Creating Generic PNG Logos For MS-DOS / Windows 3.1/95/98 Games

[jrusso4587]

My biggest pain point for images is MS-DOS and old Windows games clear logos. I have a ton of games, but the vast majority of them do not have png logos since they just don't exist. is there an easy way to create hundres of generic logos using a pre-made background and generic lettering? I have seen many builds that use this for DOS games, but want to know the program used to create them.  By doing that, I can have logos for ALL the games in my collection, which would be wonderful.

I use online sites for one off png images, but hope there is something I can use to handle hundreds of images in one shot.

Any help would be appreciated.

[JoeViking245]

On 5/5/2024 at 3:37 PM, jrusso4587 said:

create hundres of generic logos using a pre-made background and generic lettering

The program ffmpeg can do just that.

 

If you don't have ffmpeg already on your system:

1. Download "ffmpeg-release-essentials.7z" from the link above
2. Copy the contents to... somewhere  (i.e. D:\MyApps\ffmpeg-7.0-essentials_build\)

 

1. Create a temp folder (for starting out and testing)  (i.e. D:\Temp)
2. In that folder, create a new text file  (i.e. CreateClearlogo.txt)
3. In that text file, paste the code from below
4. Change the last line accordingly... 
   1. Replace the path to ffmpeg with your actual path (note, the executable is in the 'bin' folder)
   2. Replace "premadeBG.png" with the actual name of your 'pre-made background' image file
   3. Save and close
5. Rename the file to have a .bat file extension  (i.e. CreateClearlogo.bat)
6. Copy your 'pre-made background' image file into the temp folder
7. Navigate to your /LaunchBox/Images/[platform_name]/Box - Front/ folder
   1. This assumes you have Box-Front images for all the games in that platform
8. Copy four of those files into your temp folder
   1. Your temp folder will now have 6 files in it
      1. CreateClearlogo.bat
      2. premadeBG.png
      3. (4) Box-Front images
9. Select CreateClearlogo.bat and press enter. (or just double-click it)
   1. The batch file will look for both .png and .jpg images

Executing CreateClearlogo.bat will pop up a Command Prompt window showing a bunch of gibberish.  At the bottom should then say "Press any key to continue...".  Press the 'any' key to close the window.

You will now have a new folder in your temp folder called "Output".  Go in there and look at the 4 images it created.

If the text is not centered where you want it, edit the batch file (right-click, edit) and adjust the "x" and "y" values to move it.  Adjust "fontsize" to make the text larger/smaller.  Re-run the batch file.  Note: this will overwrite existing files in the Output folder.

 

Once you're happy with how the Output images look, copy the batch file and 'premadeBG.png' into your /LaunchBox/Images/[platform_name]/Box - Front/ folder and run it.

When done and you've pressed the 'any' key, move the images from the just now created "Output" folder into that platforms "Clear Logo" folder.

(and of course, you can remove the batch file, your premadeBG image and delete the Output folder. Oh, and you probably now have a premadeBG.png file in your /Clear Logos/ folder. Delete that. )

 

Note: The batch file WILL NOT recurse through sub folders (i.e. Region subfolders).  So you'll need to move the 2 files and re-run accordingly.

 

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

md Output

for %%f in (*.png) do (
   call :Sub %%~nf
)

for %%f in (*.jpg) do (
   call :Sub %%~nf
)

pause
exit

:Sub
set string=%*
set string2=%string:-01=%
set string2=%string2:-02=%
"D:\MyApps\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i "premadeBG.png" -vf "drawtext=text=%string2%:fontcolor=white:fontsize=75:x=1002:y=100:" "Output/%string%.png" -y

 

 

[ci2own]

46 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

The program ffmpeg can do just that.

 

If you don't have ffmpeg already on your system:

1. Download "ffmpeg-release-essentials.7z" from the link above
2. Copy the contents to... somewhere  (i.e. D:\MyApps\ffmpeg-7.0-essentials_build\)

 

1. Create a temp folder (for starting out and testing)  (i.e. D:\Temp)
2. In that folder, create a new text file  (i.e. CreateClearlogo.txt)
3. In that text file, paste the code from below
4. Change the last line accordingly... 
   1. Replace the path to ffmpeg with your actual path (note, the executable is in the 'bin' folder)
   2. Replace "premadeBG.png" with the actual name of your 'pre-made background' image file
   3. Save and close
5. Rename the file to have a .bat file extension  (i.e. CreateClearlogo.bat)
6. Copy your 'pre-made background' image file into the temp folder
7. Navigate to your /LaunchBox/Images/[platform_name]/Box - Front/ folder
   1. This assumes you have Box-Front images for all the games in that platform
8. Copy four of those files into your temp folder
   1. Your temp folder will now have 6 files in it
      1. CreateClearlogo.bat
      2. premadeBG.png
      3. (4) Box-Front images
9. Select CreateClearlogo.bat and press enter. (or just double-click it)
   1. The batch file will look for both .png and .jpg images

Executing CreateClearlogo.bat will pop up a Command Prompt window showing a bunch of gibberish.  At the bottom should then say "Press any key to continue...".  Press the 'any' key to close the window.

You will now have a new folder in your temp folder called "Output".  Go in there and look at the 4 images it created.

If the text is not centered where you want it, edit the batch file (right-click, edit) and adjust the "x" and "y" values to move it.  Adjust "fontsize" to make the text larger/smaller.  Re-run the batch file.  Note: this will overwrite existing files in the Output folder.

 

Once you're happy with how the Output images look, copy the batch file and 'premadeBG.png' into your /LaunchBox/Images/[platform_name]/Box - Front/ folder and run it.

When done and you've pressed the 'any' key, move the images from the just now created "Output" folder into that platforms "Clear Logo" folder.

(and of course, you can remove the batch file, your premadeBG image and delete the Output folder. Oh, and you probably now have a premadeBG.png file in your /Clear Logos/ folder. Delete that. )

 

Note: The batch file WILL NOT recurse through sub folders (i.e. Region subfolders).  So you'll need to move the 2 files and re-run accordingly.

 

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

md Output

for %%f in (*.png) do (
   call :Sub %%~nf
)

for %%f in (*.jpg) do (
   call :Sub %%~nf
)

pause
exit

:Sub
set string=%*
set string2=%string:-01=%
set string2=%string2:-02=%
"D:\MyApps\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe" -i "premadeBG.png" -vf "drawtext=text=%string2%:fontcolor=white:fontsize=75:x=1002:y=100:" "Output/%string%.png" -y

 

 

@JoeViking245 I wonder if is there something you don't know 🤔. You're much better than all other IA bots. LOL

[JereBear]

On 5/5/2024 at 5:37 PM, jrusso4587 said:

My biggest pain point for images is MS-DOS and old Windows games clear logos. I have a ton of games, but the vast majority of them do not have png logos since they just don't exist. is there an easy way to create hundres of generic logos using a pre-made background and generic lettering? I have seen many builds that use this for DOS games, but want to know the program used to create them.  By doing that, I can have logos for ALL the games in my collection, which would be wonderful.

I use online sites for one off png images, but hope there is something I can use to handle hundreds of images in one shot.

Any help would be appreciated.

I'm unable to help out in the way you want so I hope JoeViking's suggestion helps out in your scenario.

Moreover, if you can find a way to get me the names of the games which have no logo I would love to work on logos for them.