[RESOLVED] When does the menu appear?

[Necromancyr]

When is the menu supposed to appear? I'm doing some extremely wonky things in a theme, and I have this feeling that I somehow screwed something up with the menu. For instance, in my start page the menu doesn't appear at startup. If I go all the way down to a mame gamelist, the menu appears and when I back out it's always there.

I do have a foreground and alpha channel turned on (which is active for all parts of the theme, right?) but that section isn't covered in the start page or the other pages by the overlay at all.

Before I start digging into the theme more wanted to check if this happens with anyone else.

(Also, I can move INTO the menu if I press left right - just can't see it...seems like a layer issue but I don't know what's causing it...)

[Draco1962]

A picture says a thousand words.. I have an idea of what I think you may be talking about but I want to be certain. Would you mind uploading some screen captures?

[Adultery]

You using the foreground topmost setting? If yes the top layer overlays the menu bar.

[Necromancyr]

The pictures actually won't show anything, that's the thing - it'll be one picture where there's a menu one where there's not.

Basically, this is what happens:

- Start GameEx. Start screen shows no menu.

From start, the following happens (each line starts from the start screen/menu)

- Go into MAME (Game List Select). Still no menu on the screen

- Go into Favorites screen and menu is shown. Back into Start via back button and the menu is on the start screen.

- Go into MAME (Game List Select), no menu. Back into start, menu isn't there.

- Go into Emulator Select, menu is shown. Back into start, menu is there.

- Go into MAME (Game List Select), go into a MAME game list and the menu appears. Press home to go straight to the start menu and the menu is there.

How oddball is this? Seems to be something at initialization and then that the MAME Game List Select screen is doing.

(Note: Game List Select is what I'm refering to as the screen where you can pick horizontal, vertical, original, custom lists, etc., of MAME games)

[Tom Speirs]

For version 1 and 2 themes there is not always a menu. If pressing left moves over to it when there is not a menu showing that is a bug.

Version 1 and 2 themes are kept for compatibility and should be considered legacy.

[Necromancyr]

Hrm...this is a v4 theme. And the pressing left does move into the menu when not showing.

Any logs or anything I can send to try to see what's up?

[Adultery]

You didn't answer my question about the foreground topmost setting in the GUI. Is it set? Does it say foreground_topmost=true in the theme.ini? It sounds to me like its a layer issue. But it may be a bug too. Just please satisfy my curiosity.

[Tom Speirs]

Can you please contact me about getting me a copy of the theme so I can see about fixing any bugs.

Cheers.

[Necromancyr]

  On 10/18/2011 at 8:57 PM, TSpeirs said:

Can you please contact me about getting me a copy of the theme so I can see about fixing any bugs.

Cheers.

Adultery: I did in the first post, topmost is activated.

Tom, just sent to the info e-mail address from the contact page.

[Adultery]

Lol! My fault.

Did you try disabling that feature for testing?

I'll step out and leave it to Tom.

[Draco1962]

  On 10/18/2011 at 2:51 AM, Necromancyr said:

The pictures actually won't show anything, that's the thing - it'll be one picture where there's a menu one where there's not.

Basically, this is what happens:

- Start GameEx. Start screen shows no menu.

From start, the following happens (each line starts from the start screen/menu)

- Go into MAME (Game List Select). Still no menu on the screen

- Go into Favorites screen and menu is shown. Back into Start via back button and the menu is on the start screen.

- Go into MAME (Game List Select), no menu. Back into start, menu isn't there.

- Go into Emulator Select, menu is shown. Back into start, menu is there.

- Go into MAME (Game List Select), go into a MAME game list and the menu appears. Press home to go straight to the start menu and the menu is there.

How oddball is this? Seems to be something at initialization and then that the MAME Game List Select screen is doing.

(Note: Game List Select is what I'm refering to as the screen where you can pick horizontal, vertical, original, custom lists, etc., of MAME games)

Actually they can tell quite a bit, especially in light of no theme.ini or other details to piece together with your description. Usually, when someone asks for help, it is proper to respond with what is asked for so that we can be of help as quickly and efficiently as possible. Considering that this is a hobby for most of us that provide support, up to and including Tom, we haven't much time to try to "imagine" what everyone is describing. Your helping us to help you goes a long way.

[Necromancyr]

Tom,

I've been working through this fairly methodically and I believe I found the bug. If a list is set with a y coordinate some number below 100 (64 is low enough) the placement of the menu bar gets screwed up and it doesn't appear. Easiest way to test is just place a list element at somewhere where y is between 0-50 of any size - the menu just doesn't appear.

This may because of an overlap with something else or some other kind of error, but modifying these values resulted in BOTH pages getting fixed.

(I don't see this as a major problem for what I'm doing, since having the three menu items for me is actually desirable on those particular screens - however I could see it being a problem for some others)

[Adultery]

OK, so the problem was this one basically? Obviously swapping X and Y coordinates being the notable difference? It's actually a known issue. You can only move the menu bar up and down.

