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[Shannon]

 Emu_Creations.jpg   97.24K   14 downloads

Did You Think That the XBox Emulation Scene Was Dying..........?

Welcome to XBox Emulation Creations!

Now You've Found the Place to Watch the Next Evolution of XBox Emulation Unfold!

[Shannon]

Dual Screen/Preview and streaming media junk

Current menu configuration layout..

ADAM X MAIN MENU

Select Game From Favorites
Select Game
Configure Skin

---->Select Skin
---->Save Skin Configuration As
---->Load Skin Configuration
---->Skin Editor

---->---->Game Select Menu Settings
---->---->---->Screenshot/Movie Preview Settings
---->---->---->---->Show Screenshots? Yes/No
---->---->---->---->Show Movie? Yes/No
---->---->---->---->Play Sound From Movie? Yes/No
---->---->---->---->[Screenshot/movie/boxart] Size/Position
---->---->---->---->[Screenshot/movie/boxart] Transparency
---->---->---->---->Seconds Before Auto-Advancing Artwork
---->---->---->---->Auto-Screenshot Capture Delay -
---->---->---->---->Show Screenshots While Scrolling

---->---->---->Sprite Settings
---->---->---->Background Settings
---->---->---->Text Settings

---->---->Game Screen Size/Position
---->---->---->Set Game Screen Size/Position
---->---->---->Set Text Screen Size/Position
---->---->---->In Game Options Screen Size/Position
---->---->---->Force Game Screen Size/Pos (0) - Yes/No
---->---->---->Force Text Screen Size/Pos - Yes/No

---->---->General Settings
---->---->Main Menu Settings
---->---->Popup Menu Settings
---->---->Loading Screen Menu Settings
---->---->All 'Other' Menu Settings
---->---->Show Available Memory

---->Video Mode (For setting screen resolution)
---->Start With Music: Yes/No (maybe change to Music: on/off)
---->Favorites Screen: Regular/Enhanced
---->Start Screen: Favorite Select/Game Select/Main Menu

Configuration

---->Change Default Directories
---->Controller Configuration
---->Video Configuration

---->---->Video Mode - (480i,720i,720p, etc) [or leave/dup this in skin configuration)
---->---->Screenshot/Movie Preview Settings
---->---->---->Show Screenshots? Yes/No
---->---->---->Show Movie? Yes/No
---->---->---->Play Sound From Movie? Yes/No
---->---->---->[Screenshot/movie/boxart] Size/Position
---->---->---->[Screenshot/movie/boxart] Transparency
---->---->---->Seconds before auto-advancing Screenshot -
---->---->---->Auto-Screenshot Capture Delay -
---->---->---->Show Screenshots While Scrolling - Yes/No

---->---->Game Screen Size Position
---->---->---->Set Game Screen Size/Position #
---->---->---->Set Text Screen Size/Position
---->---->---->In Game Options Screen Size/Position
---->---->---->Force Game Screen Size/Pos (0) - Yes/No
---->---->---->Force Text Screen Size/Pos - Yes/No

---->---->Other Video Configurations
---->---->---->Xbox Hardware Filtering -
---->---->---->Software Filter -
---->---->---->Force PAL50 Mode (PAL only) - Yes/No
---->---->---->Flicker Filter Level
---->---->---->Soften Display - Yes/No
---->---->---->10x11 Pixel Aspect Ratio - Yes/No
---->---->---->Move menu text (maybe this should be moved into skin settings)

---->General Settings
---->Network/Netplay Options

Utilities
---->Save Game Management
---->Browse Screenshots
---->View Text File
---->Help

Return to Launcher

[Shannon]

General To Do
- Synopsis... Make game title font larger.
- Implement a delay on animated sprites on a per sprite basis?

+ Add a menu option to "view cheat codes with rumble activated" or something like that and just filter out the non rumbles.
+ Add a seperate timer for alternating Box/Cart art.
+ "Auto Game Configurations (aka Configuration defaults)

Quote

In the "General settings" menu there will be a new option.

"Automatically Use Default Game Configuration - Yes/No"

If the user sets it to "Yes" it will bring up the game configuration screen and let the user define the default (if no default.stg and default.key file exists).

In the "Configuration" menu there will be a new option... "Set default game configuration"

The user can go in anytime thru the "Configuration" menu to change these "defaults" to something else if they wish.

Once set to "Automatically use Default Game Configuration" the user will not see the game configuration screen again unless they... a) press X when selecting a game. Change "Use Default Game Configuration" back to "No".

Keep in mind when it is set to "Yes" the game will use your "Default game settings" and not the normal x-port behavior. If set to "No" the emulator will behave like it usually does. Each emu is typically different. But all, at the very least carry the controller settings over.

This feature will only be added to emulators in which it is feasible to use.

- Improve how the cheatcode database allocates RAM
- Ability to view synopsis from within game.
- Left/right triggers to scroll up-n-down on graphic file viewer?

- Lower amount of entries reserved for cheat codes.

- Ideas for multi-system emu's (like MekaX and GBAx), thanks Killer Gorilla! 1) Ask the user when they modify a screen config if they only want to apply it globally to a specific system (GG, SMS). 2) Let the user specify in the game configuration screen which screen configuration they wish to use (default, 1 or 2).

