openMSX Launcher v1.4

openMSX Launcher is a front-end for openMSX written in Java, and runs 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" directory.

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" directory. No need to worry about previous databases because they are stored in the Users directory.

Linux/BSD: unzip the Linux/BSD package anywhere on your system. Replace the old openmsx-launcher.run, lib directory, extra-data.dat and README.html files with the new versions. No need to worry about previous databases because they are stored in the current users's home directory.

Starting from versions later than 1.4, upgrades can be done inline from within the launcher. The availablility of a new version of the launcher, extra data and screenshots can be checked from the Help menu and the new version of the launcher and extra data can then be downloaded directly. All you need to do after downloading the new launcher is to restart it.

How to start

Windows: double-click on the exe file.

MacOS: double-click on the application icon.

Linux/OpenBSD: type and enter openmsx-launcher.run in a terminal window. In a GNOME environment you can a shortcut to the launcher

Settings

1) Emulator and machines directories:

Note: the detect button will 'suggest' the path to the openMSX based on the platform. Try that first, and if that doesn't work you can enter it manually.

Windows:

Emulator: <Path>\

Mac:

Emulator: /Applications

Linux (Debian, fedora, ubuntu):

Emulator: /usr/bin

FreeBSD

Emulator: /usr/local/bin

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 the launcher databases.

Favorites

Favorites button is located above the four main buttons. When pressing it, a menu containing the currently saved favorites appears. You can go straight to your favorite game by selecting one from the list. You can also delete the favorite there as well.

Filters

Filters button can be found under the game list. When pressing 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 three 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) Add to Favorites: add the selected game to the list of favorites. The list is accessible through the favorites button in the main window.

4) Info: this displays the user-specified info file using the system's default viewer. In the "Fill Database" feature, this field gets set to the game's MSX Generation page, but it can be anything the user desires (text file, PDF, etc).

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

Database Manager

This can be accessed from the Tools menu. There you can rename or delete existing databases.

Note: currently there's no support for viewing or restoring backups.

Keyboard short-cuts

Windows / Linux / BSDMacAction
EnterEnterLaunch
DelDelRemove profile button
InsertInsertAdd profile button
Ctrl+ECommand+EAdd profile button
Ctrl+DCommand+DAdd to Favorites
F1F1Info button
Ctrl+XCommand+XMove profile
Ctrl+Shift+FCommand+Shift+FLocate file
Ctrl+F1Command+F1Properties

To do in future versions

1) Add support for backups in the Database Manager.

2) Android version (I developed a prototype but openMSX on Android doesn't accept arguments when started from a different App therefore I stopped).

3) Catapult features.

4) Search.

5) User-defined fields.

Support/Suggestions/Questions/Translation fixes/New translations

Email Sam Elsharif at oelsha at engineer dot com.

Release history

Version 1.4 - released Feb 7, 2015

Enhancements: Bug fixes: Internal changes: Version 1.3 - released July 6, 2014

Enhancements: Bug fixes: Version 1.2 - released May 4, 2014

Enhancements: Bug fixes: Version 1.1 - released Sep 7, 2013

Enhancements: Bug fixes:

Version 1.0 - released Jul 8, 2013