. Users avoid the frustration of launching games expecting achievements, only to find none are loading. 📦 Benefits Helps users bring their library into full compatibility with RetroAchievements. Improves transparency of which games need attention or updated ROMs. Supports achievement-focused collectors and players who want to “complete” their setup.

AstroBob 4 days ago

LaunchBox for Windows

Text-to-Speech for Platforms and Games in Big Box

📋 Summary Introduce optional text-to-speech functionality in Big Box to audibly announce selected platforms, games, and their descriptions 🎯 Feature Overview When navigating Big Box, have the system read aloud: The name of the selected platform (e.g. “Nintendo 64” or a custom label like “My Favorites”) The title of the highlighted game Optional: A short description of the game or platform, pulled from metadata Support for using built-in Windows voices or allowing users to configure their preferred voice engine. 🛠 Example Use Case As a user scrolls through platforms, Big Box reads “Sega Genesis.” On selecting a game, it reads “Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — Released 1992. A fast-paced platformer starring Sonic and Tails.” This replicates the immersive, arcade-like experience of voice-narrated frontend navigation, and aids accessibility for users with visual impairments. 📦 Benefits Enhances immersion, especially in arcade/living room setups. Provides improved accessibility for users with vision limitations. Offers nostalgia for users familiar with older voice-narration plugins from Hyperspin. Adds flair to custom setups and themes. 💡 Notes Voice behavior could be toggled on/off in settings, with separate options for platform names, game titles, and descriptions. Could leverage the Windows Speech API or integrate with third-party TTS engines for custom voice support.

zeoboromir 4 days ago

3

LaunchBox for Windows

Better Organization for Playlist Categories

📋Summary Introduce a new Playlist Category tree—similar to the existing Platform Category tree—that allows users to create collapsible, customizable categories to organize playlists. This would offer a dedicated space for grouping playlists by themes (e.g. “Seasonal”, “Progress”, “Genres”) without misusing platform-based structures. This separation would improve scalability, clarity, and usability—especially for users with many non-platform-specific playlists. ❗ Problem The Platform Category tree in the sidebar allows you to group platforms together by collapsable platform categories as follows: This organizes the platforms, but there’s nothing like this for unique playlists. In the Playlist tree, there’s simply the following: This means, Automatically generated MAME playlists fill up Playlist, making it difficult to use For users with lots of unique playlists, Playlist becomes unmanagable Platform Category can be used to achieve this, but using “parent” categories that are not platform specific in Platform Category will create clutter 💡Proposal A new Playlist Category tree in the dropdown. This way, you can have unique groupings for playlists that aren’t necessarily platform-specific. The following is an example of various horror themed playlists grouped together under a custom, collapsable tree: While using “Seasonal Playlists” as a “parent” in Platform Category is possible, a Playlist Category tree keeps the Platform Category clean and focused on platform specific organization, while Playlist Category is used for more abstract categories. ✅ Benefits Categories like theme, progress, etc. can all be used as “parents” for grouping playlists, providing more flexibility Better management of playlists that aren’t platform specific Allows Platform Category to remain responsible for organizing platforms while Playlist Category is responsible for organizing playlists. Provides better scalability for users with lots of unique playlists

mangaka92 4 days ago

LaunchBox for Windows

Achievement Progress Display in Default Theme

📋 Summary Display achievement progress beneath the game name in the default LaunchBox theme—supporting platforms like RetroAchievements, Steam, and GOG. While this is already possible in custom themes like Omni, this request is to make it available out-of-the-box for all users. 🎯 Feature Overview Add a compact progress indicator in the default theme that shows how far a player has progressed through available achievements for a game. Ideally, this would: Display a progress bar or percentage (e.g. “67% complete”) Show details on hover or click (e.g. “14 of 53 achievements unlocked”) Work with multiple achievement sources, including: RetroAchievements Steam GOG Galaxy (where available) 🛠 Example Use Case A user browsing their library can instantly spot games where they’ve made progress, or where achievements are fully completed. On mouseover: “23 of 48 achievements earned” Without interaction: a simple progress bar or percentage below the game title or image. 📦 Benefits Helps users prioritize what to play next based on unfinished achievements Adds visibility into long-term progress across various platforms Provides a small but satisfying motivational boost to completionists Makes achievement-aware game sorting and curation easier (e.g. creating playlists of “in progress” games) 💡 Notes Custom themes like Omni already allow for this, but many users stick with the default theme and would benefit from built-in support. Could be made optional via view settings. Extensible for future achievement integrations beyond Steam, GOG, and RetroAchievements.

