Mame configuration for Arcade cabinet

[juan9999]

Hey!  First post!

I've recently installed RetroFE to use as a front end for my Arcade cabinet using xin-mo controllers with MAME .194 and full extras running in windows 10 on an I3 and so far I love it!

I'd like a bit of help getting my config working 100%:

So far I've:
- Installed RetroFE and Animatic
- Changed layout to Animatic
- Setup the controls.conf to work with my josticks/buttons
- Configured to settings.conf to run from my MAME 1.94 folder (with MAME extras) including roms,  snap (mapped to/screenshot), marquee(mapped to /logo or maybe /screentitle), and cabinet (mapped to /artwork_front)
- Downloaded MAME XML and include and copied and renamed "no clones" to include.txt, and copied include_no_casino_clones_mahjong_mature_quiz_electro_utilities_playchoice to Playlists.  I also manually edited the favorites to include some of my favorites

Everything kinda works, but I have a few questions:
1. Animatic does not look like in the screen capture on the download link http://retrofe.nl/Download/Themes/Animatic/Animatic%20Collection.png; I simply have the game "marquees" on the left, and the snap on the right, I don't have the artwork shown, and furthermore, on the games that I don't have marquees for, I get a blank title making it hard to identify a game with a blank title.  It also does not display "capcom" (it does in default theme).  How should I configure my settings.conf for things to work correctly?  Is there anyway to display the text vs. a graphic for the game when it's not available?
2. How can I add a game to favorites other than manually
3. When I scroll through playlists, how can I know which playlist is being displayed (other than game count)

Thanks!

EDIT:  I've just seen the PIN about MAME with artwork- I'm starting to download.  I assume this will help me with the first question.

[Pieter Hulshoff]

Could you upload a screenshot of the theme looks on your screen to get a better idea of what you're facing?

1. It's possible to define in the theme what font and fontcolor is used when art is not available or even if text is shown at all. The missing manufacturers are probably pulled from the _common collection. It should be included in the full version from this website as well as the base pack from EmuMovies. The background images are probably expected to be in the fanart directory; I have a decent set available in the MEGA set as well as the MAME collection pack on EmuMovies. It's far from complete though. The videos can be found in the MEGA set as well as the MAME video pack on EmuMovies.

2. You can add/remove keys for the favorites set, and use them from within RetroFE. Alternatively, you can simply create/edit the text file in the playlists directory of the collection.

3. A theme can display the name of the playlist. I'm just not sure the Animatic theme does that at the moment. It can be displayed as text or as image, depending on the theme.

[Pieter Hulshoff]

While I'm here: I plan to do a theme update soon to make sure that all themes make use of the latest RetroFE features. There have been a few changes since some of these themes were created, and so far I've only updated the default theme Aeon Nox.

[juan9999]

Thanks again for the great support.

Could you upload a screenshot of the theme looks on your screen to get a better idea of what you're facing?
>> I'll post a pic when I get home later.  I think the root cause is that I don't have the artwork in the MEGA set, and am just using what I have which is the artwork from MAME extra.  I think I'm halfway downloading the MEGA set, so hopefully it will all look awesome!    I assume I'll have the same issue when I add new emulators. 

1. It's possible to define in the theme what font and fontcolor is used when art is not available or even if text is shown at all. The missing manufacturers are probably pulled from the _common collection. It should be included in the full version from this website as well as the base pack from EmuMovies. The background images are probably expected to be in the fanart directory; I have a decent set available in the MEGA set as well as the MAME collection pack on EmuMovies. It's far from complete though. The videos can be found in the MEGA set as well as the MAME video pack on EmuMovies.

>>  I'm sure it will work when I'm done downloading the art from Mega.  It takes a while :/  It may useful for the themes or documentation to list what type of artwork is required for each theme  (e.g. fanart, complete set from MEGA, ... )

2. You can add/remove keys for the favorites set, and use them from within RetroFE. Alternatively, you can simply create/edit the text file in the playlists directory of the collection.

>>  To clarify- Is there a key when I'm in "all games" that I can press say after playing a new game to add a game to favorites?  Or do I have to manually edit the favorites.txt (which is what I did, but it's less than ideal).

3. A theme can display the name of the playlist. I'm just not sure the Animatic theme does that at the moment. It can be displayed as text or as image, depending on the theme.

>>  Can't wait for the update!  Thanks! 

[Pieter Hulshoff]

>>  To clarify- Is there a key when I'm in "all games" that I can press say after playing a new game to add a game to favorites?  Or do I have to manually edit the favorites.txt (which is what I did, but it's less than ideal).

Yes, see also http://www.retrofe.nl/wiki/doku.php?id=controls
You can define keys in your controls.conf for addPlaylist and removePlaylist.

[juan9999]

>>  To clarify- Is there a key when I'm in "all games" that I can press say after playing a new game to add a game to favorites?  Or do I have to manually edit the favorites.txt (which is what I did, but it's less than ideal).

Yes, see also http://www.retrofe.nl/wiki/doku.php?id=controls
You can define keys in your controls.conf for addPlaylist and removePlaylist.

Ah, I thought it was to create a new playlist - not to add to fave

That solved it!

[juan9999]

Could you upload a screenshot of the theme looks on your screen to get a better idea of what you're facing?

1. It's possible to define in the theme what font and fontcolor is used when art is not available or even if text is shown at all. The missing manufacturers are probably pulled from the _common collection. It should be included in the full version from this website as well as the base pack from EmuMovies. The background images are probably expected to be in the fanart directory; I have a decent set available in the MEGA set as well as the MAME collection pack on EmuMovies. It's far from complete though. The videos can be found in the MEGA set as well as the MAME video pack on EmuMovies.

2. You can add/remove keys for the favorites set, and use them from within RetroFE. Alternatively, you can simply create/edit the text file in the playlists directory of the collection.

3. A theme can display the name of the playlist. I'm just not sure the Animatic theme does that at the moment. It can be displayed as text or as image, depending on the theme.

Downloading your complete pack solved most of my issues  

The animatic theme does not:
- display a font (for game name) if a graphic isn't found
- Doesn't look like the image of the theme (see attachments)
- Doesn't display playlist name (other than star for favorite)

An update would certainly be appreciated

[Pieter Hulshoff]

That theme as displayed uses a special set of widescreen videos, see http://www.retrofe.nl/SMF/index.php?topic=46.0

The fact that it shows a star means the the theme already displays graphics for the playlists. You just need to add graphics for your other playlist names in collections/_common/medium_artwork/playlist

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[juan9999]

Thanks!