Author Topic: Arcadeflow theme v 17.1 [Release] Updated 22 March 2024  (Read 547826 times)

zpaolo11x

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1233
    • View Profile
    • My deviantart page
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.6 [Release] Updated 20 September 2019
« Reply #615 on: October 01, 2019, 02:33:48 AM »
This would feel much more intuitive to me:
Code: [Select]
1  2  3  4     ^
5  6  7  8     v
(scrolling vertically)


I see the point, and it's definitely a good point, but let me do a bit of history here... attached is a screenshot of an early version (never published) of my Attract Mode layout. The scrolling and arrangement was as you suggest, the first iteration had a very simple grid layout where tiles would just change with no scrolling whatsoever, the second one (the one in the picture) used the conveyor module to have a decent scrolling. Then I saw Oomek work on Silky theme, Ambiance HD and the carrier.nut module, and decided I wanted something different, smoother, more "modern looking".

Arcadeflow was born adapting the look of Plex Media Player and the look of a mockup someone made on Hyperspin forums, both these had horizontal scrolling tile rows. There are two reasons why it works better in horizontal than in vertical: aesthetically I wanted a very clean look, and vertical scrolling would've interfered with the title block (which is actually opaque in the first mockups with tiles sliding behind). Also there's a technical reason: to be smooth carrier module needs to pre-load some pictures outside of the screen, and update them accordingly. With two rows, I add some out of screen columns to the left and right, and things are pretty snappy. Scrolling vertically with 4 or 5 tiles per row means that to have three rows out of screen I'll have to add 4 (or 5) x 3 = 12 (or 15!) tiles per side (top and bottom) which can be a bit overkill on many systems (including my poor macbook pro :D)

In the end, who knows what future will bring? In the past I've said many times I was not going to implement something, and actually changed my mind a week later :D But changing Arcadeflow to incorporate vertical scrolling would be a very large overhaul of the whole layout which I don't whink will happen so soon...
« Last Edit: February 27, 2020, 12:48:44 AM by zpaolo11x »

zpaolo11x

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1233
    • View Profile
    • My deviantart page
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.6 [Release] Updated 20 September 2019
« Reply #616 on: October 04, 2019, 08:05:09 AM »
I'm delaying a bit the release of AF 5.7... I just implemented a couple of bug fixes and some improvements, but I'm taking some more time because I'm expanding the folder for manufacturer images. I got a bit carried away: first MSX (my first personal computer), Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Apple II. Then there's the IBM PC with its 6000 games (I started loading rom lists from HyperSpin or from Mame). And now I'm adding manufacturers for japanese computers like NEC PC-88 and 89, FM Towns, X68000. I made a huge excel worksheet to track my progress, it lists more or less 30'000 games, and my artwork covers around 14'000 which is not bad at all :D
It's a nice run down the memory lane finding and fixing logos from obscure ZX Spectrum developers, or discovering that a large amount of PC-98 games in these lists are soft-core games :P

If you have a system you love and you want it included, please let me know. I'm also thinking of adding systems logos for the Displays menu, but that's a whole different story :D

8bitsdeep

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 49
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.6 [Release] Updated 20 September 2019
« Reply #617 on: October 04, 2019, 07:42:57 PM »
I appreciate the detailed response!  Makes a lot of sense.

SFNMutt

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 14
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.6 [Release] Updated 20 September 2019
« Reply #618 on: October 09, 2019, 03:17:26 PM »
man, I'm really out of date.  think i'm still on 3.8.  can't wait to see what's been added. thank you for all your work!!

zpaolo11x

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1233
    • View Profile
    • My deviantart page
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #619 on: October 11, 2019, 06:16:10 AM »
Arcadeflow 5.7 is out! Some bugs fixed, and lots of manufacturer images added to the library :) Enjoy!
« Last Edit: October 31, 2019, 06:44:27 AM by zpaolo11x »

jedione

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1135
  • punktoe
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #620 on: October 13, 2019, 11:45:01 AM »
ahh weekend.....time ,,,   all try it....thanks ....
help a friend....

