[THEME] Sidebar 1920x1080 (Released)

[RedDog]

I gave this a go myself this past Sunday. Since I have such a limited setup with just MAME, it makes it difficult for me to fully appreciate. It looks great though, and I encountered no problems. I don't know how feasible this is, but a larger snaps screen would be nice. <edit> larger in general, across all themes, not just yours.

Yeah, I spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to make the snap areas as big as possible. The limiting factor in my mind was how to handle the REALLY long names that some games have (particularly games that have a Japanese AND English name, such as Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior / Art of Fighting: Ryuuko no Ken Gaiden; I mean there is only so much you can do with something like that!). So, I had to make a choice of whether or not I wanted the game names to be cut off in the list box or have bigger pictures...and I chose to try and display the full names as best I could.

I wish that there was a switch I could set to only have English names displayed (since, personally, my Japanese speaking ability is non-existent); but in addition to adding that feature, the database structure would need to be modified...a bit of work for a minor upgrade.

Hopefully Evolution will allow for more versatility with manipulating individual assets and data.

[tthurman]

Thanks for the explanation, I figured there must be some limiting factor that was common. Hopefully with a least some of the user base trending toward larger displays, these options will become more common place so we can take advantage of the extra real estate.

[massop]

I would just like to say that this theme is AWESOME.

I have been spending a while making a similar theme to this but yours honestly blows mine out of the water.

Thanks so much for sharing this with the community.

[RedDog]

@massop. Thanks for the kind words.

I should be uploading this puppy today or tomorrow. Just need to check things over one last time first.

[RedDog]

This has been uploaded to the repository.

See the first post in this thread for pics and links or go to http://www.gameex.info/forums/files/file/529-sidebar-1920x1080/

Thanks to everyone for checking this out. Enjoy

[Draco1962]

Congrats on publishing your first theme and a quality one at that!

[Zero Dreams]

+1

[r3b0rn]

Love the design of this theme, but is there something that needs to be modified to get the custom backgrounds for each system? I can see them all inside the media folder, but they do not change inside of gamex. I get the emubak background on each one. Sorry, i don't know anything about theme editor and i have tried to look at the ini file but i am not sure what i am looking for. Do the images just need to be renamed to something specific. Sorry for the dumb question, but i would really like to get this them working

Thanks!

[RedDog]

Hi r3b0rn. Thanks for taking a look.

Many of the backgrounds should automatically be used such as Mame, Favorites, Search, AllGames, the various utilities, etc.

Emulator-specific backgrounds must be assigned in the Advanced Emulator Setup. You will need to set the 'Custom Background' for each emulator to the background you want to use.

There are also some alternate backgrounds in the Alternate Assets folder. If you want to use one or more of these alternate assets, you will need to copy the asset into the MEDIA folder overwriting the default image file.

Lastly, do keep in mind that GameEx supports several different theme views, but my theme only works with one of those many views. If you find that icons and text are not lining up, you may want to try different change views.

As far as I know, this is the normal way that themes with multiple background images work in GameEx. If you have any other questions, just let me know. I hope this helps.

[r3b0rn]

Duh. Sorry about that. Thanks! Awesome work!

[RedDog]

It's no problem. As you have probably realized, GameEx is chock-full of awesome goodness. It is easy to forget stuff sometimes.

[Panja]

I think I will use this awesome theme as my daily driver!

Thanks for your hard work. It looks GREAT!

[RedDog]

Thank you for the kind words. I am glad you like it.

[SuperMagicom]

Download link isn't working. 

[RedDog]

Hey SuperMagicom,

Thank for looking. I have corrected the links in the thread.

You can find the theme here: http://www.gameex.info/forums/files/file/529-sidebar-1920x1080/

[KRC]

Nice Work RedDog!

[stigzler]

Wb krc. Ltns!

[KRC]

Thanks Stigzler ! It's been a while 

[RedDog]

On 3/21/2017 at 6:33 AM, KRC said:

Nice Work RedDog!

Thanks KRC. Your stuff is just fantastic, so I appreciate the kind words.

[KRC]

No Problem!

[Zero Dreams]

Hello. I would love to know where I could get some assets from this theme. Loved it when I first saw it & love it still. What I really need is an Atari 2600 and a Panasonic 3DO. That's it. If I could get my hands on the creation psds that would be awesome too.

[RedDog]

@Zero Dreams Glad you like it.

I used Gimp to make all of the assets. I included templates for making the sidebar, logo, and backgrounds in the _TEMPLATES folder in the download. I have not used photoshop, but I believe it will take .xcf files.

The process I used was to first create the sidebar graphic using the sidebar template with colors and images based on the console boxart. Once you have what you like, save it as a single layer graphic, reedit it to turn the entire thing -90 degrees, and then cut the red guide area out to get the resulting vertical sidebar. The background template is layered, so just paste the vertical sidebar on the sidebar layer and position it as needed. If you cut the sidebar properly, it should fit perfectly along side the drop shadow. Adjust the background layer's color to fit the console theme and then save the result as an image file (I like png myself).

If you decide to get fancy with curves like the GameCube or Dreamcast, then you will have to position it to your liking and redo the drop shadow.

It sounds like you are comfortable with photoshop, but if you do find yourself struggling with it, let me know. I will be traveling starting tomorrow, but once I get settled I should have some time to whip up a 3DO and 2600 set if needed.

[Draco1962]

@Zero Dreams

Not sure that Photoshop will take .xcf files, but you can save the template as a .psd file which GIMP can open. GIMP is free and I find it to be a little easier to use. 

[Zero Dreams]

Thank you both very much!! I was able to find the assets, install gimp, and convert the files to psd.  I'm all set now and I appreciate the help. Really

What timely responses!!!

[RedDog]

@Zero Dreams Would you mind posting what you created? If they look good, maybe I could include them in the download.