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Baggio

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Posts posted by Baggio

    MFME in LaunchBox

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    I have a solution but can't quite execute it lol

    So I have to load the game in borderless and then press F3 for it to go fullscreen.

    Now I am using a script in the running section in the emulator but am struggling to get something like, 

    #IfWinActive, %MFMEWindow%
F3:: ; Press F3 key
Send, {F3}
return

    added to it and working for it to go fullscreen after it closes the splash screen and notes.

    Heres @fruity script that im trying to add it too. 

    SetTitleMatchMode, 2 
WindowClass = TLayoutNotes
MFMEWindow = MFME.exe 

TimerCloseWindow:
 IfWinExist, ahk_class %windowclass%
  { WinClose, ahk_class %windowclass%
  }
  SetTimer, TimerCloseWindow, -4000
 return

#IfWinActive
Esc::
WinCLose, ahk_exe %MFMEWindow%
Return

     

    MFME in LaunchBox

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted · Edited by Baggio

    A little update is that it appears to be something to do with the backdrops as when I enable "random backdrops" it breaks a lot more games 😂 

    Also choosing anything other than fullscreen in load mode and they work as well so i'm guessing if i can figure out how to change the monitor size from the defaults of 1538 x 864 i may be able to get them all working.

    MFME in LaunchBox

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    Has anyone else come across this type of error?

    Screenshot(496).thumb.png.34d043d120c4ba75353a0ade839fd253.png

     

    This is happening for a few games and the addresses change slighty, this error was for Monopoly Hot Property.   The game runs fine when ran through MFME but I get the errors when it's being launched through Launchbix for some reason.   I've tried adding MFME as an exception in DEP and deleting and re-scanning the DB but neither had any effect.

    Image Naming

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted · Edited by Baggio

    I just did an image clean-up with the image clean up function and after it finished I moved the files and I had a look through my platforms to see it it removed any images it shouldn't and i found some images were missing.

    Now the strange thing is the box backs and spines are named Dragon_s Lair II _ Time Warp for example and are shown still in LB and werent moved with the clean up tool but the box front which is named exactly the same and was picked up as not in use and move/deleted.  This has happened with quite a lot of files with a dash in the filename and with the underscore in the images filename.

    Just to put it out there image naming on Launchbox is the bain of my life, i don't know how much time i have spent remaining files 😂   Can we not have Launchbox ignore commas, hyphens, dashes and apostrophes in titles/filenames so it matches them, instead of having to use underscores in the image file?

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted · Edited by Baggio

    14 hours ago, uberrr said:

    Could you make a bat to extract first page from PDF also? I'm also getting low quality jpgs from ComicUtilityBelt and i cba to pay for acrobat

    Here you go.

    Extract First Page PDF.zip

    Below is a work in progress but it converts the folder of PDFs into JPEGS.

    For this to work Ghostscript needs to be installed https://ghostscript.com/releases/gsdnld.html

    PDF to JPEG.zip

    I'll try to get these into one batch file at some point.

    • Like 1

    Archive Cache Manager

    in Third-Party Applications and Plugins (Released)

    Posted · Edited by Baggio

    I've only just come across this and it sounds like exactly what i need for my NAS.

    I'm struggling to get it working the way I want though.  From reading your release notes we are able to cache non-archived files and that's what I'm trying to set up.  Basically, I just want it to copy the game from my NAS to my LB SSD on launch, so do I need to set up each emulator in the extraction settings or can I have one setting for them all?

    At the minute I can't get it to cache anything, because i can't get my head around it lol

     

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    On 8/21/2023 at 12:21 AM, JaysArcade said:

    Once you install imagemagick, you run a batch file. I run it in the folder with the seed image and then copy out the images to another folder when its done. 

    for /l %%x in (1, 1, 34) do (
   echo %%x
   magick convert "Mad.png" -font "Segoe-UI-Black" -pointsize 155 -fill white -strokewidth 7 -stroke black -gravity south -annotate +0+0 "XL #%%x" "Mad XL #%%x.png"
)

     

    The things to focus on are:

    On the first line, the 34 means create up to 34 images. Change this according to however many you need. Not sure what the 1,1, are but probably means start at number one, and increase by one for each file.

    On the second line, tell it to convert Mad.png which is the seed png I already made with space on the bottom for the new text. Font and pointsize should be self explanatory. Fill text with white and add a black stroke. The 7 indicates how thick the stroke. Gravity is where you want the text. SouthWest would be the bottom left, SouthEast bottom right, North is the top middle, etc, etc. The Annotate means to write on the image. The +0+0 is the XY offset from whatever gravity you set. the "XL #%%x" is what you want it to write. So this would write XL #1, XL #2, XL #3, etc, etc. The "Mad XL #%%x.png" will be the filename it writes. So the files will be Mad XL #001.png, Mad XL #002.png, Mad XL #003.png, etc, etc.

