[THEME] >>> Gameroom Theme Released!!!<<<

[Krakerman]

Ok I managed to fix my multi-monitor setup once again and got GameExtender to work once again! on the monitor that I want it on .... No more updating my drivers Sheesh what a pain that was....

Hmmm If and when Tom implements Multi-Monitor maybe he just needs to add an option in the Setup Wizard under each emulator with a line that says:

Display GameExtender on Monitor: (And have you select the number from a pulldown menu .... like 1-4) and then change the option under the GameExtender that says Run on Secondary: to saying Run on startup to monitor: (1-4) that way when you startup GameEx it will run to the monitor you choose.

just a thought. What do you guys think? Makes sense ....

[Krakerman]

Ok I decided to change the Gameroom theme a bit. Here is a sneak peek at the new look of the Main Menu.

[nullPointer]

Pretty neat, although I do sort of miss the 1970's style TV set up in there. Nice use of the Dig Dug guy in the system selection menu!

[Krakerman]

Thanks!

[Krakerman]

Ok ... here is the new look for the Atari 2600 system. Includes box and cart images that change with each game.

[nullPointer]

Looks great Krak! I like the way it's not quite as 'busy' now. It's cleaner and more focused. You've done a great job applying an editorial eye to this theme IMO. The GameRoom logo was pretty sweet though ...

[Krakerman]

Thanks ... I was looking for a more clean and professional look to it. Starting to get better at Paint.net and learning how to use alot of the different plugins that I can apply to the theme as well.

I updated the above snap as well adding in the Game Box logo to the tab. I have a few more things I want to update to this theme then this one is done and onto the next system. Each theme will be similar in looks but with different color schemes.

[uPDATE] Updated the graphics and I think this will be the final version of the 2600 theme.

[Krakerman]

[uPDATE!!]

OMG! I just learned a new way to create themes with no text based list being displayed. I created a prototype theme together tonight to see if it would work and it was successful!! So now a theme can look just like Hyperspin with no text listing of games to scroll thru but instead you can use graphics instead.

How did I do it .... (trickery) it wasn't very hard and not sure why I never tried it before but now this really changes how you can approach creating your theme and make it a little more complex.

Here is what you do just move the List off-screen in the theme editor and then you can fool GameEx by making Image 2 the size of your screen (Ex. X=0 Y=0 W=1920 H=1080) then create png images with your graphics for each game. So each game can have totally different backgrounds if you wanted them too but the window that displays the videos will have to be in the same position however you need to make it transparent for each game so it will show thru when you run GameEx. All of the other windows in the theme editor are not affected like the start menu time/date ect.. when displaying each game. It sounds a bit complicated but it really isn't.

Hope that makes any sense. here is a snaphot to show you what I mean.

[Krakerman]

So I know I don't have the start menu and the date/time lined up correctly but I wanted to show you what can be done. The box image and the cart in the above snapshot are static with a transparent background however the next game has a totally different color background but where the video shows thru I made that square transparent so the video will display or else the background image with cover it up.

You have to mess around with it too see what I'm talking about.

The text list is still actually there it's just off screen so when you scroll up and down you are just changing the picture/backgrounds. It just fools you into thinking it's not! As you can't even tell at all. Alot of people might not try this as it will be graphic intensive because you have to create backgrounds for each game and that could take alot of time but for someone like me I like doing it as it makes your system look totally unique.

Now I'm going to have to re-design my theme all over....

[nullPointer]

Now I'm going to have to re-design my theme all over....

I think this is your motto, is it not? Totally kidding. Great job thinking outside the box! I'm really looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labor in this endeavor!

[Krakerman]

Hahaha it appears so....

Update pic of my theme with the new feature!

[Krakerman]

Ok guys here is what Daphne will look like. Hyperspin converted to GameEx!

As you can see with my new trick you don't see any text based list to scroll thru the games you just use the up and down just like you did with the text based list.

Each game can have it's own theme in a sense same goes for MAME games. Granted you may need a large HD to save all the images to but for most people that is not a issue if you have big HD's.

Hyperspin ony displays in 800x600 where I upscaled it to 1920x1080 You can make 1 default image to display for all the games or select what games have a different background.

[nullPointer]

Ok guys here is what Daphne will look like. Hyperspin converted to GameEx!.

Hyperspin ony displays in 800x600 where I upscaled it to 1920x1080 You can make 1 default image to display for all the games or select what games have a different background.

I don't know if it's looking quite like Hyperspin yet. The flashing lights and loud noises have not yet caused me to have an epileptic seizure. I kid, I kid! Those guys do fine work over there! Much respect HS crew.

In all seriousness though the ingenuity you're putting into this theme is highly impressive Krak! Keep up the great work. Just out of curiosity, is it possible to display additional game images using this technique? (boxes, game logos, etc?)

[Krakerman]

Yes you can ... you just have to incorporated it into your backgrounds. It's no Hyperspin! It's as close as I can get it stripping it of the flash animations. Limitations of GameEx I'm affraid at least for now. Also you can't rotate the video windows in GameEx like you can in Hyperspin either.

[nullPointer]

That makes sense. I suppose in some ways that grants you a greater degree of freedom in terms of image placement and such.

[Krakerman]

Yes it does and you can add effects to your images like reflections and such.

[Krakerman]

One strange thing thou as it is random but sometimes when you just sit there and watch say Bega's Battle or any title for that matter the screen goes back to the default background and the video disappears however you can still hear it. You have to exit GameEx as all the other systems videos won't display as well.

It never seems to fail that I can't just get something to just run perfectly the first time without any issues. I get all excited then bam something has to break. Not sure what is causing it my screen saver is disabled so I don't think it's that but it happens after a minute or so and sometimes it won't happen at all. GameEx doesn't kick any error at all you just have to close it and re-run it it again but then it can happen again.

[uPDATE] Hmmm I upgraded to Tom's latest version that had the Steam improvements to it and that version seems to have this problem. When I reverted back to 12.80 everything works fine and it doesn't do it at all.

[Krakerman]

Ok I updated to Tom's latest Steam update fix and it's not doing it yet but will test it further tomorrow and see if I can repeat the issue again.

[ehuonder]

Krakerman - Love the creativity! although if you have many games, you will be VERY busy, and it will take up a lot of disk space! I will be interested to see your resulting theme!

[Krakerman]

Yes it can take alot of time but it gives me something to do plus maybe the community can create more themes just like they do over at the Hyperspin website. Anyone can do it heck I'm doing these with paint.net which is a free paint program ... no photoshop or expensive paint programs.

Here is another one for Daphne that I did tonight ... Cobra Command only a few more to do then Daphne will be done.

[nullPointer]

Looks great Krak! Clever use of video content keeping in theme with the background. Did you just give a subtle nod to Cloverfield there?

[Krakerman]

[Krakerman]

Daphne is complete!

[Krakerman]

Ok now that Daphne is done. I am testing out MAME now.

So far everything is working perfectly ....

[Krakerman]

[uPDATE] A few more MAME (1000's of more to do ) games then I'm going to start work on a different system for now.