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RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - kevenz - 2021-07-26

Anyone know the proper command line for Demul to work ?

I'm trying to launch Naomi Arcade games for exemple.

demul.exe -run=naomi -rom="$rom$" just open the demul menu but doesn't launch games.

with the previous emulator launcher by Angelscry I just replaced %rom% with %rombasename% and it worked but it doesn't work this time with this launcher.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2021-07-26

(2021-07-26, 15:16)kevenz Wrote: Anyone know the proper command line for Demul to work ?

I'm trying to launch Naomi Arcade games for exemple.

demul.exe -run=naomi -rom="$rom$" just open the demul menu but doesn't launch games.

with the previous emulator launcher by Angelscry I just replaced %rom% with %rombasename% and it worked but it doesn't work this time with this launcher.

AEL changed a bit the argument substitution compared with AL. This is the list of the current variables

python:

arguments = arguments.replace('$categoryID$', categoryID)
arguments = arguments.replace('$launcherID$', launcherID)
arguments = arguments.replace('$romID$', romID)
arguments = arguments.replace('$rom$', ROMFileName.getPath())
arguments = arguments.replace('$romfile$', ROMFileName.getPath())
arguments = arguments.replace('$rompath$', rompath)
arguments = arguments.replace('$rombase$', rombase)
arguments = arguments.replace('$rombasenoext$', rombase_noext)
arguments = arguments.replace('$romtitle$', romtitle)
arguments = arguments.replace('$apppath$', apppath)
# >> Legacy names for argument substitution
arguments = arguments.replace('%rom%', ROMFileName.getPath())
arguments = arguments.replace('%ROM%', ROMFileName.getPath())

Try $rombase$ or $rombasenoext$.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - tillaz87 - 2021-07-27

(2021-07-16, 13:10)Wintermute0110 Wrote:
(2021-07-14, 18:39)tillaz87 Wrote: Any ideas why thegamesdb does not scarp any meta data? I've checked the actual website and can see games like fallout 4 are on there but it won't scrape anything at all for it 9r another steam game?

Metadata isn't scrapping again it was working but now it's stopped I've done rest tried other themes and everything

Here is the log
https://pastebin.com/d4Q3HXDC

Please post a debug log, following the instructions of the first post, doing a couple of the problematic scrapes. Then I can see exactly what is going on.



RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2021-07-27

(2021-07-27, 00:19)tillaz87 Wrote:
(2021-07-16, 13:10)Wintermute0110 Wrote:
(2021-07-14, 18:39)tillaz87 Wrote: Any ideas why thegamesdb does not scarp any meta data? I've checked the actual website and can see games like fallout 4 are on there but it won't scrape anything at all for it 9r another steam game?

Metadata isn't scrapping again it was working but now it's stopped I've done rest tried other themes and everything

Here is the log
https://pastebin.com/d4Q3HXDC

Please post a debug log, following the instructions of the first post, doing a couple of the problematic scrapes. Then I can see exactly what is going on.

That problem when scraping ROM metadata has been fixed in github, please install the version from there.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Lakmir - 2021-07-31

Hi,

I'm upgrading from AL in preparation for a Kodi Matrix migration. I really like what I've seen so far, and I'm super happy (you have *no idea*) to be able to automatically scrape individually-added new games again instead of manually adding artwork for each. I've hit the final point where I'm integrating into my main Kodi menu, and while things are going *mostly* smoothly I've hit a bit of a snag with my PPSSPP launcher.

I'm currently using Aeon Nox Silvo as my skin. I have it set up with broad categories ("Nintendo", "Gameboy", "Sega", etc) with noop actions as main menu items, with individual category launchers ("NES", "SNES", "GBC", "Saturn", etc) as submenu items. This works fine, and it works for all of my launchers... except for PSP. Since PPSSPP automatically loads in metadata from the PSP games in its games folder and I don't have to scrape for anything or mess with that sort of thing, its launcher is a standard executable, *not* a ROM launcher. And unfortunately it doesn't look like I'm able to add a shortcut to standard executable launchers, only ROM launchers.

