LaunchPass is a modified fork of RetroPass without this project would not exist
& is a themeable frontend for Xbox/Xbox Series Retro Gaming Emulators!
This is made specifically for Xbox console and hopefully, should feel familiar to Xbox users right from the start with its Game Pass Ultimate vibe.
Limitations
Xbox Only
Optimized for Gamepad Only
Zipped content supported only if RetroArch, RetriX or other supported cores/emulators support reading the file extension.
Anyone know how to set stand alone emulators to boot? When I try launching a gamecube game, it tries to boot the Dolphin emulator, just splash screens and dashboards.
Anyone know how to set stand alone emulators to boot? When I try launching a gamecube game, it tries to boot the Dolphin emulator, just splash screens and dashboards.
For some reason dolphin has been crashing on this version of retropass (use standalone dolphin app for now). But everything else works. Use xbsx for ps2 and xenia for xbox 360. Then retroarch for everything else
Flycast standalone emulators doesn't work. But if you use flycast through retroarch it works. Basically you have 4 apps that can be loaded from launchpass. Ps2 xbsx/ xbox 360 xenia/ gamecube dolphin (currently doesn't work through launchpass but did before). And all retroarch cores
Anyone know how to set stand alone emulators to boot? When I try launching a gamecube game, it tries to boot the Dolphin emulator, just splash screens and dashboards.
1. Regarding Stand-Alone UWP Emulators
See the setting up emulators section of our guide
2. Not really, because this is all handled by LaunchBox you basically run that and setup your platforms/games and display images of all of that, and LaunchPass essentially brings all that configuration data onto the Xbox as a frontend to use that sends the game file to the respective emulator assigned to a game or entire platform/system. You can remove games and optionally the physical file associated in launchbox.
It only caches the first time, unless the cache is reset somehow, the main page the one which displays all your systems and a small handful of games on the left does not reload between moving between menus in LaunchPass, however, all images need to be cached once initially and from our testing, it only does that once then loading of the images is substantially faster.
It does tend to take a lot longer if you have some 800+ games in one platform to cache as it will only do a finite amount of rows at a time before you need to scroll down to continue displaying and caching more images this is intentional though.
Pretty much, 1000+ titles can take a while to get through if your intent is to scroll the page and just cache images.
Post automatically merged:
Dolphin standalone or RetroArch core both work in LaunchPass no reason it won't provided you have assigned the emulator to the game or platform correctly. Not sure why you would use RA for Wii or Dolphin as it is a LOT slower, but it does work, you just need the game or platform as always being told what emulator to launch with this is all handled in LaunchBox.
If you set up an emulator called Dolphin Core and just provide the core DLL name it should pass that to RetroArch.
If the emulator name is blank or not defined for a game it will default to RetroArch, likewise, you can just do what I did and set up an emulator called RetroArch then add all the cores you need were getting into more technical usage of LaunchBox here tho not a LaunchPass issue.
As a largely untested example here is my setup.
Then if I EDIT the Emulator for RetroArch Core
I can see I have assigned some cores based on the Platform
You can do this janky by changing the core name in the actual launch box XML file for the emulators.xml
or you can allow LaunchBox to install RetroArch and download the cores which will give you a full list of cores to select from as they should be populated as available options in the UI after it is all set up by LaunchBox, after which you can simply delete the RetroArch Installation off your USB and the cores should be available already correctly setup,
the Core column provides a drop-down of found cores.
Here is an example of the janky way
Open Emulators.xml with a decent text editor NOT NOTEPAD, notepad++, or Visual Code is great.
scroll down to a platform you have RetroArch assigned to, and you can define the command-line
| Emulator = the name of the emulator LuanchBox will take care of that after you assign it to the platform. Platform = obv the platform that the emu was assigned to also should be filled in automatically. CommanLine = where you use something to tell RetroArch what core to use for that platform, and with this you will no longer need to set up a playlist in RetroArch. Now with this, you have the platform using Emulator RetroArch Core (whatever u want to call that) and the command line telling retro arch what core is to be used.
LaunchBox will now have that core assigned to the platform as the default if you managed to follow along this far.
This brings me to the final method,
you can set up playlists in RetroArch with default cores assigned and then just use the retroarch emulator name in launchbox, launch the game from LaunchPass then Retroarch knows what core to use when it is sent the name of the game.
Now you are probably wondering great but how do I assign an emulator to a game or platform right well you normally do that during the import of a title as you may know already. What you may not know is you can right-click the Platform or Game Title and edit the emulator tab any time you see fit as shown below using a game title.
for platforms, you can set that up from the Manage Emulators area.
Hopefully, this helps you out.
sorry it was a bit of a read.
1. Regarding Stand-Alone UWP Emulators
See the setting up emulators section of our guide
2. Not really, because this is all handled by LaunchBox you basically run that and setup your platforms/games and display images of all of that, and LaunchPass essentially brings all that configuration data onto the Xbox as a frontend to use that sends the game file to the respective emulator assigned to a game or entire platform/system. You can remove games and optionally the physical file associated in launchbox.
