Image Location Structure?

[OSIAS]

I have needed very little help setting up a working lunchbox for a metric ton of items. My Arcade pedestal likely begins paint tomorrow. I have button downed the backup / mobility and software through out all of it, without much further help needed. So congrats GJ lads very well youtube documented.

I am now starting to polish this up and began looking at big box which I purchased for full price as I feel you earned it.

It would seem though that no matter what custom theme you DL that certain items are gonna line up a certain way period. So a file layout schema would be very helpful to understand what files I need to tweak or fix to adjust to my preferences.

Yes I understand pretty much throughout that all files/folder need to match there system name.jpg. However I have missing items that show in a file structure that I would assume would load by default no matter the theme. Yes I understand I may need to check or un-check different options in the menu. But come on can we not get a simple publisher tool with a layout and direct file location of each pane? I am not asking for a pure custom theme. Any theme with a little know how could slightly alter to your preference. IE even like a simple publisher tool that shows this image comes from this location would be beautiful. But if you want to make it estatic just make it like a web page publisher. Choose the items you want to display and set them X. Its not that hard.

Anyhow can I get a file layout to what page its displayed + what option to check / un-check so I can sort this out?

Plz dont make me out as the grinch, you guys really do rock the emu world. Now insert Quarter Here --->

Thank You & Merry Xmas!

 

 

 

[fromlostdays]

I know absolutely zero about themes beyond how to use them, but you can try this: 

Edit: I did some fiddling and I think most of the stuff you're asking about it in the themes xaml files which you can edit with notepad or wordpad. 

Edited December 25, 2019 by fromlostdays

[Retro808]

3 hours ago, OSIAS said:

It would seem though that no matter what custom theme you DL that certain items are gonna line up a certain way period. So a file layout schema would be very helpful to understand what files I need to tweak or fix to adjust to my preferences.

Might not be that simple. Any theme can have a multitude of views that are available (see the file referenced below as it list all the view types). BigBox does not have a set schema that would limit a views layout. Each theme can have multiple views (Platform views 1-4, CoverFlow, Wheel Games views 1-4, Text View, etc.). In each view the theme designer can have it display any number of images, videos, metadata, or even custom images and data. So it is not really view A has these items that would always pull from here and view B has these items that would always pull from there. 

3 hours ago, OSIAS said:

Yes I understand pretty much throughout that all files/folder need to match there system name.jpg. However I have missing items that show in a file structure that I would assume would load by default no matter the theme. 

What ever image, video, or metadata is pulled regardless of theme it will pull from Launchbox's set file structure. Unless the theme developer includes custom items and then it can pull from data files located in the theme's folder structure directly. For example, no matter in what theme and what view, if a platform clear logo is shown it typically pulls from the clear logo image located in \Launchbox\Images\Platforms\[Platform Name]\Clear Logo\ file structure. 

3 hours ago, OSIAS said:

But come on can we not get a simple publisher tool with a layout and direct file location of each pane? I am not asking for a pure custom theme. Any theme with a little know how could slightly alter to your preference. IE even like a simple publisher tool that shows this image comes from this location would be beautiful. But if you want to make it estatic just make it like a web page publisher. Choose the items you want to display and set them X. Its not that hard.

There is a publisher tool of sorts. If you go to \Launchbox\Themes and look for a file called "Documentation.pdf" it is the Launchbox custom theme documentation. 

OR

You can use the Community Theme Creator tool to create your own theme in a UI. It is a great tool that keeps getting developed so for now it has limitations. I do not mean that in a bad way. Some of the more fancier coding tricks are not in it...but y2guru seems to be constantly updating it. 

