image or video before game starts?

[lastlife]

First off, absolutely amazing work guys, premium was worth EVERY penny, and I will continue to subscribe every year just for the updates!

 

now that my butt kissing is done..:)  

I have controllers for about every platform, nes for nes, snes for snes, etc...I have found it easier in retroarch just to use controller 1, plug in the correct controller, and set each config to have the correct mappings.  My question is this, can I display an image or short video showing the player which controller to plug in before the game starts?  

For example they pick....Super Mario Brothers... can we RIGHT before the game start display an image of the NES controller and say "This is the controller you need to input in USB 1..press any button to continue" ?

 

Again, awesome work guys!

 

 

 

[SentaiBrad]

You could do something like that with Additional Apps, but what program, how to do that specifically, and then how to close the window to go back to the game I am unsure. If the Controller Automation Close function works on another window, you could make a simple bat that runs when the game starts, set it to delay to open until after the Emulator loads (so the emulator doesn't load on top of the image), see the image, close it with controller automation, then start playing the game.

[fromlostdays]

Sounds like you're just looking for the Fade In function in RocketLauncher. Works like a charm, and you can actually use it to delay the time it takes the emulator to load, so you can have your fade in screen up for as long as you want. (I use this feature to mimic the way an xbox one launches a game with still art) to my knowledge, no video though as yet. Though it is capable of simple animation (like a spinning disc or a progress bar if you're unzipping a game. 

Additionally, Rocketlauncher has a pause function you can use any time in game that will display any type of media you want including video, pictures, and music (though the game has to be launched already). You can pause the emulation and scroll through your game manuals for instance. 

It's not as much of an undertaking as many people think it is, especially now that RL released an updated plug in for LaunchBox, (Note that fade is an inherent feature of rocketlauncher and to do what you want, you'd only need to put the picture you want to display in the right RL folder), but its not as easy as Launchbox either. If you want to go that route, you can hit me up with any questions you have, or ask anywhere on the rocketlauncher forums. I haven't had much time to be on the forums recently, but I'm never too far away.

 

 

[lastlife]

I've used Rocket Launcher before (when I used hs).  I'd like to avoid using RL if I can, I run tight specs on this thing, it's got dual Pentium (LGA 1150) at 4.4 Ghz.  So I get GREAT power, but's it's spread pretty thin.  Still, I'll give RL a try, unless anyone has another idea.

[lastlife]

2 hours ago, SentaiBrad said:

You could do something like that with Additional Apps, but what program, how to do that specifically, and then how to close the window to go back to the game I am unsure. If the Controller Automation Close function works on another window, you could make a simple bat that runs when the game starts, set it to delay to open until after the Emulator loads (so the emulator doesn't load on top of the image), see the image, close it with controller automation, then start playing the game.

a batch file isn't a bad idea... I'm looking into trying something with Retroarch as well.

[SentaiBrad]

You don't even need a batch file per-se, but I was thinking a batch file so that it gets executed, then you can set a delay so that the image pops up after the game has started so that the image is on top, so if Controller Automation does work on the image window, you can close the image window and go straight in to the game without needing many extra steps.

[lastlife]

I could do a batch (or PowerShell script) and display the image with a pause.. or what would be super slick, is display an image of a nes controller, and it stays until USB gamepad 1 is inserted.  I think that's the winning solution.

 

any powershell guru's that have an idea?

Edited November 15, 2016 by lastlife

[SentaiBrad]

I think the Big Box Marquee feature that can utilize a second screen also fits in here fairly well. There still needs to be some cool themes that take advantage of this, but something like this could also be set up there as well.

[lastlife]

That's an interesting idea, and I just so happen to have access to a few 7" LCD's that might just be perfect fit for this.  A wait until it's plugged would be ideal, but it would look cool to have it display on the second screen what controller should be used.  

[lastlife]

another thought is how I could determine if it's the wrong controller.  I don't think it's possible, just because they are retrolink controllers, and are all "USB gamepad"  even if I rename them in the registry. 

[fromlostdays]

I went deep on trying to rename controllers in windows. Nada. Do let me know if you ever figure that one out.