Nostalgia

[Omen]

@eatkinola Here's PS4 and Xbox One, I know there probably won't be emulators for some time, but someone might have a use for them, like launching the XBox and PS4 remote play apps from BB.

The Index data is:

Sony Playstation 4.png       |#| 0.474,0.182,0.044,0.334 |#| Sony Playstation 4                  |#|
Microsoft Xbox One.png       |#| 0.474,0.182,0.044,0.334 |#| Microsoft Xbox One                  |#|

[eatkinola]

Quick update: I've addressed almost all the issues and added some new features. I'm currently working to improve performance and it's going well so far. Once I finish an image caching subsystem that should improve performance nicely, I'll be close to posting an update; probably next week. Please let me know if y'all find any new issues in the meantime.

[alnyden]

Hey @eatkinola, regarding my freezes with Bigbox, I believe I'm using VLC not WMP.  I was scrolling through a text game list and it was quickly sluggish.  It froze both times within 5-10 seconds.  I've been using your theme for a couple weeks and it has never happened before so I really think it might be something with the beta.

[alnyden]

On 10/27/2017 at 8:57 AM, alnyden said:

Hey @eatkinola, regarding my freezes with Bigbox, I believe I'm using VLC not WMP.  I was scrolling through a text game list and it was quickly sluggish.  It froze both times within 5-10 seconds.  I've been using your theme for a couple weeks and it has never happened before so I really think it might be something with the beta.

Update on this:  Since the official release, I am not getting any freeze or crashes.

[alnyden]

On 10/17/2017 at 12:02 PM, eatkinola said:

Gotcha. A simple plugin control should get the job done without having to copy the theme. I'll take a crack at it.

Hey, would it also be possible to add "Platform" to the game details on this view?  I've looked through the "Views" files and don't see this anywhere.  

[eatkinola]

39 minutes ago, alnyden said:

Hey, would it also be possible to add "Platform" to the game details on this view?  I've looked through the "Views" files and don't see this anywhere.  

Info in the game details view is controlled using BB settings. Look under Options > Game Details, and select "Show Platform".

P.s. I implemented the background feature you suggested for that view. It will be in the next Nostalgia release.

[alnyden]

5 hours ago, eatkinola said:

Info in the game details view is controlled using BB settings. Look under Options > Game Details, and select "Show Platform".

P.s. I implemented the background feature you suggested for that view. It will be in the next Nostalgia release.

Gotcha.  I already have "Show Platform" selected however.  I've been wondering if this is a BB bug.  Can you get the platform to display in the details?  (I have the same issue with other themes).

Thanks for implementing that feature -- looking forward to it!

[eatkinola]

26 minutes ago, alnyden said:

Gotcha.  I already have "Show Platform" selected however.  I've been wondering if this is a BB bug.  Can you get the platform to display in the details?  (I have the same issue with other themes).

Thanks for implementing that feature -- looking forward to it!

Looks like the platform name will NOT show up for a platform's game list. I suppose this is by design in BB, since you'd already know the platform you selected? However, the platform name also does not show up for playlists marked as "include with platforms" in LB; which is to me a bug. The platform name does show up in the All Games list:

[alnyden]

1 minute ago, eatkinola said:

Looks like the platform name will NOT show up for a platform's game list. I suppose this is by design in BB, since you'd already know the platform you selected? However, the platform name also does not show up for playlists marked as "include with platforms" in LB; which is to me a bug. The platform name does show up in the All Games list:

Makes sense it doesn't show up for a platform's game list, my concern is more about playlists that come from multiple platforms.  In that case it's nice to be able to see what platform the game is from.  (Even if it's not marked as "include with platforms")  Thanks for checking!

[Omen]

@eatkinola Is there a way to change how quickly the wheel fades away? I'd like to keep the game clear logos up for a couple of seconds before fading way to the box art.

[eatkinola]

3 hours ago, Omen said:

@eatkinola Is there a way to change how quickly the wheel fades away? I'd like to keep the game clear logos up for a couple of seconds before fading way to the box art.

Hey @Omen I was actually thinking the same thing -- that transition is too quick! I'm making the pause longer in the next update, and it'll be easier to tweak via Styles\Nostalgia.xaml. For example with the update:

    <!-- AVLF: AUTOPATH VIDEO LOOPER FRAMED (PER-SYSTEM BACKGROUNDS) -->
    <Style x:Key="NostWheelAVLF" TargetType="aop:AutopathVideoLooperFramed">
        <Setter Property="FramePathRoot" Value="pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/Nostalgia/Views/Images/AVLF/" />
        <Setter Property="VideoPathUnderlay" Value="pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/Nostalgia/Views/Images/Static.mp4" />
        <Setter Property="VideoPositionDebug" Value="False" />
        <Setter Property="VideoPosition" Value="1,1,0,0" />
        <Setter Property="AllowFallbackRandom" Value="True" />
    </Style>

    <!-- TRANSITION CONTAINERS WHICH CONTROL FADEIN/CROSSFADE -->
    <!-- BG: BACKGROUND @@ NOW LOADING..., PER-SYSTEM BG/AVLF -->
    <!-- FG: FOREGROUND @@ CLOCK, WHEEL, VERTICAL YEAR, ETC.. -->
    <Style x:Key="NostWheelCtBG" TargetType="aoc:ContainerTrans">
        <Setter Property="Transition" Value="Crosslite" />
        <Setter Property="Duration" Value="0:0:0.2" />
        <Setter Property="Background" Value="#555555" />
    </Style>
    <Style x:Key="NostWheelCtFG" TargetType="aoc:ContainerTrans">
        <Setter Property="Transition" Value="Fadeintro" />
        <Setter Property="DurationDelay" Value="0:0:3.0" />
        <Setter Property="Duration" Value="0:0:0.2" />
    </Style>

I'm very close to posting an update so y'all can road test it some more.

