PS1 theme
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Hello all. Ive been coming up with ideas for a PS1 theme, but don't know where to start as far as making the theme. I'm tempted to just start with a known theme and editing the graphics. Im a very visual person and is there an app to help make a theme with a vertical carousel and place objects where I would like? For the rom list i would like the game list on the left and artwork and other info on the the right. If anyone is willing to set up a blank template theme to get me started, I'm more than willing to take the help. I am making the graphics myself so far.
Heres what the main menu in my head looks like. The final will look a lot better. Just note this is not a theme at all yet. Im just slowing making the icons and graphics for when i do build it.
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Isn't that more of the PS2 interface?
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I've been getting my feet dirty into theme making. Learning a lot. Still have much to learn. So i started hacking up the steampunk theme to learn how to make a vertical menu to work. Ive come up with this so far.
Sorry about the bad pics. As said before, This is a WIP. No timetable. Any help would be nice. just run it by me. -
@ecks no. Thats ps1.
screenshot from the original PS1. I recreated the look myself. didn't borrow any assets from ps1 screenshots. -
@ecks no. Thats ps1.
screenshot from the original PS1. I recreated the look myself. didn't borrow any access from ps1 screenshots.Ya i haven't touched my PS1 in ages because it doesn't really work anymore which is why i am thinking of turning it into a Pi Station (also it is the mini one i own which i am going to do a lot of gutting and glue a fan on the top cover).
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aven't touched my PS1 in ages because it doesn't really work anymore which is why i am thinking of turning it into a Pi Station (also it is the mini one i own which i am going to do a lot of gutting and glue a fan on the top cover).
Been there, Done that.
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aven't touched my PS1 in ages because it doesn't really work anymore which is why i am thinking of turning it into a Pi Station (also it is the mini one i own which i am going to do a lot of gutting and glue a fan on the top cover).
Been there, Done that.
Mine is actually going to be done a lot different than what you did because where the memory card and controller port will be i will 3D print a USB pop out like thing supporting 4 controllers.
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@ecks Cool. Mine has 2 usb ports on the memory card one slot, plus the original controller ports work with original PS1 controllers. I wish now that i look back is to put 1 USB port per memory card slot. Too late now. (actually too much of a pain to redo that)
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@lostless I'm not a theme expert, but the themes I've tried to make were always based off an existing one, for sure.
I believe there's a pack around the forums for Windows, with a theme starter kit as well, but I don't recall the exact name for it. I think @mattrixk could know, though?
Still, best of luck!
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@pjft Ive made a ton of progress. Ive actually learned how to theme via XML in one day. How? No idea. I guess I iz smartzzzz. Am i perfect? no. the theme, once i figure it all out, should be done pretty quickly. In fact, the core of the theme is almost done. Just got to start adding the systems soon. The hardest part is making those dang paint splatters. Its not that its hard, just annoying to make up the design as you go. Im sure ill get better at it. Oh and remembering to switch photo shop from bilinear resizing to point sampling.
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I'm looking forward to this, I myself am interested to have this sort of menu in my PiStation as well.
What I think is that you could make those colour splashes to be bigger/more consistent, so that the console logos would fit inside of them and be fully visible. Also, you could create frames around the console image and another one below them for the information, in the style of those balls seen on the backround.
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@dd-indeed actually I'm thinking about making the scrolling logos just plain bold white text like the original ps1 and putting the consoles main logo below the console image. Ideas, thoughts anyone?
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Yea, it would be simpler and lighter too. Allthou, you could do it in a slightly higher quality, double the resolution from the original style, so it would be slightly more smoother to read and watch. But not too smooth, that would look bad. Console images and logos also could be slightly grittier, usually the console logos are 100 % polished, so having a distinct ''rendered'' style in them would make it pretty cool.
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@dd-indeed I've redone the assets in 1080P. Originally i did them in 480P, witch was even higher than the ps1s 240P. But the Jagged look just didn't match up to how a real PS1 looked. So now ooks smoother when combining the high res logos and console art, but still giving the feel of a PS1. Did a trial of what I was saying. Thoughts?
Again sorry about the image quality, Im doing all on pi since I'm on a mac and can't just take a screen shot. -
That's really nice, I like it. You're sure that the LG TV don't have a screenshot feature ?
What you could do thou is to make those backround splashes littlebit bigger, so that you could fit the entire console name into them and to have solid backround for the names. But I understand if you don't wanna go with that, since basically only long console names are on NES and SNES. Or even better, make a submenu for the consoles, but use those splashes for the console manufacturers, something like this.
|---------- Playstation Portable--> Games
Sony --> Playstation --> Games---------- Playstation 2 --> Games ---------------- Nintendo Entertaiment System Nintendo --> Super Nintendo Entertaiment System
---------------- Nintendo 64 ---------- MegaDrive/Genesis --> Games Sega --> Saturn --> Games
---------- Dreamcast --> Games etc, etc
This is one idea, but I know, that it would be heavy on subfolders and would make things perhaps more complex and frustrating, especially for people, who like to do quick browsing.
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@lostless i like this. However i think it should be 3 games like your latest pick, but i think the games should be much closer together, closer to how your first pick is. I would use this on my pi-station.
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@lostless i also like that you changed the nintendo logo to the white font. You could name super nintendo to super nes if you want to shorten the name since that name is stupid long.
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I believe there's a pack around the forums for Windows, with a theme starter kit as well, but I don't recall the exact name for it. I think @mattrixk could know, though?
@lostless: It's called the ES Toolkit. I made it to help people who wanted to make their own themes, but didn't know where to start.
You're probably best off starting with the v1.1 Release put together by @herb_fargus. You just need to download the .zip and extract it where ever you want, then double click on one of the
Launch ES.batfiles and you're off and racing.You can also follow the Tutorial in the RetroPie documentation. It's a bit out of date as it doesn't cover the newer stuff like Custom Carousels and Video Previews, but it should be enough to get you started. I might get some time to update it soon, but considering it took me months to write in the first place, it may take a while.
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Ok, I think I figured out this theming. Got it down by just using XML. Its all just percents for positions. So heres my final post on this until i finish it.
Heres an example of the game list
I like the simplicity of the lack of meta data. Just the game name and its artwork. I may go back later on (or let someone else do it) and make a version that adds meta data for those who like it. But no guarantee. But this is the final product as I envisioned it yesterday. Feedback welcome. -
@lostless I think it looks quite elegant. Are you considering adding video support?
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