CriticalCid

September 24, 2019

I honestly have no idea why it's not working for you.

I re-did that View and uploaded the whole theme folder. Could you try it with this version?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CslJETFhDa6g8qSX59p590L6w4cO1G1v

September 24, 2019

Weird, it’s working perfectly fine on my end.

What version of Big Box do you use? Do you use the latest version of CriticalZone - Blue Box?

Is it exactly the same error or just one that looks similar?

September 24, 2019

I'm sorry, I accidentally uploaded the wrong file. Here's the correct one

Wheel3GamesView.xaml

September 24, 2019

Hey @JamesBond@ge, I haven’t actively ignored you. I’ve more like forgot your request. I try to visit the forum regularly to be up to date on what’s going with LB and the community but in most cases I don’t have the time to respond immediately to messages, not to even speak of tailoring my themes to extra wishes.

Unfortunately, this means that sometimes I forget about messages that reach me when I just took a quick look on the forums, please believe me that it was no ill will against you from my side.

I understand that it might be frustrating to feel like being ignored but I would highly appreciate it if you don’t accuse other people of lower motives without any reason.

Nevertheless, as I feel bad that I have forgotten about you I just took the time and immediately started to edit the View to your wishes. Here you go:

Wheel3GamesView.xaml

July 17, 2019

That's an easy fix.

Open LaunchBox -> Tools -> Options -> Background Priorities -> uncheck "Clear Logo"

July 8, 2019

I can confirm it too. Working now

July 8, 2019

Wow, you’re super fast! Thank you!

Unfortunately it isn't working for me. Your plugin still only downloads screenshots and banners even when I try it with games that I know for sure have these new graphics available (e.g. the here linked GTA5 or your Dota Underlords example)

July 7, 2019

Hey man, sorry to nag you again with an additional feature request. I’m not sure if you already have heard of it but Steam will revamp their library interface (Beta starting soon). Because of the re-design they have added support for new image types: Box Cover, Banner/Marquee and Clear Logos.

Here’s an official post with more information about this: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks#announcements/detail/1597002662762032240

SteamDB does already support those new images and therefore I could find out the URL’s these are using:

Box Cover: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/{0}/library_600x900_2x.jpg?t=0

Banner/Marquee: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/{0}/library_hero.jpg?t=0

Clear Logo: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/{0}/logo.png?t=0

*{0} = Steam AppID

Not many games are already covered but I think once the beta starts more and more publishers will upload the missing graphics. For me that's a dream come true, as it means that my Steam library will finally look somewhat decent in Big Box.

Long story short. It would be great if your plugin could also download these new images in a future version.

For example, here are the new graphics for GTA5 linked directly from the Steam server:

June 27, 2019

Awesome! Don’t feel rushed and take all the time you need.

I also just tested the new version and can’t report any issues so far

June 26, 2019

First of huge thanks for adding the SteamDB page to the scraper! I really appreciate that

It works really well with games that are still up on the Steam Store. But unfortunately the Additional App doesn’t get added to games that aren’t available in the Steam Store anymore. I’m guessing your plugin is just passing the game when it doesn’t find the entry on Steam. It would be great if your plugin could add the SteamDB link anyway. Or even better, add a second source to get data for these removed games. The obvious choice would be to get them from the SteamDB but they offer no API and don’t allow web-scraping. I think a good alternative source would be SteamSpy as they offer an official API https://steamspy.com/api.php

I’m very aware that adding another source would be a lot of extra work, so I completely understand if you don't want to touch this.

If you need a removed game for testing in case you don't own any yourself:

Deadpool (AppID: 224060)

SteamDB Link

SteamSpy Link

June 22, 2019

I see. Change the value of the Panel.ZIndex from the <transitions:TransitionPresenter line under  from 0 to 1.

June 22, 2019

Just add it under  and you should be fine.

June 22, 2019

You didn’t, don’t worry. Thanks for the compliment

June 21, 2019

22 hours ago, zetec-s-joe said:

Off-topic @CriticalCid, when are you going to return with a new theme? something for HTPC's/50+inch TVs would be perfect! Come back please

I have a few ideas for a new theme that will be aimed for a HTPC / console-like interface but it will probably take quite a while before I start working on it. I can’t work on such creative things on command and I always need the right time and mood for it. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen very often to me so I can’t really tell when I come back. But I will definitely release a new theme sometimes in the future, that's for sure

June 20, 2019

There isn’t anything coded for the background therefore it’s completely blank. The platform views are intended to play fullscreen platform videos so there wasn’t any need for that.

