New theme and rendering engine

[GimmeClassics]

Quoting Tom Speirs: "...Ben and I (mostly Ben) are working on a new theme and rendering engine"

When I bought GameEx I first concentrated on setting up Mame.

I than searched for a nice theme. Although there are a lot of nice themes outthere, none of them really fit my wishes.

So, I suppose I have to make a theme myself . Because this is quite hard to learn (for me) I would really like to know what in general will be the changes of the new theme and rendering engine Tom and Ben are working on.

To give an example > I would really like to know if there will be changes in the "flaw" I ran into when using a theme:

My future goal is using GameEx on a custom made cabinet. The "Maximum Arcade Theme" (showing a cabinet) is quite nice but there are a few flaws > GameEx cannot always show a marquee-picture as image2-object. In the gamelist-menu GameEx does show a marquee-picture as image2-object but in the menus prior to the gamelist-menu GameEx shows a video as image2-object Why can GameEx not always show a picture as image2-object and a video as image1-object, regardless of the menu you're in....?

I've submitted the above in the "Feature & Enhancement requests-topic" so I'm aware that this may only change as a future adjustment. But perhaps this will already change with the new theme and rendering engine Tom and Ben are working on? Would love to hear what will be the changes...!

Maybe Tom / Ben or somebody else can give me some examples of what will change with the new theme and rendering engine?

Thanks in advance.

[Draco1962]

At present, the changes to be made with the Theme Editor and the rendering engine are in flux so there isn't anything to communicate until all the pieces are in place and testing completed for a release.

As we have discussed at length, the "flaws" you mention are not flaws, just how the present system was designed to display those elements. As Tom noted in the Features and Enhancements Requests threads, all theme/rendering related requests are presently being ignored (meaning that they will be taken into consideration as appropriate as the theme editor and rendering engine details are fleshed out).

Best answer for you at this time. Please stay tuned for future developments...

[GimmeClassics]

At present, the changes to be made with the Theme Editor and the rendering engine are in flux so there isn't anything to communicate until all the pieces are in place and testing completed for a release.

As we have discussed at length, the "flaws" you mention are not flaws, just how the present system was designed to display those elements.

Hi Draco. I guess I have to be patient . But I think I'm not the only one who would love to hear a preview every now and then of some of the upcoming changes of the new theme editor...

What I would like to know > what is the argument / benefit of GameEx showing a video as image2-object in the menu's prior to the 'gamelist-menu' and showing a picture as image2-object in the 'gamelist-menu'. I think you can create better constructed themes when GameEx always shows a picture as image2-object and a video as image1-object. I would love to hear the communities opinion about this

Thanks!

[Draco1962]

I think that all would agree that a little more control over what elements display and when would be favorable and some of this granular functionality may come to pass! We will just have to exercise some patience as you noted. This is no small undertaking for Tom and Headkaze.

[GimmeClassics]

Thank you Draco,

I'm really excited and hope you're right about more control over what theme-elements display and when.

Hope to hear from you or the community when there is any news about the new theme editor.

Good luck to Tom and Headkaze: I can't waint for the results

[u-man]

As Tom noted in the Features and Enhancements Requests threads, all theme/rendering related requests are presently being ignored (meaning that they will be taken into consideration as appropriate as the theme editor and rendering engine details are fleshed out).

Best answer for you at this time. Please stay tuned for future developments...

When has Tom noted this? For me this are no good news. IMO it would be good, if all (at least registered) users would contribute on the theme-editor. so we could decide together which changes would be the best for the theme-editor. this way Tom and Ben would have a focus on the really importing stuff.

at this point, i would like to say, that i was very disappointed for deleting my last post, regarding the exact same thing Gimmeclassic is posting in this thread .

but ok... i can understand a lot behind this. do not speak about something, which is not ready.... but i will.

i did not want to contribute in the theme-contest, because of the so called "flaws". i always thought my theme is not "really" complete. i dont want to make promises, but i am sure that something will be changed, when i release my theme . i just want to say, i will release it this month and it will have options, for at least 3 emulators and it will look like no other before, mainly because it is much more "animated".

do not get me wrong, IMO the theme-editor has much more power than most of "us" can think of.... and that is what i want to show with my theme... but with a little changes it would be perfect. with my theme i encountered the borders. for some of them, i did found a solution (thanks to draco and other "good" guys in the forum), but for some "flaws" there is simply no "good enough" solution.

my last words would be like Gimmeclassic´s one: Good luck to Tom and Headkaze: I can't waint for the results

[KRC]

Looking forward to the possibility of a new theme editor.

Not many people actually realize how good the current theme editor actually is, It's alot more in depth than people think and not that hard to use after a short while.

[u-man]

exactly KRC... but there are some ancient, logical "errors" that makes the theme-editor a painfull experience, if you want to do a theme in a certain way.

my hope is, that these "errors" will go away with the new release. that is the reason, why i think, we could help Tom and Ben to do it better this time .

[KRC]

U-man,

What kind of errors or faults are you running into?

[u-man]

exactly the same that Gimmeclassic is running into.

plus that image1 and image2 are different in scaling. one is scaled from center and the other from left-top corner.

these are the ones, which really turns me off

there are still some minor things (i.e. handling of change view), but these i can "overlook".

[KRC]

As mentioned by GimmeClassic, there has been many requests including myself and Krakerman to have the user determine what appears in Image 1 and 2 and a possible inclusion of image 3.

I have come across the size issue for image 1 and 2 but my method of working around this is to have the theme page/image as a foreground layer rather than a background layer with the inclusion of some transparency within the theme so that image 1 or 2 can sit behind the foreground layer and fit the theme properly, then stretch Image 1 etc.. to larger than the transparent area that was left. Sometimes it's trial and error but does work for some users and themes.

[u-man]

you will come in trouble with the different scale factors of image1+2, when you do the MAME section, because of the different (in size) horizontal and vertical image snaps. Draco recommended to workaround this, with a seperate MAME horizontal and vertical section and this would work, BUT you will still have trouble with the other genres of MAME i.e. Adult, Lightguns, Spinner etc. etc. as you would mix up again horizontal and vertical games. there is too much force "doing" before this would work properly.

i dont want to repeat myself again... but there are things that cant be simplified. i.e. the handling of not available pictures for particular things, where GameEx starts to look for other artwork available and then shows this. in my case, i dont want this "feature". if there is no artwork, there should be a pict with "no artwork available" and that would be logical. if you want marquees to showup, you dont want a 3D cab or a manual to be showed.... its just that simple and beyond my understanding why it can not be handled this way.

[KRC]

That's actually something I can't comment on as I currently don't have MAME installed on my GamEx setup.

I didn't actually know you were mainly referring to MAME.

[Draco1962]

It probably can be programmed to handle it, however, keep in mind than whenever a programmer adds features and functionality, there is always the risk diminishing flexibility and speed.

For any enhancement or changes, the programmer has to weigh in addition to importance (questions in the programmer's mind might be

"Does the feature or enhancement affect a few or many?"

"Is it something that needs to wait for other "break-fix" items to be addressed?"

"Would implementing such changes be simple or require a rewrite of entire modules/code?"

and, most importantly since this is a hobby for Tom, not an income stream for which he makes a living, "Do I have the time and energy?"

Since this thread is taking the direction of a rehash of several other threads on the subject, I am taking the liberty of locking the thread. This is not an afront to anyone for anything said, but it has been said enough and I feel that we need to let the break-fix and assistance requests take precedence. Thanks for your understanding!