Local Network Support for Shared LaunchBox Libraries (NAT/LAN Awareness)

📋 Summary

Introduce built-in support for managing shared LaunchBox libraries across multiple devices on a local network—enabling central management of games, ROMs, media, and metadata for families or multi-device households.

❗ Problem

Families with multiple devices and users currently need to manually copy files, manage separate LaunchBox installations, and individually curate libraries per device. This leads to:

• Redundant storage across machines

• Manual syncing overhead

• Difficulty controlling age-appropriate content per user

• No simple way to enforce access rules or apply updates centrally

🧠 Assessment

While copying shared folders or using cloud drives is possible, these solutions are limited, prone to errors, and don’t scale well in households with many devices. A centralized, local-only sharing solution within LaunchBox would provide the benefits of multi-user Steam-style sharing, but LAN-based.

✅ Proposed Solution

Implement a LaunchBox Server Mode that allows:

• A central LaunchBox instance to host ROMs, media, metadata, and playlists

• Other LaunchBox or Big Box clients on the same network (Windows/Android) to connect and fetch content

• User-level access control, enabling per-device or per-user content filtering (e.g. “Parent Only”, “Kids”, “All Ages”)

• Support for syncing saved games and play progress across clients

• Optional read-only client mode to prevent accidental edits

🎮 Use Case Example

• Parent curates the main library from a PC

• Kids’ devices connect to the central library and display only the age-appropriate subset

• Updates, metadata fixes, and content changes happen once and propagate across all devices

• Media and ROM storage is centralized, saving disk space

🚫 Scope Note

• This request focuses on LAN-only functionality (no cloud sync or remote streaming)

• It would support Windows and Android clients