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A new Hyperspin?

phulshof

By phulshof
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phulshof Newbie

phulshof

Posted
Posted

From what I gather, neither HyperSpin 2.0 nor Hyperspin for Linux has much chance of seeing the light of day, and it seems people are considering leaving for GameEx if it ever get its graphical priorities straight (http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?30907-Front-End-GameEx-prepares-something-Very-important). As I questioned in that thread: why not do it ourselves? Since we don't have access to the HyperSpin source code nor to its proprietary libraries it would be a restart, but it's certainly not impossible.

Around the start of this century I wrote a front-end for my Linux machine (http://www.towel42.nl/mame.html), and I recently hooked up with the author of the Cabrio front-end (http://www.cabrio-fe.org/screenshots/) and another programmer to create a new version of Cabrio. The intention was to write this front-end primarily for Linux, and work together with the HyperSpin community with regards to graphics and supporting tools/files. At that time I had no intention to compete with HyperSpin on the Windows market; I just sought cooperation, and in that capacity I've already worked with some of the people here towards more XML support. I've also discussed adding direct access to the HyperSpin repositories (requiring membership here of course).

Considering the current state and future of HyperSpin however, I was wondering if it made sense to make this a cross-platform front-end, and work together with this community to offer new functionality to perhaps eventually replace HyperSpin. This front-end would of course be completely Free and Open Source Software to allow programmers to participate, write their own extensions or to take over if any of the other programmers step out.

I would love to get some feedback on:

1. Is this a good idea or not?

2. If it is, what would be your feature priority?

Obviously we won't be pushing out a fully compatible HyperSpin clone anytime soon, but it is our intention to offer support for the artwork as designed by this community, either through compatibility or through conversion. Our current goals are towards static theme support, and leave the moving theme elements (other than fading) for later.

Update: I have merged my efforts with the RetroFE community, and am now working with them: http://www.retrofe.com/

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Agrajag Newbie

Agrajag

Posted
Posted

Yes it's a good idea! Especially if it runs on Linux, as that would greatly cut down the cost of building a simple bartop for example. Using HyperLaunch is presumably a given (for Windows only, of course), but let me start the feature request ball rolling:

Native widescreen, with a dedicated theme editor, but able to display 4:3 HyperSpin themes at the correct aspect ratio with a bezel on either side, or a wheel to one side.

Vertical screen support.

Support for box/cart/CD/wheel artwork and mp4 videos.

Sub-wheels, with options to divide each system up by various categories such as manufacturer, screen orientation, genre, controls etc.

Sort by year of release.

That'll do for now!

(Edit: added a few extra thoughts)

THK Apprentice

THK

Posted
Posted

Yes!

It needs to support the buit in theme animations currently in HS/HT of course, redoing all themes is such a pain it'll never happen.

Like I hear GameEx will have, a new theme building program will be needed. With widescreen support of course.

I'm on a 1440p screen myself, but luckily 1080p is pretty future proof for 4k as it scales nicely

It won't be a bad thing to have support for a little more than 4 artwork layers (plus background & video border) and have a larger selection of standard animations to play with as they can get a little repetitive with the huge amount of themes we have already.

Guest

Guest

Posted
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I'd be interested in helping develop a new HyperSpin if we are looking to get a team together.

Hyperion Newbie

Hyperion

Posted
Posted

Yes, yes, a million times yes! An open source front end would be amazing!

Feature request:

1. At least 1080p resolution support. One of my major gripes with HS is the jagged low res appearance.

2. Widescreen support - optional automatic switching between 4:3 and 16:9 theme support.

3. Infinite levels for nested/sub wheels or at least more levels than just the one that HS currently supports.

4. Addon support.

5. The ability to skin HS in a similar way that XBMC can be.

Styphelus Newbie

Styphelus

Posted
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This is a great idea!

All I want is widescreen support, nested sub-wheels wheels and a search function. The ability to have more than 4 layers for themes would be nice too. I'm guessing we would require a new hypertheme with widescreen support as well.

Better start small and make sure the basics work before going feature nuts.

Seems like Cabrio is halfway there already, at least in terms of looks.

phulshof Newbie

phulshof

Posted
  • Author
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Yes, yes, a million times yes! An open source front end would be amazing!

Feature request:

2. Widescreen support with automatic switching between 4:3 and 16:9 theme support.

4. Addon support.

Could you elaborate on these two? I'm not quite sure how exactly you envision these.

Agrajag Newbie

Agrajag

Posted
Posted
Seems like Cabrio is halfway there already, at least in terms of looks.

