Appreciate the encouragement!

I actually looked into that BIOS trick, but GROG generates that batch file dynamically to handle complex stuff like Module injection and throttling scripts. Trying to jam all that logic into a static batch file via a simple ID would be a nightmare. I think our SSDs will survive the tiny text files. If not, I’ll just assume I failed to appease the RAM gods 😒 😀

In other news, I'm planning to hammer out the new Search function and all the new features this weekend, as my next week is looking pretty busy!

Just noticed this today while looking through my collection.

Bug : Launchbox DB importer uses "Developer" field to populate "Publisher" Field. Launchbox contains both Developer and Publisher fields.
So I have games published by Acclaim , but with the developer listed as publisher after conversion to GROG.

Hey folks!

Just a quick update to let you know I'm working on it.
It's taking a while as I went down a rabbit hole adding new functionalities and reorganizing different things, but I'm getting there!

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-18, 06:06:

Just noticed this today while looking through my collection.
Bug : Launchbox DB importer uses "Developer" field to populate "Publisher" Field. Launchbox contains both Developer and Publisher fields.
So I have games published by Acclaim , but with the developer listed as publisher after conversion to GROG.

It's not a bug, it's a feature! 😜
That was actually intentional. I mapped the LaunchBox "Developer" field to the GROG "Publisher" column because I prioritize the developer info and I was trying to avoid shortcut conflicts in the old version. Anyway, I've changed it so it officially uses "Developer" everywhere now (see the screenshot above for a hint 😀).

kahuna wrote on 2026-01-18, 23:34:

Hey folks! […]
Show full quote

Hey folks!

Just a quick update to let you know I'm working on it.
It's taking a while as I went down a rabbit hole adding new functionalities and reorganizing different things, but I'm getting there!

The attachment search.png is no longer available

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-18, 06:06:

Just noticed this today while looking through my collection.
Bug : Launchbox DB importer uses "Developer" field to populate "Publisher" Field. Launchbox contains both Developer and Publisher fields.
So I have games published by Acclaim , but with the developer listed as publisher after conversion to GROG.

It's not a bug, it's a feature! 😜
That was actually intentional. I mapped the LaunchBox "Developer" field to the GROG "Publisher" column because I prioritize the developer info and I was trying to avoid shortcut conflicts in the old version. Anyway, I've changed it so it officially uses "Developer" everywhere now (see the screenshot above for a hint 😀).

I think when it comes to prioritizing publisher vs. developer especially in the DOS era, the publishers are the ones that had a product identity. For example I know Three-Sixty made a lot of war games, but I had no idea that Probe Entertainment programmed some of those games. While that's a really interesting fact, when it comes to grouping games together, more people will probably recognize the publisher identity since developers often made lots of different types of games for publishers. It seems an especially bold choice by completely eliminating Publisher all together.

I also wanted to bring up that not having a way to sort games by year of release is removing a very interesting way of thinking about your library. Often times I enjoyed just going through Launchbox by year and seeing which games were release side by side.

Personally I wish you had all 3 developer, publisher and year sorting. They would all be really unique ways of looking at your library. Thanks again for all your work on this.

Hello again, good people!

I went down the rabbit hole to add "just one thing" and I seem to have emerged on the other side with a significant overhaul. My textbooks are currently gathering dust, but the navigation in G.R.O.G. has never been smoother.

To @Yoghoo and @Shagittarius: I know I said previously that I wanted to stick to the Main Menu as the only starting hub... well, the challenge was too tempting to ignore...

