Switching from HS to LB - Rlauncher question

[damageinc86]

6 hours ago, lamvira99 said:

 I always assumed the bezels were strictly tied to RocketLauncher configs and didn't know per-game fades were that flexible. Might actually try setting up a few custom ones now.
 

Well yeah, per-game fades and bezels have been a thing for years and years in rlauncher, I believe.

There might even be some huge downloads somewhere of people's per-game setups.  I think I have like 3 snes or nes per-game fades because i was just interested in seeing how they worked.

[damageinc86]

5 hours ago, Shredder_guitar said:

Sorry for being unclear, The first fade is launching through Rlauncher

 

Heck, I don't even know how to get rocketlauncher to show clear logos on the fade screen lol.  Mine is more simple than that. 

However, I was just thinking.  To make a set image containing all of these elements, minus the text that rocketlauncher displays, you(someone) could use the community theme creator set for a canvas of this size, and then have it pull each platform's clear logos and game clear logos onto it and it could create a static image background for you.  That program could probably make quick work of it.  Only thing that RL would display over the top would be the now loading image, and all the text details.

Edited May 30 by damageinc86

[damageinc86]

Here are a few I ran using the fan art backgrounds present in my launchbox images.  Could use any image assets you have as well.  So only thing rocketlauncher would need to do is overlay a few elements, and it can look how you want it to look without having to have a connection to launchbox image folders at all.

[Shredder_guitar]

4 hours ago, damageinc86 said:

Heck, I don't even know how to get rocketlauncher to show clear logos on the fade screen lol.  Mine is more simple than that. 

However, I was just thinking.  To make a set image containing all of these elements, minus the text that rocketlauncher displays, you(someone) could use the community theme creator set for a canvas of this size, and then have it pull each platform's clear logos and game clear logos onto it and it could create a static image background for you.  That program could probably make quick work of it.  Only thing that RL would display over the top would be the now loading image, and all the text details.

Interesting approach...i kind of like that idea...a lot, actually. I think that might actually work, It will take some time, but I'm going to mark this as a solution, but continue to post stuff as things evolve. What about artwork for the pause menu though?

Edited May 30 by Shredder_guitar

[damageinc86]

2 hours ago, Shredder_guitar said:

Interesting approach...i kind of like that idea...a lot, actually. I think that might actually work, It will take some time, but I'm going to mark this as a solution, but continue to post stuff as things evolve. What about artwork for the pause menu though?

do you want me to run some games through this setup for you?  If you can give me your assets for each platform, I can position everything like you want it, and run the batch image save. 

I haven't ever done anything non-default for pause menus in RL, so I would need investigate that somewhat. 

EDIT: Ok I am figuring out how to show a system, as well as game specific background in the pause menu.  As well as having a clear logo show up.  I'm not sure how to get it to look anywhere inside launchbox's folder structure.  Maybe someone else knows.  But I have found some good info on the RL Pause menu wiki.  https://www.rlauncher.com/wiki/index.php/Pause_Main_Menu

So basically you follow their directory structure, and RL will look through that artwork folder inside the rocketlauncher media/subfolderappropriately named for either game-specific images, and if not found, will look for system specific images.  Each game has to have its own folder named the same as what shows up in the rocketlauncher list.  So I found a program called "folderit" which you can take all the images of any folder, and it will put them in a folder of the same name.  So, that program will really cut down on processing time.  Because then you can just take those folders with the clear logos of the game inside, and bring them right over to the [RocketLauncher\Media\Logos\Nintendo Entertainment System] folder.  I put a temporary folder on my desktop simply called "Clear Logo".  I then copy and pasted my Launchbox Clear logo folder from NES over into that so that the images worked on would be outside the launchbox folder to work on. 

There's a few stragglers to manually rename and folder. Especially when launchbox puts them in a  "north america", or "Japan" folder.   Like in my launchbox clear logos for NES I have an Aladdin-01.png in the Europe folder.  So I'd just make a copy of that, and make a folder and file to match the rocketlauncher naming convention, "Aladdin (Europe)".   Backgrounds could also be game specific and in that same folder simply named "Background.png" 

Sample image: 

Edited May 31 by damageinc86

[Shredder_guitar]

You must have your artwork set up differently in terms of clearlogos Most/all of my box art/disc/clear logo/etc is stored inHyperspin/media/system and rlauncher reads those assets from there. Are you saying that clearlogo art would then need to be stored in the rlauncher/media/[system]/[game] folder?  The 'stragglers' you mentioned is the exact thing i was refering too about subfolders in LB not being able to be parsed by the rlauncher/launchbox plugin.... I spent a day trying to tinker and fix it or get something workable, but I just couldn't figure out how to get it to parse the subfolders and even if i got it, then there would still be the issue with selecting the correct artwork in the event of multiple discs or duplicate artworks. 

