ES add some news Artworks to Skin like in a VG Museum

[darknior]

Hi

I'm working with friends on a new Skin for a new project, a Video Game Museum for Raspberry Pi with ES : RVGM !
For the moment it working fine ... but i have some miss to finish it. maybe some one can help me and modify ES ?

• I show the game <video> if available or the static <image> if no video is available.
• I only start the <video> after a delay, and showing the static <image> until the video starts.
  The Static Image was the TitleShot, important to see before the video :)

<video>
  <delay>1.5</delay>
 <showSnapshotNoVideo>true</showSnapshotNoVideo>
 <showSnapshotDelay>true</showSnapshotDelay>
</video>

Exemple :

• But like you can see on the exemple, i also want to show the LOGO on top of game informations !
• I also want to show the Boxback available for many games, with a Slide or Fade effect at the same place of the BoxFront with a <delay> like 5 sec.
• We can also imagine to show the cartridge at the same place if available ...

The problem was i use :

• <marquee> for the BoxFront
• <image> for the TitleShot
• <video> for the Video Preview

and that's all ... it miss

• Logo
• BoxBack
• Cartridge

REQUEST :

• Can some one modify ES source code to add 2 or 3 more images available on gamelist.xml ?
  Now with the @pjft new beta release, who use the @fieldofcows OXM video source code, ES is really smoother and fastest, the Pi not Warm ... we have also 1 Go of RAM to load images and @fieldofcows fix the memory issue ...
  I think it is possible to try with <boxfront> <boxback> <boxcase> (cartridge)
  And let <marquee> for Arcade Game Marquee or Console Game Logo, <image> for the Titleshot / Screenshot before the <video>

• Can some one add option like <video> DELAY for these images, to Switch, Flip or Slide BoxFront, BoxBack and BoxCase to the Skin Engine ?
  Like that we can see all the informations of a game on a single one screen !
  And we can disable them for Arcade or some other obscure systems ...

<boxfront>
  <delay>4</delay>
 <showBoxback>true</showBoxback>
 <showBoxCase>false</showBoxCase>
</boxfront>

• For people that don't like VIDEO or don't have any free space on SDCard, we can also imagine to show with slide effect 3 or 4 images of a game ... (It is not for me, i will not use this option, but it is an idée for others ...)

<image>
  <delay>3</delay>
 <nameOfImage2>boxfront</nameOfImage2>
 <nameOfImage3>boxback</nameOfImage3>
 <nameOfImage4>boxcase</nameOfImage4>
</image>

Thanks a lot

[Gilou9999]

Hey , this setup looks promising! That's exactly the option i lack on my EmulationStation,
I have a big collection of box back and carts for various systems, and there's no easy way to show them on ES themes, maybe a "flip" like you said with the box front could help a lot, but it would need a timer like: display (at the same size/position) box front 3 seconds, then display box back 3 seconds, then display box front 3 seconds etc , it would be apprecited :)
If you like, i could share with you my collection of box back and carts

[Used2BeRX]

@Gilou9999 Good luck with this guys. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with the skins.

[Gilou9999]

Here is a video of the skin ("black steel") we are progressing on; like this you'll see how well EmulationStation can be whan you have multiples medias displayed at the same time using all the features of EmulationStation:

[darknior]

@Gilou9999 Yes like i want.
Like that when we scrool down, it is really smooth with the delay of 0.3 sec before the video start.

• Now we must found a solution to have the title shot before the video start
• Found a solution to see the Back Cover at the same place of the Front Cover after 5 sec for exemple...

[Used2BeRX]

@darknior That looks awesome guys. Can't wait to use it!

[darknior]

@Zigurana Ipost here my question for your branch :

https://github.com/RetroPie/EmulationStation/issues/132

I search a solution to have 3 more media to show in my skin.
3 images for Boxfront Boxback and maybe Boxcase ?
Can you help us ?
Thanks

[Zigurana]

@darknior
Hi! I've thought about this.
There is basically two ways to tackle this issue:

Quick&Dirty way

Think of all the types of artwork you want to add to the Metadata collection, add them in one go.

Pro :

1. trivial change

Con:

1. Maintanance burden, the next person with another wish will need to have the same thing handled.
2. One size maybe does not fit all?
3. Any performance impact hits everyone, also everyone who does not use these new metadata types.

The better but complicated way

Introduce a new resource file (probl XML), that describes the metadatatypes that a user has available. Read this file upon loading the theme, match the requested with the available metadata, and visualize the matches.

Pro:

1. maximum flexibility for users to introduce new metadata types, without needing additional coding/compilation to happen.
2. maintenance free
3. any performance hit is only on the users that explicitly want it.

Cons:

1. more complicated to implement
2. more complicated to use

So, I have no conclusion as of yet, just want to put this out there.

[darknior]

@Zigurana Thanks for your answer.
I already think to this with a friend and the best solution is the second.
Like it is used in Kodi.
Every one can add and use the media he want like he want without any new coding.
And it use less memory for guys who don't use many media.

But like you write it is harder to code :(
If i found some one who can code the second solution it will be the best.
If not i think i will try to code myself the 1rst easy solution for the moment.
Maybe you have the skill to do it, but for myself i haven't :(