[THEME] Time Machine v1.0

[Draco1962]

P.S. As we will still be able to assist you regardless of where this thread is located, I am moving it to the more appropriate User Projects sub-forum.

[rtkiii]

made some good tedious headway today(backgrounds and logos) but with that of course I have more questions 3

Question 10: I am still having issues with the "Title" bar text. Even though I have it left justified it still appears to be centered. I see where I set the "Title" to be left justified but all that does is move the actual title box all the way to the left. But the text inside is still centered.

Question 11: Logos - I have been going through changing them a bit but once I am in Game Ex they do not show up on my start page. I have to go into an option and then back out to the start screen before the newly created logos show.

Question 12: Logos - So I thought I changed all the icons but still fine some that I cannot change, because I do not see where they are located.

On the main menu bar - "Emulated Game" and "More Games And Apps"

Mame full list - "Not Played," "CHD Games" "GameEx Live Favs" "Lightgun" "Golden Era of Arcade"

Emulated Games - "All Games"

etc...

Anyone know where these files are at I could not find them in the logos folder along with the other ones I changed.

Thanks agian.

[rtkiii]

In regards to the title layout/centered issue. I just found out were I can disable having the title even show up. So unless this is a quick fix I'll probably disable the "Title" bar and just add it to my photoshop file per page.

[DazzleHP]

Question 10: I am still having issues with the "Title" bar text. Even though I have it left justified it still appears to be centered. I see where I set the "Title" to be left justified but all that does is move the actual title box all the way to the left. But the text inside is still centered.

The option you are changing is the actual text box justification. I've not got it installed at the moment as i've just done a system wipe but i believe the option is the main menu bar at the top of the theme editor. Edit> Options> Font maybe? Something like that (where you select which fonts to use)

Question 11: Logos - I have been going through changing them a bit but once I am in Game Ex they do not show up on my start page. I have to go into an option and then back out to the start screen before the newly created logos show.

This may be a cache issue, try deleting your cache files before loading your modified theme in GameEx. I wouldn't bother doing this everytime, just once to see if it sorts it, then you'll know to do it again once you completed all your logo's.

Question 12: Logos - So I thought I changed all the icons but still fine some that I cannot change, because I do not see where they are located.

On the main menu bar - "Emulated Game" and "More Games And Apps"

Mame full list - "Not Played," "CHD Games" "GameEx Live Favs" "Lightgun" "Golden Era of Arcade"

Emulated Games - "All Games"

etc...

Not all themes have all logo's in the media directory. What GE will do in that case is load the logo's from THEMES\Default - Default. If you are missing any logo's in your theme folder copy them from the default theme directory to make sure you have a full set

It's been a while since i've created anything so any theme pro's please jump in if i've given any false info

[Draco1962]

Definitely a user choice. I sometimes use it, often not. It all depends on the theme I am creating and whether or not it is really needed since it is also displayed either within a logo file and/or the Select1 field.

[rtkiii]

Dazzle - thanks for the info on the location of the other logos...wow there are a lot! doubt i'll do them all just the ones I run through in my setup and the main ones.

[rtkiii]

I Cleared out all the cache for my PC and I am still seeing the old logo files. If I just hit the space bar the loading bar comes up for GameEx and then the logos change to what I made...hmmm.

[Tempest]

Just to be sure, we are talking about .cache files in the GameEx folder, not internet cache files. Right?

[rtkiii]

Just to be sure, we are talking about .cache files in the GameEx folder, not internet cache files. Right?

I cleared out the %temp% folder for my PC...didnt think to look under gameEx

I deleted gamearacadecache.cache in c:\gamEx folder and that did not help. My PC doesn't seem to find any others. Let me manually go through gameEx folder and remove "*.cache files." Can I remove them all?

[rtkiii]

QUESTION 11: I would like to apply a foreground to startbak. The them I am using does not appear to have forgrounds setup so I have no idea what I need to name the foreground files to so they will show up in the Theme Editor. Tried startfor based on the naming scheme for startbak...did not work

[Draco1962]

Your best bet is to look at one of my more recent themes for an idea of how these work. Sins of a Solar Empire theme is a good example where there are foreground and background images.