Post automatically merged:
It only caches the first time, unless the cache is reset somehow, the main page the one which displays all your systems and a small handful of games on the left does not reload between moving between menus in LaunchPass, however, all images need to be cached once initially and from our testing, it only does that once then loading of the images is substantially faster.
It does tend to take a lot longer if you have some 800+ games in one platform to cache as it will only do a finite amount of rows at a time before you need to scroll down to continue displaying and caching more images this is intentional though.
Pretty much, 1000+ titles can take a while to get through if your intent is to scroll the page and just cache images.
Post automatically merged:
Dolphin standalone or RetroArch core both work in LaunchPass no reason it won't provided you have assigned the emulator to the game or platform correctly. Not sure why you would use RA for Wii or Dolphin as it is a LOT slower, but it does work, you just need the game or platform as always being told what emulator to launch with this is all handled in LaunchBox.
If you set up an emulator called Dolphin Core and just provide the core DLL name it should pass that to RetroArch.
If the emulator name is blank or not defined for a game it will default to RetroArch, likewise, you can just do what I did and set up an emulator called RetroArch then add all the cores you need were getting into more technical usage of LaunchBox here tho not a LaunchPass issue.
Then if I EDIT the Emulator for RetroArch Core
I can see I have assigned some cores based on the Platform View attachment 367583
You can do this janky by changing the core name in the actual launch box XML file for the emulators.xml
or you can allow LaunchBox to install RetroArch and download the cores which will give you a full list of cores to select from as they should be populated as available options in the UI after it is all set up by LaunchBox, after which you can simply delete the RetroArch Installation off your USB and the cores should be available already correctly setup,
the Core column provides a drop-down of found cores.
Open Emulators.xml with a decent text editor NOT NOTEPAD, notepad++, or Visual Code is great.
scroll down to a platform you have RetroArch assigned to, and you can define the command-line View attachment 367585| Emulator = the name of the emulator LuanchBox will take care of that after you assign it to the platform. Platform = obv the platform that the emu was assigned to also should be filled in automatically. CommanLine = where you use something to tell RetroArch what core to use for that platform, and with this you will no longer need to set up a playlist in RetroArch. Now with this, you have the platform using Emulator RetroArch Core (whatever u want to call that) and the command line telling retro arch what core is to be used.
LaunchBox will now have that core assigned to the platform as the default if you managed to follow along this far.
This brings me to the final method,
you can set up playlists in RetroArch with default cores assigned and then just use the retroarch emulator name in launchbox, launch the game from LaunchPass then Retroarch knows what core to use when it is sent the name of the game.
Now you are probably wondering great but how do I assign an emulator to a game or platform right well you normally do that during the import of a title as you may know already. What you may not know is you can right-click the Platform or Game Title and edit the emulator tab any time you see fit as shown below using a game title.
for platforms, you can set that up from the Manage Emulators area.
So am I to understand that stand alone Dolphin is currently working through LaunchPass? I have my emulator path set up correctly, and tried all the recommended words, but it dashboards on launch.
So am I to understand that stand alone Dolphin is currently working through LaunchPass? I have my emulator path set up correctly, and tried all the recommended words, but it dashboards on launch.
I have heard reports about that, I am going to look at the source code to find out why, I think sir mangler might have changed the URI by accident if not, then something has happened.
Update
This issue has been resolved in the post-Dolphin Standalone v1.5.2,
(I presented the issue to SirMangler who was unaware at the time and within minutes put out a hotfix )
LaunchPass is a modified fork of RetroPass without this project would not exist
& is a themeable frontend for Xbox/Xbox Series Retro Gaming Emulators!
This is made specifically for Xbox console and hopefully, should feel familiar to Xbox users right from the start with its Game Pass Ultimate vibe.
Limitations
Xbox Only
Optimized for Gamepad Only
Zipped content supported only if RetroArch, RetriX or other supported cores/emulators support reading the file extension.
@Misunderstood Wookie I have everything pretty well set up now, its pretty amazing. I am having one problem though with how long it takes to cache everything. It could be due to a number of factors, using on an xbox one x, mechanical drive.
Is there any way that caching and loading could be optimized? Would having smaller box images allow it to load up any faster?
You don't need to wait for the images to load in on the first entry at all, that said we have no tests done on mechanical drives or non-Series consoles.
@Misunderstood Wookie I'm honestly not trying to be a pest about this, and I'm sorry if I've been unable to describe my issues to an adequate degree. So instead of trying to tell you, please witness my Launch Pass experience and tell me what I'm doing wrong.
@Misunderstood Wookie I'm honestly not trying to be a pest about this, and I'm sorry if I've been unable to describe my issues to an adequate degree. So instead of trying to tell you, please witness my Launch Pass experience and tell me what I'm doing wrong.
I see, I see, I honestly was not aware it was like that myself, Dan thinks it has been like that for a fair bit now but that load speed was odd to me, we think we know what is going on and are currently working on a new update/hotfix
The fix will include Platform/Game Title sorting and the issue where no platforms appear on the main page for some people.
Also, Cache seems to be not working on this build and is getting addressed, I already fixed the TItle Sort bug so hopefully not to long and there will be an update posted
The image load freeze happens to me too, notice it more on platforms with 800 titles or greater, now they are meant to delay and pop in all at once but for some reason, they kind of stop sometimes like yours did even for me.
