TV Advert Path questions

[Lighty]

I don't know if this was mentioned already, but wouldn't it be neat to feature commercials for the systems or games from when they were new? It'd be a wonderful trip down memory lane. Remember the Nintendo breakfast cereal and Captain N?

[Adultery]

You mean game advertisements? GameEx supports this already.

[MNMax21]

Yeah. You can even do a video for the Nintendo selection in the emulators menu. I did this for a little while, but I could never find a video with good quality. I even thought about throwing some in the video folder and have this go in the attract screen.

[Lighty]

The current GameEx supports this? Old commercials for the consoles? That's pretty sweet! I assume it would pop up when you highlight the console of choice. How would I go about getting that up and running?

[hansolo77]

EmuMovies hosts them.. then you have to have them named exactly like your rom, then you configure it on the 2nd page of the Emulator config in GameEx.. it's called "TV Advert Path"/

[Lighty]

If they are named exactly like the rom, does that mean these ads are for the roms or emulators, as far as the "TV advert path"?

[Draco1962]

I split these responses from the Evolution thread as they were detracting from the topic and should have been addressed in a new thread beyond the initial question. Please try to start a new topic for any questions you may have regarding GameEx functionality. Thanks!

[MNMax21]

Lighty,

I used a work around to get my videos to play. I am not sure if this is the same way others have done it. I know of two ways.

First, the "TV Advert path" route that Hansolo spoke of. That path is in the 'Advanced Emulator Setup' section of the setup wizard.

http://www.gameex.info/wiki/index.php/GameEx:Advanced_Emulator_Setup_(Setup_Wizard)#TV_Advert_Path

You would want to create a file called TV Advert or something and then route the above path to that file. I believe this will create a link in the game itself, meaning I believe these adverts are specific to a game file and would be accessible inside the menu after you have selected the game from the emulator area. In the same spot as the manuals and cartridge art, etc. There aren't that many videos, at least that I can recall. It's been awhile since I looked into that though and I know EmuMovies is constantly improving their selection of game art options.

Second, which is a little more tedious, is to replace your snap artwork for the emulator into a video. When you setup an option for a logo for a specific emulator, you have a choice between a JPG, PNG, etc. or a video. You need to place the video in the link listed below. You need to go to your main GameEx file in your C drive or where you have it. Then you place the video file into the logos folder of the theme you are currently using. You can then route the logo path in the emulator setup to the video. This will then play that video when you are trying to select from the emulator menu.

The below is quoted from the wizard in regards to the logo section for the emulator you'd setup:

Logo: The name of a PNG or JPG Image or video file without the extension and path that will be shown on the Start Page when the emulator is selected. This image must be in the Program Files\GameEx\themes\[selected theme]\Media\Logos folder. Note there are a selection of images already there for most emulated Systems.

[MNMax21]

Someone correct the above if I erred in anyway. I am trying to recall everything away from my cabinet.

But, if you can get the video into the proper format, you could play something like the below. As you can see, the quality on most of this stuff is awful. It was hard for me to put this stuff into my setup, because I felt like it detracted from the other items.

[sms2169]

i have emu movies for my artwork, how would i get it to auto download the videos for my systems. or do i have to go to emu movies site and put them in a folder, thanks

[DazzleHP]

I believe everything you stated there is absolutely correct Max. And i believe this section is what the OP is seeking:

Second, which is a little more tedious, is to replace your snap artwork for the emulator into a video. When you setup an option for a logo for a specific emulator, you have a choice between a JPG, PNG, etc. or a video. You need to place the video in the link listed below. You need to go to your main GameEx file in your C drive or where you have it. Then you place the video file into the logos folder of the theme you are currently using. You can then route the logo path in the emulator setup to the video. This will then play that video when you are trying to select from the emulator menu.

There are many "tricks" to get what you want in GameEx - it is very flexible, but if i may sum Max's post's in a few words:

Option one will put the Adverts on the info page as a clickable option ie you'll need to manually play it back.

Option two will play a montage on the emulator select page as you are browsing. right where your system logo's usually show.

No one ever claimed this hobby was easy

Thanks Max for taking the time to explain all that!

i have emu movies for my artwork, how would i get it to auto download the videos for my systems. or do i have to go to emu movies site and put them in a folder, thanks

That is somewhat specialist so you may need to go directly to Emumovies to download. Couldn't say 100 percent.

[MNMax21]

Not a problem!

SMS2169... that question may be above my pay grade. I don't use the auto download option, because I had already made custom file paths for all my artwork prior to that option coming out. I just download new stuff as I need it from the EmuMovies program with the lifetime subscription. I imagine I could just see what each file is named by default by EmuMovies and rename my files to match those. I just haven't taken the time to do that, as it's just been easier for me to download new stuff as I want it.

I don't recall if the auto download gets all the artwork or not. If it did, you would just need to locate the file where the TV Adverts are in your emulator directory and then route the TV Advert path to that file. Again, like Dazzle stated... they won't just play automatically. It's a menu item inside the menu for each game. It would be like selecting Pitfall in Atari. You then have the choice to play the game, view the box art, view the cartridge, view the manual, etc. By adding the TV Advert, you would just add a menu option here that would play the TV Advert, when you select it.

[Lighty]

I think I understand where you guys are coming from. Basically, there's an extra info option for roms, which would play videos, listed under "cartridge" and "box" and etc... OR... A video plays when you highlight the name of the emulator/console name INSTEAD of the logo. Like if a nintendo commercial started playing instead of seeing the "nintendo entertainment system" logo.

I know this topic was split from the EX Evolution thread, but I'm not sure if I explained myself very well, lol. I was kind of thinking on a slightly bigger scale.

I should probably take this back to the GameEx Evolution thread, since I think my question was answered. You're definitely welcome to read :-)

[DazzleHP]

I think I understand where you guys are coming from. Basically, there's an extra info option for roms, which would play videos, listed under "cartridge" and "box" and etc... OR... A video plays when you highlight the name of the emulator/console name INSTEAD of the logo. Like if a nintendo commercial started playing instead of seeing the "nintendo entertainment system" logo.

That's exactly right!

PS: Don't put it back in the Evo thread

[MNMax21]

Yes, that's exactly it. Also, the Title file is what currently will show up for the game. You should have a video snap and then a snap image. The snap image will default to the path you set as the Title path in MAME setting.

[Lighty]

Now you tell me, Dazzle. lol. I went back to the evo thread with the topic, because I figured that's what I was supposed to do, since I "sort of" went off topic, and turned the conversation into a "what if this happened one day" instead of a question or a "how do i do this." I turned the question into a conversation, so I thought it was the right thing to do to go elsewhere. Because whenever it was the other way around, when I would turn a conversation into a question, the question portion would get moved to its own thread, or a question related thread. ... ... ... in other words, I'm desperately trying to jump through the right hoops here... now IF I'M STILL NOT DOING THIS RIGHT... then you may blow my brains out, if I don't do it myself first.

In all fairness, I do have aspergers syndrome, which confucius say is: the occasional obstacle rock in the river of flowing comprehension.

[tthurman]

I moved your post to Feature & Enhancement Requests, as that's really what you are suggesting.

[Lighty]

Thanks, sounds good.