Animated Screensavers

Malixx

Hey guys, I think I have some issues.

With the new video format of 32 seconds and the Swap Video set to 31s the black screen between screensavers are at least 5 seconds long!

But when I change Swap Video to 30s it's fine, but its too soon for the fade away...

Is it me only or should I cut the videos back to 30 seconds? (But if I remember correctly, it was the same before)

DarishZone

@Malixx I've not noticed that... 31sc set on ES seems fine, less will make the fade cut.
I got issues with YT videos and bgm, tracks stutter for a second during fade out, with your new mega videos everything seems perfect.

Malixx

@darishzone But I have the same issue with the new ones :(

DarishZone

@malixx said in Animated Screensavers:

@darishzone But I have the same issue with the new ones :(

You mean the music stutter?

Malixx

@darishzone No no, I meant the black screen for 5 seconds between the screensavers and also it took a few seconds to start when I press select :/

DarishZone

Very odd. I have 2 seconds of black screen between fades, pretty standard, sounds like your pi is stressed by other process? or not properly ventilated? Seems a system exhaust to me.

Malixx

UPDATE (24/07/2018):

Added Chrono Trigger screensaver.
Added Donkey Kong Junior screensaver.
Added Dragon Quest screensaver.
Added Ecco the Dolphin screensaver.
Added GoldenEye 007 screensaver.
Added The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time screensaver.

lycros

There was a fix linked up above by @cyperghost where some of the steps to get it working were to create a video.txt file and then adding the video path though emulation station GUI metadata editor. Well you don't have to do that. Originally I had those same issues and editing metadata that way resolved it but the root cause was that I was using selph's scraper and my gamelists were stored in the roms folder but I was editing the files in /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/gamelists.

I started a new build and only used the built in ES scraper and it worked fine to add this code to the end of one of my systems gamelist.xml files.

<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Advance Wars.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Bomberman.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Breath of Fire III.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Castlevania.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Chrono Trigger.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Crash Bandicoot.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Donkey Kong Country.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Donkey Kong Junior.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Donkey Kong.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Dragon Quest.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Earthworm Jim.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Ecco the Dolphin.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/F-Zero.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Final Fantasy IV.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Final Fantasy VI.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/GoldenEye.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Joust.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Mega Man X.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Metal Gear Solid.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Metal Gear.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Metal Slug.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Metroid Fusion.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Metroid II - Return of Samus.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Metroid.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Pac-Man.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Pokemon.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Sonic the Hedgehog 3.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Sonic the Hedgehog.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Spyro the Dragon.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Star Fox.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Street Fighter II.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Super Mario 64.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Super Mario Kart.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Super Mario World.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Super Metroid.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Super Smash Bros.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Tekken 3.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Tetris.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/The Legend of Zelda.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Tomb Raider.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/Turrican.mp4</video></game>
<game><path /><video>/home/pi/RetroPie/screensavers/UFO - Enemy Unknown.mp4</video></game>

chops888

@lycros this worked for me. thank you so much. and thank you to OP for providing these animated screensavers. they look amazing!

firemoth333

I got these screensavers up and running on my retropie and I was super inspired by them!

I thought I'd try to create one of my own for NES Dr. Mario. I've photoshopped most the elements I would need and tried them in a program I thought could animate them but it's not powerful enough. :/

Tomorrow I'm going to cut out and photoshop the last part (the 3 germs).

If I gave you all the finished pieces would you have some time to create a Screen saver animation like the others? I've attached a link to some screen shots of my progress and what I had in mind.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MfDMR2_c2iOWYHWHiYcVToKdazpK6RIH?usp=sharing

Brigane

@Malixx Oh my god, I totally forgot about this great thread. I would like to request a Bubble Bobble screensaver, if you're up for it.

firemoth333

@firemoth333 @Malixx
I've finished creating all the elements. Everything is sized well enough for 1920x1080. I just don't have a program that can animate that ken burns/netflix effect and spit out a MP4.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16pjbwCg7O8rWLEPymAKkoAZ2YcChQJUs/view?usp=sharing

firemoth333

@firemoth333 @Malixx

So it turns out I have After Effects. I didn't know because I don't know how to use it. So I taught myself how to build this in after effects. So here is my attempt at a Dr. Mario saver.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1chM9-1dgOhc-2-paG1IoSVzA_q3Ah467/view?usp=sharing

the original file is 1.2GB. I was able to knock it down to 20MB but I lose too much quality after that. So if anyone knows good settings for exporting from After Effects or converting to MP4 let me know.

Malixx

@Brigane I'd like to get back to it some day (I don't have so much free time lately) I have already started a Bubble Bobble one back then though!

@firemoth333 Well done I couldn't do it better, this is how I scale down the file:

I use Media Encoder CC with these preset settings:

Format: H.264
No Audio
1920x1080 (you can try 720p but the gain is not significant)
Frame Rate: Based On Source
Aspect: Square Pixels (1.0)
TV Standard: Based On Source
Encoding Settings:
Profile: High
Level: 4.2
Target Bitrate: 1
Maximum Bitrate: 2

But there is an alternative if you don't have this software, back then I was uploading the videos on YouTube and then when you download the screensaver from there you will get a decent scale down!

Brigane

@Malixx said in Animated Screensavers:

@Brigane I'd like to get back to it some day (I don't have so much free time lately) I have already started a Bubble Bobble one back then though!

Glad to hear that you are on the case, and no rush, just take your time. I'm just anxious to get a screensaver for my Bubble Bobble bartop someday, although a Bubble Bobble theme would be even better :)

Malixx

@Brigane - Added Bubble Bobble screensaver.

Brigane

@Malixx Wauw mate, this looks amazing! I have a cabinet like something near this bezel (except mine is a widescreen cabinet), would it be possible to change the background color to something close to this?

Malixx

@Brigane Sure ;) https://mega.nz/#!rXgEnCxa!-K_pwbRb0aUpxrffeyL2nRuigOhS3RMaFCZDv3bd7k8

Brigane

@Malixx Much appreciated, keep up the fantastic work! :)

clownnut

is this method still work for the newest retropie?
i am trying to get this to work, spend hours with no luck.
i have an mp4 file in RetroPie/ScreenSaver folder and
edit
opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/gamelists/retropie/gamelist.xml
with
<game><path /><video>~/RetroPie/ScreenSavers/ScreenSaver.mp4</video></game>
no luck
also try to edit
opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/gamelists/fba/gamelist.xml
add <game><path /><video>~/RetroPie/ScreenSavers/ScreenSaver.mp4</video></game>
no luck.
screen saver behavior set to random video.
i am running retropie on a laptop that run ubuntu.
any help will be great.