Neo Geo Mini theme

ballboff

Ok I apologise. I've come across all wrong, I didn't mean to offend anyone. I was looking for a quick answer, not expecting someone to fix my problems based on no information. I only wanted a simple guide of what files and folders to look at, and what I need to do to troubleshoot. I want to fix the issue myself. The only reason I haven't answered the questions is quite frankly I don't know. I have no idea what version of emulation station or retropie i'm using. The latest ones I'm guessing, since I installed emulationstation-dev and installed retropie from source. I've updated everything, so who knows what versions they are?

paffley

@ballboff when in the gamelist section on the gridview, on the gridview carousel, do you see....no scraped image art? or NES style grey cartridges when scrolling through the grid carousel?

The Gridview works the same as any other theme, it looks for the <image> tag in the gamelist.xml and displays from the folder pointing too.

ruckage

@ballboff
Apology accepted.

I asked for the information as there is no other way for me narrow down where the problem might lie as I can't physically see your system or how it's set up. If you don't know something then just say and I'll try to guide you in the right direction. I've not had issues with the theme in WIndows or on the Rapsberry Pi and @paffley has said he also has it working so it must be a problem related in some way to your setup.

We'll take it one step at a time, first what model Raspberry pi are you using and what resolution is it running at?

ballboff

@ruckage said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

@ballboff
Apology accepted.

I asked for the information as there is no other way for me narrow down where the problem might lie as I can't physically see your system or how it's set up. If you don't know something then just say and I'll try to guide you in the right direction. I've not had issues with the theme in WIndows or on the Rapsberry Pi and @paffley has said he also has it working so it must be a problem related in some way to your setup.

We'll take it one step at a time, first what model Raspberry pi are you using and what resolution is it running at?

I'm using a pi2 I think it's the b model. I'm running at 800 by 480. What's weird is that when I switch themes I can see the graphics behind the active window, but as soon as I come back to the menu they are not displayed. I've tried 3 different scrapers. The internal one, Steph's scraper and sky scraper. The gamelist files in the gamelist folder seem to point to marquee folders but I don't have any marquee folders in my ROMs folder. So that could be the issue.

ballboff

But when I switch to the NES mini theme they show up... Strange....

ruckage

@ballboff said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

I'm running at 800 by 480

That will be the problem. The theme is designed for 1920x1080 (see first post) and due to the way gridview works your images will be being rendered so small they aren't visible. This is due to the padding on the grid as it is defined in pixels rather than screen ratio so its doesn't scale with resolution.

I will eventually add an option to select resolutions in the config file but in the meantime If you give me a few minutes I'll tell you what to change in the theme.xml to adapt the theme to your resolution.

ruckage

@ballboff

Here is what you will need to change. In the NeoGeo mini theme folder open the file named theme.xml in a text editor.

Find the following section:

<gridtile name="default">
	<size>0.1916666666666667 0.5777777777777778</size>
	<padding>12 140</padding>
	<backgroundImage>./art/${style}/tile.png</backgroundImage>
	<backgroundCornerSize>0 0</backgroundCornerSize>
	<backgroundColor>ffffff</backgroundColor>
	<imageColor>ffffff</imageColor>
</gridtile>

Change the line that says <padding>12 140</padding> to <padding>5 62</padding>
Save the file.

While still in the neogeo mini theme folder you should see another folder named 'retropie'.
Open it and inside should be another theme.xml file. Open it in a text editor and find the following section:

<gridtile name="default">
	<size>0.0791666666666667 0.1407407407407407</size>
	<padding>16 16</padding>
	<backgroundImage>./../art/${style}/config-tile.png</backgroundImage>
	<backgroundCornerSize>0 0</backgroundCornerSize>
	<backgroundColor>ffffff</backgroundColor>
	<imageColor>ffffff</imageColor>
</gridtile>

Change the line that says <padding>16 16</padding> to <padding>7 7</padding>
Save the file.

Restart EmulationStation and the theme should now work correctly at your resolution.

A12C4

@ruckage said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

That will be the problem. The theme is designed for 1920x1080 (see first post) and due to the way gridview works your images will be being rendered so small they aren't visible. This is due to the padding on the grid as it is defined in pixels rather than screen ratio so its doesn't scale with resolution.

Weren't you already designing multiple version of the theme for different resolution ? Or was it just for different screen ratio ?

ruckage

@A12C4 said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

Weren't you already designing multiple version of the theme for different resolution ? Or was it just for different screen ratio ?

I think I said that I would have to do that to allow the themes with grid view to look right at other resolution but have only made them work at 1080p so far (I think it's the most common resolution people use anyway). It's made worse as I'm abusing the system a bit to make it work on themes like this so the padding size is quite high.

I think we discussed it quite while back as I felt that was the main downside to the gridview as nearly everything else in ES is defined as a screen ratio but it was due to using nine patch which does have it's advantages in other situations. Regardless I'd have to make adjustments for different aspect ratio's anyway so it's not really a big deal.

I'm looking forward to more improvements to gridview in the future, I hope you'll stil be working on it.

paffley

I'm with @ruckage, I'm a massive fan of gridview, hope your still going to be working on it @A12C4 . Would LOVE to see <scrollSound> incorporated with the grid carousel (and the system view carousel actually would be cool too).

ballboff

Change the line that says <padding>16 16</padding> to <padding>7 7</padding>
Save the file.

Restart EmulationStation and the theme should now work correctly at your resolution.