BioHazZzard 4 days ago

2

LaunchBox for Windows

Built-in Plugin Browser for Community Plugins

📋 Summary Currently, LaunchBox users must manually visit the forums to find, download, and install third-party community plugins. This request proposes adding official support for browsing and installing LaunchBox-approved community plugins directly from within the app. 🎯 Feature Overview Integrate a 3rd party plugin browser—that connects to a curated list of approved third-party community plugins. Users would be able to: Browse available plugins by category or popularity Read descriptions, view screenshots, and see version info Install or update plugins with a single click Optionally manage installed plugins from the same interface 🛠 Example Use Case A user wants to install a plugin for extra metadata scraping. Instead of searching the forums and installing manually, they open the Plugin Browser inside LaunchBox. They locate the plugin, review its details, and click “Install” to add it instantly to their setup. 📦 Benefits Greatly improves discoverability of community-created enhancements Saves time and reduces friction for newer users Encourages more plugin development and adoption Helps standardize plugin versioning and reduce install errors 💡 Notes To maintain stability and security, the plugin browser could be limited to a curated list of plugins that meet certain quality or safety standards, similar to how platform clear logos and video themes are distributed.

Arthurcoutinho600 6 days ago

2

LaunchBox for Windows

MAME Version-Based “Newly Supported Games” Playlist

📋 Summary Add an option during MAME import/update to automatically create playlists of games newly supported in the most recent MAME version(s), helping users quickly discover and try out newly added games. 🎯 Feature Overview Within the MAME import/update wizard, introduce a checkbox labeled “Create Playlists for Newly Supported Games.” When enabled, LaunchBox would: Detect the current MAME version being imported/updated Reference an online database of MAME release notes or supported game lists Automatically create a nested playlist structure that organizes newly supported games by version (e.g. 0.278, 0.277, etc.) Optionally allow users to choose how many past versions to include (e.g. last 5, 10, or all versions) 🛠 Example Use Case A user updates to MAME 0.278. During import, they check “Create Playlists for Newly Supported Games.” After the import, a new playlist appears: 📁 Newly Supported Games MAME 0.278: 25 new titles MAME 0.277: 18 new titles MAME 0.276: 20 new titles The user can now easily explore what’s new in each version without digging through changelogs or external sources. 📦 Benefits Makes it easy to explore newly supported content in MAME Encourages discovery of obscure or forgotten titles Great for MAME enthusiasts and testers keeping up with emulator progress Helps highlight platform growth over time 💡 Notes This would rely on access to structured MAME update data (e.g. via an official changelog API or community-maintained list). Could integrate well with other filtering or auto-playlist options in LaunchBox to keep the experience seamless.

PanteraZombie 6 days ago

3

LaunchBox for Windows

Overhaul MAME Scan for Added/Removed ROMs

📋 Summary LaunchBox’s Scan for Removed ROMs and Scan for Added ROMs features currently do not work accurately with MAME, particularly for CHD- and TTL-based arcade games that don’t have a traditional ROM file. This results in many false positives when scanning for removed content. An overhaul of the MAME import and scanning system is needed to improve accuracy and reliability. 🎯 Feature Overview Revamp the MAME import process to support: Proper handling of non-ROM based MAME games (e.g., CHD-only, TTL) Smarter detection logic during “Scan for Removed ROMs” that does not flag games as removed if they never had a ROM file to begin with Accurate “Scan for Added ROMs” detection when adding these types of games 🛠 Example Use Case A user maintains a curated MAME set, including both ROM-based and CHD-only arcade titles After syncing the ROM folder, they use the Scan for Removed ROMs feature LaunchBox incorrectly flags several CHD-only games as “missing” because they don’t have traditional ROM files The user is forced to manually re-add or ignore these false positives, which is time-consuming and error-prone 📦 Benefits Makes scanning tools accurate and usable for MAME libraries Reduces false positives and confusion for users managing complete arcade sets Aligns LaunchBox’s behavior with the unique structure and metadata of modern MAME distributions Lays the groundwork for future MAME-specific improvements (e.g., version awareness, CHD management, alternative emulator support)

dukdukgoos 7 days ago

2

LaunchBox for Windows

Semantic Search in LaunchBox and Big Box

📋 Summary Introduce a semantic search system in both LaunchBox and Big Box to allow for natural language search queries and improve the discoverability of games. ❗ Problem Current search only works with exact keyword matches. Users must know the specific title, genre, or developer to find what they’re looking for. This makes discovery difficult, especially for large libraries or less-remembered titles. 💡 Proposal Replace or augment the current keyword search with a semantic search model that understands natural language queries. Examples of how users might search: “co-op games for a party” “open world sci-fi games with strong world building” “games similar to Chrono Trigger” “short puzzle games for two players” Bonus: Voice search integration in Big Box would be especially useful for cabinet or couch setups, enabling hands-free browsing. ✅ Benefits Makes game discovery faster and more intuitive. Allows users to explore their libraries with less friction. Unlocks the potential of LaunchBox’s deep metadata set. Brings search functionality in line with modern platforms like Netflix or Steam. 📌 Example Use Cases Quickly find party games when friends are over. Ask for “good games for kids” and instantly get relevant results. Search by game themes, features, or mechanics without knowing exact tags. 🧠 User Comments “It would be amazing to search for ‘RPGs with time travel’ and actually get Chrono Trigger or Radiant Historia.” “Voice search in Big Box would be a game-changer for arcade setups.”