Requests
* Enhanced Favorites Screen

To do for AdamX
+ Finish overlays - done
- Setup autoconfiguration system

To do for Atarixlbox
+ Add some type of pallette selection option
+ Possibly increase pokey volume - done (sorta). Sound increased thru turning pokey stereo off. But the user can turn it back on for those few titles that make use of stereo.
- Create configuration data for new "auto configuration" system.

For all you palette freaks added the following option.

* User can pick a custom palette to load if they wish.
* User can tweak the palette settings including hue, saturation, contrast, brightness, sharpness, saturation_ramp.
* NTSC filter activated!! True artifact mode. Check it out! (AE, Drol, Lode Runner [disk], etc)
* All settings saved with each game of course!

* Modified rewind state saving so it is a little more "useable" on non 5200 games. This prevents rewind from working on games that use the RAM under the OS or Basic but I figured it was a small price to pay. Besides most games that do that run in 130XE mode and that is just a killer on rewind functionlity!

+ Limit mouse speed in computer options to 1-9
- Add VAPI support (yeah right!)
+ VAPI & PRO image support. Super special thanks to Atarimac (author of Atari800MacX) for reverse engineering this puppy! So it turns out there is a use for the Mac!! . Be sure to set "Patch SIO routine in OS" to "No". Oh and fast forward is your friend.

Current possible exceptions...

Spy vs Spy - stops at orange screen

Unsure about...

Alternate Reality: The City <- do you get poisoned at the beginning if the copycheck fails?
Attack at EP CYG 4 - Ship doesn't seem to fire
Jenny of the prairie - stops at title screen
Promoteur - Error 144 at line 250

Currently do not work (according to Atarimac and confirmed by me).

Ankh
Ballblazer Activision (UK)
Mercenary - Escape from Targ _ Novagen Software
Mr. Do!
Music Studio (The)
Rescue on Fractalus! _ Activision (UK)
Targets - A Number Game


To do for A7800x
+ YAP (Yet Another Palette) to add. This one is supposedly even more accurate.

Changes to BlueMSXbox
+ Updated to latest code (dual previews, synopsis viewing, etc)
+ Turned off Moonbeam audio as default. This thing is a memory hog and cause save states to fail. Best I can tell few (if any) games use it. If the user really needs it they can turn it on and will receive a nice little "message" when save states fail.

To do for Mednafen
+ Modify the rewind controls to use the now standard method of mapping used by all other x-port emus. - Done.
+ Customize the default mappings for emu (so we don't see NES related mappings in an Atari lynx emu). - Done.
+ Fixed an issue where the screen was not displaying correctly in Mednafen_PCE when in debug mode.
+ Apparently mp3CDDA and CDDA volume were sharing the volume variable for Mp3music. Created seperate volume variables for each. Mp3CDDA and CDDA volume are saved with each game so you can customize this for CD games.
+ Fixed issue where games that had more than 48 CRCs in the cheat code database would cause a crash when game is selected while searching for cheat codes.


To do for NeoGenesis
+ Implemented the UMKT patch that someone did a while back.


To do for OdysseyX
Looks like x-port (or someone) was working on updating Odyssey to the latest core code (1.18). I'm not sure how "complete" this conversion was. But this much I do know..

+ Updated to latest code (dual previews, synopsis viewing, etc)
+ load and save state work now. They did not in the previous "official" release.
+ Rewind is active as well.

- Record/Playback doesn't really work. The savestate is not saving whatever is responsible for generating random numbers.

+ The "official" release never did work with .zip files. I fixed that.
+ I don't think it ever had an "onscreen keyboard", now it does.

+ Game volume is now saved with each game. That way the user can better balance the sound in games that use the voice module.


Here is a list of the "changes" in the core. Maybe it can be verified if these "fixes" actually work. I'm not super familar with the O2. Although I did have one back in the day. Big KC munchkin fan here..

Quote

- quad display fix: changed the way quad chars are drawn, fixes problems in KTAA as well as score display in Black Hole and Red Baron (Soeren Gust)

- support for Soerens MegaCART bank switching (No clue what games use this)

- removed the limit that KTAA was the only 3K enabled rom (every rom divideable by 3K is allowed now)

- new feature to save the highscore in games (F6 to set in game)
(Seems like this would be a cool feature to enable)

- fixed the "double size sprites are shifted only 1 instead of 2 pixels" bug (no clue what games this fixes)

- ATLANTIS, FROGGER, COMANDO NOTURNO and CATCH THE BALL now work without graphic bugs. This correction is based on a specific patch for each game.

- Fixed a slowdown in Pick Axe Pete

- Different palette used for Videpac Plus games

- Added support for 12kb and 16kb games. Trans American Rally+ works now.

- Added fixes to the VP+ gfx emulation made by Soeren Gust. Flashpoint works properly now.

- Fixed a bug in the emulation of the DAA instruction, which caused bugs in the score of several games (Le Tresor Englouti, Cosmic Conflict, etc.).

- Fixed instruction timings (no clue what games this affects)

To do for PCSXbox
+ Change so all versions (1.14-1.16) use same configurations for ease of use and to save confusion. - Done.
+ Pass directory information when changing PSX versions so that when user exits a game he is still on the same game in the game select screen (again to save confusion). - Done.

