Theme Editor Questions...

[nexus6]

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?

i dont know how to stop the loop.

i just want to know how to do this. wow can i enable a video as background?

and what can i do with the videos in "edit/video"? i've got an error in gameex when i chooser there a video and i cant see it in the theme editor.

[lingpanda]

i dont know how to stop the loop.

i just want to know how to do this. wow can i enable a video as background?

and what can i do with the videos in "edit/video"? i've got an error in gameex when i chooser there a video and i cant see it in the theme editor.

Go to this site. http://www.hfc-essentials.net/gameex/ Click Game Extras on the left. Click Extras and tools. Then click on tutorials. I made a few that show how Theme Editor works. There should be one that shows how to enable mpegs as backgrounds.

[nexus6]

i've done it like it's shown in your tutorial, but it still doesnt work

in the theme editor i've defined videos for the main menu and mame.

when i start gameex i see only the normal background and when i select "mame/all mame games" gameex crushes with the following error:

22:54:54.2  29.01.2007:  Error in the application.
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawInternal(tagRECT* destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, tagRECT* srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags, DrawEffects& bltEffects)
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.Draw(Rectangle destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, Rectangle srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags)
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DrawBackground()
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.FlipSurfacesMainLoop()
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DisplayFrame()
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:  Last Exception:
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:  Error in the application.
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawInternal(tagRECT* destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, tagRECT* srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags, DrawEffects& bltEffects)
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.Draw(Rectangle destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, Rectangle srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags)
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DrawBackground()
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DisplayFrame()

btw: i'll stay a while at your nice site

[lingpanda]

i've done it like it's shown in your tutorial, but it still doesnt work

in the theme editor i've defined videos for the main menu and mame.

when i start gameex i see only the normal background and when i select "mame/all mame games" gameex crushes with the following error:

22:54:54.2  29.01.2007:  Error in the application.
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawInternal(tagRECT* destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, tagRECT* srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags, DrawEffects& bltEffects)
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.Draw(Rectangle destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, Rectangle srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags)
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DrawBackground()
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.FlipSurfacesMainLoop()
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DisplayFrame()
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:  Last Exception:
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:  Error in the application.
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawInternal(tagRECT* destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, tagRECT* srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags, DrawEffects& bltEffects)
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.Draw(Rectangle destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, Rectangle srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags)
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DrawBackground()
22:54:54.3  29.01.2007:	 at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DisplayFrame()

btw: i'll stay a while at your nice site

Well I'm not sure why the videos are not showing. Are they in the correct format? What resolution are they in? What codec? Are they placed in the correct folder for the correct theme?

On a side note. That isn't my site. Thats Adultery's web site. He was just kind enough to host my tutorials. He and others have chosen to give back to GameEx for being such a great FE.

[lingpanda]

I'm still having a problem with the task bar. It will not show the entire bar when the mouse is over. Take a look at this pic

Notice how only the icon I have the mouse over shows. If I choose to always display task bar in GameEx it displays fine. If I have my mouse over any of the media controls on the far right. It will not display anything. I thought I may have overwritten something so I dl'ed the default themes again. Same problem.

[headkaze]

I'm still having a problem with the task bar. It will not show the entire bar when the mouse is over. Take a look at this pic

Notice how only the icon I have the mouse over shows. If I choose to always display task bar in GameEx it displays fine. If I have my mouse over any of the media controls on the far right. It will not display anything. I thought I may have overwritten something so I dl'ed the default themes again. Same problem.

I'm not sure what your question is about. Is this related to the Theme Editor or just the use of themes in GameEx?

[nexus6]

Well I'm not sure why the videos are not showing. Are they in the correct format? What resolution are they in? What codec? Are they placed in the correct folder for the correct theme?

they are mpeg2-files in 640x480 pixels. when i use them as icon they make no problems. must they have a special name?

[lingpanda]

they are mpeg2-files in 640x480 pixels. when i use them as icon they make no problems. must they have a special name?

What do you mean by use them as icon? Is your Theme Resolution also 640x480? Can you ul one of your mpegs to Filesend so I can dl and test?

[nexus6]

What do you mean by use them as icon? Is your Theme Resolution also 640x480? Can you ul one of your mpegs to Filesend so I can dl and test?

i tested it as icon for mame (the symbols for mame, emulators, other programs and so on â?¦) and gameex plays the mpg

yes, my theme resolution is 640x480.

is there any other v2-theme with animated backgrounds, so that i could build up on that?

and i have a new question:

some themes, like the »bubble bobble«-theme has animation-effects in the background.

how can i do this and what are the possibilities of these effects?

[lingpanda]

I'm not sure what your question is about. Is this related to the Theme Editor or just the use of themes in GameEx?

I'm not sure if it's a Theme Editor problem or just me doing something wrong. If I just use one of the themes titled "Default - Custom V2 Default 1024x768" as a theme. The task bar will not display correctly. This is without modifications.

[headkaze]

I just downloaded the themes and tested the "Default - Custom V2 Default 1024x768" in the Theme editor and it displays okay in the editor. So do you mean it's not displaying correctly in GameEx? If so you may need to report that as a bug for Tom.

[nexus6]

i cant change the options of a theme.

when i choose "edit/options" and mark or unmark something the theme editor doesnt change anything. the next time i choose "options" my changes are undone . the theme.ini is not writeprotected.

[nexus6]

i found out, that the theme editor accepted the changes, but he doesnt show them in the options-window. is this a generel bug or am i the only one with this problem. another problem is that he often cant read an opened theme in the first step while opening it in the second try.

now i've got another question: is it possible to set a fontsize? the sizes in the theme editor has nothing to so with the sizes in gemmex, even if i choose font size "normal". and can i stop gameex to display a font in bold?