[eatkinola]

Posted update v1.0-b1. Let me know if you spot any problems -- hopefully I didn't break anything. Added a caching mechanism for images: a directory will be created in the plugins folder to stash images, and as you use the theme you should notice it performing better with the cache. I also improved the WMP engine; still a little sluggish compared to VLC, but much better now I think. Please see downloads page for a more complete list of changes.

[neil9000]

Just now, eatkinola said:

Posted update v1.0-b1. Let me know if you spot any problems -- hopefully I didn't break anything. Added a caching mechanism for images: a directory will be created in the plugins folder to stash images, and as you use the theme you should notice it performing better with the cache. I also improved the WMP engine; still a little sluggish compared to VLC, but much better now I think. Please see downloads page for a more complete list of changes.

I am just downloading. Thank's for the update, that is a big changelist so I look forward to testing.

P.S. thank's for the SNES Euro and the megadrive much appreciated, I couldn't look at that grey/purple monstrosity much longer.  

[Retro808]

New update downloaded and so far had an initial issue with WMP and videos. First time this has occurred on your theme. I got an error saying something like "media players exhausted" and the video not playing. Switched to VLC and videos worked. Switched back to WMP and videos worked. So I will test more and report back. I typically use WMP as for some reason I get random BB crashes using VLC. 

@eatkinola BIG THANKS for those new platform category backgrounds. They look great. But now the playlist one with the couch looks so out of place because of how good the other 3 look. 

[eatkinola]

10 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

New update downloaded and so far had an initial issue with WMP and videos. First time this has occurred on your theme. I got an error saying something like "media players exhausted" and the video not playing. Switched to VLC and videos worked. Switched back to WMP and videos worked. So I will test more and report back. I typically use WMP as for some reason I get random BB crashes using VLC. 

Thanks for the feedback; let me know what your further testing shows. Are the VLC-related crashes just in Nostalgia, or other themes as well? I notice an occasional crash in Nostalgia when using VLC. The "media players exhausted" message is related to some pooling I do of WMP players, to try and minimize WMP sluggishness; looks like I need to refine that pooling mechanism a bit.

12 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

BIG THANKS for those new platform category backgrounds. They look great. But now the playlist one with the couch looks so out of place because of how good the other 3 look. 

Thanks, I also like how they turned out; was working from viking's material so I thought they'd be nice. The couch is my effort; sadly I'm not as good at image manipulation as viking. Perhaps @viking or @Omen can take a crack at a better couch background?

[Retro808]

@eatkinola Error is just in Nostalgia. Also I can revert back to prior version and it is gone. I am getting it with VLC also. 

Normally I keep my platforms on the clear logo wheel style view and my games in the text list view. So keep that in mind to picture what I am seeing. 

If videos are playing in the platform category/platform screen the videos will not play in the game screen. So if I change the games view from a text list view to the view that has the clear logo wheel the videos play. However once I back out to a platform I get the "media players are exhausted" error. If I change the platform view to the one that has the platform names listed in text they play again, but if I then go back into games the videos there stop working. Switch the games view and they play, back out to platform and it is broke again. See the pattern? It is as if regardless of the view style, either I can make the platform videos work or the games videos, not both. 

I am on BB 7.12 I have not downloaded 7.13 yet. 

[neil9000]

Hi @eatkinola, one little issue that I have noticed in my very limited testing so far. I have the default box image set to 3D Boxes in the Bigbox options, Nostalgia seems to be ignoring this and showing all boxes as Box-Front. So I am having to manually go into each platform/playlist and manually switch to the correct image type. This was working just fine in the previous version.

[eatkinola]

3 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

I have the default box image set to 3D Boxes in the Bigbox options, Nostalgia seems to be ignoring this and showing all boxes as Box-Front.

Thanks for the report. Bug has to do with the new image caching system. I overlooked that setting in BB when I implemented the cache, but it should be a straightforward fix.

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, eatkinola said:

Thanks for the report. Bug has to do with the new image caching system. I overlooked that setting in BB when I implemented the cache, but it should be a straightforward fix.

Excellent, thanks. in my limited testing performance is better in this version.

[Omen]

1 hour ago, eatkinola said:

Posted update v1.0-b1. Let me know if you spot any problems -- hopefully I didn't break anything. Added a caching mechanism for images: a directory will be created in the plugins folder to stash images, and as you use the theme you should notice it performing better with the cache. I also improved the WMP engine; still a little sluggish compared to VLC, but much better now I think. Please see downloads page for a more complete list of changes.

Awesome! Downloading now! I'll let you know if I run across any bugs.