Custom Startup Image 1.0.1

Hi, this is exaclty what I am looking for but where do I place the xaml files?

 

Edit: NVM, I am tired and slow, apparently. 

Edited September 7, 2022 by CtinD

I have recently moved across from RL/Hyperspin setup in which I had fade screens for each MAME game to show controls. This would be ideal for my needs - I've followed the default setup but all I get is black screen on game boot and exit?  (in both Launchbox and Bigbox)

What kind of image files are you using?  This only supports JPG or PNG.

Yep png's from my old setup. In the correct folder, file name matches the rom name etc. The 'default' startup screens work if i select those, but custom themes are just black

The images are rendered by BigBox and not the theme.  If your images work elsewhere with BigBox, I would think it is a naming problem.  Make sure you use the same name that LaunchBox uses to identify the ROM.

Any chance of tweaking this theme to work with launchbox database ID for file names for platform specific images? Someone did similar for the Pause Screen Theme but wasn't sure it was possible here as well? Outside my experience level.

Thank you for this!  I'm using a mix of Rocketlauncher fade screens, and Launchbox start up screens in my build.  Using the community theme creator, I'm making my own custom fade images that contain fanart/screenshot as a background, clear logo of game, platform clear logo, and cartridge/disc.  With Rocketlauncher it was easy to have a static image just show up, but not with most of the start up themes here.  Is there any chance you could maybe add an option to have an extra layer of a "Now loading" image put on top of the startup image centered and with a "wipe-right" animate run once?  Even without that, this adds unity to my build for the fade/startup screens, so THANK YOU!

EDIT:  Some game images absolutely will not show, whether they are named as launchbox names them, or as the rom is named.  Seems to be happening with games that have "the" at the beginning of the name, but launchbox image files do like library style filenames.  Example:  Amazing Spider-Man, The.  Or, Pitfall, The - Mayan Adventure. No matter what the image file is named, there is a black screen.   Like @thefritz11 asked, maybe it could work better if it also fell back on the launchbox database ID for images as well?  that way, if we are using the community theme creator, we can export those specific games using the database ID number.

Edited June 26 by damageinc86

On 6/23/2025 at 9:15 PM, damageinc86 said:

Some game images absolutely will not show,

This theme uses a direct call to the games literal Title to get the image.  (old school)

If the games Title is "The Amazing Spider-Man", the image should be "The Amazing Spider-Man.png".

If the games Title is "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure", the image should be "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure.png".  Which is impossible because you can't have the colon in a filename.  Thus the image will never be found.

 

Try replacing the last 2 <Image... lines with 

<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.FrontImagePath}" Stretch="Fill" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" 
     Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}" />

Which is changing:

• This
  • Source="{Binding Text, ElementName=GameImage}"
• To
  • Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.FrontImagePath}"

You can change FrontImagePath to whatever image type you want. Click below for more.

https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/3543252-data-bindings#467rer00awx

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

This theme uses a direct call to the games literal Title to get the image.  (old school)

If the games Title is "The Amazing Spider-Man", the image should be "The Amazing Spider-Man.png".

If the games Title is "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure", the image should be "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure.png".  Which is impossible because you can't have the colon in a filename.  Thus the image will never be found.

 

Try replacing the last 2 <Image... lines with 

<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.FrontImagePath}" Stretch="Fill" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" 
     Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}" />

Which is changing:

• This
  • Source="{Binding Text, ElementName=GameImage}"
• To
  • Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.FrontImagePath}"

You can change FrontImagePath to whatever image type you want. Click below for more.

https://feedback.launchbox.gg/help/articles/3543252-data-bindings#467rer00awx

Yes, that is why this is so perplexing, because I have the file's named as their literal title.  (Pitfall_The Mayan Adventure.png). 

I changed those lines, but now it shows the box art stretched to fill the entire screen.  The point of this theme is to pull from a specific folder, so we can put specific startup images that we've made in there, outside of the normal launchbox directories for images.  Maybe this is a larger issue with launchbox not being able to see the underscore file names as it usually does because it is looking through a theme's eyes?  I can show video proof of the images being named exactly as you say launchbox requires, and then launching with a black screen when trying to pull from the specific folder specified in this startup theme, then launching with the correct image when the game name doesn't involve a colon being replaced by an underscore.

Or maybe there's an option/value that could be added to launchbox's xml viewing capabilities and folder structure that allows for a new folder within each platform titled say, "Custom Startup Image".  so that way you could use the following code line:  

<Image Source="{Binding Path=ActiveGame.CustomStartupImage}" />

, and launchbox would look in a folder it knows to be default and maybe have an easier time locating images?

Edited Tuesday at 03:06 PM by damageinc86

1 minute ago, damageinc86 said:

outside of the normal launchbox directories for images

Ahhh... you want to get the images from the custom folder.  In that case, instead of getting the SelectedGame.Title, you want to use SelectedGame.ApplicationFileNameWithoutExtension to get the filename (found in the link I gave you).  Then name your images [exactly] the same as the games filename.

 

(change it in the red box)

 

10 minutes ago, damageinc86 said:

Maybe this is a larger issue with launchbox in general then?

No.  LaunchBox will only do what you tell it to do.  Even when you get creative with atypical customizations.  Just need to tell it ("ask for") something different.

With creative customizations comes great responsibility [on your part].  And the LaunchBox app will work with you (as much as reasonably possible) to "make it work".  

LaunchBox\Images\Custom Startup Images\Sega 32X\Pitfall_The Mayan Adventure.png

SelectedGame.Title, changed to  SelectedGame.ApplicationFileNameWithoutExtension 

startup theme still shows a black screen when launching that game.  In fact, it broke the entire theme, and all games, regardless of the colon/underscore filename format, no longer show the custom images named exactly the same as the game title.

That's wild.  How about database ID stuff? Can we get this theme xml to tell launchbox to look for the database id number then? vs. the game name title, which it apparently just cannot see when looking through this theme lol.

Edited Tuesday at 03:58 PM by damageinc86

36 minutes ago, damageinc86 said:

regardless of the colon/underscore filename format, no longer show the custom images named exactly the same as the game title.

Correct. Because they need to be "named exactly the same as" the game's filename.   (hence the use of ApplicationFileNameWithoutExtension ) Not Title.

Edit your 'Pitfall' game in LaunchBox.  Go to the Launching section.  What is the name of the file?

Mine is pitfall.zip   Remove the extension, (as in "application filename without extension"), and it becomes pitfall.

So I'd need to rename the image file to pitfall.png

Though the games Title is Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, that doesn't matter because we're looking for the filename (without extension).

 

1 hour ago, damageinc86 said:

How about database ID stuff? Can we get this theme xml to tell launchbox to look for the database id number then?

There isn't a binding available to look for the ID.  But if there were, you'd need to rename the images to the games id_number.png  Which is probably worse than using the games filename.

ok i didn't pick up on the filename being the rom filename.  SORRY! haha.  That did it!  WOW.  Thanks!  That's a perfect way around it.  I appreciate your patience with me!

@thefritz11@mattirawks

use this new default.xml I attached for this theme in order to have Launchbox look for an image in the \Custom Startup Images folder that is named after your ROM filename.  A useful utility to help rename your images to rom names is a program called FuzzyRename 

Default.xaml

Edited Tuesday at 06:08 PM by damageinc86