theme COLORFUL bigbox theme

[viking]

I'm not sure I understand. It works ?

I don't know which resources are called by the Critical Zone Theme PlatformMarqueeView.
I don't know if he calls the Banners for example. I cannot advise you on this point, not being the author of this theme.

By the way, if I make a Marquee View for Colorful, it's not the banners, but the ClearLogos that I use, I think.

[midd]

<UserControl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
             xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
             mc:Ignorable="d"
             d:DesignHeight="562" d:DesignWidth="1000" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Style="{DynamicResource UserControlStyle}"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
    <UserControl.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary>
            <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
                <ResourceDictionary Source="pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/CriticalZoneV2 - Default/Styles/UserControlStyle.xaml" />
            </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        </ResourceDictionary>
    </UserControl.Resources>

	<Grid VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
        <Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedPlatform.BannerImagePath}" Stretch="Uniform" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality" />
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

ok so maybe it has more to do with the ResourceDictionary part rather  Image source?

[viking]

Yep. The "Style" folder, if i am not saying stupidity, is the old system which has been changed since.

Maybe, try to create in Colorful a "Styles" folder, and copy/past only "UserControlStyle.xaml" inside.
I don't know if it will create a problem with my theme.

- or -

Try to deleat this part of PlatformMarqueeView :

<UserControl.Resources>
        <ResourceDictionary>
            <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
                <ResourceDictionary Source="pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/CriticalZoneV2 - Default/Styles/UserControlStyle.xaml" />
            </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        </ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>

 

[midd]

stupid me, I'm actually using the other .xaml file from Mr. Retrolust.  those resource lines are not present. I even tried to change the Gamemarquee.xaml to look into the Banner foler and renamed it to Platformmarquee.

 

No worries.  I really like your theme, it's my favorite.  Thanks for the work you have put into it.

 

 

[Retro808]

You dont need either of the Game or Platform Marquee xml files. BigBox will display them by default. It pulls from the folder you mentioned. Are the images named exactly as the platform name in BigBox?

[johnsanc]

@viking - After several tests with various themes I can confirm that the 4k videos are not the problem. I tried using those videos with various theme such as Unified Redux and they all load perfectly fine when switching platforms. With my platform switching issue with the Colorful theme I can tell the previous platform video is playing in the background because I can hear it. Eventually after many seconds the next platform view will load along with the correct video. Is the theme somehow using coverflow images by any chance? I do not have a full image cache for those because I don't use and coverflow views.

Edited January 20, 2020 by johnsanc

[midd]

40 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

You dont need either of the Game or Platform Marquee xml files. BigBox will display them by default. It pulls from the folder you mentioned. Are the images named exactly as the platform name in BigBox?

Yes, they are. 

[ABeezy13]

I have been out of the Launchbox/big box game for a while. I just recently purchased a forever license and was importing my games, getting everything set up etc.

 

Anyways, this theme is INCREDIBLE. I downloaded it (beta 0.7), dropped it in my themes folder, launched big box installed this theme and when I scroll through the consoles (only have 3 right now) its not loading up any thing on the right side or showing the console logo's etc like the video. I didnt edit or mess with anything. I tried updating from within big box didnt fix it it either. deleted the entire folder tried again, same thing... any ideas?

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, ABeezy13 said:

its not loading up any thing on the right side

You need to download platform videos to show there. There is a link to them on the theme download page.

[BendBombBoom]

@viking

Thank you for the color info. The "BlurRadius" setting under "DrapShadowEffect" for the "Big Bloc - Background" is what seems to slow down things on my surface pro. The higher the BlurRadius value the more it chugs. 4k videos run well but I do have the HD ones downloaded and it set to use VLC.

I'm not advocating for any change to your theme. Someone else on a lower spec machine might find it useful. It's easy enough to edit the xaml file with all your nice commenting inside the file:

 

 

[Retro808]

1 hour ago, midd said:

Yes, they are. 

Then you may have something else going on. Do Platform Marquees show up in any other theme?

You can see here the view folder for Viking's theme contains none of the Marquee xaml files. The Images\Platform\{Platform Name}\Banner\{Platform Name Image.jpg} showing a banner and BigBox using the Colorful theme showing that same image on a secondary marquee screen. If you want to start a new thread to troubleshoot that would be fine so we do not keep bottling up Viking's theme.

[ABeezy13]

24 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

You need to download platform videos to show there. There is a link to them on the theme download page.

So I downloaded the three files for the systems I have games for at the moment. SNES, Megadrive (Genesis), and N64. I placed the three files within the themes/colorful/videos/platforms folder and they dont seem to be showing up. Do I have to refresh or update or do something else? Pretty rusty with big box lol

[neil9000]

Just now, ABeezy13 said:

So I downloaded the three files for the systems I have games for at the moment. SNES, Megadrive (Genesis), and N64. I placed the three files within the themes/colorful/videos/platforms folder and they dont seem to be showing up. Do I have to refresh or update or do something else? Pretty rusty with big box lol

You may need to rename them, if i recall when downloaded from the forums they have underscores in the file name, you need to remove those so the name exactly matches your platform names.

