[ehammer85]

fairly new to the Kodi forum and was hoping for a little guidance (and i apologize if this is answered somewhere glaringly obvious) but I'm in Kodi 17.5 with the Phenemonal skin and most of the time when I launch a game from AEL and exit back to Kodi, it's like Kodi was accepting input from my gamepad.  Is there a way to avoid this?  An argument to add that minimizes Kodi once the game is launched or a setting that I'm missing?

Yes, minimize/put Kodi in windowed mode is a launcher option. I have to do this on my setup in order to prevent Kodi from stealing my input. Technically it minimizes/windows Kodi before launching the game, but this is what you want. 

 As I understand it, AEL can only put Kodi in windowed mode and not minimize Kodi.  Is that accurate?  I've been playing around with cmdow but am having a hard time in implementing it in my games collection within AEL.  Any tutorials that would be helpful specific to my desire to minimize Kodi when launching a game (standalone launcher, not a ROM launcher) and maximizing Kodi again when exiting the launcher? 

Or a way to keep Kodi from "stealing input" from my gamepad as the game is open? 

Also, with the old Advanced Launcher, there was a way for me to add a Kodi Favorite as a launcher.  Is there still a way to do this?

[Wintermute0110]

As I understand it, AEL can only put Kodi in windowed mode and not minimize Kodi.  Is that accurate?  I've been playing around with cmdow but am having a hard time in implementing it in my games collection within AEL.  Any tutorials that would be helpful specific to my desire to minimize Kodi when launching a game (standalone launcher, not a ROM launcher) and maximizing Kodi again when exiting the launcher? 

Or a way to keep Kodi from "stealing input" from my gamepad as the game is open? 

Also, with the old Advanced Launcher, there was a way for me to add a Kodi Favorite as a launcher.  Is there still a way to do this? 

Yes, AEL can only put Kodi into windowed mode and back to full screen mode, and cannot minimize Kodi window.

For the record, can you please tell me some info about your setup? Windows version, gamepad you are using, etc. Also, are you using some special program to remove the window shell and launch Kodi in standalone mode?

You will need to use an external tool like cmdow. You can create a BAT/CMD file like this

Code:

@ECHO OFF
C:\Utils\cmdow.exe "Kodi" /MIN
C:\Your-game-dir\Game.exe
C:\Utils\cmdow.exe "Kodi" /MAX

And use the BAT/CMD file as the application to launch in your Standalone launcher.

Alternatively, you can create LNK files in a directory for your games. This have advantages because you will have access to the ROMs features not available for Standalone Launchers. In this case, create a ROM launcher and use the script as the application and "$rom$" as the arguments. Your wrapper script will look like this:

Code:

@ECHO OFF
C:\Utils\cmdow.exe "Kodi" /MIN
START "AEL" /b "%1"
C:\Utils\cmdow.exe "Kodi" /MAX

Keep in mind I have not tested the scripts, maybe you will need to do some adjustments.

[illinx]

fairly new to the Kodi forum and was hoping for a little guidance (and i apologize if this is answered somewhere glaringly obvious) but I'm in Kodi 17.5 with the Phenemonal skin and most of the time when I launch a game from AEL and exit back to Kodi, it's like Kodi was accepting input from my gamepad.  Is there a way to avoid this?  An argument to add that minimizes Kodi once the game is launched or a setting that I'm missing?

Yes, minimize/put Kodi in windowed mode is a launcher option. I have to do this on my setup in order to prevent Kodi from stealing my input. Technically it minimizes/windows Kodi before launching the game, but this is what you want.  

 As I understand it, AEL can only put Kodi in windowed mode and not minimize Kodi.  Is that accurate?  I've been playing around with cmdow but am having a hard time in implementing it in my games collection within AEL.  Any tutorials that would be helpful specific to my desire to minimize Kodi when launching a game (standalone launcher, not a ROM launcher) and maximizing Kodi again when exiting the launcher? 

Or a way to keep Kodi from "stealing input" from my gamepad as the game is open? 

Also, with the old Advanced Launcher, there was a way for me to add a Kodi Favorite as a launcher.  Is there still a way to do this? 

That's correct, it's just that there's some legacy stuff that still calls it "minimize", so you may see that used some places even though it really means windowed mode. In windowed mode, it will not steal your input if there is another window with focus.

[Wintermute0110]

Ladies/Gents,

Rufoo and collaborators have released and alpha version of their new skin, Citris. Yes, this is the famous skin XXXXX on the screenshots in the third post of this thread. Keep in mind that still is an alpha version and so expect some bugs and incomplete features. The skin is pretty usable though and of course has excellent support for AEL and also AML. Here are some screenshots of Citris Alpha:

[aleins4u]

Is AEL capable of running games off a server? I store all of my games on a HDD connected to my router and my current launcher (RCB) is capable of downloading the game before launching it. I've thus far not seen anything in AEL that would allow me to do something similar and its the only thing preventing me from switching to AEL.

