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Unified Redux 1.8

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Jason Carr
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About This File

Unified Redux is a very slight re-imagining of @CriticalCid's amazing Unified theme, focusing on minor tweaks to improve the experience based on the LaunchBox developer's personal preferences. Changes from the original theme are listed below:

  • Rounder wheels
  • Much faster-spinning discs
  • Wheel shadows
  • Videos maintain their aspect ratios
  • Smoother transitions in a few spots
  • Top bar modified to prevent triangle corner overlap issues

Version 1.8 - Released March 26, 2019 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.6):

  • Fixed several potential issues due to accidentally using the Unified folder instead of the Unified Redux folder

Version 1.7 - Released March 25, 2019 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.6):

  • Removed several unnecessary plugins for functionality now built-in to LaunchBox\Big Box
  • Modified XAML to better support Big Box 9.5/9.6 (solves several minor visual issues, primarily with text lists)

Version 1.6 - Released December 3, 2018 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.1):

  • Added a new PrioritizedPathSelector plugin, which helps to ensure that proper images are shown for complicated playlist scenarios (multiple fallback priorities, etc.)

Version 1.5 - Released November 26, 2018 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.1):

  • Fixed issue with Arcade/MAME playlists not using proper media

Version 1.4 - Released November 15, 2018 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.0):

  • Pointer images will now change when entering into nested platforms and categories
  • Year and manufacturer text will no longer show up on platform views when those values don't exist
  • Publisher listed in the game details has been changed to developer, which is more important information to display
  • Developer, genre, and play mode text will no longer show up on game views when those values don't exist
  • Ratings displayed in the game views now show your personal rating instead of the community rating, if you've previously rated the game

Version 1.3 - Released November 12, 2018 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.0):

  • Added much better support for the new nested categories and playlists in LaunchBox\Big Box 9.0 (no more black screens) :)

Version 1.2 - Released August 31, 2018:

  • Removed Grila's weather plugin. As awesome as it is, it was causing 1-2 second delays loading up every view.

Version 1.1 - Released August 30, 2018:

  • Background images revamped (and in some cases removed) for common platforms in order to increase readability of the wheels and remove JPEG artifacts (many of the Classics playlists had backgrounds with horrible artifacts from Hyperspin). Thanks to @RetroHumanoid for many of the new backgrounds.
  • Removed the default Big Box logo for platforms or playlists with no logos. Even we're not that in love with the Big Box logo. ;)
  • Added background fanart images for some playlists that will show up if there are no videos for that playlist; previously the theme was showing a black screen in this case.
  • Reduced the size of the theme by over 350 MB by converting the background images from PNGs to maximum-quality JPGs. There is no perceived quality loss and now the theme is less than half the size.
  • Modified/removed some of the video borders with characters in order to better support the new arcade playlists (some of them were irrelevant to arcade games) and make room for arcade flyer images, which used to half-overlap the characters.

Highly recommended: Modify your "Images" > "3D Box Priorities" settings in LaunchBox to include "Box - Front" and "Advertisement Flyer - Front" images in order to display regular box or arcade flyer images if no 3D box image exists.

Please note: You will need to completely delete the previous version of the theme before putting in the new version in order to get all the updates (such as removing the Big Box logo and the space-saving JPG files).

Demo Video:

 

Examples of changes/additions to the 1.1 version of the theme:

1597608936_BallPaddle.thumb.jpg.c20ec34faecba5f9ce3d3317ff660573.jpg1868599061_BeatEmUps.thumb.jpg.a26702b81c2272a76c0230dfdffd3777.jpgPlatform.thumb.jpg.683a9c4c063df96a0d5d1eb402b844eb.jpg1092617485_RunGun.thumb.jpg.ecffa77fd3d366c77e95b639e10df01c.jpg2-Player.thumb.jpg.0463ed10160b0958c5ba2371eec76506.jpgPuzzle.thumb.jpg.2ecb78a8409d77790dbe6a468c4ed93b.jpg

Please see @CriticalCid's original Unified theme for installation and troubleshooting instructions. Requires LaunchBox Big Box 8.0 or greater.

Huge thanks goes out to @CriticalCid for the original theme, as well as the many different Hyperspin contributors who donated their time and talent to build an awesome, cohesive experience:

Gibbawho
@Styphelus
Unknown50862
@Klopjero
Neonrage
@knewlife
@Creloce
Ghostlost https://www.youtube.com/user/GhostlostGames
@ninja2bceen
@THK
adamg
Rkh
Rondar
@scooter1974
Zinger19
Aloner187
@guyverjay
MetalThrix
SophT
Ledgerewskie
hoscarconh https://www.youtube.com/user/hoscarconh
@viking
@RetroHumanoid http://retrohumanoid.weebly.com/

What's New in Version 1.8   See changelog

Released

Version 1.8 - Released March 26, 2019 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.6):

  • Fixed several potential issues due to accidentally using the Unified folder instead of the Unified Redux folder

Version 1.7 - Released March 25, 2019 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.6):

  • Removed several unnecessary plugins for functionality now built-in to LaunchBox\Big Box
  • Modified XAML to better support Big Box 9.5/9.6 (solves several minor visual issues, primarily with text lists)

Version 1.6 - Released November 26, 2018 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.1):

  • Added a new PrioritizedPathSelector plugin, which helps to ensure that proper images are shown for complicated playlist scenarios (multiple fallback priorities, etc.)

