Theme help

[Troyster]

Hi all, new guy here so first post. I’ve been using launchbox for a while now and I love it, so easy to use. Yesterday I jumped in and bought big box. As soon as I booted it I decided to download a couple of alternate themes, however when I select them I just get a black screen with the font and the system select wheel, is there any setup involved in these themes?

[neil9000]

2 hours ago, Troyster said:

Hi all, new guy here so first post. I’ve been using launchbox for a while now and I love it, so easy to use. Yesterday I jumped in and bought big box. As soon as I booted it I decided to download a couple of alternate themes, however when I select them I just get a black screen with the font and the system select wheel, is there any setup involved in these themes?

Often themes will use a fullscreen platform video on the platform select screen, so no videos=black screen where the videos would normally be. Now you have premium you can download platform videos from Tools/Download Platform/Playlist videos.

[Troyster]

Thanks for that info, when I saw the demo’s Of various themes I figured that was what I was downloading, I’m used to retropie where the theme is setup straight from download. I’ll have a play around with various things. Is there any tutorials you know of that show how to add art etc?, I’ve already imported all my video snaps from my retropie build and they are all working for all systems, but I don’t know which folders to put art etc in.

[neil9000]

3 minutes ago, Troyster said:

Thanks for that info, when I saw the demo’s Of various themes I figured that was what I was downloading, I’m used to retropie where the theme is setup straight from download.

Well as long as you download some platform videos then themes will be setup once downloaded. Videos are not provided with the themes themselves for two reasons, one to keep download size of themes down as much as possible, two so as to not force certain videos onto users, they are free to use any platform videos they like.

6 minutes ago, Troyster said:

Is there any tutorials you know of that show how to add art etc?, I’ve already imported all my video snaps from my retropie build and they are all working for all systems, but I don’t know which folders to put art etc in.

Artwork goes in the Launchbox/images folder depending on the artwork type will depend on the folder but its pretty straight forward. Take Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a example. The games art would go in Launchbox/Images/Super Nintendo Entertainment System then one of the sub folders depending on the artwork type. Art work needs to be named correctly though, either the same as the rom or the same as the game is named in Launchbox in order for Launchbox to attach the correct images to the correct game. If you download the images from within Launchbox via the scraper this is all done for you.

Platform specific art would go in Launchbox/Images/Platforms/name of platform/image type.

 

[Troyster]

Thankyou for that very informative reply. Just a quick note on the system art (before you go in to the game select for that system), does this have its own folder too?.I’m sure when I get used to it, it will all fall into place and be straightforward. I’m looking forward to getting to know the setup, when I went through all this with retropie I spent more time building than playing, think I’ll be going down that road again?

[Retro808]

43 minutes ago, Troyster said:

Thankyou for that very informative reply. Just a quick note on the system art (before you go in to the game select for that system), does this have its own folder too?.I’m sure when I get used to it, it will all fall into place and be straightforward. I’m looking forward to getting to know the setup, when I went through all this with retropie I spent more time building than playing, think I’ll be going down that road again?

All images for Platform Categories (Console, Arcade, etc..), Platforms (Arcade, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, etc...), Playlists (Favorites, Namco Classics, etc...)  will have their own folder structures to follow. If you have already imported games into LaunchBox then it will have already created general structures for what you imported. Just head into your \Launchbox\Images folder and spend some time in it. You will quickly see how the structure is laid out. 

Images for the Platforms (The platform name itself not the games for a platform) go in: \Launchbox\Images\Platform\[Platform Specific Name] then there will be sub folders like Banner, Clear Logo, Device, etc.. where you place each unique image.  

[Troyster]

Ah perfect! Thanks that’s what I need to know. Only had to deal with box art and snaps in retropie so only two folders to add to per system the themes themselves are pre built. Thanks again.??

[Retro808]

45 minutes ago, Troyster said:

Ah perfect! Thanks that’s what I need to know. Only had to deal with box art and snaps in retropie so only two folders to add to per system the themes themselves are pre built. Thanks again.??

Yeah, Launchbox allows the users a lot more customization so media many times is not prebuilt into a creators themes. Some do have some media types added, but that is up to the theme developer. 

Just keep in mind file naming must match:

Platform Media - must be named after the platform as you have it called in Launchbox. It must match.  Example: Platform name - "SNK Neo Geo MVS" / platform clear logo name - "SNK Neo Geo MVS.jpg" (or .png). If you name the file "Neo Geo MVS.png" and put it in the correct folder it will not work. You can name the platform what you want, the file name just has to match. 

Game Media - Similar above, except as @neil9000 mentioned the file name can match either the game name as it is in Launchbox or the rom file name.