Launchpad 6.7

Launchpad 6.7 includes another major refactoring of the backend code and a rewrite of the Launcher code that Launchpad creates.

Changes

• Launchers are now based on the same core application code as Launchpad itself, and have greatly expanded capabilities such as better logging, notifications, caching, backups, API access, error reporting, and more! Some of this new functionality will need additional work before you see it on the front end, however.
• Detected Games window has an improved UI
• Launchpad checks the version of the cache and clears it if it becomes outdated (such as after updating Launchpad)
• Launchers can now detect if they were created with a previous version of Launchpad and will display as Outdated if so.
• Game Detection can more accurately detect the main exe file in most cases
• Location settings (such as within the Settings window and within Launchers) used to have a row of buttons under them. These buttons have now been replaced with a dropdown arrow which reveals a menu.
• Error handling has been improved. Even if the error window can't be displayed for any reason, the same information will still be shown in a regular message box.

Fixes

• Several fixes from the 6.6.0 release have been included
• Restore (unmaximize) symbol looked broken in the last release. This has been corrected.
• Version checking has been fixed in the case where one of the versions was {{VERSION}} or 0.0.0.0 (which can happen when running the AHK version of Launchpad)

Launchpad 6.6.2

Another hotfix release, this one resolves an issue that was throwing an error upon using the X button to close some of Launchpad's windows.

Launchpad 6.6.1

The "Oops" release!

This includes a bug fix for form windows, namely the new user setup window, that was previously causing an error.

Make sure to use this version instead of 6.6.0, especially if you are a new user.

Launchpad 6.6

New Features:

• There are now Simple and Advanced launcher editors! Both offer the same basic fields, but Advanced is where all the other fields you're used to seeing have gone. If you'd like to always use the Advanced interface, you can enable the option in settings. Otherwise, the Simple interface will open by default and you can click the Advanced button if you want to switch.
• Platforms window has received the recent manage GUI enhancements
• Settings window has been reorganized a bit again

Bug fixes

• A console window is created and hidden when Launchad is first started. This prevents a flash of a console window from appearing when Launchpad needs to run console commands.
• Enabled button removed from Backups--it didn't make sense.
• Updating the same launcher value multiple times should properly trigger a re-save now without having to restart Launchpad
• A feature that converted single-value Platform and Launcher entities to strings to save JSON filesize was causing occasional issues. This feature has been removed to ensure saving happens consistently.
• Windows could in some edge cases set themselves as their parent or owner. There is now protection against this. Additionally, windows can now more accurately determine their owner.

While you shouldn't notice when using the app, Launchpad's code has been heavily refactored for better extensibility and maintainability. Much of its code is being abstracted to a shared application library (that can be used for other AHK-based programs!) and made more generic and reusable. Additionally, better error handling is being added as part of this refactoring to ensure that errors are not silently ignored but either handled or displayed properly.

Launchpad 6.5

This release brings another set of fixes and improvements (see below). For the first time ever, you should get this update automatically if you have update checking enabled in Launchpad!

Enhancements:

• Settings window has been expanded and reorganized
• The configuration backup system has been rebuilt from the ground up
• App config is now backed up in addition to JSON config
• There is a new Backup Manager window where backups can be viewed, edited, and restored
• The Tools menu looks more like a regular menu now and fits in one column
• The + (Add Game) button now has a menu where you can choose "Detect Games" or "Add a Game"

Fixes:

• Platform Manager error that occurred in some cases is resolved
• Parent windows no longer go to background when child windows are closed
• An issue preventing button styling from working consistently has been fixed

Config Changes:

• CopyAssets setting has been removed from the UI (it was not used anywhere anymore)

Launchpad 6.4.0

Bug fixes and new features!