Version 1.5 - Released November 26, 2018 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.1):

  • Fixed issue with Arcade/MAME playlists not using proper media

Version 1.4 - Released November 15, 2018 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.0):

  • Pointer images will now change when entering into nested platforms and categories
  • Year and manufacturer text will no longer show up on platform views when those values don't exist
  • Publisher listed in the game details has been changed to developer, which is more important information to display
  • Developer, genre, and play mode text will no longer show up on game views when those values don't exist
  • Ratings displayed in the game views now show your personal star rating instead of the community star rating, if you've previously rated the game

Version 1.3 - Released November 12, 2018 (REQUIRES LAUNCHBOX\BIG BOX 9.0):

  • Added much better support for the new nested categories and playlists in LaunchBox\Big Box 9.0 (no more black screens) :)

Version 1.2 - Released August 31, 2018:

  • Removed Grila's weather plugin. As awesome as it is, it was causing 1-2 second delays loading up every view.

Version 1.1 - Released August 30, 2018:

  • Background images revamped (and in some cases removed) for common platforms in order to increase readability of the wheels and remove JPEG artifacts (many of the Classics playlists had backgrounds with horrible artifacts from Hyperspin). Thanks to RetroHumanoid for many of the new backgrounds.

  • Removed the default Big Box logo for platforms or playlists with no logos. Even we're not that in love with the Big Box logo. ;)

  • Added background fanart images for some playlists that will show up if there are no videos for that playlist; previously the theme was showing a black screen in this case.

  • Reduced the size of the theme by over 350 MB by converting the background images from PNGs to maximum-quality JPGs. There is no perceived quality loss and now the theme is less than half the size.

  • Modified/removed some of the video borders with characters in order to better support the new arcade playlists (some of them were irrelevant to arcade games) and make room for arcade flyer images, which used to half-overlap the characters.

Highly recommended: Modify your "Images" > "3D Box Priorities" settings in LaunchBox to include "Box - Front" and "Advertisement Flyer - Front" images in order to display regular box or arcade flyer images if no 3D box image exists.

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  • Unusual Gem 1
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Jason Carr
8 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

This no longer seems to be true. Unified 1.1.1 is a 679MB download. This theme is 2.3GB, so more than 3 times as large. Are there a lot more platform videos for all the auto generated playlist platforms?

The theme is not 2.3GB. It's still 282MB. 2.3GB is the combined size of all the versions.

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neil9000
1 minute ago, FlightRisk said:

+1 Third question asking about this. Not complaining, just keeping count until we can get an answer. ;) Would we have to change the code using Visual Studio, or is this a simple XAML file change? The latter sure would be a nice option.

All themes can be edited in xaml.

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Jason Carr
1 minute ago, FlightRisk said:

+1 Third question asking about this. Not complaining, just keeping count until we can get an answer. ;) Would we have to change the code using Visual Studio, or is this a simple XAML file change? The latter sure would be a nice option.

It's a simple XAML file change, and it's commented fairly obviously in the XAML. Look for the spinning disc animations.

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FlightRisk
3 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

The latest version is around 280mb, you are not adding all the versions together are you? And there are no videos included.

DUH! Thanks Neil. I was looking at the download size on this screen and not clicking on it to see that each older version was available and the size was including all the files. Indeed is it half the size of the original.

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GuroDragon

When selecting a platform it would great if no logo/background was present for that system it just pulled the clear logo from the platform information.

I have a lot of systems that with no logo/background selecting a platform in bigbox, I will tried to build some and post.

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vgbox

Awesome theme. How do we add a platform video to the platform wheel screen like presented in the beginning on the UR youtube presentation video? Currently my platform wheel fades to a black screen with a line of info in the bottom.

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Jason Carr
19 hours ago, vgbox said:

Awesome theme. How do we add a platform video to the platform wheel screen like presented in the beginning on the UR youtube presentation video? Currently my platform wheel fades to a black screen with a line of info in the bottom.

The videos are available in LaunchBox under Tools > Download Platform/Playlist Theme Videos.

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Moleburt

Is it possible when you select a game and are in the menu where "Play, View Images Fullscreen, etc..." are for the game, that the marquee with the video playing changes to the marquee of the actual game?