[headkaze]

Hi nexus sorry to hear about the problems your having with the Theme Editor. I have never encountered problems with options not saving, or options not being read, and I'm not ignoring your posts because I tested this out after you posted. Is it one particular option that dosn't seem to stick? Or are you getting the same thing with all options? It may just be a spelling error or small bug in the Theme Editor, so if you can tell me the exact options that arn't saving or loading properly I can take a more detailed look.

Not sure what you mean about the theme not opening on the first step. There is an updated Theme Editor ready to go, Tom just needs to add support for some things into GameEx. There might be a fix for it then. By first step do you mean opening the theme from the Welcome screen? If you close the Welcome screen and open from the Menu system first off, does the theme load correctly then?

The font size is separate to the Theme Editor and you need to set that in the Setup Wizard. I should add font sizes into the Theme Editor though.

[nexus6]

hi headkaze,

Is it one particular option that dosn't seem to stick? Or are you getting the same thing with all options? It may just be a spelling error or small bug in the Theme Editor, so if you can tell me the exact options that arn't saving or loading properly I can take a more detailed look.

i've got this problem with all options. its a bit strange, because i remeber that this has worked when i used the theme editor a few weeks ago.

Not sure what you mean about the theme not opening on the first step. There is an updated Theme Editor ready to go, Tom just needs to add support for some things into GameEx. There might be a fix for it then. By first step do you mean opening the theme from the Welcome screen? If you close the Welcome screen and open from the Menu system first off, does the theme load correctly then?

yes, youre right. it doesnt open themes from the welcome screen. opening themes from the menu or the open-icon makes no trouble.

The font size is separate to the Theme Editor and you need to set that in the Setup Wizard. I should add font sizes into the Theme Editor though.

this seemes to be a font-problem. i wanted to use a pixel font, but gameex makes it very big and bold. with a normal font like trebuchet ms or verdena it works. after all it would be nice to define fontsizes. so it could be possible to display the gamelist and the menu (genres, year, publisher â?¦) with the same size. at the moment the menu is shown bigger than the list.

another nice feature would be a integrated separate vertical-layout, like i posted in the feature request board. but i can understand when you an tom hated me for this request

[nexus6]

i've created custom module layouts with the theme editor. unfortunatelly they're not shown in gameex. have i to activate something?

[headkaze]

i've created custom module layouts with the theme editor. unfortunatelly they're not shown in gameex. have i to activate something?

It was actually Tom that suggested I add support for custom module layouts so I assume he wants to eventually add this to GameEx. Currently they are not supported, but I'm sure he will get around to doing it. No harm in having them made up and ready for when it's added. Tom decided to release the latest version of the Theme Editor a bit early because some of the earlier ones were a big buggy.

[nexus6]

ok. that could be a possible reason

i'll wait then â?¦

[eXo]

I read through the string and didn't see this mentioned... how does one define the width of the selection bar?

I've dug around in the theme.ini file, but nothing in there seems to control it.

I've designed some custom backgrounds, but the selection bar is extending all the way across the screen, and I'd like to define it to be a certain width so it stops within the background box i have created for the list.

Thank you in advance for any help.

[AEN]

Hi @ all!

Im new and I've got a question about making skins for this great program. First of all really enjoy game ex as it is a full (and free ) media-center with full emu support (thx to the author!!). I'll probably also buy the software because I need it for my "special Media & Emulation" PC because its much better tha Win Xp Media Center Edit! But first I need to "fix" a Problem with the skin:

I attached a picture of what I need the rom selection menu look like. In fact I want to have 3 pictures presentet when browsing through the rom list ( Box Art, and 2 game Screenshots, can be treated as the snap and the cartridge picture for example).

I already tried the Themes Editor but I didnt manage it to add a second and third picture... maybe someone can help me with this little issue..

greets&thx

aen

[Adultery]

Hi @ all!

Im new and I've got a question about making skins for this great program. First of all really enjoy game ex as it is a full (and free ) media-center with full emu support (thx to the author!!). I'll probably also buy the software because I need it for my "special Media & Emulation" PC because its much better tha Win Xp Media Center Edit! But first I need to "fix" a Problem with the skin:

I attached a picture of what I need the rom selection menu look like. In fact I want to have 3 pictures presentet when browsing through the rom list ( Box Art, and 2 game Screenshots, can be treated as the snap and the cartridge picture for example).

I already tried the Themes Editor but I didnt manage it to add a second and third picture... maybe someone can help me with this little issue..

greets&thx

aen

Sadly, that request has been on the list for some time. Sorry, but it is not possible.

[bkenobi]

Is this just a limitation of snap shots or is it possible to have other artwork present at the same time? My question is mainly to see if it's possible to have a theme like TalkingBull's Arcade Theme display the snap on the monitor and then the marquee in the marquee (if one is available). I haven't gotten around to looking at this, so if anyone could let me know if it's possible, I could avoid wasted effort (I already waste enough of that as it is )

[AEN]

:( i guess it also isn't possible in the "FULL" version (donators edition) ?

hope it comes soon, i really need this feature because i often cant remember what game it is by only seeing the cover..

[bkenobi]

:( i guess it also isn't possible in the "FULL" version (donators edition) ?

hope it comes soon, i really need this feature because i often cant remember what game it is by only seeing the cover..

Just as an FYI: Pretty much the only features that aren't available in the non-donation version are ones that Tom had to pay for or are above and beyond what one would typically use on an arcade cabinet (as far as I can tell). Now, with that said, these are very cool features and even if you don't use them, Tom works hard and has earned that gratitude either way , but the free version should suffice in basic cabinets. But, that's just my opinion, so take it at face value!

[eXo]

seems my question about setting the size of the selection bar got bypassed, just a bump on my part.