New Comic Book Theme!

TMNTturtlguy

UPDATE: WORK IN PROGRESS 16:9 THEME POSTED!
Post update #1 in bold

PLEASE READ FIRST: This is a true work in progress post of the ComicBook Theme v1.0. This is my first upload to github as well, so please forgive me if something isn't correct on that site. Here are important notes:

This is not a finished version, This is a work in progress. ~~Please only download if you are ok testing this theme.~~ More updates will be coming. Update: positive feedback suggests the theme works well in both screensaver and updated main branch ES installs!
This is a 16:9 aspect ration version only
This has been created on the screensaver build by @fieldofcows and @pjft. This was built on an ES that does not support maxSize. Please read the readme.txt on github or in the download for more information. ~~I fully expect weird issues to arise when used in the main branch of ES,~~Update: the only issue is that some video/images will stretch to fill my size settings in the black box. My hope is by changing size to maxSize in the video preview it will fix the issues, ~~but i am not sure if positioning has changed with all of the new modifications that have been made.~~
This will support all systems, however not all systems are completed with updated logos/graphics.
Future updates are planned to bring this up to the main branch version of ES, however this works perfectly with the screensaver version with OMX player enabled. Again, please read the readme.txt.
Please see the images and video posted earlier in this thread for what the theme should look like if working properly.

I am hoping that you will test this theme and provide feedback on what works and what needs adjusted. Please understand not all systems have updated graphics, so please do not send comments that systems are not completed. If you have adobe photoshop/illustrator experience and are willing to contribute to update systems, let me know and i can share the base files with you, and you can add them as pull requests on github.

Thanks for all the help, support, testing, and comments!

ComicBook Theme Link

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy Thanks for putting this together and for sharing! It works wonders on the main ES code base ;)

I suspect you're referring to the image maxSize? At the moment it just keeps the image stretched to the size you declared, which to me is not a problem in any way. Looks gorgeous!

The screenshot images in the main system views look slightly overly dithered for my taste on a large screen, especially when compared to the wonderful high-res system names, but it's likely a matter of personal taste.

Can't complain whatsoever - will very likely keep this around for a while, either in testing or the full version in the end :)

Well done. Enjoy your break!

TMNTturtlguy

@pjft thanks for the update! Glad to hear it is working in the main ES!

Question regarding the systems screen background, do the black outlines still look crisp on the larger scale? I used a pixel filter on the images to give them an old newspaper print feel on purpose. The real issue is trying to save the backgrounds at a reasonable file size while allowing to still look ok on a large screen. I did loose some clarity there, but on my testing on a 4K I found it to be a good balance of performance and newsprint look. I do agree, i wish it were clearer, but the files get to large. The black outlines are a separate .svg file so that they should stay pretty sharp at larger screen sizes.

Thanks for testing and the kind words!

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy I'll look into it later when I have the chance and report back:)

jfick13

the theme looks amazing thanks for all the work you put in. what should i have my vram set at. i keep getting white screens...

pjft

@TMNTturtlguy The black outlines look crisp, as well as the font and such.

Yes, I do get the feel for the old newspaper print - I suppose that's kind of what I was going for with "dithered" :)

Thanks! Have a great weekend.

TMNTturtlguy

@jfick13 with a pi 3 I am set at 120. I have a memory split of 256 (or higher, not sure higher does anything though). At vram 120 I can cleanly run at least 16 systems whiteout any white screen or lag effect. I also have my monitor or HDTV set to game mode.

How many systems are you running?

Thanks

jfick13

around the same. i've been using oldroom 720 with no problem. i keep vram at 260

TMNTturtlguy

@jfick13 hmmmm...260 is really hi! Do you really need it that hi? You are holding a lot of vram in ES that isn't really doing much. Can you confirm a pi 3? I have this running on 3 builds and even on 55" 4K Tv without issues at 120. I did have a lot of issues at the beginning before I came up with the smaller file sizes and layering the images and black line work. Now it runs smooth. Do you have any other settings modifications?

Summunx

amazing theme.

I love to try in my mini genesis

Nismo

@TMNTturtlguy

What I was doing in my theme to optimize it a bit it's to control the filesize of systems backgrounds regarding of resolution.

For 720p my backgrounds have no more than 256kb, for 1080p no more than 512kb.

Maybe you want to try with that settings.

I save my backgrounds in high quality in case I need them later, and I fine tune the filesize with Riot depending on the final resolution: http://luci.criosweb.ro/riot/

I hope this help.

TMNTturtlguy

@Nismo thanks, this is what I have done. All my background files are under 500kb. I have the photoshop files saved at hi res for working on them and then I compress the file size.

I have the theme working really well for me at 120 VRAM with slide transitions. And up to 17 different systems on a 4K tv...so there should be no issues. So far I have only one comment on the white screen issue from testers.

Thanks

Nismo

@TMNTturtlguy I don't use rpi, I use windows version, so I have no problems too....

pjft

@jfick13 try lowering VRAM to 120-130, and see if it helps.

jfick13

ok so i dropped it to 120 it works better but the art sometimes doesn't pop up behind the system but i know its there. it shows sometimes but shows a white screen behind the console logo other times

jfick13

i'm also getting an error message that says underrun occurred

pjft

@jfick13 Slowly try to increase VRAM now - 10 by 10, until you find a compromise that works well for your system. :)

The underrun issues are, unfortunately, par for the course, not related to a theme per se.

jfick13

ok so i switched the transition from slide to fade and seems to cleared up the issue thanks for the help guys. this theme is awesome. thanks tmnturtle guy

TMNTturtlguy

@jfick13 you bet! Glad you got it working! Thanks for helping trouble shoot @pjft

TMNTturtlguy

Thanks to @pjft for providing a new ES build update that includes the screensaver/omx player/and the current main branch of ES, I hope to be able to update this theme to v2.0 this comming week to work with all the new updates including max size! (I will leave v1.0 as is for those running systems without maxSize) When I work on this I would like to add a few more system names to the theme, but as I have no plans on using any of them personally I would like to get some requests. The top # of request I get will be what I start with. I am thinking a general Mame will be my first addition. Please let me know your top requests!