[ABeezy13]

5 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

You may need to rename them, if i recall when downloaded from the forums they have underscores in the file name, you need to remove those so the name exactly matches your platform names.

Awesome, that worked. Thank you very much!

[ABeezy13]

8 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

You may need to rename them, if i recall when downloaded from the forums they have underscores in the file name, you need to remove those so the name exactly matches your platform names.

If you dont mind me asking... few more questions. In his video when he highlights a game it shows a box with rating, etc. I dont have that, how can I get that?

 

And when scrolling the through the systems, the wheel/ribbon whatever it is called shows the system logo/graphic. Mine is just text. how do I correct that? (Like shown in attached picture)

[Kevin_Flynn]

Great work! I love everything from color choices to layout. I can't wait to see how this grows. 

 

Note: I have noticed that videos tend to not always load and as a result, reverts to the device image. If I may suggest adding 'stills' of each video as part of the theme: Colorful/Images/Platforms/Device

[viking]

22 hours ago, johnsanc said:

@viking - After several tests with various themes I can confirm that the 4k videos are not the problem. I tried using those videos with various theme such as Unified Redux and they all load perfectly fine when switching platforms. With my platform switching issue with the Colorful theme I can tell the previous platform video is playing in the background because I can hear it. Eventually after many seconds the next platform view will load along with the correct video. Is the theme somehow using coverflow images by any chance? I do not have a full image cache for those because I don't use and coverflow views.

Strange this problem. I have it sometimes too. After a BigBox reboot, the problem is solved. I have no idea what this is about. ?
I also have small lag in LaunchBox at startup. I feel like it's time for the check update. Trying to stop the automatic update search to see?

 

22 hours ago, ABeezy13 said:

Anyways, this theme is INCREDIBLE. I downloaded it (beta 0.7), dropped it in my themes folder, launched big box installed this theme and when I scroll through the consoles (only have 3 right now) its not loading up any thing on the right side or showing the console logo's etc like the video. I didnt edit or mess with anything. I tried updating from within big box didnt fix it it either. deleted the entire folder tried again, same thing... any ideas?

The easiest way is to use in LaunchBox> Tools> Platform Video Download Tool> Choose "Colorful HD or 4K". I explained everything on the download page of the video set.

 

22 hours ago, BendBombBoom said:

Thank you for the color info. The "BlurRadius" setting under "DrapShadowEffect" for the "Big Bloc - Background" is what seems to slow down things on my surface pro. The higher the BlurRadius value the more it chugs. 4k videos run well but I do have the HD ones downloaded and it set to use VLC.

I'm not advocating for any change to your theme. Someone else on a lower spec machine might find it useful. It's easy enough to edit the xaml file with all your nice commenting inside the file:

The shadow cast create a slowdown? Um, thanks for the info! I could try other solution, like working with PNG based shadow image.
It's great to optimize the theme for lower spec PC. I will ask for your feedback at the next update!

 

21 hours ago, ABeezy13 said:

If you dont mind me asking... few more questions. In his video when he highlights a game it shows a box with rating, etc. I dont have that, how can I get that?

And when scrolling the through the systems, the wheel/ribbon whatever it is called shows the system logo/graphic. Mine is just text. how do I correct that? (Like shown in attached picture)

Normally, when you create a new platform, LaunchBox downloads all of these elements. (info, ClearLogo, rating, ...)
You can refresh all this in :  LaunchBox > Tools > Download MetaData and Media
For GamePlay video, you need a Premium EmuMovies account.
The theme comes to collect this data in a standard way.

 

16 hours ago, Kevin_Flynn said:

Great work! I love everything from color choices to layout. I can't wait to see how this grows. 

Note: I have noticed that videos tend to not always load and as a result, reverts to the device image. If I may suggest adding 'stills' of each video as part of the theme: Colorful/Images/Platforms/Device

The idea is good, but I'm afraid it will increase loading times even more.

 

 

@Grila @eatkinola @Jason Carr I need your help !
The platform videos don't seem to load very well on my theme. Slowdown, bad video loaded, blocking ....
I based my code on examples kindly given by Grila. Here is what it looks like :

<!-- ================================================================= -->
<!-- STORYBOARD PART ================================================= -->
<!-- ================================================================= -->

            <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="X" Storyboard.TargetName="PlatformVideoAnim">
                <EasingDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:0.0" Value="0" />
                <EasingDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:2.0" Value="0">
                    <EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
                        <CubicEase EasingMode="EaseInOut"/>
                    </EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
                </EasingDoubleKeyFrame>
                <EasingDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:3.0" Value="722">
                    <EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
                        <CubicEase EasingMode="EaseInOut"/>
                    </EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
                </EasingDoubleKeyFrame>
            </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>




<!-- ================================================================= -->
<!-- IN CANVAS / GRID PART =========================================== -->
<!-- ================================================================= -->
	<transitions:TransitionPresenter x:Name="vidsource" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="12" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="11" TransitionSelector="{Binding ImageVideoTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding ImageVideoView}" IsContentVideo="True" Visibility="hidden"/>
            <Border Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="12" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="11">
                <Border.Background>
                    <VisualBrush x:Name="PlatformVideo" Visual="{Binding ElementName=vidsource, Path=Content}" Stretch="UniformToFill" AlignmentX="Center" AlignmentY="Center">
                        <VisualBrush.Transform>
                            <TranslateTransform x:Name="PlatformVideoAnim" X="0" />
                        </VisualBrush.Transform>
                    </VisualBrush>
                </Border.Background>
            </Border>

The idea is to load 16:9 videos without distortion, and  apply a "TranslateTransform X" animation.
I don't realy need the default transition effects.
Ideas ? Ways of optimization?