yxiie

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 28
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #621 on: October 21, 2019, 10:41:14 AM »
Is it possible to disable popup menu on the game, so I don't have to press again to launch the game? Haven't found an option like this. Parhaps somewhere in source files?
Edit: NVM, figured it out
« Last Edit: October 21, 2019, 11:06:04 AM by yxiie »

connconn1

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #622 on: October 28, 2019, 10:38:19 AM »
This theme is awesome! Only gripe is that I have some newer systems (like PS3) that I want to use it with. How would I go about adjusting the alloted size of the box art? currently mine is being cut off

zpaolo11x

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1233
    • View Profile
    • My deviantart page
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #623 on: October 28, 2019, 11:02:25 AM »
This theme is awesome! Only gripe is that I have some newer systems (like PS3) that I want to use it with. How would I go about adjusting the alloted size of the box art? currently mine is being cut off

Can you attach a screenshot, or maybe one if the box art files you are using? If you can’t attach here send me a pm or an email to Paolo.zago(at)Gmail.com

connconn1

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #624 on: October 28, 2019, 11:21:10 AM »
Thanks for such a speedy response!

Here is an image I'm talking about showing how for example Wii games and PS3 games are cut off:

connconn1

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #625 on: October 28, 2019, 11:27:19 AM »
This theme is awesome! Only gripe is that I have some newer systems (like PS3) that I want to use it with. How would I go about adjusting the alloted size of the box art? currently mine is being cut off

Can you attach a screenshot, or maybe one if the box art files you are using? If you can’t attach here send me a pm or an email to Paolo.zago(at)Gmail.com

Also here are the exact pictures I used in the screenshot above:




zpaolo11x

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1233
    • View Profile
    • My deviantart page
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #626 on: October 29, 2019, 01:54:57 AM »
Also here are the exact pictures I used in the screenshot above:

Ok, I see the issue but that's the way Arcadeflow works and there's no easy solution right now.

Arcadeflow was born as a screenshot-driven layout, mostly aimed to arcade games, therefore while it seems to adapt to different aspect ratios even for box arts, in fact Arcadeflow only fits 3:4, 4:3 and 1:1 aspects. This happens because the shadow effect under the thumbnail is fake, and limited to those ratios. For screenshots or box arts that don't perfectly fit with those aspects, the artwork gets cropped to avoid stretching, and that's the issue you are reporting here.

There's an idea that has been floating in my mind for a while, to completely rewrite Arcadeflow so that all shadows are generated "on the fly", which could allow fitting each aspect ratio, simplifying part of the code and solving the cropping issue, but there are many drawbacks and I'll need a lot of time for that.

markoattract

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 54
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #627 on: October 29, 2019, 12:20:12 PM »
Hello guys !

Like always , thanks to zpaolo11x for the great work !!

I have a problem : I'm using AM on WIN 10, and i want to use the retroarch's FINAL BURN NEO core lo launch arcade roms . The prolem is that i can't read the game's name ut it sows only the rom name .

With MAME i don't have any prolem with the correct MAME.XML file , but with Final burn NEO from Retroarch it doesn't ...

I just tried to rename MAME.xml to GAMELIST.xml but still dont works ... I tried to place the files on the root of the AM directory but no results ...

Any help or suggestions ?? Thank you very much ! :D   


zpaolo11x

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1233
    • View Profile
    • My deviantart page
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #628 on: October 30, 2019, 04:12:24 AM »
I have a problem : I'm using AM on WIN 10, and i want to use the retroarch's FINAL BURN NEO core lo launch arcade roms . The prolem is that i can't read the game's name ut it sows only the rom name .

As far as I know this is due to a missing romlist file. You should find the proper xml list (here https://hyperlist.hyperspin-fe.com/index.php there are many but not for final burn neo) and once you have that you can set Attract Mode to read that.

Go to the emulator settings and in "Additiona import files" put the complete path to the xml file. Then rescan the romlist, it should work. At least that's what I do for console games

markoattract

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 54
    • View Profile
Re: Arcadeflow theme v 5.7 [Release] Updated 11 October 2019
« Reply #629 on: October 30, 2019, 11:43:13 AM »
Thank you paolo but it didn't works :(

On raspberry using "the scraper" i have solved the problem, but on Windows is not simple ... maybe i could import file gamelist.txt from the Raspy ...