[sagrath]

Hi @Wintermute0110

I Would like to suggest a feature:

Add 2 new tags for Category on AEL.

Launchers and Roms has the following tags: Title, Year, Genre, Developer, Rating and Plot (the others tag are unique tags for each one)
But the Category has only Title, Genre, Rating and Plot

I miss Year and Developer. Because i want to create some category like "Sega Saturn" and put on tags "Title: Sega Saturn System - Year: 1994 - Genre: Console - Developer: Sega -Rating: 8 And Plot: Some blablabla". And inside this category make some specific launchers: Fighting Games, RPG Games, Adventure Games.. and this way go.. (by the way, I've already have my iso's separated)

If it's no to hard to implement this, I would apreciatted 

So, here's go some screens of what I talking abaout





Thanks in Advanced

[chrisism]

Is AEL capable of running games off a server? I store all of my games on a HDD connected to my router and my current launcher (RCB) is capable of downloading the game before launching it. I've thus far not seen anything in AEL that would allow me to do something similar and its the only thing preventing me from switching to AEL.

 Depends on what you mean with running off a server. If the OS running kodi and the launcher associated with the games/roms supports it, it is possible in AEL. If it was possible with RCB it is possible with AEL. In cases though the specific launchers (emulators) do not support opening ROMs from a network path and you need to apply a workaround by mounting the network share in the OS. This was the same case in RCB.

In my case I have an Android (Nvidia Shield) that has network shares mounted with all my roms and it works perfectly using AEL and Retroach as the specific emulator.
(ps, as mentioned before, it looks like Retroarch is starting to support network shares itself)

[dugan26]

Hi -

I am using your great application to launch HyperSpin.

Check this issue out -

I loaded everything up on a test box and it worked like a champ.

when i loaded it onto my production box (the one connected to my Living Room TV) Kodi Minimizes and never comes back up. 

100% IDEAL:
On my test box - Kodi stays up full screen, and Hyperspin launches in front of Kodi - then when i kill HyperSpin Kodi remains in full screen so in the ideal situation (like on my test box) Kodi never minimizes or goes into window mode - it just stays in full screen and HyperSpin just becomes the active window.

On my production box i changed one of the settings that says windowed mode ON - but that acts a bit odd - Kodi goes into windowd mode and then when i exit HyperSpin after a few seconds it goes back to full screen.

What is the proper operation?

Many thanks in advance -

[dugan26]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4d3hpQPtiM

Hi -

I am using your great application to launch HyperSpin.

Check this issue out -

I loaded everything up on a test box and it worked like a champ.

when i loaded it onto my production box (the one connected to my Living Room TV) Kodi Minimizes and never comes back up. 

100% IDEAL:
On my test box - Kodi stays up full screen, and Hyperspin launches in front of Kodi - then when i kill HyperSpin Kodi remains in full screen so in the ideal situation (like on my test box) Kodi never minimizes or goes into window mode - it just stays in full screen and HyperSpin just becomes the active window.

On my production box i changed one of the settings that says windowed mode ON - but that acts a bit odd - Kodi goes into windowd mode and then when i exit HyperSpin after a few seconds it goes back to full screen.

What is the proper operation?

Many thanks in advance -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4d3hpQPtiM

[Wintermute0110]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4d3hpQPtiM

Hi -

I am using your great application to launch HyperSpin.

Check this issue out -

I loaded everything up on a test box and it worked like a champ.

when i loaded it onto my production box (the one connected to my Living Room TV) Kodi Minimizes and never comes back up. 

100% IDEAL:
On my test box - Kodi stays up full screen, and Hyperspin launches in front of Kodi - then when i kill HyperSpin Kodi remains in full screen so in the ideal situation (like on my test box) Kodi never minimizes or goes into window mode - it just stays in full screen and HyperSpin just becomes the active window.

On my production box i changed one of the settings that says windowed mode ON - but that acts a bit odd - Kodi goes into windowd mode and then when i exit HyperSpin after a few seconds it goes back to full screen.

What is the proper operation?

Many thanks in advance -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4d3hpQPtiM

After watching your video I have the impression HyperSpin is not working properly. I mean, it looks HyperSpin launches itself as a border-less window application, as opposed to a full screen application (note that you can see the windows task bar. In fullscreen mode you cannot see the task bar). From the point of view of AEL there is nothing I can do... AEL launches the application but whether the app is launched in fullscreen, in window mode, etc. is up to the launched app configuration. Typically you control the behavior of the launched application with the launcher arguments. Please check out the HyperSpin arguments, maybe there is some argument/switch to tell HyperSpin to use fullscreen mode.

[Wintermute0110]

Hi @Wintermute0110

I Would like to suggest a feature:

Add 2 new tags for Category on AEL.

