LaunchBox can help organize all your gaming files into an accessible, attractive interface for easy navigation and storage.
Additionally, it supports numerous game platforms and offers extensive customization, while offering a community full of support and plugins.
Features
LaunchBox makes organizing and launching multiple games easier by offering an attractive visual interface that makes managing and launching them effortless. Features of LaunchBox include an art gallery that shows cover art, descriptions and release dates; game shelves for display of collection games; emulator dashboard for easy launch of retro console and PC emulator software games; as well as an emulator dashboard that makes launching retro games and PC emulator software easier.
LaunchBox, designed exclusively for Windows computers, is free to download and use but requires a license in order to unlock more advanced features. These licenses can be bought either online or via an app and used across multiple devices when upgrading computers – even transferable! Furthermore, LaunchBox comes equipped with numerous plugins designed to enhance gaming performance and customize user experiences.
Users of its intuitive user interface can quickly organize and customize their games with various themes and layouts, supporting keyboard shortcuts to make game playing and navigation simpler, importing from various sources like Steam libraries and supporting video game music and emulator formats among others.
The program supports MS-DOS games and ROM files as well as modern PC gaming and emulation; arcade cabinets can even be emulated! Box-art and metadata from the Games Database – an online community database open to anyone – is automatically downloaded and 3D model support includes jewel case models with long jewel cases as well as regional front spines.
Redesigned user experience of this app represents a dramatic upgrade over previous versions; now loading faster and scrolling smoothly; uses customizable RAM cache for reduced memory usage; supports nested platform categories and playlists in Platform Categories view; has an “Auto-Generate Child Playlists” feature accessible by right-clicking platforms in its sidebar; this can create child playlists for Genres, Regions, Play Modes, Developers and Publishers among others.
Compatibility
Big Box now supports searching with an on-screen keyboard! Just like on desktop computers, pressing and holding the search button displays matching results while tapping alphabetic indexes’ keyboard icon allows for alphabetic entry of letters quickly allowing faster game finding by name or code. This makes searching much faster.
Gameplay videos (from EmuMovies) are now supported and can be easily added through either the Import Games Wizard, or manually by right-clicking in Platform Categories and Playlist Views. When available, they’ll play back in Wheel with Two-Column Details or Text List with Two-Column Details views if they exist. Alternatively, set default platforms/playlists/views in Tools’ Tools menu so they’re automatically downloaded upon imports and metadata updates.
Enhancement: Scrolling performance has been enhanced when large collections are displayed; scrolling should now be more responsive without using too much RAM; this goal can be reached using a customizable image cache.
Improvement: Rom downloads can now be customized to use 7z, zip, and rar formats instead of only RAR (you can enable this via each emulator in the Options menu), which should help reduce download times for many ROM sets.
GOG achievements are now supported and can be viewed in the game details sidebar or via a popup menu in Big Box. LaunchBox also lets you sync personal statistics to an online database by creating an account at LaunchBox Games Database, then setting your Favorites, Completed, Last Played, Play Time and Play Count to match those in your database. Syncing can be disabled in LaunchBox by altering its Options menu settings.
Customization
HP Launch Box is an intuitive software app that makes accessing frequently used applications, files and websites faster and simpler than ever before. The user-friendly interface and drag and drop functionality allow them to personalize their Launch Box according to their personal needs and workflow – helping boost productivity by giving access to programs quickly without needing to navigate menus or desktop shortcuts.
This application is freely available and can be installed on PCs running Windows for free. Once installed, it can be accessed via Start menu or directly through its website – with installation being simple and requiring no technical knowledge whatsoever. However, please be aware that it can take up a significant portion of system resources, potentially affecting performance issues on certain systems.
After installation, this program will scan your drives and import games from various sources. It can then be used to organize them by platform, genre and developer before scraping game box art and video previews to make your library visually pleasing – even automatically retrieving metadata from game services such as Steam, Uplay or GOG!
LaunchBox stands out from competing software programs by supporting an expansive variety of emulators and platforms, is more customizable than Hyperspin, and includes full-screen “Big Box Mode” for use with TVs or large displays.
This software also supports various plugins to increase functionality. For instance, it can automatically download ROMs from gaming websites and add them to its database, while also displaying recently played games on its front page. Furthermore, it integrates with media players so users can play music and videos right within the program itself.
LaunchBox Frontend is an efficient and feature-packed application designed to make managing game collections on PC easier. The LaunchBox Frontend makes use of different emulators and platforms – from modern Windows games to classic DOS titles – in launching your collection, as well as import large volumes from popular game services like Steam or Origin, display box art of these titles, as well as provide information about its history.
Pricing
With all the various gaming distribution platforms such as Steam, GOG and Epic Games – and not forgetting emulators and ROMs – available today, keeping a large PC game collection organized can be challenging. LaunchBox game launcher software offers an effective solution that keeps all aspects of your collection under control regardless of how they were installed.
Although initially developed as a frontend for DOSBox, DOSBox now serves both modern PC games and emulated console platforms on both Windows and Android operating systems. Furthermore, it features automated import processes for ROMs, Steam games, and other sources, and offers access to an online database of metadata and box art for each game.
LaunchBox is one of the premier frontends for organizing and managing video game collections, offering user-friendly design, extensive customization options and seamless emulator compatibility. Plus it boasts an active community sharing custom themes and extra features! LaunchBox’s intuitive design makes it an excellent option for both newcomers and experienced users.
LaunchBox does have some restrictions; for instance, its free version only permits 100 games across any combination of emulators to be imported simultaneously – this can be especially frustrating if you own multiple emulators or want to digitize physical games yourself.
LaunchBox Premium removes this restriction and offers various extra features, most notably Big Box which enables you to play games on TVs or other large-screen devices. Furthermore, this version also includes special themes to make your library appear more professional.
LaunchBox pricing for its full version is comparable to that of other frontends, with regular licenses costing $10 annually and Forever-Updates Licenses at $30 annually – both options provide a free trial version so you can test drive before making your decision; both also include Big Box with regular licenses being valid for one year while Forever Updates licenses remain in place even after long term use of LaunchBox software. However, using it long term might be best served by purchasing Forever-Updates license as it includes Big Box while Big Box will expire after one year due to regular license restrictions whereas Forever-Updates License is perpetual whereas Regular licence does not support Big Box and will end after one year; Forever Updates License is beneficial if planning on using LaunchBox software long term and requires periodic updates updates in terms of cost saving in licensing costs and price increases over regular license costs per use of Forever-Updates License costs $30 annually per use so make an informed choice before buying!