To do for Snes9Xbox
* Software filters should work now (I think I got it right). But to be hones I don't know crap about how these things work.

* Fully updated to new Dual Preview, Streaming Media, Movie Previews interface!
* Background Music now stops when you start a game..
* Default skin name is "Dynamic SNES9XBOX pm3 by Gilou9999"
+ PAL compatibility.. (if it exists)
+ Anything else I happen to think of...

To do for WinstonX
+ Auto unzip's Gamebase ST style "HARDISK.ZIP" files and autoboot them. (user must use TOS_104).
+ User can change region (NTSC/PAL). Defaults to PAL for now.
+ Modified screen size to more accurately match the ST screen size (now screenshots look correct).
+ Added a menu option to display what disks are loaded in drives 1 and 2.

To do for Winuaex
disks loaded in drive will disappear when loading save states where a disk is loaded into the drives if the disks in question are unzipped.
+ If the file selected is (or contains) a file with the extension .whd the emulator will mount that file to DH1: and set DH0: to point to D:\\_whdload.hdf. So two things... make sure your WHD files have a .whd extension. Make sure the _whdload.hdf file is in the emulator directory (unzipped).
(watch Killer Gorilla's website for some Winuaex WHD goodies).
+ Modified the "Clip Excess Video Borders" code
+ Converted winuaex over to the latest dual skin/movie preview stuff, although mp3 music is still currently disabled.
+ Set JIT to always default to 0. For now I'm still letting people manually change it if they wish. For those AmigaSys fans out there.
+ Tweaked the autoborder option. So far in the several games I tested it seems to do better than the original way. Although it isn't always 100% right.
+ Changed the code so that drive DF0: would ALWAYS be enabled. I figured no biggy cause for the most part it makes sense to always have DF0: enabled anyways. This fixes the DF0:??? error.

To do for Z26
+ Updated the sound code to be more accurate

Questions
? I thought it'd be kinda cool to modify the record/playback system so the user could "continue" a record session at any point (including the end). What do you all think?
? With the current screenshot position "override" option is it ok for me to remove the "copy current configuration over all configurations" for screensize/position? Or should I just leave it?
? Still need to decide directory names for Game Manuals, TV Commercials, Gamefaqs, General Text Files.

Interface Changes
* Ability to display documentation (text or graphic) and commercials.
* Assign buttons to go to next/previous files? (like when viewing documentation) See below graphic/text file viewer controls.
* Once the user opens a document - make the emulator remember this document as long as the game session is running.
* View settings for each file/document viewed are now stored in a "bookmark" file so next time you view a file your settings are restored.
* "View Text File" changed to "Browse Manuals/Videos"

Controls for text browser

A -> Start Search
B -> Exit
X -> Continue Last Search
Y -> Simulate width font

White -> Previous file
Black -> Next file

Start -> Help screen

Dpad -> Up/down, Left-> Up Page, Right-> Down Page
Left Analog button -> Set font size
Left Analog Up -> Top of file
Left Analog Down -> End of file
Right Analog button -> Set text screen size
Right Analog left/right -> decrease/increase fixed-width font size

Left/Right triggers - Move up/down text file.


Controls for screenshot browser

B -> Exit
Y -> Delete file (Utilities-> browse screenshots only)

White -> Previous file
Black -> Next file

Back -> Reset image to default settings/view.

Dpad -> Up/Down/Left/Right -> Move image 1/4th the total size of the image.
Left Analog button -> Music Control Menu
Left Analog up/down -> Move screen up/down.
Right Analog left/right -> decrease/increase screen size
* Skin can now have a "Startup Movie" on loading menu. Please use with discretion (no long movies)
* "Startup Movie" can be displayed full screen or in a window. If fullscreen is used the loading menu will not be displayed.
* Transparency for "Startup Movie" can be set as well.
* Moved the network initialization code to run before the loading menu. This moves the delay caused by network init to before the display of the loading menu, not after.

* Skin author can now designate two locations where Boxart or Cartart will display based on width vs height.

* TXT file viewer should dump you into the media directory correctly.
* Unmapped controls that allow you to move the screen around since word wrap should work correctly now.
* Change Fixed Width font controls are mapped to the right analog stick (left/right) like the help screen says it should be. laugh.gif
* Set font size keeps seperate settings for Fixed Width fonts and proportional fonts since they produce different results.
* Fixed neverending loop caused by reading old... Uh I mean cheat databases where there are too many CRC's on a line.
* Hopefully addressed weird issues with "Force Reload D:\\*.ini Settings".

* Music no longer starts playing after viewing text file in game.
* Number of lines displayed in the text file viewer now properly match user set text screen size.
* Number of lines displayed updates properly if user modifies text screen size within text file viewer
* Text file viewer functions turn off FixedWidth before displaying any menu.

+ Fixed issue with the "Music Control Menu" where the "Go to next/previous song" options were not working.
+ Fixed issue where cycling thru screenshots when non-available would create an infinite loop.
+ Fixed issue where "View playlist" did not show the first two songs.
+ Fixed issue where "pause" would still display even after changing songs while viewing the playlist in "clear screen" mode.