[fromlostdays]

One more thing: if you go to Launchbox/Tools/Options/Legacy/Images and click any art type, you'll see that by default launchbox has "backup" art categories clicked for certain categories... for instance

"Box Front"

Box Front

Box Front Reconstructed

Box 3D

Launchbox will look for an art file named after the game in each entry in order. So if all three of those are checked, it will look for a box front art in Images/System/Box Front, and if it doesn't find one it will then search the folder Box Front Reconstructed and then Box 3D etc. and it will display any image it finds there. If you want to have total control and really see any missing art, you may want to go into those options and uncheck everything else but the first box. 

 

[OSIAS]

Thanks for the replies, I will have to circle back to this later today as I think I have a problem displaying stuff that should be there and that might be part of the confusion. Yes I was aware of the clear logos location that is one I found with testing.

 

Example When big box loads the first time I hear sound but see nothing, no video. I have tried in the options WMV and VLC. Now granted I just downloaded and installed VLC from sourceforge and installed it to my emulators directory so its portable. But no joy.

 

All my main systems screens don't display an image of the system, but there is art for it. 

 

I believe I am using unified widescreen, yes I refresh all images. 

 

Gotta go thanks again

[Retro808]

3 hours ago, OSIAS said:

Example When big box loads the first time I hear sound but see nothing, no video. I have tried in the options WMV and VLC. Now granted I just downloaded and installed VLC from sourceforge and installed it to my emulators directory so its portable. But no joy.

You do not need to download VLC it is already included in the Launchbox folder that is what LB/BB use when you set video to VLC which is recommended over WMP.

3 hours ago, OSIAS said:

All my main systems screens don't display an image of the system, but there is art for it. 

This could depend on the view you are using in the theme as this is determined by the theme creator. Some views will use videos while others images. 

If the view is supposed to be a platform video and you do not see a video did you download platform videos? Theme's do not come with images and videos for the platforms and the games. Those have to be downloaded by the user. If you have a paid Emumovies account you can download videos directly in LB media wizard and it will place them in the required folders. The media wizard will also download image files, manuals, and music for the games.  

Platform videos can be downloaded directly in Launchbox by going to >Tools>Download Platform/Playlist Theme Videos. 

[OSIAS]

Just to update - seems like the large portion of my problem was ---> Tools>Download Platform/Playlist Theme Videos

Yup my mistake, sorry wasn't intituative as everything else has been, didn't realize I needed to do that even though already downloaded themes etc. Anyhow much further along now with just this. Technically I could settle here and be content however I will likely look at this tool and see what I can do.

[Retro808]

16 minutes ago, OSIAS said:

Just to update - seems like the large portion of my problem was ---> Tools>Download Platform/Playlist Theme Videos

Yup my mistake, sorry wasn't intituative as everything else has been, didn't realize I needed to do that even though already downloaded themes etc. Anyhow much further along now with just this. Technically I could settle here and be content however I will likely look at this tool and see what I can do.

Well themes for BigBox will likely never include videos for platforms and games, could you imagine how big a theme download would be if it did? Not too mention if every theme had them included and you wanted to download a bunch of different themes. 

Glad you are sorted. 

[OSIAS]

The below is what I was asking about, I would imagine this would be kept somewhere stickied as I can't be the only one wanting to take a theme and just tweak it a bit. Basically I just reverse engineered locations. I can then just replace any image keep it named the same with same dimensions and properties and make it my own.

 

First Selection System type

LaunchBox\Images\Platform Categories = Clear logos for the wheel for the 4 platforms of " arcade - computers - consoles - hand helds"

LaunchBox\Videos\Platform Categories = The vidoes displayed when you select the 4 platforms on the wheel above

 

Now your into a system type select a specific system 

LaunchBox\Images/Platforms = clear logos for the wheel / system selection arrow 

LaunchBox\Videos\Platforms = The video's displayed when you select highlight them with the wheel

 

Now this is specific to the Theme & the item selected your 3 screens deep now

\LaunchBox\Themes\Unified Refried\Images\Theme\Background = Background images 

\LaunchBox\Themes\Unified Refried\Images\Theme\VideoBorder = Border or frame around the game displayed

 

However I still a missing something the final thing I want to fix. When entered into to select a game display I want them to behave all the same. Most of them do be displaying the games list on the right. The game selected is always in the middle and everything around it is transparent but the game name. As I cycle all the game names shift and the selected always stays in the middle. Plus its using the clear game name logos which are pretty. The crux is on some when you get to this screen all the games are surrounded by a grid block and no pretty logos. Also it doesn't start to cycle the names and keep it in the middle until it gets to the bottom and stays at the bottom.

