Retrotastic

[Scratcher]

This time I uploaded Part 7 of the SNES Background packs, it comes with 50 backgrounds including backgrounds for some japanese exclusive games.

Preview:

Spoiler

 

[Scratcher]

Surprise upload:

Capcom Arcade Backgrounds

this one contains 48 Capcom non CPS arcade games (all Mame games including the 3D games that are also running on ZiNc, but I used the Arcade Launchbox IDs)

and I also found out that I missed 3 CPS1 games, so I also included those 3 in this pack.

 

Preview:

Spoiler

 

[alnyden]

I've been having an issue where, in certain playlist categories, the display will get stuck.  The video still plays but I can't navigate to different selections or back out of the current view.  I haven't tested it enough to be sure if it's always the same categories or when exactly it happens, but I thought I'd mention it now in case anyone else is experiencing the same thing.  I don't seem to have the same problem in other themes.  Thanks!

[Scratcher]

3 hours ago, alnyden said:

I've been having an issue where, in certain playlist categories, the display will get stuck.  The video still plays but I can't navigate to different selections or back out of the current view.  I haven't tested it enough to be sure if it's always the same categories or when exactly it happens, but I thought I'd mention it now in case anyone else is experiencing the same thing.  I don't seem to have the same problem in other themes.  Thanks!

So far I haven't experienced this issue, but I will need to do some further testing since I haven't played around with the new Playlist features too much.

 

Also I was busy getting the next pack ready, which I just uploaded:

 Williams Arcade Classics

it contains 19 Game Backgrounds for Arcade games produced by Williams (including some prototypes, 2 of which I submited to the Launchbox database and just got added to the same )

+ a replacement Platform Background for "Williams Classics"

 

Previews:

Spoiler

 

Also @faeran : Would it be possible to update Retrotastic to make the videos stay in their correct aspect ratio like Unified does it?   

[faeran]

Couple things:

I'll look into updating the plugin themer to the newest version. I'm sure that will fix a bunch of issues with playlists.

@Scratcher There should be a property on the video somewhere called StretchVideo, which you can remove. That should keep native aspect ratio intact. That property may be located in the Retrotastic.xaml file.

[Scratcher]

23 hours ago, faeran said:

Couple things:

I'll look into updating the plugin themer to the newest version. I'm sure that will fix a bunch of issues with playlists.

@Scratcher There should be a property on the video somewhere called StretchVideo, which you can remove. That should keep native aspect ratio intact. That property may be located in the Retrotastic.xaml file.

The only Stretch property for videos I could find was:

 <!-- VIDEO PROPERTIES -->
    
    <!-- Auto Play Video Properties -->
    <Style x:Key="AutoVideo" TargetType="aoc:MediaTrack">
        <Setter Property="Autoplay" Value="True" />
        <Setter Property="Repeat" Value="True" />
        <Setter Property="PlayerImpl" Value="WMP" />
        <Setter Property="PlayerImplLazily" Value="True" />
        <Setter Property="PlayerImplPooled" Value="True" />
        <Setter Property="Stretch" Value="Fill" />
    </Style>

But when I remove   <Setter Property="Stretch" Value="Fill" />   it changes nothing. 

I have looked through all the other xaml and couldn't find any more video stretch properties.

[alnyden]

I was wondering, is it possible for me to adjust in the settings files the time the platform/game list stays on the screen before it selects the game or platform?  Sometimes it feels too fast and it chooses the game before I'm ready, which means it has to pause to load the next video.  Thanks!

[faeran]

5 hours ago, alnyden said:

I was wondering, is it possible for me to adjust in the settings files the time the platform/game list stays on the screen before it selects the game or platform?  Sometimes it feels too fast and it chooses the game before I'm ready, which means it has to pause to load the next video.  Thanks!

There's no way to delay it's start, but you could possibly combine a collapsed visibility animation with an opacity animation to stop it from appearing for a certain amount of time.

[alnyden]

4 hours ago, faeran said:

There's no way to delay it's start, but you could possibly combine a collapsed visibility animation with an opacity animation to stop it from appearing for a certain amount of time.

No worries if it's that complicated.  I was hoping it would just be changing a number.   

[Scratcher]

Since the Reicast core in Retroarch now supports Mame Arcade roms for Atomiswave and Naomi,

I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate this with an upload of an Atomiswave game backgrounds pack

it comes with backgrounds for all 28 Sammy Atomiswave games that are available right now.

It also comes with a slightly modified Background for "Sammy Atomiswave" platform background as replacement.

 

Preview:

Spoiler

 

[Scratcher]

After Atomiswave, Naomi Backgrounds have now arrived!

I did split them in 3 parts since I made 139 game backgrounds for the Naomi platform

 

Preview:

Spoiler

 

[faeran]

Over the next few weeks, I'll be working on giving Retrotastic the 9.4+ treatment. I'll also be trying to fix/upgrade some of the code and upgrade the themer plugin to the newest version.