michaelqryan 14 days ago

2

LaunchBox for Windows

Support for DOSBox-Staging as a DOS Emulator

📋 Summary DOSBox-Staging (DBS) is a modern fork of DOSBox with active development, improved audio/video emulation, and user-focused features. This request is to add native support for DBS as a replacement—or optional alternative—to the currently bundled DOSBox version in LaunchBox. ❗ Problem The standard DOSBox bundled with LaunchBox is no longer actively maintained and lacks newer enhancements found in DOSBox-Staging. Users currently need to manually replace files or configure DBS separately, which adds unnecessary friction. 💡 Proposal Bundle DOSBox-Staging with LaunchBox or make it available as a selectable default emulator for DOS titles. Update the DOSBox Configuration Tool to support new DBS settings. Optional: Support loading config presets (if available) from the LaunchBox Games Database to streamline setup. ✅ Benefits Better default visuals (e.g. CRT shaders, scaling). Improved audio and timing accuracy. Active development ensures future compatibility. Minimal integration work—DBS works as a drop-in replacement. 📌 Notes User testing already shows that replacing the \ThirdParty\DOSBox folder with DBS works well, suggesting that integration could be smooth. LaunchBox could enhance this further by exposing DBS-specific settings in its UI.

Kuvenant 16 days ago

3

LaunchBox for Windows

Show Game File Size in LaunchBox

📋 Summary Display the total file size for each game in LaunchBox based on its associated files or folders. ❗ Problem LaunchBox doesn’t currently show how much disk space a game takes up. For users managing large libraries—especially across multiple drives or on space-limited systems—there’s no easy way to identify which games are using the most storage. 💡 Proposal Add support for calculating and displaying game size directly in LaunchBox. Suggestions: Display game size in the game details pane. Add a new column in list view for file size. Include game size as a filter or sort option in playlist and search tools. Optionally, support rescanning file size manually or automatically when launching games or refreshing metadata. ✅ Benefits Helps manage limited storage on handhelds or SSDs. Makes it easy to find and archive large games to free up space. Adds a helpful datapoint for sorting, filtering, and organizing libraries. Useful for creating size-based playlists (e.g. “under 1GB games” or “largest games installed”). 📌 Example Use Cases Sort a platform by game size to find space hogs. Create a playlist of “Quick Play” games under 500MB. Clear space by identifying and archiving the top 10 largest games. 🧠 User Comments “The more info about a game, the better! Would be great to sort by size when managing my Steam library or drive space.” – Retrofrogg “Would be handy to know what Steam games I can rotate in/out when storage is tight.” – DJ_GLiTCH

Retrofrogg 19 days ago

4

LaunchBox for Windows

Integrate EmuReady to Show Emulator/Game Compatibility Ratings

It would be great to integrate EmuReady into LaunchBox to help users better understand how well a specific game or emulator is likely to perform on their system. 📝 What EmuReady Does: EmuReady provides a hardware-based rating system that estimates how well various emulators and individual games will run, based on a user’s CPU/GPU specs. This would be incredibly useful in a front-end like LaunchBox, where users often experiment with multiple systems and hardware setups. 💡 Proposed Integration Ideas: Show a performance rating (e.g. Excellent / Good / Poor) next to each game or emulator in LaunchBox based on your system specs. Let users manually input their hardware, or optionally detect it automatically. Use this info to flag problematic games or suggest optimal emulator cores/settings. Could even help inform users if their system is capable of running newer emulators like Yuzu, Ryujinx, or PCSX2 efficiently. 🔧 Why This Helps: Reduces guesswork for new users. Helps avoid frustration with games that are known to perform poorly on certain hardware. Makes LaunchBox even more beginner-friendly by guiding emulator selection based on actual hardware capability.

VodkaParalyzer 19 days ago

1

LaunchBox for Windows

The data is NULL at ordinal 1. This method can't be called on NULL values.

The data is NULL at ordinal 1. This method can't be called on NULL values. Check using IsDBNull before calling. Are you running into this error? Run this to get rid of it: Tools > Download > Force Update Games Database Metadata...

