Version 2.4 sneaking in!

[raygun]

Hello there!  The team is please to announce the release of version 2.4 of Attract-Mode, available now from the download link on attractmode.org!  We even think we've got the Mac OS X bundle building again (fingers crossed)!

There are lots of great new features and bug fixes with this release, we hope you enjoy.   There are also a couple of potential wrinkles we want to warn you about:

With this release, Attract-Mode is now looking for game overview information in a different place then previously, so if you are upgrading an existing installation you will likely need to re-scrape the artwork or regenerate a romlist for a given emulator before the frontend will be able to find any game overview information related to that emulator again.

There has also been a change to how the the "zorder" attribute works in layouts, by popular request.  The new way makes much more sense and hopefully will not adversely affect existing layouts.  If you are seeing overlapping images and/or texts no longer drawing in the correct order in your favourite layout after your upgrade, this is likely the cause and the layout script will have to be adjusted to fix how it is setting zorders.

cheers!

# Changelog #

## Commits from v2.3.0 to v2.4.0

### Andrew Mickelson (50 commits)

* Bump to version 2.4
* [windows] combine attract.exe and attract-console.exe into the same package
* Issue #401 - Implement proposed changes to zorder behaviour (#408)
* Reduce unnecessary redrawing on some layouts
* Issue #391 - store overview information by emulator
* Issue #456 - properly reset layout state when new layout configured
* Added .travis.yml
* Issue #455 - fix handling of menu artwork
* Issue #454 - fixed thegamesdb.net scraping (url changed)
* Issue #452, #446 - fix compile on old SFML version
* Issue #444 - added "Layout Options" to go straight to layout configuration
* Various changes to merge oomek-fixes branch, including fix_filters() bugfix
* [linux] Issue #393 - fix handling of single quotes and related commandline parameter issues
* Fix compile on older SFML versions after Text .spacing parameter changes
* Fix whitespace and reordering
* Issue #440 - attempt to prevent reported file lockup on missing artwork
* [Windows] enabled d3d11 hwaccel decode option, if available
* Issue #436 - allow user to select which layout.nut file to use from Layout config
* Update Layouts.md for the blend_mode changes
* Added config file parameter output to debug logging
* Added support for "per display" layout parameters.
* Minor fixes to android build, "edit game" option
* [linux] default to "fullscreen mode" window mode
* Don't use network scraping when doing automatic import at startup
* removed stray debug message
* Automatically import emulators that are detected on startup
* Autodetect emulators and generate emulator templates on first run
* Issue #400 - reduce CPU usage when idle
* Issue #407 - fixed fe.Image.video_playing attribute
* Added ability use emulator templates when adding a new emulator
* [linux] enabled exit hotkeys when in fullscreen mode, added debug logging for window creation/destruction
* Made wheel fadeout time configurable for hyperspin-based layouts
* Added fe.path_test() command for layout/plugin scripts
* Relabelled and reworked the 'minimum_wait_time' emulator setting
* Changed scummvm info_source to only use 'scummvm -t' output
* [linux] added VDPAU hwaccel support and fixes for VAAPI
* Added android readme, minor updates to compile.md and gameswf compile
* Fix compile on MacOS Sierra
* [android] initial addition of *experimental* android support
* Added support for touch events if provided by SFML (swipe, tap)
* Added fe_file.cpp to load images, fonts, sounds through a file stream
* Fix window focus detection when min_run_time is set
* Issue #388 - fix compile on Ubuntu 14.04
* Issue #385 - fix recent compile fix for older versions of avcodec
* Fix compile with NO_MOVIE=1
* Fix potential race condition in scraper
* Issue #385 - fix compile error on Jessie

### Benjamin Hodgetts (1 commits)

* C++11 Syntax Fix

### Conn O'Griofa (1 commits)

* RPI: update for new vendor library names & add Mesa VC4 override

### Florian (5 commits)

* Update Dolphin config (#417)
* Update Ubuntu version (#416)
* [linux] Update version number and icon path (#414)
* debian/install - Copy single files first (#415)
* Updated Compile.md for a Command line error + Detail (#425)

### Keil Miller Jr (1 commits)

* Buttons scraped with newer mame.xml file

### mbalfour (1 commits)

* Improve Multi Monitor support (#405) and fix NES romlist crash

### Radek Dutkiewicz (15 commits)

* New text alignment modes (#448)
* Added list_size property to fe.ListBox
* Fixed Fill Screen window offset, update
* Fixed Fill Screen window offset
* Fixed back buffer blinking on game launch
* Blend mode refactoring
* Whitespace cleanup
* Added a folder with default shaders for each blend mode
* Blend modes improvements
* Sorting fixes
* Fixed borderless window size
* added blend modes to fe.Image
* Added .spacing parameter to fe.Text
* Added .mipmap parameter to fe.Image
* Fixed video restarting after setting video_playing = false (#411)

[bundangdon]

Great work once again! Thank you to everyone involved on making this wonderful frontend

[iOtero]

Great notice!

