Add a Community Ports, Recomps and Decomps Manager

📋 Summary

Allow users to discover, install, update, and launch community-built ports, recompilations, and decompilation projects directly through LaunchBox.

❗ Problem

Playable community projects are increasingly distributed through GitHub and similar services, but managing them currently involves:

• Finding the correct project and release

• Identifying the correct download

• Extracting and organizing its files

• Supplying original game data where required

• Manually adding the executable to LaunchBox

• Returning to the project page to check for updates

This makes community ports difficult to discover and maintain, particularly as more projects become available.

💡 Proposal

Add a curated Community Projects catalog to LaunchBox.

From a game’s details, users could view compatible community versions and:

• Read information about the project

• Install the latest supported release

• Provide their legally obtained ROM or game data when required

• Launch the installed project

• Check for and install updates

• Open its installation folder

• Uninstall it safely

Installed projects could be attached to the original game as additional launchable versions. For example, Ship of Harkinian could appear as a playable version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time without creating an unrelated duplicate entry.

🧩 Use Cases

• Discover that a game in the library has a native community port

• Install a recompilation without manually navigating GitHub releases

• Choose between the emulated original and an installed native version

• Receive an update notification when a project publishes a new release

• Keep community projects organized alongside their original games

📦 Benefits

• Makes community ports and recompilations more accessible

• Reduces manual downloading and configuration

• Keeps related versions organized under the appropriate game

• Provides a consistent installation and update experience

• Helps users discover new ways to play games already in their library

⚠️ Considerations

Version 1 should focus on:

• Windows-compatible packaged releases

• Stable releases from a trusted, curated catalog

• User-initiated installation and updates

• Projects that can be matched reliably to existing games

• Preserving saves and configuration files during updates

• Clear links to each project’s official repository

LaunchBox should only download community project files. It should never distribute copyrighted ROMs or game data, and users should be prompted to provide their own files when a project requires them.

Support for custom repositories, mods, prereleases, automatic updates, Linux, Android, and projects that require compilation could be considered later.