Chicuelo Theme

cosmo0

Where can I download this theme? When I click on github, the link produces an error of 404.

On your retropie box, open the settings page > setup script > configuration/tools > esthemes > go aaaall the way down and install Chicuelo.

Or, if you really want to install it manually, the repository is this one : https://github.com/chicueloarcade/es-theme-Chicuelo

chicuelo

@haqty
Updated the link!

mahcneto

Definetly one of the best (if not the best) theme outhere :)

But! Still missing NDS, Atari800, Final Burn Alpha (should be different from MAME) and MSX. Hope those consoles get added soon, keep up the good work!

chicuelo

@mahcneto said in Chicuelo Theme:

Definetly one of the best (if not the best) theme outhere :)
But! Still missing NDS, Atari800, Final Burn Alpha (should be different from MAME) and MSX. Hope those consoles get added soon, keep up t

Thanks! Im planning to add a lot of more systems but I´m short of time. When I find some free time I will complete all the supported themes for sure.

cosmo0

@chicuelo Hi!

Here are some "characters" for some systems that already have a logo:

https://we.tl/SepBVYpcSv

3DO - Gex
Amiga - Zool
Apple II - The Bard's Tale
Atari 800 - Pitfall
Atari 5200 - Ms Pac-Man
Atari 7800 - Joust
Atari Jaguar - Alien vs Predator

I haven't found any suitable image for the controllers, and I'm not good enough to create one or "vectorize" a photo. I think the missing "character" is the most important to fix, anyway.

The computers (Amiga, Apple II, the Ataris, C64...) didn't have mascots, and most of their games were cross-platform games, or without a "real" character (like shooting or racing games, RPGs...), so it was pretty hard to choose a character.

The characters I chose are not always known today, so it was sometimes difficult to find a good quality image that matches the style of the rest of the pack. Sometimes, it was just hard to find an image at all.

I think some are OK, but some are pretty weird compared to the existing systems. I'm not good enough with Photoshop to make them look better, so I included the PSD files in the zip so you can edit them.

chicuelo

@cosmo0
Great I will take a look tomorrow!

chicuelo

Commodore Amiga and 3DO on the way!

cosmo0

I thought I would help you, but you're re-making them completely! :D And with reason: your versions are so much better than what I could ever manage :D

Does my work even help you ? :D Maybe it's just giving you ideas ? Would it help you enough if I gave you raw images, ideas, character/game names... ?

I'm amazed, how do you create the controllers ? Do you find good quality pictures, do you create them in 3D, do you draw them... ?

chicuelo

@cosmo0 said in Chicuelo Theme:

I thought I would help you, but you're re-making them completely! :D And with reason: your versions are so much better than what I could ever manage :D

Does my work even help you ? :D Maybe it's just giving you ideas ? Would it help you enough if I gave you raw images, ideas, character/game names... ?

I'm amazed, how do you create the controllers ? Do you find good quality pictures, do you create them in 3D, do you draw them... ?

Your help is super helpful! I love the Sega cd art you made so it will remain in the theme and I have to add the credits to you too on the XML, your ideas are great too. I don't know too much about those consoles and you gave me great tips! The vector logos and the xml info of each console also was gorgeous to improve those systems so I am super grateful to you!
Im a designer so I spend a lot of time working on one image, searching for the best character with the best pose, and a background that fits fine, I make a lot of retouch clearing some elements or mixing various ones. For the controllers I find in some cases a good render, but other times there is a flat image and I add shadows, textures and trying to match the image line. That 3do controller was a flat one, so I added some lights and used the genesis direction cross and buttons to make it look realistic

movisman

@chicuelo @cosmo0

Hi there,

@chicuelo - Fantastic theme you have created here, some really great designs and images. Looking forward to more images eventually being created to complete the theme. I appreciate these must take some serious time and effort.

I have made a few improvements to your theme.xml, which will fix/improve the following:

Slight reposition of image/video in gamelist view to be more central within the surrounding space
Change of maximum size to game image and video to stop widescreen videos appearing oversized, causing overshoot (eg. PSP)
Adjust / tweak md_image view type and other video settings, which will fix the following:
Stops the image from hanging around underneath the video if the video is a different size to the image
Shows the screenshot/image for 2 seconds before playing the video if you have scraped both, which looks nicer. However if there is only video metadata, it should play it straight away.

Would you like me to submit a pull request on Github for these? I have tested them on my system and all looks good.

I also would like to report some other minor graphical enhancements which I am hoping you may be able to look into:

The Amiga system image should be changed to a proper picture of a Commodore Amiga (500, 600, or 1200)?
Change the 'Atari' logo for Atari 2600 for one which has '2600' up the side to differentiate it from the other Atari systems (like the 7800 has)
Perhaps consider changing the 'Sinclair' logo to the classic Sinclair ZX Spectrum one with the stripes (although I appreciate Sinclair is more generic for things like ZX81, which FUSE can emulate)
Gamecube to be added to Theme (even just the logo - at the moment it just says 'gc' in plain text) - I run RetroPie x86 so appreciate this isn't high priority, as I know Dolphin doesn't run on Pi. But would be nice to see it added as a system for those who use it. Perhaps use Metroid Prime as an idea for an image if you ever create one?