+ Fixed issue where games that had more than 48 CRCs in the cheat code database would cause a crash when game is selected while searching for cheat codes.[/color]

*Had to redo all the ZIP code because of conflicts with Winuaex. This mostly affected Winuaex but also had the potential to interfere with any emulators that had "NO_EXTRA_ZIP" set. Files when selecting within a zip are now sorted.

Fixes to the keyboard/keypad including. These affect emu's that use a keyboard/keypad (Winuaex, AdamX, Atarixlbox)
* Keyboard/keypad no longer corrupts portions of the screen when being moved.
* Keyboard/keypad can be moved diagonally in ALL directions now
* Keyboard/keypad transparency now works properly when "Pause game while using Keyboard/Pad" is set to ON.

* Movies! The ability to display movie previews!
* Sound for movies can be turned on/off
* Box/Cart art can be displayed in seperate window. Box/Cart art is autodetected based on size.
* Movies display over screenshots so if you want you only see screenshots when no movie exists.
* Can now stream videos and screenshots from Samba or Relax.
* Screenshots are now sorted and displayed in proper order.
* Screenshots/Box/Cart art can be named anything (as long as it has .png extension)
* In Game Options Screen can be sized and positioned now.

* New option to "Force Game Screen Size/Position". There are two configurable screensizes. (To deal with multi-core systems like MekaX and XboyAdvance). This will be useful when switching from HDTV to SDTV or vice versa. It will save the user the trouble of resizing the screens for something that is likely temporary.

* Numerous changes to menu system see above (current menu configuration layout)

* Sprites can now be named for easier manipulation. Directory names must be of the format "0_spritename", "1_spritename", etc. Do not use underscores for the spritename. It is a delimiter.

* Added "Select Skin Configuration Used" and "Save Skin Configuration as" to the "Configure SKin" menu in place of the above moved options. This allows multiple skin configurations in one skin allowing the user more "pre-defined" options on how a skin looks. For example the placement of the games list and the preview screens. Gilou's Dynamic skins really take advantage of this, check 'em out!

* Sprites now show when sizing the preview screens.
* Changed "Seconds before auto-advancing Screenshot" to "Seconds Before Auto-Advancing Artwork".
* Changed "offset X" and "offset Y" to "Offset X (left/right)" and "Offset Y (up/down)" in the Sprite Settings menu.

* Removed "Sprite Settings" option from "Pop-up Configure Skin Menu"... Fixed bug caused by doing this.

* Synopsis. Press down on right stick to see a description, tips, hints, of the highlighted game.

* Synopsis background can be stored in the skins "backgrounds" directory or the emulators "background" directory. Skin directory is searched first.

* Help screen support for game select screen and text browser (try pressing start). (Graphics provided by Gilou9999)

* Added "Select Skin Configuration Used..." and "Save Skin Configuration as..." to the "Configure SKin" menu. This allows multiple skin configurations in one skin allowing the user more "pre-defined" options on how a skin looks. For example the placement of the games list and the preview screens. Gilou's Dynamic skins really take advantage of this, check 'em out!

* Skin previews when selecting a skin or a skin configuration. The files must be in the "preview" directory within the skin directory. "preview.jpg" for the 4-in-1 pic, and "configuration name.jpg" for the rest.

* Removed popup message from "Configure Skin/Select Skin" and replaced the top line with the text "Press Start To Select Directory". This displays on all "change directory" menu screens.

* Changed directory browse code so it can be told to "ignore screenshots/streaming media"
* Changed volume increment/decrement on mp3 player and game sound. Set to 10 for now.
* User can now change music volume in the game select/help/and synopsis screen.
* Unmapped all the default UI mappings except for "in game menu", "keyboard", and "fast forward".
* Zip selection screen now sorts the zip contents. Helpful in Computer emulators in which some zips may contain "multiple disks"!
* Screenshot, movie, and gamebox preview transparency's now work properly.

* Modified the autolaunch (from dash) so that it jumps straight into the emulated game. Be sure to set the option to "Exit the emulator on game exit after autostart" if you use this.
* Fixed a bug where the gamescreen would get blurry after changing video options.
* Fixed a bug where the xbox would lock-up when setting 10x11 mode in non 480 modes.

* The two help menu's and synopsis background are now skin specific. So if the emulator finds the files in a directory called "backgrounds" in the skin directory it will use them. Otherwise it looks in the emulators directory for a "backgrounds" directory. If no synopsis background is discovered the emulator will use the default "other" panel.[/color]

* Fixed the in-game screen displaying in the wrong place in some menu's.

* Improvements to the cheat database system. Changed menu options to "Search Cheat Database for Codes" and "Save Cheat Codes To Custom DB".
+ Search can handle multiple CRC's for games that use same cheat codes but have different CRC's. (Be careful with this).
+ Search and save database options modified to be able to handle GameGenie codes in addition to Gameshark codes.
+ Fixed a bug that would cause "Add new code" to default to GameGenie when it should be Gameshark. Use "Add New Game Genie Code" at the bottom for GameGenie codes.

* completely changed around the screenshot directory structure to accomodate the ability to display both screenshots and cart/box art at the same time. (Don't worry the old screenshot directories will still work until you are ready to switch).

- Text file directory retired and renamed to "Media" directory. Screenshots (in the menus) renamed to "old screenshots" to reduce confusion.
New format as follows

/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/box front/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/box back/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/cart/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/titles/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/action/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc01/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc02/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc03/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc04/
.......
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc99/
and so on

Pictures are displayed in the following order. Title, Action, Misc01-Misc??, and then it switches to the old dated ( ) screenshot directory. Be sure to remove your old screenshots once you've switched over or just point the screenshot directory to somewhere else.

It alternates between Boxart and Cartart in the area specified for them.

left/right on left analog to change screenshots.

* Changed the way the movies directory is handled. The emulator no longer adds the emu name to the path (ex: NES or "f:\movies\NES\"). So you'll either need to move your movies up a directory or just point the movies directory to where the movies are located.

* After changing the media directory the emu will ask the user if they want to point the movies directory to "media\movies".

* Tinkered around with volume control options for mp3 (music), in games sound, mp3CDDA and CDDA. 0 (no volume) thru 100 (full volume). Although technically the volume is no longer audible well before it hits 0.

on normal game select menu...

Right analog stick left/right - music volume
Right analog stick up/down - movie volume
Left analog stick left/right - change pictures
Left analog stick up/down - nothing

On favorites menu...

Right analog stick left/right - music volume
Right analog stick up/down - movie volume
Left analog stick left/right - change pictures

In game menu now shows current Game (SFX) mp3CDDA, and CDDA volume.

Right analog stick left/right - game volume
Right analog stick up/down - music volume
Left analog stick left/right - CDDA volume
Left analog stick up/down - mp3CDDA volume

Edited by Shannon, Tue May 11, 2010 5:09 AM.

[Shannon]

Bugs

-When you are using a sprite effect (any one,shader,etc...) you can select the duration of the effect, but when it is higher than 2.55 seconds, the sprite stops responding.

Winuaex

HDF mounted disks on DF0 do not restore properly when loading save states?

Edited by Shannon, Tue Jan 6, 2009 2:56 AM.

[Shannon]

Reserved..

[Shannon]

This list is not by any means complete (about 2 months old). Although I did update the status to "done" on some stuff. Here is a sample of gilles9999 work although I'll let him start his own thread when he gets back from his little trip. Gilles is from france for those who are curious and he has been doing all the great work with the skins for the new updates!

Keep in mind that although these skins can be used in older x-port emu's they are essentially intended for use with the forthcoming releases with dual-preview support.

NINTENDO - GAMEBOY/GBC/GBA (XBOYADVANCE):

DYNAMIC PM3 XBOYADVANCE by Gilou9999 04/01/2009

 preview_gba.jpg   238.03K   13 downloads

Hello Xbox fans
I started this new topic because the forum members were lost about our discussion in the previous thread, and there wasn't any explanation about the project in the first page of the topic.
I will put here all the must up to date dynamic skins for the future emulators
p.s. you can use the dynamic skins with the old xport emus, but you will have to rename your favorite config
to "settings.ini" and disable one of the dual windows for the dual configs since you can't display dual video/boxart in them

1)What is the dynamic skin? :uhh:

-Well,since we have the dual previews/boxarts and videos at the same in the news emus
(thanks to Nes6502, and now madmab, and for sure differents great coders in the future)
and since each user is different,We had a loooot of differents suggestions about the
best gameselect screen disposition:
alot of users like the videos dual with title screen,
other users want only boxarts since they don't have space for videos
other wants dual videos with boxarts
others want big videos and big boxarts
others want only screenshots
etc...
etc...
etc...
So, with only one skin, lots of users will be disapointed....
That is why we have created the DYNAMIC skin, a skin where you can move manually
the size/position of each of the gameselect elements: video window, preview window,
boxart, rombrowser blade, system logo,buttons, etc... you can even disable them!

You only want screenshots? eh, no problem, simply disable the video window sprite
you want only screenshots but sometimes a video for few games?
all in the same window?ok, set the video size/position in the preview window

i really think we have find a great solution with madmab, rezx and run088 about
this dynamic skin,it will solve a lot of problems, and the sprites render well
better in hd.It would have been a PAIN for the skinner to release 20 differents
versions with subtles differences of the same skin! what a confusion!
a lot of space saved for nothing!

2)You want to change the gameselect screen,How to use the DYNAMIC Skin? :uhh:
-Well, there is 2 solutions: B)

A)The easy solution:
simply go to "configuration/video-skin configuration/skin configuration/select skin configuration"
and choose one of the following pre-made configs if you have a good old standard TV

-SDTV big movies_big boxarts
-SDTV big movies_big previews
-SDTV big previews only
-SDTV boxarts only
-SDTV med movies_med boxarts
-SDTV med movies_med previews
-SDTV med previews only

choose one of the followings if you have a HD TV:
-HDTV big movies_big boxarts
-HDTV big movies_big previews
-HDTV big previews only
-HDTV boxarts only
-HDTV med movies_med boxarts
-HDTV med movies_med previews
-HDTV only med previews

B)The less easy solution:
-None of theses configurations are ok for you?you want to disable the ATARI 7800 logo
or disable the buttons?
ok, you must set the sprites yourself!
go to
"configuration/video-skin configuration/skin configuration/gameselect screen/sprites
settings;here you will be able to move the size/position of each sprites,
replace them(change the number)or disable it(set the sprite number to "0"),
even animate it with the "motion x/y" feature

