openMSX Launcher

openMSX Launcher v1.2

openMSX Launcher is a front-end for openMSX written in Java, and can run on Windows, MacOS, Linux and BSD.

After starting the launcher for the first time, you need to set a few fields in the settings window.

First time installation

Windows: unzip the Windows package anywhere on your system.

MacOS: open the downloaded DMG and drag "openMSX Launcher.app" into your "Applications" folder.

Linux/BSD: unzip the Linux/BSD package anywhere on your system.

Upgrade from previous version

Databases created in previous versions are fully compatible with the current version.

Windows: unzip the Windows package anywhere on your system. Replace the old exe, lib directory, extra-data.dat and README.html files with the new versions. Leave everything else untouched.

MacOS: move the old openMSX Launcher to trash. Open the downloaded DMG and drag "openMSX Launcher.app" into your "Applications" folder. No need to worry about previous databases because they are stored in the Users folder.

Linux/BSD: unzip the Linux/BSD package anywhere on your system.

How to start

Windows: double-click on the exe file.

MacOS: double-click on the application icon.

Linux/OpenBSD: type openmsx-launcher.run then enter from the command line.

Settings

1) Emulator and machines folders:

Windows:

Emulator: <Path>\

Machines: <Path>\share\machines

Mac:

Emulator: /Applications/openmsx.app/Contents/MacOS

Machines: /Applications/openmsx.app/share/machines

Linux (Debian, fedora, ubuntu):

Emulator: /usr/bin

Machines: /usr/share/openmsx/machines

FreeBSD

Emulator: /usr/local/bin

Machines: /usr/local/share/openmsx/machines

2) Screenshots: This is the directory where game screenshots can be found. This collection of screenshots is the one used by blueMSX Launcher, and can be downloaded from: http://msxlaunchers.info.

3) Database: This is the database to display automatically when the launcher is started.

4) Language: openMSX Launcher supports many languages. When the launcher is started, it will try to detect the language of the system automatically. If that fails (i.e. if it still uses English text even if your system language is different), you can force the language selection here.

Fill Database

This is a tool that scans your storage drive for MSX software supported by openMSX and adds it to launcher databases.

Filters

Filters button can be found under the game list. When clicking on it, a menu pops up with a list of saves filters, small buttons to either delete or edit saved filters and options to reset current filters and add new ones.

Update All Databases

This is a tool that updates extra data for games in all databases (including update display of screenshots) when there's a new version of the extra-data.dat file and screenshots. It will also fix a bug that existed in versions 1.0 and 1.1 where some fields were not set correctly when using the 'Fill database' feature.

Right-click context menu

When right-clicking on one or more selected profiles in the game list, a context menu with two items appears and they are:

1) Move: this allows you to move the selected profiles to other databases. A confirmation dialog with many options appears in case of conflicts.

2) Locate File: this only works on a single selection and it brings up the current platform's file manager. File Explorer on Windows and Finder on MacOS will open up with the profile's main file highlighted. On Linux running GNOME, nautilus will open up with the directory where game's main file is.

3) Properties: this only works on a single selection and it brings up the properties screen for the selected game.

To do in future versions

1) Database manager (to delete, rename and restore databases).

2) More improvements to the Mac version.

3) Support for shortcuts.

4) Search.

5) Catapult features.

6) Import blueMSX Launcher databases.

7) Android version.

8) Other things.

Support/Suggestions/Questions/Translation fixes

Email Sam Elsharif at oelsha at engineer.com.

Release history

Version 1.2 - released May 4, 2014

Enhancements:

Added ability to filter databases by company, year, country, medium, size, MSX generation, sound chip and genre
Added game properties in the right-click context menu
Added ability to update game extra data in all databases. Useful when there's a new version of the accompanying extra-data.dat file
Added slight display improvements to the Mac version
Added ability to select a game in the list by typing the first few letters of its name

Bug fixes:

Some fields set internally in the game profile (and only now displayable in the new properties screen) were not correct. The new 'Update all databases' feature fixes that automatically

Version 1.1 - released Sep 7, 2013

Enhancements:

Added ability to move games between databases via the right-click context menu
Added ability to bring up the platform's file manager (File Explorer on Windows, Finder on MacOS, etc) via the right-click context menu
Added menu item in the Help menu to bring up the help file
Added ability to create empty databases
Added a bar above the game list to show company, year and size of file of the selected game
File fields in Add/Edit screens now support drag and drop of files
If a script is defined in the profile then it will override all other fields when openMSX is launched
Many other minor enhancements

Bug fixes:

When adding a new game or editing a new one, the recorded size for ZIP files, which is stored in the database, is wrong. This will be seen with this new version where the size displayed in the bar above the game list will be that of the ZIP file rather than the original size. In order to fix it, just edit the game and save immediately without modifying any other fields

Version 1.0 - released Jul 8, 2013

Create multiple databases of all MSX software supported by openMSX
Scan the hard disk to automatically fill launcher databases with ROMs, disks, tapes, hard disks and laserdiscs, and sync the database to your hard disk any time later. Display two screenshots for each game
Display the text on the launcher using a number of supported languages (English, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish)