Pause theme idea : game blurred background

[Tromzy]

Hi,

 

I don't know if this is technically possible, but I  have an idea for the Pause Menu feature : display the current game screen but with a nice blur effect (like the blur background in the new Launchbox theme). Do you think this would be doable ?

[Retro808]

17 minutes ago, Tromzy said:

Hi,

 

I don't know if this is technically possible, but I  have an idea for the Pause Menu feature : display the current game screen but with a nice blur effect (like the blur background in the new Launchbox theme). Do you think this would be doable ?

It is doable. You can actually edit an existing theme or create one and just need to add code to add a blur ot the background image. Adding something like the code below to the specific line for the background image would do the trick. You can edit the Blur Radius for more or less blur.

            <Image.Effect>
                <BlurEffect Radius="20"/>
            </Image.Effect>

 

 

[Tromzy]

Thank you for your answer. But if I understand what you say, that line of code would only blur the default theme background image, right ? What I meant was, to blur the game itself.

[Retro808]

13 minutes ago, Tromzy said:

Thank you for your answer. But if I understand what you say, that line of code would only blur the default theme background image, right ? What I meant was, to blur the game itself.

My bad. I misread exactly what you were describing. So you mean the actual game as it is playing, keep it showing but pause and blur it. Then show the pause menu items. If so, that is not currently possible.

[neil9000]

1 minute ago, Tromzy said:

Thank you for your answer. But if I understand what you say, that line of code would only blur the default theme background image, right ? What I meant was, to blur the game itself.

Launchbox has no interaction like that with emulators, it just loads the game. The emulator would need to support something like that, and i dont know of any that do. You may be able to get something similar via shaders in retroarch, but im not hopefull, as i doubt anyone wants there games looking blurry like that.

[Tromzy]

Yes, for example when pausing the game, Launchbox would take a screenshot of the current game, save it as the pause menu background image, and blur it...

[Tromzy]

4 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

Launchbox has no interaction like that with emulators, it just loads the game. The emulator would need to support something like that, and i dont know of any that do. You may be able to get something similar via shaders in retroarch, but im not hopefull, as i doubt anyone wants there games looking blurry like that.

Yes I use retroarch as my main emulator, and I've asked for that feature some time ago on their forum, but I did not get any positive answer : https://forums.libretro.com/t/idea-suggestion-apply-a-blur-shader-on-the-menu/25102

Edited February 24, 2020 by Tromzy