[PLUGIN] Game Info Plugin

[chaskas]

Nice! I test very soon.

Thanks Adultery

[DJoneK]

I tried this new version but it screwed up all my display config. It made GameEx launch on my PC monitor (not HDTV as I have it set up), and it changed my resolution to 640x480 from 1680x1050. Had to go to display properties to re-configure the displays to the way they were before since the settings were kept even after I exited GameEx.

I have a weird setup though. My windows primary monitor is the PC monitor and the secondary is the HDTV. When I launch gameex, I use a batch to run before, so it swaps primary displays. HDTV becomes primary and pc monitor becomes secondary. GameEx is launched on the HDTV, and all emulators are displayed on the HDTV as well. I wanted to show the GameInfo plugin on the PC monitor, which should now be the secondary display. On windows though, the display is still labeled as Monitor 1, even though it's secondary. Hopefully you have an idea of my setup now.

So when I set up the plugin, I just changed the "Game" option to screen 2. Disabled Jukebox and Atract thingies. When I launched GameEx, for some reason it (gameex) launched on the PC monitor with a 640x480 resolution.

Let me know if you need more testing.

EDIT: PC Specs:

Core2Duo 2.13ghz

4gb ram

NVidia GeForce 450gts 1gb

Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit

[Adultery]

The problem with that is VB.Net uses the Windows allocations for monitors, so if Windows sees your #1 monitor as 1024Ã?768 getting the screen bounds, its not gonna work right in this case.

Your situation is pretty extreme, and based on the code I don't know how I would get around that...

Unless you can physically change your Windows screen assignments before GameEx launches...

[Adultery]

OK, here's what I came up with:

You'll need to copy this to a notepad and save it as Override.xml ... and put it in PLUGINS/Game Info/

<overrides>
  <screen_number>1</screen_number>
  <screen_x>640</screen_x>
  <screen_y>480</screen_y>
</overrides>

Change the screen number to the one Windows actually assigns to the monitor you're using, and the Res X and Res Y according to that screen's resolution, and fire it up. Let me know what happens.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Adultery
Sorry, removed the beta for now... I found a bug which puts the banner at the top instead of the bottom.

[DJoneK]

Nice work. I tried the Override.xml thing and interestingly enough, when I used screen 1, it still showed on my HDTV (Primary display, but labeled as monitor 2 on windows). I went ahead and tried screen 2 and it seemed to do the trick, but the gameinfo bar was nowhere to be found. The PC monitor just went black, almost as if it were there but with the actual game info bar out of the screen area. At least that's what it seemed to me.

[Adultery]

Yeah, I figured out that bug I think... I pulled the old one for that and it's now included in the version I'm releasing here: (I totally appreciate the testing by the way. Thanks.) I think the problem was that it was displaying under GameEx instead of on the correct monitor.

Version 1.0.7 Is Out:

• (Settings) Added new theme selection options
  
• (Settings) Added preview screen for theme browsing
  
• (Plugin) Integrated theme usage to the back end
  
• (Plugin) Added new banner for Last.FM patch users
  
• (Plugin) Optimized a lot of code based on some suggestions from Ben in another project
  

Download it from the first post.

[DJoneK]

I'm getting the same results with the new version. Screen goes black but doesn't show the gameinfo bar. Shift+TAB doesn't do anything. Gonna try to keep trying different settings.

[Adultery]

That sucks! Can you do me a solid and minimize GameEx and see if is displaying underneath it on the main monitor? If not look at your log and see if there's a plugin error. Unfortunately I have no good way to test your situation myself so I need your help... It's gonna be trial and error for a little while.

I will get you going I promise! Thanks for your patience!

[DJoneK]

Tried running minimized but it didn't show anywhere. I think the black screen I mentioned before has to do with the emulator I was testing it with. I tried another emu and nothing happens on the 2nd monitor. Also, the whole thing about my resolution going out of whack was probably my video card acting up or something. After I restarted my PC, everything got fixed. I don't think your pluggin was at fault.

So after more testing, it seems like it only wants to work on the primary display. If I leave it default on screen 1, they show up on my HDTV along with the emulator. Once I switch to screen 2, it just never appears. Gonna try disabling the whole switcharoo I got going on before launching gameex, to see if it works ok that way.

[Adultery]

It's imperative that I see your Windows assignments... Can you possibly minimize GameEx and look at the monitor number for your PC monitor in Control Panel while GameEx is running (ie after your BAT runs)?