Description of the problem in screenshots

Now, weirdly, it doesn't look like I'm able to do that in the version of AL I have installed either, which I mean, I know I set it up before; here's the xml from script.skinshortcuts\sony.DATA.xml:

xml:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<shortcuts>
    <shortcut>
        <defaultID>pcsxreloaded</defaultID>
        <label>PS1</label>
        <label2>Favourite</label2>
        <icon>special://skin/extras/icons/DefaultFolder.png</icon>
        <thumb />
        <action>ActivateWindow(10001,"plugin://plugin.program.advanced.launcher/?default%2fb0572ed9c5397fa9ef0ec6cf7d4329b4",return)</action>
    </shortcut>
    <shortcut>
        <defaultID>pcsx2</defaultID>
        <label>PS2</label>
        <label2>Favourite</label2>
        <icon>special://skin/extras/icons/DefaultFolder.png</icon>
        <thumb />
        <action>ActivateWindow(10001,"plugin://plugin.program.advanced.launcher/?default%2f16f7ad895b79ad2de66acf558908de87",return)</action>
    </shortcut>
    <shortcut>
        <defaultID>ppsspp64</defaultID>
        <label>PSP</label>
        <label2>Favourite</label2>
        <icon>special://skin/extras/icons/DefaultFolder.png</icon>
        <thumb />
        <action>ActivateWindow(10001,"plugin://plugin.program.advanced.launcher/?default%2f38b48ec22a6110d2e6631cdc2b8de9b1",return)</action>
    </shortcut>
</shortcuts>

I'm happy with adding this manually if necessary (provided someone can clue me in on how to get that massive string of hex following the ?default target); as this is the only piece that isn't actually working at the moment, I'd love to get it solved. Any help is appreciated!


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Lakmir - 2021-07-31

(2021-07-31, 22:17)Lakmir Wrote: I'm happy with adding this manually if necessary (provided someone can clue me in on how to get that massive string of hex following the ?default target); as this is the only piece that isn't actually working at the moment, I'd love to get it solved. Any help is appreciated!

I don't appear to have enough posts to be able to edit yet, but I've figured out how to obtain the hex number. That said, it looks like, AEL has different commands than AL did - my PS2 launcher for instance is ActivateWindow(Programs,"plugin://plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/?com=SHOW_ROMS&catID=root_category&launID=[biglonghexnumber],return)"

Grepped around in the source a bit and it looks like I need "?com=LAUNCH_STANDALONE&catID=root_category&launID=[otherhexnumber]". Set it up and it seems to work - so that's good! I'm back in business Smile Still curious about adding standard/standalone launchers via skin settings as described above though; wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong or if this just isn't supported.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - tillaz87 - 2021-08-02

How do I launch an android app? Can't figure it out 🤔


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2021-08-03

(2021-07-31, 22:49)Lakmir Wrote: I don't appear to have enough posts to be able to edit yet, but I've figured out how to obtain the hex number. That said, it looks like, AEL has different commands than AL did - my PS2 launcher for instance is ActivateWindow(Programs,"plugin://plugin.program.advanced.emulator.launcher/?com=SHOW_ROMS&catID=root_category&launID=[biglonghexnumber],return)"

Grepped around in the source a bit and it looks like I need "?com=LAUNCH_STANDALONE&catID=root_category&launID=[otherhexnumber]". Set it up and it seems to work - so that's good! I'm back in business Smile Still curious about adding standard/standalone launchers via skin settings as described above though; wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong or if this just isn't supported.

Yes, AEL has changed the URL structure a bit compared with Advanced Launcher. AL had a tendency to use a lot of implicit information. For example, the massive string of hex you mention are the MD5 database ids for the categories/launchers/individual ROMs. In AEL you need to be explicit about whether the MD5 id belongs to a category, launcher, etc. In addition, there are special names like root_category to include the virtual launchers which is a new feature of AEL not included in AL.

