Theme Editor Questions...

[lingpanda]

How do you make it so the selection and menu items have no default blue background? Ive seen some layouts that have no background color. Anyone understand?

[headkaze]

How do you make it so the selection and menu items have no default blue background? Ive seen some layouts that have no background color. Anyone understand?

I think you are referring to Unselected.png. If you make that image pure black it should become transparent.

To do this in the theme editor go to the Object Browser and go to Selection Bar->Unselected. Then from the menu select Object->Adjust Colour. Then use the Brightness slider to make it black. Save and it should make it disappear.

[lingpanda]

I think you are referring to Unselected.png. If you make that image pure black it should become transparent.

To do this in the theme editor go to the Object Browser and go to Selection Bar->Unselected. Then from the menu select Object->Adjust Colour. Then use the Brightness slider to make it black. Save and it should make it disappear.

Thankyou for the fast reply. Exactly what I needed.

[Mangledmon]

Hi again guys!

Thanks for the feedback RE: the previous stuff I asked - you guys rock!

Now I have a different question, but I'm not sure if it's theme related or GameEx related, so let me know if I'm posting this in the right spot.

I've finished my theme, and I used the awesome 'Alpha Blue' as my template, (Alpha Blue works perfectly in GameEx). When I tried to load GameEx with my theme, the following was the error report:

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: GameEx: Version 6.56: Starting Log

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Operating System Platform: Win32NT

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Operating System Name: Windows XP

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Operating System Version: 5.1.2600

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Checking for versions of .net Framework installed

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: .net Framework 2.0 Installed

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Checking Registration

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Running Randomize()

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Checking for applications to Launch On Startup

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Initialising Video/MNG DLL's

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Running Misc startup tasks

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Setting Menu types

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Opening Configuration File

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Getting Configuration Values

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Using Theme: Game Center

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Checking for alternate Image Directory for Theme: Game Center

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Launching HideOS.exe

22:47:34.7 16/09/2006: Hiding Taskbar

22:47:34.8 16/09/2006: Is Media Center running?

22:47:34.8 16/09/2006: Checking/Creating LCD Registry values

22:47:34.8 16/09/2006: Check Media Center Exit/Start Mode

22:47:34.8 16/09/2006: Media Center Mode 0

22:47:34.8 16/09/2006: Text/Language: English

22:47:34.8 16/09/2006: Applying Language/Text

22:47:35.0 16/09/2006: Snap Delay set to: 2

22:47:35.0 16/09/2006: Get other settings

22:47:35.0 16/09/2006: Set: Find emulator artwork on best match basis

22:47:35.1 16/09/2006: Start work for Form

22:47:35.1 16/09/2006: Getting Original Screen Size

22:47:35.1 16/09/2006: Loading ICON

22:47:35.1 16/09/2006: Initializing Component

22:47:35.5 16/09/2006: Initialising Bass Audio Library

22:47:35.9 16/09/2006: Loading default loading screen

22:47:35.9 16/09/2006: Using 2D Animations

22:47:35.9 16/09/2006: Using General Font: Trebuchet MS

22:47:35.9 16/09/2006: Using Title Font: HandelGothic BT

22:47:36.0 16/09/2006: Initialising DirectDraw

22:47:36.2 16/09/2006: Creating DirectDraw Device

22:47:36.2 16/09/2006: Using Device: RADEON 9600 SERIES

22:47:36.5 16/09/2006: Setting Resolution to 1024x768 32 bit color

22:47:36.5 16/09/2006: Creating DirectDraw Surfaces

22:47:36.5 16/09/2006: Creating Primary Surface - Full Screen Mode

22:47:36.6 16/09/2006: Creating Back Buffer

22:47:36.8 16/09/2006: Version 2 Theme being used. Loading.

22:47:36.8 16/09/2006: Loading Button Data

22:47:36.8 16/09/2006: Error: One or more theme objects were outside the bounds of the resolution

22:47:36.9 16/09/2006: Error: 5 - Argument 'Number' is not a valid value.

