Author Topic: Display Menu Screen Saver  (Read 6668 times)

FrizzleFried

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Display Menu Screen Saver
« on: February 18, 2019, 07:28:16 AM »
I have the display menu option turned on at start for one of my arcade systems.  On this system,  if the game is left alone for 10 minutes in the display menu,  the screen goes blank... no screensaver.  I assume it's because there are no ROMs associated with the display menu.  Where would I look to point the screen saver in the display menu to look at a different ROMLIST for games to display on the screensaver?
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keilmillerjr

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2019, 09:02:55 AM »
You need to test if a rom has the @ attribute. If it does, it’s a menu item. Switch displays. I was supposed to write a plugin for this for rand0m but got too busy. Kids birthday trip mid week. Then just spent weekend broken down in a different state. Joy joy. We see if I get extra time this week.

FrizzleFried

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2019, 09:27:21 AM »
I'm a little confused... if I am in one of my display layouts... (lets say Daphne),  it will show Daphne ROMs during the screen saver (well,  animation/screenshots of Daphne roms).  If I am in my Capcom display,  it shows my Capcom game animations/screenshots, etc... but if I am in the Display Menu... it shows a blank screen.

I'd prefer to be able to either assign one of the display's games to show OR even show ALL displays games...

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keilmillerjr

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2019, 09:51:21 AM »
I'm a little confused... if I am in one of my display layouts... (lets say Daphne),  it will show Daphne ROMs during the screen saver (well,  animation/screenshots of Daphne roms).  If I am in my Capcom display,  it shows my Capcom game animations/screenshots, etc... but if I am in the Display Menu... it shows a blank screen.

I'd prefer to be able to either assign one of the display's games to show OR even show ALL displays games...

A display menu is an ordinary display with a romlist of other displays.

FrizzleFried

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2019, 11:23:29 AM »
I'm a little confused... if I am in one of my display layouts... (lets say Daphne),  it will show Daphne ROMs during the screen saver (well,  animation/screenshots of Daphne roms).  If I am in my Capcom display,  it shows my Capcom game animations/screenshots, etc... but if I am in the Display Menu... it shows a blank screen.

I'd prefer to be able to either assign one of the display's games to show OR even show ALL displays games...

A display menu is an ordinary display with a romlist of other displays.

Right... i get that part.  But the stock screen saver doesn't display anything because,  well,  there's nothing to display as there is only a list of other displays.  I'm wondering how to change that behavior...

EDIT: I imagine I could put animation files in to my folder for the displays that it lists... but then it would only cycle through the 5 or 6 different animations ... as I only have 5 or 6 displays listed... but I would rather implement a change that would allow the screen saver to select games from either one of the listed displays or even all of the listed displays...

« Last Edit: February 18, 2019, 11:26:03 AM by FrizzleFried »
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keilmillerjr

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2019, 01:04:21 PM »
I told you how to resolve the issue. Screensaver uses the romlist I assume. It’s not exactly easy to change it the right way. You could add in the code to change displays to a preset one I guess. Or use the randtro-intro I created and use it as a screensaver and select your video snaps folder?

FrizzleFried

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2019, 04:49:26 PM »
I told you how to resolve the issue. Screensaver uses the romlist I assume. It’s not exactly easy to change it the right way. You could add in the code to change displays to a preset one I guess. Or use the randtro-intro I created and use it as a screensaver and select your video snaps folder?

You've lost me as to how you told me how  to resolve the issue?  Where?  I,  evidently,  am completely missing it.  I just re-read the thread and I'm not seeing the suggestion?

Maybe I am just not understanding or something because I'm only seeing where you tell me that the ROMLIST for a display menu is simply a list of displays.  That part I understand.  I'm not sure what you mean by "You need to test if a rom has the @ attribute. If it does, it’s a menu item. Switch displays." ... I assume that is where you told me how to fix the issue,  but I don't understand what you mean by it to be 100% honest.

