RetroFE development

[iGarikoitz]

I am using version 8.15.b5 and it seems that it has a bug when you use the buttons to go from letter to letter that makes the videos start twice.

[Pieter Hulshoff]

You are correct; it's fixed in bit bucket already.

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[Pieter Hulshoff]

While you're waiting for me to finish my work: here's 0.8.16 to play with. Keep in mind that onPlaylistExit/Enter and onMenuJumpExit/Enter animations have replaced the onHighlightExit/Enter animations for changes in playlist and jumps through the menu (next/previous page/letter and random).

[dougan78]

Sounds like some themes will need updating again.  Will have a look.  Thanks again for your hard work!

[Pieter Hulshoff]

Here's version 0.8.23 to play with. I haven't run extensive tests on it yet, but it seems to be working as expected. As always: Please make sure to back up your working retrofe.exe before using this one.

The latest feature I added is volume control for video. The parameter is called "volume", and should work for animations as well, allowing for fade-in/out of sound as well as playing videos without sound. That last one will allow me to add mp3 support soon so you can add your own music.

I know I'm a bit behind on bug fixing; I'll start on that later this week. I'm starting to get the hang of it again, and it seems my schedule's cleared up a bit, so I should have some time to invest in programming again.

Edit: Made a small update to set the default volume to 1.0 to prevent everyone from needing to update their themes.

[iGarikoitz]

I just tried the new volume feature and it works fine. What changes are there since version 0.8.18, apart from adding this new feature?

[jonny555]

Here's version 0.8.23 to play with. I haven't run extensive tests on it yet, but it seems to be working as expected. As always: Please make sure to back up your working retrofe.exe before using this one.

The latest feature I added is volume control for video. The parameter is called "volume", and should work for animations as well, allowing for fade-in/out of sound as well as playing videos without sound. That last one will allow me to add mp3 support soon so you can add your own music.

I know I'm a bit behind on bug fixing; I'll start on that later this week. I'm starting to get the hang of it again, and it seems my schedule's cleared up a bit, so I should have some time to invest in programming again.

Edit: Made a small update to set the default volume to 1.0 to prevent everyone from needing to update their themes.

Nice pieter
Thanks can do some good things with this feature

[Pieter Hulshoff]

I just tried the new volume feature and it works fine. What changes are there since version 0.8.18, apart from adding this new feature?

- Parent add (for clones) was given priority over default art.
- Added support for a menu directory as alternative for menu.txt.
- Added support for exclude_all.txt; a filter for the automatically generated "all" playlist.
- Added volume support for videos.

[iGarikoitz]

- Added support for a menu directory as alternative for menu.txt.

How can I use this?

[Pieter Hulshoff]

- Added support for a menu directory as alternative for menu.txt.

How can I use this?

Not sure if you really need it; it was mostly added to allow drag-and-drop pack creation, but the idea is to use (empty) .txt files in a menu directory rather than the menu.txt file, so in stead of

menu.txt:
Arcade
NES
SNES

you would have

menu/Arcade.txt
menu/NES.txt
menu/SNES.txt

[Enkak]

I just tried the new volume feature and it works fine. What changes are there since version 0.8.18, apart from adding this new feature?

- Parent add (for clones) was given priority over default art.
- Added support for a menu directory as alternative for menu.txt.
- Added support for exclude_all.txt; a filter for the automatically generated "all" playlist.
- Added volume support for videos.

Thank you for the update. The exclude_all.txt has already been useful here to keep out from the lists things like bios files.
A missing feature in RetroFE at the moment that I would love is the get back to last menu/last game selection like Attract-Mode has for example, instead of seeing/hearing always the same default menu/game every time we launch RetroFE.

PS: I'm currently focused in making RetroFE working with RocketLauncher in the background (for extra bezels for certain systems, etc.) with everything plug and play/relative paths/pre-configured and stable. Working good already.

[iGarikoitz]

Pieter Hulshoff I would like to have the option of jumping between the playlist while you continue pressing the nextPlaylist / prevPlaylist button but in an intuitive way, I explained:

Now, when you press the nextPlaylist button, you go to the next playlist, but first the onPlaylistExit animation is executed and then the onPlaylistEnter animation is executed. This is repeated whenever you want to move from one playlist to another and it becomes very slow.

I would like to include a new animation called onPlaylistChange. What would this new animation be for?

By pressing and holding the nextPlaylist button, it would go from playlist to playlist but only in the onPlaylistChange animation. That is:

1. Enter the onPlaylistExit animation and then the animation onPlaylistChange.
2. The onPlaylistChange animation will be run as long as you do not release the nextPlaylist button and in this way you control the time it takes to go from one playlist to another.
3. When you release the nextPlaylist button, the onPlaylistEnter animation is executed.

* The same could also be applied to the letterUp / letterDown buttons adding also the animation onMenuJumpChange.

[Pieter Hulshoff]

Pieter Hulshoff I would like to have the option of jumping between the playlist while you continue pressing the nextPlaylist / prevPlaylist button but in an intuitive way

I'll give it some thought. I could probably add a check for input in the state machine after the art reloading, and act accordingly.

[Agent47]

Or even better, a menu for playlists. The next/prev is ok if you only have 2-3 playlists but if you have more than that (ie genre playlists) it's pretty clunky to navigate.

[Pieter Hulshoff]

Or even better, a menu for playlists. The next/prev is ok if you only have 2-3 playlists but if you have more than that (ie genre playlists) it's pretty clunky to navigate.

CoinOPS Forgotten Worlds has made some interesting setup for that. It's certainly possible with the current setup.
That said: I've had a similar request from them regarding a playlist menu. I need to see how best to include that in the program structure.