Steam / Windows Games Problem And Suggestion For Fix

I've seen several posts on various channels where Steam/Windows games work but Retrobat starts up the menu again in the background while the Steam/Windows game is still being played. I wanted to suggest a possible easy fix for those that experiencing this problem.

Problem: When A Steam game or Windows game is launched from within RetroBat, RetroBat menu system starts back up while the game is still being played.

Possible Solution: Instead of waiting for a process to end, in the system options for "Windows" allow a configuration setting that when checked will cause Retrobat to display a "Continue" box when a Windows game is launched. In this state only the box is displayed, no menu graphics, no music or sound effects, etc. Once the Windows game has ended, the user will have to click on the Retrobat "Continue" box which will cause RetroBat to display/activate the menu, re-start any music, etc, etc.

Thank you for your consideration.

2dguy wrote:I've seen several posts on various channels where Steam/Windows games work but Retrobat starts up the menu again in the background while the Steam/Windows game is still being played. I wanted to suggest a possible easy fix for those that experiencing this problem.

Problem: When A Steam game or Windows game is launched from within RetroBat, RetroBat menu system starts back up while the game is still being played.

Possible Solution: Instead of waiting for a process to end, in the system options for "Windows" allow a configuration setting that when checked will cause Retrobat to display a "Continue" box when a Windows game is launched. In this state only the box is displayed, no menu graphics, no music or sound effects, etc. Once the Windows game has ended, the user will have to click on the Retrobat "Continue" box which will cause RetroBat to display/activate the menu, re-start any music, etc, etc.

Thank you for your consideration.

Hello,
With new versions of RetroBat, the case where RetroBat menu continues (instead of waiting) should be very rare and there are ways to make it work by manually specifying the process to wait for.
But it all depends on what you put in your roms\windows folder.

If you put a shortcut for example, you can just add a .gameexe file (which is a text file with changed extension) and inside this file, just put one line with the name of the process to track (case-sensitive and without the .exe extension).
RetroBat will then wait for this particular process to finish.

Be careful, the process name must really be the final one, that is active when running the game, as it might happen that games use an intermediate launcher.

Hello

Have you try with the method described here, as I suggested?

https://wiki.retrobat.org/systems-and-emulators/supported-game-systems/others/windows#adding-an-ubisoft-game-ubisoft-connect

getupor wrote:Hello

Have you try with the method described here, as I suggested?

https://wiki.retrobat.org/systems-and-emulators/supported-game-systems/others/windows#adding-an-ubisoft-game-ubisoft-connect

No I did not, because it seemed like a bit too much to do when it's no prob to just run the games from within Steam.

tartifless wrote:Hello,
With new versions of RetroBat, the case where RetroBat menu continues (instead of waiting) should be very rare and there are ways to make it work by manually specifying the process to wait for.
But it all depends on what you put in your roms\windows folder.

If you put a shortcut for example, you can just add a .gameexe file (which is a text file with changed extension) and inside this file, just put one line with the name of the process to track (case-sensitive and without the .exe extension).
RetroBat will then wait for this particular process to finish.

Be careful, the process name must really be the final one, that is active when running the game, as it might happen that games use an intermediate launcher.

Now this seemed easy to do, so I gave it a shot. I made a new text file with the same name as the shortcut file, but with the extension ".gameexe". I then found the name of the game exe that was running and added to that to the text file without the ".exe" extension. Thanks for the suggestion, it did not work however.

Please share emulatorlauncher.exe, there's no reason it does not work if you have RetroBat > 6.3 and not a custom version

tartifless wrote:Please share emulatorlauncher.exe, there's no reason it does not work if you have RetroBat > 6.3 and not a custom version

If you mean the log file, here it is. I also replied in the facebook thread.

6.3.0_stable_win64.

