Video Preview in EmulationStation

fieldofcows

Right. There's a new build available. I've done very limited testing on this seeing as it's getting late and I need some sleep :) Please forgive me if it doesn't work as planned...

Download it here: https://github.com/fieldofcows/EmulationStation/releases/tag/v0.1-beta.3

This fixes/implements the following issues:

Issue #7 Relative paths for videos do not work properly (now consistent with Image paths)
Issue #6 Delayed start videos start playing even if the gamelist selection is changed or if the game is started
Issue #4 Add the --no-splash option from Herdinger's fork
Issue #3 If a game does not have a video then the video preview should display a fixed image - the image is also displayed whilst the video is loading. See what you think about this and let me know
Issue #8 Add support for <image name="md_image"> tag on video view to allow static snapshot image display alongside video
Issue #9 Render videos behind 'extra' images with transparency to allow framing of videos

cyrax3

very good work guys. i have 2 ideas but i'm not able to implements :)))
1 video intro when i launch emulationstation;
2 putting music to the menu for the console choice. Maybe even an mp3 for different system (eg. Mario's theme for nes, Sonic's theme for megadrive ...).
i'm italian...sorry for my bad english

Nismo

@fieldofcows said in Video Preview in EmulationStation:

Right. There's a new build available. I've done very limited testing on this seeing as it's getting late and I need some sleep :) Please forgive me if it doesn't work as planned...

Omg!! you are on fire today!!!

Ok, let's get started:

Issue #7 - Relative paths for videos do not work properly - NOT FIXED
Issue #9 - Render videos behind 'extra' images with transparency to allow framing of videos - WORKING LIKE A CHARM... Now we have round tv borders and scanlines working, I've tested.
Issue #4 - Add the --no-splash option from Herdinger's fork -WORKING LIKE A CHARM... Use <bool name="SplashScreen" value="false" /> in es_settings.cfg for disable splashscreen.
Issue #8 - Add support for <image name="md_image"> tag on video view to allow static snapshot image display alongside video - WORKING.
Issue #6 - Delayed start videos start playing even if the gamelist selection is changed or if the game is started - FIXED BUT... now when I exit emulationstation video still sound for about 5 seconds, didn't happen before. With older builds when you exit emulationstation sound stop inmediately.
Issue #3 - If a game does not have a video then the video preview should display a fixed image - the image is also displayed whilst the video is loading. See what you think about this and let me know - WORKING but I don't like so much the results.

Good job mate.

fieldofcows

@Nismo Haha - Not bad. 4 out of 6. I would normally do a bit more testing myself before giving it to others but I seem to have a willing tester at the moment... :D

Issue 6 - Are you sure this didn't always happen but you had metadata saving turned off? Getting the video to stop at the right time is turning out to be a real pain due to the lifecycle of the views.

Regarding the preview image - that was working fine on my test platform although I only have a single system. I can imagine what the problem is though and it is easy to fix. Is it always in the upper-right corner? On all your themes? Mine is always in the same place and the same size as the video. Hmmm...

Ok, so next time I get a bit of time I'll revisit the above two and get them stable.

Nismo

@fieldofcows Issue 6 - Videos in emulationstation was working very good now, it works like expected, only issue is that when I exit emulationstation still sounds for a few seconds, in beta 2 was working ok.

The preview image... it's works for me on mame ( I started working on mame theme), but i have mixed images so the result it's very bad. Metadata saving is turned on since you fixed in this build.

On megadrive doesn't display the preview on the screen, and now my marquees and gamelist background are gone... not sure if it's a theme issue, need to test more.

I have one request and I don't know if could be possible. I'ts very annoying when I launch a game to see desktop and cmd window and anything else until the game starts.

There is any way to see black screen until the game start? or if not possible can we see the cmd window fullscreen or maximixed?

Thanks again for all.

fieldofcows

@Nismo said in Video Preview in EmulationStation:

The preview image... it's works for me on mame ( I started working on mame theme), but i have mixed images so the result it's very bad. Metadata saving is turned on since you fixed in this build.

Can you explain what you mean by 'mixed images'? - it might help me find the problem. Thanks.

Nismo

@fieldofcows There is no problem, simply the image doesn't fit the screen and looks ugly but it's because the image itself.

This is mixed image:

alt text

A lot of people uses Universal XML scraper so has the images like mine.

Anyway the preview issue seems working, need to test but I notice that I loose a lot of changes in the theme, I don't know how. So you get 5 out of 6, nice score!.

OMG!!! I found the error and know I know why I lost the images and marquees on megadrive system. I did another scrape for downloading 3d box art and didn't notice the filename was wrong in all images because the suffix "-image". That's because not showing marquees in megadrive system!! I'm a fool!!!

Nismo

@fieldofcows Ok finally can confirm that all your fixes are working except for the sound issue at exit emulationstation.

Anyway I'll upload a video for you so you can see the result of previews in theme. It'so ugly because I need to use md_image for cartridges or 3d boxes and marquees for wheel art (on console system, not mame).

I prefer a "md_no_video" default video for non video roms. But it's only an opinion. Anyway you did a lot of work and i thank you.

Nismo

@fieldofcows Here you have video preview and download link for the theme (only mame and megadrive-genesis at the moment):

Download:http://www.mediafire.com/file/8citsedr7cafagl/oldroom_beta.zip

Preview video:

Mame videos still my old not-very-good quality videos you can notice.

