Default marquee for ROMS that dont have an image?

[Super_Paulie]

hi guys.

I am in the process of building a cabinet for my students to play on, but i am a bit stuck with the Big Box marquee. I can create custom marquees for each rom or platform, no problem there, but what about a 'default' marquee for Roms that dont have a marquee image associated with them? in this instance the marquee just remains blank while you are playing. Does anyone know where to place/if its possible to create a marquee that shows for these roms? just a default one. I hope that makes sense! I have attached 2 images of my work in progress! the marquee displays on the secondary screen at the top. Hopefully someone can help!

Edited July 11, 2017 by Super_Paulie

[Retro808]

If you create custom marquees they simply go in the \Launchbox\Images\[System Name Folder\Arcade-Maquee I think though for now Launchbox/BigBox looks for images based on the rom name. So you would have to have the default image named after each rom. I am not sure if there is functionality to have just one default image and if a game is missing the marquee LaunchBox inserts that image. 

What theme/themes are you using? All the themes I use will show box art on my marquee whenever I do not have an actual marquee image for the rom in the Arcade-Marquee folder. For example I use Critical Zone theme and If I do not have an image in the arcade-marquee folder my marquee will simply show box art on my marquee screen. 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Retro808

[Super_Paulie]

hi Retro. Yeah that is what happens, it defaults the marquee image to the box art image, however this is no good for my setup as the file is a specific size/orientation to suit the second monitor display as the image needs to be at the top. I have attached an image to explain that a bit better.

I mean i could create a default, generic marquee for games that dont have the art but if i have to upload that to very Rom in the library that would take some time! If there is no art at all it does default to a black screen, so there must be some control for it somewhere i think...

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Retro808]

Yeah I saw the size of your marquee but you mentioned the marquee stays blank which is why I mentioned the box art. I know the box art image in your shape LCD would not look good, but it might be better than a blank screen. Heck until I get my lcd like you are using I am using a 22" widescreen and my marquee images look horrible all letter box looking on it. 

As far as I know there is no controls to set a generic marquee image. . I know default images have been mentioned (especially for things like missing box art) a lot so I am confident it will be coming . For now we are kind of stuck. 

I love the build you have so far. Please share when it is complete. It is looking amazing!

[Super_Paulie]

hi. Yes, sorry i meant to say some that dont have box art it just stays blank and even if it was box art thats no good for the setup really. I will just create a generic marquee and have to upload it to each Roms profile through launchbox i guess!

Sure i will add more images if anyone is interested!

[fromlostdays]

I don't think this functionality exists yet, unfortunately. However, you may be able to achieve this via batch. Batch create copies of the default marquee you made to the number of games you have. Then batch rename them based on your xml to game names. Then copy and replace your actual marquees over that. Place in correct folder and voila. I don't know any type of programming language but a few quick Google searches might get you there. In the meantime, finding the bit bucket request for this feature and voting it up. Not just for marquees, but for all image types.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[igotdvds]

As a big marquee user, I can tell you this isn't available right now. Batch is the way to go if you want a default image. If you want to make marquees for every game easily, use imagemagick and create one out of the clear logo on a default background. Easy way to get unique marquees for every game. I've posted many systems in the Game Marquee section if you want to see.

 

 

[Retro808]

@igotdvds Thanks for sharing those by the way. I have them all on my system. Love the Playstation ones.  

[igotdvds]

6 hours ago, Retro808 said:

@igotdvds Thanks for sharing those by the way. I have them all on my system. Love the Playstation ones.  

My pleasure. If there are systems you need that are missing, pm me.

[Super_Paulie]

thanks guys, thats really helpful. A shame the functionality doesn't exist yet, i think i will use the batch method that you suggested. Or at least i'll try to! i have attached a build photo where we are currently at.

[Super_Paulie]

Hi guys. Well it's 10 months later! I had to leave this project due to work commitments but I'm back on it now. Someone asked for a few updates pics so hopefully these are of interest. I will get back to my big box as soon as the cabinet is finished and I'll ask questions if I get stuck! Thanks guys, I hope you find the below of interest. We have built everything for zero cost so far out of scrap material, that was the plan. Only thing we need to buy is the joysticks.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Super_Paulie
Typo

[Super_Paulie]

[Super_Paulie]

[Mr. RetroLust]

1 hour ago, Super_Paulie said:

Hiya, great looking build man! I have read this thread quite quickly due to time shortage but did I understand correctly that you want the boxart or any other image default to the top of the marquee screen? In that case someone showed some useful tricks (gotta search for the thread though) by editing the marquee.xaml view file where you can edit the code to stretch and allign the images. If that wasn't your question i'm sorry

[Mr. RetroLust]

In case you still need it @Super_Paulie check out the replies by @RetroHumanoid

 

[RetroHumanoid]

It is possible...I have a default marquee running on every system,and the clear logos overlay that image in the center. The code would have  a multibinding path set to your marquee folder, and a fallback path set to the default marquee you want to use. It would resemble this...

