Theme Editor Questions...

[Tom Speirs]

Also the custom layouts for modules and emulators are not supported in GameEx yet. Tom has been very busy with real life work lately so it's another feature in the pipeline. Hopefully he will get around to it some time.

As far as I recall, custom layouts should be implemented for emulators just not modules.

As far as I can think theres two features left to implemented and that is custom layouts for modules (ie juke, etc) and the control panel customization.

[eXo]

After looking in the Theme init again I noticed there is already a Menu line. I deleted the Info entry and manually changed the coordinates of the Menu line and this did the trick, the block of items were moved in my layout. When I open the theme in the Theme Editor again however it restores the Info box to it's default position and adds the entry back to the init file. I guess the workaround for the time being is manually changing the Menu entry in the init file.

Did this ever happen to get fixed where you don't have to do it manually?

I've been having the same problem.

[headkaze]

Did this ever happen to get fixed where you don't have to do it manually?

I've been having the same problem.

I'm not sure Tom said he did fix it but he may have missed some code to change. When I did it manually myself I found there were many places in the code that required changing to fix it. Maybe Tom has missed something on his end. It's the first time he's done a bug fix in the Theme Editor himself so it's quite easy to imagine he may have. Are you using the latest Theme Editor?

If you are using the latest version in the official release of GameEx and it still doesn't work then can you try the one attached? I'm pretty sure I fixed the bug in this one but can you confirm one way or the other so I can let Tom know if need be.

[mzhulk]

This theme editor has no delete functions, How do you get rid of the Menu box. I can move it but cannot get rid of it.

[iano]

Hi. What's the difference between V1 & V2 themes ? Sorry, but there doesn't seem to be much info about the whole theme thing.

[headkaze]

Hi. What's the difference between V1 & V2 themes ? Sorry, but there doesn't seem to be much info about the whole theme thing.

Originally in GameEx theme layouts were hard coded. When the Theme Editor was written Tom wanted to keep that original code so he called them V1 themes and the themes created using the Theme Editor were called V2. So the difference is that V2 themes allow you to position elements on the screen. There is an archive on the utilities page that details how to convert themes from V1 to V2.

[iano]

Originally in GameEx theme layouts were hard coded. When the Theme Editor was written Tom wanted to keep that original code so he called them V1 themes and the themes created using the Theme Editor were called V2. So the difference is that V2 themes allow you to position elements on the screen. There is an archive on the utilities page that details how to convert themes from V1 to V2.

Cheers.

[Hunk_4TH]

I'm trying to create my first theme. I was wanting to mess around with importing Mamewah layouts. While clicking file/import mamewah layout it doesn't do anything I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 I was guessing it's a Vista issue.

[headkaze]

I'm trying to create my first theme. I was wanting to mess around with importing Mamewah layouts. While clicking file/import mamewah layout it doesn't do anything I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 I was guessing it's a Vista issue.

You need to have a theme loaded to import a MameWah layout. I suggest you create a New theme and select a source theme you like and work from that.

[Hunk_4TH]

Thanks! When trying to open a theme it says "You can only open version 2 and version 3 themes.Creating a new theme allows you to convert it. But I can't get one to load

[headkaze]

Like I said create a New theme (File->New) and select the theme you want to start with as the source theme and that will create a new V4 theme you can work with. From there you can edit it the way you like and import MameWah layouts etc. Although I must admit I haven't played with the importer that much. If you have any problems let me know.

[Hunk_4TH]

Like I said create a New theme (File->New) and select the theme you want to start with as the source theme and that will create a new V4 theme you can work with. From there you can edit it the way you like and import MameWah layouts etc. Although I must admit I haven't played with the importer that much. If you have any problems let me know.

Cool, thanks! I decided to try and work on my own theme I did get a theme to load thanks for your help!

[nintari]

I noticed when editing the theme I have that I can only have the menu bar with change view, back home and exit...but I can't seem to add in the little home and exit buttons at the top, nor remove the menu bar.

is this because I am editing this as a V4 instead of a V2?

would the same apply for expanded text on selections?

if both of these are not availible I'll go back to what I was doing before and manually replacing elements in the directory I like like both of those options too much!

[headkaze]

I noticed when editing the theme I have that I can only have the menu bar with change view, back home and exit...but I can't seem to add in the little home and exit buttons at the top, nor remove the menu bar.

is this because I am editing this as a V4 instead of a V2?

would the same apply for expanded text on selections?

if both of these are not availible I'll go back to what I was doing before and manually replacing elements in the directory I like like both of those options too much!

Your right V4 themes don't have a home and exit button because it has a horizontal menu strip instead. Not sure about hiding the menu bar, Tom?

[shaunopp]

I have a couple of questions.

1. Is it possible to set what image #2 will be? It looks to default to the marquee but I thought this was controllable somewhere.

2. Can I have different text size for the list vs. menu vs. game detail. When I change text size everything changes but the header.

3. I know we have limited transparency in that it supports a low res color key. Is this color still black? The color key should be something like lime green or blue like a blue screen. Black is actually used for shadows, borders and outlines on occassion. Is the transparency still 8-bit?

4. Is there any way to re-order or change the menu strip across the top?

Thanks

[Tom Speirs]

I have a couple of questions.

1. Is it possible to set what image #2 will be? It looks to default to the marquee but I thought this was controllable somewhere.

2. Can I have different text size for the list vs. menu vs. game detail. When I change text size everything changes but the header.