[DJoneK]

I just did some tests. Without doing the switcharoo, the gameinfo bar shows nicely on the HDTV (secondary monitor and monitor 2 under windows), while gameex and emulators all launch on the PC monitor (primary display and monitor 1 on windows). Settings on gameinfo plugin all set as screen 1 interestingly enough. So it works perfectly on a secondary monitor (using default settings) as long as gameex and emus all load on monitor 1/primary.

Once I switched to screen 2 on the gameinfo plugin settings (while keeping monitors default like above), the gameinfo bar disappeared again. It didnt show up on top of emus or below them. So it just doesnt want to show up on my PC monitor at all.

BTW, when using those bats, only primary/secondary relationship is changed (direct3d/opengl stuff shows up only on primary displays, or was it directdraw...forgot). Monitor # assignment is kept intact. So PC monitor is always 1 and my HDTV is always 2. Also, dont know if screen position is important. Coordenates for my screens are 0,0 for PC monitor (monitor 1) and -1360,0 for HDTV (monitor 2). They keep the same coordinates when switching primary/secondary as well.

EDIT: Actually, they dont keep the same coordinates. When switching, PC monitor becomes 1360,0 and HDTV becomes 0,0. Prolly insignificant but just in case it matters.

[Adultery]

Ohh my! I got ya!!! I know exactly what's wrong!!!

Hold on a sec.

[DJoneK]

#()$#)$_@#@!@!! <-- insert random curses here

Using screen "0" on your plugin settings did the trick lol. I realized if my HDTV being monitor 2 was identified by your plugin as 1, then probably the PC monitor being 1 on windows could be 0 on your plugin. And seems that was the case. lol

Everything is running great now.

[Adultery]

Sweeeeeeet!

Did you need X/Y coordinates? OR the overrides at all for that matter? If not I'm gonna comment out that code.

[DJoneK]

No. I used the gameinfo plugin settings itself to set screen 0. Don't know if the coordinates did anything at all. Just deleted the .xml and it still works great. So not needed for now.

[Adultery]

Great!

Thanks for testing for me!

1.0.8 forthcoming.

[Adultery]

Ship shipley! It just occured to me that the screen array is zero based (which explains DJoneK's issue as well).

If anyone has downloaded 1.0.6+, please take note of this and be aware that I added the code to fix this. You will want to use the number that's assigned to your monitor in Windows (primary is 1, secondary 1 is 2, etc). I'm taking the - 1 into account before passing the screen variable now.

So in DJoneK's situation, you need to change that zero to a 1 (the way it should be) instead of subtracting one yourself, so please fix that.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Version 1.0.8 Is Out:

• (Plugin) Removed manual overrides (Use the GUI monitor assignments instead)
  
• (Plugin) Code cleanup as a result of the above
  
• (Plugin) Fixed the monitor array to reflect the actual Windows monitor configs (1 is primary, 2 is secondary, etc). Please use your Windows monitor assignments!
  

Download it from the first post.

[nullPointer]

Nicely done Adultery! Way to be responsive and efficient with bug fixes and user requests. That's how Agile is done folks!

[Adultery]

Unfortunately he fixed it. I didn't! I shoulda went with my gut instead of making it overly complicated! Lol!

Thanks though. This and Xpadder are my favorite plugins. The more folks use them the more I'll stay on them. I want everyone to enjoy nice things.

Now if I can just get the themers to make nice theme packs to mesh both together...

[Adultery]

Ship shipley! It just occured to me that the screen array is zero based (which explains DJoneK's issue as well).

If anyone has downloaded 1.0.6+, please take note of this and be aware that I added the code to fix this. You will want to use the number that's assigned to your monitor in Windows (primary is 1, secondary 1 is 2, etc). I'm taking the - 1 into account before passing the screen variable now.

So in DJoneK's situation, you need to change that zero to a 1 (the way it should be) instead of subtracting one yourself, so please fix that.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

[Draco1962]

Would be nice if the CP image could be toggled to stay up on the second monitor instead of disappearing.

[Adultery]

I'm not sure I follow you... The CP image? As in the one GameEx loads before the game?

[Draco1962]

I am assuming so. There was a brief display on my second monitor of the control panel and the functions for each button used in the game that appeared above the game info image. The game info image stayed.

[Adultery]

So you're saying that GameEx displayed the CP on the second monitor and the screen then goes black minus the Game Info banner? It shouldn't... It only displays over top of GameExtender, it should not replace it.

Can you provide me with a screen shot?

[Draco1962]

Here ya go - this is what appears just after the game info banner appears, disappears, then the CP image disappears, then the banner appears again.