We were hoping for a fix also. Hopefully Tom can do something about it.

On a side note, I understand you're trying to keep your theme under wraps (for the contest no doubt). Your theme.ini would have been helpful for Draco as he knows this exact issue well and recently reported it, and it wouldn't have given away any of your 'trade secrets' so to speak. Tjat aside we could have pinpointed the bug for you in about 2 seconds.

Let me tell you that I really only wanted to help you and encourage you, not steal or duplicate any of your ideas. Hell, I theme for fun. I can't even enter any of my work in the contest.

It's cool. I been here a long time friend. Seen many come and go. I'm merely suggesting that if you're not gonna take anyone's advice or suggestions (especially for work arounds), you might as well just PM the people you will take advice from.

No offense, man. I just want to help and it seems almost like you just want to rant. GameEx means more to me than just a front end and I only want others to enjoy it as much as I do without getting hung up on cosmetic and minor stuff along the way. Most people are satisfied with a work around... If that's not what you want, cool. If it is, then just take all things into consideration before you focus on what it can't do as opposed to what it can.

Sorry if this post came off crass. Didn't intentionally write it that way.

[Necromancyr]

  On 10/19/2011 at 5:43 AM, Adultery said:

OK, so the problem was this one basically? Obviously swapping X and Y coordinates being the notable difference? It's actually a known issue. You can only move the menu bar up and down.

We were hoping for a fix also. Hopefully Tom can do something about it.

On a side note, I understand you're trying to keep your theme under wraps (for the contest no doubt). Your theme.ini would have been helpful for Draco as he knows this exact issue well and recently reported it, and it wouldn't have given away any of your 'trade secrets' so to speak. Tjat aside we could have pinpointed the bug for you in about 2 seconds.

Let me tell you that I really only wanted to help you and encourage you, not steal or duplicate any of your ideas. Hell, I theme for fun. I can't even enter any of my work in the contest.

It's cool. I been here a long time friend. Seen many come and go. I'm merely suggesting that if you're not gonna take anyone's advice or suggestions (especially for work arounds), you might as well just PM the people you will take advice from.

No offense, man. I just want to help and it seems almost like you just want to rant. GameEx means more to me than just a front end and I only want others to enjoy it as much as I do without getting hung up on cosmetic and minor stuff along the way. Most people are satisfied with a work around... If that's not what you want, cool. If it is, then just take all things into consideration before you focus on what it can't do as opposed to what it can.

Sorry if this post came off crass. Didn't intentionally write it that way.

Adultery - that's not the issue. I know about that thread and it was the first thing I checked to see if something like this has been reported. It's not the X coordinates that are causing the menu item to bug out, but the y coordinates.

And honestly, my theme prob. won't even be eligible either - not sure I'm going to theme everything out or it wouldn't be 'too' personalized. (I'll post some SS's soon, just trying to get a few more bits/art done and settled). Once I submit it, anyone can copy the style I did (which is very minimal and basic) and the tricks I'm trying to get certain things to happen.

Regarding ranting - try to understand my POV as well. Many of the things I've asked about aren't really 'unreasonable' things to think the program can do or a themeing engine should do...most of them are standard now. The rant thread I made was because I was hoping to get a single thread, compressed 'live' place to record issues I encountered, how I solved them, and hopefully get tips on getting around issues I couldn't (or finding out there is no way to circumvent). (That, and I had a few beers that night while I was themeing so it seemed like a better idea than it was). As the small things keep stacking up and the 10-12 circumventions and 'standard' things that should be working aren't, frustration sets in. It's part of why I've stopped working on things after things start going to hell on a particular screen, etc.

I don't want to start a fight or anything either, but Draco asked for a picture of a menu being present and not being present - which makes little sense, logically, to me. If he asked for a theme.ini, or any of the ini's, I would have posted them immediately...but when asked to show a screenshot of something there and not there without explaining that positioning might be an issue and that's what he's interested in, etc., made describing how to replicate the issue and the variables surrounding the bug seem much more important.

TL;DR: Not the same issue as in the other thread, and I respond poorly to requests for items that don't logically make sense without an explanation and being treated as if I 'just don't understand'.

[Draco1962]

Again, I know our requests may not always make sense or seem logical (wouldn't it just be fantastic if the world worked that way? ) , but we do not always have the leisure of explaining up front why we need what we are requesting. If we did, we would spend more time explaining than researching/resolving the issues. All we are asking is meet us half-way. We are usually pretty good about explaining our findings and the resolution or workaround that is required. Also try to keep in mind that the engine behind the theme editor is quite a few versions old and, I think we can agree that it is in need of an overhaul (which Ben and Tom are working on as much as is possible).

We understand your POV, we live it, got the t-shirt to prove we have been there more than once.

[Tom Speirs]

I think the low y position issue is fixed in the latest version. Please confirm.

[Necromancyr]

Confirmed, completely fixed.