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Jason Carr
21 hours ago, Moleburt said:

Is it possible when you select a game and are in the menu where "Play, View Images Fullscreen, etc..." are for the game, that the marquee with the video playing changes to the marquee of the actual game?

The theme isn't built that way currently. Someone could certainly tweak this theme to do it, but unfortunately I can't because I'm busy with regular development.

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hulkk01

I really like this style of theme. Can you please make 4:3 version for my (CRT) arcade cabinet?  Not many theme support 4:3 version. I really don't want to use hyperspin again.  Thanks.

Edited by hulkk01
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Jason Carr
17 hours ago, hulkk01 said:

I really like this style of theme. Can you please make 4:3 version for my (CRT) arcade cabinet?  Not many theme support 4:3 version. I really don't want to use hyperspin again.  Thanks.

I would like to see a 4x3 version of this theme myself as well, but unfortunately I can't tackle it for the moment. Any other theme developer could though.

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hulkk01
On 7/13/2020 at 8:50 AM, Jason Carr said:

I would like to see a 4x3 version of this theme myself as well, but unfortunately I can't tackle it for the moment. Any other theme developer could though.

I edited some files and finally got this 4:3 working great for my arcade cabinet with CRT. Easy fix. 

Edited by hulkk01
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Jason Carr
38 minutes ago, hulkk01 said:

I edited some files and finally got this 4:3 working great for my arcade cabinet with CRT. Easy fix. 

Good to hear; can you upload the 4:3 version to the forums?

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hulkk01
On 7/14/2020 at 3:32 PM, Jason Carr said:

Good to hear; can you upload the 4:3 version to the forums?

Sure! Would you like me to upload the whole thing or just XML file? All I did is edit XML file to:

Force16X9AspectRatio>false</Force16X9AspectRatio>
    <Force4X3AspectRatio>true</Force4X3AspectRatio>

With the same edit, I also did on some other theme as well.

Running with my CRT (Support 640X480 or 800x600) on my "A-33 Showcase Hanaho game" cabinet. 

ThemeSettings.xml

Edited by hulkk01
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Jason Carr
8 hours ago, hulkk01 said:

Sure! Would you like me to upload the whole thing or just XML file? All I did is edit XML file to:

Force16X9AspectRatio>false</Force16X9AspectRatio>
    <Force4X3AspectRatio>true</Force4X3AspectRatio>

With the same edit, I also did on some other theme as well.

Running with my CRT (Support 640X480 or 800x600) on my "A-33 Showcase Hanaho game" cabinet. 

ThemeSettings.xml 1.75 kB · 1 download

Oic; that does force it work on 4x3, but it's not really ideal. I thought you had tweaked more of the theme.

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hulkk01
On 7/21/2020 at 8:14 AM, Jason Carr said:

Oic; that does force it work on 4x3, but it's not really ideal. I thought you had tweaked more of the theme.

Would it be any different between Force 4X3 Aspect Ratio and tweak theme? 

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neil9000
1 hour ago, hulkk01 said:

Would it be any different between Force 4X3 Aspect Ratio and tweak theme? 

Yes.

 

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EMH

Hi, I'm new to this and would love to install this theme. Should I download and unzip the UnifiedRedux.zip and then download and unzip (replacing any files) the UnifiedRedux_v1.8? Or I need to download all versions and replace them 1 by 1?

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neil9000
3 minutes ago, EMH said:

Hi, I'm new to this and would love to install this theme. Should I download and unzip the UnifiedRedux.zip and then download and unzip (replacing any files) the UnifiedRedux_v1.8? Or I need to download all versions and replace them 1 by 1?

Just download the newest version.

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neil9000
9 minutes ago, David Lavers said:

Can we mod the Unified themes to have per game fanart backgrounds. Been trying settings with no luck.

You can mod any theme if you have the knowhow to do so.

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ChristopherNeff

Do I have to download every single file in the downloads sections. All the versions? Or do I ONLY need to download the 1.8 and that's it? Why are all the older versions still in there? Do they still serve a purpose? Do I need any of them, or not?

Edited by Christopher_James_Neff
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Retro808
2 hours ago, Christopher_James_Neff said:

Do I have to download every single file in the downloads sections. All the versions? Or do I ONLY need to download the 1.8 and that's it? Why are all the older versions still in there? Do they still serve a purpose? Do I need any of them, or not?

You only need the most current version.

Older versions are there as some users do not upgrade LB by choice or their license expired. Newest version of theme may have features that do not work on older version of LB/BB. That is why Jason specifically put what LB version is required in each version of the theme.

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Retro808
56 minutes ago, Bidule200 said:

Anyone knows how to put a custom background image on each playlist with this theme?

Add the image you want to the \Unified Redux\Images\Theme\Backgrounds folder and name the file exactly as your playlist is named. If the image is not showing in the theme you may need to refresh BigBox image cache. You will find an option to do this in the Settings menu in BB.

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