« Last Edit: February 18, 2019, 04:52:16 PM by FrizzleFried »
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keilmillerjr

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2019, 06:22:39 PM »
I told you how to resolve the issue. Screensaver uses the romlist I assume. It’s not exactly easy to change it the right way. You could add in the code to change displays to a preset one I guess. Or use the randtro-intro I created and use it as a screensaver and select your video snaps folder?

You've lost me as to how you told me how  to resolve the issue?  Where?  I,  evidently,  am completely missing it.  I just re-read the thread and I'm not seeing the suggestion?

Maybe I am just not understanding or something because I'm only seeing where you tell me that the ROMLIST for a display menu is simply a list of displays.  That part I understand.  I'm not sure what you mean by "You need to test if a rom has the @ attribute. If it does, it’s a menu item. Switch displays." ... I assume that is where you told me how to fix the issue,  but I don't understand what you mean by it to be 100% honest.

Rand0m taught me how to do a display menu, refer here. I am not a professional at them, as I only use mame and have only a few displays based on tag lists. So my logic might be slightly off. Rand0m is good help in this area.

Roms in a display menu have the emulator attribute of "@". If you have a list with a rom's emulator attribute of such, you can assume that you are in a display menu. You could Then change display and possibly form a heiarchy cycling through displays. I would hope that cycling displays and processing happens virtually instantaneously so the user doesn't see things change and lag. Obviously totally untested. I haven't begun. Possibly next time on day off.

Unless anyone else has a better idea of determining if a display is a menu item or not?

FrizzleFried

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #8 on: February 18, 2019, 07:47:39 PM »
I am still very confused.

I have a display menu layout... and it works.  It works fine.  My display menu displays CAPCOM, IREM, MIDWAY, SPINNER/TRACKBALL, ALL GAMES, etc... that is working fine.  The problem I am having is the SCREEN SAVER while in the display menu.  If I am in any of my display menu's the screen saver works as intended.  If I am in the display menu and let it drop to the screen saver,  it displays nothing.

The display menu itself is working fine.  I can select games... heck,  here is a quick demo of it:

https://youtu.be/y8JoTae6JeM

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keilmillerjr

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #9 on: February 18, 2019, 08:38:49 PM »
I am still very confused.

I have a display menu layout... and it works.  It works fine.  My display menu displays CAPCOM, IREM, MIDWAY, SPINNER/TRACKBALL, ALL GAMES, etc... that is working fine.  The problem I am having is the SCREEN SAVER while in the display menu.  If I am in any of my display menu's the screen saver works as intended.  If I am in the display menu and let it drop to the screen saver,  it displays nothing.

The display menu itself is working fine.  I can select games... heck,  here is a quick demo of it:

https://youtu.be/y8JoTae6JeM

Screensaver I assume uses romlist. Your display “menu” has a romlist of capcom, irem, midway, etc. which you likely have no associated snaps/media. I believe this is your issue.

FrizzleFried

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #10 on: February 18, 2019, 09:32:39 PM »
I am still very confused.

I have a display menu layout... and it works.  It works fine.  My display menu displays CAPCOM, IREM, MIDWAY, SPINNER/TRACKBALL, ALL GAMES, etc... that is working fine.  The problem I am having is the SCREEN SAVER while in the display menu.  If I am in any of my display menu's the screen saver works as intended.  If I am in the display menu and let it drop to the screen saver,  it displays nothing.

The display menu itself is working fine.  I can select games... heck,  here is a quick demo of it:

https://youtu.be/y8JoTae6JeM

Screensaver I assume uses romlist. Your display “menu” has a romlist of capcom, irem, midway, etc. which you likely have no associated snaps/media. I believe this is your issue.

Which is exactly what I said in my original post...

Quote
I assume it's because there are no ROMs associated with the display menu.
 

The question I threw out was...

Quote
Where would I look to point the screen saver in the display menu to look at a different ROMLIST for games to display on the screensaver?

