HyperMarquee

[cgw]

Thanks Antos!

[Antos]

Ok, did a Christmas party yesterday with friends at home and spent some good time in my brand new arcade room. Big hit! Played arcade games like kids; Track & Fields, Hyper Sports, Dragon's Lair etc. They dare to beat some of my high-scores, aaargh! That will keep me busy until next time. (Hyper Marquee worked pretty well). Here are some pictures.

[kcorcoran]

Initially I was super excited about adding a second monitor to my HS setup and getting HyperMarquee up and running but after skimming through the user guide, I have to say, setup looks VERY intimidating.

Either setup really is that difficult or the user guide itself it written from too much of a technical/developer point of view.

I'm no programmer but I'm fairly sure I can get this figured out.

Maybe I can try to come up with a tutorial or some other suggestions that will help streamline and simplify the installation process.

Hoping to get this cabinet I got setup with a monitor up top to replace the backlit marquee and dot matrix display and have HM display game artwork, etc up top.

[Antos]

Initially I was super excited about adding a second monitor to my HS setup and getting HyperMarquee up and running but after skimming through the user guide, I have to say, setup looks VERY intimidating.

Either setup really is that difficult or the user guide itself it written from too much of a technical/developer point of view.

I'm no programmer but I'm fairly sure I can get this figured out.

Maybe I can try to come up with a tutorial or some other suggestions that will help streamline and simplify the installation process.

Hoping to get this cabinet I got setup with a monitor up top to replace the backlit marquee and dot matrix display and have HM display game artwork, etc up top.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48421[/ATTACH]

First, thank you for considering Hyper Marquee. It is important to understand that HM is still under development and testing. At this actual state, HyperMarquee is not for a large public yet and testers with some technical background are the aimed focus group for now. It is expected to publish proper documentations once we go to first release. Now, if you are eager to give it a try, we can give you support. Yes, it is scary for some users, I understand. But once you catch how it works, things become very simple. Feel free to try a simple marquee option (ie artwork) and ask once you encounter a road block, many people can help you. Recommending you post #188 within Event Dispatch System (EDS) thread and also the EDS video, at the end you will see a quick HyperMarquee setup 'how to'. Good luck...

[sevenseal]

Initially I was super excited about adding a second monitor to my HS setup and getting HyperMarquee up and running but after skimming through the user guide, I have to say, setup looks VERY intimidating.

Either setup really is that difficult or the user guide itself it written from too much of a technical/developer point of view.

I'm no programmer but I'm fairly sure I can get this figured out.

Maybe I can try to come up with a tutorial or some other suggestions that will help streamline and simplify the installation process.

Hoping to get this cabinet I got setup with a monitor up top to replace the backlit marquee and dot matrix display and have HM display game artwork, etc up top.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48421[/ATTACH]

as you may need any support or guidance, that is my role in and am here to provide that, hopefully by this friday I will release my video setup tutorials to setup both hypermarquee and EDS.

Sevenseal

[kcorcoran]

Awesome. thanks. I need to try to get hold of a pci video card free/cheap to throw on my motherboard for 2nd monitor testing.

once I get that going I can start to try to get it set up.

for my purposes and given relatively slow cpu i'm working with, still marquee images with a fade between each is likely going to be all I need HM to do for me.

thanks again. i'll let you know how things go. I'm fairly technical but was really just hoping to be able to load up some software and go.

[sevenseal]

here is a sample video with just setting the Artwork portion of with Hyper Marquee's Core System function which is one of the six available core to use
next time i will do a voice walk through with it, for now it just a visual to get others to have a start.

refer to post #185 to setup video in the Artwork Core System

Sevenseal

[KMHamel]

Where can I get the newer version to try out? This looks great.

[sevenseal]

hi kmhamel,

the download link is on the first post, it will have what you are looking for, but remember this... the latest revision is in alpha status, meaning its for testing purpose only, it may function in undesirable ways.

if you do encounter issue, please feel free to report them here on the forum

we also encourage you to discuss your experience

sevenseal

[sevenseal]

Here is the video for setting the videos in the Artwork Core system function

inorder to load videos VLC must be setup in Hyper Marquee and VLC MUST BE DOWNLOAD FROM HERE

you will need to set the vlc directory under"Gobel Setting" Tab

on the Entry Line VLC Folder select where your VLC folder is located at

here is how you setup EDS to use Hyper Marquee's Artwork Core System Function

please look at post below which is post 186 to watch the video

refer to http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?32782-HyperSpin-Event-Dispatch-System-(EDS)

for anything related to EDS

Sevenseal

[sevenseal]

[KMHamel]

hi kmhamel,

the download link is on the first post, it will have what you are looking for, but remember this... the latest revision is in alpha status, meaning its for testing purpose only, it may function in undesirable ways.

if you do encounter issue, please feel free to report them here on the forum

we also encourage you to discuss your experience

sevenseal

Thanks, I saw version c on the first post and knew you were working on a later version. I'll go and work on version c and see what it can do. Thanks again.