Nevertheless you have quite a few options to add in backgrounds.

If you want to use the backgrounds in your Fanart folders just add this line to the VIew

<transitions:TransitionPresenter TransitionSelector="{Binding BackgroundTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding BackgroundView}" Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.RowSpan="8" IsContentVideo="false" />

If you want to add a static image use this code and edit the path to the image of your choice. The only thing you should know is that “pack://siteoforigin:,,,/” stands for your LaunchBox folder.

<Image x:Name="BackgroundImage" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.RowSpan="8" Source="pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/Unified/Images/Theme/Background/YOUR_IMAGE.jpg" Opacity="100" Panel.ZIndex="0" Stretch="Fill" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />

And finally if you want to use the same background images as in the Games Views add this. Be aware that you'll need to manually add background images for your Platform Categories to the Background folder if you use any.

<TextBlock x:Name="BackgroundFileName" Visibility="Collapsed">
	<TextBlock.Text>
		<MultiBinding StringFormat="{}pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/Unified/Images/Theme/Background/{0}.jpg">
			<Binding Path="SelectedPlatform.Name" />
		</MultiBinding>
	</TextBlock.Text>
</TextBlock>
<Image x:Name="BackgroundImage" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.RowSpan="8" Source="{Binding Text, ElementName=BackgroundFileName, FallbackValue='pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/Unified/Images/Theme/Background/_Default.png'}" Opacity="100" Panel.ZIndex="0" Stretch="Fill" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />

June 20, 2019

Kondorito is completely right. I just want to add that when you completely delete the orange highlighted line the wheel won't fade away at all.

June 16, 2019

I meant adding it as Additional App but that should be also fairly easy to add as well. I’m not sure if you aware of this but you can add basically anything as Additional App to a game which will then show up in the context menu when you right-click on it. You can add things like other games, manuals, links, etc. and open them with a single click. You just have to set it up as the application path.

In the xml file it looks like this:

  <AdditionalApplication>
    <Id>126ec3a9-038c-4bc9-a3aa-1a4ce044f5a9</Id>
    <PlayCount>1</PlayCount>
    <GameID>21c077bd-da53-4981-8acb-a929a6b1a240</GameID>
    <ApplicationPath>https://steamdb.info/app/49520/</ApplicationPath>
    <AutoRunAfter>false</AutoRunAfter>
    <AutoRunBefore>false</AutoRunBefore>
    <CommandLine />
    <Name>Visit Steam Database page</Name>
    <UseDosBox>false</UseDosBox>
    <UseEmulator>false</UseEmulator>
    <WaitForExit>false</WaitForExit>
    <Developer />
    <Publisher />
    <Region />
    <Version />
    <Status />
    <LastPlayed>2019-06-16T22:32:02.2887597+02:00</LastPlayed>
    <SideA>false</SideA>
    <SideB>false</SideB>
    <Priority>0</Priority>
  </AdditionalApplication>

And no worries, I can wait. Take the time you need

June 16, 2019

That’s weird. The plugin is still working completely fine for me in 9.9. All tags are getting added just fine, I just tested it with a couple of newly added games.

Because it was addressed earlier in this thread: When you use the scraper you won’t see the changes immediately, you have to select a different game first and/or reload the image cache for the particular games to see the new metadata and media.

On another note, it looks like that Steam itself will feature Box - Front covers, Banner/Marquees and Clear Logos for all games very soon. I’m really excited about that because it will fill a lot of artwork gaps and make our Steam collections finally Big Box ready. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks#announcements/detail/1597002662762032240

And finally I have a request for you @srxz. Would it be possible to add a link to the corresponding SteamDB pages as additional app? I have a lot of Steam games that were removed from the Steam store and therefore your plugin can’t find anything for them. Having an easy way to go to SteamDB would help me a lot to fill them in manually. Also is SteamDB a great source for in-depth info’s for all Steam games and features links to the respective Steam store page, community hub or PCGamingWiki article. So it would be quite handy in a lot of cases.