Code:

2024-09-19 14:35:02.722 [INFO] [Startup] "C:\RetroBat\emulationstation\emulatorLauncher.exe" -gameinfo "C:\Users\DAVEMU~1\AppData\Local\Temp\emulationstation.tmp\game.xml" -p1index 0 -p1guid 030000005e040000ff02000000007200 -p1path "USB\VID_045E&PID_02FF&IG_00\00&00&0000ECE81B616683" -p1name "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)" -p1nbbuttons 16 -p1nbhats 1 -p1nbaxes 6 -system Windows -emulator windows -core -rom "C:\RetroBat\roms\windows\GRID 2.url"
2024-09-19 14:35:02.723 [INFO] [Startup] Loading configuration.
2024-09-19 14:35:02.725 [INFO] [Startup] Loading ES settings.
2024-09-19 14:35:02.753 [INFO] [Game] Grid 2
2024-09-19 14:35:02.756 [INFO] [Startup] Loading Controller configuration.
2024-09-19 14:35:02.894 [INFO] [Generator] Using ExeLauncherGenerator
2024-09-19 14:35:02.937 [INFO] [Generator] Loading features.
2024-09-19 14:35:03.023 [INFO] [WARNING] Cannot find STEAM game executable
2024-09-19 14:35:03.024 [INFO] [INFO] Executable name : GRID 2
2024-09-19 14:35:03.035 [INFO] [PadToKey] Loaded C:\RetroBat\emulationstation\.emulationstation\es_padtokey.cfg
2024-09-19 14:35:03.038 [INFO] [Running] C:\RetroBat\roms\windows\GRID 2.url
2024-09-19 14:35:03.126 [INFO] [PadToKey] Add joystick Controller (Xbox One For Windows) - Device:0, Player:1, Path:USB\VID_045E&PID_02FF&IG_00\00&00&0000ECE81B616683
2024-09-19 14:35:33.493 [INFO] Controller (Xbox One For Windows) - Device:0, Player:1, Path:USB\VID_045E&PID_02FF&IG_00\00&00&0000ECE81B616683
2024-09-19 14:35:33.495 [INFO] [Generator] Cleanup.

Looks like it fails to open your steam appinfo.vdf file, ...

Here is an example of a working game:

Code:

2024-09-19 22:51:16.806 [INFO]      [Startup] "C:\RetroBat\emulationstation\emulatorLauncher.exe"  -gameinfo "C:\Users\BENOIT\AppData\Local\Temp\emulationstation.tmp\game.xml"  -system Windows -emulator windows -core  -rom "C:\RetroBat\roms\windows\Sonic Mania.url"
2024-09-19 22:51:16.807 [INFO]      [Startup] Loading configuration.
2024-09-19 22:51:16.810 [INFO]      [Startup] Loading ES settings.
2024-09-19 22:51:16.861 [INFO]      [Game] Sonic Mania
2024-09-19 22:51:16.864 [INFO]      [Startup] Loading Controller configuration.
2024-09-19 22:51:16.938 [INFO]      [Generator] Using ExeLauncherGenerator
2024-09-19 22:51:16.992 [INFO]      [Generator] Loading features.
2024-09-19 22:51:17.771 [INFO]      [INFO] Reading Steam file 'appinfo.vdf'
2024-09-19 22:51:17.772 [INFO]      [INFO] Found Game "584400" in 'appinfo.vdf'
2024-09-19 22:51:17.777 [INFO]      [INFO] Game executable SonicMania.exe found.
2024-09-19 22:51:17.801 [INFO]      [PadToKey] Loaded C:\RetroBat\emulationstation\.emulationstation\es_padtokey.cfg
2024-09-19 22:51:17.804 [INFO]      [Running] C:\RetroBat\roms\windows\Sonic Mania.url
2024-09-19 22:51:17.879 [INFO]      [INFO] Executable name : SonicMania

Unfortunately i don't own Dirt 2 so cannot test...

Oh i forgot, .gameexe only works with .lnk extension so far ...
I'll make it work also with URL shortcuts in the next version.

tartifless wrote:Oh i forgot, .gameexe only works with .lnk extension so far ...
I'll make it work also with URL shortcuts in the next version.

Those are just standard shortcut links btw. That worked, thx! I still think just adding a "Continue When Done" button and then clicking on it would be easier and more reliable in the long run, because then I could just drag all of my Steam links into the roms\window folder without having to edit anything, create files, etc.

Maybe this is just linked with dirt 2...
I have approx 100 steam games, tested 30 with Retrobat and did not have issues with interface not waiting...

Retrobat is searching for the exe name in steam vdf filez, maybe dirt2 has something special.