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Attract Mode

bulbousbeard

By bulbousbeard
in HyperSpin

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JoyStickKilla Newbie

JoyStickKilla

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Yes. AM and possibly RetroFE(if the creator gets back to it) will be the downfall of hyperspin.

Still some things needing added/tweaked by the cut who implemented it, hopefully he keeps it up. It is great as AM works on Mac and Linux as well. Hopefully we will see a ver 2 build for the rpi, I'd like to see how it runs on the new rpi3

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phulshof Newbie

phulshof

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As a user and programmer of RetroFE, I doubt any front-end will soon replace HyperSpin. Not so much due to the features, but due to the art and tools community here.

Not that it's relevant IMHO. I wish we could have a thriving cross-front-end art community to work on this hobby. Which front-end people use is completely irrelevant to me; I even quit working on my own front-end to help out the RetroFE and HyperSpin community. Together we can keep this hobby fun.

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SkyHighGam3r Newbie

SkyHighGam3r

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I would LOVE to see a thread or video or something that does a comprehensive comparison of these front-ends. I'm starting to hear about a bunch of them coming up.

Previously I was only aware of really bad ones that just displayed your games name in text... which to me defeats the whole purpose of using a front end lol it's gotta have no less than the name listed, a box, and a video IMO. (Which is what I boiled all my Hyperspin themes down to, I don't like the crazy flashy-ness that comes with the default setups... but that's because I made a console instead of a cabinet, so it called for a different experience.)

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phulshof Newbie

phulshof

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RetroFE will focus more on a unified experience, so lots of features for a single theme. As far as I know, emb has no plans to extend that to individual game themes (though art per game or collection can be used to give each game/collection a unique look). Many front-ends these days use the same art components though:

- wheels

- videos

- screen shots

- title shots

- box art

- medium art

etc.

Such art and things like XML files can easily be used cross-front-end so we don't have tons of split communities working on exactly the same thing. For example: About 90% of the MAME XML files I create are useless for RetroFE, but I provide them anyway, because I know this community can use them, and it takes very little effort for me to generate them next to the files I actually DO need. :)

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JoyStickKilla Newbie

JoyStickKilla

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RetroFE will focus more on a unified experience, so lots of features for a single theme. As far as I know, emb has no plans to extend that to individual game themes (though art per game or collection can be used to give each game/collection a unique look). Many front-ends these days use the same art components though:

- wheels

- videos

- screen shots

- title shots

- box art

- medium art

etc.

Such art and things like XML files can easily be used cross-front-end so we don't have tons of split communities working on exactly the same thing. For example: About 90% of the MAME XML files I create are useless for RetroFE, but I provide them anyway, because I know this community can use them, and it takes very little effort for me to generate them next to the files I actually DO need. :)

I use a retrofe setup with only popular systems since as you said it keeps a clean unified setup.

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phulshof Newbie

phulshof

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? lol somethings not right I don't see any images on that thread. Do I need an account there first?

I have the same issue on my phone if I don't use tapatalk. I don't think an account is required. I may be wrong though; on tapatalk I'm logged on.

08db6b3e71f0b5625b955b560ba1cf1c.jpg

76b4c904bb4a29d065cfc821249a1219.jpg

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CriticalCid Newbie

CriticalCid

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I would LOVE to see a thread or video or something that does a comprehensive comparison of these front-ends. I'm starting to hear about a bunch of them coming up.

Previously I was only aware of really bad ones that just displayed your games name in text... which to me defeats the whole purpose of using a front end lol it's gotta have no less than the name listed, a box, and a video IMO. (Which is what I boiled all my Hyperspin themes down to, I don't like the crazy flashy-ness that comes with the default setups... but that's because I made a console instead of a cabinet, so it called for a different experience.)

 

Maybe you wanna check out BigBox Mode in LaunchBox. The developer started to work full-time on the frontend this week, so we will hopefully see a lot of updates and added features in the near future.

 

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SkyHighGam3r Newbie

SkyHighGam3r

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BigBox certainly has it's appeal, but it's not for me.

I just personally don't like all the genre, ratings, release date, description, developer, publisher, etc etc It's too much information for me and I feel like it makes the games take a little bit of a backseat.

My personal HS themes only show the text title at the top, the box art, and a video. Plus a controller for each system. It's VERY basic, but I feel like it emphasizes the actual games and leaves enough mystery that I want to just try one to learn about it.

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Awakened Newbie

Awakened

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My personal HS themes only show the text title at the top, the box art, and a video. Plus a controller for each system. It's VERY basic, but I feel like it emphasizes the actual games and leaves enough mystery that I want to just try one to learn about it.

 

My RetroFE theme (Flatio) might be to your taste:

 

I don't know that I'll ever update it since I've switched to Steam as my all in one game launcher now. I made my own grid images with cropped boxart (or other official art when there's better stuff) with wheel art on top; usually in one of the corners. And I formatted the shortcut titles like this: Game Name, Developer - Year so all the data I like is there. Everything is categorized by system. So compared to the animation heavy frontends, I'm only missing my video previews. But I get better controller support in Big Picture than HS or RetroFE, built in search and my Steam games are already in there without me doing any extra work. I also like seeing so many games at once in grid view; navigation is much faster than spinning through wheels.