Launchers and Roms has the following tags: Title, Year, Genre, Developer, Rating and Plot (the others tag are unique tags for each one)
But the Category has only Title, Genre, Rating and Plot

I miss Year and Developer. Because i want to create some category like "Sega Saturn" and put on tags "Title: Sega Saturn System - Year: 1994 - Genre: Console - Developer: Sega -Rating: 8 And Plot: Some blablabla". And inside this category make some specific launchers: Fighting Games, RPG Games, Adventure Games.. and this way go.. (by the way, I've already have my iso's separated)

If it's no to hard to implement this, I would apreciatted 

So, here's go some screens of what I talking abaout

Thanks in Advanced

  
I'm working on it. I will let you know when I finish.

EDIT: finished. To test it install latest development version from Github. Make sure you download the release-0.9.8 branch and not master branch. To change the branch, use the "Branch" button before downloading AEL with the "Clone or Download" button.

[sagrath]

Hi @Wintermute0110

I Would like to suggest a feature:

Add 2 new tags for Category on AEL.

Launchers and Roms has the following tags: Title, Year, Genre, Developer, Rating and Plot (the others tag are unique tags for each one)
But the Category has only Title, Genre, Rating and Plot

I miss Year and Developer. Because i want to create some category like "Sega Saturn" and put on tags "Title: Sega Saturn System - Year: 1994 - Genre: Console - Developer: Sega -Rating: 8 And Plot: Some blablabla". And inside this category make some specific launchers: Fighting Games, RPG Games, Adventure Games.. and this way go.. (by the way, I've already have my iso's separated)

If it's no to hard to implement this, I would apreciatted 

So, here's go some screens of what I talking abaout

Thanks in Advanced

  
I'm working on it. I will let you know when I finish.

EDIT: finished. To test it install latest development version from Github. Make sure you download the release-0.9.8 branch and not master branch. To change the branch, use the "Branch" button before downloading AEL with the "Clone or Download" button. 

 It's Working!
Just tested right now and it's now 100% 
Thanks @Wintermute0110, this addon it's became a monster to launch games! you the best!

[sagrath]

Passing just to show how my (small) game collection are going fantastic with AEL, now I can get importnat infos about my categories, launchers and roms.  I make some scripts to save CPU cost and put kodi in suspend mode when I launch  my roms and pc Games. 

One more time,  @Wintermute0110 you are the best with this great Addon.

This is my first row of categories 

watch gallery

This is my Arcade Launchers:

watch gallery

This is my Emulator Launchers (there is no poster for Sega CD because I don´t create yet)

watch gallery

Some games of emulators and arcades and how the screenshot is displayed (in a hidden area with plot together)

watch gallery

My Steam Games (all launch by a script that call steam, put kodi on suspend mode, this way I can use steam ovelay)

watch gallery

And at last, my windows games separated by collections:

watch gallery

All posters images done by me on photoshop. Wallpapers and logo was grabbed on web.

Cheers!

[CaioLopes]

Hi, just want to say that I'm loving AEL. I have only two questions:

1- It is possible to change the default action of clicking in a launcher/ROM from launching to showing the Info overlay? Like... can edit some code to change the Action(Click) to Action(I) or something like that?

2- It is possible to create another Launcher inside a launcher? (I have a .lnk library and I wonder if I can create another one inside that one)

[dugan26]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4d3hpQPtiM

Hi -

I am using your great application to launch HyperSpin.

Check this issue out -

I loaded everything up on a test box and it worked like a champ.

when i loaded it onto my production box (the one connected to my Living Room TV) Kodi Minimizes and never comes back up. 

100% IDEAL:
On my test box - Kodi stays up full screen, and Hyperspin launches in front of Kodi - then when i kill HyperSpin Kodi remains in full screen so in the ideal situation (like on my test box) Kodi never minimizes or goes into window mode - it just stays in full screen and HyperSpin just becomes the active window.

On my production box i changed one of the settings that says windowed mode ON - but that acts a bit odd - Kodi goes into windowd mode and then when i exit HyperSpin after a few seconds it goes back to full screen.

What is the proper operation?

Many thanks in advance -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4d3hpQPtiM

After watching your video I have the impression HyperSpin is not working properly. I mean, it looks HyperSpin launches itself as a border-less window application, as opposed to a full screen application (note that you can see the windows task bar. In fullscreen mode you cannot see the task bar). From the point of view of AEL there is nothing I can do... AEL launches the application but whether the app is launched in fullscreen, in window mode, etc. is up to the launched app configuration. Typically you control the behavior of the launched application with the launcher arguments. Please check out the HyperSpin arguments, maybe there is some argument/switch to tell HyperSpin to use fullscreen mode. 

 Hi -

Thank you so much for the reply. Im sorry but i didnt do a good enough job explaining. I purposely put the The HyperSpin application in windowed mode (not full screen) to show how Kodi on my test laptop never goes into windowed mode when i launch AEL. It STAYS in full screen. This was just for demonstration purposes. 

Think you can take a look at these two videos? I explain better here. 

Ideal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ_DVtdLz7I

Can AEL leave Kodi in full screen at all times? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9ucfTYdjGk

Many thanks in advance