-the text isn't at your tastes?
ok, go to
"configuration/video-skin configuration/skin configuration/gameselect screen/text settings"
and set the size/position/widht/etc... of the text

-the video preview, the screenshots and the boxarts aren't at the good position?
ok, go to:
"configuration/video-skin configuration/skin configuration/gameselect screen/background settings"
here you will be able to set them (move to the right to see the differents settings)

then, you can save the changes you have made, simply go to:
"configuration/video-skin configuration/skin configuration/save skin configuration as"
to save your settings

3)[b] special thanks to madmab, to make the DYNAMIC skin possible:popcorn:
especially the ability to see the differents sprites
(the windows sprites) when you are adjusting the video preview, the screenshots
and the boxarts.AND the ability to be able to choose your favorite skin settings
That's all, the hard part is done, now it will takes me a few hours to release differents
DYNAMIC skins for the other emulators(i have all the photoshop psd files plus a lot of
good quality pictures for the others systems now)

Edited by Shannon, Tue Jan 6, 2009 3:10 AM.

[Shannon]

Figured I would show some of the effort gilles has gone to in regards to the skins. Although it is not immediately obvious with the included multiple configurations. Gilles included multiple emu load screens depending on your system of choice.

Here we have the gameboy color? which for some reason is in the 4 in 1 sample pic.
 emuloadbkg_game_boy.jpg   182.32K   2 downloads

But I believe his skin defaults to the good 'ol original non-back-lit GBA...
 emuloadbkg.jpg   74.16K   1 downloads

The user can easily change these by going into the configure section and picking a different load screen.


Then there is the alternative main menu screen with the original GB.
 main_game_boy.jpg   101.53K   1 downloads

Not shown in the 4 in 1. But on a skin that shows boxart and none is available we have the temp GBA box placeholder.
 0.png   70.84K   1 downloads

Or the alternative GBC box placeholder. Handy for those of us that split our GB emulator into two directories. One for GB/GBC and the other GBA.
 0.png   71.81K   1 downloads

[Shannon]

If you look at the game select screen in the 4-in-1 sample pic. Which happens to be using the HDTV big movies_big boxarts configuration. At the top is a banner. In this case marioland. He typically includes a system and controller banner. His skin also comes with multiple game related banners that the user can choose from.

Here they are.. Modem user beware!!

 0.png   28.46K   4 downloads  0.png   50.16K   4 downloads  0.png   43.25K   3 downloads
 0.png   58.21K   2 downloads  0.png   43.08K   2 downloads  0.png   41.35K   1 downloads
 0.png   57.17K   1 downloads  0.png   49.96K   1 downloads  0.png   58.48K   1 downloads
 0.png   54.31K   1 downloads  0.png   56.72K   2 downloads  0.png   54.46K   2 downloads
 0.png   52.23K   2 downloads  0.png   53.77K   3 downloads  0.png   57.96K   2 downloads
 0.png   49.12K   2 downloads

[Shannon]

This is a logo that Gilles was nice enough to make for me on request. What can I say, I'm a sucker for that game..

Dragon is looking kinda hungry there...
 0.png   14.19K   4 downloadsLookout!!  1.png   14.83K   4 downloads

Edited by Shannon, Wed Jan 7, 2009 5:15 AM.

[Shannon]

Added the following updates

To do for WinstonX
* Modify so it will auto unzip Gamebase ST style "HARDISK.ZIP" files and autoboot them.
+ Modified so the user could change region (NTSC/PAL). Default to PAL for now.
+ Modified screen size to more accurately match the ST screen size (now screenshots look correct).

* Zip selection screen now sorts the zip contents. Helpful in Computer emulators in which some zips may contain "multiple disks"!

Got the auto unzip of Gamebase ST style "HARDISK.ZIP" files. Just my luck three of the files I tested do not work in WinstonX. But three others that I tried did. Just need to clean the code up a little bit.

Edited by Shannon, Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:43 PM.

[Shannon]

Added another option for WinstonX

+ Added a menu option to display what disks are loaded in drives 1 and 2.
+ Auto unzip's Gamebase ST style "HARDISK.ZIP" files and autoboot them. (user must use TOS_104).

Edited by Shannon, Sat Jan 24, 2009 12:33 AM.

[Shannon]

Screenshot, movie, and gamebox preview transparency's now work properly.

Here is a sample...
 screenshottransparencyia2.png   661.51K   9 downloads

[Shannon]

Updated the list with the following changes. Although I changed the source. I had not compiled or tested these.

mednafenX
+ Customize the default mappings for emu (so we don't see NES related mappings in an Atari lynx emu).

General to do
+ Change volume increment on mp3 player and game sound to something larger (currently +/- 5). Set to 10 for now.
+ Put volume change functionality in game select/help/and synopsis screen.
+ Add "..." to "Save Skin Configuration as" and "Load Skin Configuration"
+ Remove "Sprite Settings" option from "Pop-up Configure Skin Menu"
+ Synopsis... Play music if user has it set to on when displaying synopis. (Don't forget to turn off when done).
+ Synopsis&Help... Now looks for background graphics in "backgrounds" folder. 1st in skin directory, then in emu directory.

