theme COLORFUL bigbox theme

[ItchyRobot]

How do I turn on the dark mode?

[Retro808]

Change the view. You can either do it in the view menu or map  a key/button to “Change View” and change it on the fly. 

[Tromzy]

OMG I'm stilll on Beta 4, can't wait to update tonight ! Incredible work Viking !

[ItchyRobot]

16 hours ago, Retro808 said:

Change the view. You can either do it in the view menu or map  a key/button to “Change View” and change it on the fly. 

I dont see where to change it to dark mode. Under Option>Views I see this window, but with no option to change to dark.
*attached image
https://drive.google.com/open?id=18oLVlW6jcr5OXfTKtSxcx99w3CzOmgaG

[Retro808]

4 minutes ago, ItchyRobot said:

I dont see where to change it to dark mode. Under Option>Views I see this window, but with no option to change to dark.
*attached image
https://drive.google.com/open?id=18oLVlW6jcr5OXfTKtSxcx99w3CzOmgaG

In both the Platform List View and Game List view you change it until it shows a dark view. There is not an actual setting that shows "dark view". You just change the view until it is a dark view. 

So the best is to set a key or button so you can be in the theme directly and see the view change to set it to a dark view. Platform Wheel 2 and Vertical Wheel 3 will be dark views.  

[ItchyRobot]

16 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

In both the Platform List View and Game List view you change it until it shows a dark view. There is not an actual setting that shows "dark view". You just change the view until it is a dark view. 

So the best is to set a key or button so you can be in the theme directly and see the view change to set it to a dark view. Platform Wheel 2 and Vertical Wheel 3 will be dark views.  

OK, I see now that I am on the wrong beta... I am on 0.5, but the latest is 0.6. Isn't BigBox supposed to automatically update to the latest?

[ItchyRobot]

@viking
I got the 0.6 beta loaded and now have the dark mode working for the Platform wheel window. But I can not get it to show up for the game selection window (text). Is this a coding limitation, or did you overlook that view? See image link for the window I am talking about ...
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1P2Z5Qh_9KpIwzs-wD5pFUdeUnjBBzgxZ

Edited January 9, 2020 by ItchyRobot

[Retro808]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2020 at 6:21 PM, ItchyRobot said:

OK, I see now that I am on the wrong beta... I am on 0.5, but the latest is 0.6. Isn't BigBox supposed to automatically update to the latest?

No. BigBox does not auto update. It is a manual process. 

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2020 at 6:46 PM, ItchyRobot said:

@viking
I got the 0.6 beta loaded and now have the dark mode working for the Platform wheel window. But I can not get it to show up for the game selection window (text). Is this a coding limitation, or did you overlook that view? See image link for the window I am talking about ...
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1P2Z5Qh_9KpIwzs-wD5pFUdeUnjBBzgxZ

Viking likely did not code a dark mode for text (TextGamesView) since there is only 1 text view option. He would have to choose between defaulting to a white or dark. 

[viking]

@ItchyRobot : Yes retro808 is right. And this is a question to be decided. I ask the opinion of the community:

The "problem" comes from the navigation construction by view in BigBox.
The GameView with the text list is a special case.   (File name : TextGamesView.xaml )

This view has 2 functions:

• Game selection, in text list, instead of the wheel logo.
• Once the game has been selected, it's this same view which displays all options. (Play, Manual, Favorite, Succes, ...) 

So I'm in a dead end for multi-design (light/dark). Because all the views end on this screen before launching a game.
If you come from a clear theme: everything is OK.
If you come from a dark theme: you end up on light. It shocked the eyes.
And vice versa, if I transform this last viewt into dark version.
No satisfactory solution.

I only see one solution: Design this view by forgetting the "game selection" part, and thinking it only as a presentation of the selected game.
This way, we can imagine a view with a different design, which works whatever the theme chosen. (Light or dark)
The downside is that this design may not work well in text list to select a game.

Your opinion ?
Many people use this view to choose their game?

[Kondorito]

Maybe you can add as a backup file the textgamesview xaml of the dark version, and each user can choose which xaml to use.

[ItchyRobot]

5 hours ago, viking said:

@ItchyRobot : Yes retro808 is right. And this is a question to be decided. I ask the opinion of the community:

The "problem" comes from the navigation construction by view in BigBox.
The GameView with the text list is a special case.   (File name : TextGamesView.xaml )

This view has 2 functions:

• Game selection, in text list, instead of the wheel logo.
• Once the game has been selected, it's this same view which displays all options. (Play, Manual, Favorite, Succes, ...) 

