Draco1962

Agreed. However, if you have any questions regarding the Theme Editor there is also a Pinned topic here.

Is this what you had in mind?

Interesting. to be honest, I did not really dabble much with the default themes and went straight into V4 so wasn't aware of this difference.

I loaded the top bar middle, right, etc. into GIMP (the open source poor man's free Photoshop) and set the transparency to 100% and then resaved them in the theme. Since they are now 100% transparent, not an issue.

I run it as Administrator. Can you upload a full copy of your latest log file and gameex.ini (you will need to save it as gameex.txt as the IP Board software does not allow for uploading of .ini files). While Win 7's UAC is worlds away more forgiving than Vista, access rights are not always distributed equally. It is possible that the access rights on your D: drive are locked up a little tighter than you realize as I have encountered this with 7 on my machine with other programs. I have seen where some users similar problems due to a bad .net install or update. You may want to try reinstalling, in order, from .net 2 SP1 to the latest. I do not believe that option will become available as GameEx can be setup for use for multiple users with their distinct settings (themes, emulators, etc.) on the same machine (hence HKLM vs. HKCU).

Keep me in mind if you need someone to break, er, uh, beta test!

Glad to see I am not the only rolling stone gathering moss!

I can't say that I have had quite that same issue. I am running Win 7 x64. I don't know how much trouble it will be for you to do so but can you try installing and running from c:\gameex? My gut tells me there is still some sort of access rights issue at play.

My guess is that there are not very many other than possibly some of the "adult" games and possibly casino / poker games that one could use a touch screen to play. I managed to "Google" a thread at BYOAC forums that might give you a good starting point if trying to utilize a touch screen as part of a MAME cab.

You may want to take a look at the following: Steem - last updated 12/2006 WinSTon - last updated 7/2009 SainT - last updated 12/2009 Hatari - last updated 6/2010 ARAnyM - last updated 2/2011 (this runs according to the author similar to DOS Box. I have not ventured into ST emulation as of yet so cannot give a recommendation to any one specifically.

Are you referring to an item in list view or snap/vid snap view? I have only witnessed the item "growing" in snap or vid snap view. In the last them I put together (Sins of a Solar Empire) I did not use the default selector editor. Instead, I created one selector.png file and, using GIMP as my image editor, saved it repeatedly for each selector bar graphic. Before saving from one to the next, I decreased the opacity by 20% until I got to a 40% level, then increased subsequent opacity level increases back up to 100%, then repeated down again until all 15 selector images were created. This creates a neat pulsing effect as the selector dims and brightens against the background. I usually see the item that is Now Playing at the top and just left of center on my themes. I am hoping that this can eventually be a toggled on/off option that will also allow for placing within the theme in a location of choice the same as the rss scroller options.

I prefer working with the V4 themes as there is a little more flexibility (for me at least) and thanks to the latest changes to them can disable color-key and use true alpha channel graphics.

When it comes to editing and creating themes, you are looking at the central documentation in the forums. There is a brief tutorial I believe through the gameex.com site, but most of the knowledge is within the membership of the forum and trial & error.

Any of the files containing cache in the file name or extension in the gameex/data path.

You may try saving the image as a layer within another image to form a frame or border. 4:3 aspect ratio can be found in 640x480 resolution for example. Here is one I put together of Crysis 2 using a 640x480 background (with a little mask and dissolve gradient thrown in and the Crysis 2 image given a slight bevel). I also upscaled the image to 500x234. Try this image and see if you get any of the distortion you noted or if it handled the image OK.

I have had similar occur and have been able to get around it in the past by deleting all cache files and starting GameEx again.

Gotcha - thanks! As for the file names for the snaps - can you post an example using Crysis 2 based upon your original post?

Couslev - Do you think that this may work similarly with games distributed by Impulse or Windows Live?

Excellent, Couslev! I think this will help quite a few people, including myself!

Alrighty then - no actual ROM set? How is this possible for you to play games with MAME but no ROMs or CHDs?

Danke!

Currently the pop-up descriptions/ratings are enabled for the V1 and V3 themes (which is the majority of default themes). I am a bit stoked to see it on the V4 themes along with a toggle feature in the future!

Here is the Logo Pack I promised that I created as I was making the Sins of a Solar Empire theme. They are good for any theme that can support them! Give 'em a go and let me know what ya think! I have enclosed the PSD and XCF files for creating your own with Photoshop and GIMP respectively. Below are few more that were made after I sent up the pack to Tom.

Can you provide a sample pic and also copy of your log file and gameex.ini (will need to save as text file as forum will not accept uploads of ini files)? If you can also tell us what version them you are using and if you have enabled via Theme Editor under Options the disable color key? (works for V4 themes).

A few more just to tease...