eatkinola

Really glad you like the update. Moving the games list to the right side of the screen is possible, but it wouldn't work well with the backgrounds; it would put the list over the platform hardware of viking's backgrounds. He designed the backgrounds to place the list and other info to the left side.

Major update to v1.2. Thanks everyone for the feedback!

Your artwork looks very nice! I suggest erasing the trademark symbols on the logos. I think that'd be okay since this is not for commercial use, and those things look like little warts on your nice artwork. Of course, maybe I'm totally an outlier here; just wanted to give my two cents.

FYI theme updated and renamed as MinimalX

Sure -- there's a good viking video for that, so I'll add it to my todo list. Working on a Minimal update, and once that's done I'll go back and tidy up Nostalgia.

The new theme will include the time, and I can probably include the weather too. It looks a little different than Minimal-AO and does not contain quite so many views, but it retains much of the customization including bg images and vids.

I removed the theme from the downloads section while I tune it up a bit. I'll pm the files you need.

Removed this theme, gonna tune it up some more before reposting.

@shro2016 FYI posted a new theme called Minimal-EVO which uses that plugin feature I mentioned above. You can grab the dlls from the plugin folder of the Minimal-EVO download. Please note you'll need to include all three dlls for it to work. Please see TextFiltersView for an example how it's used. Eventually I might get around to updating the docs and dll for AO Bigbox Customs in the plugins download section. For now, here is the info provided by the SelectionSnoop control: ActiveGame ActivePlatform ActivePlatformCategory ActivePlaylist ActiveFilterType ActiveFilterValue ActionSelectionGameListInfo -- for the active category, platform, playlist, or filter The game list info object contains the following: GamesAvailable (count) GamesCompleted (count) GamePlayedLast (IGame object) GamePlayedMost (IGame object) StarRatingsAvg (double) StarRatingsNum (int: number of games w/ratings) DateLongestAgo (oldest game in the list)

Minimal-EVO View File Minimal-EVO is a text view-based theme deriving from Minimal-AO. It retains the skinning feature of AO while getting back the the roots of MinimalHD created by @Grila. It works best if you have a good set of platform and game videos, but it also works well with images from which it will create a slideshow (if there are no videos). The theme will look for a video whenever possible, e.g., it will loop through all videos in a series when on the View Series page in BB. Minimal-EVO also features an overlay with platform or game metadata, and a set of icons to represent genre, etc. The file Ao.Bigbox.Themer.vXX.dll.config can be tweaked based on how you name your categories, platforms, genres, etc. Due to its reliance on certain plugin features, the current version of this theme requires LB version 8+. For customization, I'll defer for now to the instructions bundled with Minimal-AO, as the customization is very similar. NOTE: Unblocking the ZIP file will also unblock the DLLs (e.g., Ao.Bigbox.Themer.dll and others) contained therein, giving your computer permission to run these DLLs. This is an issue with all plugins you might download from this forum. It's a Windows security feature. You basically have to vouch for a file before Windows will use it. I liken it to how a MS office document you download from an email runs in Protected Mode until you unblock it for printing, editing, etc. Below is the error you'll see if you don't unblock the file, as well as a screenshot of the solution. Submitter eatkinola Submitted 04/08/2018 Category Big Box Custom Themes

Sure, I can do that. It's actually something I'm developing now, so I need to tune up a few more things before I give it to you. As a heads up, though, this is how it's used: <!-- THIS GOES IN THE VIEW HEADER TO REFERENCE THE CONTROL LIBRARY --> xmlns:aoc="clr-namespace:Ao.Bigbox.Controls;assembly=Ao.Bigbox.Themer.v3_2" <!-- THIS CONTROL LATCHES ONTO THE LB API AND GETS THE INFORMATION --> <aop:SelectionSnoop x:Name="SelectionSnoop" /> <!-- PULL INFO FROM THE SNOOP CONTROL AS NEEDED --> <Viewbox Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="4" HorizontalAlignment="Left"> <TextBlock Style="{StaticResource EVOTbEmph}"> <TextBlock.Text> <MultiBinding StringFormat="{}Completed {0} of {1} Games"> <Binding ElementName="SelectionSnoop" Path="ActiveSelectionGameListInfo.GamesCompleted" /> <Binding ElementName="SelectionSnoop" Path="ActiveSelectionGameListInfo.GamesAvailable" /> </MultiBinding> </TextBlock.Text> </TextBlock> </Viewbox> The SelectionSnoop control basically exposes data from the LaunchBox API to the user interface. Behind the scenes, it also determines other data not directly exposed by the API, e.g., number of games completed, average star rating for a collection of games, etc.

