[THEME] 2084 (1920x1080) Completed

[RageOn]

Here's my second

I've been working on this for a couple of days, still needs a bit of tweaking but I'm more or less done. I had a few problems with the theme editor so it took longer than I expected but I tried to work my way around. My first theme and second are leading me to another but I have to get comfortable with the editors little eccentricities and then my work flow will be better. Regardless, here's a snap of number two

I used my icons from my first theme so its not a new work, I just wanted a different feel to my last and I think I achieved it. When I get this editor locked I'll do my third...

Enjoy all

Please let me know the mistake's I've made so I can learn a little faster

[RageOn]

Oh, before I forget..... Is there a way to limit the menu size and change its colour? I've been trying to make the menu a certain size but it still extends across the entire screen. Not a major but my third theme will be dependant on it.

[nullPointer]

Wow RageOn! This already theme shows the remarkable progress you've already made in leveraging the tools available to you. I'm looking forward to seeing the release on this one. Great work!

[RageOn]

Cheers Mr Pointer

you can have it now but I don't want to make Tom delete all the time I want to tweak it and this one will need quite a few. He said he didn't mind but still I bet is a pain... I basically did the individual ini's which made things a little trickyer.... I'll upload a WIP version so give me 5 minutes and I'll upload as long as people know its a WIP.

[RageOn]

ok, uploaded

[RageOn]

<------- aparently I'm a Lurker lol

[KRC]

Looking good my friend

[u-man]

Oh, before I forget..... Is there a way to limit the menu size and change its colour? I've been trying to make the menu a certain size but it still extends across the entire screen. Not a major but my third theme will be dependant on it.

you can change the size but not with a V4 theme but i dont know exactly which version would make your wish come true. it was either V2 or V3.

maybe the other theme-makers here know it better, but i know that this is possible.

do some trial and error . V3 can only be achieved by changing the theme.ini. if you open it, you can change the version into V3, but be aware that you will loose some V4 features. make a backup before you try.

about the colour, you can not change it. it is sticked to the fontcolour you choose for titles etc. in the theme-editor

i would not spend so much space for the menu, but this is just my taste. also i would either get rid of the reflections on the menue and info bars, or make such holes like the bottom-bar allready has. maybe outlining the font would help a little more.

nice looking stuff by the way, but i will be patient and wait for the finished product

[RageOn]

Hmmm ok, cheers and thanks for the reply........ If I can't change the colour is there a way to overlay a kind of filter/semi transparent png to do it that way? I guessing no but I'll ask anyway.

[KRC]

If I think I know what your on about, you can manually change the width when its highlighted in the theme editor.

Also on the enable/disable features in the setup wizard you can disable certain options like "Hide Change View" etc.. and other options, this gives the menu bar the ability to be shorter.

[u-man]

If I think I know what your on about, you can manually change the width when its highlighted in the theme editor.

you can do that.... with no effect.

Also on the enable/disable features in the setup wizard you can disable certain options like "Hide Change View" etc.. and other options, this gives the menu bar the ability to be shorter.

again... you can do that, but it will not help much, as there will be games with so long names or categorys, that it easily fits an HD screen. Thats why the Menue scrolls then. Only hope is to try a another Version Theme (i.e. V3 or V2), as the menue was managed in another way, back in these days. V4 is a one-line menue and the other version i dont remember has at least 2 or 3 rows.

Hmmm ok, cheers and thanks for the reply........ If I can't change the colour is there a way to overlay a kind of filter/semi transparent png to do it that way? I guessing no but I'll ask anyway.

this indeed could work, but be aware that the background would change the color too.

even with a perfect Alpha for the Font, it will barely work, as the Menue will change. depending on your decision what you click on the menue, your menue-text will change and the Alpha can not compensate this, hence you would colortint something which is not more in place. But it will work for static Menue Items.

however you could use semi-transparent Black-Alpha, this way you would have at least shades of color in your text and with a little talent, the trick will not be visible, resulting in a darker or brighter shade for your font.

hope that helps. it is hard for a german to explain something in english, what is a little complex .

[RageOn]

Thank you both for your replies, I have a theory I think might work but I'll have to give it a go.... I'll post my findings tomorrow after I've tried

[KRC]

u-man,

On setting up my themes and disabling certains things on the menu bar, I can manage to get the menu bar a maximum of halfway across the screen, this includes when the menu bar shows the 'Sort By' options.

I think the width all depends on a user's setup, and what options they are using.

[u-man]

yes, i did that too, believe me, BUT i can tell you, it depends on:

1.) choosen fontsize for the theme

2.) how large your collection is, as then the chances are getting higher to have games which will exceed the width of HD easily and there is no way that the maximum is halfway across the screen. i renamed stuff like "manufacturer" into "brand", "category" into "genre" etc. to gain space. i disabled a lot (i think nearly all that was possible, have only "back", "home" and "exit") i even changed the field "menu more" to a single "+" sign , but their are still titles, which exceed HD, or better say destroy the illusion of a perfect theme.

the "old" menue style was much better when it comes to skinning a theme and it was more organized as well, IMO.

dont like that scrolling in the menue at all . it is not intuitive as the "old" menue was, again IMO.

[RageOn]

Success !!! (See test pics)

My theory worked kind of... After reading the above I think I've found a way around my issue. I still have to mess around with colour etc but, the test worked a treat with no messing around with hiding things in setup. The colour of the text is still white but I did manage to stop the list from extending across/off the edge of the screen. My solution has a condition which is the media bar is always visable but in this theme it doesnt look bad.

Heres what I did..... I edited the TopBarMiddle.png to include the part of the screen with the menu. I then deleted the area the menu was occupying and added a semi transparent layer to it so it's still visable, just tinted. I also left the edges either side of the menu intact basically the same as the startbak.png. What this does is hide the menu list no matter how big it is... here's a screeny of the TopBarMiddle.png

The only issue is the end of the menu list is slightly obscured (See pic). One way I thought about fixing that is changing its name to include spaces, something like 'Exit .' so its pushed into view. Thats a todo but for now I can work on making a better version of what I have done.

[nullPointer]

Your modifications are looking great RageOn. This theme is so slick! Has it got a name yet, or are you holding off on naming until the official release?

[RageOn]

Thanks man and yeah, the name is 2084... I watched the movie 1984 the other night and had the idea of making this. Nothing to do with the movie I just liked the idea of the name, Past, future etc.

I have some tweaking to do on the menu side of it so hopefully in the next couple of days it'll be sorted. The above pics were taken of the test fix just to see the mod had the desired effect. The images don't line up etc so I'll do new versions with all the trimmings for the final release now I know the mods works.

[KRC]

Looking good, and 2084 is a cool name for a theme

[nullPointer]

I can’t help but think that this is an excellent concept all around. I want to see/read this sequel! 2084: Join the Party. OK, returning to topic …

[u-man]

glad to see, you got the colour-tint working (easy because Background is Black ) .... and the other stuff?..... some need to learn it the hard way, but maybe you suprise me.

[RageOn]

Cheers all

It's more likely that I won't surprise you U-man

[RageOn]

Well its been emotional but I've finally finished... I decided to ditch the menu idea basically as the Titlebar was still visable for a few seconds while viewing cabinets in mame. So unless there is a way to permanently display the titlebar apart from in certain areas then I'll ditch it. Apart from that it worked well. Anyhow heres a few screenies of the finish article.....

Thanks again for all the help guys, much appreciated

[RageOn]

Completed theme is up..... Fill ya boots all.