Theme question (maybe even request?)

[ClassicGMR]

I figured this fit in better in the Projects area but I hope someone will move it if it needs to be elsewhere.

I am completely stuck on Draco's Space Invaders theme for my Arcade Cabinet. I love it ... it's awesome ... it STAYS. (Sorry not gushing on purpose. It is just that good in my opinion.)

Now I have just (re)finished a 1.3GHz dual-core that's in an NES case. It runs ok. It's no speed demon and the Space Invader theme seems way to intensive for it. Basically I'm just curious if there's a good stripped-down front-end that would work well. I admit I haven't tried many as yet.

It doesn't have to be graphic-intensive at all really. I just want functionality and maybe 1 screen shot. Any recommendations? Anyone doing a new theme like this?

[Draco1962]

Would need to know more. The theme itself is not going to eat up that much on resources. I would say we need to know what you are running so far as your Windows version, graphics adapter, etc.

Also you might want to open Task Manager and see what else may be running in the background that could be causing a problem with your available resources. I assume from this post these are your system specs:

Intel Atom 1.3 GHz N330 dual-core ITX motherboard.

2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 RAM running in single channel mode (only 1 DIMM slot onboard).

500GB 7200 RPM 2.5" SATA HDD running Windows XP.

Wireless keyboard(when needed) is a Perixx 701 wireless keyboard w/ touchpad.

GameEx Front End.

All controlled by an XBOX 360 USB game pad.

[ClassicGMR]

I'm running a very lean Windows XP setup. On boot completion at idle there are 28 processes running(29 with Task Manager), CPU usage fluctuates between 0% - 3% and the Commit Charge is 345M/3930M.

The graphics card is an Intel® 82945G Express Chipset with DVMT BIOS mode set to Fixed with 128MB assigned to it(max allowed).

Is that what you were looking for?

[Draco1962]

Yeah, more or less. Is the graphics card built into the motherboard or a separate card? How much RAM are you running on your machine total?

Regardless of whether or not the graphics card is built in or not, I would strongly recommend installing one that is compatible with the most RAM possible (256MB min, 512MB preferred). AGP if your mobo supports it is going to give your video superior throughput as the "pipe" can transmit more bits than a card on the PCI bus. That way, your OS can use more of the RAM for your programs and share less with the GPU.

[ClassicGMR]

Yeah, more or less. Is the graphics card built into the motherboard or a separate card? How much RAM are you running on your machine total?

Regardless of whether or not the graphics card is built in or not, I would strongly recommend installing one that is compatible with the most RAM possible (256MB min, 512MB preferred). AGP if your mobo supports it is going to give your video superior throughput as the "pipe" can transmit more bits than a card on the PCI bus. That way, your OS can use more of the RAM for your programs and share less with the GPU.

I promise I am not trying to sound like a smartass so please take it the right way.

I do computers and builds for a living so I get that ideally I'd want even a 64MB card if I could. Problem is this is a mini ATX and most cards won't work with the meager power supplied. Even adding a Slimline DVD drive to the system sometimes made it unstable and not boot(hence deleting it from the setup). Unfortunately it's not an option.

To answer the rest it is an onboard video. Changing the Video setting in the BIOS to a FIXED setting rather than a DVMT keeps the system from telling me when I need 32MB and when I need 128MB of video - I just make it give me 128MB at all times. That still leaves me 1.99GB of system RAM. It's working rather well with some themes but the more graphically intense ones like your Space Invaders theme make it chug a bit. It seems the more the theme can do(in this case how great it is) the more my computer wants to take a break.

I found that "Default - ArcadeVGA Lo-Res" seems to be my best bet so far as this one allows GameEx to seem to transition faster. It's just not pretty.

Anyone working on an NES theme by chance that is spartan like the above theme?

[Draco1962]

No offense taken. I know that some systems will have difficulties with onboard video regardless of assigning the allocated amount of RAM through a static config or dynamic. What you may want to try is to delete all unneeded files. For example, if the theme has foreground and background .png files for all emulators oither than MAME and Daphne, you can try deleting them, then open the theme as an existing theme in Theme Editor, then click save and exit - this will "prune" the extra images referenced from within the theme. YOu may also want to delete any system logo files that are provided with the theme that you are not using as well.

[ClassicGMR]

No offense taken. I know that some systems will have difficulties with onboard video regardless of assigning the allocated amount of RAM through a static config or dynamic. What you may want to try is to delete all unneeded files. For example, if the theme has foreground and background .png files for all emulators oither than MAME and Daphne, you can try deleting them, then open the theme as an existing theme in Theme Editor, then click save and exit - this will "prune" the extra images referenced from within the theme. YOu may also want to delete any system logo files that are provided with the theme that you are not using as well.

Good suggestions! Your expertise with GameEx and the theme editor has helped me before so I'll go through and give these a shot as well.

Thank you.