Thanks for your help in advance

 

[Retro808]

24 minutes ago, OSIAS said:

The below is what I was asking about, I would imagine this would be kept somewhere stickied as I can't be the only one wanting to take a theme and just tweak it a bit. Basically I just reverse engineered locations. I can then just replace any image keep it named the same with same dimensions and properties and make it my own.

 

First Selection System type

LaunchBox\Images\Platform Categories = Clear logos for the wheel for the 4 platforms of " arcade - computers - consoles - hand helds"

LaunchBox\Videos\Platform Categories = The vidoes displayed when you select the 4 platforms on the wheel above

 

Now your into a system type select a specific system 

LaunchBox\Images/Platforms = clear logos for the wheel / system selection arrow 

LaunchBox\Videos\Platforms = The video's displayed when you select highlight them with the wheel

 

Now this is specific to the Theme & the item selected your 3 screens deep now

\LaunchBox\Themes\Unified Refried\Images\Theme\Background = Background images 

\LaunchBox\Themes\Unified Refried\Images\Theme\VideoBorder = Border or frame around the game displayed

Yeah, apologies on that I was not thinking you just wanted to know where each image type is pulled from. As I did mention regardless of the theme or the view whatever image it is showing will pull from Launchbox's image and video folder structure. Most people just take a few minutes to look through the folders to familiarize themselves with it. I have not really seen anyone ask for a list. The theme maker could actually make it show the Platform Category wheel shows Cabinet images instead of clear logos. 

24 minutes ago, OSIAS said:

However I still a missing something the final thing I want to fix. When entered into to select a game display I want them to behave all the same. Most of them do be displaying the games list on the right. The game selected is always in the middle and everything around it is transparent but the game name. As I cycle all the game names shift and the selected always stays in the middle. Plus its using the clear game name logos which are pretty. The crux is on some when you get to this screen all the games are surrounded by a grid block and no pretty logos. Also it doesn't start to cycle the names and keep it in the middle until it gets to the bottom and stays at the bottom.

This likely because some have a view set to TextGames versus Wheel. In your BB settings in the view options look for a setting stating something like "Remember Separate View per Platform". If you have that checked then that is why some platform views look different. If you want them all the same uncheck that. You can also bind a button or key to "Change View" that way you can switch the view on the fly. 

[OSIAS]

Yes and I did spend quite some time, you must understand working the front-end is likely the last thing you logically do. If your like me and have two dozen types then when you open that folder all you see is platform names not actually the platform folder. I was going folder by folder and not finding anything which also then makes you search elsewhere. Till I realized there was 1 folder in the batch that wasn't a game system name and finally hit the jackpot. Would have saved me a couple hours of being confused.

I even gave up on that for a while and went to this theme editing tool. Figured I could load that up then load up the theme I was using and pull locations from that. I followed the directions and got it installed but for some reason it only sees the neon them and the test default. I downloaded all 11 themes and nothing. So I couldn't make a duplicate and then start editing it or reverse look up easily that is when I finally stumbled upon the right folders.

Ah your notation about the view changes worked found the setting that changes that thank you. Until you figure out the structure and settings the naming of everything doesn't necessarily make sense, at least not to me. I wish these settings had a preview window so you could see what your altering that would be nice. It does also sound like this theme tool is really going to round all this out as well when its done.

Anyhow just need to do some image enhancements now and I can back this Biatch up and the software is done. Hoping by End of weekend have it all wired and running. I will post some images when complete.

Again thanks for your help