Yes, and I'd forgotten that it already has vertical screen support. Rather than starting a whole new "HyperSpin replacement" project with a name of its own, perhaps this just needs to be an evolution (ahem) of Cabrio?

phulshof Newbie

phulshof

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  • Author
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My primary motivation for writing software has always been that I want to use it. As such, I can only benefit from other programmers joining in, so all my software always has been, and will be, F/OSS. I have a well paying full-time job (which does not involve writing software), and this is my hobby. I have no intention of turning my hobby into my work. :) So no, Cabrio 2 (it is our current intention to work from the Cabrio FE) will be F/OSS, and free of charge.

As for BBB making money on the FTP subscriptions: I doubt it. Running a high-speed FTP server isn't exactly free, and I doubt there's that many new users joining up these days. As such, past subscriptions are probably still being used to pay for current and future FTP server costs. Since members contribute, torrent distribution wouldn't solve this issue.

Agrajag Newbie

Agrajag

Posted
Posted
So no, Cabrio 2 (it is our current intention to work from the Cabrio FE) will be F/OSS, and free of charge.

Sounds good to me! I look forward to joining the Cabrio forum, should such a thing ever exist.

SIMPLYAUSTIN Newbie

SIMPLYAUSTIN

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Would help as much as I could if this ever did take off. BTW, the cost of a FTP or even webspace is $7.99 a month with unlimited everything. Only metered variable for that is 100 maximum connections at one time. It is not much more to make even that unlimited.

Simple fact is that if you could use all the assets (art) from hyperspin with a new frontend it would be a good crossover. Make it so you can link it with HL and its perfect.

Styphelus Newbie

Styphelus

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We shouldn't be focusing on costs or how much BB makes. A Platinum membership is well worth the money. There's a lot of content created for this FE worth way more than what we pay.

Please incorporate hypersearch by Pietie. He really did a great job on that. Is this going to be a separate FE or will it be a new hyperspin? Are all topics related to it going to be over at the Cabrio forums? I think you would get more support here in these forums. Plus I didn't see any forums over there.

Aorin Proficient

Aorin

Posted
Posted

A new HS means that our current one will never be updated or upgraded, or at least some believe it, right?

I understand the importance of this thread but I'd like, if this project starts and grow in time, that the core that was done so far remains the same.

Databases, artworks, etc.

Lots of work was made and much still must be done in HS. I don't think HS is dead at all, but it doesn't mean that I don't agree with this idea.

The only concern I have is all was done so far, and it should not be lost.

phulshof Newbie

phulshof

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Let's be clear: if I had any indication that BBB was planning on picking up HyperSpin 2.0 this thread wouldn't be here; I'd just be focusing on writing a Linux front-end like I intended. Personally I would prefer to integrate with this community, and use these forums for communication; think of it as HyperCabrio if you will. :) I do intend to re-use the databases, artwork, etc. as much as possible or offer conversion tools to a new format with more/different features.

Cabrio has its own github and uses Google Groups for current communication. It also has its own website. How that will develop towards the future is as of yet unclear. That will fully depend on where we go from here, and how.

As for assistance: We would welcome all programmers to help out. In addition, I would really appreciate it if someone could sort out the FTP site. There's over 600 GB of material in there, but hardly any structure, and only a small selection ever made it into the Gold status. It would be nice if we could do an inventory of what's available, and what's still missing, and work from there. With HD support there may be a need to upgrade the graphics as well. Not much use in simply scaling the graphics in order to support HD resolution; a higher resolution's not going to be faster after all.

brolly Newbie

brolly

Posted
Posted
BTW, the cost of a FTP or even webspace is $7.99 a month with unlimited everything. Only metered variable for that is 100 maximum connections at one time. It is not much more to make even that unlimited.
It's not my business, but we are talking about way more than a simple webspace here, you can't get dedicated servers even virtualized ones (unless they have Atom cpu's and even then it's at least twice that price) for nowhere near that value.
SIMPLYAUSTIN Newbie

SIMPLYAUSTIN

Posted
Posted
It's not my business, but we are talking about way more than a simple webspace here, you can't get dedicated servers even virtualized ones (unless they have Atom cpu's and even then it's at least twice that price) for nowhere near that value.

I own 3 of them, top of the range, Chicago based running on Internap. Servers have been my thing for many years now. I will help out wherever I can.

The one thing that does make me hesitate about any big leaps is the unleashing of Hyperbase. I think that will be a game changer if it ever does come. Although I think that will be far more reliant on HL than HS??

THK Apprentice

THK

Posted
Posted
.

lol

though they claimed me be dead once upon a time as well. besides, we're all heading in a straight line to the grave anyway :D

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