If we could create a similar fade and pause menu system in launchbox, but have rlauncher do the lifting of configurations, that would really be the best of both worlds....though I worry about artwork duplication...I should know more when getting into it. I was looking into this "Community Theme Creator" Thing...apparently there's a free version and a paid version?.....that 's kinda bullshit...why do i have to pay money to create something that a community will benefit from?...and also that I/myself won't make money from? Who thought that was a good idea...?

[damageinc86]

17 minutes ago, Shredder_guitar said:

You must have your artwork set up differently in terms of clearlogos Most/all of my box art/disc/clear logo/etc is stored inHyperspin/media/system and rlauncher reads those assets from there. Are you saying that clearlogo art would then need to be stored in the rlauncher/media/[system]/[game] folder?  The 'stragglers' you mentioned is the exact thing i was refering too about subfolders in LB not being able to be parsed by the rlauncher/launchbox plugin.... I spent a day trying to tinker and fix it or get something workable, but I just couldn't figure out how to get it to parse the subfolders and even if i got it, then there would still be the issue with selecting the correct artwork in the event of multiple discs or duplicate artworks. 

If we could create a similar fade and pause menu system in launchbox, but have rlauncher do the lifting of configurations, that would really be the best of both worlds....though I worry about artwork duplication...I should know more when getting into it. I was looking into this "Community Theme Creator" Thing...apparently there's a free version and a paid version?.....that 's kinda bullshit...why do i have to pay money to create something that a community will benefit from?...and also that I/myself won't make money from? Who thought that was a good idea...?

Yeah once I put everything within the RocketLauncher\Media\Logos\Nintendo Entertainment System they showed up.  Luckily the stragglers in other sub folders, I just brought over to my temp folder and ran that "folderit" program to take those images and put them all in their own folder.  If it was a lot, I used the antrenamer program to replace the folder names "gamename-01" to "gamename (USA)".  That took care of a lot in the north america folder.  A few i manually added (Europe, USA), or something.  That was only like 2 or 3.  Then there were very few from japan, and europe, as an example.  Easy to rename those folders in the rocketlauncher media area.

So if you tag-teamed it with someone, it wouldn't take too terribly long to duplicate everything over into the rocketlauncher media folders for pause. 

paying and working on these things sort of just comes with the territory I'm afraid.  If you don't want anything to benefit members of the community, then you can be stingy.  A lot of people are.  But I believe for the most part anyways, that this stuff should be freely shared to help mitigate the extreme effort it takes to get a big setup going artwork-wise.  Hell, I spend over a year making a custom MAME wheel set for hyperspin.  Shared that freely,...and now I don't even use Hyperspin anymore! lol.  I can get you a lot of the files, and programs you need to work on this.  I can also help you do the work on it.  Hopefully you don't have like thousands of systems though lol.  I only have a handful of the most popular consoles, some handhelds, PC, and arcade.  So I don't have as much work to do as those people with thousands of systems.  But anyways.  Let me know!

[Shredder_guitar]

well after spending most of the day learning the community theme creator thing (terrible name), this is what I came up with...actually kinda better than the original Rlauncher fade ever was...looks more polished. I'd like to make one for each system. This one is just for NES. 

Edited May 31 by Shredder_guitar

[damageinc86]

2 minutes ago, Shredder_guitar said:

well after spending most of the day learning the community theme creator thing (terrible name), this is what I came up with...actually kinda better than the original Rlauncher fade ever was...looks more polished. I'd like to make one for each system. This one is just for NES. 

wow great job! that is packed full of goodness.  heck yeah.

[damageinc86]

did you have the theme creator fill in all the developer information and esrb stuff? or is that font and other images part of your rocketlauncher setup?  Could you give a rundown of which elements you have coming from RL, and which were placed by the theme creator?