All in all, if you are willing to include the URLs manually here is one trick. For every element you want to know the URL, for example a launcher, browse and select it in AEL, then open the context menu and use the option on the bottom Add to favourites. This command will add the AEL element to the Kodi favourites, and this is a XML database file named favourites.xml that you can check in your profile to learn the URL the favourite is pointing to.

Note that in AEL the database MD5 ids are generated randomly. If you make changes in your categories/launchers/ROMs the MD5 ids may change. If you use an incorrect URL to call AEL then AEL must display some kind of error and you will have more details about the error in the Kodi log file, keep in mind the amount of verbosity in the graphical interface of Kodi is very limited.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2021-08-03

(2021-08-02, 22:14)tillaz87 Wrote: How do I launch an android app? Can't figure it out 🤔

You can have a look at the external_command_database.xml from the addon IAGL, where you have tons of launcher examples for Android. In particular, go to line 139 of the file and you can see:

xml:

<!-- Android External Retroarch Commands -->
<launcher name="RetroArch 4DO (3DO)" os="android">
<command>/system/bin/am start --user 0 -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER
-n com.retroarch/com.retroarch.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture
--es "LIBRETRO" "%CORE_BASE_PATH%/4do_libretro_android.so"
--es "CONFIGFILE" "%CFG_PATH%"
--es "ROM" "%ROM_PATH%"
--es "IME" com.android.inputmethod.latin/.LatinIME
--activity-clear-task --activity-clear-top --activity-no-history</command>
</launcher>

Note that I have included additional carriage returns for the shake of clarity. In AEL, the launcher application will be /system/bin/am and the rest are the application arguments. Change %CFG_PATH% with /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.retroarch/files/retroarch.cfg. Also, change %CORE_BASE_PATH% with /data/data/com.retroarch/cores/ which is the default location. Finally, change %ROM_PATH% with $rom$. Down in the file external_command_database.xml you have other Android emulators different from Retroarch. The important thing is that you learn to adapt the examples in this file to something you can use in AEL.

Another alternative is to look into the AEL asset library. In this directory you have several AEL XML .configurations for Android launchers. For example, this is the contents of file Mame - Retroarch (Android).xml

xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<advanced_emulator_launcher_configuration>
<launcher>
<name>Mame</name>
<category>Arcade</category>
<Launcher_NFO>../Launcher assets Arcade/MAME.nfo</Launcher_NFO>
<platform>MAME</platform>
<application>/system/bin/am</application>
<args>start --user 0 -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER -e ROM "%rom%"
-e LIBRETRO /data/data/com.retroarch/cores/mame_libretro_android.so
-e CONFIGFILE /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.retroarch/files/retroarch.cfg
-e IME com.android.inputmethod.latin/.LatinIME
-e REFRESH 60
-n com.retroarch/.browser.retroactivity.RetroActivityFuture</args>
<ROM_path>/sdcard/roms/games/mame/</ROM_path>
<ROM_ext>zip</ROM_ext>
<ROM_asset_path>/sdcard/roms/assets/mame/</ROM_asset_path>
<Asset_Prefix>../Launcher assets Arcade/</Asset_Prefix>
</launcher>
</advanced_emulator_launcher_configuration>

Note that here I also have included extra carriage returns in the <args> tag for convenience. One nice thing of Retroarch is that once you configure a core/platform then it is very easy to configure another core, the only thing that changes is the core name, the ROM path and the artwork path. Change the ROM_path and the ROM_asset_path to suit you setup and remember that most tags in the XML file are optional, first configure something that works, then you add the bells and whistles.

Finally, I strongly recommend to use XML configuration files for AEL, specially in Android you need to use such long argument strings that using the graphical user interface is most annoying.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2021-08-04

New AEL release 0.10.1

This is a bugfix release with no new features.

Upgrading to AEL 0.10.1

Follow these steps:

1. Install AEL release 0.10.1.

2. Upgrade your database with Utilities, Check/Update all databases. It is safe to execute Check/Update all databases multiple times.

