Vertical CRT layout 0.2

[markc74]

Hi all,

After some great help from calle81 and popoklo, here's the layout I'll be using in my cabinet and is free for anyone to use/break whatever.

It's aimed at standard resolution (15hz) CRT's in vertical orientation. That's what my cabinet is so I've created it for that but it should be relatively straightforwards to scale if anyone wants to.

Video:

https://youtu.be/ST8crDZLBq8

Features:

• optimised for low resolution CRT's in vertical orientation
• games list which slides in and out!
• cycles through videos/history*/flyers/cabinet when a key is pressed (custom1)
• left index bar showing how far down the game list you are
• poor code quality and stupid bugs undocumented features!

*History code was completely stolen from ArcadeBliss so all credit to them for making that work (thanks!)

Known issues

• tabs at bottom occassionally get misaligned. Probably something to do with my inexperienced use of animate2 module
• info doesn't always slide in properly (as above)
• it's really unoptimised...

I'm posting it now, because it works well enough for what I need and the bugs don't bother me enough. However - if someone else wants to have a pop at it then please do. There's not a lot of code to it and I've included the photoshop artwork file in the attachment. The only thing I ask, is that if you do fix my shoddy code, then please upload it into this thread so I can read it and get better  )

[FrizzleFried]

FWIW I am using an ARpiCADE Pi3 system running on an arcade monitor that is in vertical orientation.

Unfortunately this layout comes up horizontally... and only takes up approximately 1/3 of the horzontal screen (pretty much like the video shows) that has been posted.

If I turn the image using the keyboard in attract it still only takes up 1/3 of the vertical screen and the images are super stretched.

This should be a vertical layout... right?   So it should fit the entire screen of a low-res crt screen that is oriented vertically.

What am I doing wrong?  Also... is it right that there are no display options?

Finally... how do you switch between tabs?  I only have a single stick and 2 buttons to work with (well,  and P1 and p2).

Thanks for the help...

[verion]

Great theme!
... but blinking PLAY NOW is annoying, and scrolling the game list breaks (stops/pauses) blinking "pattern" that is even more distracting.
I would change that to non-blinking.

[FrizzleFried]

Were you supposed to include animate2 module with this layout?

[markc74]

Hi FrizzleFried - my apologies, I made a mistake with the layout file orientation as it was set up to work on my laptop and not my cabinet. I've fixed it now and attached the new layout file - just drop this into the folder over the old one.

If you find that the screen is upside down when you run it, open the layout.nut file in notepad and change line 8 from:
fe.layout.orient=RotateScreen.Left; to fe.layout.orient=RotateScreen.Right; and that should sort it.

To switch between tabs, you need to set a control for custom1. (press TAB > Controls > Custom1 and set an input). I use button 1 to switch tabs and Start1 to launch so you should be ok with 2 buttons.

Animate2 can be got from https://github.com/liquid8d/attract-extra/tree/master/modules. Just drop the whole animate2 folder into your attract mode/modules/ folder and it should work. I didn't feel comfortable attaching it because it's someone else's work and I think they might prefer you got the latest version from their site.

Hi Verion - You're right about the flashing thing. I added it quite late and meant to only trigger it on layout start but never got around to it. The attached layout file removes the flashing entirely. I may come back to it and make it work properly and have  it as a toggle option so it's easy to switch on or off.

Let me know if you have any probems 

[FrizzleFried]

Awesome... the new Layout works great...

Now I need to acquire Flyers and Cabinets images... do you have a suggested source to get artwork?  Also,  I am guessing the INFO field is pulling from the Arcade History data file... where do I put that file in order for it to read it?  Same folder as the layout?

Thanks!

[markc74]

Awesome... the new Layout works great...

Now I need to acquire Flyers and Cabinets images... do you have a suggested source to get artwork?  Also,  I am guessing the INFO field is pulling from the Arcade History data file... where do I put that file in order for it to read it?  Same folder as the layout?

Thanks!

No worries!

I got my artwork from here --> http://www.progettosnaps.net/index.php

My history.dat file is my mame folder but it can go anywhere. Just make sure it's enabled and pointed to in the plugins area of Attract mode (Tab > Plugins > history.dat). Once you've set it up make sure you select Generate Index so that it can be read by the frontend

[jedione]

i like your style ,,,thanks

[FrizzleFried]

Awesome... the new Layout works great...