[gooch]

Just a thought - maybe HyperMarquee could be loaded with a more explicit Window Title name so it could be more easily controlled through AHK? For example, all HM windows are called HyperMarqueeWindow. If they could be named HyperMarqueeWindow:<PipeName> it would be easier write external scripts that don't use EDS. Example - I'd like to trigger off a keypress and perform a check to make sure an identical window is not already loaded.

[Antos]

Just a thought - maybe HyperMarquee could be loaded with a more explicit Window Title name so it could be more easily controlled through AHK? For example, all HM windows are called HyperMarqueeWindow. If they could be named HyperMarqueeWindow:<PipeName> it would be easier write external scripts that don't use EDS. Example - I'd like to trigger off a keypress and perform a check to make sure an identical window is not already loaded.

Hello,

ANSWER 1: "...maybe HyperMarquee could be loaded with a more explicit Window Title name so it could be more easily controlled through AHK?"

I am not completely sure what you are trying to do, but I can recommend you 2 ways for a good control of HM within AHK.

OPTION A. The AHK process ID creates an handle on any launched processes (HyperMarquee.exe here). It is better to use PID for the handle than the name for the reasons you have brought up.

You pass the parameters to do whatever you would like.

Code sample.

; Launching a process

gamename := "galaga"

system := "mame"

Run, Hyper Marquee.exe false MAME-Marquee_Image %gamename% %system% ,,,ImagePID

; Closing processes using process ID handle

Process, Close, %ImagePID%

or

OPTION B. The first option could be slow depending on the size of the artwork to be loaded (pre-load artworks would be worst). To solve this within AHK, I recommend to call EDS using a defined PipeID and a custom dedicated EVENT (similar than option A). You can define your own event for specific personal purposes. As long as you use them outside the reserved 0 to 15 Ledblinky range. For example, you can use the Event 20 for your own needs. If your press F1 which could trigger an EDS call with the proper parameters. This should do the job very well, but I didn't tried.

ANSWER 2: "Also when using the transitions it seems like the images are degraded a bit." I have now fixed this issue within the next version yet to be released.

[Antos]

I love this software, thanks for everything you've done. A couple of thoughts in testing the latest version of Hyper Marquee:

- Is there a way to preload a portion of Hyper Marquee into memory so when a new marquee window is called via CLI so it is more responsive? The reason I ask is because I want an in-game hotkey on my cabinet control panel that would instantly display on the marquee the control panel and what each button does based on the running game. It's fairly fast, but the snappier I can make it the better.

- When using the transitions and the image resolution is different, it is a bit jumpy because it first rescales the current image to the resolution of the new image, *then* performs the transition. If this image size could be adjusted mid-transition it might hide it better. I am using the Pixelate effect, but it does it for any transition.

- Also when using the transitions it seems like the images are degraded a bit. The image below on the left is the raw image of one of my marquees for the Main Menu (I use FileWatcher for this), the one on the right is a screen capture of the output using Hyper Marquee. Notice the jagged edges around the curves for the one on the right, and this does not happen when not using transitions. The image is 1366x768 and the monitor is set to this resolution as well so it's not a scaling issue.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48069[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]48070[/ATTACH]

- Is it possible to prevent the layers from displaying transparencies? This one is because I have the 4 x artwork files used as well as the background image. It results in things like the below because I use HyperSpin wheel art as an option if there is no true marquee artwork.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48068[/ATTACH]

Question: "- Is it possible to prevent the layers from displaying transparencies? This one is because I have the 4 x artwork files used as well as the background image. It results in things like the below because I use HyperSpin wheel art as an option if there is no true marquee artwork."

Answer: Ok Gooch, you win . I added a 4th alternative artwork for your needs. Merry Christmas! This will appear in the next revision. I feel generous today

[gooch]

Thanks Antos! Looking forward to it.

Had a lot of time to test over the past few days, I've got some comments for both HM and EDS, and I'll post the EDS in the other thread.

Is there a way to close HM if there is no HiToText scores? I have a semi-transparent marquee appear in the MAME wheel that displays high scores, but it is always on when I am in the MAME wheel and a vast majority of ROMs do not work with HiToText.

