CriticalCid

August 26, 2018

1 hour ago, zetec-s-joe said:

Welcome back @CriticalCid XD

Thanks

I also want to thank everyone who answered any questions and helped out in this thread while I was gone. You guys rock!

August 26, 2018

All right guys, I’m back and I’ll slowly go through this thread and try to answer every question that's still open. If I accidentally forget a question, feel free to post it again.

On 7/10/2018 at 7:00 PM, zetec-s-joe said:

@CriticalCid, will you be implementing some of Jason's work into this one from the redux?

Maybe some of them but first I’ll have to check all changes that Jason did with Redux in detail and then I'll see what I want to apply of it on the main Unified theme.

On 7/6/2018 at 2:35 PM, Charco said:

@CriticalCid I know you updated the latest version to incorporate @Jason Carr's changes to stretch 4:3 videos to 16:9, but I find the aspect ratio being stretched looks off to me. Also, I can no longer see the platform specific backgrounds as the videos now cover the entire screen and makes them redundant. This is more a question for Jason, but could a toggle be added to the Big Box options to allow the end user to choose if they want to stretch 4:3 aspect videos to fullscreen or not?

I'll add the backgrounds back in the next version. That way it'll be just a simple edit in the theme code by changing a value from "true" to "false" if you want to turn the stretching off.

On 7/12/2018 at 1:13 PM, dnm said:

first thx for your theme.. it's fantanstic!

2 questions:

1- There is the possibilty to have games fanart background for each game instead the background theme ( all my pc games have more than 1 fanart background)

2- I like the spin disk, but when disks png are not present (same disk images are not simple to find), the theme took and spin the box image and is not good to see (for me); I will prefere nothnig

(one possibility is to create for each game black disc... but it's a lot of time...)

Open the .xaml files of all game views and search for the following lines:

		<!-- BACKGROUND -->
			<TextBlock x:Name="BackgroundFileName" Visibility="Collapsed">
				<TextBlock.Text>
					<MultiBinding StringFormat="{}pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/Unified/Images/Theme/Background/{0}.png">
						<Binding Path="FilterTitle" />
					</MultiBinding>
				</TextBlock.Text>
			</TextBlock>
			<Image x:Name="BackgroundImage" Grid.ColumnSpan="7" 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" />

Simply replace all these lines with this:

		<!-- BACKGROUND -->
			<transitions:TransitionPresenter TransitionSelector="{Binding BackgroundTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding BackgroundView}" Grid.ColumnSpan="7" Grid.RowSpan="8" Panel.ZIndex="0" Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}" IsContentVideo="true" />

On 7/13/2018 at 2:07 PM, dnm said:

Question 3:

There is the possibility to have 16/9 VideoBorder for platforme that have video in this format ?

Unfortunately not at the moment. I don't have a way to determine what aspect ratio a video has so I can't dynamically change the graphic assets based on that.

On 8/13/2018 at 2:51 AM, KenSweep said:

My main question though is if it's possible for the Flip Box function to work in Unified. I know a current limitation of Launchbox/Big Box is that Flip Box doesn't work with 3D boxes and Unified themes only show 3D boxes. So I guess the question is if it's possible to tell Unified to show standard 2D front boxes only, and if so, would that then allow Flip Box to work in Unified? I do prefer 3D boxes but I figure if it's possible to tell Unified to show standard 2D front boxes only, I can still manually replace them with the 3D box pngs/jpgs. I'm happy to edit the xmls/axmls. In fact I had a quick stab editing

That's definitely possible by pointing Unified to the 2D boxess but @Jason Carr is gonna work with me on a better solution for this. Hopefully it will be already included in the next version of Unified, so stay tuned

On 8/13/2018 at 2:51 AM, KenSweep said:

Final question is, although I appreciate the default Big Box logo within a game's detail view is a limitation, is it nonetheless possible to allow the respective game's logo there instead, even if it means potential glitches which perhaps I could try and overcome?

That's possible but would require some work for me to get the position of the game logo right. Right now I'm focusing on working on the next version of Unified so I won't do any personal customization requests at this point. I'll maybe come back to you at a later time but at this moment I have to pass, sorry.

On 8/13/2018 at 2:51 AM, KenSweep said:

I see instructions in this thread for preventing the platform selection wheel from fading so that's great. And for removing the weather which I'll do (any way to keep the time by the way?).

