Firstly thanks a lot for your plugins, they are really handy and have made the AM experience much better. This will be a long post so please bear with me
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Platforms are primarily used for nesting different systems in a tree like hierarchy for organization. A basic "tree" would be like:
> Platforms (Main Menu/ Root - this is the first screen)
>Arcades
> MAME
> Consoles
> Atari 2600
> Computers
> DOS
> MSX
> Handhelds
> GameBoy
> PSP etc
If you are for example on "MAME" and press back, you go back to Arcades, if you press back again you go back to Platforms (since its root if you press back again it will display the exit prompt). The main point being to create folders or nests in a hierarchy to keep displays organized. At first platform categories were usable only via using its plugin which is here
http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=1804.0. In recent versions this capability has been added in AM itself. I am now using the built-in function not the plugin.
We can categorize your collection for sake of testing in:
Arcades > arcade
Console > neogeo mvs
Computers > unisystem
1. Create or rename a display layout called "Platforms Menu"
2. Create 3 empty romlists (in default location) named Arcades, Consoles and Computers. In place of roms add the (exact) name of displays.
For Arcades (Arcades.txt)
#Name;Title;Emulator;CloneOf;Year;Manufacturer;Category;Players;Rotation;Control;Status;DisplayCount;DisplayType;AltRomname;AltTitle;Extra;Buttons
arcade;arcade;@;;;;;;;;;;;;;;For Consoles (Consoles.txt)
#Name;Title;Emulator;CloneOf;Year;Manufacturer;Category;Players;Rotation;Control;Status;DisplayCount;DisplayType;AltRomname;AltTitle;Extra;Buttons
neogeo mvs;neogeo mvs;@;;;;;;;;;;;;;;For Computers (Computers.txt)
#Name;Title;Emulator;CloneOf;Year;Manufacturer;Category;Players;Rotation;Control;Status;DisplayCount;DisplayType;AltRomname;AltTitle;Extra;Buttons
unisystem;unisystem;@;;;;;;;;;;;;;;3. Open attract.cfg and add Arcades, Consoles and Computers. Mine are as following (layout should be changed):
display Arcades
layout Arcades Menu
romlist Arcades
in_cycle yes
in_menu yes
filter ALL
sort_by Title
display Consoles
layout Consoles Menu
romlist Consoles
in_cycle yes
in_menu yes
filter ALL
sort_by Title
display Computers
layout Computers Menu
romlist Computers
in_cycle yes
in_menu yes
filter ALL
sort_by TitleIn my case all other displays are "in_menu = no" since they are nested into above mentioned displays (in_menu = yes would display them twice, once listed with platform categories then in the category display). So you may "change in_menu = no" for arcades, neogeo mvs and unisystem so they are only listed once.
3. Open AM go to
Settings > General > Start Up Mode = Displays Menu
Settings > Displays > 'Display Menu' options > Menu Prompt = Displays Menu
Settings > Displays > 'Display Menu' options > Menu Style/ layout = Platforms Menu
Thats it, you should have the following setup now:
Platforms
> Arcades
> arcade
> Consoles
> neogeo mvs
> Computers
> unisystem