See below for an example of it displaying properly, and then a second example that is semi-transparent window that is displayed when there is no HiToText.

EDIT: Also - how do I get rid of that window resizer in the bottom right hand corner? None of my other marquees have that, even the one that is displaying the background and marquee.

[Antos]

Thanks Antos! Looking forward to it.

Had a lot of time to test over the past few days, I've got some comments for both HM and EDS, and I'll post the EDS in the other thread.

Is there a way to close HM if there is no HiToText scores? I have a semi-transparent marquee appear in the MAME wheel that displays high scores, but it is always on when I am in the MAME wheel and a vast majority of ROMs do not work with HiToText.

See below for an example of it displaying properly, and then a second example that is semi-transparent window that is displayed when there is no HiToText.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48900[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]48899[/ATTACH]

EDIT: Also - how do I get rid of that window resizer in the bottom right hand corner? None of my other marquees have that, even the one that is displaying the background and marquee.

Merry Christmas Gooch!

Understanding your EDS post #194 issue, but let's keep this separate of this post to avoid confusions.

It is not mentioned in your post, but you are in edit/debug mode. In this mode, the handle will be displayed and the window will not disappear for obvious reason (you want to edit it). Putting edit mode to false (first HM CLI param and in the global settings 'Start in EDIT mode' check box) will change this particular behavior.

Antos.

[xzotic]

Awesome application Antos. Thanks so much.

I have found a couple of things that may need addressing. I am testing 0.4.0.F

1. The first thing is I am trying to load a second instance of HyperMarquee with a fixed PNG file that has a transparent background through DS (So its the same image loading as an 'overlay' for every game no matter what is selected). This operates fine except there is some unexpected behaviour with the way the second HM displays. When Hyperspin is first launched the first HM loads the Marquee for the game I have selected which is fine and the second HM loads the PNG image with transparency on top. This works as expected. I can see the first HM image under the 2nd one that has loaded after it. Great.

However, as soon as I select another game the first HM loads fine but the second HM loads without transparency. This causes the first HM to be completely blocked by the second. It is strange that it works on first load of Hyperspin but then doesn't work from then on when changing games. I tried turning off all transitions and also ensured both HM's were not using the FILL options. However the same issue occurs.

It might help if I explain why I am even trying to do this:

What I want to do is create a transparent 'mask' png file that has an 'aged' smoked and slightly tinted graphic that I can overlay on all the Marquee files. This will give the effect that the Marquee looks like a real old aged arcade game where the backlight isn't perfect and casts a 'vignette' shadow around the light source and may also be slightly tinted from the sun etc.

So it seems that HM in conjunction with DS has the potential to do this but as explained above the 2nd 'mask image' loses it's transparency after the first load for some reason.

Secondly I noticed that the transparency that HM shows for 100% transparency isn't 100% clear - instead HM shows that as a tinted colour. For my overlay to work I would need HM to show transparency exactly as it is within the PNG file without adding additional tint.

I think if this was working as detailed above it would add a wow factor to the authenticity of the Marquee's.

2. The second thing I found is rather minor and I couldn't figure out what was causing it. Basically when you are in edit mode in HM sometimes the resize grab handle disappears. Not sure under what circumstances but it happened several times. My workaround was to simply exit and reopen the application to get it back.

3. Finally, once you open HM in edit mode there is no way to exit if you decide you want to quit. Instead you are forced through the dialogues. No biggie and probably something that will be addressed in a final release.

At the moment solving the 1st issue I have raised is the one that I'm most interested in. Thanks again. If you require further clarification on the above then just let me know.

[sevenseal]

Awesome application Antos. Thanks so much.

I have found a couple of things that may need addressing. I am testing 0.4.0.F

1. The first thing is I am trying to load a second instance of HyperMarquee with a fixed PNG file that has a transparent background through DS (So its the same image loading as an 'overlay' for every game no matter what is selected). This operates fine except there is some unexpected behaviour with the way the second HM displays. When Hyperspin is first launched the first HM loads the Marquee for the game I have selected which is fine and the second HM loads the PNG image with transparency on top. This works as expected. I can see the first HM image under the 2nd one that has loaded after it. Great.

However, as soon as I select another game the first HM loads fine but the second HM loads without transparency. This causes the first HM to be completely blocked by the second. It is strange that it works on first load of Hyperspin but then doesn't work from then on when changing games. I tried turning off all transitions and also ensured both HM's were not using the FILL options. However the same issue occurs.