Amazing Work!!

Thanks for all!!!

[akafox]

About time you code monkeys got it together! I had to ration the banana intake for them to encourage them to work faster 

(No really guys that is awesome. LOVE my AM Thanks for all your hard work!  )

P.S. Always remember people E=MC² 

That is More Code=Errors   Have to be patient and give them time..never want to rush perfection right? 

[keilmillerjr]

Awesome fixes and additions!

I’m so glad I made the cut! Looking at everyones commits, I need to step it up! Radek probably fixed my whitespace issues.

[progets]

Great job guys! Thanks for the hard work.

[hermine.potter]

Thanks.
Tested on Windows 7 and Windows 10.
x86 and x64.
Works perfect.

short info:
version 2.4 doesn't longer supports native Windows XP/WinXP.
shows different missing .dll errors / .dll files not found
If you're using WinXP use still up to version 2.3 or look for special and seperate version of AM 2.4 for WinXP:
x86 / 32 bit here
x64 / 64 bit here

[zpaolo11x]

It's great! And Mac OS availability is even better

My theme is having problem with zorder (because I never got how it actually worked in the old version LOL). Where I can find a detailed explanation of how zorder works now?

[Manual do Fliperama]

How to update the version for Ubuntu?

[SOLVED]
I compiled it for Linux 64 bit and it worked.

[jedione]

Zorder.



it is listed in the "Layouts.txt" file in the main folder

* `zorder` - Get/set the Image's order in the applicable draw list.  Objects
     with a lower zorder are drawn first, so that when objects overlap, the one
     with the higher zorder is drawn on top.  Default value is 0.

[zpaolo11x]

Zorder.

it is listed in the "Layouts.txt" file in the main folder

* `zorder` - Get/set the Image's order in the applicable draw list.  Objects
     with a lower zorder are drawn first, so that when objects overlap, the one
     with the higher zorder is drawn on top.  Default value is 0.

I'm on a Mac right now and can't find that file, but from what I remember from Windows installation that wording is not very different from what was in the old version, but the way zorder works is not so straightforward without further explanation. For example, can I put zorder = 9999 to fix something on top of anything? This didn't always work in the past because that was not the intended use

[keilmillerjr]

Zorder.

it is listed in the "Layouts.txt" file in the main folder

* `zorder` - Get/set the Image's order in the applicable draw list.  Objects
     with a lower zorder are drawn first, so that when objects overlap, the one
     with the higher zorder is drawn on top.  Default value is 0.

I'm on a Mac right now and can't find that file, but from what I remember from Windows installation that wording is not very different from what was in the old version, but the way zorder works is not so straightforward without further explanation. For example, can I put zorder = 9999 to fix something on top of anything? This didn't always work in the past because that was not the intended use

Doing what you just said always worked for me, unless your assigned multiple things the same zorder perhaps?

Looking at the commit, explanation of the changes in layouts.md it’s basically the same intended usage but processed slightly different. I don’t see how it would be an issue, unless some one wants to explain to me otherwise?

https://github.com/mickelson/attract/commit/e53655f697e178dfa0bfe3c1bf350e1afa94c349

[qqplayer]

Thanks for the update.
What do you mean exactly with "Attract-Mode is now looking for game overview information in a different place then previously" , I have tons of overview scrapped descriptions and I prefer to move them to another place than re-scrape all the stuff.
Which is the new location?

[zpaolo11x]

Doing what you just said always worked for me, unless your assigned multiple things the same zorder perhaps?

Looking at the commit, explanation of the changes in layouts.md it’s basically the same intended usage but processed slightly different. I don’t see how it would be an issue, unless some one wants to explain to me otherwise?

https://github.com/mickelson/attract/commit/e53655f697e178dfa0bfe3c1bf350e1afa94c349

Thank you for the link to the commit, I wasn't able to find it At the beginning I thought that I could use zorder like defining a "layer" over which items were drawn, but the fact that the order was intended as a number from 0 to number of objects -1 made me think that the trick of putting 999 as a zorder was not going to work. The new way seems more straightforward.

I'll have to check how it works with nested surfaces....

[raygun]

Thanks for the update.
What do you mean exactly with "Attract-Mode is now looking for game overview information in a different place then previously" , I have tons of overview scrapped descriptions and I prefer to move them to another place than re-scrape all the stuff.
Which is the new location?

Here is the description of where the overviews are now stored:

https://github.com/mickelson/attract/commit/88595c811b2ebe717d1c9ea116373531b92cc6cb

hope that helps!