Brian Faeran 20 days ago

Known Issue

🐛

Bug Report

Rule-Based Auto-Pause for Inactive Games

With the introduction of Game Progress Automation in 13.22 It would be great to have a new progress automation rule that automatically moves a game from “In Progress” to “Paused” if it hasn’t been played in a user-defined number of days. 💡 Example use case: If a game is marked as In Progress but hasn’t been launched in, say, 30 days, it could automatically be switched to Paused. This would help keep the library tidy and more accurately reflect what the user is actively playing. 📌 This rule would need to check two conditions: The game is marked In Progress. Its Last Played date is older than the specified threshold (e.g., 7, 14, 30 days). Bonus idea: The reverse could also be useful—e.g., if a Paused game is launched, it could auto-switch back to In Progress. This would be a great QOL addition to the Game Progress Automation feature!

AstroBob 22 days ago

LaunchBox for Windows

UCEERR_RENDERTHREADFAILURE

Why is this happening? This error is usually caused by an issue with your video card (graphics) drivers or Windows itself. The app relies on your graphics card to help draw the interface quickly and smoothly — but if your drivers are out of date, corrupted, or something goes wrong during startup, it can cause the graphics system to crash behind the scenes, leading to this error. What can I do about this? Update your video card drivers Go to your video card manufacturer’s website (like NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel) and download the latest drivers. This fixes the issue in most cases. Run Windows Update Sometimes this kind of issue is fixed by Microsoft in a Windows update. Make sure you're fully up to date. Restart your PC It sounds basic, but if something weird happened during startup, a reboot can reset the graphics system. The Error UCEERR_RENDERTHREADFAILURE (0x88980406) App: LaunchBox Version: 13.20 Theme: Omni Type: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException Site: Void SyncFlush() Source: PresentationCore at System.Windows.Media.Composition.DUCE.Channel.SyncFlush() at System.Windows.Interop.HwndTarget.UpdateWindowSettings(Boolean enableRenderTarget, Nullable`1 channelSet) at System.Windows.Interop.HwndTarget.UpdateWindowPos(IntPtr lParam) at System.Windows.Interop.HwndTarget.HandleMessage(WindowMessage msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) at System.Windows.Interop.HwndSource.HwndTargetFilterMessage(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled) at MS.Win32.HwndWrapper.WndProc(IntPtr hwnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam, Boolean& handled) at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs) at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(Object source, Delegate callback, Object args, Int32 numArgs, Delegate catchHandler) Recent Log: 9:03:11 PM Exception

Brian Faeran 23 days ago

1

Known Issue

🐛

Bug Report

MiSTer FPGA Remote Launch & Metadata Integration for LaunchBox

This would be a feature that is able to scan a MiSTer FPGA console on the same network as Launchbox via FTP and then use the provided curl commands to launch the games remotely. It would also provide the metadata for your MiSTer FPGA collection locally. You can see the script I’ve already written as a work around to provide this feature TODAY (with a little work) Thanks folks! https://github.com/RowanUnderwood/MiSTer-Launchbox-Integration-Script/tree/main

RowanUnderwood 23 days ago

LaunchBox for Windows

Launch Big Box Directly Into a Specific Platform

📋 Summary While Big Box currently allows users to set a default view on startup—such as Platforms, Playlists, or Categories—there’s no way to launch directly into a specific platform’s game list (e.g. “Arcade” or “Super Nintendo Entertainment System”). This feature request proposes adding that option. ❗ Problem Users with a single primary platform—such as arcade cabinet owners or retro console builds—must first navigate through the main view before reaching their desired platform, even though it’s the only one they intend to use. 💡 Proposal Introduce a setting in Big Box to optionally launch directly into a chosen platform’s game list at startup. This would bypass the platform wheel and take the user straight to their configured destination. ✅ Benefits Speeds up access to games for focused or single-platform setups. Ideal for kiosk, cabinet, or living room environments. Reduces input steps for casual users or children. Complements existing startup view settings with finer control. 📌 Example Use Cases Boot Big Box straight into “Arcade” for a dedicated MAME cabinet. Always start in “Sega Genesis” on a retro-focused build. Skip unnecessary layers for users with a minimal or curated library.

F8LOffensive 25 days ago

2

LaunchBox for Windows

“Update All Emulators” Button in Manage Emulators Window

Currently, LaunchBox allows users to check for updates on supported emulators via the Manage Emulators window. While it’s helpful to see which emulators have updates available, each one must be updated individually by clicking into its respective menu. This request proposes adding a “Update All” button directly to the Manage Emulators window. This button would: Automatically update all supported emulators that have a new version available. Save time by eliminating the need to manually open and update each emulator one by one. Ensure a more streamlined maintenance workflow, especially for users managing large libraries or frequent emulator updates.

AstroBob 28 days ago

LaunchBox for Windows