Ernisius Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I have been looking at Launchbox and it appears to have constant updates and videos, There doesn't seem to be the same activity with Hyperspin, even user made content doesn't seem to be ever added to the database for hypersync. The ftp site seems to be mostly unsorted. So my question is, is Hyperspin dying?, I hope not, because It is a great frontend, and I have invested a lot of time configuring it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I have been looking at Launchbox and it appears to have constant updates and videos, There doesn't seem to be the same activity with Hyperspin, even user made content doesn't seem to be ever added to the database for hypersync. The ftp site seems to be mostly unsorted. So my question is, is Hyperspin dying?, I hope not, because It is a great frontend, and I have invested a lot of time configuring it. Have a read around - you'll find the answers you need. Especially the thread announcing active development - and asking for feature requests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damageinc86 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I won't move because I still feel more familiar with this, and it offers more control right now. Easy to edit what you want, and the naming conventions make sense. I know that Launchbox still has wiierd names for it's media still, though it might be changed soon. While it is super cool that LB is actually in active development, and jason's live programming streams are fun to watch and participate in, i'm still just too used to hyperspin, and it transitions quicker when you move through the wheel and select a system. I don't like how slow the scrolling through the wheel in LB is. The empty promises of Hyperspin development, and the blatant lack of basic features like native widescreen support for themes and joystick navigation are pretty big issues. It's probably disheartening for many people to hear from the developer and then 2 months later they are MIA for another year or so. Then a different person (trusted and close no doubt) announces development is back on and the feature list grows, but here we are creeping up on another month after that announcement, and still nothing real going on. I can see how that looks to people. It's very curious how that keeps happening, but also, I know people have lives and I guess BBB doesn't want to open up development to any other trusted programmers to help lighten his load. It's no big deal to me because I don't necessarily care about constant updates. My Hyperspin works, and it works great. Even though I have to have a duplicate set of wheels that are squished to they work being stretched, it's awesome! I can deal with a few quirks if a program is this good. I think Hyperspin has enough redeeming qualities to still make it one of the best frontends in existence. It's been working for me since 2013 when I first discovered it. Nothing wrong with sticking to it even if it's old and hasn't been updated in years. Been having fun playing games that whole time, so oh well I guess. I wouldn't be too hung up on development if you enjoy what a program can do for you right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Styphelus Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Hyperspin offers more control, but at the same time, it requires a LOT more work. It's not just your wheels you need to squeeze.You need to squeeze all your artwork, the pointers, the themes and so on. There's also no standard themes. They are all over the place and they all look different. Yes, the Launchbox wheel is a bit slower. I'm sure if you bring it up to Jason he can add an option to speed it up. Still, if you want to add a system, you just need wheel art and covert art and in most cases, it downloads it all for you. In addition, it scrapes all game info, something hyperspin doesn't do. The search and filtering options are way better as well. Launchbox however still has some issues with some systems being hard to import (you don't have a xml list of games) but those issues are currently being worked on. You can't easily create themes like in hyperspin, there's no 3rd party auditing tools, and the Rocketlauncher plugin is currently not working properly either. If you use your hyperspin rom sets and artwork, the naming stays the same. It won't change your file names (this was fixed last wednesday). Having said that, Launchbox/BigBox has evolved a lot in the past few months and will continue to evolve because it's Jason't full time job and he works on it everyday. I don't know what the deal is with hyperpsin at the moment. There haven't been any updates and I suspect there won't be any until one day a new version pops up. It's down to personal preference really. I still have my hyperspin setup just in case, but after 2 years of working on it, I'm still not satisfied with it. With Launchbox, once I add some more boxes and do a few more tweaks, I fell like I'll be happy with it and can finally start playing some games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaderag Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Its a shame - i've spent A LOT of time setting up Hyperspin and still not finished... I kinda feel like i should see it through now (i'm reaching the end of my cab build), but at the same time wonder if i might be happier on something properly supported... I dunno - the community here have been a great help and I mostly have things looking how i want, but still feel there is days of tinkering ahead!