Attract Mode issues (black screen, scroll lag) with slightly modified theme

[The_A_Drain]

Hi guys,

I've been constructing a theme to use with a cabinet, and have got things almost exactly where I want them but I'm having some issues with attract mode, so I wondered if anybody could help me troubleshoot it.

Works reasonably well, with maybe a tiny bit of lag, on both Default and CriticalZoneV2 - BlueBox, but I've made a couple of modifications to BlueBox and now it's hanging a lot, sticking on a black screen for ages when entering a platform menu, and occasionally getting very stuck and looping through menu items for up to a minute to settle on a selection. I'm wondering if it's just a caching issue, as I'm asking the menu to show more information than standard (game video plus the 3D Box and 3D Cart) but it seems to work much snappier when I scroll through by hand, and doesn't get stuck on a black screen when entering a platform menu.

It's a little hard to describe so I included a video, apologies for the filesize. I've also included the modified TextGamesView.xaml alongside a fresh log file from just booting it up, letting it play attract mode and exiting right after.

The theme itself is just CriticalZoneV2 - BlueBox with a minor change to the PlatformWheel2 and layout change to TextGamesView. All the other customization was simply done through image priorities in the LaunchBox options menu.

I know there aren't any options for configuring how Attract Mode should act, but are there any plans in the future for expanding on it? I'll be honest, it's the one thing I'm not a huge fan of in BigBox, I'd love the option to simply fade-up a fullscreen video until someone presses a button, though. That would be ideal for my purposes, or maybe something that automatically went back to a particular menu (maybe the default one, in my case the platform menu) and just slowly scrolled through them one at a time, as well as an option to mute the menu scrolling audio if it's in attract mode. 

Cheers in advance guys

edit: just realized my capture card saved the videos as .ts for some reason, they'll play in VLC just fine but I'll try and convert it to MP4 now.

edit: uploaded the mp4 version

edit: I did find the separate Attract Mode Navigation Sound Volume under Sound options though, must have missed it earlier! Awesome, that's super useful.

TextGamesView.xaml Debug 2019-12-22 04-18-23 PM.log

Edited December 22, 2019 by The_A_Drain
switched .ts to .mp4

[Retro808]

It is definitely you coding you edited to. I tested the stock textgamesview.xaml and yours and the issue only occurs with your edits. I am not the most knowledgable in coding, but one thing I see offhand is the TransitionPresenter you have defined to span 7 rows, but your grid you have only defined 1 row. 

			<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="26*" />
                <ColumnDefinition Width="3*" />
                <ColumnDefinition Width="71*" />
                <ColumnDefinition Width="3*" />
            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

            <Grid>
                <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                    <RowDefinition Height="100*" />
                </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="100*" />
				</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <transitions:TransitionPresenter Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="7" TransitionSelector="{Binding ListTransitionSelector}" Content="{Binding ListView}" Panel.ZIndex="99"/>
            </Grid>

The second, and likely the biggest issue it lags is the use of "SelectedGame" for the images. Change these to show "ActiveGame" and it runs smoother. Selected game will make BigBox try and change the images for each game as fast as attract mode clicks through them. "Active" will only let it change once it stops. 

  <Image Grid.Row="0" Source="{Binding SelectedGame.Box3DImagePath}" />
  <Image Grid.Row="2" Source="{Binding SelectedGame.Cart3DImagePath}" />

 

[The_A_Drain]

Thanks for the tip Retro808, that's perfect. Changing ActiveGame to SelectedGame definitely helped. Looks better too because it doesn't change the image until it's chosen a game.

The rowspan I didn't even notice, I've removed it and it doesn't seem to have changed anything but, it probably shouldn't be there as you're right, it can't span 7 rows when there is only 1.

The performance and odd, stuttery scrolling behaviour is fixed the only problem now is that it starts scrolling before it selects any game, so when it enters a platform menu, until it settles on a game, the screen is just black. But this is ok, way better than previous. I'm wondering if the main problem was just constantly trying to load those box images as it scrolled through tons of games.

Appreciate the help Retro808

Edited December 22, 2019 by The_A_Drain