Messages

1

General / Re: [Guide] Launch Bezels from Attract Mode Tutorial (The Bezel Project)

« on: October 08, 2018, 07:55:33 AM »

For the bezel thing in RA, I was thinking a workaround is just to duplicate the core file for each system it identifies with.

Example:
genesis_plus_gx_genesis_libretro.dll
genesis_plus_gx_game_gear_libretro.dll
genesis_plus_gx_sega_cd_libretro.dll

Though honestly I doubt it would work since the way RA structures the config paths.  Could give it a shot.

2

Themes / Re: Frostbite

« on: September 06, 2018, 05:38:37 PM »

Great layout! It looks awesome without a lot of processing overhead.

Just personal preferences for my build...
- In the "popup box" part of the layout.nut I changed "[Name] " to "[Title] " which allows the MAME/Arcade names to show instead of the actual rom names (this doesn't affect other Displays/Emulators, at least on my build)
- In the "Blackout Animation" part of the layout.nut I changed the font size to be smaller to accommodate some of my long names (i.e. Super Nintendo Entertainment System)

A couple of other things that I haven't changed yet but probably will...
- Long game titles overlap the video playing
- Switching filters causes the "Blackout Animation" to activate showing the Display Name fade even though the Display/Emulator hasn't changed

I'm not expecting changes or updates to this build but I'm just providing my 2 cents for others using this layout.

Hey great points progets!

I just want to address a couple of them and why I chose them.

The "[Name]" field was chosen on purpose by me because I actually wanted the rom name.  The full title would be seen visible when chosen via the list which is on the bottom left corner and then on the top right corner, you'd have the full rom name for reference purposes (like if you wanted to look up the rom and or artwork separately in Windows Explorer). 

For the long name overlapping the video, I actually thought it was cool and wanted that "look".  Also I would rather have the full name displayed (for long names that is) instead of cutting it off, if possible.  Though I admit, if it had say a soft drop shadow it'll probably look better than how it is currently implemented.  But yeah, totally understand that this is a preference thing and it may look odd to some.  And that's the great thing about attract mode is that you can change things here and there in the layout.nut to fine tune to one's own preference.  Glad you are liking this theme!

3

Scripting / Re: Animate flyer from position x,y to position x+400,y+400

« on: August 31, 2018, 08:25:16 AM »

Just adjust the delay for the second movement to start at the end of the 1st movement.  So if it takes 600ms to move the picture from x pos 1 to x pos 2 with delay 0, then set the second animation (y pos 1 to y pos 2) to start at 600ms (delay 600ms).

I have no idea how to make it go diagonally.  Though I would love to know if it's possible.

4

Themes / Re: Arcadeflow theme v 2.3 [Release] Updated 29 August 2018

« on: August 29, 2018, 05:18:14 PM »

That glow is so sexy!   

5

Themes / Frostbite

« on: August 28, 2018, 07:43:28 PM »

A very simple and basic theme using zpaolo11x's scripts for background blur and soft drop shadows.  Thanks zpaolo11x.

preview video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=283YpcciTDA

6

General / Re: new BlendMode...

« on: July 28, 2018, 10:06:37 AM »

most of my videosnaps start with a fade from black, therefore I can’t just use the first frame to show as a fixed thumb. Although it would be great to be able to tell AM from what timw to start the video, there is still the issue that a theme like Arcadeflow preloads around 25 thumbs. preloading video snaps and updatimg them is not as fast as fixed images, that’s why my theme has a precise timing for video loading that hides the moment so that it doesnt make the scrolling stutter (this doesn’t happen on my workstation ssd which costs around 600 euros, but on most drives it does, on my macbook it does stutter when the video is loaded).

Yeah the preloading/updating speed makes sense especially for Arcadeflow even with a beefy rig.  All my videos have fade in from black as well.

Besides, my whole mame thumbs archive takes up less than 1Gb, I rescaled all to 320x240 as it’s faster and looks equally good on screen.

True.  It's not really a big deal, but to be fair, it does scale with more systems you have.  Plus it's time consuming to make which again scales.  Again though, not really a big deal.  It's mostly because i'm ocd about keeping files that are important/useful and deleting files that are erroneous and redundant.  xD

If there was a way to chose the fixed thumb to show when a videomis not playing I would put it as an option but afaik it doesn’t

No worries.   I'm not saying you guys should do this or that.  I'm simply stating that currently, there is a high pre-requisite for running the theme, which is true when compared to other themes, that's all.  Not saying necessarily that's a bad thing (though some users may be daunted by it).  For the gains in speed, it's well worth it.

7

General / Re: new BlendMode...

« on: July 27, 2018, 08:34:05 PM »

I had complete picture snap sets for Mame and Snes in the past.  Then I decided to delete them because there is no point in keeping those snaps (being unused) if i'm going to use videosnaps instead.  I've since collected purely videosnaps.  I have zero need for picture snaps because I have a videosnap for every rom.  (any missing vsnaps I simply create myself with fraps+avidemux)  I have a massive and completely thorough collection of videosnaps, flyers/boxart, wheels, etc spanning 17 systems.  Keeping a set of image snap sets is not really a problem except  I just figured it wasn't necessary to waste space on unused assets and thus deleted them. I was really hoping there was a way to read a single key frame from a videosnap and display that.  Kind of how Windows Explorer creates thumbs.  But if that's not possible then I understand.  And judging from Oomek's post, i'm going to assume his Ambience theme will also require screenshot snaps.  In that case, then there's really nothing to it except I need to keep dual sets or miss out on certain themes.