Not sure if you have plans to create images for the remaining systems, I know they must take up a lot of time, but it would be great to cover Atari 7800, Gamecube, Sega Saturn, ZX Spectrum as other common systems. I'm sure there are others tpo. If you do ZX Spectrum I would definitely consider using the 'Head over Heels' characters as an iconic image.

Let me know if you want me to raise a PR or share the code for the above theme.xml enhancements.

Cheers!

chicuelo

@movisman Hi!
Thanks for your improvements. At first the theme was maded for my own purposes, then I decided to add other systems and share for free. I don't use video snaps and all my preview images are the same size, so I never adjust some parameters.
For example I use the Atari logo for the Atari 2600, because there is no other Atari system on my build, but it would be great if you want to correct it such as the other systems logos.
For some systems I try to use one of the most iconic games, in Amiga I used Turrican, it would fit fine in C64 too but I think on the c64 there are other iconic games that I can find better images.

Im planning on expand the system support. Right now I am about to update virtual boy, so In some days I will try to complete the most used systems.
If you want to collaborate you are more than welcome, just send a pull request with the xml updates and I will sync.
@cosmo0 is also giving a big help with lot of enhancements so I really appreciate your help too

movisman

@chicuelo

Hi! Thanks for the reply.
Very grateful you decided to share your work with everyone, it's clearly very popular and the images you have created are excellent.

At this stage, I may not be too much use on graphics, I used to use Photoshop a long time ago but am a bit out of touch with it these days. If I get time though, I might get it reinstalled and have a look at some of the logos.

Regarding the image sizes, what res are you running and what sizes are your preview images? In the original post I can see the preview images line up perfectly. If you let me have the dimensions of them I might be able to work out if the percentages can be improved in the XML. Certainly capping the maximum horizontal size further might be an idea, otherwise videos in widescreen which are scraped will appear too wide and go off the edge.

For now, I can always submit a PR just for the video improvements while I look into maximum image sizes, as I think some people may benefit from the changes to the video code.

Thanks!

ohmycommodore

Looks nice, is this part of the built-in theme set now? @chicuelo

chicuelo

@movisman

Im using a 1920x1080 resolution, and the game snaps are 550x382 px BUT they are resized to 824x572.
about the logos, they are vector files so you have to use illustrator. If I have time I will modify them to match the proper names and consoles.
I can't test the theme because I only have a pi with some installed systems, and I have a Mac so I can't run retropie on my OS.
but if you succeed with your tests you can send me a preview video or snapshots and we merge the changes!
This is a size template:

chicuelo

@ohmycommodore
Yes! you can look on the Emulation Station Themes menu and install, its called Chicuelo and I think its on the bottom list

movisman

@chicuelo

Hi there,

Ahhh of course, sorry my brain wasn't in gear - of course the logos are vectors so Illustrator is required. I wasn't thinking! :)

Regarding the sizes, all of the information you provided is very useful indeed (both templates and your snap sizes). Most of my snaps are 800x600 (4:3 aspect) from screenscraper.fr, and videos except PSP are 640x480 (still 4:3), so they are a slightly different aspect to the snaps you are using, but looking at the percentages for maximum image / video sizes I think we can adjust them to make use of the space but cap the horizontal size so images / videos can be no more than 824px wide on a 1920x1080 res. That will stop overshoot from clips captured in widescreen like PSP.

I am quite busy today and tomorrow in the evenings, but will have a play around when I get chance, maybe over lunchtime. Otherwise definitely at the weekend! I'll do a few tests with the sizes, make sure it displays correctly, and then i'll get you to test, and I can raise a PR for it.

Regarding the other systems, if you do create any logos for Gamecube, I can always check these as I have dolphin installed.

Cheers!

stephensmattlee

Wow, I have to admit this theme is simply stunning!!! Blown away by how amazing the visuals are.
Are there plans to add the Famicom Disk System and make it compatible in a later version?

Thanks

chicuelo

@stephensmattlee
Thanks! It could be possible, I can duplicate the Nes theme and change the original controller to the famicom one

stephensmattlee

@chicuelo That would be awesome, many thanks. Not sure what you could use as the main image? Might be wrong but think the Japanese version of Mario Bros 2 was the best selling game for the FDS although maybe an image of Doki Doki Panic in the same style as the other systems might work better?
I'll leave it your capable hands to decide

One small problem I've come across is that when scrolling through the main menu through the systems, the white 'dots' on the far left seem to appear and disappear depending on the console as well as not changing in a set up/down order when flicking through. e.g. Sega 32X has the dots but Sega CD doesn't have any.

Many thanks

chicuelo

@stephensmattlee

I updated the theme with FDS, the character is still Mario because it was the best game on that console too in my opinion :P , maybe when I have some time I make an alternative image. Adventure island is a great game too.
If you update the theme now you should get a theme like this

The dots are no longer available, they are hidden because its a fake indicator made for my systems so if you uninstall and reinstall the theme you will not see them again.

Thanks