Search in .xaml files of all Platform and Game Views for the part that starts with

  <!-- DATE, TIME AND WEATHER -->

and remove following the lines beneath it. Tell me if that works for you

      <TextBlock Text="  " FontFamily="{StaticResource FontBebasNeue}" FontSize="35" VerticalAlignment="Center" DockPanel.Dock="Right" />
      <g:GrilaWeather ShowUnits="True" ShowLocation="False" ShowTemp="True" ShowConditions="True" ItemSpacing="10" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Foreground="GhostWhite" FontFamily="{StaticResource FontBebasNeue}" MaxHeight="45" DockPanel.Dock="Right" Margin="0,0,0,0" />

August 26, 2018

Hey guys, I’m back from my break and I have a little surprise for you that I’ve been working on since quite a while.

I’ve recorded almost 2000(!) new HyperSpin video themes for your MAME games! They are now available from EmuMovies directly through LaunchBox or from the EmuMovies FTP.

You’ll need a EmuMovies premium membership in order to get them!

All credits go to the original theme creators over at the HyperSpin forums. You guys do an amazing job!

What’s new:

1665 new video themes for previously uncovered games (lots of Mahjong and Casino stuff, but also many ‘real’ games)
221 updated videos for already existing games with higher-quality themes*
55 new Mature themes**

EmuMovies now features 3764 videos themes for different MAME games in total + 300 alternative theme versions!

* All videos that were replaced with new ones were moved to the following folder on the EmuMovies FTP:

/Official/Video Themes (HD)/MAME - Alternatives (Video Themes - Unified)(4x3)(HD)(CriticalCid 1.4)

You can still grab them there if you prefer them for whatever reason.

** Mature Themes are only available on the EmuMovies FTP. They can’t be downloaded directly through LaunchBox! You can find them under:

/Official/Video Themes (HD)/MAME - Mature (Video Themes - Unified)(4x3)(HD)(CriticalCid 1.4)

Important Note:

If you have already downloaded any MAME video themes and you want to get all the new updated ones I highly suggest that you delete all the MAME video themes that you currently have and re-download the whole set again.

Otherwise you will only get the ones for the games that don’t already have a video theme and you won’t get any of the updated themes as LB never overwrites/replaces any of your videos.

Unfortunately there’s no better way around that yet. Sorry about your bandwidth.

You can find the video which you currently have in your setup in: ”..\ LaunchBox\Videos\PLATFORMNAME\Theme”

How to download the new video themes:

Method A: In LaunchBox

Make sure that you’ve entered your EmuMovies account information in the options.

In LaunchBox go to the platform in which you have imported all your MAME games. Select all games with CTRL + A.

Click on Tools -> Download Metadata and Media -> Next -> Next –> “Select None” and click on Next –> First click on “Select None” than scroll down the list and check “Video - Theme” -> Next -> “Yes, but do not replace any existing media or fields” -> Next -> Wait until all video themes were downloaded. Done.

If you also want the Mature videos for your adult games check download method b).

Method B: From the EmuMovies FTP

Go to the EmuMovies FTP (more information about that can be found on the EmuMovies website).

Navigate to “/Official/Video Themes (HD)/” choose one of the 3 MAME sets that you want and open its folder.

Select all vidoes with CTRL + A and download them on your PC to: ”..\ LaunchBox\Videos\PLATFORMNAME\Theme”

Of course PLATFORMNAME stands for the platform in which you have imported all your MAME games.

July 2, 2018

17 hours ago, tomnjerry74 said:

Is it possible for games with theme videos to have the video be played full-screen with nothing else?

Unfortunately that's not possible at the moment.

June 19, 2018

Yes, the default games count doesn't include games in playlists. There are some theme plugins that bypass this limitation but unfortunately they don't fit quite into CriticalZone. So unfortunately you'll have to wait until @Jason Carr does something about that.

June 19, 2018

On 6/11/2018 at 3:31 AM, tcrusenberry said:

Probably a dumb question but in the unified theme how can I get the list (games,wheel, ect) on the left instead of right? In my ultrawide unified theme they are on the left. I have tried the different platform views but maybe i am missing something?