I thought having snaps and videos is a standard, a lot of layouts/themes rely on it.

I honestly have not run into a theme thus far that required a dual set.  The only one so far is zpaolo11x's and I assume your WIP.

8

General / Re: new BlendMode...

« on: July 27, 2018, 11:02:43 AM »

What do you mean with video snaps? It should work ok if you have your thumbs and videos in the same folder...

I mean you need jpg/png screenshots of the videosnap along with the video file itself.  At least i think that's how it works?  So in essence, you would need for all your roms.. 1) a full set of "video" snaps 2) a full set of screenshotted "picture" snaps and 3) a full set of "blurred picture" snaps of the screenshot.

9

General / Re: new BlendMode...

« on: July 26, 2018, 08:33:39 PM »

I'd really like some hints on how to use the blur shader too, this would fit my Arcadeflow theme without having to generate blurred thumbnails in a separate art category

I was thinking the same thing when I originally saw this thread.  I thought of your theme and Oomek's current WIP.  Btw.  I really think your theme is amazing and I would like to use it but that separate blur thumbnails part is what kills it for me (not to mention the requirement of thumbnails on top of videosnaps).  Basically/i.e. steep requirements.  If you can implement a blur shader, perhaps the one Oomek is working on, then I think more and more people will be able to use your theme.  It's really a shame though, because I think (purely my speculation) a lot of people are daunted in using your theme when it's actually an amazing coded work of art.

ok here is a blur layout for everyone to play with.

Cool.  Just checked it out.  I think the blur needs to be waaaay more aggressive though to achieve the effect we are looking for.  I think we all better wait for Oomek's future shader.

You have to wait until I finish moving to a new house, then I'll wrap it into some neat module so it's easy to use, because now it's entangled with the rest of the files.

Can't freaking wait for Ambience!  Thanks for all your hard work my friend!  And congrats on the new house!

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Themes / Re: SNES Classic Theme

« on: July 26, 2018, 08:07:17 PM »

I said this somewhere else but a pi is more like a novelty item.  If you are serious about emulation then get a real pc.  IMO pi's are more like a gimmick.  It is so underpowered and limited.  It's only caught on and got popularized because people like shortcuts and/or cheap things.

Ehh I wouldn't go that far. Just because a platform is or isn't the absolute best for emulation doesn't drive why people write emulators for it, make themes, etc.
The PSP-1000 wasn't the best emulation platform in the world but that didn't stop people from authoring emulators for it, nor did it stop people from playing retro games on it.

I know PCs are the best platform for emulation - I own a gaming PC myself! - but I wouldn't assume OP is working on this to be "serious about emulation," sounds like they're more serious about making their art work within the limitations of the Pi's hardware, because making the Pi do things that are cool is a ton of fun. It's not a popular device because "people like shortcuts;" quite the opposite. It's popular because people love a project and installing Higan on your laptop to play ROMs with cycle accuracy isn't a project.

I have SEGA's Genesis/MegaDrive Classics on Steam and it comes with uncompressed ROMs in the game folder, loadable on any emulator. I could easily play them on my gaming PC or Linux machine with zero issues but making a lil purpose-built box just for Genesis games that can sit somewhere and instantly load up Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a fun project for me. (I also don't mind the input lag too much because input lag for most Genesis emulation in general is a lot less egregious than most SNES emulation.)

All those reasons you mentioned about "doing it for a project...is a ton of fun" is exactly why i said it's a novelty item and nothing more than that.

11

General / Re: new BlendMode...

« on: July 25, 2018, 07:23:42 PM »

I didn't know you could do this!  What a game changer!  More info on the blur shader and where it's located please!

12

Themes / Re: SNES Classic Theme

« on: July 22, 2018, 09:29:43 AM »

I said this somewhere else but a pi is more like a novelty item.  If you are serious about emulation then get a real pc.  IMO pi's are more like a gimmick.  It is so underpowered and limited.  It's only caught on and got popularized because people like shortcuts and/or cheap things. 

Tl;dr Do not base your theme (or anything emulation related) around the pi.  The PC is the main meat and potatoes of emulation.   It should be based on the PC first and foremost, then anything else is secondary and optional (like the pi).

13

General / Re: Why filters are so important and one of the best features of AttractMode

« on: June 17, 2018, 09:23:28 PM »

Thanks progets.  This is a very helpful guide.

14

Themes / Re: Ambience HD theme [WIP]

« on: June 07, 2018, 10:56:13 AM »

That’s not going to happen. I extensively use filters and mainly use Mame.
I can add systems menu later activated with a button.

No worries.  It looks fantastic the way it is! 

15

Themes / Re: Ambience HD theme [WIP]

« on: May 30, 2018, 10:45:12 AM »

Amazing job Oomek!  But I think it would be well worth swapping out the vertical filter list to a system list instead!

Here's a theme i'm working on (based on Verion's Magnus) where it has a horizontal system menu on the top left corner and you can change between the systems with left and right and then change between the games with up and down:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h07ZgaUeLA8

If you can swap between systems it would eliminate the need for a separate System Menu!