Arcadeflow theme v 17.5 [Release] Updated 17 December 2024

[Enkak]

So undecided here of which using between the two versions for consoles/handhelds. And for now not thinking much about the option of using flyers for Arcade since that can complicate things maybe.

I'm not a fan of arcade flyers because they are usually huge and slow down the layout a bit, but with the new routine they look good and are rendered with the proper aspect ratio.

I have made some changes in 4.6: you can add "CRT" or "LCD" to System Identifier so the layout will adapt snapshots and filters accordingly, this makes a lot of sense since CRT display or LCD display is something that's bound to the emulator itself.

Box art mode on the other hand is now available for all systems, not only consoles, but is a global setting. I think the best option would be to make it a "per-display" setting (struggling a bit with that) instead of binding it to the emulator system identifier. I could add a "BOX" entry to the emulator system identifier to enable box art mode on a "per emulator" basis, but that would imply that on mixed romlists you'll have a mix of screenshots and box arts, gotta check if it works and I don't know if I like it

By the way, there's a nice addition in 4.6: you can use a menu or a custom button to switch from screenshots to box art on the fly, no need to enter layout options, no need to reload the layout, push a button and it switches, I'm so proud of that :O

oh so many great news, I love that you put an option for changing between snaps or box art on the fly. It will look wonderful on the build here since I'm preparing the systems to have all the artwork available to do that switch.

My doubt and thinking about Arcade flyers is really only because of coherence. I love the original Arcadeflow idea with the screenshots, logos and video snaps playing after, but since we have now the possibility to use boxart for all systems that got me undecided. Using art and losing the ability for video previews or using the original theme idea? But since we will have now the quick switch that solves most doubts.

I'm curious to see how the "CRT"/"LCD" system identifier will work.

[zpaolo11x]

I’m now studying how fe.nv works, if everything goes as expected once you switch the display from snapshots to box art the setting will be saved. That’s the ideal way for me.

Box art vs screens is a huge debate I’m thinking even of a “peek mode” where only the selected game switches, that would be an abrupt switch but it might be useful.

[Enkak]

I'm noticing some weird behavior in boxart mode with a few systems, specially ones that use approximate square dimensions (GBA, NDS, PC-Engine CD...), probably because of some of the automatic settings/crops. For example if the boxart dimensions are 600 x 600 it works good. But if the file is like 600 x 598 you get some kind of stretch with extra elements in the thumbnail. Hard to explain so here's a print of Saturn (Japanese games boxes are square) and other of GBA.

[zpaolo11x]

I'm noticing some weird behavior in boxart mode with a few systems, specially ones that use approximate square dimensions (GBA, NDS, PC-Engine CD...), probably because of some of the automatic settings/crops.

This is a known bug, already fixed. I'm going to publish 4.6 later today and it should have no issues like that.

EDIT: 4.6 is out, you can check if issues are solved

[zpaolo11x]

Arcadeflow 4.6 is out!

Better effects, more flexible and solved a small bug that caused unnecessary tiles rewrites. Hope you enjoy it and since this update is touching critical aspects please let me know if everything works fine!

PS: "Square" mode is still pesent, and will adapt to sytems as well

PPS: @dukpoki "cleaner" main screen will come in 4.7...

[Enkak]

Just downloaded it. Getting several weird issues when changing from 4.5 to 4.6 though. Display menu items disappear if I chose version 4.6 for Display menu. Also, left or right instead of moving between anything in display menu makes it enter a collection. o_O.
Then if I use 4.5 again to see the collections to be able to choose one, trying to enter a system that has version 4.6 makes AM quit without warning. This in a build that only has Arcadeflow 4.5 in it. I can try making one with only version 4.6 to see if anything behaves differently.

[matt92]

how to install the complete theme you have a tutorial thank you

[Enkak]

More bugs to join the ones above. In LabelList, when you go to each letter or scroll till a new one sometimes it shows something like a code "! game letter" instead of the letter itself like in previous versions. And after you scroll a little AM just quits.
I think something broke in version 4.6 sadly.

[zpaolo11x]

Getting several weird issues when changing from 4.5 to 4.6 though. Display menu items disappear if I chose version 4.6 for Display menu. Also, left or right instead of moving between anything in display menu makes it enter a collection. o_O.

Ok, maybe I didn't test 4.6 enough as display menu layout but I never had this issues. I will do some investigation asap, I suggest though you don't mix 4.5 and 4.6 though, they are very different especially in managing displays.

I can try making one with only version 4.6 to see if anything behaves differently.

If you can make a version like this, and maybe post some console log when Arcadeflow crashes that would help me a lot.

[zpaolo11x]

More bugs to join the ones above. In LabelList, when you go to each letter or scroll till a new one sometimes it shows something like a code "! game letter" instead of the letter itself like in previous versions. And after you scroll a little AM just quits.
I think something broke in version 4.6 sadly.

I'll check this issue tomorrow, does it happen only in LabelList? I spent a lot of time to find and fix a bug in labels and maybe I touched something that's causing problems. Again if you run attract-console and send me a log it will be helpful

[Enkak]

Ok, the issues persist in an AM build with only 4.6. From the log attached there seems to be some errors in the layout.nut just launching AM without even doing anything. So maybe that's the reason for the Display menu issues and others.

[dukpoki]

It doesn't matter if it's boxart mode or screenshot mode, it crashes every time I change to "Arcade" display (ps2, snes, etc all work fine).  The thing with my "Arcade" display is that it's a combination of multiple romlists.  I.e.  I have scanned Mame->generated romlist.  Then I have scanned Naomi->generated romlist.  Then the same for Model 2 and Model 3, etc.  Finally I have combined all those into one single giant master romlist named "Arcade".  So it's hitting some type of error there.  Note that I had no error on previous versions opening up "Arcade".


For some reason using attract-console doesn't automatically generate a log.  So I had to screenshot the command window.

Here's the screenshot.

PPS: @dukpoki "cleaner" main screen will come in 4.7...

Haha cool!  And thanks!  But don't worry just take your time.  These bugs are more important to fix at the moment.

[zpaolo11x]

Ok, the issues persist in an AM build with only 4.6. From the log attached there seems to be some errors in the layout.nut just launching AM without even doing anything. So maybe that's the reason for the Display menu issues and others.

Thanks for the log and screenshot: I was able to replicate the bug, it's the routine to detect LCD games that messes with displays menu. If you want you can try this patched layout and tell me if it works...

[zpaolo11x]

For some reason using attract-console doesn't automatically generate a log.  So I had to screenshot the command window.

From the screenshot it seems a bug related to the function that grabs the game starting letter, but this might be the consequence of some other bug before. To provide a complete log you should run attract-console.exe from a command prompt, like

Code: [Select]

attract-console.exe > crashlog.txt
and share the crashlog.txt

[dukpoki]

Seems to be the same crash even with the new layout.nut file.