3. Done!

Advanced Emulator Launcher | version 0.10.1 | 04 August 2021

Code:
FIX      Fix crash when reading a launcher NFO file when importing a launcher XML file.
         Refactored the NFO file functions a bit.
         See https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=287826&pid=3045045#pid3045045

FIX      Error when scraping metadata.
         See https://github.com/Wintermute0110/plugin.program.AEL/issues/146



RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - kevenz - 2021-08-04

(2021-07-26, 16:16)Wintermute0110 Wrote:
(2021-07-26, 15:16)kevenz Wrote: Anyone know the proper command line for Demul to work ?

I'm trying to launch Naomi Arcade games for exemple.

demul.exe -run=naomi -rom="$rom$" just open the demul menu but doesn't launch games.

with the previous emulator launcher by Angelscry I just replaced %rom% with %rombasename% and it worked but it doesn't work this time with this launcher.

AEL changed a bit the argument substitution compared with AL. This is the list of the current variables

python:

arguments = arguments.replace('$categoryID$', categoryID)
arguments = arguments.replace('$launcherID$', launcherID)
arguments = arguments.replace('$romID$', romID)
arguments = arguments.replace('$rom$', ROMFileName.getPath())
arguments = arguments.replace('$romfile$', ROMFileName.getPath())
arguments = arguments.replace('$rompath$', rompath)
arguments = arguments.replace('$rombase$', rombase)
arguments = arguments.replace('$rombasenoext$', rombase_noext)
arguments = arguments.replace('$romtitle$', romtitle)
arguments = arguments.replace('$apppath$', apppath)
# >> Legacy names for argument substitution
arguments = arguments.replace('%rom%', ROMFileName.getPath())
arguments = arguments.replace('%ROM%', ROMFileName.getPath())

Try $rombase$ or $rombasenoext$.
Just wanted to say that $rombasenoext$ actually works for launching Arcade games via Demul emulator... if anyone is interested. Smile


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2021-08-05

New AEL release 0.9.11

This is a bugfix release with no new features for Kodi Krypton and Leia, using Pyhton 2. This release is feature identical to version 0.10.1 for Kodi Matrix.

From now on I will focus the development of new features on the Python 3 branch, which was renamed to master in Github recently. This does not mean that the Python 2 AEL branch is abandoned. I will backport bugfixes and some features that codewise are easy to port.

Upgrading to AEL 0.9.11

Follow these steps:

1. Install AEL release 0.9.11

2. Upgrade your database with Utilities, Check/Update all databases. It is safe to execute Check/Update all databases multiple times.

3. Done!

Advanced Emulator Launcher | version 0.9.11 | 04 August 2021

Code:
NOTE     This version is for Python 2 and feature identical to 0.10.1
         Main development is in the Python 3 branch.



RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - tillaz87 - 2021-08-10

Anyone have any idea where the default age rating strings are? Or if they can be changed to numeric only like 12+ 18+ etc.

I've been modding the sauna view and was wanting to change this so it all aligns correct

Not sure if they are part of AEL, the skin, or Kodi.

Image


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - Wintermute0110 - 2021-08-11

(2021-08-10, 16:15)tillaz87 Wrote: Anyone have any idea where the default age rating strings are? Or if they can be changed to numeric only like 12+ 18+ etc.

I've been modding the sauna view and was wanting to change this so it all aligns correct

Not sure if they are part of AEL, the skin, or Kodi.

Image

AEL uses ESRB in its internal database, and makes that property available to listitems that you can use in your skin. The way you use this property in the skin is up to you, for example, you can render an icon or render a text string, etc. For more details about ESRB and the age conversion check its Wikipedia page.


RE: Advanced Emulator Launcher - Multi-emulator frontend for Kodi - bgmordred - 2021-08-11

Hello all,

I have a question. I am running Krypton and Advanced launcher (or an older program launcher) that is working fine. But I have trouble adding an Epic Store game. The shortcut is a URL (and gives error when run inside the addon) and by running the .exe (NBA 2k21) it doesn't load past the loading screen (it has to be launched by the URL shortcut). Does AEL support url shortcuts?