22:47:39.0 16/09/2006: ERRORS DETECTED: EXITING

The only things I could think that would be outside the boundaries are the window and media control bars, but I manually set them to false in the .ini file and disabled them in GameEx's config... but I noticed that despite disabling them in the .ini file, they were still there in the editor when I finished up work on it. The following is a transcript of my theme.ini file - any/all help would be appreciated:

Source: theme.ini

[General]

StartupVideo=THEMES\Game Center\Intro Movie\Gameex Initialisation.wmv

Version=2

Width=640

Height=480

AniBak=False

AlphaBlendVideos=False

Font=Trebuchet MS

TitleFont=HandelGothic BT

DialogTextWhite=False

OutlineFonts=False

MediaCenterMode=False

DisplayBackgroundImage=True

TextColor=-1249281

OutlineColor=-16777216

XRESOLUTION=640

YRESOLUTION=480

ArcadeMode=False

AnimatedSelector=True

ShowButtons=True

ShowDateTime=True

TitleFontSize=43

DisplayTitleText=True

CustomEmulatorLayouts=False

CustomControlPanel=False

DisplayEmulatorMenus=True

RotatePlus90=False

EnableMediaControls=False

AllowWindowResize=False

[TaskBar]

MCEButtonOver=0,0,85,42

MCEButtonDown=0,0,85,42

BackButtonOver=85,0,68,40

BackButtonDown=85,0,68,40

HelpButtonOver=153,0,53,40

HelpButtonDown=153,0,53,40

TopBarLeft=0,0,206,42

TopBarMiddle=0,0,640,32

MediaControl=FALSE

MediaControlStop=FALSE

Window=FALSE

[buttons]

ArrowDown=555,435,28,30

ArrowDownPressed=555,435,25,28

ArrowUp=585,435,28,30

ArrowUpPressed=585,435,25,28

HomeNoFocus=543,44,32,30

HomeFocus=543,44,32,30

ExitNoFocus=585,44,32,30

ExitFocus=585,44,32,30

ExitSelect=653,63,32,30

[Layout]

Title=12,52,142,76

Date=12,160,30,15

Time=12,141,31,15

List=180,139,271,292

SelectLine1=180,88,75,15

SelectLine2=180,114,75,15

ImageInfo=20,160,251,188

ListNum=280,455,53,15

Menu=15,208,140,105

Image=480,208,140,105

The only things to point out is that it's a 640 x 480 theme (I'm preparing it for use on a TV), so I'm assuming I've buggered something up somewhere!

Any help would be awesome

Thanks again!!

-Mangledmon-

[Tom Speirs]

Everything needs to be within bounds regardless of what's turned off.

[lingpanda]

Anyway to make icons for the Home and Exit buttons have no border around them? All seem to have some color border around them.

[Adultery]

Anyway to make icons for the Home and Exit buttons have no border around them? All seem to have some color border around them.

Not entirely sure what you're asking, but I made my own buttons and they don't have borders... I bet if you use absolute black the button's background will disappear i that's what you mean.

[lingpanda]

Not entirely sure what you're asking, but I made my own buttons and they don't have borders... I bet if you use absolute black the button's background will disappear i that's what you mean.

Thats exactly what I mean. I will give this a try. What format you use? jpeg?

[headkaze]

Thats exactly what I mean. I will give this a try. What format you use? jpeg?

Don't use jpeg, use png

[Adultery]

Yeah. You should use png wherever humanly possible... Mostly cause it looks alot nicer.

[bazzman69]

hi all ive created a theme in editor and have mpg video for my backgrounds my problem is i cannot get it to play the sound, the audio is not a problem i have intro, select etc all working fine with custom wav files. mpgs play audio just fine in editor via the video option but not in gamex

any help would be gratefull cheers baz

[MattyMame]

Currently there is no way to add or delete objects. I may add this in the future for the CP editor so you can add any number of controls to your CP. The hard part is Tom adding the feature to GameEx because there is more work on his end to add this in.

I found this in your first post Headkaze. Just wondering if it has been implemented yet? I'd really like to be able to add more buttons to replicate my control panel.

[headkaze]

hi all ive created a theme in editor and have mpg video for my backgrounds my problem is i cannot get it to play the sound, the audio is not a problem i have intro, select etc all working fine with custom wav files. mpgs play audio just fine in editor via the video option but not in gamex

any help would be gratefull cheers baz

I have no idea, if it plays okay in the Theme Editor it should play okay in GameEx. hmm is it being copied okay to your themes MEDIA folder as bak.mpg?

