Snaps for Background Image and MCE Question

[gte024h]

I set the option in the configuration to DisplayBackgroundImage=snap and I have a bunch of PNG and JPG files which show up fine on the left while navigating. The description makes it sound like the snaps would be the background, but I don't see any difference between setting it to snap vs setting it to True. Is this feature broke, or am I doing someting wrong?

I also have an MCE integration question. If I start a movie, then hit the Home key on my MCE remote the movie continues to play in the corner of the screen. If I then select My Games, GameEx starts, but I still hear the movie in the background. When I exit GameEx, MCE is minimized and I have to hit the Home key on the remote to get it back to full screen. Is there a way to end the MCE app when I start GameEx, then relaunch it when GameEx exits? That way I hear no MCE audio while playing games, and when it relaunches it should go fullscreen.

-Steven

[Tom Speirs]

I set the option in the configuration to DisplayBackgroundImage=snap and I have a bunch of PNG and JPG files which show up fine on the left while navigating. The description makes it sound like the snaps would be the background, but I don't see any difference between setting it to snap vs setting it to True. Is this feature broke, or am I doing someting wrong?

I also have an MCE integration question. If I start a movie, then hit the Home key on my MCE remote the movie continues to play in the corner of the screen. If I then select My Games, GameEx starts, but I still hear the movie in the background. When I exit GameEx, MCE is minimized and I have to hit the Home key on the remote to get it back to full screen. Is there a way to end the MCE app when I start GameEx, then relaunch it when GameEx exits? That way I hear no MCE audio while playing games, and when it relaunches it should go fullscreen.

-Steven

The background setting is not broken. Maybe you edited the ini wrong or are using an old version of GameEx.

Set MCE mode under Tweaks/Performance in the config application to do what your asking.

[gte024h]

I'm running version 5.31 and everything else seems to be working very well. I tried moving the snaps to a path with no spaces, which made no difference. I also tried various file formats, like PNG, BMP, JPG with no luck. It's not a problem really, everything else is so darn cool with this program, I'm quite happy with it as is. I was just wondering if there's anything obvious I should check.

I set the MCE mode to 2 which should close MCE and restart it, but i just checked, and if I use the mouse to exit fullscreen mode in GameEx, MCE is minimized, and if I restore the MCE window, it's running. It's like GameEx is just ignoring that particular setting and the DisplayBackgroundImage setting.

This is a new install I'm working with, perhaps there's something I need to check in Windows? I'm new to the whole HTPC/Windows MCE thing...

[Tom Speirs]

I'm running version 5.31 and everything else seems to be working very well. I tried moving the snaps to a path with no spaces, which made no difference. I also tried various file formats, like PNG, BMP, JPG with no luck. It's not a problem really, everything else is so darn cool with this program, I'm quite happy with it as is. I was just wondering if there's anything obvious I should check.

I set the MCE mode to 2 which should close MCE and restart it, but i just checked, and if I use the mouse to exit fullscreen mode in GameEx, MCE is minimized, and if I restore the MCE window, it's running. It's like GameEx is just ignoring that particular setting and the DisplayBackgroundImage setting.

This is a new install I'm working with, perhaps there's something I need to check in Windows? I'm new to the whole HTPC/Windows MCE thing... 

That's strange, both options should work fine. Double check your running version 1.1 of the .net framework. If you look at the top of the GameEx log file it will tell you what versions you have installed. I've noticed weird bugs with the configuration when running just version 1.0. MCE ships with version 1.0 so that might be the issue.

Let us know how that works out.

Thanks,

Tom.

[gte024h]

The log says I am running 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0. Do I need to remove 1.0? If so, how?

[Tom Speirs]

The log says I am running 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0. Do I need to remove 1.0? If so, how?

No, that sounds like your probably OK then. Really not sure why those settings are not working. All I can suggest is a fresh install of GameEx, which it sounds like you already have.

Weird that those settings are not working. Not had anything like that reported before.

You could maybe try a different theme. Does the GameLauncher theme displays the images as the background?

Cant offer much more help right now.

Tom.

[gte024h]

Ok, I did some experimentation and none of the "Default - BlueEX" themes show the snaps as background. The other themes work ok, but they don't look right at 1024x768 (my projectors native resolution). If I go full screen with them, but tell GameEx not to change resolutions, the background snaps don't work on them either.

The same goes for my MCE shutdown/restart problem, the Default - BlueEX themes don't successfully end and restart the MCE app, but the other themes do.

I think I'm going to have to stay with the Default - BlueEX MCE 1024X768 theme for now since it looks the best, even if some things don't work right with it.

[Tom Speirs]

Ok, I did some experimentation and none of the "Default - BlueEX" themes show the snaps as background. The other themes work ok, but they don't look right at 1024x768 (my projectors native resolution). If I go full screen with them, but tell GameEx not to change resolutions, the background snaps don't work on them either.

The same goes for my MCE shutdown/restart problem, the Default - BlueEX themes don't successfully end and restart the MCE app, but the other themes do.

I think I'm going to have to stay with the Default - BlueEX MCE 1024X768 theme for now since it looks the best, even if some things don't work right with it.

The MCE issue with BlueEx is a problem with theme. Ill fix it for the next release but in the meantime if youe edit:

C:\-DATA-\-MY PROJECTS-\GameEx - VB.net\bin\THEMES\Default - BlueEx - MCE1024x768\theme.ini

Remove the MCE Mode line. That will do it.

If you want to view it with snaps as the background then change this line, again in theme.ini:

DisplayBackgroundImage=True

Thats intententionally there, but the issue with upon changing window size the snaps not showing is a bug which Ill fix in the next release. It does not happen if GameEx starts full screen.

Thanks for alerting me to these issues.

Tom

[gte024h]

Thanks for your speedy response! I really appreciate your hard work on this project. As Microsoft get more Windows MCE boxes out there, I think you'll see a lot of demand for this app :-) (at which point you should sell it to MS and make a boat load of cash, lol)