Now I need to acquire Flyers and Cabinets images... do you have a suggested source to get artwork?  Also,  I am guessing the INFO field is pulling from the Arcade History data file... where do I put that file in order for it to read it?  Same folder as the layout?

Thanks!

No worries!

I got my artwork from here --> http://www.progettosnaps.net/index.php

My history.dat file is my mame folder but it can go anywhere. Just make sure it's enabled and pointed to in the plugins area of Attract mode (Tab > Plugins > history.dat). Once you've set it up make sure you select Generate Index so that it can be read by the frontend

Got everything working EXCEPT the history.dat in the layout.  Flyers... cabinets... vids...etc.   I do generate a HISTORY.DAT file and I can see the HISTORY data by hitting H on the keyboard,  but it's not coming up in the layout.

I am using a ARpiCADE setup which has been interesting getting to work as the directory structure is surely different than the PC...

I'm guessing the front end is looking for HISTORY.DAT in a certain location and not finding it there.   The plugin IS finding the history.dat file and like I said,  I can generate an index and I can see the history data by hitting H... it's just not coming in in the layout under INFO...

I'll update if I figure it out...

EDIT: ...found the windows C: path and changed that to /boot/history.dat,  moved the dat file to the FAT32 BOOT folder and all is well.

I also added a "tick" sound when changing game... and because I run the ARpiCADE on a 19" standard res CRT,  I upped the font size to 24 point,  decreased the number of games listed on screen to 11,  expanded the game list box's width by 100px to account for the larger font... and made sure that the box hid to the right 100 additional pixels when moving to the information tab.

One thing I have noticed... when I only had the videos (no flyers/cabinets/history) the theme was exceptionally responsive.  Hold the stick down and it would jump from game to game exceptionally quick...

...since adding the flyers and cabinet images (plus history),  it's much... much... MUCH slower.  I'm guessing the additional load time for the different art is taking it's toll on the Pi3's storage speed capabilities...

I intend to do a little more testing when I have time to determine if there is a decent enough speed gain by eliminating the cabinet images... if so,  I may look in determining how easy/difficult it would be to remove the tab completely... I'm guessing,  however,  it's the flyers that are what's slowing it down (or the combination of the two)... the flyer images tend to be pretty large (some 2MB or more).  It might behoove me to adjust the image size for all of them to 640x480...

[FrizzleFried]

Almost to where I want it... however it's going to be a bit of a pain to write instructions on how to setup for the Pi. 



I WOULD like to figure out how to add a "sound" to the custom1 button push.  Ideally I'd love to set up two sound... one for the button push 1, 2, and 3... and a different sound for button push 4 (back to list of games).  I'm trying... but failing thus far.  Here is what I have...

https://youtu.be/VGu314worYE

[FrizzleFried]

I've come across a small "issue".  Many of the Arcade History entries are longer than the single screen this front end provides.  Any way to either add "scrolling" to the HISTORY page or,  perhaps,  pagination (push a button for the next page kind of thing)?

[FrizzleFried]

I re-skinned this layout last night... I thought it needed a little something.  Here is the result:

You can download the images below... I also included my LAYOUT.NUT which includes a few tweaks (32point font, 9 entries on screen (though I may have moved that to 11 since I too this photo), centered "manufacturer" line, slightly tweaked selection coloring (more yellow),  slightly more visible fonts in places... and a "sound" for when you switch between ROMS (included as well... put it in the LAYOUT folder). 

[markc74]

I think Arcade Bliss had it it working (or somewhere did anyway). Only thing you needed to be careful of is that I created a surface for the history so you might need to take that into account. TBH I got everything I needed to know from the top bit but it did slightly bug me that I couldn't see the rest.

If you do get a solution then post it up as I would definitely be interested

[FrizzleFried]

Certainly understandable and I do appreciate the work you put in to it... if anyone can chime in on how to either add scrolling to the HISTORY component ... or pagination (as mentioned... though I think this might be actually harder to implement)... please let me know.

[markc74]

Oops. Overwrote my last post when I meant to edit it... anyway - the crux was:

- ace to see it on a CRT - I like what you've done with it
- I officially give it to the forum to own
- I'll probably create a horizontal version at some point for my other cab but I'll see if anyone else fixes the bugs first