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 2026-01-27, 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.

I encountered just a couple of small formating things during my time yesterday:

1 - The new L. Comm !WARNING messages can spill out of the frame if they are long enough.
2- When displayed on the 'I'nfo screen of a title "Notes" and "Launcher Comments" text wrapping cuts up words. Would be better to wrap whole words together.

Then I was thinking this might be a nice feature if it doesn't clutter up too many commands:

- Would be cool to have an option to quit the title browsing interface straight into the directory of the title you had highlighted. Not as default, but maybe a special key to purposely do that. I mean it's not a big hassle manually navigating to the directory, especially if you already launched the .exe or setup file because you just need to go to the drive since the directory would already be active upon exit, but you could utilize the paths already specified and it would be handy to have when you are deep in configuration and need to drop in/out of grog to fine tune a title for any reason.

In other news I'm up to 408 titles, it's much fun when I have some spare time building my library up and making sure everything runs smoothly. With the new warnings I am informed if there is something particularly strange about a specific title so that I don't forget and start troubleshooting again to figure it out. Great work!

I am curious though, What is going on with the double confirmation of adding a new title? What happens mechanically if I 'Overwrite the Map', but don't 'Update the ships Log'? Can you briefly explain what is occuring at each point. Right now you Can choose to cancel the 'Overwriting of the Map' but then you are still prompted to 'Update the ships log' I just don't understand what's going on with these 2 functions. Additionally where does something go if I 'Overwrite the Map' but choose not to 'Update the ship's log'? Thanks!

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-27, 16:14:

1 - The new L. Comm !WARNING messages can spill out of the frame if they are long enough.

Noted, should be an easy fix.

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-27, 16:14:

2- When displayed on the 'I'nfo screen of a title "Notes" and "Launcher Comments" text wrapping cuts up words. Would be better to wrap whole words together.

That's me being lazy 😜 I'm using the generic function to clamp the text that goes blindly character by character. I'll need to "peek" ahead to check the length of the next word before printing it.

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-27, 16:14:

Then I was thinking this might be a nice feature if it doesn't clutter up too many commands:
- Would be cool to have an option to quit the title browsing interface straight into the directory of the title you had highlighted. Not as default, but maybe a special key to purposely do that. I mean it's not a big hassle manually navigating to the directory, especially if you already launched the .exe or setup file because you just need to go to the drive since the directory would already be active upon exit, but you could utilize the paths already specified and it would be handy to have when you are deep in configuration and need to drop in/out of grog to fine tune a title for any reason.

Should be an easy addition as an action in the `(M) Menu`.

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-27, 16:14:

In other news I'm up to 408 titles, it's much fun when I have some spare time building my library up and making sure everything runs smoothly. With the new warnings I am informed if there is something particularly strange about a specific title so that I don't forget and start troubleshooting again to figure it out. Great work!

Keep them coming!

Shagittarius wrote on 2026-01-27, 16:14:

I am curious though, What is going on with the double confirmation of adding a new title? What happens mechanically if I 'Overwrite the Map', but don't 'Update the ships Log'? Can you briefly explain what is occuring at each point. Right now you Can choose to cancel the 'Overwriting of the Map' but then you are still prompted to 'Update the ships log' I just don't understand what's going on with these 2 functions. Additionally where does something go if I 'Overwrite the Map' but choose not to 'Update the ship's log'? Thanks!

Oops! I messed that one up! You're seeing a redundancy because the 'Add Game' function uses the 'Editor' window, and currently both try to save independently.
I'll merge these into a single confirmation for the next release!

Thanks for the feedback!

This thread is so entertaining. I have downloaded a couple versions of this but haven't had time to actually try it yet. Every time suggestions are posted I say "Oh, yeah that would be good to have!", and then kahuna has those implemented within a day or so, and then more suggestions are posted and I say "Oh, yeah that would be good to have!" ... and on and on. 😅

Awesome work kahuna, and awesome work to Shagittarius and others who are helping to test and offering feedback.

Hello everyone!

I'm back with G.R.O.G. v2.7b, the "X Marks the Spot" update.
GROG now lets you drop anchor directly in game folders and double-checks your aim before firing a game.

• Open Directory: Highlight a game and press O to quit the launcher and drop to the command prompt inside that specific game folder. Perfect for manual tweaks!
• Launch Safety: Added a "Cannons Ready?" confirmation. No more accidental launches (and long waits) when you lean on the Enter key.
• Setup Arguments: You can now pass arguments to your Setup executable in the CSV (e.g., SETSOUND.EXE /S).
• Polish & Fixes: Intelligent word-wrapping for notes, flicker-free file browsing, and merged "Add Game" confirmations.

