EmulationStation Toolkit - Theme Making Helper - Update

EctoOne

@mattrixk Question, the point of this is just to make themecreation easier right?
I mean ES doesn't need to be able to actually run the games. If so, i even can save a lot more work by editing the es_system.cfg (which i need to do anyway to let every system appear in ES) to make 4-5 real systems with different gamelist variations and point all other systems to the same folder with just 1 fake rom and an empty gamelist. It even would be possible to only make one complete system and while creating the theme have the user switch between the views via the ES option.

mattrixk

@EctoOne That's a really interesting idea. I'll have to try that out. If it works it will really cut down on the amount of resources (images, videos) that the Toolkit needs.

EctoOne

@mattrixk It does work, i have some more systems to add and then i can upload my rom folder with the modified ed_system.cfg. Will do it in a few hours, busy right now.

FlyingTomahawk

@EctoOne said in EmulationStation Toolkit - Theme Making Helper - Update:

have the user switch between the views via the ES option.

That is what I was looking for. Is that option feature available for ES on windows?
That would be really helpful for theme creation.
Instead of creating different gamelists just swap via menu.

EctoOne

@FlyingTomahawk It is available in the latest build from @jdrassa https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/9094/updated-emulationstation-for-windows

@mattrixk I'm done with the setup. It's only 1,20 MB unzipped.
See if you can download it here(removed). All Media is in the _media folder. Maybe you can/should replace them like you want (especially the video IDK where i got that).
The themes folder only contains another folder with all systems. Some sort of a template if i may say so.
Tell me when you got the file, i will remove the link afterwards.

FlyingTomahawk

@EctoOne

Yeah, unfortunately that 32bit version doesn't run for me. Throwing out some dll error. Didn't had that issue with his previous z-index version.

jdrassa

@FlyingTomahawk The select view option should be available in the z-index version as well. Try this version. It is the latest automated build. I wouldn't expect any dll difference between this and the z-index version.

https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/01kygo78h8k8leo0/artifacts/EmulationStation-Win32.zip

FlyingTomahawk

@jdrassa

Thanks. I'll give it a go after work today and report back asap.

mattrixk

@EctoOne: Thanks mate, I got the file. That's some nice work. I have some ideas for how to streamline the whole thing, which I'll start exploring once my lunch break starts in a couple of hours.

@jdrassa: What does that build include? Does it have any of the Kids Mod or Favourites that @Zigurana was working on, or the Genre Filter (I can't remember who made that one)?

jdrassa

@mattrixk That build is the latest from the RetroPie repository. No kids mode or favorites, but it should have the genre filter.

mattrixk

Awesome, thanks @jdrassa. I love the Kids Mod and Fav Filter, but they aren't really essential for testing (unless you want to test Kid Mode icons). I suppose the Genre Filter isn't essential for testing either, but I still love it.

I had a little play with it at lunch, and it does have the ability to swap between views, which is the really important part.

FlyingTomahawk

@jdrassa

Just tested and getting this dll error

MSVCR100.dll missing

I have 13 different C++ packages installed still no luck.
Running Windows 7 (64bit) and that dll file is inside the system32 folder.
All other ES windows versions run just fine.

lilbud

@jdrassa said in EmulationStation Toolkit - Theme Making Helper - Update:

No kids mode or favorites

I really wish this would be added to the offical retropie ES, I have it running on my arcade cabinet and it works really well, especially kiosk mode.

FlyingTomahawk

@jdrassa

Finally got your latest release working. Looks like I was missing a Visual C++ windows update, duh!
Now I wanted to know if I missed something. I have that nice black ES screen at the beginning, I can swap between views (finally!) and I can see videos and all but I don't see any images. Is there a particular piece of code that I need to add to the themes xml file?
I found your z-index topic where you link to the documentation but that link is dead (404).

jdrassa

@FlyingTomahawk Great to hear that you got it working. When you say that you don't see any images, do you mean then image that should be shown before the video loads? If so that was a bug that was recently fixed. I will post a link to an updated build later today.

Here is an updated link to the z-index documentation:
https://github.com/RetroPie/EmulationStation/blob/master/THEMES.md#element-rendering-order-with-z-index

Here is a link to an updated build that fixes the issue I described above:
https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/ddhkrfv4ug8wmmmm/artifacts/EmulationStation-Win32.zip

FlyingTomahawk

@jdrassa

Yes, that is the image I meant. But you got it fixed already. Well done!
And thank you for the links, most grateful.

red2blue

how the hell do i use this??? is there a UI for building the theme? all i see that i can run is the rookervik theme helper that just gives me coordinates?? how do i build the theme itself?

herb_fargus

@red2blue you code in the coordinates given to place the different assets. There is a theme guide on the wiki.

red2blue

@herb_fargus ah okay. i prefer the other theme editor imo. is there anything wrong with that one? i havent fully used it yet but looks so much more simpler

EctoOne

Hey @mattrixk do you still have that es_system package around that i uploaded for you a while ago? I accidentally lost mine and I'm to lazy to redo that. So if you still have it, it would be nice if you could reupload it.