Carbon Theme Suggestions

Rookervik · 28 Sept 2016, 02:08

Also, chatted with the devs and the issue of the multiple mame entries in ES was directly addressed with the addition of the "Arcade" folder. I haven't used it myself, so I can't tell you any more about it. But I do know it's a single location for all mame games to appear and they should be able to be set to launch with their specific emulator.

As far as adding the themes for people to use if they want, that's fine. I can finish up these themes and add them to Carbon. I doubt I will add them to Pixel or Luminous since there's already an arcade section to deal with mame.

DrMaxwell · 28 Sept 2016, 02:38

I have some SVGs that I'm going to be adding on to the Carbon theme on my setup and was wondering if there is a repository I could possibly upload them to in order for more people to have access and maybe save you some time?

Rookervik · 28 Sept 2016, 13:56

@DrMaxwell I don't know of any repositories for people to upload custom work. Perhaps Github? @herb_fargus would have more information on something like that. I have personally used dropbox to store config files and artwork for people to use.

I think it would be neat though. Like some sort of mod section. Some users like one option while most other users like it another way. Maybe we could have a mod section where you could download the files needed to change yours to the way you like. And it would not be something the devs would need to worry about. They have enough work as it is.

Rookervik · 28 Sept 2016, 17:09

Ok, got the logos re-created and in their folders. Just need to test it and send it to herb. They are all modified to be as large as possible on the ES carousel. AdvanceMame, for instance, is a very long logo, so it would actually be quite small in the carousel. So I offset the logo so it would be larger.

battlecat · 28 Sept 2016, 17:14

@Rookervik
I have chosen not to use the Arcade folder because of three things.

The first is that there were existing folders for each version of MAME that I had ROMS for.
The second is because I did not want to mix and intermingle romsets.
The third is that I have seen on my RPi3 that one MAME romset will have roms that work in one version of MAME but will not work correctly in a newer version of MAME.

I will end up doing the customization manually so that the menu options are "more correct".

Once more thank you for everyone's hard work. I love this project even when all I do is cause consternation.

--BC

battlecat · 28 Sept 2016, 17:15

@Rookervik Okay that is like WOW! Love it. OMG. Much WOW. LOL

Nice work.

--BC

meleu · 28 Sept 2016, 18:03

The guys from the RetroPie project should be on those "People are Awesome" compilations. :D

UDb23 · 28 Sept 2016, 22:21

@Rookervik thanks for implementing it. Concerning the logos there's no need to recreate them, all possibile variations of Mame version logos ( specifically tested for Carbon) are already available in svg format in the logo pack I mentioned in my previous post.

Rookervik · 29 Sept 2016, 00:02

@UDb23 Very nice work. I made some of my own so don't worry. Made sure they fit properly, and are visible on both light and dark backgrounds.

Keep in mind that these added themes will only work if you edit your es_systems.cfg. I can probably set up a download for the es_system.cfg and people can just replace it.

KillerQ · 15 Jan 2017, 19:40

@Rookervik said in Carbon Theme Suggestions:

@mattrixk

Correct. Once an image is loaded into VRAM, that's all it will take. The images in the background on Pixel are what, 480x270? They get stretched to full screen.

You can find the same thing on the Simple theme. The wallpapers are 720p. If you reduce them in size, by a power of 2, you can actually avoid the white screen of no-ramminess. But you see the pixels since the image is stretched. In Pixel's case, that's perfect. :D

Rook,

Thanks so much for our hard work. I'm going to utilize your carbon centered theme in my portrait mode cabinet in order to allow the text to flow better.

I'll have to test after I scrape with screenshots and metadata to see if and how it shows in your theme.

Thanks again!

KillerQ · 16 Jan 2017, 04:31

@Rookervik said in Carbon Theme Suggestions:

@lilbud

Well, RetroPie isn't a job. No one gets paid for working on the project. I do this art because I enjoy it. =^_^=

Are there some cases in which lowering the font size won't take affect? The joystix font won't seem to scale down for me with the carbon centered theme.

Also, I have successfully scaled the image size down, in hopes of buying more real estate and having the text list area increase to allow more games to populate on screen. The top limit of the game list didn't raise when the image shrunk - just a blank buffer exists now where the Larger image edges used to reside. Is that list able to be raised so that more can be listed?

I ask because, when used in portrait mode, the long list of games is nice.

Thanks again for everything.

Rookervik · 16 Jan 2017, 04:37

@KillerQ Check both your carbon.xml and your individual theme.xmls. Theme.xmls will overwrite carbon.xml.

KillerQ · 16 Jan 2017, 17:55

@Rookervik said in Carbon Theme Suggestions:

@KillerQ Check both your carbon.xml and your individual theme.xmls. Theme.xmls will overwrite carbon.xml.

thanks.

I'm completing my image that's dedicated to vertical/portrait MAME only. I plan I using tie carbon centered theme or your pixel theme. I just have to see if I can figure out how to manipulate your pixel theme so that it is centered with a medium-ish photo bear the top, and then a list of games beneath. Similar to your cArbon centered - just with pixels!

I'll keep you posted.

Rookervik · 16 Jan 2017, 18:54

@KillerQ You should check this link, KillerQ. Mattrixk made a great tutorial on how to theme. Also be sure to check any graphical assets to see if you are allowed to use them in your own work.

KillerQ · 16 Jan 2017, 19:53

@Rookervik said in Carbon Theme Suggestions:

@KillerQ You should check this link, KillerQ. Mattrixk made a great tutorial on how to theme. Also be sure to check any graphical assets to see if you are allowed to use them in your own work.

will do, thanks!!

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Creating-Your-Own-EmulationStation-Theme

mattrixk · 16 Jan 2017, 22:26

I saw the tutorial linked in a Lifehacker article yesterday. Feels good.

KillerQ · 16 Jan 2017, 22:38

@mattrixk

Awesome, and great tutorial. Very concise step-by-step.

mattrixk · 16 Jan 2017, 22:51

@KillerQ Cheers. I'm glad people can make use of it. It took me weeks to put that thing together (basically lunch times at work, and late at night when everyone else was asleep were the only times I had to work on it).

KillerQ · 17 Jan 2017, 00:14

@mattrixk said in Carbon Theme Suggestions:

@KillerQ Cheers. I'm glad people can make use of it. It took me weeks to put that thing together (basically lunch times at work, and late at night when everyone else was asleep were the only times I had to work on it).

I'm in the same boat!! Much appreciated.

Peace!

backstander · 3 Feb 2017, 05:13

I would love to see a PC-FX theme for Carbon!
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/PC-FX

I don't know who did the controller graphics and top banner logo for all the systems on the Wiki but it would also be nice to have them made for the PC-FX entry. I suck at graphic design!