Vectrex Overlay Artwork

Threepwood

Hello!

So, my two systems are running good. One thing I still want to do: Overlay Artwork for Vectrex.

I do have my Mame artworks and bezels working, and I would like to have the same for the Vectrex.

I already downloaded a bunch of overlay artwork files (*.gif)

But how can I integrate them in the vectrex emulator?

I'm sure some of you have this feature, I could need a little advise here

Thanks and regards

mediamogul

@Threepwood

Direct support could definitely be improved, but it is possible. Below is a link to a discussion from the RecalBox forums that details how to achieve this. One of the posts near the bottom even has a link to all the overlays for those who might need them. I have a full set already configured on my Wii and have meant to do the same in RetroPie for some time, as these particular games lose a lot of their appeal without their overlays in my opinion.

http://blog.recalbox.com/forums/topic/vectrex-with-overlays/

Edit: Just an FYI for anyone willing and capable to improve support in this area, the stand-alone Vectrex emulator on the Wii handles overlays in a very user-friendly manner. It simply requires that you match the name of the overlay image files to the name of the rom and have them in the same directory, where the emulator will then set one to the other automatically. I realize that actually implementing something like that is easier said than done, but it's a nice feature and worth mentioning.

Threepwood

@mediamogul

Ok, I have read the thread about the recalbox you posted.

Generating the config files is no problem.

But I don't understand it fully. First cfg file named like the rom has to be in the rom folder, with the specifics for the overlay, ok, so far so good.

Second cfg file comes in the overlay folder, ok... but what has to be written in the second cfg file? The same as in the first? Does there has to be a second cfg file for every game like the first cfg file?

And what means:
"I used this command to lauch the game

If [[ “$emulator” == “vectrex” ]]; then
/recalbox/scripts/runcommand.sh 4 “$retroarchbin -L $retroarchcores/vecx_libretro.so –config /recalbox/configs/retroarch/vecx_libretro.cfg –appendconfig /recalbox/share/roms/vectrex/$filenameNoExt.cfg \”$1\””
fi"

Does he launch the emulator every time per manual command?

What's up with this "appendconfig"?

Unfortunately my knowledge about these things is not good...

I don't know if I can adapt these 1:1 to the retropie system

Maybe someone can help

mediamogul

@Threepwood said in Vectrex Overlay Artwork:

Maybe someone can help

Sure, i was planning on looking into it myself anyway. As I get time throughout the day, I'll throw some spaghetti at it.

Floob

I imagine you can just drop a file gamename.vec.cfg into the rom directory and specify the overlay.
A bit like this, obviously set sensible resolution details.

input_overlay = /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/overlays/arcade-bezel-overlays/alien3.cfg
input_overlay_enable = true
input_overlay_opacity = 0.800000
input_overlay_scale = 1.000000

custom_viewport_width = "1024"
custom_viewport_height = "800"
custom_viewport_x = "446"
custom_viewport_y = "120"

aspect_ratio_index = "22"

video_scale_integer = false

mediamogul

@Floob

I'm glad you chimed in here @Floob. It's actually your videos that I was just referencing to try and set this up. According to the previous link, vague reference is made to the following examples of a test config file and image. Placing these two files in the vectrex rom folder and naming the .cfg file the same as the rom didn't work. As I have very little experience with overlays in RetroArch, my next attempt was going to involve extrapolating information from your past videos, but perhaps you might have some direct input on the problem with either of these files.

Edit: Based on your own example, the config syntax seems wildly off here.

overlays = 1

overlay0_overlay = scramble.png

overlay0_full_screen = true

overlay0_descs = 0

And an accompanying 1920x1080 image file:
undefined

Floob

That config looks ok. So in a relevant directory, lets call it
/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/overlays/vectrex

put this as scramble.cfg

overlays = 1

overlay0_overlay = scramble.png

overlay0_full_screen = true

overlay0_descs = 0

as well as the scramble.png file in the same dir.

