Offhand, would anybody happen to know how LaunchBox for DOS keeps track of the last selected item when it passes control to and from RUN.BAT and resumes? I thought maybe an environment variable but no. (Edit - I'm a goof, I totally overlooked LAUNCHBX.CFG.)

HandOfFate wrote on 2020-10-25, 21:02:

As promised, the Python script that I made for updating the LAUNCHBX.TXT database. […]
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As promised, the Python script that I made for updating the LAUNCHBX.TXT database.

I'm happy with how much it is finding but it has been completely designed for my purposes, so I wouldn't be surprised if you run into a dozen problems. But I will see what I can do in that case 😀

What's required:

* Linux or something similar (maybe it will even work under Windows 10's bash, who knows)
* Python 3.6+ (it's possible it will work with 3.5)

How to use it:

* Make a backup of your current LAUNCHBX.TXT
* Unpack the archive
* Run download_metadata.sh to get Launchbox's XML with game metadata
* Run

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1python3 import_games_dir.py LOCAL_GAME_DIR:SAME_PATH_IN_DOS Metadata.xml PATH_TO_LAUNCHBX.TXT

(don't forget to escape the '\' characters)

For example:

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1python3 import_games_dir.py ~/DOS/Games:C:\\GAMES Metadata.xml ~/DOS/LAUNCHBX/LAUNCHBX.TXT

In case it isn't updating existing entries in your LAUNCHBX.TXT with metadata, rename the entry by hand to the exact name in the Metadata.xml. After the entry is enriched, you can rename it back to whatever you want.

Also, don't forget to download a new Metadata.xml once in a while, because even DOS games are still being updated in there.

I hope it will be somewhat of use to anyone 😀

I think your script isn't working quite right. I can't get it to grab the rich data for some games, for example "Jazz The Jackrabbit."