[MinimalX]

 

18 hours ago, Nyny77 said:

Just an idea, a background by system is possible ? A background Nes, Genesis ect...

Should be possible.  I'll add to my to-do list for the next update.  Great idea!

9 hours ago, imdavid555 said:

Adding support for Fanart background would be a great start for System specific backgrounds!

Yes indeed.  Thanks again for the feedback!

[MinimalX]

5 hours ago, SNAK3ATER said:

@eatkinola i'm wondering is it possible to add a video overlay on top of existing videos (use .mp4 rather than .png for scanline and vignette effects similar to the current static effect configuration) or is it not possible due to the limitation of the coding?

Yes, it's possible.  The static effect on "channel changes" is created by an MP4 behind the platform/game vids, and thus you see this MP4 when one platform/game video fades into another as the selected platform/game changes.  Similarly, you could put an MP4 in front of the video and make it translucent, rendered say with an opacity of 0.2 (or something like that).  You might run into performance issues if there are too many videos being rendered at the same time.  What kind of dynamic overlay do you envision, @SNAK3ATER?

[MinimalX]

1 hour ago, Nyny77 said:

How to change the color of the text in the XAML?

As of v4.1, such things are editable using the skins framework. Look in folder "Styles\Skins" -- the "!ACTIVE.xaml" skin is what will be applied by BigBox. Creating a skin and naming it "!ACTIVE.xaml" will apply the skin. The "!DEFAULT.xaml" file contains examples all the elements you can modify. I've attached the PDF if you want more info, but let me know if you run into any trouble.

Minimal-AO-CUSTOMIZE.pdf

[MinimalX]

Updated to v4.1 -- please see download page for details.

 

[MinimalX]

1 minute ago, imdavid555 said:

Anyway to increase the size of the clear logo wheel for Platform view 3?

1. Edit PlatformWheel3FiltersView.xaml: Look for these three lines below and delete them:

<coverFlow:FlowControl.OpacityMask>

    <ImageBrush ImageSource="{StaticResource AOUriWheelOnlyMask}" />

</coverFlow:FlowControl.OpacityMask>

2. You will also need to edit two PNG images -- please note this will also affect the Game Wheel 3 view:

wheel3-alpha.png: alpha transparancy overlay, contains the logo

wheel3-accents.png: tintable overlay, also contains the logo

Delete the parts of the PNG image you don't want. You need to be sure to save these images as PNG and preserve transparency. I don't think you can use MS Paint to do this. I use a free program called Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP).

[MinimalX]

11 minutes ago, Porl Hendy said:

Please can u give me more info on this.

Sure, no problem. If you want to remove the "- BIG BOX -" and "P L A T F O R M S" text, edit these files in the Views folder:

PlatformWheel2FiltersView, PlatformWheel2FiltersView, and PlatformWheel4FiltersView

In these files, search for this text you want to replace.  It'll be inside a TextBlock element.  You can just set this text to an empty string "" if you want, and that will remove it. There are other ways to remove that text, but that is the easiest to describe. Hope that helped.

p.s. To remove the alpha omega logo, you'll actually have to edit the PNG image files in the Panels folder.

[MinimalX]

8 minutes ago, Porl Hendy said:

Is it possible for me to remove the AO big box platform text on the new view?

Yes, you can edit this text in the Platform and Wheel views.

9 minutes ago, Porl Hendy said:

And also the text on the left hand side of the clear logos?

Yes, go to Images\Panels folder and edit the wheel2-4 PNG "alpha" and "accents" files. Just clip out the parts of the image you don't want, and be sure to save it again as a PNG to preserve transparency. I used Gimp to edit these files.

[MinimalX]

22 minutes ago, imdavid555 said:

When I go to SNES, my SNES fanart Background, etc.

Good idea. Yes, I should be able to do this -- will add it to my list for next update.

[MinimalX]

3 minutes ago, imdavid555 said:

Cover Flow w/ details view? its illegible / very faded

Sure thing. This happens because that part of the background image is pretty light so there's not much contrast with the font. You can change the font used via AOStyles.xaml -- look for setting AODecoFontColor. You can also adjust AOAccentTintyOpacity to be closer to a value of 1 (opaque) if you want. This will have global effects on the theme, affecting other views which use the Deco font.

[MinimalX]

14 minutes ago, Nyny77 said:

Thanks Kinola ^^ for the v4.0

excellent !

You're welcome, Nyny77. Glad you like it. I tried out your videos on the Platform Wheel 4 view without scanlines, and they look great! Thanks again for sharing those with us.

[MinimalX]

Theme updated to version 4.0 -- please see download page for list of features.

 

[MinimalX]

4 hours ago, Nyny77 said:

Scanline just on the videos games is possible ?

Coming soon in the next update so we can see your vids in all their glory.

[MinimalX]

2 hours ago, ALIE said:

Is the latest version here or the other post?  ☺️

You can get to it here or the other Minimal-AO post, they both point to the download page.

[MinimalX]

42 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Hi @eatkinola; this is looking amazing. Gonna feature it in the email this week.

Thanks that means a lot. I'm updating it in a day or so with some new features.

[MinimalX]

31 minutes ago, imdavid555 said:

Any plans for a Cover Flow for Details games view?

