theme BigCouch Theme

[chrisl23]

@viking,

 

I am loving this theme, have it running on my 4K Launchbox setup and it looks gorgeous along with your Nostalgia Video collection. I had one request, I have created a 'Collections' section from the main menu which has my favorites collection as well as some game and genre specific collections. Would it be possible for you to make a 'collections' clear logo to match up the other in the main wheel? Right now collections is showing up just with text and messes with the aesthetic of an otherwise beautiful theme. Many thanks!

Screenshot

Edited September 3, 2017 by chrisl23

[viking]

@chrisl23 Thx ! But it's not me who created this ClearLogo set!

I make this one : 

 

 

[neil9000]

19 hours ago, chrisl23 said:

@viking,

 

I am loving this theme, have it running on my 4K Launchbox setup and it looks gorgeous along with your Nostalgia Video collection. I had one request, I have created a 'Collections' section from the main menu which has my favorites collection as well as some game and genre specific collections. Would it be possible for you to make a 'collections' clear logo to match up the other in the main wheel? Right now collections is showing up just with text and messes with the aesthetic of an otherwise beautiful theme. Many thanks!

Screenshot

Those clear logo's in your pic are the default ones that come with Launchbox, that is why you only have the default category logo's and no playlist one. You will have to use a different logo for playlists or swap all the logos for a different set.

[chrisl23]

@viking @neil9000, awesome, thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys, I'm all set.

[Gampela]

Hi!

Am I the only one who is having performance issues with this theme? Background images are causing major stuttering for me while scrolling through gamelist. This happens in every view mode. I disabled background entirely from the xaml-file and now it runs like a dream. Its especially weird because I have above average desktop computer and background images don't cause any stuttering in defaul themes.

[viking]

It's very strange 
On views without video background, I used a XML coded blur on the backgroud images.
The problem can only come from there, I think. Too CPU demand ?

In the XML, try to remove the code for the blur and leave the background image.

 

Try to replace that:

<!-- FANART BACKGROUND BLURED-->
<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedPlatform.BackgroundImagePath}" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="117" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="25" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Stretch="UniformToFill" >
<Image.Effect>
<BlurEffect Radius="75" RenderingBias="Performance"/>
</Image.Effect>
</Image>

By that : 

<!-- FANART BACKGROUND BLURED-->
<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedPlatform.BackgroundImagePath}" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="117" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="25" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Stretch="UniformToFill" >
</Image>

And tell me if that fixes the problem.

You can also change the value of the blur. Maybe a smaller value consumes less power ?
Or maybe update .NET framework ?
Your Windows 10 is up to date ?

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by viking

[Gampela]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I actually tried already removing just the background blur-effect and it didn't make any difference.  .NET framework is up to date and so is Windows 10 (well I don't have the latest creators fall update yet). I've also tried the usual general performance tweaks from here: https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/35368-bigbox-performance-and-how-to-make-it-better/ , tried removing all transition animations etc. My system is relatively good: 2500k @ 4,4Ghz, gtx 1070 so it shouldn't be the problem. Also, I have less than 30 roms and only 3 platforms so that isn't the problem either.

User Ripklawe seems to have similar problem in this thread: https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/39319-background-images-question/ (If you read the whole short thread) Though he seems to have similar problem with every custom theme. I've tried CleanBG theme with rather similar gameview (with game dependent background) and it doesn't have any performance issues and as I said the two default themes don't have either. 

This isn't a huge issue because the theme is really nice looking even with white background, but it would be interesting to find the culprit. Cheers!

 

[Gampela]

Now that I think about it. The only difference between your theme and every other theme I have tested is how it handles the background changing. Yours tries to change the background for every game you ran through the list. The other themes change the background only if you stop for a second in the list. Though it is pretty weird that my system cannot handle this when everyone else's can.

[viking]

It's strange, because my theme is actually very simple in its code.
The command that call background image is the original one. From Jason's documentation PDF.

But I did not really follow Jason's latest updates for lack of time. There may be some changes on its side that I did not affect the code of my theme (?)

Another track:
Your LaunchBox is on too slow hard drive ?
Your images are those downloaded automatically? Or custom too big / heavy?

 

EDIT : 
It's an interesting track! (stop a second effect)
It goes in the direction of the code not up to date on my side.
If that's right, it's this part of the code that must change, I guess?  (Here for Platform view)

Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedPlatform.BackgroundImagePath}"

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by viking

[Gampela]

The hard drive is actually pretty old and probably very slow. Is there an easy way to move it to my SSD without doing everything again manually?

Images are automatically downloaded.