The SteamDB URL’s are very straight forward: https://steamdb.info/app/GAME_ID/

March 31, 2019

On 3/18/2019 at 12:03 PM, Kondorito said:

You can make videos to be stretched into the full area, or maintain their aspect ratio in the xaml view files, but you cannot do it for specific systems, as they all share the same views files (correct me if I am wrong @CriticalCid).

What I did for the systems that have a screen size other than the default 4:3 (usually handhelds or newer systems), is to modify the videoborder image of the specific platform, adding pieces of the background image in it (on the sides or at the top/bottom) so the extra bg image pieces cover the black bars of the video, and blends in alright with the background image.

Examples:

Uses a videoborder image like this:

Something like this:

For NDS the videoborder image was just a png of the handheld.

Hope this idea helps you.

Whoah, these look great! Care to share?

March 31, 2019

On 3/12/2019 at 2:51 PM, Cauptain said:

Hello @CriticalCid

Is there any way to put fanart background per game work in the theme?

I have tested on the other versions of Unified and none of them have this option.

Thanks

Claudio

Open the View you want to edit with a text editor of your choice (Notepad, Notepad++, etc) and search for the Background code block. It should look something like this:

<!-- BACKGROUND -->
	<TextBlock x:Name="BackgroundFileName" Visibility="Collapsed">
		<TextBlock.Text>
			<MultiBinding StringFormat="{}pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/Unified/Images/Theme/Background/{0}.jpg">
				<Binding Path="KnownPlatformOrPlaylistTitle" />
			</MultiBinding>
		</TextBlock.Text>
	</TextBlock>
	<Image x:Name="BackgroundImage" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.RowSpan="8" Source="{Binding Text, ElementName=BackgroundFileName, FallbackValue='pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/Unified/Images/Theme/Background/_Default.png'}" Opacity="100" Panel.ZIndex="0" Stretch="Fill" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />

Replace this code block with the following code:

<!-- BACKGROUND -->
	<transitions:TransitionPresenter TransitionSelector="{Binding BackgroundTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding BackgroundView}" Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}" IsContentVideo="false" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.RowSpan="8" Panel.ZIndex="0"/>

March 31, 2019

Hey Damned, great to see you here

There are multiple reasons why Unified relies on platform videos. The main reason is that I did the Unified platform videos a long time before I even started with the Big Box theme so there was not much need to completely re-create them in the Big Box theming engine, which would have taken me countless of extra hours to get everything right.

If you have a list with updated system videos I could update the Unified videos with them as well.

As for your original question. The more games you have in your library the longer your start up times will be. 25 seconds for 54k games sounds pretty normal to me. The main difference between HyperSpin and Big Box is that HyperSpin only loads one XML at a time, so when you start HS it only loads the MainMenu.xml and when you enter a system it loads the XML file of this system.

Big Box on the other hand loads/caches everything at startup to provide cross-platform filters, searches, playlists or simple things like displaying the games count of a platform in the platform views.

March 3, 2019

I honestly can't remember if I have changed that as well.

Open the affected View(s) and change the value of the Panel.ZIndex of the video border element from 5 to 1.

February 17, 2019

Yes, there was a new property added for this:

StretchVideo="true"

February 16, 2019

I must admit that I’m still a little skeptical about a theme creator tool for Big Box but this does look really interesting. It definitely looks like a good balance of easy to use while being powerful enough to not restrict creativity. Great job!

I’m just torn apart of what the existence of such a tool implies. The download section will probably be flooded with a giant wave of themes of questionable quality while the really good ones will be harder to find and don’t get the attention they’ll probably deserve. But on the other hand your tool will allow the creation of awesome themes that otherwise would have not seen the light of day. Depending how much the upcoming theme downloader inside Big Box will be curated this might be a non-issue anyway, so I’m guessing I’ll just wait and see what the community will do with it. This is definitely not criticism about your tool itself, I still think it looks really promising.

I will most likely stay to directly code my themes with my beloved Notepad++ but I’m surely will take your tool for a ride once it has been released. What I’ve noticed is that the code of the View that you’ve shown was kinda large considering the number of elements used in this View. So I’m curious how the themes which will be created with this tool will perform on lower end systems.

Another thing to note. I saw that your tool included the HelperControl plugin when you created the actual theme. Its features are now natively integrated into Big Box itself and therefor you don’t need it anymore. It would probably be better to also remove/replace it in your theme designer going forward

February 16, 2019

I live nearby Stuttgart, Germany

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