3. I know we have limited transparency in that it supports a low res color key. Is this color still black? The color key should be something like lime green or blue like a blue screen. Black is actually used for shadows, borders and outlines on occassion. Is the transparency still 8-bit?

4. Is there any way to re-order or change the menu strip across the top?

Thanks

No, not currently.

[nintari]

hrm... not home and exit buttons kinda makes me a little sad the exit button on the menu bar does nothing now for me, acts more like a way to go back to the home page then actually exit

can the font size in the menu bar be adjusted independently of the rest of the layout? and can it be justified to the right instead of the left... (going to look now)

is it possible to have pictures instead of words for the menu bar and justify thier position? lol yeah I know thats going back to the whole button thing but would be a fair comprimise

I'm just full of questions now for themes lol

any plans on adding support for flash items or the like? for example flash based backgrounds, animations in menus etc? No I'm not a flash programmer or developer...but it woudl be interesting to see what comes up. I remember I used to find all sorts of neat flash backgrounds and they are small in size. I once did a Jedi Knight theme on my PC and had a flash desktop background of the Jedi Knight symbol that rotated around. Then later did a skull one that was pretty neat too!

doing flash stuff might be too costly though I understand but just figured I'd ask the question

[shaunopp]

No, not currently.

D'oh. Looks like I'm not jumping on the V4 Bandwagon quite yet. I thought maybe there had been some of the updates above made, I also like my Home and Exit buttons.

[headkaze]

1. Is it possible to set what image #2 will be? It looks to default to the marquee but I thought this was controllable somewhere.

Currently this is hard coded in GameEx and cannot be changed.

2. Can I have different text size for the list vs. menu vs. game detail. When I change text size everything changes but the header.

Only text for the title and everything else can be changed, not single elements like the menu or game detail.

3. I know we have limited transparency in that it supports a low res color key. Is this color still black? The color key should be something like lime green or blue like a blue screen. Black is actually used for shadows, borders and outlines on occassion. Is the transparency still 8-bit?

Usually a color like magenta is used as a color key, and I agree it can be a hassle dealing with black. I'm about to release a program that will convert transparency to black and lighten the rest of the image by 5% so it wont be color keyed out.

4. Is there any way to re-order or change the menu strip across the top?

No I don't think there is currently. But some possible future features in there.

[shaunopp]

Usually a color like magenta is used as a color key, and I agree it can be a hassle dealing with black. I'm about to release a program that will convert transparency to black and lighten the rest of the image by 5% so it wont be color keyed out.

I can make my blacks 95%, but I don't want my blacks 95%, I want them black. Who decided to use black for a color key anyway, that just weird? I was all stoked to design some cool interfaces for V4 but being unable to control core positioning of the main menu items, add/remove menu items, alter font sizes, set what my #2 image is or use tranparency correctly makes me want to stick with my V2 theme. Sorry. I appreciate the work on the update but the themes/skinning aspect is still just limping along. As the tools progress I think people will crank out some incredible GameEx themes.

[headkaze]

I can make my blacks 95%, but I don't want my blacks 95%, I want them black. Who decided to use black for a color key anyway, that just weird? I was all stoked to design some cool interfaces for V4 but being unable to control core positioning of the main menu items, add/remove menu items, alter font sizes, set what my #2 image is or use tranparency correctly makes me want to stick with my V2 theme. Sorry. I appreciate the work on the update but the themes/skinning aspect is still just limping along. As the tools progress I think people will crank out some incredible GameEx themes.

All your issues have nothing to do with the Theme Editor. So you should be making feature requests for Tom not complaining in this thread. I will support whatever GameEx supports in it's Theme Format. Color keys are a limitation of DirectDraw, and the rest are just the way Tom designed the theme format in GameEx. I don't know why he chose black as the color key. I believe using a color like magenta can cause problems when scaling an image you can get a pixel bleed effect which would look horrible if it wasn't black. You will notice when using dark themes you can sometimes see blue pixels around the edge of text which is because Tom is using a blue color key for text AFAIK. So yeah I would try the feature request thread because there is nothing I can do about those things.

[emphatic]

So, Headkaze, the new "layered" pictures in V4 skins, anyway of controlling what is under/on top of them?

Like this:

Game List & filter options, buttons (top)

decoration.png (on top of background and decoration)

preview.png/.mng

Background.png (at the bottom)

Also, what's the difference between the "image" and the "image 2 fields" in the editor? I guess one if the "preview" and one is for marquees or something?

Thanks

Emph

[emphatic]

To clarify, it's the "Mod background", "Mod foreground" that let's you use two layered pictures, right? I can't seem to get the "Mod foreground" image to display, I've tried selecting it and trying the "eye" icon, but nothing is changed in the .ini file afterwards. Please help, anyone?

Emph

[shumardw]

If there is no way to change the menu strip at the top of the page, can I lay a graphic or picture over it somehow? I would love to be able to have icons instead of just text. I have tried this, but I am not having any luck. I was hoping maybe I was just doing something wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

Scratch this. I just changed the background to the best I could.

Edited September 22, 2008 by shumardw

[shumardw]

Headkaze, is it possible to change the theme editor so that the selected buttons on the menu strip can be different then the ones on the selection menu? When I put a pattern on the buttons they look great on the selection menu, but then when you move to the menu strip they resize to the text making the pattern look all distorted. I would like to be able to have separate selection buttons for the menu strip. Hope this make sense. Its hard to explain.