Low Resolution Theme

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 19:36

@Rookervik said in Low Resolution Theme:

The only way you'd be able to put both box art and screenshots would be to edit each scraped image, individually, and create an image containing both. Very time consuming, I highly suggest against it.

Okay, scrap that idea, then. I'm mostly brainstorming here. Obviously I don't have a grasp on the technical limitations of ES.

Can ES only show one or the other?

On your original mockup (black background SoR screenshot), there was no room for anything else. On the one to the right of it, the SoR screenshot leaves room for boxart below it.

Your 3rd mockup (with the game list full-width below the screenshot) is by far the best, IMO. In theory, there may be room for boxart+screenshot side-by-size above the game list, but I really don't know (or know if it's doable). I would not be in favor of creating new images.

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 19:38

@Rookervik said in Low Resolution Theme:

Could try one of these options:

#1 Leave the entire game list a little light, then highlight the game with black text.

#2 Or Black text and a very, very translucent highlight.

I really like #2, but I'd have to see it on the small LCD before I say it's better than #1.

#1 would be good if it didn't make the deselected games unreadable.

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 19:42

ES can only show one image for each game. There is no way to script in an ability for it to show multiple images for each game. ES is very very limited. Pretty much any trick you can think of has been done in Carbon and Luminous and Pixel. You might want to check out the EmulationStation Theming Readme to see what ES has options for. It would take too long for me to make a bullet list on things it can do. :D

Sadly, several points in the README were never implemented. Such as: event sound effects, music, and grid layout.

lilbud · 21 Jul 2016, 20:12

@Rookervik Where is this luminous theme you speak of?

Flavor · 21 Jul 2016, 20:13

@lilbud said in Low Resolution Theme:

@Rookervik Where is this luminous theme you speak of?

See https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2600/carbon-light/

Rookervik · 21 Jul 2016, 21:10

@lilbud Yeah, it's what I decided to call the Carbon Light theme. Since it wasn't very Carbon-y. LOL

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 00:49

This is actually running in EmulationStation at 320x240 screen resolution: (Changed font to be bigger)

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 01:09

@Rookervik I like that! Let me know if/when there's a zip to test. Thanks!

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 01:23

Test it out. See if the retropie menu looks bad. Might take some custom work. Or not. Might be just fine. /SHRUGS/

I might use this as my default theme. Ta heck with meta data :P

Download MiniLumi Beta 1: Yes I have a folder this time, QQ

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 01:36

@Rookervik ;) Thanks, I'll try it in the morning.

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 14:13

This is REALLY good compared to anything else I've seen so far.

It looks a bit goofy for any game that doesn't have an image, though. Is there a way to pop in a default image or something? I guess I should read the Theming Readme. :)

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 14:27

@Flavor Eh, there are a couple things you could do.

One would be to place an image in the background, always, that says "No Image"... the box art will go over it, and then any game without a box art would show what's behind.

The other is to FRIKKIN GET BOX ART FOR IT! Haha. Do it! Fix it up! :D

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 14:38

Here's another thing that looks a bit funny. Keep in mind that this is likely caused by the LCD being 240x320 viewed on its side (as opposed to 320x240 viewed natively). The fades (or other wholesale screen changes) get a diagonal tearing. I don't really notice these ingame as much, but they are very evident when the theme fades in/out. See

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 14:41

@Rookervik said in Low Resolution Theme:

@Flavor Eh, there are a couple things you could do.

One would be to place an image in the background, always, that says "No Image"... the box art will go over it, and then any game without a box art would show what's behind.

I like this idea. The other idea could be to just have a horizontal line between the game list and the art areas, so it's visually set apart.

The other is to FRIKKIN GET BOX ART FOR IT! Haha. Do it! Fix it up! :D

Heh, yeah, but I do have some that were unreleased or homebrew that won't have art. I guess I haven't played with the scraper enough to know if there's a way to grab a default image in these cases.

As an aside, the pictureless game shown in my screenshots is Motocross Challenge. It was an unreleased GBA game.
https://www.unseen64.net/2009/05/19/motocross-challenge-gba-cancelled/

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 15:01

I'd get screenshots for those unreleased ones. Or whatever. Haha.

I can do the horozontal bar... I like separators. Last time I suggested it I had a bunch of people comment on hating it. SO MUCH HATE! LOL.

Still, probably not a bad idea to put some text behind the box art with "No Image." Probably good practice... unless someone uses an image with transparency... like we do with the RetroPie menu. But it's sort of a special case, it has it's own theme.xml that changes some things.

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 15:13

@Flavor And yeah, tearing is something we all have to just deal with. It's how the screen refreshes. My awesome little GP2x Wiz has diagonal screen tearing on fast-moving scenes. Otherwise it's gorgeous. For you, looks like just the parts of the theme that scroll fast get torn. Center carousel bar doesn't tear. Makes sense. Not really anything we can do with it. I think it can be fixed with some driver tweaking (not that I know how to do any of that stuff)

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 16:07

@Rookervik said in Low Resolution Theme:

@Flavor And yeah, tearing is something we all have to just deal with. It's how the screen refreshes. My awesome little GP2x Wiz has diagonal screen tearing on fast-moving scenes. Otherwise it's gorgeous. For you, looks like just the parts of the theme that scroll fast get torn. Center carousel bar doesn't tear. Makes sense. Not really anything we can do with it. I think it can be fixed with some driver tweaking (not that I know how to do any of that stuff)

The GP2X had the EXACT same problem. That's why I know about it. I worked (homebrew) on those systems back in the day. They had a portrait LCD packed into a landscape console. It was probably cheaper to manufacture, but it created problems (like tearing).

Back in the GP32 days, I remember using an assembly routine to do the screen translation. I've recently wondered if that could help here, but I don't know enough about Pi hacking yet.
http://gp32wolf3d.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/gp32wolf3d/Wolf3D/xlatgp32.s?revision=1.2&view=markup

Heh, this is entertaining to me. When I was looking up info to back up my memory, one of the top hits was an article I wrote.
http://play-asia-rulez.blogspot.com/2009/05/gp2x-wiz-review-ready-to-rock.html

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 16:17

Nice! OMG, please to port Emulation Station to Wiz. I would love you forever. LOL My little Wiz is so great. I love it. Even made a console wallpaper for it. http://ryokai.deviantart.com/art/GP2X-Wiz-Wallpaper-525478975

Flavor · 22 Jul 2016, 16:23

@Rookervik said in Low Resolution Theme:

Nice! OMG, please to port Emulation Station to Wiz. I would love you forever. LOL My little Wiz is so great. I love it. Even made a console wallpaper for it. http://ryokai.deviantart.com/art/GP2X-Wiz-Wallpaper-525478975

Here's the best you're likely to get out of me:
http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/wiz.cgi?0,0,0,0,71,189
(versions for GP32, GP2X, PSP, DC, etc : https://sourceforge.net/projects/koyote-land/files/koyote-land/RACE/ and http://psp.akop.org/race)

Rookervik · 22 Jul 2016, 16:44

Ok, your suggestion for a "Default Image" was amazing. I've not even though of it in EmulationStation. I know I added it to my Rom Launcher.

So I added "No Image" to the light theme, Luminous. Looks great. Thank you for the suggestion. I'll add it to the other themes as well.