If anyone has any suggestions, while the code is fresh in my head, now is a good time.

 

[faeran]

Retrotastic 2.0 has been released. This version of the theme is fully compliant with the version 9.4 LaunchBox changes, therefore only works properly on version 9.4 and above.

This version of the theme is a more streamlined, polished experience. Here are most of the main changes you can expect:

• Removed horizontal marquee text, game information, publisher logo graphic, play mode graphic, and star rating graphic from over the video.
• Added the play mode graphic and star rating graphic as part of the icons in the top right (created new icons for these elements).
• Added release year and developer in the bottom left hand side of the screen.
• Changed the Boxart animation to come straight down from the top, and reduced the amount of time it takes to appear by a significant amount.
• Overall reduction of the time it takes for all elements to appear on the screen after selecting a game.
• Vertical Game Wheel 1 now acts as the main game menu screen. If a platform uses cartridge, it will use the cartridge animation, if it uses a disc, it displays the disc spinning animation.
• All graphics, including Boxart, Cartridge/Disc, Game Icons, Game Specific graphic, and Game Specific Backgrounds, now have a more elegant fade out animation
• Vertical Game Wheel view 2 displays the disc animation, but is no longer required as it has been integrated into Vertical Game Wheel 1 view.
• Vertical Game Wheel 3 has been completed revamped to include a more basic Cartridge/Disc animation with less movement.
• included a few more game specific backgrounds and graphics in the base theme, but still highly recommend @Scratcher's Game Background/Graphics packs
• Updated @eatkinola's themer plugin to version 3.9.2
• Added @Jason Carr's PrioritizedPathSelector plugin, which allowed for better logic to display the correct platform/playlist background image. Correct backgrounds should now appear in more places throughout the theme (like in searches).
• Fixed: the correct font was not appearing in the Options menu
• Fixed: The text games view is now working properly when using different views per platform

 
We are now able to change a view on a per-platform basis, which means if you find something off with one of the platforms, let me know, and we can fix it.
 
Have fun.

[alnyden]

Thanks for the update -- it's working great and has solved my issues with freezing in playlists!

One question -- do you think it would be possible for .flv video files to work properly?  They seem to play okay in most other themes. 

Thanks again!

R

[faeran]

5 minutes ago, alnyden said:

Thanks for the update -- it's working great and has solved my issues with freezing in playlists!

One question -- do you think it would be possible for .flv video files to work properly?  They seem to play okay in most other themes. 

Thanks again!

R

Hi @alnyden. Great to hear. Using the new version of the themer plugin should fix a lot of the plugin related issues you may have been having. My guess about the video problem is that it's related to this theme forcing to use WMP instead of VLC. Are you able to try some testing of this theory by installing a basic version of k-lite codec pack and seeing if that helps?

Let me know if that helps. If not, I can find another solution.

[Belgarath]

I've always loved this theme and it's the main one I use...but this new version has removed the horizontal marquee text.....

Any chance of doing an alternate version where it's back in or is there some way I can cut and paste the code from the old version into the new one?

[alnyden]

35 minutes ago, faeran said:

Hi @alnyden. Great to hear. Using the new version of the themer plugin should fix a lot of the plugin related issues you may have been having. My guess about the video problem is that it's related to this theme forcing to use WMP instead of VLC. Are you able to try some testing of this theory by installing a basic version of k-lite codec pack and seeing if that helps?

Let me know if that helps. If not, I can find another solution.

Fixed!  Thanks for the solution!

R

[faeran]

31 minutes ago, Belgarath said:

I've always loved this theme and it's the main one I use...but this new version has removed the horizontal marquee text.....

Any chance of doing an alternate version where it's back in or is there some way I can cut and paste the code from the old version into the new one?

Hi @Belgarath. For sure. I can do one of 2 things for you.

1. I can take 2.0 and add the marquee back to it for you.
2. I can update the old version of the theme with the new plugin, and any change I made to make it 9.4 compliant, but not change any other settings.

[Belgarath]

The only thing I didn't like about the new version is the missing marquee so if you can add it back to v2.0 that would be absolutely wonderful, thank you.

[alnyden]

Would it be possible to have a view with box art but no cartridge/disk below it?

Also, playlist question.  I have one playlist (playlist A) that, when viewed in the text view, it changes the background to the platform of the selected game.  Which is great!  On another platform (Platform B) this doesn't work.  I wonder if the difference is playlist A doesn't have a background made for it (so it uses the generic background) but the other does.  At any rate, my question is, is there a way to have a playlist of different platform games switch to the background of that platform's game?  Hope this makes sense.   

Thanks!

R

Edited March 1, 2019 by alnyden