RetroFE forums

Here's RetroFE 0.8.6. As always: make a backup copy of your executable before trying this one.

New features:
- Use ! (unequal to), < (smaller than), and > (greater than) for the menuIndex of animations. This will allow you to define animations for multiple menu levels.
- Use i as menuIndex for menu animations, activating the animation only if the menu is active. This will allow you to create a single menu definition for multiple menu levels.
- Use menuIndex as a menu attribute. This will instantiate that menu at the specified menuIndex. In practice, this will allow you to display multiple menus at the same time.

I have a dilemma:
Currently, RetroFE reads the meta database at start-up, and the collection information (roms, etc.) when entering a collection. I could:
1. Read the meta data when entering a collection; this would speed up the start-up, and make entering collections slower.
2. Read the collection information at startup; this would slow down the start-up, make entering the collections faster, but would also require a front-end restart when you add new roms to a collection.
3. Leave things as is.
Any thoughts?

As some of you have noticed: the RetroFE documentation isn't entirely up to date, and the PDF format isn't exactly user friendly either. After 0.8.0 is complete I'd like to start updating the documentation on a new wiki page of the web site, but I could certainly use some help in doing so. Anyone with a knack of writing user documentation willing and able to give me a hand?

To all: It has been brought to my attention that the statically linked version I used to distribute is causing major havoc with certain anti-virus tools. I cannot be 100% sure that this is merely a false positive, so in order to remove all doubt I've updated the Download page, and replaced the statically linked versions with dynamically linked versions. This however does require you to have the correct Microsoft Visual Studio files installed, like it used to be. I'm doing my best to figure out why the statically linked version is causing problems. In the mean time, I'm also attaching the 0.8.0 - RC1 executable. The full release isn't ready yet, but you can play with it if you'd like.

I would love it if some knowledgeable people would write some guides/tutorials for RetroFE. I'm considering writing one about MAME, but I would especially welcome one regarding RocketLauncher.  Anyone up for it?

I have released RetroFE 0.7.20 on the download page.
My thanks go out to Tom, catelite, KMetalMind, and PinealServo for helping me out on this one.
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Changes since 0.7.19 are:
- Fixed menuSort = no behavior for include.txt files.
- Fixed Windows expansion of %RETROFE_EXEC_PATH%.
- Fixed local language support.
- Fixed container scaling.
- Fixed input queue when returning from a game.
- Fixed crash on exit when a controller is connected.
- Fixed incorrect sRGB profile errors for PNGs (Tom).
- Rewritten menu scrolling and input handler.
- Added support for hierarchy in the roms directory via list.romHierarchy parameter in collection's settings.conf file.
- Added playlist support via the keys favPlaylist, nextPlaylist, and prevPlaylist. The playlists should be placed as <playlist name>.txt in the collections/<collection name>/playlists directory.
- Added MacOS support (Tom).
- Added support for /home/user/.retrofe RETROFE_PATH setting for linux / mac (Tom).
- Added brew install option for mac (Tom).
- Added trurip Super DAT support. .dat files are expected in meta/trurip.
- Added collectionInputClear parameter to the global settings.conf. When set to true, the input queue will be cleared when entering/exiting a collection.
- Added automatic update of meta.db when any of the meta xml/dat files are updated/added. No more manual deleting of meta.db required.
- Updated Overview instructions in readme (Tom).
- Support for multiple rompaths using the ; separator for list.path in the collection's settings.conf
- Removed requirement for the presence of the collection's settings.conf file.
- Recreated meta.db whenever any of the meta files or the executable changes.
- Support for launchers per game via the directory collections/collection name/launchers/game name.conf
- Support for multiple keys for the same action in controls.conf, comma separated (catelite)
- Improved video performance and playback, including aspect ratio (PinealServo)
- Improvement of input handlers (PinealServo)
- Support for launchers per OS via the optional launcher directories launchers.linux, launchers.windows, and launchers.apple
- Enable gdb debugging symbols in debug build for non-Windows (PinealServo)
- Fix crash when launcher files don't have extensions (PinealServo)
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I'm planning to update the documentation next to make sure all information to use the new features is available. The PDF will disappear in the future; I've set up a new wiki to recreate and update the documentation. The PDF was a temporary measure to keep the information in case the old website was closed down.

I would really like a new promotion video for RetroFE, something to show on the RetroFE home page. Anyone handy with video creation willing to show off some RetroFE themes?
This is an oldy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXi_RhpI7rU