[RESOLVED] Theme Editor Assistance

[Draco1962]

Does anyone have the pixel coordinates for the Media Player button placements? I am trying to create custom media buttons for a new theme and need to know where to place each of them relative to the upper right corner. I know that the precise X-Y coordinates are going to vary by resolution. If someone can just tell me x number of pixels from the right-most vertical edge and Y number of pixels from the top-most horizontal edge for each button it would be an awesome help!

BTW, this theme will be based upon "SINS of a Solar Empire," a recent PC game of which I am fond of (not to mention the Stardock MyColors theme from which I am creating a 1920x1080 theme for GameEx - YES - a true hi-def 1080p theme! I am currently running the theme for my PC, including Windows 7 boot screen and changes to Window Media Center to present a coordinated HTPC/GameEx feel throughout.

[Draco1962]

OK, hitting a stumbling block. I am attempting to use foreground elements that have portions with black set to about 80% opacity (so you can see through to the background. Unfortunately, GameEx strips anything that is see through, leaving only the frame.

Needless to say, this kind of defeats the purpose for having foreground elements to overlay the background for some really neat effects.. I have tried pasting the same elements directly into Theme Editor and have the same results.

Is there an .ini setting to correct for this? Is this a display bug and, if so, can it be fixed to allow for the display of them?

Also "bumping" the first post in this thread.

Thanks!

[Draco1962]

I have attached the original mockup SOASE) that shows how, if one file, the semi-transparency in the windows is preserved iif on the background level. If used as a foregraound file, in the second image (actual) you will see that the semi-transparent black areas are totally clear.

Now I can simulate the black transparency by putting transparent "patches" in the areas on the background files and have the frames overlay the areas, but I find this to be counterintuitive and takes away from the flexibility in using multiple background files (not ot mention adding tons of time to the project). If for some reason I would like to have differing layouts I would have to "patch" each background individually, and then align the windows for each background.. The purpose of the semi-transparent layers to add a "mask" over the image.

Can Theme Editor and GameEx be modified to preserve the semi-transparency instead of strip it when used on a foreground file? I see this as a serious bug when it comes to using the ability to create layered effects for some really creative, dynamic themes.

[Draco1962]

After further testing, it appears that GameEx is treating anything pure black, even semi-transparent pure black objects, as 100% transparent. This is occuring not only in foreground .bak files, but also in logo files where there si a pure black element. This then causes the background image to show through.

I am going to try using a "near" black to see if this remedies my immediate issue, however, I don't see why pure black cannot be used.

EDIT: My assumptions have been confirmed. Near black works.

[headkaze]

EDIT: My assumptions have been confirmed. Near black works.

Yes unfortunately this is a side effect of the old rendering system which used color keying for pure black. The new system supports a proper alpha channel but unfortunately backward compatibility means pure black is still keyed out. It would be nice if Tom added an option in the Theme.ini to turn of color keying so people could use pure black in their themes.

[Draco1962]

That would be awesome if it could. While I can continue on with developing the theme using near black, would be nice to not have to worry about pure black elements in my graphics having to be manipulated as a workaround - and it just looks nicer!

[Draco1962]

Tom - I am bumping this as I am running into some problems. It appears that GameEx is not handling the rendering for pure black and near black consistantly. I have been working on this new theme and thought I was in the home stretch when I discovered that some screens the near black that I had had used successfully on others with 30-40% opacity is now being treated the same as pure black and 100% opaque.

Is it possible to update GameEx to allow for turning off color keying in the theme.ini as Ben has suggested? Or can you tell me if it is possible for me to manually edit the theme.ini file manually to acheive the desired results?

Thanks!

[Draco1962]

Here are some conflicting examples - one is ansnap where pure black is being treated as transparent. Second is an example of near black elements with 30%opacity treated as if 100% opaque/solid. (screen elements, title, menu bar, scroller (at bottom), etc.

[Draco1962]

Not certain if the issue was just with black (or shades less pure) I tested the same screen and applied a 40% opacity to all image and text fields with different colors (Navy, Maroon, Olive, and some sort of Brownish-Gray color). Attached is the result. GameEx is treating the semi-transparent areas as solids instead of allowing for transparency. I have attached another copy of the same image with the background and foreground images as a point of comparison of how it should look.

[Draco1962]

Tom or Ben,

I have discovered that the issue seems to affect all pages with the exception of the Start, MAME, and Daphne. Whenever I go "deeper" than these pages (Say from Start to an Emulator) the foreground transparency effect stops working. The solid black showing transparent when it shouldn't appears on logo files and on portions of the 3D cabs. My guess there are two actual rendering issues taking place and both impacting me (likely others as well). I am not sure what else I can do at this point as I don't want to roll out a theme that is going to look crappy when others use it or give it look.

MIke

[Draco1962]

Marking as resolved as Color Key disabled added to Theme Editor for V4 themes.