[Recalbox 9] Theme Next Pixel

[mYSt]

@lhari84 Thx for your comment i'll try to add some new systems soon (it's pretty hard to find out a nice image that match my theme with really old system though).
@Bkg2k @paradadf Any chance to be able to edit its own post? it's really odd and not really user friendly having to reply to its own post to add new screenshot and new features.

[paradadf]

@myst sent me your formatted text in a private message and I‘ll modify your first post entirely.
This is a measure to prevent people from erasing useful information after the community helped them.

[mYSt]

@paradadf Great thx! I'll let you know when i need to update this post

[lhari84]

@myst Thanks, great!
I can imagine, it‘s not too easy finding hd graphics that match...

Here some ideas, I guess you could find some usable material on the internet:

coleco:
donkey kong (classic)

dos:
warcraft 2 or command & conquer

dreamcast:
resident evil (code veronica)

fba_libretro:
pacman

fds:
super mario bros

pcenginecd:
prince of persia

psp:
lumines or need for speed

sg1000:
difficult... maybe something from game „flicky“

[mYSt]

@lhari84
Thx for the list, I started looking for games yesterday for dreamcast and psp and i thought shenmue for dreamcast and god of war chains of olympus for psp would match well. What do you think of those games? I have never owned any systems from your list so i'm not sure about these games popularity, looks like shenmue pretty well defined dreamcast though.
Anyway like i've done with playstation system i may add different alternatives for a system to make everybody happy as long as the game picked still well defined the system, when possible using exclusive game from a system is the right way to go.

[lhari84]

@myst
I've never owned one of these systems too, except DOS Just played with friends' Dreamcast and PSP once or twice...

But some of the systems, like Coleco and fba_libretro (MAME alternative) are very impressive.

In the meanwhile I've removed some systems from my Recalbox though, as they are (almost) Japanese and not so important to me: sg1000 and fds.

Further, for fba_libretro, I just copied background and music from neogeo, because I use it also for NeoGeo emulation and so this is a good option. Metal Slug is fine

In conclusion, personally I'm only missing coleco, dos, dreamcast, pcenginecd and psp for now

Regarding your questions:
I think Shenmue is a good option for dreamcast!
For PSP I'd use another one, because God of War seems not to run good on Pi3, so it's not for everyone. Maybe Lumines, LocoRoco or Patapon? They all seem to be exclusive.

[lhari84]

@myst
... just copied doom's background and music to dos (pc), as it's a game that defined dos too.
So I'm only missing: coleco, dreamcast, pcenginecd and psp

[lhari84]

@myst
... one more idea:
pcengine cd seems to be almost defined by castlevania. I guess there is also much material to find on the net.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania:_Rondo_of_Blood

[mYSt]

So here it is, version 0.4 is available! Initial post is up to date with this version, if you come from version 0.3 here is the changelog :

• Add dreamcast support
• Add psp support
• Add pcengine cd support
• Add colecovision support
• Change atari 5200 image
• Improve basic/details view design

[lhari84]

@myst wow, thank you so much! Looks so great, cannot wait to have a look on big tv screen in the evening

Just one more question about music:
I saw for PSP you've chosen graphics from game Patapon, right?
The music ogg music file doesn't seem to be from this game, I'm not sure... Maybe you could replace with something like that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRXLa9HWFac

Also, because of its length, current music file is very big (19.2 MB). Don't know how recalbox handles audiofiles, especially on Raspberry Pi, but maybe it's not good for performance though. Can't tell...

@paradadf
I'd suggest to give this thread a "Pinned" state, so more users are able to find this theme easily. It's really the best one I personally could find here in forum.

[mYSt]

@lhari84 PSP image is from Lumines II and music should be from Lumines. I can try to change music but it looks like this one was popular for Lumines (accordingly to youtube likes) if you have any suggestion i'm all ears.

[lhari84]

@myst Ok, thanks for info. As I only know Lumines 1, I have not recognized it. So everything is fine. Thanks once again!

[lhari84]

@myst Sorry to disturb again, but could you give me info which games/graphics you used for:

• atari7800 (no idea, seems I'm too young :D)
• segacd (is it Sewer Shark?)
• sega32x (is it Virtua Fighter?)