[DazzleHP]

Looking at other users themes is one of the best ways of learning how themes work and Draco's are most def amongst the most complete themes out there. If you wanted to use the editor to import an image as a foreground/overlay find the foreground section in the Object Browser menu on the left (we'll use startbak as an examle) then select Start for the start page foreground, click the Open box and browse to your image

[rtkiii]

Looking at other users themes is one of the best ways of learning how themes work and Draco's are most def amongst the most complete themes out there. If you wanted to use the editor to import an image as a foreground/overlay find the foreground section in the Object Browser menu on the left (we'll use startbak as an examle) then select Start for the start page foreground, click the Open box and browse to your image

foreground-import.jpg

I never thought that "Open" button did anything because files that have a image in it already(like startbak) when you click "Open" it does nothing. Nothing. So when I was looking at other themes I would always try "Open" and it never worked, so I assumed I was doing something else wrong. But alas with no image in the option(like my foreground for start) the OPEN button does work! OUCH...OUCH...That hurts my brain.

[rtkiii]

Your best bet is to look at one of my more recent themes for an idea of how these work. Sins of a Solar Empire theme is a good example where there are foreground and background images.

I have been and only usually come with things that I'm unaware of what to look for or cannot find in other themes. I'm getting the hang of this tool though and enjoy messing around with it.

[rtkiii]

Update for the Week: The last I will do with it until Monday so I thought I'd add some info.

Managed to get all the backgrounds skinned with the same basic background but changed menu item for each and tried to change "Destination Year" on most of them as well. Added illumination to the console itself to make it look a little more exciting. Tested my intro with custom logo and background...I like it. Added sounds as well.

I think this is getting near a test release if anyone is interested in trying it out. Just let me know here or PM me.

[KRC]

Update for the Week: The last I will do with it until Monday so I thought I'd add some info.

Managed to get all the backgrounds skinned with the same basic background but changed menu item for each and tried to change "Destination Year" on most of them as well. Added illumination to the console itself to make it look a little more exciting. Tested my intro with custom logo and background...I like it. Added sounds as well.

I think this is getting near a test release if anyone is interested in trying it out. Just let me know here or PM me.

I'll take it for a spin if you like

[rtkiii]

Added download like to original post. Let me know what you think.

This is still a work in progress but it is closer to done than not I am guessing.

[rtkiii]

QUESTION 13: After doing some testing on my actual home setup last night I found that if I went to any emulators on my Cabinet it would only display the emubak, which makes sense. If I look at other themes they have something for NES, SNES Genesis, etc...how do I make those? I tried looking at Ehounder's WOPR v2 and see he has separate pages, which is great but how do I create a new page(example emubak, startbak) and how will GameEx know to go to that page when I select a certain emulator.

Up until now I has really just replacing the already created pages with my skin/images.

thanks,

Rich

[rtkiii]

Genesis, NES and SNES backgrounds. I do not plan to do a lot as I am making for my home cabinet but if someone likes this theme and wants me to make more I'll look into it. Well once I figure out how to add them

[Draco1962]

Very cool! I am not sure what graphics editing program you are using, however, if you are using Photoshop or GIMP, you can save the layers in either .psd or .xcf format and include with your theme so others can create their own custom background images for specific systems.

[rtkiii]

Very cool! I am not sure what graphics editing program you are using, however, if you are using Photoshop or GIMP, you can save the layers in either .psd or .xcf format and include with your theme so others can create their own custom background images for specific systems.

PS CS5 is my drug of choice - Good point but I left them out for now since they are huge but in the end result I will include those and the preferred font in the .rar file.

[rtkiii]

QUESTION 13: After doing some testing on my actual home setup last night I found that if I went to any emulators on my Cabinet it would only display the emubak, which makes sense. If I look at other themes they have something for NES, SNES Genesis, etc...how do I make those? I tried looking at Ehounder's WOPR v2 and see he has separate pages, which is great but how do I create a new page(example emubak, startbak) and how will GameEx know to go to that page when I select a certain emulator.

Up until now I has really just replacing the already created pages with my skin/images.

thanks,

Rich

I think I might have found this by copying some files from WOPRs theme - "_Console_Nintendo_NES_bak" and the same files for SNES and Genesis. I'll add those to my cabinet tonight and see if that helped.

[rtkiii]

dang that did not work

[celly]

Not sure if you figured this one out or not but, to display that NES bak, first choose your theme in the Setup Wizard. Then go to your NES emulator configure in the wizard. Find the Custom Background drop down menu. Find you background. Save settings and launch GameEx. Try that.

[rtkiii]

Not sure if you figured this one out or not but, to display that NES bak, first choose your theme in the Setup Wizard. Then go to your NES emulator configure in the wizard. Find the Custom Background drop down menu. Find you background. Save settings and launch GameEx. Try that.

No I didn't actually and never would have thought to look there... LOL.

EDIT: FOUND under advanced emulator setup...thanks Celly!