Perhaps I should expand... where in the screensaver.nut file should I look to do such a thing?   Also,  is there a way to make the screensaver.nut file independent from the system.... meaning if I put the screensaver nut file in my layout folder somewhere... and modified it... could I make just that screensaver.nut file work with just that layout?  The alternative would be,  of course,  to create an option in the "system" nut file to choose which folder(s) to look in to for said media...
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progets

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2019, 10:05:03 PM »
Attract-Mode looks at the Emulator field in the romlist and then looks at the /attract/emulators/<emulator>.cfg file so it knows where to find the artwork. Since you are using sub menus via the "@" shortcut there isn't a /attract/emulators/@.cfg to determine where to find the artwork. Even if you created this @.cfg it still probably won't work how you want. That being said I think your best bet is to put your files in a place that Attract-Mode looks by default. I don't know if this will work but I don't see why it wouldn't.

/attract/scraper/@/flyer
/attract/scraper/@/marquee
/attract/scraper/@/snap
/attract/scraper/@/wheel

rand0m

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2019, 11:31:01 PM »
I am still very confused.

I have a display menu layout... and it works.  It works fine.  My display menu displays CAPCOM, IREM, MIDWAY, SPINNER/TRACKBALL, ALL GAMES, etc... that is working fine.  The problem I am having is the SCREEN SAVER while in the display menu.  If I am in any of my display menu's the screen saver works as intended.  If I am in the display menu and let it drop to the screen saver,  it displays nothing.

The display menu itself is working fine.  I can select games... heck,  here is a quick demo of it:

https://youtu.be/y8JoTae6JeM

Displays Menu by default looks in AM/menu-art folder for artwork. Placing files in menu-art/snap should work without touching anything else. You have very limited items populating the Displays Menu and screensaver will *only* show the items listed in romlist. One way to improve on that might be to add first set of snaps in /snaps, second set in /videos and a third set in /wheels or whatever you selected as overlay (have not checked this part personally, add a single item with three different snaps to check).

Note: File names must be same as those listed in Displays Menu romlist i.e. for item IREM, filename of snap in each set must be IREM

keilmillerjr

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #13 on: February 18, 2019, 11:45:43 PM »
I am still very confused.

I have a display menu layout... and it works.  It works fine.  My display menu displays CAPCOM, IREM, MIDWAY, SPINNER/TRACKBALL, ALL GAMES, etc... that is working fine.  The problem I am having is the SCREEN SAVER while in the display menu.  If I am in any of my display menu's the screen saver works as intended.  If I am in the display menu and let it drop to the screen saver,  it displays nothing.

The display menu itself is working fine.  I can select games... heck,  here is a quick demo of it:

https://youtu.be/y8JoTae6JeM

Displays Menu by default looks in AM/menu-art folder for artwork. Placing files in menu-art/snap should work without touching anything else. You have very limited items populating the Displays Menu and screensaver will *only* show the items listed in romlist. One way to improve on that might be to add first set of snaps in /snaps, second set in /videos and a third set in /wheels or whatever you selected as overlay (have not checked this part personally, add a single item with three different snaps to check).

Note: File names must be same as those listed in Displays Menu romlist i.e. for item IREM, filename of snap in each set must be IREM

menu-art folder worked for me. However, I think Frizzle wants the screensaver to change the display to one whos list contains actual game roms. Which is why suggested using the emulator field to determine if the display is a menu or not.

@Frizzle If you are ok with the screensaver changing to a preset display, try adding a transition for start layout to switch display.? If that works, you could edit the user config to incude a user definable variable for it.

rand0m

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Re: Display Menu Screen Saver
« Reply #14 on: February 18, 2019, 11:55:11 PM »
menu-art folder worked for me. However, I think Frizzle wants the screensaver to change the display to one whos list contains actual game roms. Which is why suggested using the emulator field to determine if the display is a menu or not.

@Frizzle If you are ok with the screensaver changing to a preset display, try adding a transition for start layout to switch display.? If that works, you could edit the user config to incude a user definable variable for it.

afaik menu-art is hardcoded, a workaround with a big enough display menu romlist might be to populate menu-art subfolders with three sets of snaps but the limiting factor is that non-romlist items won't be displayed so # of snaps displayed == 3x romlist items (and thats if three snaps work in first place as I have tested only one).