[Shredder_guitar]

32 minutes ago, damageinc86 said:

did you have the theme creator fill in all the developer information and esrb stuff? or is that font and other images part of your rocketlauncher setup?  Could you give a rundown of which elements you have coming from RL, and which were placed by the theme creator?

Yes, I used the theme creator to make the startup theme, I haven't paid for the software yet so I haven't been able to export the theme. I used retrohumanoids transparency (him and his buddies stole hyperspin from everyone so i dont' feel bad) I took the esrb/favorite images from the gridblock theme, the animation in the middle left, i don't know where that can't from and the tile version of the system name is an image i have stored in hyperspin that i put into LB. The boxart, cart, clearlogo, and text info and background is coming from Launchbox. The font style I want to be system specific, I have all these fonts that I use so they will need to be installed. Happy to include them with the themes. 

Edited May 31 by Shredder_guitar

[Shredder_guitar]

A few more. 

Edited June 1 by Shredder_guitar

[PadeMoNiuM Prods]

16 hours ago, Shredder_guitar said:

A few more. 

Haha yep, you really went all-in on the metadata — I’m guessing it was for testing, right?

For me, it’s maybe just a tiny bit too much — kinda gives off CNN news vibes 😄 (don’t take it the wrong way!).
But honestly, it totally fits the style of RocketLauncher fades and that classic frontend DNA, so it stays coherent.

Just don’t hesitate with the CTC — it gets updated regularly, and you’ll pick it up fast.
Look at everything you’ve done in just one day... and hey, you’ve still got pauses, shutdowns — use them!

For big collections, I always use all three. Try it out and see as far as you can go 

 

Edited June 1 by PadeMoNiuM Prods

[Shredder_guitar]

43 minutes ago, PadeMoNiuM Prods said:

Haha yep, you really went all-in on the metadata — I’m guessing it was for testing, right?

For me, it’s maybe just a tiny bit too much — kinda gives off CNN news vibes 😄 (don’t take it the wrong way!).
But honestly, it totally fits the style of RocketLauncher fades and that classic frontend DNA, so it stays coherent.

Just don’t hesitate with the CTC — it gets updated regularly, and you’ll pick it up fast.
Look at everything you’ve done in just one day... and hey, you’ve still got pauses, shutdowns — use them!

For big collections, I always use all three. Try it out and see as far as you can go 

 

How political of you.  Anyway, Pauses and shutdown screens will be done later. I do wish to add more menus than just save states and manual viewings, if that's even possible. Some of the stuff in your video is visually appealing, but functionally falls short, I would want less video movement in the background of a menu system, it's too distracting.  I would prefer more of an interactive menu system, the metroid pause menu is fine, but like i said, I would want some other menus besides just save states and a manual menu. The animation in the background is fine. 

Edited June 1 by Shredder_guitar

[JoeViking245]

51 minutes ago, Shredder_guitar said:

I do wish to add more menus than just save states and manual viewings, if that's even possible.

I would want some other menus besides just save states and a manual menu

What other menu items are you thinking?  Like view game images or game-specific controller images? Others?  Just curious what things I may be missing out on.  

[PadeMoNiuM Prods]

2 hours ago, Shredder_guitar said:

How political of you.  Anyway, Pauses and shutdown screens will be done later. I do wish to add more menus than just save states and manual viewings, if that's even possible. Some of the stuff in your video is visually appealing, but functionally falls short, I would want less video movement in the background of a menu system, it's too distracting.  I would prefer more of an interactive menu system, the metroid pause menu is fine, but like i said, I would want some other menus besides just save states and a manual menu. The animation in the background is fine. 

Yes i I Chose Original Content Over Standard Metadata in my collections, every view is designed like a standalone scene.
Instead of filling the interface with standard metadata (like release date, developer, or genre), I made a deliberate choice to focus on original content:
= a world map for Zelda,
 =character lore and portraits for Mortal Kombat,
= or even narrative and visual elements that actually tell a story.

This isn’t a gap — it’s intentional.

Most of my collections use nearly every visual slot available (sometimes 12 views or more), and I’d rather have each transition feel like a moment of atmosphere, a visual breath, than one more block of information.
Even during those 10-second transitions or loading times, I want to keep the immersion unbroken , no extra "overlay" to ruin the mood.

It’s a different way to share passion , closer to cinema or an art exhibit than to a tech sheet.

