Pi 4 Dynamic Marquee using secondary HDMI output

dmmarti

For those that run dual monitors on a Pi 4 .... @losernator has been updating his PieMarquee2 script with better refinements, etc.

https://github.com/losernator/PieMarquee2

It's easy now to have a boot up intro video and default marquee video along with static game PNG marquees. His Github repo has all the information to add to any existing Pi 4 base RetroPie build.

I'm in the process of building a new dual monitor arcade cab and found his new revisions a lot simpler to get setup with both PNG and MP4 files.

majikill

@losernator would it be possible to change the file paths to lead to the info scraped by skyscraper? most if not all users already downloaded these files, would be a tad redundant to have multiple copies of the same files. just a thought.

darkmage

Anyone know the format for Daphne to work? naming it rom.png or rom.jpg does not work since Daphne's folder setup is a bit different than most of the other systems. Thanks.

losernator

@darkmage
you can make symbolic link to scraped image path.

eg: ln -s /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/nes /home/pi/PieMarquee2/marquee/nes

petrisi

Hello,

I took an inspiration from PieMarquee2 and created a script which utilized Skyscraper cache for live marquees on the second display, so that you only need to scrape once and both the retropie and marquee will use the same data.

Also the omxiv-marquee was flickering on my cabinet, so I modified the mechanism a bit how the image data is transferred from the script to omxiv and it seems to work quite nicely now without killing and restarting the viewer.

If anyone is still interested in this (utilizing Skyscraper resources), please let me know and I can package these and write short instructions how to use - should these scripts work for you as well.

Thanks.

BritX

@petrisi i would love to use what you have please!
i have been trying to get the LCD panels working using a Adafruit RGB hat and failing...im no coder and only got a pi 2 months ago so its all new lots of errors but im learning!

I have managed to get the great work by Losernator working on a second screen but the screens are expensive.

Having a RGB hat and 2 32x64 panels cost less that $50 :-)
https://www.adafruit.com/product/2345

Im hoping someone on this forum can maybe add to the work Losernator has done and add support for the RGB Hat?
or even @losernator Losernator can chime in? :-)

Im happy to put to work in if people can guide? ill even donate a rgb hat and screen?

thanks in advance for any help
Brit

https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix

BritX

@britx
hey all...anyone willing to help get this working on a Pi3 with single HDMI and using a RGB matrix instead of the expensive LCD?

I have been trying with no experience. Managed to get a gif playing on start but no im at a loss?
@losernator i read you had this working on a single HDMI? would you share the script please?
great work! also......

hookbeak

I’ve installed following the instructions - everything’s there - but no marquees show on the second monitor.

Can anyone tell me how i even begin to start troubleshooting?

My second screen is definitely working, i see loading screens - but just remains blank where there should be a marquee - i don’t even know where to start…

Grizzpyre

@losernator - I'm running into a few really strange things I can't figure out with the script. Hoping you can help.

I'm running a Pi4 on a 15.6" 1080P monitor with a VDSDISPLAY 14.9 for a marquee. I'm using the most recent script on your github.

Issue 1: When I run a rom - my main monitor displays a videoloadingscreen - the marquee changes from default.png to the marquee image. But when the videoloadingscreen ends and the rom boots - the marquee flashes back to default.png and then back to the marquee image.

Issue 2: Daphne, Dreamcast, OpenBor don't actually display marquee images for some reason. All the files are present in pi/PieMarquee2/marquee/ (appropriate folder) but they don't display at all - just stay on the default.png

Issue 3: When my marquee is plugged into the Pi4 - the command line text on my main monitor is vertically squished. I've tried both

fbset -fb /dev/fb0 -g 1280 720 1280 720 16

and

fbset -fb /dev/fb0 -g 1920 1080 1920 1080 16

in my autostart.sh - but neither make a difference.

Help? Anyone?

benlisur

I'm in the process of building a new dual monitor arcade cab and found his new revisions a lot simpler to get setup with both PNG and MP4 files.. .