You would need to completely mirror the whole theme structure and image files inside the theme code. Unfortunately that's too much additional work for me to maintain and update two completely different builds of the theme, sorry.

June 19, 2018

On 6/11/2018 at 4:21 AM, Styphelus said:

Is there anyway to get the wheel to be straight (not curved) and not fade? I like this theme but the wheel really throws me off.

You can edit the various properties of the wheel element in the theme code. What each property does can be looked up in the documentation.pdf file inside the Themes folder. You could also check the Wheel Views in CriticalZone to see how the properties are set there

May 31, 2018

My Aeon MQ7 theme also features a modified wall view. It was designed to fit with all types of boxes so I'm not sure if it's anything what you're looking for

May 31, 2018

Sure. Like I said you'll have to edit the ThemeSettings.xml file for this. Just increase the BackgroundFadeValue and you should be good to go. By default it should be 10 so increasing it to 20, 30 or 40 should be fine.

May 31, 2018

Make sure that you replace the whole

Quote

{StaticResource FontBebasNeue}

part with your new font name.

Do you have the Arcade font installed on your PC or do you just use the one that comes as a plugin .dll file with CityHunter? I would highly advice to have the font installed on your PC and type in the font name directly. Don’t use the .dll files or theme code of other themes for it because it won’t work without additional steps if you just replace the FontFamily code with the FontFamily code of another theme.

May 31, 2018

On 5/30/2018 at 5:50 AM, Styphelus said:

I decided to make some backgrounds. The blue one is fine but if I create a different view in red, the game title and description are still in blue because it still uses in the same GameDetailsView.xaml file. Is there a way to get each different view (Wheel2GamesView.xaml, Wheel3GamesView.xaml and so one) to use a different Ga meDetailsView.xaml where I can change the letters to a different color?

Unfortunately you can only have one GamesDetailsView per theme. Like Kelto and Neil have correctly said you can bypass this by creating a new theme and use the switch theme option.

I also really like you modifications. Great job!

On 5/29/2018 at 11:19 PM, Dan said:

Great theme - using Criticalzone blue. Problem is - the background fade setting doesn't seem to work. Is there anything that can be done about this?

Thanks

Which fade do you exactly mean? The general brightness fade or the fading between multiple background videos? If it’s the brightness than that’s by design and hardcoded in the theme. You can change it by opening the ThemeSettings.xml in the CriticalZone folder and change the BackgroundFadeValue to your liking. Just be aware that this won’t work with the version that comes directly with LB as LB will set the settings back to default once you start Big Box, so you'll have to use the version from the download section.

May 27, 2018

20 hours ago, SNAK3ATER said:

If you notice in the picture above you can see that the highlighted game Knack is on the left side of the screen instead of being centered, I can have a workaround by having the selected game centered but it won't be authentic to the source material. Perhaps @Jason Carr and @CriticalCid can shed some light on the possibility of adding this feature down the road or if it's currently supported I would like to know how to add the property to this theme

Unfortunately it’s not supported at the moment and it will always stay centered. I don’t know if you could do some workarounds to achieve that like moving the left part of the wheel out of the screen or something like that but afaik did @Grila already tinker with it for his BigForce theme and didn’t come up with a really satisfying solution either.

So I guess it’s up to Jason or maybe a plugin developer to create a proper solution.

May 27, 2018

Yeah, officially it’s written with a space even though I find it quite inconsistent considering LaunchBox is written without a space. I guess I'll just take what's going to look better in my eyes.

Thanks again for your work! I’m not sure when I’ll release the update because I want to include some more things before I’ll release a new version and I’m currently taking a break from theming and focuse on some other projects of mine. I hope it won’t be too long before I come up with an update. Stay tuned guys

May 21, 2018

2 hours ago, vincefaro said:

Where do I place the background to replace the cube background?

At the moment you can't without editing the whole View by yourself. You will be able to simply replace it once I released the new update for the theme. I don't know when the update will be ready, so unfortunately I have to ask you to wait a little.

May 21, 2018

5 hours ago, zetec-s-joe said:

Cid any chance to make the font in options white with black surround? that will look like the old HS font, love the new logos

I tried to do something similiar when I first started working on Unified, unfortunately it seems you can't natively add outlines to a text without coding a plugin for that. And honestly I like it the way it currently is, so I don't know if I would even add that when someone would came up with a plugin for that.