It might help if I explain why I am even trying to do this:

What I want to do is create a transparent 'mask' png file that has an 'aged' smoked and slightly tinted graphic that I can overlay on all the Marquee files. This will give the effect that the Marquee looks like a real old aged arcade game where the backlight isn't perfect and casts a 'vignette' shadow around the light source and may also be slightly tinted from the sun etc.

So it seems that HM in conjunction with DS has the potential to do this but as explained above the 2nd 'mask image' loses it's transparency after the first load for some reason.

Secondly I noticed that the transparency that HM shows for 100% transparency isn't 100% clear - instead HM shows that as a tinted colour. For my overlay to work I would need HM to show transparency exactly as it is within the PNG file without adding additional tint.

I think if this was working as detailed above it would add a wow factor to the authenticity of the Marquee's.

2. The second thing I found is rather minor and I couldn't figure out what was causing it. Basically when you are in edit mode in HM sometimes the resize grab handle disappears. Not sure under what circumstances but it happened several times. My workaround was to simply exit and reopen the application to get it back.

3. Finally, once you open HM in edit mode there is no way to exit if you decide you want to quit. Instead you are forced through the dialogues. No biggie and probably something that will be addressed in a final release.

At the moment solving the 1st issue I have raised is the one that I'm most interested in. Thanks again. If you require further clarification on the above then just let me know.

well for #1, we would need some clarification like several screen shots or a video to demo your issue that you have

#2 is not a error, something that occur so that you can see layout as is when after a duration time frame, to make the windows frame return, click the center area of HM, it will appear back.

#3 not sure what is mention but the issue decribe doesnt make sense, could you get a screen shot of it? if it crashing, what os are you using? is the program place in a security-related directory; like your desktop, download folder, or as such similar? if so, you might be required to set the program with admins rights "run as administrator"

sevenseal

[Antos]

Awesome application Antos. Thanks so much.

I have found a couple of things that may need addressing. I am testing 0.4.0.F

1. The first thing is I am trying to load a second instance of HyperMarquee with a fixed PNG file that has a transparent background through DS (So its the same image loading as an 'overlay' for every game no matter what is selected). This operates fine except there is some unexpected behaviour with the way the second HM displays. When Hyperspin is first launched the first HM loads the Marquee for the game I have selected which is fine and the second HM loads the PNG image with transparency on top. This works as expected. I can see the first HM image under the 2nd one that has loaded after it. Great.

However, as soon as I select another game the first HM loads fine but the second HM loads without transparency. This causes the first HM to be completely blocked by the second. It is strange that it works on first load of Hyperspin but then doesn't work from then on when changing games. I tried turning off all transitions and also ensured both HM's were not using the FILL options. However the same issue occurs.

It might help if I explain why I am even trying to do this:

What I want to do is create a transparent 'mask' png file that has an 'aged' smoked and slightly tinted graphic that I can overlay on all the Marquee files. This will give the effect that the Marquee looks like a real old aged arcade game where the backlight isn't perfect and casts a 'vignette' shadow around the light source and may also be slightly tinted from the sun etc.

So it seems that HM in conjunction with DS has the potential to do this but as explained above the 2nd 'mask image' loses it's transparency after the first load for some reason.

Secondly I noticed that the transparency that HM shows for 100% transparency isn't 100% clear - instead HM shows that as a tinted colour. For my overlay to work I would need HM to show transparency exactly as it is within the PNG file without adding additional tint.

I think if this was working as detailed above it would add a wow factor to the authenticity of the Marquee's.

2. The second thing I found is rather minor and I couldn't figure out what was causing it. Basically when you are in edit mode in HM sometimes the resize grab handle disappears. Not sure under what circumstances but it happened several times. My workaround was to simply exit and reopen the application to get it back.

3. Finally, once you open HM in edit mode there is no way to exit if you decide you want to quit. Instead you are forced through the dialogues. No biggie and probably something that will be addressed in a final release.

At the moment solving the 1st issue I have raised is the one that I'm most interested in. Thanks again. If you require further clarification on the above then just let me know.

I would like to add some comments on top of Sevenseal's ones.

First, thank for posting.

Item 1: This is very interesting. I like what you are trying to do, can you please share your image? It reminds me this Image where the marquee seems real.

http://halfpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Pac-Trio-1-10801.png

Related to your comment on the problem, this look like a bug to me, but can't reproduce it. Please provide us the exact steps and settings taken for us to reproduce the behavior. (or a video if you have the time could be great).