Update: If you already downloaded v2.7, please re-download it from Codeberg. Version 2.7b fixes a small display issue where the "SAVING CSV..." message wasn't appearing when adding a new game, as well as an issue when launching games in DOS 5.x - 6.x.

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

Drink up! (And please let me know if this version dissolves your pewter mug).

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-28, 12:38:

This thread is so entertaining. I have downloaded a couple versions of this but haven't had time to actually try it yet. Every time suggestions are posted I say "Oh, yeah that would be good to have!", and then kahuna has those implemented within a day or so, and then more suggestions are posted and I say "Oh, yeah that would be good to have!" ... and on and on. 😅
Awesome work kahuna, and awesome work to Shagittarius and others who are helping to test and offering feedback.

Appreciate it @Ozzuneoj, I admit the pace has been a bit frantic lately. It’s hard not to fire up the compiler immediately when the suggestions from @Shagittarius and the rest of the crew are this good. They are definitely keeping me on my toes!
Hopefully v2.7 sits still long enough for you to actually give it a spin before I break something else. Let me know what you think when you finally get around to trying it!

Hey kahuna! Finally got around to trying GROG, didn't spend much time debugging or trying to figure it out on my own by lack of time but just thought I'd post first anyways...

Downloaded GROG 2.7, updated the CSV to add a few games then copied GROGMENU to C:\GROGMENU on my 486. Then I ran GROG.BAT from there. It opens fine and all operations within the launcher work fine as far as I can tell.
But lauching the games gives a "parameter format not correct", a few "bad command or filename" that looks like your typical batch shitting the bed errors, and a "final parameter format not correct" mentioning "C:\grogmenu"...

So I tried both adding a game from scratch and editing an existing entry from within GROG, using the built-in "browse" feature (neat!), and tested again - similar result.

Please see attached picture where I merged two results of these tests into one single screenshot for convenience.

Looks like it could be some weird codepage/locale shenanigans? I guess the generated _run.bat file has issues on my system, but I don't think there's a way to look what it looks lik as its generated by the software on the fly? I do have a _run.bat in the folder if I exit GROG, but it's empty except the first @echo off, but I'm not sure if that's just some kind of placeholder once I exit GROG, or if the content is relevant at all.

Thanks and happy to try anything you'd like when I get the chance. It looks really good and I'm looking forward to using it more when I can make it work 😀

Hi @Boohyaka,

Thanks for the bug report!
It looks like GROG was being too 'protective' with the generated batch file. The launcher was wrapping all paths in quotes (e.g., CD "C:\GROGMENU") to handle spaces. However, since you are likely running this on MS DOS 6.x, the command interpreter does not support quotes in CD commands. This is the reason for the 'Parameter format not correct' error.
Apologies for that! My dev and test machines run Windows 98, so the behavior is a little different there.

It should be an easy fix. A patched version will be available today.

It really helps to test the software on different machines! Really appreciate it!

I use 7.1 as well so I never noticed that either. Glad to people checking it out, I never know how my configs might change in the future!

So I've been using it for quite a while and I only have one issue and a bunch of suggestions:

1. Some programs change the text display mode, then when returning to GROG you will end up with a blank screen even though grog is actually running, just unseen. I'm sending you a zip file to use to see this in action in private message. I didn't check to see how many text modes may cause an issue, again I apologize for the half-ass testing effort. I'm not even sure what text mode this is because it looks like 80 columns to me still, but it operates more slowly.

Now for my comments:

2. I don't need the launch confirmation. Between the CD notification, my personal messages and other pop-ups I have enough of a warning I feel. I waited a while to see how I felt before giving you feedback and that hasn't changed.

3. Here's a crazy "I like this idea so I made a mock up." During the Title Browsing UI I think it would be really cool if you pulled the top of the info screen to display the major properties of the title no matter what variable you are sorting by. You could move this up or down depending on the highlight location on the screen for maximum usability. Here is my mock up:

When you navigated down past the middle of the list you could move the info pop-up to the top of the list, back and forth etc...I know this is probably not a real important thing to do because most people are just trying to launch a game and they know what they want already. But in the case that someone is browsing their library for fun they might appreciate all this info in one place...or they could just hit I, 🤣

4. I would love it if you could update the whole screen during the title browser UI like you do for the File Locator, there's some flickering that occurs when scrolling through the lists.

5. Would like to be able to quit out with repeated ESC key presses again, or quit with F10 from the title browsing interface...

Nothing but my opinions here, I'll let you know if I find anything meaty.

EDIT: I guess I should point out something I noticed while making the mock-up in DOS-BOX, which is when I minimize dosbox and return grog only inhabits the lower left quarter of my screen. I know this probably has a lot to do with my resolution and settings for aspects and stuff but I thought I'd mention it as people might really like to use this in DOSbox too. If you need more info or configs I will provide.