When every space is occupied, thought-out, and balanced, adding an extra layer of metadata just to fill in can hurt readability — or even break the emotional flow.
It’s like throwing a voice-over on top of a powerful moment of silence: you don’t need it, because the scene already says it all.

But hey — that’s just how I see it!
What you’re doing totally makes sense and fits your own creative direction.
No criticism here ^^ just different moods, different vibes. And that’s what makes this scene so rich.

Edited June 1 by PadeMoNiuM Prods

[damageinc86]

2 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

What other menu items are you thinking?  Like view game images or game-specific controller images? Others?  Just curious what things I may be missing out on.  

He's probably thinking of pause menu items that rocketlancher has, and seeing them presented in that way.  It's a way more robust pause menu.

[damageinc86]

53 minutes ago, PadeMoNiuM Prods said:

= a world map for Zelda,
 =character lore and portraits for Mortal Kombat,
= or even narrative and visual elements that actually tell a story.

 

I know it can't do it as cinematic as yours.  But RL has a spot for world maps at least.

[JoeViking245]

9 minutes ago, damageinc86 said:

He's probably thinking of pause menu items that rocketlancher has, and seeing them presented in that way.  It's a way more robust pause menu.

Yeah, I got that part.  I've never used RL so was curious what other [pause] menu items there could be.  "Menu items" being clickable things vs. just the aesthetics of it all.

[Shredder_guitar]

1 hour ago, PadeMoNiuM Prods said:

Yes i I Chose Original Content Over Standard Metadata in my collections, every view is designed like a standalone scene.
Instead of filling the interface with standard metadata (like release date, developer, or genre), I made a deliberate choice to focus on original content:
= a world map for Zelda,
 =character lore and portraits for Mortal Kombat,
= or even narrative and visual elements that actually tell a story.

This isn’t a gap — it’s intentional.

Most of my collections use nearly every visual slot available (sometimes 12 views or more), and I’d rather have each transition feel like a moment of atmosphere, a visual breath, than one more block of information.
Even during those 10-second transitions or loading times, I want to keep the immersion unbroken , no extra "overlay" to ruin the mood.

It’s a different way to share passion , closer to cinema or an art exhibit than to a tech sheet.

When every space is occupied, thought-out, and balanced, adding an extra layer of metadata just to fill in can hurt readability — or even break the emotional flow.
It’s like throwing a voice-over on top of a powerful moment of silence: you don’t need it, because the scene already says it all.

But hey — that’s just how I see it!
What you’re doing totally makes sense and fits your own creative direction.
No criticism here ^^ just different moods, different vibes. And that’s what makes this scene so rich.

Just being honest here, at least a solid 1/3 of this post seems like passive aggressive jabs to me. just saying. Perhaps I'm interpreting it wrong, but I don't like my psychological buttons being pressed. It registers as more deconstructive criticism so that your talents seem better than mine when i never claimed to have any in the first place.  That said, I can appreciate different choices, and different creative strengths, it's good to have some checks and balances.  That said, a little constructive criticism. The 'lore' of your mortal combat theme would be better suited in a bezel frame off to the side or something, as a user of the them i would find it more annoying than anything else to have moving objects behind menu items that I'm trying to read...similar to your Sonic theme where the moving visuals are off to the side and then having a menu option.

The donkey kong loading screen visually is nice...but doesn't tell me anything, perhaps you could add the game history off to the side for something for me to read while i wait for the game to load.  The DK load screen is fine...not sure why you have a scrolling pause text item there...again you could have the game description scrolling to make it functionally useful or Just the static "Pause" text item there...else that entire bar is not needed.

The super mario loading screen is fine, but there is this annoying black and white bar right in the middle...don't know why that's needed at all. You could make the logo bigger and center it on the screen and it would be much cleaner and more visually appealing. 
The metroid pause screen is probably the most useful thing, but again as with other pause screens, I would want some additional menu items for things. 

Not sure what the Umbrella corp OS video is doing. Is that an entire video for the pause screen? If so, that's really long....also good english is "You are Dead"...not "You Are Died". The pause menu for Resident evil, is a bit much for my taste...some people may like it, but not for me. A better design idea would be something styled as an Umbrella Corp OS desktop  with the pause menu items somewhere with a T virus schematics video looping in the background. 

Edited June 1 by Shredder_guitar