So I'm in a dead end for multi-design (light/dark). Because all the views end on this screen before launching a game.
If you come from a clear theme: everything is OK.
If you come from a dark theme: you end up on light. It shocked the eyes.
And vice versa, if I transform this last viewt into dark version.
No satisfactory solution.

I only see one solution: Design this view by forgetting the "game selection" part, and thinking it only as a presentation of the selected game.
This way, we can imagine a view with a different design, which works whatever the theme chosen. (Light or dark)
The downside is that this design may not work well in text list to select a game.

Your opinion ?
Many people use this view to choose their game?

@viking I personally like using the text list to choose my games. I can scroll through and read the lists of games much faster as text than I can with clear logos. Plus, i like the vertical alphabet letter selection for quick navigation when in text view ... clear logos places this alphabet list horizontally, which confuses my mind when working against a vertical game selection wheel. As cool as the clear logos looks for selecting games, my brain just can not deal with it as well as text when scrolling through huge game libraries.

As for how to move forward for you, I'd leave that up to you. Honestly I am a bit confused in how all that code works together since I have no experience with it. It seems like it should be an easy fix; but from what you two have described, it is not. Either way, I still love the Colorful theme. It would just be a bit nicer if you could somehow keep the dark background throughout all the windows. Hopefully I don't sound like I am nagging!

Edited January 10, 2020 by ItchyRobot

[TVsIan13]

Maybe it would just make sense to split it out into two themes, and have the dark mode in a separate COLORFUL-Dark or whatever. Unless a plugin could be put together to use different xamls on the fly, depending on which game list view is selected. Right now, I think I prefer the light mode, and I'd hate to have it change to dark every time a game comes up (and I'm sure dark mode users feel the same about the opposite).

One minor thing - would it be possible to use a glow rather than a drop shadow on the game list clear icons in dark mode? A white logo with a drop shadow is perfectly readable in light mode, but a dark logo (something all black or dark gray) with a drop shadow really blends in. 

Love the full color background preview too. Any chance the default "no COLORFUL video yet" background could match the Nostalgia background?

[sylandro]

I agree on maintaining two separate themes, similar to Grila's Switch theme which comes in two flavors in separate downloads.

Seems like the best solution, if maintaining both updated at once isn't too much overhead.

Edited January 11, 2020 by sylandro

[mab1376]

Some of my clear logos aren't loading for some reason. I switched to PlatformWheel2FiltersView.xaml and all I see for ps1 and ps2, amoung a few others, is white text. The images are in the folder properly e.g. ...\LaunchBox\Themes\Colorful\Images\Platforms\Clear Logo\Sony Playstation 2.png

Also, is there a dark option for TextGamesView?

[Retro808]

26 minutes ago, mab1376 said:

Some of my clear logos aren't loading for some reason. I switched to PlatformWheel2FiltersView.xaml and all I see for ps1 and ps2, amoung a few others, is white text. The images are in the folder properly e.g. ...\LaunchBox\Themes\Colorful\Images\Platforms\Clear Logo\Sony Playstation 2.png

Try refreshing your image cache. Sometime I find some clear logos do not stick when I change a theme and on occasion need to refresh the cash.

26 minutes ago, mab1376 said:

Also, is there a dark option for TextGamesView?

The 7 prior posts are talking about this.

[mab1376]

Just now, Retro808 said:

Try refreshing your image cache. Sometime I find some clear logos do not stick when I change a theme and on occasion need to refresh the cash.

The 7 prior posts are talking about this.

Thanks, the refresh fixed it.

and lol just saw that, i hit reply from the first page...

[Retro808]

Just now, mab1376 said:

Thanks, the refresh fixed it.

and lol just saw that, i hit reply from the first page...

No worries. Glad the image is sorted.

[Stovies]

Will this automatically update at some point through BigBox, or do I need to update manually?

[Retro808]

9 minutes ago, Stovies said:

Will this automatically update at some point through BigBox, or do I need to update manually?

All theme updates for the user are manual. You either initiate through BigBox if the theme maker added it there or download from the forum. 

[Stovies]

46 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

All theme updates for the user are manual. You either initiate through BigBox if the theme maker added it there or download from the forum. 

Apologies.  I wasn't clear.  I've installed already but didn't see an update option in the theme menu of BigBox.  But it has offered an update there in the past.  I'll wait and see if it shows up soon.