     

    MadXL1.thumb.png.ee0a20669b138faabc3df76693273811.png

    Brilliant thanks for this.  This will come in very handy in the future no doubt 👍

    • Like 1

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    3 hours ago, KingSlayer420 said:

    I've been away for a few weeks playing some ps2 games, it turns out I have a obsession with the actual video games as well and forget to check back on threads I created 😁 I see Baggio has been busy in my absence adding a bunch of cool batch scripts and other useful stuff, I'll add those to the front page, thanks for all that btw I will use those when I get back to adding some new mags.  

    No worries bud.  You're bang on about me being busy with this as I have made another 9 UK magazine sets that I need to send you.  You’ve got me well into it now lol

    Regarding FlipPDF, I love the style but it was the converting to exe’s that made me steer away from it becuase I dont think you can convert them back to PDFs. That meant if I ever needed them in PDFs again and i would have to find and download them all again which as you know is no easy feat 😂

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted · Edited by Baggio

    I forgot to add it you want to use Acrobat for the reader i have found these settings (and the transitions) work really well.

    image.thumb.png.a4deef563134d34c8aa95c3c7f6bd014.pngimage.thumb.png.33316e92ebf87dabf9e17988d23de18a.png

    And here's an AHK to open them in fullscreen, just change the Acrobat location and the PDF name 

    run, "X:\YOUR LOCATION\Acrobat.exe" /A "pagemode=FullScreen" "FILENAME.pdf"

Escape::
WinClose, ahk_exe Acrobat.exe
ExitApp
return

    If you don't want to make an AHK for every mag, you can run this Action file Set_Initial_View.sequ

    image.thumb.png.fb9ddb6070b77851341f9c497a86a444.pngimage.thumb.png.aa96299b0e84bac3f736a210a53be4ad.png

    Once installed, edit it and set "Open In Fullscreen mode" to yes (like the images above),  then run that on your PDF folder and it will set them all to open fullscreen by default. 

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    After messing about will all sorts of programs trying to extract the first and last pages from a PDF I have found out that Adobe Acrobat has actions like Photoshop so you can create a set of commands to run on a whole folder, so I have created 3 for anyone that uses AA.

    First and Last page to JPG.sequFirst Page To JPG.sequLast Page To JPG.sequ

    Just double-click each one to install them and in Acrobat to Tools>Customise>Action Wizard, choose which action you want to use, select the folder with the PDFs you want the covers for, and click start. 

    It will extract all the images to the folder with the PDFs in with the back cover having 'BACK' in the name (if using front and back or just the back action file.)

    image.thumb.png.e9bea05e3684dd305ed2af458ec63dbc.png

     

    The reason I have been trying to find an alternate solution to Comic Utility Belt was that it was outputting really really small JPGS on some PDFs and I couldn't figure out why.

    • Like 2

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted · Edited by Baggio
    added images

    Another thing,  if you want to use BRU to rename the files, run that bat file above in the folder you created all your images in to get your names.  Paste them into the first cell in excel/libre,  in the second cell put a pipe | in each row, and in the third cell put the names you wish to change it to.  For this again you can run the bat file I posted in the relevant folder to grab them all and paste into excel.

    image.thumb.png.ef162b63f886132be96ea38936606583.png

    Select all that once you have done and paste it into a text file, save it and load up BRU. 

    image.thumb.png.eb563d25ebc21159e6a4a8f157cd70c5.png

    Once there select "Actions>Import Rename-Pairs" and select your text file your just created.

    image.thumb.png.2ee804ed17bebd7e0885074754028018.png

    Then it's just a matter of selecting all the files you're wanting to rename and pressing rename

    Doing it this way you don't need to remove the extension the bat file created either.

     

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    btw @DerSchlachter this may be of use to you as well with your spines and save you a few steps of what you posted earlier.

    I made it a while ago and it's been very useful for stuff like this.  It'll just create a text file with all the things in that folder (not the subfolders) and without the path so you'd just need to remove the extension in a text editor.  I'm sure there is a way to do this without the extension showing as well but i don't know how to do it lol

     List files in Folder.zip

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    10 hours ago, DerSchlachter said:

    THX, for the Spine, here is my way to create the spine for many files in a simple way.

