BigBox - Second Monitor Question

[Javery]

Hi - I am new to the forums and I am wondering when using the second monitor feature in BigBox, can you move the image around on the screen or is it always centered no matter what?  I am going to use a second monitor for displaying arcade marquees but the monitor will be hidden except the portion I want the marquee to appear in.  This area is not "dead center" - I would need the marquee to appear about 2-3" from the top. 

Basically, I want to know if the second monitor has a resizable window I can drag around to place it exactly where I want.  I don't have Big Box (yet) but will purchase a license if this is possible.

Thanks!

[Retro808]

1 hour ago, Javery said:

Hi - I am new to the forums and I am wondering when using the second monitor feature in BigBox, can you move the image around on the screen or is it always centered no matter what?  I am going to use a second monitor for displaying arcade marquees but the monitor will be hidden except the portion I want the marquee to appear in.  This area is not "dead center" - I would need the marquee to appear about 2-3" from the top. 

Basically, I want to know if the second monitor has a resizable window I can drag around to place it exactly where I want.  I don't have Big Box (yet) but will purchase a license if this is possible.

Thanks!

No. You would need to edit the PlatformMaqueeView and GameMarqueeView xaml files to adjust for this. If you are not able to edit the code directly just reply in this thread and we should be able to help you make the adjustment needed.

[Javery]

14 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

No. You would need to edit the PlatformMaqueeView and GameMarqueeView xaml files to adjust for this. If you are not able to edit the code directly just reply in this thread and we should be able to help you make the adjustment needed.

Thank you for the response.  I opened up the GameMarqueeView xaml file and see that DesignHeight is set to 562 (pixels, I assume) and DesignWidth is set to 1000.  HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment are set to "Center" and there are a few other settings.  I'm guessing playing around with this will get the desired result? 

Looks like I'll have to get things up and running in my arcade cabinet and then adjust the settings in this file from there to make sure the image displays exactly where I want it to.

Good to know it is doable.  Thanks!

[Retro808]

What is likely going to be needed is to edit/add a grid to the layout. This way you can set the rows and height and control where the image is to be viewable in the part of the screen you have showing. 

[Javery]

23 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

What is likely going to be needed is to edit/add a grid to the layout. This way you can set the rows and height and control where the image is to be viewable in the part of the screen you have showing. 

OK you lost me there... my tiny brain only knows a little about this stuff.  ?

I'll definitely reach out once I'm ready with pictures and videos or whatever else you need to walk me through it.  Thanks!

[Retro808]

2 hours ago, Javery said:

OK you lost me there... my tiny brain only knows a little about this stuff.  ?

I'll definitely reach out once I'm ready with pictures and videos or whatever else you need to walk me through it.  Thanks!

Pics would be good. Then we can see how to set the grid and adjust positioning.

[Eddieh1979]

(Similar problem) I have a 1920x1080 display that was cut to only display the top third (1920x360). I got it to align to the top correctly, but I want images to scale/fit to the upper 1920x360 viewable area only. Tall images won't scale/fit correctly and go off screen, since Windows thinks I have a 1920x1080 panel. 

 

 

[Retro808]

10 minutes ago, Eddieh1979 said:

(Similar problem) I have a 1920x1080 display that was cut to only display the top third (1920x360). I got it to align to the top correctly, but I want images to scale/fit to the upper 1920x360 viewable area only. Tall images won't scale/fit correctly and go off screen, since Windows thinks I have a 1920x1080 panel. 

 

 

Can you share a pic and share the xaml files you are using.

[Eddieh1979]

<UserControl xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:transitions="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Wpf.Transitions;assembly=Unbroken.LaunchBox.Wpf"
xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
xmlns:cal="http://www.caliburnproject.org"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="562" d:DesignWidth="1000" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Style="{DynamicResource UserControlStyle}">
<Grid VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.MarqueeImagePath}" Panel.ZIndex="1" Stretch="Uniform" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Top" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="HighQuality"><Image.Effect><DropShadowEffect BlurRadius="99" /></Image.Effect></Image>
<Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.MarqueeImagePath}" Panel.ZIndex="0" Stretch="Fill" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="LowQuality"><Image.Effect><BlurEffect Radius="99"/></Image.Effect></Image>
</Grid>
</UserControl>

This is using "Mr.RetroLusts Marquee Screen Filler Magic" realistic marquee .xaml file and the only thing I changed was Vertical alignment from "Center" to "Top".  If you look at the picture in this example, the Nintendo DS box doesn't scale to fit in the 1920x360 display area, and instead scales to fit in what it believes to be 1920x1080. If I could scale everything to fit in the upper 1920x360 area, that would be perfect. Thanks for your help!

