Per-Game Display Overrides for Resolution, Refresh Rate, and Scaling

📋 Summary

Add support in LaunchBox and Big Box for per-game display overrides, allowing users to define resolution, refresh rate (Hz), and UI scaling that are applied automatically before a game launches and reverted afterward. This would apply to both emulated games and native PC games.

❗ Problem

Modern 4K TVs and high-resolution monitors are now common, but many older games and emulators do not scale well in these environments:

• Text and UI elements can become too small to read at 4K resolutions

• Some emulators only support global resolution settings, making frequent manual changes necessary

• Certain setups, such as light gun games (e.g. Sinden), require very specific display settings like:

  • 60 Hz refresh rate

  • 100 percent scaling

• After exiting a game, users often need to manually restore their preferred Windows resolution or scaling to comfortably use LaunchBox again

Currently, these adjustments must be handled manually at the OS or emulator level, which is time-consuming, error-prone, and inconsistent across different emulators and PC games.

💡 Proposal

Introduce per-game (and optionally per-platform) display configuration options within LaunchBox:

• Resolution override (e.g. 1080p, 1440p, 4K)

• Refresh rate override (e.g. 60 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz)

• Windows display scaling override (e.g. 100%, 150%, 200%)

These settings would:

• Be applied automatically just before the game launches

• Be restored to the user’s previous settings when the game exits

• Work for both emulators and native PC games

• Be configurable via simple dropdowns or radio buttons in the Edit Game screen

🧩 Use Cases

• A user playing light gun games on a 4K TV sets:

  • 1080p

  • 60 Hz

  • 100% scaling

    and has LaunchBox automatically restore 4K and 200% scaling afterward.

• A retro PC game with tiny text becomes readable by forcing a lower resolution or higher scaling before launch.

• A user with multiple display types (CRT, handheld, 4K TV) tailors display behavior per game instead of constantly adjusting Windows settings.

📦 Benefits

• Greatly improves usability on high-resolution displays and TVs

• Eliminates repetitive manual display configuration

• Works around emulator limitations where per-game display options are unavailable

• Enhances accessibility for text-heavy or visually sensitive games

• Improves quality of life for specialized setups such as arcade cabinets and light gun systems

💡 Notes

• This feature would complement emulator settings rather than replace them

• Safeguards should ensure display settings are always restored, even if a game crashes

• Could later be extended to support per-platform defaults in addition to per-game overrides