Just want to make sure I own each game used in theme

[mYSt]

sure
atari 7800 game is Galaga
segacd reference is Silpheed (not a huge fan of this choice, may change later)
sega32x is virtua fighter

[lhari84]

@myst I just finished modifying everything for my needs. Here things I did, maybe it helps for optimizing future releases:

• compressed 1080p backgrounds for performance optimization on Pi3
  (because quality still looks better than 720p version and images are smaller)
• compressed audio files of used systems
  (cannot hear a difference and maybe better for performance on Pi3)
• replaced audio file of system psp by a louder version
  (still don't know how to normalize a bunch of ogg-files to same volume level, I had to do it with mp3 and converted it afterwards)
• prboom background + sound used for system pc
  (copied to folder to activate art for Dos)
• neogeo background + sound used for system fba_libretro
  (copied to folder to activate art for Final Burn Alpha)
• custom.xml of most systems (France -> Europe, etc.)
  (I modified text of MAME and fba_libretro system a little too)
• replaced content in data-folder with files previous version 0.3
  (can't tell, but I liked the clean gamelist view of version 0.3 much more, so I reactivated this one + compressed backgrounds like there too)

If you need more information or any for example files, just contact me.

[mYSt]

@lhari84

compressed 1080p backgrounds for performance optimization on Pi3
(because quality still looks better than 720p version and images are smaller)

Memory footprint is a matter of resolution not compression, compressing an image may just lead to more time injecting it into graphics GPU but of course you'll save some disk space.

replaced audio file of system psp by a louder version
(still don't know how to normalize a bunch of ogg-files to same volume level, I had to do it with mp3 and converted it afterwards)

Musics should all be normalized (using audition), maybe i forgot this one

custom.xml of most systems (France -> Europe, etc.)
(I modified text of MAME and fba_libretro system a little too)

good catch i 'll remove or replace with europe next time (by the way from theme options system infos can be removed)

replaced content in data-folder with files previous version 0.3
(can't tell, but I liked the clean gamelist view of version 0.3 much more, so I reactivated this one + compressed backgrounds like there too)

Sad to hear i'll see if i can do something better next time

Thx

[lhari84]

@myst said in Next Pixel theme:

@lhari84

compressed 1080p backgrounds for performance optimization on Pi3
(because quality still looks better than 720p version and images are smaller)

Memory footprint is a matter of resolution not compression, compressing an image may just lead to more time injecting it into graphics GPU but of course you'll save some disk space.

Thanks for info, didn't know that. I thought about it might take more time to read all the data from SD card, especially with Pi's slow USB 2.0 interface.

replaced audio file of system psp by a louder version
(still don't know how to normalize a bunch of ogg-files to same volume level, I had to do it with mp3 and converted it afterwards)

Musics should all be normalized (using audition), maybe i forgot this one

custom.xml of most systems (France -> Europe, etc.)
(I modified text of MAME and fba_libretro system a little too)

good catch i 'll remove or replace with europe next time (by the way from theme options system infos can be removed)

in this case i also recognized that not all information is shown, only 4 lines. other lines in custom.xml are ignored (no problem for me, but I think to remember at MAME, etc. there will be sentences cut)

replaced content in data-folder with files previous version 0.3
(can't tell, but I liked the clean gamelist view of version 0.3 much more, so I reactivated this one + compressed backgrounds like there too)

Sad to hear i'll see if i can do something better next time

Sorry, should not be a genreral negative feedback, everbody is differnent. But gamelist text looked too small and pixels around the list are not such a good border for me than the clean version before. Maybe you and others like the new design better, it's no problem for me to use the old one

Thx

[Kintao]

@myst Thanks for your job.

[lhari84]

@myst said in Next Pixel theme:

@lhari84

compressed 1080p backgrounds for performance optimization on Pi3
(because quality still looks better than 720p version and images are smaller)

Memory footprint is a matter of resolution not compression, compressing an image may just lead to more time injecting it into graphics GPU but of course you'll save some disk space.

You're right, file size seems not to matter at all. Switched to 720p again and Emulationsstation seems to run smoother.

[mYSt]

@lhari84 I've already switched to 720p by default for next release, 1080p works only when using a few system (10 or less) and as most of us use more than 10, 720p should be the default.
For those using 30+ systems i think this theme won't work well even with 720p (can't do much on my side to fix that).