Unified Redux

[ericcannon]

I really love this theme. Is there any way you could do a 4:3 aspect ratio version of it? I recently modded an arcade 1up sf2 cabinet it it has 4:3 aspect ratio monitor in it. I’m currently running the default theme as it is one of the only 4:3 themes that works. I have this theme in my home theatre setup I would love to be able to run it on my arcade cab.

[ericcannon]

I’m actually only interested in running arcade, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, sega  genesis, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800 and arcade collections on my arcade 1up cab. So those would the only themes that would need to be converted for me.

[ericcannon]

Correction the screen resolution is 1280x1024 so it would actually be 5:4 ratio. I know a lot of people are modding these arcade 1up sf2 cabs so it would be great to have an awesome theme like this working in this aspect ration on theses arcade 1up cabs.

[FlightRisk]

On 1/1/2019 at 6:55 PM, Retro808 said:

Do you have a button or key mapped in BigBox to change views? If so I would suggest cycling through the views see what happens. If not set a key or button and try to cycle the views. It really should not take anything special as the code of the theme is what does the work. 

Thanks @Retro808, that was what solved it. I set V on my keyboard to change views and when I cycled through, it gave me spinning disks. However, I could use help regarding how the views work "per platform". How do I go into the specific platform and change a view? I have been going into a platform (Sega Saturn), then hitting escape until I got back to my settings, going into "options" and changing the view. That doesn't work. Additionally, if I change the view in a platform by hitting "V", the options for view do not change when I escape out and go look. So I must be changing global options or something and missing how to change each view separately.

Also, the CP78 build or the launchbox no-intro one, both have Sega CD art with transparent backgrounds. So I am going to install USA roms and manually copy over the entire CD image folders rather than scrape. Then I will compare the games to see what I might want to keep from the Japanese set and delete all the rest. Lastly, I will run the cleanup media function to make it all tidy.

[Jason Carr]

Per, 4x3, Unified Redux does work fine, sans for some stretching of the backgrounds and videos. It won't be ideal since none of the videos or backgrounds are designed for 4x3, but it should work. Here's an example screenshot:

All you have to do to achieve this is to modify the LaunchBox\Themes\Unified Redux\ThemeSettings.xml file in a text editor. Simply remove the following line and then save the file:

Force16X9AspectRatio>true</Force16X9AspectRatio>

I believe this should also work for the other variants of Unified as well, including the original Unified theme.

[ericcannon]

Ok I will try this out. Thanks for the solution. I don’t mind a little stretching to be able to use these fully featured themes.

[Retro808]

32 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

Thanks @Retro808, that was what solved it. I set V on my keyboard to change views and when I cycled through, it gave me spinning disks. However, I could use help regarding how the views work "per platform". How do I go into the specific platform and change a view? I have been going into a platform (Sega Saturn), then hitting escape until I got back to my settings, going into "options" and changing the view. That doesn't work. Additionally, if I change the view in a platform by hitting "V", the options for view do not change when I escape out and go look. So I must be changing global options or something and missing how to change each view separately.

Also, the CP78 build or the launchbox no-intro one, both have Sega CD art with transparent backgrounds. So I am going to install USA roms and manually copy over the entire CD image folders rather than scrape. Then I will compare the games to see what I might want to keep from the Japanese set and delete all the rest. Lastly, I will run the cleanup media function to make it all tidy.

You should only need to check the box in the main Big Box setting to allow separate views per platform.  Then make sure you have a key to change views mapped (which you now do). Then go into a platform. Say Sega Saturn.  Enter the platform so you see its games and hit the view change key/button to put it on the view you want. That should be it. It should retain the view. Remember some views have very subtle changes. 

Keep in mind this is different than themes per platform. You can also set a different theme per platform. All you need to do is set a key/button for "switch them" in the BigBox settings. Enter the Platform and hit the switch theme key/button and a list of your dowloaded themes will pop-up. Choose the theme for that platform and it will set it for that platform only. 

[FlightRisk]

So the only way to save different views per platform is to have a key and go into each platform and hit the key?

[Retro808]

4 hours ago, FlightRisk said:

So the only way to save different views per platform is to have a key and go into each platform and hit the key?

Yes.

[FlightRisk]

@Jason Carr, Since you are in the theme business now   , any chance of getting an option in the settings screen or at least a change in the XML to adjust the vertical spacing on the left category menu? As you know, that has been one of the most requested features. And thanks again for the work on this along with @CriticalCid

[Jason Carr]

9 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

@Jason Carr, Since you are in the theme business now   , any chance of getting an option in the settings screen or at least a change in the XML to adjust the vertical spacing on the left category menu? As you know, that has been one of the most requested features. And thanks again for the work on this along with @CriticalCid

I'm not following what you mean by the left category menu. Can you explain?