I hope you enjoy the theme. I whould like to add rating and times played at bottom.. maybe.. not too much place.

Forgot to say that I edited my post about the fixes to say that image preview is working.

What about to see black screen until the game start? it's not possible?

Regards.

GtBFilms

@Nismo That looks absolutely fantastic!

Thanks for all you guys work on this, the technicalities of whih are way over my head, but I can certainly appreciate the end result!

fieldofcows

@Nismo That looks really fantastic! I see what you mean about the preview image though.

I can see a couple of options for fixing this:

Add a new field to gamelist.xml specifically for static in-game images. This can then be used as the preview image when a video is loading or if no video exists, separate to the boxart image
Enhance the <video> tags in the gamelist to support static image files as well as video files so you can have one or the other
Add a video with md_no_video tag in the theme for games with no video (like you suggest)

I think in any case, if a preview image is displayed that is then replaced with a video there should be a nice fade between them rather than a jump.

Looking good though:D

Nismo

@fieldofcows preview an image and then replace it with a video is not more resource demanding? it looks very nice before anyway...

I don't care because I'm on windows but I don't know how good can achieve this a raspberry pi.

I vote for 3. Add a video with md_no_video tag in the theme for games with no video. XD

I can add something like this for games without video (but without annoying sound of course):

Or this one:

Nismo

@fieldofcows I'm thinking on since we can display md_video and md_image at the same time, you can do the same than preview image for video by using md_image and place it in the same place than the video without the "extra flag" and obtain the same result than the image preview for video you hardcoded on Issue #3, but with the advantage that people can use it in their themes only if they need it.

So reverting issue 3 means that people are not forced to show the image preview in their themes if they doesn't want to, but still can be do it easily if they want it in their theme.

Also I think it's less resource demanding because the way I say emulationstation doesn't need to do the same operation twice (like in my theme).

So I vote for revert Issue #3 commit for better theming possibilities and performance . It's just my humble opinion of course...

Nismo

@fieldofcows Sorry mate but Issue #7 is not fixed. I was thinking it was fixed because I enable "save metadata on exit" option and the relative paths still in my gamelist, but I was wrong, simply my paths where untouched because even with the option enabled, emulationstation doesn't save on exit.

Sorry for didn't notice before, but i was working on themes and was too late.

fieldofcows

@Nismo So what you're seeing is your relative paths being replaced with full paths in the gamelist? If so then I don't think that's anything I've done. I think it's preexisting. It also happens with image paths.

I'll have a look at fixing it anyway.

Nismo

@fieldofcows No, I'm saying that "save metadata on exit" isn't working, doesn't save anything.

Before it was working, but the issue was that it overwrites videos and marquees relative paths with absolute paths when saving metadata on exit.

Now it doesn't work so that was my confusion, I was thinking that now was working because with "save metadata on exit" enabled the relative paths still ok, but i was wrong, relative paths are ok but even with "save metadata on exit" enabled emulationstation doesn't save anything.

I hope you understand to me now, sorry but my english is not very good.

fieldofcows

@Nismo Hmm... The metadata saves fine for me (and the relative paths are switched to full paths). Have you had a look in the log file to see if there are any errors?

Your English is excellent by the way.

Nismo

@fieldofcows give me one minute to see log.

I have some questions.. Have you read my comment about reverting issue 3? what do you think?

And what about annoying go to desktop when loading games? can be fixed? Do you need a video to see what I mean?

Thanks for you patience.

Nismo

@fieldofcows Ok I deleted old log file, open emulation station, save metadata on exit is enabled, edit the name of one game, i can see the changes inside emulationstation, exit.

Here the log:

lvl2: EmulationStation - v2.0.1a, built Nov 16 2016 - 22:29:20
lvl2: Creating surface...
lvl2: Created window successfully.
lvl2: Added known joystick XInput Controller #1 (instance ID: 0, device index: 0)
lvl2: Checking available OpenGL extensions...
lvl2: ARB_texture_non_power_of_two: ok
lvl2: Loading system config file P://.emulationstation/es_systems.cfg...
lvl2: Parsing XML file "P://.emulationstation/gamelists/sega32x/gamelist.xml"...
lvl2: Parsing XML file "P://.emulationstation/gamelists/atari2600/gamelist.xml"...
lvl2: req sound [video.menuOpen]
lvl2: (missing)
lvl1: OptionListComponent too narrow!
lvl1: OptionListComponent too narrow!

Now I open emulationstation again and my changes are gone, and the gamelist.xml file is untouched.

fieldofcows

@Nismo It should end with

lvl2: EmulationStation cleanly shutting down.

So this indicates it is not exiting cleanly. Try running it with:

emulationstation --debug

and see if you get any more entries in the log to show what is going on.

Also, have a look in the Windows event viewer at "Windows Logs->Application" and see if there are any errors where the source column is "Application error" for emulationstation.exe. If there is then give me the text in the 'general' box. E.g.

Faulting application name: emulationstation.exe, version: 2.0.1.0, time stamp: 0x5823b9dd
Faulting module name: libvlccore.dll, version: 2.2.0.0, time stamp: 0x38a93891
Exception code: 0xc0000005

Regarding issue 3 - I can certainly revert it for now and build you a new version.