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigapig Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 So my question is, is Hyperspin dying?, I hope not, because It is a great frontend, and I have invested a lot of time configuring it. Certainly not, there is lots going on in the background and what you see on the site with artwork and database development. If you want to see more then that has always been done to our members and what they contribute, whether that's helping with artwork, databases, apps or just talking about the hobby and joining in with the HyperScore challenge. The community is driven by it's members and they are as strong as ever but we all have daily lives as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatman84 Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I always want to write something when I see this type of post and always deliberate! I like Hyperspin, it works on Android. I don't think it's dying it's just a slow process. It's been around for years so this is to be expected. The community is great and the quality of creation is top dollar. I don't really know how a program can be dead when people are still finding new ways to use it. JJB's themes and dark 13's and the new HTPC themes and all the 3rd party apps I know not much about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
32assassin Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 I have been looking at Launchbox and it appears to have constant updates and videos, There doesn't seem to be the same activity with Hyperspin, even user made content doesn't seem to be ever added to the database for hypersync. The ftp site seems to be mostly unsorted. So my question is, is Hyperspin dying?, I hope not, because It is a great frontend, and I have invested a lot of time configuring it. so by your logic Given that Launchbox uses Hyperspin artwork Does this mean that Launchbox is dead because of the reasons you just posted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Styphelus Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Isn't every front end using Hyperspin artwork these days? Retro Fe, GameEX, Launchbox, Emulation Station, Attract Mode and so on. Does it even matter what FE people are using anymore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phulshof Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 IMHO it should not. There's way too much time wasted doing the same thing over and over again rather than cooperating. One of the many reasons I like F/OSS so much. Once RetroFE 0.7.2 is out the door I plan to take a good look at the GPL'ed AttractMode code to see what ideas I can use. RetroFE is available under GPL as well. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernisius Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 so by your logic Given that Launchbox uses Hyperspin artwork Does this mean that Launchbox is dead because of the reasons you just posted? No, I don't think launchbox is dead because it's being updated regularly. Hyperspin doesn't appear to be. I don't understand your point, what has the artwork got to do with it.? Although the hyperspin community is certainly not dead, their is still a lot of user content created. It would good if that user content were to be organised in the hypersync database and the ftp site to make it more accessible. I'm sure it was once but it never seems to be updated anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernisius Posted August 20, 2016 Author Share Posted August 20, 2016 Have a read around - you'll find the answers you need. Especially the thread announcing active development - and asking for feature requests. That is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. but I didn't find it. If there is such a thread, then shouldn't it be pinned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougan78 Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 The new hyperbase live app is coming along and will make sharing artwork easier for everyone: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/index.php?/topic/15306-Hyperbase-Live:-Public-Beta Here is the enhancement request thread for the active development that is going on too: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/index.php?/topic/27070-Hyperspin-1.4.16-enhancement-request Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dabil Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Hyperspin most certainly isn't dead, 1.4.16 was just released in June or July? I think 1.4 was released what a year ago, and there has been 15 decent size updates released since. So I think Hyperspin development is alive and well. I have never seen the Hyperspin code base, but I have been a programmer for almost 30 years, and I can tell you that adding widescreen support for Hyperspin is probably going to require a complete rewrite of the program. Hyperspin was probably designed as a fixed resolution application. Which will be no small chore to update to something modern. In fact it might be easier to throw away what is there and just do a complete rewrite. Just speculation on my part. But I would expect small 1.4 updates to continue trickling out, while new 2.0 work gets the lion share of development effort. But even still, it's going to be a while before 2.0 is ready for release if it is indeed getting a complete rewrite. BTW, wasn't there a hyperHQ release that came out not that long ago to fix Windows 10 issues? I am having trouble finding it. Can someone post the link? Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougan78 Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Hyperspin most certainly isn't dead, 1.4.16 was just released in June or July? I think 1.4 was released what a year ago, and there has been 15 decent size updates released since. So I think Hyperspin development is alive and well. I have never seen the Hyperspin code base, but I have been a programmer for almost 30 years, and I can tell you that adding widescreen support for Hyperspin is probably going to require a complete rewrite of the program. Hyperspin was probably designed as a fixed resolution application. Which will be no small chore to update to something modern. In fact it might be easier to throw away what is there and just do a complete rewrite. Just speculation on my part. But I would expect small 1.4 updates to continue trickling out, while new 2.0 work gets the lion share of development effort. But even still, it's going to be a while before 2.0 is ready for release if it is indeed getting a complete rewrite. BTW, wasn't there a hyperHQ release that came out not that long ago to fix Windows 10 issues? I am having trouble finding it. Can someone post the link? Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk I think that was some unofficial thing and got removed. Afaik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigapig Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 either in case you didn't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakerMan Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 HyperSpin is more than a frontend. It is also an Artwork Mecca. Sure, development has been slow, but next time you're messing with whatever setup you decide to use rather than hyperspin just remember where you're getting ALL of your artwork from... So my recommendation is to stop thinking of this place as just a crumbling entity and realize that it is just as strong as ever. As long as there are boxes, carts, themes, wheel logos, etc to be made...There will be people here cracking away at those things. Just sayin..... (Because you asked) P.S. - Shouldn't this thread already be marked as "answered" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaderag Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 I think that actually people are somewhat missing the op's point. Hyperspin IS the software, these forums and the community that built out of it are the artwork resource etc that everyone is talking about. One can be dead and the other very much alive... Now as I said above, I'm very torn as to whether to stick with HS but I'm far enough down the road that I probably will, despite the software being dead. But everyone who says that the community is alive, the themes are alive, the artwork is alive is also totally right. But the software is, as far as most people here know, dead. Now, one day, that may lead to this community dying. I hope not, but it may, as this kind of forum needs new blood and if the software is dead then that blood will stop coming. But for now, one is dead the other alive and kicking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakerMan Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 I think that actually people are somewhat missing the op's point. Hyperspin IS the software, these forums and the community that built out of it are the artwork resource etc that everyone is talking about. One can be dead and the other very much alive... Now as I said above, I'm very torn as to whether to stick with HS but I'm far enough down the road that I probably will, despite the software being dead. But everyone who says that the community is alive, the themes are alive, the artwork is alive is also totally right. But the software is, as far as most people here know, dead. Now, one day, that may lead to this community dying. I hope not, but it may, as this kind of forum needs new blood and if the software is dead then that blood will stop coming. But for now, one is dead the other alive and kicking. "Hyperspin-fe.com" IS the artwork mecca, plain and simple. I didn't become inspired from launchbox, I haven't learned PhotoShop from launchbox. I learned it from the kickass artists that were originally inspired from HyperSpin. There is no difference between the software and the site. At least that's how I see it...but to each his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaderag Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 "Hyperspin-fe.com" IS the artwork mecca, plain and simple. I didn't become inspired from launchbox, I haven't learned PhotoShop from launchbox. I learned it from the kickass artists that were originally inspired from HyperSpin. There is no difference between the software and the site. At least that's how I see it...but to each his own. Hyperspin-fe.com is the artwork mecca as you call it, agreed. but to say it's the same thing as the software is simply untrue and plays a disservice to the community Of course there is a difference... This site exists because of the software, and grew out of the existence of the software, but is not actually the software. The software was created by one man, this site, hundreds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BakerMan Posted August 20, 2016 Share Posted August 20, 2016 Hyperspin-fe.com is the artwork mecca as you call it, agreed. but to say it's the same thing as the software is simply untrue and plays a disservice to the community Of course there is a difference... This site exists because of the software, and grew out of the existence of the software, but is not actually the software. The software was created by one man, this site, hundreds. Plays a disservice to the community? Coming from a guy that is trying to spread the word that HyperSpin "the software" is dead and planting the idea that "one day" the community will die from it.... Yes, we can argue that there is a software side and an artwork side.... I get it.... One was inspired from the other blah blah blah..... Just stop with you're dead and dying talk. That is the TRUE DISSERVICE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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