The Great Themes Collection v10.3.2 - Final Edition! (Updated 27 February 2021)

[Yaron2019]

The Great Themes Collection v5.0 is here!

This release includes several major additions:

1. I was not satisfied with the aspect ratio solution in version 4.0 but luckily have found an interesting solution
in the 'nevato' theme. So I added the relevant code to the collection and it works much better. The layouts don't
have to try and support specific resolutions, only the different aspect ratios and they don't "break" even when
using Ultra-Wide aspect ratios or odd, non conventional resolutions.

2. I have reduced the size of the collection by 188MB! Version 4.0 was 585MB and version 5.0 is only 397MB.
This was done by consolidating the video files into one folder called 'videos' and deleting them from the various theme folders. I also now include the sounds folder in the collection.
Copy the sounds and videos folders to your main attract folder (where the 'attract.exe' file is located) as the themes will look for them in that location.

3. I beefed up the Arcade themes section by adding: 'At-The-Arcade Candy', 'At-The-Arcade SNK MVS' and
'At-The-Arcade HD' for more modern systems. Both the Candy and HD versions can be used to represent multiple
types of systems by changing their marquee logos (try it and you will get the idea. It's not a filter, just a logo).

4. I also added new themes for the 'Commodore Amiga CD32' and 'NEC TurboGrafx-CD'.

5. Bug fixes of course. Thanks for akafox for helping solve the mystery FadeArt() bug on linux!

I am going to take a break from releasing new versions of the collection.
Those who want to build additional themes for this collection, here are all the art files for each theme in xcf format (Gimp): https://mega.nz/file/5JNXAQgb#CUo1xcZo5X_a7e43kXedLoVZEKhnGTJAaPYWAqqiABw


Demo video:
https://youtu.be/nkw0JO4Q3IQ


Download the Collection from the main page:
http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=3289.0


Enjoy!
Yaron

[taelonian]

Thanks for your hard work

[Yaron2019]

Thanks for your hard work

It was my absolute pleasure to return in this sweet way to the gaming industry - just for a little bit! 

[carlosc1975]

Awesome work Yaron2019.

Before your break LOL. Do we delete the version 4 themes and then installed these or we just copy these over the old one?

[Yaron2019]

Awesome work Yaron2019.

Before your break LOL. Do we delete the version 4 themes and then installed these or we just copy these over the old one?

Always a good idea to backup your existing data before updating.

Usually it is enough to copy the layouts over the existing ones but this time it is recommended to delete the old layouts and copy the new ones fresh - version 5 contains LESS files than version 4 and uses LESS disk space. Also make sure to copy the 'videos' and 'sounds' folders to your main attract folder (where the attract.exe is located).

[Yaron2019]

I am releasing 'The Great Themes Collection v5.1' which further reduces the download and on-disk footprint size.

This version reduces the on-disk footprint of the collection by an additional 83MB.
I have noticed that some of the background images where fairly large so I have reduced their size by exporting them as jpg files instead of png files.
I have also deleted several redundant files and fixed two small bugs in the Amiga Forever! and Astrocade themes.

All in all, I have reduced the download size from 585MB in v4.0 to 314MB in v5.1, that's 271MB! (46% reduction).

Users that already downloaded and installed version 5.0 do not need to download v5.1 unless they want to reclaim 83MB of their disk space.

This release concludes my disk footprint reduction optimization.

Download links are in the original post:
http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=3289.msg23120#msg23120

[Wenzon]

Hello Yaron2019.

I see that you have done a great job to make this collection impeccable.
I noticed that there is a BUG in this collection.

I don't know if it's just me, but the pulse effect on the wheels, after a while, it starts to fail. I am posting a video to show the problem.

https://youtu.be/QdRFtGgVVgg

[Yaron2019]

Hello Yaron2019.

I see that you have done a great job to make this collection impeccable.
I noticed that there is a BUG in this collection.

I don't know if it's just me, but the pulse effect on the wheels, after a while, it starts to fail. I am posting a video to show the problem.

https://youtu.be/QdRFtGgVVgg

Hi Wenzon,

You are correct, I am aware of this issue but cannot fix it. I am using the standard animation module of AM to produce the pulse effect. There is nothing special in the code, I just use two animations - scale and alpha. The bug disappears if you navigate the wheel. I suspect that this bug is caused by a known attract mode timing bug that I have no control over.
If someone has a way to solve this issue I will update the entire collection and re-upload it.

Cheers

[keilmillerjr]

What known attract-mode timing bug? Can you further elaborate?

[akafox]

Yaron2019...

*sigh* I hate to do this but I have to report a bug again (linux problem I am sure)

I have not be able to test thoroughly...hopefully soon..but in your video I see the "character animations..."

I do not see them on my version on 5.0 of your theme

[Wenzon]

The bug disappears if you navigate the wheel. I suspect that this bug is caused by a known attract mode timing bug that I have no control over.
If someone has a way to solve this issue I will update the entire collection and re-upload it.

Despite the BUG this effect is very cool. I congratulate you.

[Yaron2019]

Yaron2019...

*sigh* I hate to do this but I have to report a bug again (linux problem I am sure)

I have not be able to test thoroughly...hopefully soon..but in your video I see the "character animations..."

I do not see them on my version on 5.0 of your theme

I'm going to be honest - I'm tired with this. version 5.1 is almost identical to v4.0 with only two new themes that have no character animations in them anyway.
If you still have v4.0 use it and just add the two new themes from v5.1 + the videos and sounds folders. That should do it.

If you don't have it, here is a link to download v4.0:
https://mega.nz/file/5RtTmZ4Y#Ymkf4pfyR45qTYb1tI27xrdgWS1bgSJY3DxjXOVRBzI

Cheers mate

[Yaron2019]

Despite the BUG this effect is very cool. I congratulate you.

Thanks! 

[PSOGene]

Oh my god this is a full complete collection for sure. and plus you cover all the console and everything, Your ture hard work finaly paid off, and Im so happy. so far I did not encounter no issue with my end and they all working just fine on my CuteAcade Cabinet as well,
so far this BEST collection ever

[Yaron2019]

Oh my god this is a full complete collection for sure. and plus you cover all the console and everything, Your ture hard work finaly paid off, and Im so happy. so far I did not encounter no issue with my end and they all working just fine on my CuteAcade Cabinet as well,
so far this BEST collection ever

thanks!