That still hasn't fixed it. And it's quite annoying as now I'm not sure which version of the gamelist.xml my system is using. I've used 3 different scrapers and I think they all use a different gamelist. One is in the configs/all folder. 1 is in emulationstation folder and then a sub folder of the system name, and then I have a separate gamelist in each of the rom folders.

mitu

@ballboff Event though there could be multiple gamelists, there is a priority when they're processed by Emulationstaton. The gamelist in your ROM folder should take precedence over any other gamelist present.

ruckage

@ballboff said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

That still hasn't fixed it. And it's quite annoying as now I'm not sure which version of the gamelist.xml my system is using. I've used 3 different scrapers and I think they all use a different gamelist. One is in the configs/all folder. 1 is in emulationstation folder and then a sub folder of the system name, and then I have a separate gamelist in each of the rom folders.

The fix I provided works as I tested it myself at your resolution. Your resolution is the reason your images weren't showing originally.

Before Fix:
before fix.jpg

After Fix:
after fix.jpg

If the images are now not showing in other themes as well then it would be a gamelist issue but if they are showing in other themes then it's likely you haven't made the corrections I posted correctly. Did you edit both files that I stated and did you make sure it was exactly as I posted (Post the contents of your theme.xml files here so I can check. )

ballboff

@ruckage said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

@ballboff said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

That still hasn't fixed it. And it's quite annoying as now I'm not sure which version of the gamelist.xml my system is using. I've used 3 different scrapers and I think they all use a different gamelist. One is in the configs/all folder. 1 is in emulationstation folder and then a sub folder of the system name, and then I have a separate gamelist in each of the rom folders.

The fix I provided works as I tested it myself at your resolution. Your resolution is the reason your images weren't showing originally.

Before Fix:

After Fix:

If the images are now not showing in other themes as well then it would be a gamelist issue but if they are showing in other themes then it's likely you haven't made the corrections I posted correctly. Did you edit both files that I stated and did you make sure it was exactly as I posted (Post the contents of your theme.xml files here so I can check. )

Awesome. I don't know what I did wrong befoee. But I've got it working now! Looks the nuts. Thanks for all your assistance and patience!

ruckage

@ballboff said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

Awesome. I don't know what I did wrong befoee. But I've got it working now! Looks the nuts. Thanks for all your assistance and patience!

That's great, thanks for letting me know that you got it working.

A12C4

@ruckage said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

I think I said that I would have to do that to allow the themes with grid view to look right at other resolution but have only made them work at 1080p so far (I think it's the most common resolution people use anyway). It's made worse as I'm abusing the system a bit to make it work on themes like this so the padding size is quite high.

I think we discussed it quite while back as I felt that was the main downside to the gridview as nearly everything else in ES is defined as a screen ratio but it was due to using nine patch which does have it's advantages in other situations. Regardless I'd have to make adjustments for different aspect ratio's anyway so it's not really a big deal.

I'm looking forward to more improvements to gridview in the future, I hope you'll stil be working on it.

So if I understand correctly, you used to make different versions of your theme for different aspect ratio (16:9, 16:10, 4:3) and now because of this you have to make a different versions for each resolution (4k, 1080p, 720p ...).

I will give it another look soon. I'm slowly getting back into the grid view, starting with cursor position in text mode (to show something like : "game 4 / 152"), as it is an easy task and something you and others would be interested in.

One last question: in the themes you made, have you took advantage of the nine patch in any of them ? Or are you always using the trick of setting the nine patch borders to 0px to use it like a normal image ?

A12C4

@paffley said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

I'm with @ruckage, I'm a massive fan of gridview, hope your still going to be working on it @A12C4 . Would LOVE to see <scrollSound> incorporated with the grid carousel (and the system view carousel actually would be cool too).

I know you are very enthusiastic about this feature but please don't push your demands too aggressivly. I've taken note of them, this things take time you know.

paffley

@A12C4 said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

@paffley said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

I'm with @ruckage, I'm a massive fan of gridview, hope your still going to be working on it @A12C4 . Would LOVE to see <scrollSound> incorporated with the grid carousel (and the system view carousel actually would be cool too).

I know you are very enthusiastic about this feature but please don't push your demands too aggressivly. I've taken note of them, this things take time you know.

Wow that's pretty harsh you think? These are simple friendly question imo. I may have posted other requests but you never reply. I have never been pushy nor have I ever been aggressive in demands so lets get that straight from the get-go. I have always been supportive of your work and very grateful and also try to help users out when they have issues, so I'm pretty disappointed that you have said that in that way. Convo over @A12C4

ruckage

@paffley
I think you've taken @A12C4 post the wrong way and are being a bit defensive. We're all friends here so no need to get angry with each other.

ruckage

@A12C4 said in Neo Geo Mini theme:

So if I understand correctly, you used to make different versions of your theme for different aspect ratio (16:9, 16:10, 4:3) and now because of this you have to make a different versions for each resolution (4k, 1080p, 720p ...).

It depends on the theme. The snes /nes mini themes are quite tricky as they need precise placement of the gamelist so I have different settings for each supported resolution. My other themes only need settings for the each aspect ratio which makes life easier.

I will give it another look soon. I'm slowly getting back into the grid view, starting with cursor position in text mode (to show something like : "game 4 / 152"), as it is an easy task and something you and others would be interested in.

Good to hear work is continuing, the cursor position would be very useful and something I'm looking forward to. Regarding the padding etc. I understand your reason for using pixel coordinates as it works better with nine patch. As long as I can work around it as I currently am I'm happy. Realistically there are only a handful of resolutions most people use so it's not a huge amount of extra work.

One last question: in the themes you made, have you took advantage of the nine patch in any of them ? Or are you always using the trick of setting the nine patch borders to 0px to use it like a normal image ?

Yes, I've used nine patch on the standard Neogeo theme though I haven't released a version with it included yet: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10806/neo-geo-x-build/357. It has it's benefits and can make life easier but for most of my themes I wouldn't be able to get the look I wanted using it.