• Launchpad automatically checks for updates and offers to download them! You can disable this under the Advanced tab in Settings.
• Launchpad automatically keeps the latest 5 versions of your Launchers and Platforms config files, and restores the latest backup if a save fails
• Bulk operations log their status and results to the Launchpad log file
• Launchers can now have a LoggingLevel and LogPath set, and will log their operations accordingly
• Fixed "function recursion limit reached" error in certain edge cases when saving launchers or platforms
• Launcher Wizard now asks for the Platform instead of the Launcher Type (launcher type is inferred from platform)
• Icon list no longer shows icons out of order if a discovered exe has no icon image

Launchpad 6.3.1

Launchpad 6.3.1 is a minor update making the following changes to the release from earlier today:

• There is a new option to run Launchpad automatically when the installer completes
• Buttons on the main window have been tweaked to look nicer
• "Run" is now the default launch option instead of "RunWait". RunWait is simpler, but Run is compatible with far more games
• Launchers list is reloaded when closing Settings
• Quotes within run commands (or other configuration options) will no longer cause an issue

Launchpad 6.3

This release brings two major changes (along with some performance enhancements and minor bug fixes):

• Launchpad's main window has had a styling refresh. Instead of a sidebar, the buttons are along the bottom, and they are now more visually differentiated from each other. Let me know what you think about this change!
• Launchpad now has a fully-functional authentication system! See below for more details.

Authentication

The new authentication system is in support of a number of upcoming community-based features for Launchpad! Currently, it doesn't do much of anything, but signing up for an account and logging in now will mean you have nothing to do once these features are introduced.

There are two new settings that control this functionality:

1. The "Enable API authentication" option is enabled by default, and it shows the account status bar in the header of the main window and enables the additional features that authentication will provide. Unchecking this box will make Launchpad work like it did before with no account-related functionality.
2. The "Automatically initiate API login when needed" option means you'll have a login box automatically pop up if you ever need to re-authenticate with Launchpad. If you don't enable this option, then you can log in by clicking the "Not logged in" text in the header.

Once you're logged in, clicking your account name will bring up a (currently blank) account info window along with a Logout button if you don't wish to be signed in any longer.

Account Management

Logins are managed on https://launchpad.games.

The login window in Launchpad has a button that will take you to your Profile page. If you're not already logged in, you'll be able to create an account in one simple step, either with your Google account or an email and password (more login providers coming soon).

Once you get to your profile page, you will see a Generate Token button. Once you click it, you will be able to copy your Launchpad token and paste it back into the Login window.

Logins are long-lived and you should not see the login window again unless you do a clean install of Launchpad or make a major account change.

We do not sell or give your account information to anyone. It is only used to provide a personalized experience and enable community features that only work when people have individual accounts.

You will NEVER be required to have an account to use Launchpad. All the features there now will continue to work without logging in. In the future, certain features that would only make sense when logged in will only be available to those who enable API authentication.

As always, I'm looking for feedback on this. The last this I want to do is create privacy concerns, but this will open up a lot of doors for the features I want to add in the near future (cloud backup/restore, sharing launcher settings with the community, etc).

Launcpad 6.2.1

This is a maintenance release of Launchpad because our main API URL has changed. The only real reason to update to 6.2.1 is that the default API URL included in previous versions of Launchpad is no longer valid.

This was unintentional, but when deploying a new version of the Launchpad API, some paths unfortunately had to change.

The upside of this change is that the new Launchpad API is blazing fast, and backed by a load-balanced Google Cloud Endpoint. You should notice a significant increase in speed when interacting with the API in any way.

Existing users: Please open your Launchpad settings and make sure your API URL is https://api.launchpad.games/v1.

There is also a new API status indicator in the header (which should always say "Logged out" for now), and an API Key field in the settings which you can leave blank for now--this functionality is in support of upcoming Launchpad features.

Launchpad 6.2.0

This is a relatively minor release, but we're excited to get these new features out to users!

• There is a new "Create Desktop Shortcuts" option in the settings. When enabled, building a launcher will create a shortcut to that launcher on the desktop for easy access. This option is disabled by default so that existing behavior is maintained for users.
• There is a new Feedback window available from the Provide Feedback option under Tools. This makes it easy to let us know about anything you are noticing or that you would like to see!
• There is a new About window that provides some basic information and helpful links
• Platforms can now be uninstalled by clicking the Uninstall button in the Platforms window. But why would you want to do that?
• The Detected Games window has had some UX and visual improvements
• Platforms now have a Detect Games option which is separate from their Enabled option (to make way for future enhancements). You'll need to enable Detect Games for each platform manually if you already have Launchpad set up, but it is now a part of the initial setup process for new users.