I found this in your first post Headkaze. Just wondering if it has been implemented yet? I'd really like to be able to add more buttons to replicate my control panel.

I didn't think the custom CP layouts were implemented in GameEx yet. But Tom's mentioned he was thinking of doing some Theme Editor stuff. Though there are a few other higher priority stuff that will be done first. I will talk to Tom to see if he's interested in adding more controls for the CP then. I'm sure you'll agree that there is no point in me adding support for more buttons in the Theme Editor if Tom dosn't support them in GameEx

[bazzman69]

I have no idea, if it plays okay in the Theme Editor it should play okay in GameEx. hmm is it being copied okay to your themes MEDIA folder as bak.mpg?

yes copied just fine opened it up and played it just fine with sound in media player but still no sound in game ex, does gameex fully support mpg files?

[headkaze]

yes copied just fine opened it up and played it just fine with sound in media player but still no sound in game ex, does gameex fully support mpg files?

Sorry about that I totally forgot, your right, you have to convert it to an AVI. I used a program called mpeg2avi to convert my mpg to avi for the Sould Calibur theme. I think I used the ffdshow MPEG-4 codec.

[bazzman69]

Sorry about that I totally forgot, your right, you have to convert it to an AVI. I used a program called mpeg2avi to convert my mpg to avi for the Sould Calibur theme. I think I used the ffdshow MPEG-4 codec.

super ill get straight on it ....bazz

[bazzman69]

super ill get straight on it ....bazz

right ive converted my mpg to avi and i still get no sound... then i decided to check out your soul caliber theme and noticed that your bak avi has no audio either and that there is a seperate file (introsound) for audio, ive no problem playing an introsound (as i have this set up for a nice little intro speech) its the sound from the bak avi im after, is this a feature thats not supported in game ex and if not could it be, it would but the finishing touches to an awesome theme cheers baz

[headkaze]

right ive converted my mpg to avi and i still get no sound... then i decided to check out your soul caliber theme and noticed that your bak avi has no audio either and that there is a seperate file (introsound) for audio, ive no problem playing an introsound (as i have this set up for a nice little intro speech) its the sound from the bak avi im after, is this a feature thats not supported in game ex and if not could it be, it would but the finishing touches to an awesome theme cheers baz

I got to read posts properly, sorry I misread your first post into thinking it wasn't playing the video at all. But playing the video in the background plays no sound by design. It's so you can play the Jukebox etc.

[emphatic]

Headkaze: Here's a feature request for the theme editor, how about the ability to zoom out also, and not just zoom in. Perhaps holding the 'shift' key and using the scroll wheel? It's good to have overview when positioning fields.

Emph

[Mangledmon]

Hey all - thanks for all the help, I've almost finished my first theme!

Just another quick question - is there a way I can make my intro movie avi set to play full-screen in the theme.ini, or do I have to max out the res on the intro movie?

As always, many thanks. Tom - ace product, and Headkaze, you're a champ for building the theme editor

-Mangledmon-

[Adultery]

I'm pretty sure you gotta make the movie match the resolution for the intro.

Hope that helps!

[Mangledmon]

Cool, I'll give that a go.

Thanks mate!

-Mangledmon-

[amos_82]

is there a way I can make my intro movie avi set to play full-screen in the theme.ini, or do I have to max out the res on the intro movie?

You can add your intro movie to the theme.ini by adding this line under the [General] section:

StartupVideo=C:\Program Files\GameEx\THEMES\Default - My Theme\IMy Intro Movie

Anyone who uses the theme will then see your intro, (provided they installed gameex in the default directory).

[emphatic]

headkaze: I've found a bug in the Theme Editor;

If you choose a font in the "options" that only comes with "bold" or "italic" and not a "regular", you get an error message when you try to hit "ok". If I alter it manually in the .ini for the theme, I can't open the theme in the Editor. The theme works fine in GameEx however.

Emph

[lingpanda]

I've noticed that when video is enabled as a background it loops. Anyway to make it end on the last frame of the video?