May 21, 2018

10 hours ago, Suhrvivor said:

Challenge accepted! I made one with what was posted here plus some other stuff, Here's how It would look like:

I'll leave the png and PSD too in case someone wants it:

PSD_Unified_background.zip

Simple but effective, thanks for that, it looks great!

@dragon57 I'm so sorry for asking you again, but could you also great a a "Big Box" in that style?

May 21, 2018

4 hours ago, dragon57 said:

Here is an "Options" graphic. Also, I can provide any size resolution for the "Unified" and "Options" pictures, so if different versions are needed, just let me know.

Awesome! Thank you so so much!

That's how it currently looks like. If anyone wants to create a custom background for it I would really appreciate it

May 21, 2018

3 minutes ago, adu said:

And do you know where to find video for categories, i.e vs fighting, racing etc .... ? Been searching to use them with playlist but no luck so far ...

Here:

May 21, 2018

2 hours ago, shadowblind said:

Been wondering, are there any unified themes for Computers, Consoles, Arcade, Handhelds, and Playlists? Not sure if I'm looking in the right place

Unfortunately not. I also don't have any plans to create those as I use @RetroHumanoid's awesome category videos for my own setup at the moment and don't feel the need to replace them for quite a while.

May 21, 2018

On 17.5.2018 at 2:20 AM, dragon57 said:

How does everyone like this logo? I didn't take all the queues from the Hyperspin logo, as I didn't want to step on any toes, but it is reminiscent of it.

That looks awesome! Thank you very much for this

Any chance you could also do an "Options" logo in the same style?

9 hours ago, Kondorito said:

Nice rendition dragon.

Does anybody know where can I override the default logo for this one and use a custom background in the options menu (for the Unified theme)?

These Views aren’t edited in the theme yet. In order to replace these images you would have to edit everything on your own or copy them from another theme.

I will include customized Views for the menu once I have all the artwork for it. Of course that will also allow you for replacing the images!

Btw. I also need a proper background image for the options menu that fits to Dragon47's awesome logo and the white/blue text in the menu. If anybody wants to create one I would highly appreciate it

May 15, 2018

That’s true, there’s currently no custom artwork for the options screen.

Speaking of which, if someone wants to create some original artwork for it and/or a logo for this theme than please let me know. I simply have almost none experience with image editing to create something like that myself.

May 6, 2018

Well if you only want to remove it in that specific View than you only should edit this View and don't touch the others.

As I'm going off to bed now and therefore don't have time to guide you through everything right now I just have quickly removed it myself, here you go:

Wheel4GamesView.xaml

May 6, 2018

Which part exactly don't you understand in the post linked above?

May 5, 2018

Yes, the add-on package includes complete Unified artwork for all collections

May 5, 2018

Unified Add-on Package v1.1 released!

The talented @RetroHumanoid was working hard and did artwork for 200(!) new Collections for the Unified theme! That takes the covered playlists in the Add-on package now up to 295 in total! Like previously it also includes all Clear Logos for them as well.

He also did platform videos for everything that's currently covered in the Add-on package. They can be downloaded from his website and will be also directly available through LaunchBox once Jason found them to upload them all, but that’s not entirely in our hands when that will happen.

For now grab them from here:

http://retrohumanoid.weebly.com/downloads.html

List of all 200 newly added Collections:

Spoiler

19XX Collection
Ace Attorney Collection
Ace Combat Collection
Addams Family Collection
After Burner Collection
Aladdin Collection
Alex Kidd Collection
Alien Breed Collection
Alone in The Dark Collection
Animal Crossing Collection
Arkanoid Collection
Armored Core Collection
Army Men Collection
Art of Fighting Collection
Assassin's Creed Collection
Asterix & Obelix Collection
Asteroids Collection
Atelier Collection
Back To The Future Collection
Backyard Sports Collection
Barbie Collection
Bases Loaded Collection
Battle Arena Toshinden Collection
Battle Chess Collection
Battletoads Collection
Beauty and The Beast Collection
Ben 10 Collection
Bleach Collection
Bomb Jack Collection
Breath of Fire Collection
Bubble Bobble Collection
Bubsy Collection
Buck Rogers Collection
Bugs Bunny Collection
Burgertime Collection
Burnout Collection
Call of Duty Collection
Captain America Collection
Carmen Sandiego Collection
Cars Collection
Cartoon Network Collection
Centipede Collection
Chuck Rock Collection
Clay Fighter Collection
Colin Mcrae Collection
Columns Collection
Command & Conquer Collection
Darius Collection
Darkstalkers Collection
DC Comics Collection
DDR Collection
Dead Or Alive Collection
Defender Collection
Die Hard Collection
Dig Dug Collection
Digimon Collection
Donald Duck Collection
Doraemon Collection
Dr. Mario Collection
Dragon's Lair Collection
Duke Nukem Collection
Dungeon Master Collection
Earthworm Jim Collection
ECCO The Dolphin Collection
ESPN Collection
F-Zero Collection
Fallout Collection
Final Fight Collection
Fire Emblem Collection
Fire Pro Wrestling Collection
Flintstones Collection
Galaga Collection
Garfield Collection
Ghostbusters Collection
Golgo 13 Collection
Gremlins Collection
Gundam Collection
Harry Potter Collection
Harvest Moon Collection
He-Man Collection
Hello Kitty Collection
Home Alone Collection
Hot Wheels Collection
House of The Dead Collection
Impossible Mission Collection
Incredible Hulk Collection
Indiana Jones Collection
Iron Man Collection
James Pond Collection
Jeopardy Collection
Jetsons Collection
Jim Henson Collection
John Madden Collection
Jurassic Park Collection
King's Quest Collection
Kingdom Hearts Collection
Legacy of Kain Collection
Lemmings Collection
Lion King Collection
Lode Runner Collection
Lord of The Rings Collection
Lupin the 3rd Collection
Madagascar Collection
Mana Collection
Maniac Mansion Collection
Mappy Collection
Marvel Comics Collection
Medal of Honor Collection
Mickey Mouse Collection
Micro Machines Collection
Might & Magic Collection
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Collection
MLB Collection
Monkey Island Collection
Monopoly Collection
Monster Rancher Collection
Mr. Do! Collection
Ms. Pacman Collection
Naruto Collection
NASCAR Collection
NBA Jam Collection
NBA Live Collection
Need for Speed Collection
NFL Blitz Collection
NFL Gameday Collection
Nobunaga's Ambition Collection
One Piece Collection
Outrun Collection
Paperboy Collection
Peanuts Collection
Phantasy Star Collection
Pirates of The Caribbean Collection
Pitfall Collection
Popeye Collection
Populous Collection
Powerpuff Girls Collection
Predator Collection
Primal Rage Collection
Punisher Collection
Puyo Puyo Collection
Puzzle Bobble Collection
Quake Collection
R-Type Collection
Raiden Collection
Rainbow Islands Collection
Rampage Collection
Rastan Collection
Rayman Collection
Road Rash Collection
Robin Hood Collection
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Collection
Rugrats Collection
Sailor Moon Collection
Scooby-Doo Collection
Shadow of The Beast Collection
Shin Megami Tensei Collection
Shining Force Collection
Shinobi Collection
Shrek Collection
Sim City Collection
Smurfs Collection
Soul Calibur Collection
South Park Collection
Space Harrier Collection
Space Invaders Collection
Splatterhouse Collection
Spy vs Spy Collection
Starfox Collection
Strider Collection
Syphon Filter Collection
Tales Collection
Terminator Collection
Test Drive Collection
Thundercats Collection
Tiny Toons Collection
Tom & Jerry Collection
Tom Clancy Collection
Tony Hawk Collection
Top Gear Collection
Toy Story Collection
TRON Collection
Turok Collection
Turrican Collection
Twisted Metal Collection
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger Collection
Virtua Fighter Collection
Warhammer 40K Collection
Warhammer Collection
Warriors Collection
WCW Collection
Wheel of Fortune Collection
Wizardry Collection
Wolfenstein Collection
Wolverine Collection
Worms Collection
WWF Collection
Y's Collection
Yu Yu Hakusho Collection
Yu-Gi-Oh! Collection
Zork Collection

If you like this release please check out @RetroHumanoid's website and YouTube channel for more of his stuff and say hi:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP60Vc-kRYCiJ1y2PvxryA

http://retrohumanoid.weebly.com/

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