Note that there does not seem to be a problem with GamesView, which is not Translate animated.

Edited January 21, 2020 by viking

[Jason Carr]

@viking Are these new changes to your theme? Or is this the same code that's always been in the Colorful theme? I ask because I haven't seen any of those issues with it myself.

You could try taking out the TransitionSelector property of the TransitionPresenter (which would remove the transition) to see if that helps. Beyond that, I'm not coming up with any other ideas. Unfortunately it could just be a performance issue with XAML just from trying to do too much all at one time.

[Kevin_Flynn]

13 hours ago, viking said:

The idea is good, but I'm afraid it will increase loading times even more.

 

LaunchBox seems to already be loading an image for those that have a default device image in Launchbox/Images/Platforms/Devices so it's not that i'm asking to populate a blank page but to provide a more suitable default image, again a suggestion. Jason would be able to confirm if this is the default behavior of what I believe occurs when VLC crashes, or a bug, etc. Could it be a setting I have enabled? I do see your point if you're concerned about the size of the stills.

See attached for an example. This is unfortunately a mockup as I was unable to reproduce it today but it occurred multiple times yesterday. 

 

After playing around I was able to reproduce it when I removed the video (or prevented BigBox from finding it). The default behaviour seems to fall back to the Device image in Launchbox/Images/Platforms/Devices.

 

See attached.

 

I could have sworn I encountered this on a platform where there was a video, but it failed to load, and only loaded after I switched platforms and back.

 

 

Edited January 21, 2020 by Kevin_Flynn

[viking]

15 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

@viking Are these new changes to your theme? Or is this the same code that's always been in the Colorful theme? I ask because I haven't seen any of those issues with it myself.

You could try taking out the TransitionSelector property of the TransitionPresenter (which would remove the transition) to see if that helps. Beyond that, I'm not coming up with any other ideas. Unfortunately it could just be a performance issue with XAML just from trying to do too much all at one time.

Yes, there has been a code change since v.0.1. But it is not recent.
Here are the 2 code extracts. Which seems more optimized for performance?

<!-- ================================================================= -->
<!-- CODE FROM V.0.1 ================================================= -->
<!-- ================================================================= -->
<Grid ClipToBounds="False" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="12" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="11" >
                <transitions:TransitionPresenter x:Name="PlatformVideo" TransitionSelector="{Binding ImageVideoTransitionSelector}" 
                                                 Content="{Binding ImageVideoView}" 
                                                 IsContentVideo="True" 
                                                 Visibility="Visible" 
                                                 Margin="0,0,0,0"
                                                 Width="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualWidth}" 
                                                 Height="{Binding ElementName=Canvas, Path=ActualHeight}">
                    <transitions:TransitionPresenter.RenderTransform>
                        <TranslateTransform x:Name="PlatformVideoAnim" X="0" />
                    </transitions:TransitionPresenter.RenderTransform>
                </transitions:TransitionPresenter>
            </Grid>


<!-- ================================================================= -->
<!-- CODE SINCE V.0.4 ================================================ -->
<!-- ================================================================= -->
	<transitions:TransitionPresenter x:Name="vidsource" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="12" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="11" TransitionSelector="{Binding ImageVideoTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding ImageVideoView}" IsContentVideo="True" Visibility="hidden"/>
            <Border Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="12" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="11">
                <Border.Background>
                    <VisualBrush x:Name="PlatformVideo" Visual="{Binding ElementName=vidsource, Path=Content}" Stretch="UniformToFill" AlignmentX="Center" AlignmentY="Center">
                        <VisualBrush.Transform>
                            <TranslateTransform x:Name="PlatformVideoAnim" X="0" />
                        </VisualBrush.Transform>
                    </VisualBrush>
                </Border.Background>
            </Border>

Thank you for the "TransitionPresenter" advice. I will delete it. Always be one less instruction for the XAML!
May I have been too ambitious on this theme. Too much animation in 2sec for XAML ...

 

10 hours ago, Kevin_Flynn said:

After playing around I was able to reproduce it when I removed the video (or prevented BigBox from finding it). The default behaviour seems to fall back to the Device image in Launchbox/Images/Platforms/Devices.

See attached.

I could have sworn I encountered this on a platform where there was a video, but it failed to load, and only loaded after I switched platforms and back.

I don't think BigBox is loading the banner image before loading video.
The Banner is only loaded if there is no video available in its database.
According to Jason, the slowdowns on my theme are too much XAML instruction in a short time. The idea would be to remove some, rather than adding a new image to load.