Arcade overlays 4:3, 1600x1200

Clyde

Next: Astro Blaster, thanks to @svera for merging it.

By the way, I started to leave a gap (20 pixels in the 1600 version) between some overlays and the game area, because I think it looks less cramped that way, especially in games with very vibrant colours and/or little black space in the picture, and also when using curved shaders. Games with only few coloured elements in an otherwise black screen don't need this.

Here are Amidar (no gap, curved shader), APB (gap, straight shader), and Astro Blaster (gap, curved shader) in comparison:

Amidar

APB

Astro Blaster

svera

@Clyde regarding the gap between bezel and play area, I cast shadows in both bezel sides to achieve this separation, which also adds a depth effect.

iainjh

Hi, these are still great!

Please could someone help with a question about what to expect when using scanline shaders.. When using crt-pi scanline shaders in conjunction with these overlays, must the shader effect apply over the entire screen area inc the side art panels?

it would be wonderful if the overlay art could be displayed untouched by the shader, and the scanline shaders only apply to the game-screen area. If thats possible, please could someone share a link to how to acheive this? i dont see anything in the .cfg files or retroarch itself.

Or am I being confused by [possible] composite images pasted above?

thanks for any guidance!

PS using pi 3, standard retropie image download from here dec 19, crt-pi shaders

WeirdH

@iainjh I use the zfast-shaders. There are two versions: one for horizontal games and one for vertical. Afaik the vertical one only applies scanlines to the screen area so side art would remain unaffected.

Clyde

@iainjh Just look at my screenshots two posts above yours. The overlays are not affected by the shaders.

Clyde

@svera Thanks for the tip, I'll test it in my next overlays. That said, I think it won't be enough for games like APB with colourful screen-filling graphics. And there was a natural gap between the bezel and the screen in most original arcade cabinets which the games were designed for. I hope you'll be okay if my contributions to your repo continue to differ slightly from yours in this regard.

I'm busy with other things at the moment (my new Pi 4 being only one of them, and mostly finished setting up 😇 ), but I'll return to making more overlays as soon as I can. I was already getting better and faster with GIMP, after all.

svera

@Clyde sure, keep it coming! and enjoy that shiny brand new Pi 4, I also got one and it's a wonderful piece :)

iainjh

WierdH, Clyde, thank you!

Ashpool

@svera As I started to bring life to my wall mounted retropie project (coincidentally I am using a 1600x1200 monitor), I appreciate this easy way of overlays for vertical arcades (avoiding the need of defining viewports by just "bezeling" the black border of the 3:4 frame). And so, the work of you and @Clyde inspired me to try it on my own.

May I present: Mappy

P.S.: Is there some styleguide or such on properly citing/crediting the source(s) used? In this case I've used the mame overlay downloaded during mame .170 times as a base, and here is the information from its .lay.

<!--
- Artwork type: Bezel
- Scanned bezel provided by Aaron Giles
- Vectorized by Ad_Enuff
- Converted for MAME by Ad_Enuff
- Lay file by Mr. Do
-->

[p.p.s.: is it possible to collapse/fold/spoiler paragraphs/blocks as the one above with markdown?]

[Edit: Because of the git-repo I totally forgot that the OP was @Mayki -> so my initial words are also meant to honor your work]

svera

@Ashpool Great work! regarding credit, you can put it in the .cfg files as you can see in all other bezels already existing in the repository, no special format is required.

Ashpool

@svera thanks for the reply, as soon as I edited the cfg, you can expect a PR from me ;)

Edit: Done and hope everything is fine, as for me such a pull request is a 1st. time event...

P.S.: the 1024 images, are those mandatory, or optional to be provided? As in my pull-request I only included my 1600x1200 Bezel...

svera

@Ashpool I'm afraid the 1024 files are mandatory to accept the Pull Request. You just need to resize from the 1600 one and you're done, though. Thank you!

Ashpool

@svera Done... though I am unsure if simply adding the file was enough, or if there is anything I'll should do in addition to it (something alike to to "pushing"/"updating" the request or such)

svera

@Ashpool It was, I've already merged your pull request so your files are already available to everyone. Thank you very much for your contribution and keep it coming!

Ashpool

@svera Ok, will do.... step by step as my setup got configured/populated and I may have the desire for one ;)

At the moment my doings for overlays and populating my DIY-Cade Project got a little drawback: Because and just out of curiousity how the source XY of a given rom and its targeted DAR would fit a targeted max resolution, I've wrestled with my python-fu (barely existend) and UIs in Python (no former experience, always worked with it in a CLI only or (IDE based) Matlab Style of usecase before) and so, as the result of a long story, left to be untold here, this here came to be:

At least for me it has a working stage that will do, everything else I would expect that baby to do (or free it from further bugs I may encounter whilst using it) may remain in a >>will never be done, unless i really have the need (or spare time) for it<< state...

[EDIT:]
In the meantime, here is my overlay for burgertime (as the repo already has the primary rom title, I opted for the filenames to be a clone thereof: btimem)

[Don't want to start a alternate versions war here (IMHO-it is not a competition, but collaborated work), but that was one overlay where I wanted to have another (and more simple) variant for on my setup]...

Ashpool

And three more...

kangaroo:

I am inclined to remove the "berries'n'bell" accessoires and to go with apes'n'apples+roos alone... but as i haven't decided yet, the early version is presented here ;)

phoenix:

and ... vanguard:

Clyde

@Ashpool Wow, great work output. It shames me insofar that I didn't do any more overlays since May. I certainly plan to do so in the dark half of the year, although Minecraft has caught me in its grip once again at the moment. 😔 😇

svera

@Ashpool lovely, bezels merged. Don't stop! 😉

svera

Added Cosmo Gang overlay to the repo.

Ashpool

@svera brilliant, haven't known about that one... and i really enjoy/adore that gorf/phoenix/galaxian/etc. kind of gameplay ;)

In addition, i worked on a childhood memories I wanted to have done, before going on with the general configuration and specific system/game settings for my "DIY Arcade" (Ok, there are still a few games left, I may do inbetween):

:Karate Champ:

Just going with the original Bezel, would have been nice and easy, but I wanted to have the "RTFM" for the Joysticks on Screen... and so, to get a somewhat symmetric overlay, I also includes the general instructions. ... Though I downsized the critical elements for the 1600x1200 and 1024x768 overlays from "source" (and not Source->1600->1024), I fear that the instructions for the moves ain't readable in the 1024 Variant :/

Edit:
P.S.: Seeing the Moiré pattern in the screenshot - well, there is some config work to be done ;^>