[Retro808]

2 hours ago, Eddieh1979 said:

This is using "Mr.RetroLusts Marquee Screen Filler Magic" realistic marquee .xaml file and the only thing I changed was Vertical alignment from "Center" to "Top".  If you look at the picture in this example, the Nintendo DS box doesn't scale to fit in the 1920x360 display area, and instead scales to fit in what it believes to be 1920x1080. If I could scale everything to fit in the upper 1920x360 area, that would be perfect. Thanks for your help!

Try this and let me know how it looks. If it looks off post a pic.

 

GameMarqueeView.xaml

[Eddieh1979]

Oh wow! Looks awesome! I know of several people that will greatly appreciate this. Thanks again for your help!

[Retro808]

Just now, Eddieh1979 said:

Oh wow! Looks awesome! I know of several people that will greatly appreciate this. Thanks again for your help!

So it worked well than. Good to hear.

[Eddieh1979]

Yeah, it definitely worked well. I'm currently playing a "spot the difference" game to see what changes you made. ?

 

edit: Fixed the PlatformMarqueeView.xaml file and decided to share here in case someone else with a Vitrolight or similar display needs it. 

1920x360 BigBox Marquee Fix.zip

Edited June 25, 2020 by Eddieh1979

[Javery]

Can someone please write up a quick tutorial on how to move the marquee image around by adjusting the xml file?  I can see that it has something to do with "grid definitions" but what does adding <RowDefinition Height="*" /> actually do?  The more of these you add, the more rows on the grid that there will be?  I am looking to define the marquee grid in a very specific location on the second monitor so I will have to play around with the xml file but I do not know how to actually affect behavior.  The attached drawing is roughly what I am looking to do (it is a 16:9 screen).

 

Thanks.

Edited July 22, 2020 by Javery

[Retro808]

6 hours ago, Javery said:

Can someone please write up a quick tutorial on how to move the marquee image around by adjusting the xml file?  I can see that it has something to do with "grid definitions" but what does adding <RowDefinition Height="*" /> actually do?  The more of these you add, the more rows on the grid that there will be?  I am looking to define the marquee grid in a very specific location on the second monitor so I will have to play around with the xml file but I do not know how to actually affect behavior.  The attached drawing is roughly what I am looking to do (it is a 16:9 screen).

 

Thanks.

RowDefinition Height defines the height of each row you have added. The "*" is a weighted portion of the available space. Adding more does as more rows. So if you have two rows one defined as "*" and the other defined as "2*" you can expect row 1 to use up 1 times the available space and row 2 use 2 times the available space. Almost look at is as 1/3 and 2/3 of the grid's height.

So in your image example you could probably look a grid with 3 Rows and 3 columns. Then just tinker until you find the right splits. What you can also do is add ShowGridLines="True" to the grid and it will show grid lines in your view to better see how much you need to tweak. Then delete that piece when you have it right. The image below is an example of what it would look like with the grid lines showing. Disregard how many rows and columns there are (right now way more than it will actually use) I am messing with marquee layout for a friend so this is just the start of planning what he wants.

I am no expert, just been learning for the past year.

[Javery]

18 hours ago, Retro808 said:

RowDefinition Height defines the height of each row you have added. The "*" is a weighted portion of the available space. Adding more does as more rows. So if you have two rows one defined as "*" and the other defined as "2*" you can expect row 1 to use up 1 times the available space and row 2 use 2 times the available space. Almost look at is as 1/3 and 2/3 of the grid's height.