[gilou9999]

I post it here, because - AGAIN - the xbox scene servers are dead

gilles9999, on Mar 25 2009, 12:31 AM, said:

No resX, no skins updates for the moment, they are 100% functiunnal
I can make any update you want if you or madmab notice something strange

I have just noticed a little bug:
When you are selecting a save state, the "in game screenshot" isn't display at the correct place (it should be displayed at the same place as the "in game option screenshot"

It happens with the last beta of neogenesis (january, this poor emu hasn't been updated since that date)
I have tested with the other emus (march beta, and the problem has been fixed, good point.)

gilles9999, on Mar 25 2009, 12:31 AM, said:

Second thing (but i don't want to put too much work to madmab, he has already too much things to do, so,it's only if he has a little time):
For the users without big hard drives, is it possible to display a boxart AND a screenshot at the same time?
(like they are doing in a lot of pc frontends in fact) :ph34r:
I m working on the genesis synopsis 32x, A, B, C done so far (big letters )
I m working on some backgrounds too for the "background" folder I will show them on sunday if i can.

Yep! We need an Xport inverter!!
All the best emus of the world (mame, Zsnexbox...) and all the pc front ends are working with "boxart", "titles", and "screenshots" folders; unfortunatelly it's not the case of the Xport emus .

Perheaps a coder out there could create a programm to convert all our "Xport screenshots" into "classic multi folders screenshots"

A programm that could convert:
Mario/0001.png, 0002.png, 003.png, 0004.png INTO
Boxarts/mario.png , Titles/mario.png ,Screenshots/mario.png , Carts/mario.png

Like this it would be SOOOOO MOOORE EASY :
- For the USERS, to display any screeenshots/boxarts/carts/titles in the desired order.
- For the CODER, to display what he want in the General User Interface

I don't know if such a wonderfull programm should be hard to create madmab? Peheaps Bomb bloke know how to programm such a thing?

[Shannon]

gilou9999, on Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:52 AM, said:

I post it here, because - AGAIN - the xbox scene servers are dead

Yeah bummer. Have not been able to get on since I woke up yesterday.

gilou9999, on Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:52 AM, said:

It happens with the last beta of neogenesis (january, this poor emu hasn't been updated since that date)
I have tested with the other emus (march beta, and the problem has been fixed, good point.)

Maybe I can do a quick recompile of neogenesis and upload. I should be able to have enough time to squeeze it in.

gilou9999, on Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:52 AM, said:

Yep! We need an Xport inverter!!
All the best emus of the world (mame, Zsnexbox...) and all the pc front ends are working with "boxart", "titles", and "screenshots" folders; unfortunatelly it's not the case of the Xport emus .

Perheaps a coder out there could create a programm to convert all our "Xport screenshots" into "classic multi folders screenshots"

A programm that could convert:
Mario/0001.png, 0002.png, 003.png, 0004.png INTO
Boxarts/mario.png , Titles/mario.png ,Screenshots/mario.png , Carts/mario.png

Like this it would be SOOOOO MOOORE EASY :
- For the USERS, to display any screeenshots/boxarts/carts/titles in the desired order.
- For the CODER, to display what he want in the General User Interface

I don't know if such a wonderfull programm should be hard to create madmab? Peheaps Bomb bloke know how to programm such a thing?

I think I wrote a batch file to do this some time back. I'll have to dig around and see if I can find it. It had issues with directories with certain characters in their name (& comes to mind). But still makes for a good timesaver. I think two directories (one for screenshots and the other for boxart/cartart) ought to work just fine.

[gilou9999]

Shannon, on Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:00 AM, said:

Maybe I can do a quick recompile of neogenesis and upload. I should be able to have enough time to squeeze it in.

Aaah! these words are as good as a good cup of french wine!
You know how i'd love to see our genesis synopsis in a wonderfull 640*480 background (synopsis bugs are fixed when the synopsis is displayed in a 640*480 backgrounds in your newers versions)

Shannon, on Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:00 AM, said:

I think I wrote a batch file to do this some time back. I'll have to dig around and see if I can find it. It had issues with directories with certain characters in their name (& comes to mind). But still makes for a good timesaver. I think two directories (one for screenshots and the other for boxart/cartart) ought to work just fine.

I asked ressX and of course he think like us the Xports screenshots conventions aren't standard at all and cause us a lot of problems:

- For the USERS, to display any screeenshots/boxarts/carts/titles in the desired order.
- For the CODER, to display EASILLY what he want in the General User Interface

I really think you should join a batch program with your news releases to FINALLY have a "standard" screenshots/boxarts/titles conventions with separates screenshots/boxarts/titles/carts folderts like all the best emus of the world (mame, zsnexbox, pc front ends, etc...)easy compatable with all the screenshots/boxarts packs websites

Edited by gilou9999, Thu Mar 26, 2009 12:59 PM.

[Shannon]

Not much going on. Been too busy with the land of the living...

But while updating BlueMSX to the latest code I ran into some memory issues and had to turn off Moonbeam audio by default...

Changes to BlueMSXbox
+ Updated to latest code (dual previews, synopsis viewing, etc)
+ Turned off Moonbeam audio as default. This thing is a memory hog and cause save states to fail. Best I can tell few (if any) games use it. If the user really needs it they can turn it on and will receive a nice little "message" when save states fail.