 

<Grid Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}" Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}">
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>                        
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="1*" />
    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
            <RowDefinition Height="*" />
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

<TextBlock x:Name="GameMarquee" Visibility="Visible">
                <TextBlock.Text>
                    <MultiBinding StringFormat="{}pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Path/To/Your/Marquees/{0}.png">
                    <Binding Path="SelectedGame.Title"/>
                    </MultiBinding>
                </TextBlock.Text>
            </TextBlock>
        <Image x:Name="DefaultMarquee" Grid.RowSpan="4" Grid.Row="4" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.Column="0" Source="{Binding Text, ElementName=GameMarquee, FallbackValue='pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Path/To/Your/Default/Marquee/_Default.png'}" Opacity="100" Stretch="fill" Panel.ZIndex="1" Margin="11,13,11,13" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />

</Grid>

 

This was from my own xaml file,so you will need to make some changes of course.The Blue would have to be changed around to fit your marquee size....and the yellow will need to be changed to your paths.Now,on a large scale of games,this would be absurd,because with this code you would need to have all of your marquees for every game,for every system, in the same folder...and it would share the same default image across every system...if that's what you are looking for then this will work fine for you. If you are just running MAME,then this is probably perfect for you.

[Super_Paulie]

Now it's the end of term I'm ready to get this sorted.

Retro, thanks for this,I will give this a go tomorrow. Going through the code above, I can follow it but where is the part that pushes the clear logo into it, or is that elsewhere? I will try tomorrow when I get in.

The cabinet was used at a degree show with the students own game running that she built in unity, but the rest of the time it'll be decked out in retro artwork and theme.

[RetroHumanoid]

@Super_Paulie I am not sure if you figured it out on your own yet,but,sorry for the late response...been busy. Here is the code I use to pull up the clear logos over the background marquee.Of course,you may need to tweak it a bit to display on your marquee properly.

<!-- GAME LOGOS -->
            
            
        <Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.ClearLogoImagePath}" Stretch="Uniform" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Grid.RowSpan="4" Grid.Row="4" Grid.ColumnSpan="4" Grid.Column="2" Panel.ZIndex="2" Margin="20,20,20,20" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />

 

Here is the code to place a default marquee behind those clear logos as well...but,you will need to adjust settings here as well,and check the paths leading to your artwork files.

<!-- DEFAULT MARQUEE -->
                
                
            <TextBlock x:Name="DefaultMarquee" Visibility="Visible">
                <TextBlock.Text>
                    <MultiBinding StringFormat="{}pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Marquees/Default Marquee/{0}/_Default.png">
                    <Binding Path="SelectedGame.Platform"/>
                    </MultiBinding>
                </TextBlock.Text>
            </TextBlock>
        <Image x:Name="MainDefaultMarquee" Grid.RowSpan="4" Grid.Row="4" Grid.ColumnSpan="8" Grid.Column="0" Source="{Binding Text, ElementName=DefaultMarquee, FallbackValue='pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Marquees/Default Marquee/_Default.png'}" Opacity="100" Stretch="fill" Panel.ZIndex="1" Margin="11,13,11,13" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />

Edited July 25, 2018 by RetroHumanoid

[Super_Paulie]

hi guys. Right im seriously going to look at this today and hopefully get it sorted. Really sorry for the delay and i really appreciate the responses and its given me a great starting block.

Ok, heres where i am at.

I can set the below, this then uses the clearLogo as the marquee on the second monitor, with the height of 440 which fits perfectly and its centred and top vertically.

<Grid>

<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.ClearLogoImagePath}" Stretch="Uniform" Height="440" HorizontalAlignment="Center"
VerticalAlignment="Top" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />

</Grid>

Now, i would only want this to show IF there is no actual Marquee file available. Obviously the clearLogo is not an ideal marquee but it would be a perfect fall-back if there isnt an actual Marquee available. See attached for a potential answer, the clearLogo is always present but IF there is a marquee file then that simply places on top of the clear logo. If there is no marquee then it doesnt show so the first thing you see is the clearLogo underneath. I hope that makes sense.

Anyone any clues on how that would be possible?

Edited October 31, 2018 by Super_Paulie

[Super_Paulie]

i thought this would work:

<Grid>

<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.ClearLogoImagePath}" Stretch="Uniform" Height="440" HorizontalAlignment="Center"
VerticalAlignment="Top" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" Panel.ZIndex="1"/>

<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.MarqueeImagePath}" Stretch="Uniform" Height="440" HorizontalAlignment="Center"
VerticalAlignment="Top" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" Panel.ZIndex="2"/>
</Grid>

 

but if there is no Marquee set in launchbox then it shows BoxArt in its place instead of "nothing". So the box art is then shown on top of the clear logo. I think im getting closer, but im a bit stuck now...!