G.R.O.G. v2.4 - The "Sextant & Compass" Update is live.
This update is all about navigation, precision, and finding your games without scrolling until your fingers cramp.
Here is the rundown:

• The Spyglass (Global Search): As promised, you can now press L on the Main Menu to summon a search box. Type "Doom" and find every version you have instantly.
• Warp Speed Navigation: In any list, hold ALT + Letter to jump instantly to that section. Number keys (0-9) also work now!
• Quick Launch Arguments: You asked for it! You can now bypass the main menu via command line. GROG /F loads Favourites, GROG /A loads the Alpha list, etc.
• Ghost Cursor: The Main Menu now supports arrow key navigation. The cursor remains invisible ("ghosted") until you touch the arrows, keeping the interface clean for hotkey users.
• Consolidated Actions: The footer was getting crowded, so I moved the heavy lifting (Edit, Rate, Delete) into a new actions popup Menu - M.
• Ratings popup menu: Press R in the main menu to open the new Ratings Popup Menu to filter by star rating.
• Smarter Browser: The file browser now remembers your last visited folder during a session. Also, setting a Setup executable on a different drive than the game no longer breaks the path logic.
• Developer Focus: As discussed, the "Publisher" field is officially now "Developer" across the entire UI.

As always, upgrading is safe—just overwrite the executables. Your CSV remains untouched.

Download: https://codeberg.org/jjmarcos/grog/releases
Source/Docs: https://codeberg.org/jjmarcos/grog

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-19, 03:26:

[...]Personally I wish you had all 3 developer, publisher and year sorting. They would all be really unique ways of looking at your library. Thanks again for all your work on this.[...]

Noted. I didn't want to clutter the interface with too many fields and filters, but maybe for a future release.

Enjoy the new release! I'm looking forward to hearing how everyone uses it and if you find any issues we can address.

Thanks!

Just a quick note to let you know I'm working on a new release.
It's going to have some extra fields that you can use to sort / filter games in many other ways, and perhaps some other improvements.
Stay tuned! 😀

Hello Vogons!

I planned a small update, but your requests for better sorting turned this into a major overhaul. The result is G.R.O.G. v2.5, an update focused on metadata, convenience, and argument management.

Here are the highlights:

• Smart Launch Arguments: You can finally type arguments directly into the Executable field (e.g., DOOM.EXE -file mymod.wad). G.R.O.G. handles the rest.
• New Database Fields: By popular demand, we’ve added Series, Year, Publisher, and Status.
• Clone Entry: Setting up mission packs? Hit M then C to duplicate an existing entry instantly.
• Power Navigation: Added "Find Mode" (Press /).

By popular demand, I added a couple of things last minute. Instead of creating a new release, I just updated the 2.5 one and called it 2.5a.
If you downloaded the previous 2.5 version, please re-download the zip file again to get these two latest additions:

• Expanded "ghost text": Now your favourite easy-typing feature also works for Publisher, Series, and Status fields.
• LB2GROG update: The field ---FAVORITE--- now gets imported to GROG's FAVOURITE field.

IMPORTANT: MANUAL UPGRADE REQUIRED. Unlike previous versions, you cannot just overwrite the executable. Because there are 4 new columns, the CSV structure has changed (21 -> 25 columns). You must open the included GAMES.XLSX template and migrate your existing data into the new structure, then save it as CSV and place it in the GROG mail folder. Old v2.4 CSV files will not load correctly without this step.
Note: LB2GROG has been updated to import all those new fields automatically. If you have a previous LaunchBox database, you can let LB2GROG do its magic.

As always:
Download: https://codeberg.org/jjmarcos/grog/releases
Source/Docs: https://codeberg.org/jjmarcos/grog
Updated Screenshots: https://codeberg.org/jjmarcos/grog/src/branch … ets/screenshots

Enjoy the organization!

Hey folks,

While updating my game list, I ran into a snag with my DOS rig and its GeForce 3: some games require (or could use) specific VESA mode and refresh rate tweaks before launching.
We can already handle the setup part with a Module in GROG, but reverting to the standard configuration afterwards currently requires exiting the launcher and running a manual cleanup script... I figured... Why not handle the whole workflow inside GROG?
So, I'm implementing a new "Post-Launch" feature for Modules. This will allow us to define cleanup scripts (like unloading drivers or resetting video modes) that automatically run after a game exits, before returning to the menu.

I plan to release v2.6 tomorrow (Sunday, Jan 25th). If you've run into any other bugs or issues recently, please let me know now so I can try to squeeze some fixes into this release!

Thanks!

Hey loving the new features, I spent some time yesterday and I have a small list of things to consider.