Interface Changes

* The two help menu's and synopsis background are now skin specific. So if the emulator finds the files in a directory called "backgrounds" in the skin directory it will use them. Otherwise it looks in the emulators directory for a "backgrounds" directory. If no synopsis background is discovered the emulator will use the default "other" panel.

Edited by Shannon, Tue Apr 7, 2009 1:18 AM.

[Shannon]

Moved all the complete stuff on the "To Do" list down to the "Interface Changes" section where it belongs...

Added the following to the "Interface Changes" in prep for the Mednafen-NES public beta release.

* Modified the autolaunch (from dash) so that it jumps straight into the emulated game. Be sure to set the option to "Exit the emulator on game exit after autostart".
* Fixed a bug where the gamescreen would get blurry after changing video options.
* Fixed a bug where the xbox would lock-up when setting 10x11 mode in non 480 modes.


Added the following to the "To Do" list...

- Ideas for multi-system emu's (like MekaX and GBAx), thanks Killer Gorilla! 1) Ask the user when they modify a screen config if they only want to apply it globally to a specific system (GG, SMS). 2) Let the user specify in the game configuration screen which screen configuration they wish to use (default, 1 or 2).

[gilou9999]

Yeah Madmab, it's the perfect option, it will save the day for multiple emus like Xboyadvance/neogenesis/mekax/atarixlbox/etc...
The pixel ratio is different for each emulated system; it will save the time to modify the screen config for each new game!

And... it will be usefull for those who have both sd and hdtv ; the pixels are - triple-sized - to appear correctly, so again, it's a new screen config to do.
Your system will save us lot of time spending configuring the "in game screen" - cool -

[Shannon]

Added following to "To do list".

- Lower amount of entries reserved for cheat codes.

Added all changes that will be in the upcoming mednafenX-NES public beta.

* Improvements to the cheat database system. Changed menu options to "Search Cheat Database for Codes" and "Save Cheat Codes To Custom DB".
+ Search can handle multiple CRC's for games that use same cheat codes but have different CRC's. (Be careful with this).
+ Search and save database options modified to be able to handle GameGenie codes in addition to Gameshark codes.
+ Fixed a bug that would cause "Add new code" to default to GameGenie when it should be Gameshark. Use "Add New Game Genie Code" at the bottom for GameGenie codes.

* completely changed around the screenshot directory structure to accomodate the ability to display both screenshots and cart/box art at the same time. (Don't worry the old screenshot directories will still work until you are ready to switch).

- Text file directory retired and renamed to "Media" directory. Screenshots (in the menus) renamed to "old screenshots" to reduce confusion.
New format as follows

/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/box front/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/box back/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/cart/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/titles/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/action/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc01/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc02/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc03/
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc04/
.......
/usernamedfolder/NES/artwork/misc99/
and so on

Pictures are displayed in the following order. Title, Action, Misc01-Misc??, and then it switches to the old dated ( ) screenshot directory. Be sure to remove your old screenshots once you've switched over or just point the screenshot directory to somewhere else.

It alternates between Boxart and Cartart in the area specified for them.

left/right on left analog to change screenshots.

* Changed the way the movies directory is handled. The emulator no longer adds the emu name to the path (ex: NES or "f:\movies\NES\"). So you'll either need to move your movies down a directory or just point the movies directory to where the movies are located.

* After changing the media directory the emu will ask the user if they want to point the movies directory to "media\movies".

* Tinkered around with volume control options for mp3 (music), in games sound, and CDDA. 0 (no volume) thru 100 (full volume). Although technically the volume is no longer audible well before it hits 0.

on normal game select menu...

Right analog stick left/right - music volume
Right analog stick up/down - movie volume
Left analog stick left/right - change pictures
Left analog stick up/down - nothing

On favorites menu...

Right analog stick left/right - music volume
Right analog stick up/down - movie volume
Left analog stick left/right - change pictures

In game menu now shows current Game (SFX) and CDDA volume.

Right analog stick left/right - game volume
Right analog stick up/down - music volume
Left analog stick left/right - CDDA volume
Left analog stick up/down - nothing

[carmel_andrews]

Are you using a modded version of mednafen or a direct version

I ask because i seem to remember that mednafen wasn't friendly towards pc stylee joy/gamepads (i.e you could only play the games on keybard input only)

Or are you using something like x-padder (from the pc) that converts the pre config'd keystrokes into the equivalent pc joy/gamepad actions (xpadder also works on other emu's that are keyboard input only)

Edited by carmel_andrews, Wed Jun 3, 2009 6:58 AM.

[Shannon]

mednafenX-NES is for the Xbox, not the PC.

[carmel_andrews]

So it is a modified version then (i.e accepts joypad/gampead input)

[Shannon]

It's mednafen ported to the xbox and uses the standard xbox controllers and light gun.

Xpadder is a pc app that does not run on an xbox.

[Shannon]

Added the following for Z26 since I actually made a source code update. There are some updates out there on sourceforge that I discovered so now the sound is alot more realistic. There is more on there that I may or may not integrate. The one I'm thinking of covered several modules and it was a bit of work just doing the sound changes cause the guys code wouldn't compile under the assembler set up in Z26. So I had to manually add the needed code. I'm not exactly fluent in assembler.

Changes to Z26
+ Updated the sound code to be more accurate

MednafenX-NES public beta should be out in the next week or so. We seem to have all of the kinks out of it.