Then in the vectrex rom folder put a file similar to the one I posted above, referencing the overlay to be used as
/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/overlays/vectrex/scramble.cfg
You'll probably want a much lighter opacity setting.

mediamogul

@Floob

Very keen! I'll give it a try later this evening. Also, seeing as how that was someone else's test image, is it appropriate to make the dimensions match the display size by adding the pillar-box formatting, or would it be better handled by an additional setting in the config file?

Floob

The scramble.png image from the emumovies fullset on that thread is 936x1193 so maybe resize it so the height is 1080.
I make that 847x1080

Then you just need to play with viewport width and height
I think the res for vectrex is 330 × 410 so maintain that ratio as you fill the area on the overlay.
They will probably all work out the same, so once youve done it for one game it will work for all.

You could try 825 x 1025

mediamogul

Well, much to my disappointment, the images at emumovies are very poorly produced and borderline unusable. However, I had better luck at http://vectrexmuseum.com. The overlay images there are much more natural looking and won't have to be upscaled nearly as much as others I've found. @Threepwood, I'll work on adapting them for use in RetroArch and post a link here when I'm done. @Floob, thanks again for your help. If you look up RetroArch Overlays online, your's is practically the only name that comes up, making you the authority on such things and the reputation is well deserved.

mediamogul

Well, these turned out alright. It's much more appealing to play these games with the intended overlays. I had forgotten how fun 'Armor Attack' is. It's even a step up from the Atari 2600 'Combat' in a few areas (mostly pacing).

undefined

Below is a link to all the pre-configured files. I set it up to where everything inside the 'vectrex' folder here will work when placed inside /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/vectrex/. You'll notice that the initial .cfg files each have the prefix names of the rom files they are referencing. Anyone looking to use this setup will need to change these names to match their own rom names.

https://mega.nz/#!Gk8WSKIS!cGFrmmbL2jcRZHRd92aY-tw_KKACcTqfVQG84ryJtl0

Edit: It should also be noted that I only made overlays for the original 24 Vectrex release titles that can fully be emulated through RetroArch at this time. There are quite a few homebrew titles out there and you can use the files here as a template to include them later if need be.

Threepwood

Thanks @Floob and @mediamogul !

You made my day, everything is working!

Awesome! Thanks alot!

caver01

@mediamogul said in Vectrex Overlay Artwork:

Well, these turned out alright. It's much more appealing to play these games with the intended overlays. I had forgotten how fun 'Armor Attack' is. It's even a step up from the Atari 2600 'Combat' in a few areas.

I like what you are doing here with the overlays, but poor Armor Attack has jaggies on the vector lines. Have you tried the Arcade version in AdvanceMAME? It looks fantastic. Vector really needs to run at the native resolution of your display. The rectilinear shapes look fine (square corners) but anything diagonal is going to benefit from high-res.

EDIT: Maybe there's a way to specify the resolution of the emulation?

mediamogul

@caver01

The arcade version is most certainly superior. Playing the Vectrex version of any arcade title to me is more about the novelty of the experience, in much the same way that I have a lot of fun playing some of the technically inferior raster graphic arcade ports on something like ColecoVision. I've made good use of the vector emulation techniques from your excellent thread and the results are truly spectacular. One of these days, maybe Vecx will recieve a little more development love and a more authentic look can be applied there as well.

caver01

@mediamogul Yeah, I hear ya. That makes sense. I was always fascinated by the whole plastic overlay thing, so I guess this feeds a lot of that curiosity! It definitely has me inspired to mess with overlays. I'd like to try some things with the curvature effect to simulate a bezel. I am not going all out with a fake TV set or anything, just some proper gradients to look like there is a bezel in the corners.

mediamogul

@caver01

I think that would look great.

celly

@mediamogul I can't seem to get these to work. Placed your files in the vectrex folder in the roms folder, I made sure all the .cfg files where named to my rom names, nothing. It's probably just some Monday detail I'm missing...

mediamogul

@celly Could you have possibly left off the one of the extensions? If your rom is name named 'spinball.vec', the config file would then be 'spinball.vec.cfg'.

celly

@mediamogul Yup! That was it. Wow, I knew it was going to be something stupid like that. Thank you for the help!

mediamogul

@celly No problem.