    Create a Folder in which you want to create your spine. In this Folder create a bat to duplicate the Magazine Edge Spine file .
      

    @echo off 
set NUMBER_COPIES=200
for /L %%N IN (1,1,%NUMBER_COPIES%) DO copy magazine_edge.jpg magazine_edge.jpg%%N.png

    Start bat with your choose of amount, this is what you get.

    output.thumb.png.c773586ef83b389eb12498c0d088dc66.png 

    Now of course we have to give the duplicated files the right names. To do this, we go to the directory in which the files are stored. Mark your files, click right Mousbutton an choose copy as Path.

    Screenshot2023-08-06074355.thumb.png.33949c4b80821e8883530e50d35520ca.png

    Open an Editor and copy the Path.

    Screenshot2023-08-06074743.thumb.png.e4223b72e91007b6faa7c9b3335121cf.png

    Mark the path for example "R:\LaunchBox\Games\Magazine from the Past\CPC Magazin\ click ctrl+h (find and replace) replace with nothing.
    Mark the file extension for example .pdf" click ctrl+h (find and replace) replace with nothing.

    You get the File names now.

    Screenshot2023-08-06075050.png.29777d3d725b56a941592b3c61ea888c.png

    Save with files as .txt in your work folder.

    Now, download "Name it your Way (NIYoW)" a small rename tool with an option to rename from a textlist.
    I'm almost sure that this also works with Bulkrename, unfortunately I haven't figured out how yet. The tool is my favorite when it comes to renaming files.

    Start NIYoW and import your duplicate files

    Screenshot2023-08-06075937.thumb.png.dd7db6b5f6fc8affb4fa3204db3dae76.png

     

    Now add below the rule and set these settings. 

    rule.thumb.png.da113e781b752cc7c67d7c2b92690d45.png

    In the Parameter field choosse the inputfile, with is your created txt file

    Screenshot2023-08-06080425.thumb.png.7729b59eb7e391cafa80d621e18ad703.png

    click add, in the Mainmenue click Preview & rename.

    Screenshot2023-08-06080518.thumb.png.60459223572c1641f6471fe7974000c9.png

    click rename if everthing is fine, done!

    So I just created 7000 files and renamed them

    Thanks for this.  Creating the splines for was my next step for the 5 new sets I've created with over 1000 mags in total so this will come in very handy

    • Game On 1

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted · Edited by Baggio

    I thought this may be helpful to help create the back images rather than have to extract all the images with ComicUtilityBelt which takes a lot of time and you then have to sort through them.

    Just place these files in your folder with your PDFs and run the Batch file and it will create separate PDFs adding LASTPAGE to the file name.

    Then you can open up ComicUtilityBelt and check "export cover page" and it will extract the just front page of your original PDFs and the newly made PDFs with just the back page in.

    Once they are done you'll just have to go in bulk rename and remove LASTPAGE from the file name.

    Extract Last Page PDF.zip

    btw if you want to export the second to last page if you are using our out-of-print mags, change the r1 in the batch files to r2

    If anyone knows of any easier way to do this let me know

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, KingSlayer420 said:

    It would be awesome if you can pull that off with imagemajick, I personally would love to have some custom clear logos for my mags. I'm glad to see this thread sparking some interest into old gaming mags

    I read through issue 1 of the Sega Magazine last night and it's amazing going back in time and seeing them talking about newly introduced FMV in games and how they are talking about the graphics/sound on a 16-bit system compared to what we are seeing and hearing now 🤣

    It's so nostalgic as well reading previews and reviews about games I forgot about and seeing old advertisements, mail order shops and what they have in stock, and the prices!!  I love it

    The Ultimate Magazine Experience

    in Collections and Builds

    Posted

    1 minute ago, KingSlayer420 said:

    Man that looks nice! Having one of those for each issue would be very cool. I am unsure of a way to bulk edit images like that, you could make a template in photoshop and then individually edit the text and then save them, of course that's the long way to do it lol. Might be a way to do it in bulk, sorry I can't be more help with that.

    I haven't gotten to many computer mags yet, most are incomplete, or I haven't found a better source for them yet. CVG (Computer and Video Games) was one of those, I can't find a place that has most of them. That's a bigger set, 278 issues! Those take a while but are worth the effort, they look so much better once they are all added to lb with all the media.

     

    I think I can do it with imagemajick.  I did something similar with the spines I created for the Dreamcast but I forgot how I did it so will have to look into it again lol

    I have a load of CVG mags but haven’t been though them yet to see how many’s missing so that’s my first task 👍

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