So in your image example you could probably look a grid with 3 Rows and 3 columns. Then just tinker until you find the right splits. What you can also do is add ShowGridLines="True" to the grid and it will show grid lines in your view to better see how much you need to tweak. Then delete that piece when you have it right. The image below is an example of what it would look like with the grid lines showing. Disregard how many rows and columns there are (right now way more than it will actually use) I am messing with marquee layout for a friend so this is just the start of planning what he wants.

I am no expert, just been learning for the past year.

Thank you.  This is starting to make sense... the more rows and columns you add, the more precise the placement of the image should be, right?  Can I add 50 rows and 50 columns if I want?  Once the grid is defined, how do you align the image?

For example, with the grid you posted, what would you need to do to make the marquee appear in the yellow area I drew in the attached pic?  The top of the marquee aligns with the top of row 2, the bottom of the marquee aligns with the top of Row 5, the left side of the marquee aligns with the left side of Column 2 and the right side of the marquee aligns with the right side of Column 7. 

Once the area is defined, I'm assuming the image will stretch to fit?  Not all marquees are the same size but they are close enough that I don't think it will be too obvious if the aspect ratio is off...

Edited July 23, 2020 by Javery

[Retro808]

You can add as many rows and columns as you want, but is not really necessary to get precise fitment. I will likely use only 4 rows/columns once I am sure what he wants.  You can always align image left, right, center or even use margins to align. As well as specifying height and width. So several ways to refine it. In the example you are giving using the grids in the image you would confine the image to specific rows and columns. Note the rows/column numbering do not start with 1. It starts with 0. So the first Row is actually Row 0, not Row 1.

So you would would confine your image to Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1". Then you need to specify how many rows and columns it spans. In this case spanning 4 rows and 6 columns. Grid.RowSpan="4" Grid.ColumnSpan="6". As far as it filling the space you can specify a Stretch with either Fill, Uniform, or UniformToFill. Example: Stretch="UniformToFill" which will keep the aspect but fill the grid so part of the image may get cutoff.

The best I can recommend is take a simple Pause or Startup theme and look at its code against the image on screen it produces. Since most of these themes are very basic in coding it should be easy enough to see what item affects what on screen. Also look in this thread for tips and tricks.

[EmuDon]

HI, I am also experimenting with getting my digital Marquee going and have had a poke around in the xaml.

As my display is landscape and so many of my non mame games are portrait boxart what would I need to change to use the wheel art instead?

I'm guessing it is around line 16

 Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.MarqueeImagePath} 

 but I'm not familiar enough with the guts of Bigbox  to know what to replace ".MarqueeImagePath with.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Mr. RetroLust]

2 hours ago, EmuDon said:

HI, I am also experimenting with getting my digital Marquee going and have had a poke around in the xaml.

As my display is landscape and so many of my non mame games are portrait boxart what would I need to change to use the wheel art instead?

I'm guessing it is around line 16

 Image Source="{Binding Path=SelectedGame.MarqueeImagePath} 

 but I'm not familiar enough with the guts of Bigbox  to know what to replace ".MarqueeImagePath with.

Any help greatly appreciated.

To use clear logos instead of marquee images go to tools and change image priority settings in "arcade marquee", make the clear logos top priority.

[GCS2000]

Bringing up an old thread but it seemed a good place to post.

Is there a way to make this work with a smaller LCD?

I have one of the 15" chinese displays that is actually 1280x390 (Windows sees as 1280x720).  It does the job ok.

With the standard xml the marquess do show in the middle of the screen and are fine left to right but top to bottom they are smaller and do not "fill" the screen.  It would nice if they did.  Also when the marquee does not fill the screen black is shown.  It would be nice to have the blurred background that this does when this is needed.

Using the xml above it squishes the marquees up to the top and shrinks them down.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to adjust the xml to accommodate this screen?

Screen is this one here https://www.amazon.com/VSDISPLAY-LTA149B780F-Controller-M-NT68676-Raspberry/dp/B07QGBL568/ref=pd_lpo_200_t_0/138-8626628-2402042?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07QGBL568&pd_rd_r=aeb51e76-8770-44b0-8f43-99f5b6ed6658&pd_rd_w=XsywW&pd_rd_wg=yF8VW&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=DN40J765J00AJN2KZKWK&psc=1&refRID=DN40J765J00AJN2KZKWK

 

TIA

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by GCS2000