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SkyHighGam3r Newbie

SkyHighGam3r

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That's actually pretty cool. I like how it transitions from the main menu to the system wheels. I've never thought of using Steam as a front-end either. That's an interesting concept. I don't think I could make that switch with having to drop the videos. Plus I have the controllers setup to pure perfection in HS through Xpadder, I can't imagine how anything would function without that marvelous little program.

I love seeing and hearing about the different ways people do all of this. It's that high level of customization that drew me to HS in the first place, and front-ends in general.

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Awakened Newbie

Awakened

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Plus I have the controllers setup to pure perfection in HS through Xpadder, I can't imagine how anything would function without that marvelous little program.

 

You ought to try out AntiMicro, which is basically a free open source Xpadder, but can map the guide button on xinput controllers and I think it's updated more frequently. I like using frontends and emulators that have good native support for controllers so I don't have to rely on a third party mapper so much though. I suppose it's easier to do since I generally only have one pad plugged in. When I also had my arcade stick plugged in, I used AntiMicro to map it to keyboard controls since RetroArch only allows one pad mapped at a time per player.

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SkyHighGam3r Newbie

SkyHighGam3r

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Yeah I map everything to a keyboard, but I am going to have to find another solution so I can implement Player 3 & Player 4 on N64, Dreamcast, & Gamecube.

I'm going to check that out though. The fact you can map the Xbox button is AWESOME. Though... at this point I'm not sure what I would use that for lol. Everything has been mapped to key-combos by holding one and pressing another.

Still, could be useful for the PC controls. You can never have too many buttons when mapping a PC game to a controller. (Still trying to find out if Xpadder (and this now) will map the 4 extra paddles on the back of the new Xbox One Elite Controllers as 4 brand new buttons... which would be amazing)

Honestly my biggest issue with mapping controls is getting SELECT mapped to a sega saturn controller. Blows my mind that there isn't a controller like that with a select button. (Original Xbox is the closest... but good luck getting one of those adapted to windows 10)

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Awakened Newbie

Awakened

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Still, could be useful for the PC controls. You can never have too many buttons when mapping a PC game to a controller. (Still trying to find out if Xpadder (and this now) will map the 4 extra paddles on the back of the new Xbox One Elite Controllers as 4 brand new buttons... which would be amazing)

 

Those can only be mapped as copies of other buttons on the controller for now. Dunno if Microsoft will add extra button or keyboard mapping to it.

 

Honestly my biggest issue with mapping controls is getting SELECT mapped to a sega saturn controller. Blows my mind that there isn't a controller like that with a select button. (Original Xbox is the closest... but good luck getting one of those adapted to windows 10)

 

There's that PS2 Saturn pad that has a Select button. You could probably get that working with a PS2 to USB adapter.

 

The Elite's dish d-pad is the first I'd rank higher than the Saturn's. It's smooth steel surface is more comfortable for quarter or half circle motions. And the clicky feedback is nice without being abrasive.

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Metalzoic Newbie

Metalzoic

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I haven't checked out RetroFE in quite awhile, but I just remember it being very plain and boringly uniform. Like a stuffy corporate version of a front-end.

Never even heard of Attract Mode. Sounds interesting. Can it run themes in actual 1080p? HS themes in actual 1080p? Just as well, if not better, than HS? If so then I might be interested

EDIT: Well that was quick. The 3 videos they showcase on their frontpage really turned me off on it. I'll dig a bit deeper, but so far not so good looking.

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SkyHighGam3r Newbie

SkyHighGam3r

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Like a stuffy corporate version of a front-end.

Lol I kind of feel guilty but that sounds appealing to me.

I'm starting to look into 1080P themes as well, I've never been bothered too much by stretching, but I have been working a lot lately on box-art (Which is my wheel) and I'm getting frustrated that some of my work isn't as pristine in Fullscreen.

The videos I have it doesn't make much difference, as I play in 16:9 100% of the time. (I wouldn't have it any other way)

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albert_c Newbie

albert_c

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This is old news of course. Love how AM works in Linux because MAME works in Linux. That means lightweight hardware requirements. For me, emulation is all about MAME. And MAME emulation means reliving all those old games on older low spec'ed PC's. But I am loyal to HyperSpin because BBB designed it to work with 4x3 CRT-based cabs. Of course most of the gripes with HyperSpin now is a result of that because the user community has evolved it from there.

 

The minute someone takes an FE and does what OpenELEC does for Kodi, I am selling out. I hate being bound to a heavy OS. That is why I use Windows XP 64-bit for all of my cabs. If AM or another FE gets to the point where it is setup for the singular specialized purpose of just being a game machine, book my plane ticket; I am going.

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