[FlightRisk]

Sure Jason, in LB, the left side menu with all the Platforms. Is this called the "Platform Menu"?  When LB.Next came out, it changed the look and feel a bit and there is a lot more vertical spacing between the platform names. We had a few messages with a couple of us in a thread a 2 months ago or so and you said it had to be incorporated into the theme, but maybe you would get to it in the future. 

Edited January 7, 2019 by FlightRisk
spelling

[Jason Carr]

4 minutes ago, FlightRisk said:

Sure Jason, in LB, the left side menu with all the Platforms. Is this called the "Platform Menu"?  When LB.Next came out, it changed the look and feel a bit and there is a lot more vertical spacing between the platform names. We had a few messages with a couple of us in a thread a 2 months ago or so and you said it had to be incorporated into the theme, but maybe you would get to it in the future. 

Oic. I figured you meant Big Box since Unified Redux is a Big Box theme. It is fairly easy to adjust the height of the side bar items in the XAML; @Lordmonkus even put out a theme to do just that. You can either use his theme or make your own theme and use his tweaks.

[Moleburt]

I love this theme, but I have a couple little things I was wondering how to change. First is it possible to change the platforms wheel so it doesn't fade completely away and doesn't fade off so quickly? Also, is it possible to disable the time and date that shows in the top right corner? Other than those very minor things, this is by far my favorite theme.

 

Thanks,

Nick

Edited January 14, 2019 by Moleburt

[samfisher2010]

Another wheel question.  Unrelated but along the same theme - is there any way to easily change the side of the wheel in "platform category" and "platforms"?  Meaning for the wheel to be on the left side as opposed to the right side.  When using Viking's Nostalgia theme for background videos, the nice images get obstructed by the wheel unnecessarily while the entire left side is dead empty space.  May be my OCD kicking in.   

[Jason Carr]

On 1/12/2019 at 7:11 PM, Moleburt said:

I love this theme, but I have a couple little things I was wondering how to change. First is it possible to change the platforms wheel so it doesn't fade completely away and doesn't fade off so quickly? Also, is it possible to disable the time and date that shows in the top right corner? Other than those very minor things, this is by far my favorite theme.

Both of those things are indeed possible, but unfortunately I can't dive into it right now to actually do it. That said, with some experimentation you can probably figure it out by editing the theme's XAML files in a text editor.

15 hours ago, samfisher2010 said:

Another wheel question.  Unrelated but along the same theme - is there any way to easily change the side of the wheel in "platform category" and "platforms"?  Meaning for the wheel to be on the left side as opposed to the right side.  When using Viking's Nostalgia theme for background videos, the nice images get obstructed by the wheel unnecessarily while the entire left side is dead empty space.  May be my OCD kicking in.   

This is certainly possible, but I don't believe anyone has done it yet, and it would be a more major change for the theme (it would take quite a bit of work). Feel free to dive in and see if you can figure it out though.

[KCJ101]

I changed the wheel so it is moves straight, up and down as opposed to curved. (easier for me to read the game titles as they move)   Is there a way to decrease the size of the pointer?  It is now covering the game titles.

[Bobsaidwzob]

2 minutes ago, KCJ101 said:

I changed the wheel so it is moves straight, up and down as opposed to curved. (easier for me to read the game titles as they move)   Is there a way to decrease the size of the pointer?  It is now covering the game titles.

I would assume you can just resize the image of each pointer. The pointer images are located somewhere within the theme folders. As long as the image name remains the same it should be work. Otherwise if that doesn't work, look in the XML file related to that console to see if there is an aspect ratios you can change.

 

I don't know if resizing the pointers from paint or whatever software would cause any issues with the rest of the theme. 

[Kondorito]

@KCJ101, instead of manipulating several png files, you might be better off doing a simple change in the xaml file of the view you are using.

I do not have the Redux theme here to tell you exactly what or where, but I have the Unified one from CriticalCid, and I am pretty sure they are similar.
Just go to the Views folder inside the theme, open your view xaml file with Notepad++ (i.e. Wheel2GamesView.xaml), and look for the Pointer section.

You have two options; a) modify the scale of the pointer, or b) keep its size but place it behind the wheel, so they get overlapped but the clear logo shows in front.

For a) Look for "PointerSize" and change the ScaleX and ScaleY for lower values (i.e. 0.8 instead of 1)

For b) Look for Panel.Zindex in the Pointer section and decrease the number to one less than the Panel.Zindex number of the wheel section. The Panel.Zindex value in each item acts like the order of the layers in the view, being 0 the one all the way to the back, and 20 for example the one most to the front.

Hope this helps and I am not writing nonsense XD
Just in case, backup the xaml file you will be changing.

[osmodiars]

Hello, great theme. There is a way to disable "spinning discs" feature? Because it works fine for Playstation for instance, but it is rotating for SNES as well when there is not disk. Not sure hwy, by I would like to disable this feature at all. Thanks in advance.

Edited March 23, 2019 by osmodiars