I have a custom control to do this. I don't think there is another way but could be wrong.

If all games for a platform are hidden (e.g., you want to hide that platform): p.HasGames(showHidden, showBroken); ...still returns true (I would expect false). p.GetGameCount(showHidden, showBroken); ...appropriately returns zero. Just noticed this while working on a plugin; thought I'd mention in case has anything to do with prior post by @ckp.

No problem! FYI just released FluxCRT which contains examples of this for TextFiltersView, TextGamesView (see TextListView), OptionsView, and SystemView.

Good question -- the images for Categories and Platforms are specified elsewhere in FluxCRT \ Plugins \ Ao.Bigbox.Themer.vXX.dll.config. This file maps names various people might use for a category or platform to a standardized name (like an enumeration in coding). I went this route to support a few other theme controls in development. You can modify this config file to suit your needs. For example, if you name Atari 2600 in your setup simply "2600" then modify the value parameter (comma-delimited set of names to map from) as such: <add key="Platform.ATARI_2600" value="Atari_2600,2600" /> You could also add a new platform in the config file and corresponding image in Platforms: <add key="Platform.COMMODORE_16" value="Commodore_16" /> An alternate way you could add this platform, or "override" values in the config file is to use a AVLF \ Platforms \ @INDEX file: # CUSTOM (ADDITIONS TO OR OVERRIDES OF AO.BIGBOX.THEMER.VXX.CONFIG) COMMODORE_16.png |#| 0.145,0.037,0.145,0.037:0.070 |#| Commodore 16 You can do the same for Categories. Since there are no "standard" playlists, playlists work purely through the @INDEX file. This multi-level way of configuring things is supposed to make things easier to configure and maintain going forward, e.g., you could use identical Ao.Bigbox.Themer.vXX.dll.config files (which you might have customized) for multiple themes. I did need to explain and document this a bit more, though -- thanks for bringing it up. I'll embed some documentation in the theme distro to help with this. Please let me know if you have any other questions about it or issues with the theme.

FluxCRT View File FluxCRT is a relatively simple text view-based retro theme. It's designed for 16:9 monitors and displays filter and game videos (or screenshots) in a 4:3 format, using the Ao.Bigbox.Themer video engine. FluxCRT applies a CRT barrel distortion effect when using Windows Media Player. It's bundled with a collection of category, playlist, and platform banners; to which one can easily add their own banners. Due to its reliance on certain plugin features, the current version of this theme requires LB version 10+. CUSTOMIZATION: See bundled PDF documents. FluxCRT was designed and tested on a 1920x1080 display with 100% (default) text scaling, so you might need to adjust the font sizes (should pertain to options page only) if your display is otherwise; edit the font sizes at the top part of FluxCRT.xaml in the Styles directory as needed. WOOTLAUNCHER INTEGRATION: FluxCRT integrates with WootLauncher... WootLauncher-v1.3.mp4 https://forums.launchbox-app.com/files/file/1619-wootlauncher/ EMULATOR OVERLAYS: These overlays should pair nicely with this theme: NOTE: Unblocking the ZIP file will also unblock the DLLs (e.g., Ao.Bigbox.Themer.dll and others) contained therein, giving your computer permission to run these DLLs. This is an issue with all plugins you might download from this forum. It's a Windows security feature. You basically have to vouch for a file before Windows will use it. I liken it to how a MS office document you download from an email runs in Protected Mode until you unblock it for printing, editing, etc. Below is the error you'll see if you don't unblock the file, as well as a screenshot of the solution. Submitter eatkinola Submitted 03/31/2018 Category Big Box Custom Themes

