The Flatio 16X9 Section

[rendal]

Hi everyone.
I'm a 42 years French Retrogamer (wich will explain my pretty bad english). I've only found reccently RetroFE and the excellent Flatio Layout and fell in love with both.
I thought of some kind of improvments but don't know a thing about .xml.
So, I've thought that it will be a good idea to concentrate all the questions and answers in one specific topic on this forum for me and other users of this layout.
So, here comes "The Special Flatio 16X9 section of RetroFe Forum" (Tadaaaaa!)

rendal

[rendal]

QUESTION N°1 I can't show the info from the database....I have the "hyperlist" subfolder in the "meta" folder. But I don"t know how to type the direction in the "setting" file.....Can you help me ?
Thanks.

rendal

PS. : can you too type "Question 1" before your answers...'cause I've got a lot of other questions...

[rendal]

QUESTION N°2 How to use Flatio with other screen resolutions.
I'm proud of my 3D box art collection homemade (with the excellent cover commander soft). And I've a 1280X1024 screen
But when I want to use them with Flatio, the results are not pretty good


The box looks too "slim"

Ladida...I've just have to change the resolution on the Layout/Flatio 16x9/ layout.xml file...


Argh....it's worse : the box looks perfect...but I the sides of the screen doesn't appear at all !!!!


So my question n°2 is quite simple : how to change the resolution for Flatio
Thanks in advance

rendal

[Pieter Hulshoff]

I think the problem has less to do with the resolution of Flatio, and more with the size parameters of the box. Just look up where you instantiate the box art within the layout.xml, and change the size parameters there. I generally advice using a combination of height and maxWidth or width and maxHeight. That way you keep the aspect ratio of your box while limiting the maximum size of the box.

[rendal]

Thanks Pieter. I'll try this and keep you  aware of the resuslts...

QUESTION N°3 : How to add elements on the layout.
Well, I don't know a lot of things on .xml...But I've tried some changes.(advice : always keep the original file somewhere for backup...). And so, comes the day when I've tried to add something to the layout : the media_front art.
Basically, I've cut/past the "box/flyer art" section, changed some informations and crossed my fingers...



IT WORKS, I'm a genius and I can do anything...but, the cart art is not where I wanted...Not a problem, let's change some numbers...

But, no, the cart don't move. I'm not a genius after all...So you'll guesse my question : how to add elements on the layout ?(I've already ask this on top of this reply, I know...)

[rendal]

Question N°4 : The Great Improvement !
Well, here comes the REALLY big thing : If I've understood correctly, Flatio Layout (and all layouts for RetroFE) works with this scheme : A "Menu" let us choose between some console, and a "Sub Menu" let us choose between the games of the console, and let's play.
But, what if I add a "Sub-Sub menu" who deals with specific game choose before...?
I'll explain further :
-"Menu" = picture, info and vidéos of the console (NES, for exemple)
-"Sub-Menu" = Picture (just one for this moment), video and a little info of the games (Zelda, Mario, Megaman...). But when I click, I don"t launch the game. It'll took me to the...
...-"Sub-Sub Menu" = Front and back art, a specific background, video, ad and info for just one game (Zelda).
Ok, it looks very simple, and I'm sure it'll be a pain to do.......But as I said, it'll be a...no : THE GREAT IMPROVEMENT of this layout.
Is it possible, or just a dream...?
Thanks in advance from France

rendal

[rendal]

QUESTION 2 ("suite") : I've tried to change the size parameters...but he only apply the "height" or "maxHeight" changes...Looks like he don't read what I told him about the "width" or "maxWidth"....

[Pieter Hulshoff]

You should use one set or the other. Either use width and maxHeight or maxWidth and height.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Pieter Hulshoff]

Question N°4 : The Great Improvement !
Well, here comes the REALLY big thing : If I've understood correctly, Flatio Layout (and all layouts for RetroFE) works with this scheme : A "Menu" let us choose between some console, and a "Sub Menu" let us choose between the games of the console, and let's play.
But, what if I add a "Sub-Sub menu" who deals with specific game choose before...?
I'll explain further :
-"Menu" = picture, info and vidéos of the console (NES, for exemple)
-"Sub-Menu" = Picture (just one for this moment), video and a little info of the games (Zelda, Mario, Megaman...). But when I click, I don"t launch the game. It'll took me to the...
...-"Sub-Sub Menu" = Front and back art, a specific background, video, ad and info for just one game (Zelda).
Ok, it looks very simple, and I'm sure it'll be a pain to do.......But as I said, it'll be a...no : THE GREAT IMPROVEMENT of this layout.
Is it possible, or just a dream...?
Thanks in advance from France

rendal

Well, it's certainly possible, but it would require you to set up a collection for each game. That seems like a lot of work to me. Perhaps it would be better to have a look at the Aura theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WajEv3Ak3nk&feature=youtu.be
It works by using delays in stead of having to press select to see more information about the game.

[Pieter Hulshoff]

QUESTION N°1 I can't show the info from the database....I have the "hyperlist" subfolder in the "meta" folder. But I don"t know how to type the direction in the "setting" file.....Can you help me ?
Thanks.

rendal

PS. : can you too type "Question 1" before your answers...'cause I've got a lot of other questions...

Use the metadata.type parameter: http://www.retrofe.nl/wiki/doku.php?id=settings.conf
The Arcade collection in the official release uses it.

[rendal]

Question 1 (suite) : Thanks...But I've tried...and it didn't work....but i'll give it another try since it the right thing to do...

Question 4 (suite) : Yeah, I know that'll need to build a collection for each games...but that's exactly what my collection looks like (one folder per game)...
I've take a look to the Aurora theme and it looks impressive...BUT, it seems that he used the same type of :
-menu (for games listed by alphabetic order)
-then submenu (for a specific game).
That's almost what I'm looking for, but it lack a menu for the specific device ("No you can't always get what you want...")

What do I have to type to add a "sub-sub menu" to a "sub-menu" ?
Thanks again

rendal
rendal