Gen Info for a Noob

[THRobinson]

Hey guys... been playing with a RaspPi/RetroPie for a few months, fun but a bit more limited and just not the same as a cab so, decided to build a full cab and go PC based.

Past few weeks I've been playing with LaunchBox, which works fine, but doesn't seem as flashy as HyperSpin, plus you need to pay for premium for features to unlock, and pay for BigBox for themes, etc... so before I commit any money I wanted to spend some time with HyperSpin and compare the two.

Downloaded it last night, and for now, will be testing on my desktop PC which has better specs and a widescreen, but just easier to test with.

Before I get started... is HyperSpin free? I see you can get bronze/platinum subscriptions, but those look like they're more for website stuff and downloading correct? To make HyperSpin look like I see in YouTube vids, that's free? Just trying to sort out costs between HS and LB.

I have a Samsung 204B 20" 4:3 screen, 1600x1200 (got a pair for $20, bought $25 worth of capacitors and both run like new now). Problem with LaunchBox is that I was warned if I get BigBox that some themes won't work well with 4:3 at all. How will a 4:3 screen affect things with HyperSpin? I think 98% of all the games I have (maybe 100%) are 4:3 so for me it was a better/cheaper option. 

Does HyperSpin work better with Win7 or Win10?

Just trying to sort out some of the ins/outs in case I miss some stuff. Hoping to test this weekend and get started building next week. Took me a while to figure out MAME/NAOMI and I'd like to start playing the games and stop testing sooner than later.

[Avar]

Welcome. Pretty much everything you'll find on HS comes in 4:3 and it should work equally well on both Win7 and Win10. I'm personally on Win10 and have never had issues.

[THRobinson]

That's good to hear. LB recommends Win10, which I don't have yet. Win7x64 I own and works great so planned to use it... though a pain to install on a newer board.

4:3 I decided on because of the games being 4:3 and the monitors cheaper than a 24" 16:9 (around 24" for the same height as a 20" 4:3) but totally didn't give themes a thought. Also figured 4:3 wasn't as wide which allowed me to shave off a few inches of width for the cabinet.

Hoping to test this weekend... and hoping the learning curve is small. LaunchBox wasn't difficult for the most part, but I wasted a LOT of time with MAME... never used them before so had to learn about versions and CHD's and BIOS's etc. I have a full 0.186 romset now... before I had just random ones and no idea what versions any of them were.  NES, SNES, Sega, etc... that stuff was pretty straightforward. 

[Avar]

Things are changing but this should make things go smoothly:

 

[THRobinson]

So... what are the costs?

I guess HS is free, but need to pay for the video clips access, and is there some sorta 'better' version? Like LaunchBox basic is free, premium costs then need premium to get bigbox.

[Avar]

Supporting members have unlimited downloads, get access to more tools and media, and help us keep the lights on

[THRobinson]

I saw downloads but I'm not sure what that means... ROMs are elsewhere, movies are another site, umm... other than a theme, what would I be downloading? is it for scraping boxart?

[Avar]

Wheels, themes, boxes, carts, frontend media, etc. It's pretty substantial.