This works for me, using styles (particularly the HorizonatalAlignment): <!-- LISTBOX: BASE STYLE (PLUS TEXTBLOCK TEMPLATE) --> <Style x:Key="ListBoxStyle_BASE" TargetType="ListBox"> <Setter Property="ItemContainerStyle" Value="{StaticResource ListBoxItemStyle}" /> <Setter Property="BorderBrush" Value="Transparent" /> <Setter Property="Background" Value="Transparent" /> <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility" Value="Hidden" /> <Setter Property="ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility" Value="Hidden" /> <Setter Property="BorderThickness" Value="0" /> <Setter Property="Padding" Value="0" /> <Setter Property="Margin" Value="0" /> <Setter Property="FocusVisualStyle" Value="{x:Null}" /> </Style> <Style x:Key="ListBoxStyle_BASETB" TargetType="TextBlock"> <Setter Property="Padding" Value="4" /> <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="{StaticResource FluxListFontSize}" /> <Setter Property="TextTrimming" Value="CharacterEllipsis" /> <Setter Property="HorizontalAlignment" Value="Center" /> </Style> <!-- LISTBOX: SYSMENU (LIST ITEM = TEXT) --> <Style x:Key="ListBoxStyle_SYST" TargetType="ListBox" BasedOn="{StaticResource ListBoxStyle_BASE}"> <Setter Property="ItemTemplate"> <Setter.Value> <DataTemplate> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Text}" Style="{StaticResource ListBoxStyle_BASETB}" /> </DataTemplate> </Setter.Value> </Setter> </Style> Then in SystemView.xaml: <ListBox Name="MenuItems" Style="{StaticResource ListBoxStyle_SYST}" /> Basically, you are assigning your own DataTemplate, to override that used by default in BigBox. It's a bit roundabout but works. There might be a simpler way, but I could not find one. Probably this weekend, I will post a new theme called FluxCRT that uses this list centering trick extensively -- it's a little different for certain views, so perhaps looking at the xaml of FluxCRT will help.

@emudude dos is right -- Nostalgia does not support the flip-box feature

I suspect it's the same issue related to my plugin library throwing exceptions. Looks like Jason fixed it with Beta 6, but I can't test it until later today. See if beta 6 fixed that exception for your plugin.

@Jason Carr Thanks for continuing to improve an already great app! It appears the plugin API changed with beta 5 related to the above improvement. Methods GetAllGames, GetGameCount, and HasGames on multiple interfaces (IPlatformCategory, IPlatform, IPlaylist) changed from (bool, bool) to (bool, bool, bool, bool, bool, bool). Would it be reasonable to restore the old (bool, bool) methods and then add the new 6-parameter methods you need to support the new filter-out-games feature? I suppose the 2-param methods could just defer to the 6-param method, and pass four false-bool values. This API change breaks backwards compatibility for certain plugins (well mine at least but quite possibly others). I can easily update my plugin library to reflect this change, but users would need to update all themes if using an old version of the plugin, if they were to use LB-8-beta-5. Adding back the old 2-param method will probably avert a lot of of plugin-related bug reports.

Unfortunately for this list it's not as simple as that. I'm looking for a solution as well, getting close I hope.

My plugin should already prioritize any images in the theme folder, but it will fall back to LaunchBox \ Images if needed. My plugin seems to have trouble reading some of the image files in your LaunchBox \ Images folder. I can add a few lines of code to catch that exception, but if you send me your platform clear logo and banner images, perhaps I can do one better and find a proper fix.

Okay, so it's probably related to the platform clear logo or banner images. If it occurs for specific platforms, could you please private message me those platform images? That makes sense. Nostalgia uses a custom control to load cached versions of these images, to help the theme work more smoothly. Thanks again for pointing out this bug.