1 - Consider upon exiting a game returning to the titles browsing interface instead of the main menu, with the game (or config) you had previously launched highlighted. The benefit of this is obvious when considering the config path: Currently if I find the game I want and want to make sure its configured correctly upon exiting the config I will be returned to the main menu and in order to launch I will have to perform a search for the game again. The benefit seems obvious for that instance but I think it will create some consistency for browsing as well if when returning from a game you are returned to that same state. You might want to go through games by the same search for some reason and that will avoid re-searching. Backing out manually to search again feels fine to me.

2 - This is an ask which would benefit me greatly for a particular reason but it may be useful in ways I have not considered for others as well: Can we have a custom warning message when you choose to launch a game? I have a P133 for my DOS machine and none of the software throttling tools work on it, the only way to reduce my speed is through the bios, I would like it if I could have a field that would be displayed like the CD-ROM message when launching a game that I could enter any message I want, in my case 'Disable the Cache before Launching'. It would also be nice for messages where the game isnt working compeltely such as 'Only Soundblaster Working with this title'. I don't know if maybe a custom message, if specified, should show for both executable and config launches?

3 - Purely for my enjoyment : What would you think if there were some statistics on the main menu, like counting the number of games currently in your library. This appeals to me, I only suggest.

I wanted to get this in before the next update, I'll be doing some more entries again later today, and as always will update with my findings.

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-25, 15:22:

Hey loving the new features, I spent some time yesterday and I have a small list of things to consider.
1 - Consider upon exiting a game returning to [...]

Regarding the first point, you read my mind! I was thinking the same thing. Something felt 'off' when launching a game, but I didn't realize exactly what it was until I was switching between games in a short period of time.

In any case, that fix, all the others you mentioned, and even more are already in! I wanted to get the release out tonight, but I'm running on fumes and don't want to break anything by rushing.
I'll finish testing and have it up tomorrow (Monday)!

Hello everyone!

I'm back with G.R.O.G. v2.6, the "Total Recall" update.
GROG now remembers where you were, it can run POST scripts after the game exits, and all the other things you can read below:

• State Persistence: GROG now remembers exactly where you were (Page, Filter, Selection) when you return from a game. No more scrolling from the top!
• Transactional Editing: Edits, Clones, and New entries are now buffered in memory. Nothing is written to disk until you confirm the final popup. Hitting Cancel now properly discards changes or the unwanted clone.
• Post-Game Modules: You can now define scripts that run after the game exits (e.g., post:CLEANUP) to go back to defaults before the menu reloads and you potentially select another game.
• Quality of Life: Added "Important Notice" popups (start comments with !), a library count badge, and dedicated exit keys (F10, ALT+Q, ALT+X).

Download: https://codeberg.org/jjmarcos/grog/releases
Source/Docs: https://codeberg.org/jjmarcos/grog
Updated Screenshots: https://codeberg.org/jjmarcos/grog/src/branch … ets/screenshots

Enjoy responsibly and please share your feedback!

This looks nice, but the 386 requirement is a dealbreaker for me. Has there been any investigation into using gcc-ia16?

Hi everyone,

As I'm updating my DOS game database, I've been playing with the latest v2.6 build of GROG.

I identified a few improvements that I plan to implement soon:

• Enable parameters for Setup: Allow the user to pass arguments to the Setup executable.
• Add "Launch Safety" Dialog: Require user confirmation before starting a game to prevent accidental selection of difficult-to-exit games.
• Fix File Browser UI: The decorative inverted-color bar at the top of the menu is currently blinking. This needs to be fixed to reduce visual noise.
• Global Exit Shortcut: Map F10 to a "Quit to DOS?" confirmation, accessible from all list views.
• Fix Mount Logic: Ensure ISO mounting/CD checks are enforced prior to launching the Game Setup, ensuring the environment is ready for configuration.

DEAT wrote on Today, 00:52:

This looks nice, but the 386 requirement is a dealbreaker for me. Has there been any investigation into using gcc-ia16?

Unfortunately, that is not on the roadmap at this point. GROG is a "Modern DOS" application designed for 386+ Protected Mode. Running it on an 8086/286 requires a fundamental architectural rewrite.