If you do know how to build C# projects you can build this branch,
Currently, it only fixes the Sort Order and platform disappearance Dan is working on the cache and image loading. When it has all been tested and such we will release a new package more officially
I see, I see, I honestly was not aware it was like that myself, Dan thinks it has been like that for a fair bit now but that load speed was odd to me, we think we know what is going on and are currently working on a new update/hotfix
The fix will include Platform/Game Title sorting and the issue where no platforms appear on the main page for some people.
Also, Cache seems to be not working on this build and is getting addressed, I already fixed the TItle Sort bug so hopefully not to long and there will be an update posted
The image load freeze happens to me too, notice it more on platforms with 800 titles or greater, now they are meant to delay and pop in all at once but for some reason, they kind of stop sometimes like yours did even for me.
If you do know how to build C# projects you can build this branch,
Currently, it only fixes the Sort Order and platform disappearance Dan is working on the cache and image loading. When it has all been tested and such we will release a new package more officially
Glad I could bring this to your attention. Also, with box covers being so large (the resolution the files are saved at) and Launch Pass not displaying the full resolution (it displays them at no more than half the screen height) I'm wondering if this might be a hindrance, and if using smaller image sizes might be a benefit. As it is now, I am unable to load every single cover, even going one platform at a time, without it crashing (twice in a row)
Glad I could bring this to your attention. Also, with box covers being so large (the resolution the files are saved at) and Launch Pass not displaying the full resolution (it displays them at no more than half the screen height) I'm wondering if this might be a hindrance, and if using smaller image sizes might be a benefit. As it is now, I am unable to load every single cover, even going one platform at a time, without it crashing (twice in a row)
Possibly, I have a tendency to find a good size and then resize all the covers for a given platform to that, upscale them, then downsample them back to the original size preserving the details of the upscale while retaining the smaller image size. I have only just started going through it myself, but honestly, some build ago the images used to only cache maybe 4 rows at a time and then wait for you to scroll down to continue, this worked better honestly, so I am hoping we can improve it in the next update.
I did increase how many it processed at once maybe that had something to do with it, I might turn it back down to 6 covers at a time instead I think I set 8 and just see how it affects things, but will do that after Dan has fixed whatever needed fixing for cache to work properly.
Update
LaunchPass v2.1.6.0 has been announced
Grab it from the here
It is no longer required to set a Sort Tile to Platforms for Platforms to show up in LaunchPass.
Fonts, Backgrounds, and XMLs will now be recreated and set to default if assets are missing, this fixes getting stuck on the splash screen if any are missing.
Fixed cache getting wiped when closing the app and changed how images are first loaded into Platforms, the whole app should feel smoother and this should help people with bigger collections too
Video backgrounds SHOULD be more stable now.
Sort Title now works for Platforms and should be for Games as well.
Since the last update, load times have significantly improved. In my case, on an Xbox One X and 2TB Verbatim HDD, covers now load in real time, at a rate of 2 covers per second. However I am still unable to load my entire collection without it crashing. Starting from NES, and working my way up one platform at a time, by the time I've loaded all my covers for GameBoy Color, at which point the cover count is 2,425 when I back out to the main menu, LaunchPass freezes and crashes. I then have to repeat the process when I relaunch.
As far as new features I'd like to see, it would be nice if when the cursor is at the far left or right, you could press left or right respectively, or perhaps assign it to the bumpers, to page up or down.
Since the last update, load times have significantly improved. In my case, on an Xbox One X and 2TB Verbatim HDD, covers now load in real time, at a rate of 2 covers per second. However I am still unable to load my entire collection without it crashing. Starting from NES, and working my way up one platform at a time, by the time I've loaded all my covers for GameBoy Color, at which point the cover count is 2,425 when I back out to the main menu, LaunchPass freezes and crashes. I then have to repeat the process when I relaunch.
As far as new features I'd like to see, it would be nice if when the cursor is at the far left or right, you could press left or right respectively, or perhaps assign it to the bumpers, to page up or down.
About that,..
I have a similar issue and we did some real testing, well I did some real testing to find more exact numbers, and I also spoke again with the RetroPass Developer as large collections in a single playlist have been a thorn even for him.
I found the following out.
# = Covers/Titles per playlist being loaded/displayed in the grid.
4000+: Almost guaranteed crash.
2500: Sometimes crashes.
2000 - 2350: Pretty Stable
1500-2000: Stable as far as I can tell.
Less than 1000 or less don't even 2nd guess it.
We have updated our documentation to reflect my findings both in the GitHub readme info and in the user guide/manual
under troubleshooting.
I have run my largest collection as high as 2289 titles and it runs perfectly, aside from a bit longer cache in time as the more you have it seems to bog down, but that seems to be an issue we share with RetroPass who also has issues caching large playlists.
What you will want to do for the larger ones is split the platform up into two or more playlists to lower the overall displayed games spread over a couple of listings rather than all in one huge one, this all also applies to trying to load ALL titles in 1 Playlist.
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