Edit: Average file size seems to be 2,77 MB, .jpg and something like 2100 x 1534

Edit2: I managed to find the file location settings for media and moved the background images into my SSD. No effect

Edited October 30, 2017 by Gampela

[Gampela]

I kinda got it working by replacing this in Wheel2GamesView.xaml

<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.BackgroundImagePath}" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="117" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="25" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Stretch="UniformToFill" >
     <Image.Effect>
          <BlurEffect Radius="75" RenderingBias="Performance"/>
     </Image.Effect>
</Image>

with this:

<transitions:TransitionPresenter TransitionSelector="{Binding BackgroundTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding BackgroundView}" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="117" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="25" Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}" IsContentVideo="true" />

Now there's a delay and transition animation between the background images. I know it's probably totally butchered (I have no experience with XML) but it kinda works  Sadly I don't have any ideas how to implement blur to this.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Gampela

[CriticalCid]

Ah, I see what the problem is. Replace all instances of

SelectedPlatform

with

ActivePlatform

 

And if it’s still lagging replace

SelectedGame

with

ActiveGame

The search & replace feature of your text editor comes in really handy for such tasks.

 

@viking

Selected.Platform and Selected.Game are known performance killers and it’s better to only use them if you need to show the element / get the value of it instantly.

Active.Game and Active.Platform have a small delay before they get updated and therefore have an enormous better performance when you scroll quickly through your collection.

Maybe you should change that in your theme

[viking]

THX !!!
I'll do this asap =)

[Gampela]

Thanks guys! Now it works like a charm.

[cunningmunki]

Does anyone know how to change the rating stars to display the new community rating instead of the personal rating? I've tried simply subbing 'CommunityStarRating' in place of 'StarRating' in the xaml file, but it doesn't seem to work. Something to do with the decimal values, i'm guessing, although personal star ratings just seem to get rounded down in the theme.

[Ripklawe]

Hi Viking,

I hope you are still around and available to give me some help or at least point me in the right direction. Long story slightly shorter, I came across your theme and I find the aesthetic to be AMAZING. It is THE theme I want to be using. However, I cannot, for some reason, get it to look like the images you have on page one. All I have is a white background, some text and the videos (downloaded those of course, no problem). Are there settings I am not using or using improperly? I have been trying to get this to work right for HOURS! I am at my wits end. I will take some pictures real fast to show you what I mean. Thank you for any help in advance!

 

[CDBlue]

For the backgrounds not showing in the game views, try going into launchbox (not bigbox) Tools->Options->Background Priorities (under the images section). Make sure Fanart - Background is checked and listed first.  That is assuming you want fanart backgrounds on those views that is.  If nothing is checked in there, that's likely why you have white backgrounds in bigbox for games.

Everything else in your screenshots looks normal.  I assume there is no text on the platform categories section because your meta data has nothing for those items.  You could try updating your meta data from within launchbox.. Tools->Download Metadata and Media (note if you select everything, it will scan all your games in your collection and download media... it can take a long, long time).

Hope this helps,

CDBlue

[Ripklawe]

Hey there CDBlue,

Your first suggestion did the trick. Thank you kindly. I will work on the meta data issue later, that should be an easy fix. However,I have now noticed anew issue that I cannot seem to fix and I am unsure why. If I use the base theme, WITHOUT the 16x9 fix, it all LOOKS right but I cannot set the video preview for the platforms to "fade". I can switch to it but it does not change it to fade. If I apply the 16x9 fix, the fade DOES work but the alignment of the video is, of course, off. Anyway how to fix it? The fade for the platform video is pretty much a must as it make the whole thing look VERY seamless.

[CDBlue]

No problem, glad I could help.  As for the fade not working, I'm not 100% sure.  I use the 16:9 fix for my Big Couch theme install, so I have no issues that I'm aware of with the videos.  I do see in the notes for the theme it lists using WMP as the default media player.  Do you have your BigBox set to use WMP or VLC?  Personally, I use VLC and don't seem to have any issues, but like I mentioned above I'm also using the 16:9 fix, so it's possible VLC plays better with that as opposed to the base download.  Anyway, I think Viking, or someone else might need to assist with the issues you're seeing now, that is if the WMP suggestion I just made doesn't fix it that is

Edit: Also, I suggest you use the Nostalgia |4:3| video Set for your platform videos if you aren't already.  It's link in the downloads section for this theme.  According to his release notes this theme was intended to work properly/fit properly using that aspect ratio for the videos, so it might also be related to that.

Lastly, you also want to make sure you're using the latest version of Launchbox.  I'm on 8.0 beta now, but 7.16 stable should be fine as well, as that's what I was running with this theme before and had no issues with it.

Edited February 5, 2018 by CDBlue

[flatuswalrus]

Hi, I am new to LaunchBox/BigBox and this is my first post. I am using this beautiful theme and it has all worked out perfect except for one thing. I am using Platform view 2 which says it is specially designed for the 4:3 video set. Only thing is the NEC TurboGrafx-16 system and TV set photo/picture does not show. Instead the system sample games video displays across the whole area where the system and TV picture should display. I try and work everything out myself but for the life of me I am unable to find where the images of the systems along with their chosen TV pictures are in my entire LaunchBox folder(s), can anyone point me in the correct direction? Thank you in advance.