Carbon Theme Suggestions

[sc0tt88]

http://i68.tinypic.com/vv1p2.jpg

I just chopped it around in photoshop, couldn't explain it any other way

Yeah I suppose I could cope without those 7 games... Just a suggestion!

I found the colour change thing by the way haha

[Rookervik]

Wow, it's really spaced out on your screen. Are you using 1920x1080? It does look pretty strange. Doesn't look like that on my screen. And if you have that much room for meta data, it would look better lined up. I'll see if I can line them up. Moving meta data takes enormous amounts of time... each one is pinned differently inside ES. You can't just go in and say "Ok, all of them have to start at 0.5 x" and then whatever Y... they won't line up.

I'm looking for a PCEngine CD logo but it appears it doesn't have one. TG16CD has a logo. (Only thinking about adding TG16CD to the theme because so many people have asked.)

[sc0tt88]

Ah it's probably the screen I'm using then? I'm not sure what resolution but it's a wide screen.

Yeah TG16CD is the one. I have a custom one, but copying the folder over overwrites your theme and makes that system look like the old version... Would like them all up to date!

[Rookervik]

@sc0tt88 I'm working on the PCEngine CD logo right now. They don't have a special logo saying PCECD, it's just CD-ROM2 so I'm on that at the moment. Using a grid to make sure it's clean.

[sc0tt88]

The only games I have are for "TG16 CD". Google image search that in quotes and there's a few logos for that one

[Rookervik]

@sc0tt88 Yes, TGCD is very easy to find. I'm done with both. PC Engine CD is just "CD-ROM2" so that's what it will say. Might tuck in the PC Engine logo next to it so you know WTF it's talking about. LOL.

For controllers... they both use the base system controller, so I don't have to re-draw them. Just re-use them.

[Rookervik]

Ok, think I got them. "tg-cd" and "pce-cd"

[Rookervik]

And Super Grafx even though it's a glorified PC Engine. Now, the REAL problem... there are FAR too many folders in themes now. 85 systems, and a global art folder. That's just... ridiculous.

I guess I should start working on Genesis 2 and 3 and CDX and Nomad systems. Except... yeah, they all use the same controllers, too. LOL. (to be fair, Genesis 1 used 3 button and Genesis 2 had the 6 button)

[sc0tt88]

Awesome, thanks! What's wrong with too many? :D

[Rookervik]

It's just real hard for themers to make complete themes with so many systems. When was the last time you created 160+ graphics for a theme? LOL Granted, some were skipped if I was able to find a svg online. Tho most I could not.

[monstermadeofman]

@Rookervik
Sorry I'm completely new to all of this and I'm struggling with editing the XML files properly. I pretty much just want to change the colour palette of carbon. Like the colours of the controller outlines, red line along the bottom. and the red line along the top in the game select screen.

Also changing the font?

I'm sorry to post this here but I didn't want to start a new thread for something so mundane and I apologise profusely if this is an inconvenience

[mattrixk]

@monstermadeofman

Fonts

• You can change the font by adding a new .ttf font file to the art folder, then doing a find/replace for "Cabin-Bold.ttf" to replace Cabin-Bold with your own font.
• Or you could delete Cabin-Bold.ttf from the artfolder, place your new .ttf there and rename it to Cabin-Bold.ttf. This way seems like cheating though.

Controller Overlay Colour
carbon.xmlhas the following chunk of code within <view name="system">:

<image name="ControllerOverlay" extra="true">
    <color>8b0000</color>
</image>

This controls the colour of the controller outline on the System View. Change this value to any Hex Colour Code you like. Do the same to <image name="CenterFade" extra="true"> and <image name="BottomBar" extra="true"> to change the colours of the glow around the Carousel and the bottom bar respectively.

Note that these 2 have 8 digits instead of 6. The last 2 digits dictate the opacity of the Element.

To change the Bottom and Top colours on the Basic and Detailed Views, change the <color> values of <image name="bottom" extra="true"> and <image name="top" extra="true"> (they are at the bottom of carbon.xml).

I hope this answers your questions. If you have any other questions, I just completed a theme tutorial. It's up on the wiki now if you want to check it out. It should give you a grounding in theme building.

[monstermadeofman]

@mattrixk

Thank you so much :)

I'm currently at work so I couldn't watch the video haha.

So kind of you man :)

[mattrixk]

@monstermadeofman No worries mate. Good luck.

[monstermadeofman]

@mattrixk

Hey man sorry to bother you about this once again. But how in gods name do I get into the ES Themes file from Samba? I'm really confused haha

[Rookervik]

@monstermadeofman

You can't do anything with themes through Samba in a basic configuration. Takes ftp or some command line file copies.

Only 'hack' way to do Samba is to grab a keyboard, get on your pi, log in, make a folder in ~/RetroPie/roms called something like 'transfers' then go to /etc/emulationstation/themes and find the file you want and copy it to the transfers folder. From there you can access it through Samba.

Can do the file hoops with SSH as well. Or copy it directly to your computer with WinSCP.

[mattrixk]

@monstermadeofman

I'm glad @Rookervik answered, as I have no idea what samba is. I use WinSCP so I can just browse the Pi's file tree as I would Windows Explorer. Then you can make the changes directly on the Pi.

[monstermadeofman]

Thanks guys. Just struggling to actually find the carbon theme folder. Not 100% on any of this if I'm honest. All I want is to edit the hex colour codes in it. But I have no idea where the actual files are to change any of them :/

[mattrixk]

@monstermadeofman

• Open Winscp and log in to your pi
• Browse to /home/pi/.emulationstation/themes
• The Carbon folder should be in there, and you want to make the change to carbon.xml.
• You can either edit the file directly on the Pi, or drag it to your computer, edit it, then drag it back.
• It's also a good idea to drag a backup copy of the file to your desktop first, just in case you break something, you can just copy it back to the Pi and overwrite the broken file.

I'm not at my Pi at the moment, but that should be the path you need (I stole it from @Rookervik's instructions on this thread).

[monstermadeofman]

AHHHH ok I've got it now