This theme is absolutely fantastic! Just wish it had that game view.

Was considering doing that view, you just helped me make up my mind so yes. The next update will also have 16:9 views for platforms and games. It will skin itself with whatever image you want, and will be skinnable with videos too ... almost fell out my chair when I found out how to do that. Should be done in a day or so.

[MinimalX]

45 minutes ago, Dan said:

One of the default skins? There is only one default skin in my BigBox menu and it's called "default"?

Edit: my mistake - I see that Abstract-Kevlar is one of the skins in your download. I can find it in the folder.

Line 52 of the AOStyles.xaml reads:

 <System:String x:Key="AOSkin">Abstract-Kevlar</System:String>

Now what do I do? Do I need to install Visual Studio?

Those things look good. I'm away for awhile but can help you troubleshoot more later. No, shouldn't have to install Visual Studio. When you install LaunchBox it asked you to also install something else ... I think it's a .NET update?, don't remember but whatever it is you should probably install it.

[MinimalX]

7 minutes ago, Dan said:

Do I just unzip all the files and put in Minimal-AO directory in themes, and then select it in BigBox? I don't need to install anything else?

Yes, that should be all you need to do.

[MinimalX]

4 minutes ago, Dan said:

I might have chosen the wrong folder before. I chose the right one this time, and it still doesn't look right:

Good catch. Yes, that looks better -- just looks like it's not finding the background skins. Try one of the default skins such as Abstract-Kevlar. First, make sure you see the skin folder Images/Panels/Skins/Abstract-Kevlar ... should be there because it's included in the download. Then, make sure the AOSkin element towards the top of the config file Styles/AOStyles.xaml is set to Abstract-Kevlar ... it should be because that's the default set in the download.

Aside from not loading the skin image, it looks much better. That looks like Platform Wheel 1 which is a pretty basic view. You can change the platform and game views to some of the more detailed views if you want. Before you do that, see if you can get the skin images loaded.

Thanks for hanging in there, looks like you almost have it working.

[MinimalX]

2 minutes ago, andyco47 said:

hi mate sorry to be a pain again but were it says genres,modes,platform,developer,plays,stars were is the setting to make it brighter, iv done the others like u said just need this and then its spot on mate plus its a brill theme one of the best.

In AOStyles, look for:

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="AODecoFontColor" Color="#22FFFFFF" />

The color code includes as the first two characters an opacity hex code 22.  You can increase this part of the color code to make it brighter, for example "77FFFFFF" (brighter), "FFFFFFFF" (100% opacity the brightest).  If you take away the first few characters and leave "FFFFFF", it will be white with 100% opacity -- probably will be too bright.  Play around with this string to see what works best for you.  It will change the color of other parts of the theme that use this font, e.g., game year and title in the Games Wheel 2 view, game title in Wheel 3 view, etc.

And it's no problem at all -- I need to improve the documentation and make it easier to change some of the settings.

[MinimalX]

Yeah that's totally messed up.  Not sure off hand why it's doing that.  Are you using LaunchBox version 7 or higher?  I'm running on Windows 7 at 1920x1080.  Resolution alone shouldn't be the issue.  Minimal-AO uses some xaml from the Default theme.  Have you made any changes to the Default theme?  Does this happen with other themes?

[MinimalX]

2 minutes ago, Dan said:

Where's the intructions? How do I install this great looking theme?

Hi Dan.  Download Minimal-AO-v3.0-CORE.zip and unpack, copy the Minimal-AO folder into the LaunchBox Themes directory, then in BigBox go to Options > Views and select Minimal-AO as the theme.

[MinimalX]

1 hour ago, andyco47 said:

is there a way to make the platfrom videos and the game videos brighter they seen dull with the theme. there bright when i play them without the theme thanks.

Yes, you can decrease the Opacity of the scanlines and vignetting.  It's probably the vignetting (meant to help give a CRT look) you want to turn down.  Look in AOStyles.  I hope to make this easier to set w/the next update.

[XAML Tips and Tricks]

2 minutes ago, vice350z said:

I'm using a current theme to try to build my own theme. I need to move and resize the video box that displays the platform video. What file am I supposed to edit to accomplish this? I've looked through the Views and Styles folders but I have no clue. I just need to move it over a bit and make the video window a little bigger.

Should be in the corresponding view file. I recommend asking advice from the theme's author.

[Sanicsip VideoThemes]

Welcome, sanicsip. From my perspective, there's always interest here. I encourage you to look around and see some of the video themes peeps like @Nyny77, @BakerMan, @viking, @skainlurmis, and @vice350z are working on. Sorry if I missed anyone, there are a lot of talented contributors in these forums. Got any retro vids like SNES, Atari, etc?

[XAML Tips and Tricks]

19 minutes ago, skainlurmis said:

Also @eatkinola I saw you mentioning on the "Bedroom theme about converting the images into video ..I thought about this after making a few images. In your opinion ..is that a better decision than layer in images like Im talking about above? 

It depends on the goals of your work. If you made videos akin to viking's set, your videos could be used in any number of themes. Your video set would itself be a theme. Not sure if that's what you really want to do, but I think it'd be cool and would reach a wide audience. Whatever you decide, I say keep it up with the retro idea -- very nice.