One tip: Have you tried to put your image in the foreground image in the global settings? (instead of using 2 instances)

Item 2: I reproduced this problem, and I can acknowledge that this is a small bug (thanks). I fixed it this morning, and a new revision will be available for testing soon.

Item 3: Please give us more details, not sure I see. I tried to close HM in edit mode pressing 'escape key': it worked ok when on focus. Same result using the menu.

[Antos]

WHAT'S NEW:

- Bug fixes and one update. Thanks to all active testers for support

Bug Fixes

- Now recognising upper case artwork file extension. (file ext. is now case insensitive)

- Transition Pixelate now leaves a clean image when finishing the transition.

- Window Resize grip did not reappears after hiding (in edit mode). (fixed)

New Feature (this is an exception): 4th Alternative Artwork has been added within artwork section.

Setup: Simply replace HM.exe revision F by Revision G.

- Revision G is compatible with previous Revision F config version.

NB:

- This is an Alpha Tester Version, this means that it is NOT a stable version and it still has bugs. You are welcome to test it, report bugs and bring your impressions. Many thanks to do so!

Please send me any bugs you find. Thank for testing (In depth if you have time).

[xzotic]

Thanks Antos...

[item 1]

OK, I've made some progress. I created a new png file with 30% transparency to use as my mask. I was previously just using a mame png file I got from the internet for testing which had a transparent background. That image I had the issue with. However with my newly created PNG file HM behaves as it should and correctly allows the transparency even after selecting another game in hyperspin. So I'm really not sure why it didn't like the other image? It is now playing nice with my new photoshop created file.

The only remaining issue is HM puts a dark tint by default on the transparent area so even if I have a completely blank transparent image HM will put a dark tint across the whole thing. Unfortunately this tint is too dark and spoils the effect. Ideally HM would either default to not adding a tint or have a selectable option to add/disable the tint depending upon what the user wants to do with their image?

You can see in my attached pic how it is looking at the moment. I squashed the second HM instance over to half the screen so you can see the brightness difference. This is with a PNG file set at 30% transparency. However if I go to a full 100% transparency the image looks about the same darkness due to the default tint.

So if you can provide an option to remove the tint then HM will support custom user overlays to make their marquees 'styled' any way they want!

[item 2] Thanks for fixing that up, I haven't loaded the new version yet but I'll check it out. I noticed on the last version in my picture that the grab handle is showing yet that's the live view! Maybe you resolved that in the new version anyway...

[item 3] OK, I think I know what the confusion here is. I'm not talking about when you are actually in HM. That closes down/exits fine. I'm talking about when you first run HM. What happens is you are presented with the dialogue box that asks if you want to create a new template or load an old one. If you close this window using the windows 'X' close window it brings up the next dialogue box and so on. So you are forced to either create a new template or load an existing one so you can get to the main screen. THEN and only then can you exit the program. It's no big deal but there have been a couple of times I've started HM but then went to do something else and I can't get past those initial dialogue boxes until I get through to the main screen. I hope this makes sense!

[item 4] (New). When I was last testing I also had an issue where when I returned from playing a game game back to hyperspin the marquee went blank. If I moved to another game it returned to normal. However when I try this right now it doesn't show that behaviour and is working correctly. So I am wondering if this odd behaviour was also somehow related to the issue I had with the PNG transparency last time. Both issues are not present today and yet I'm using the same version. The issues were consistent on my last test but have since gone now Ive restarted that machine for today's tests. I'll keep an eye out for those things in case they are intermittent but for now I can't recreate them.

Thanks again! I really LOVE the cool transitions when changing and how fast it is to load through the use of DS. Brilliant!

[sevenseal]

Thanks Antos...

[item 1]

OK, I've made some progress. I created a new png file with 30% transparency to use as my mask. I was previously just using a mame png file I got from the internet for testing which had a transparent background. That image I had the issue with. However with my newly created PNG file HM behaves as it should and correctly allows the transparency even after selecting another game in hyperspin. So I'm really not sure why it didn't like the other image? It is now playing nice with my new photoshop created file.

The only remaining issue is HM puts a dark tint by default on the transparent area so even if I have a completely blank transparent image HM will put a dark tint across the whole thing. Unfortunately this tint is too dark and spoils the effect. Ideally HM would either default to not adding a tint or have a selectable option to add/disable the tint depending upon what the user wants to do with their image?

You can see in my attached pic how it is looking at the moment. I squashed the second HM instance over to half the screen so you can see the brightness difference. This is with a PNG file set at 30% transparency. However if I go to a full 100% transparency the image looks about the same darkness due to the default tint.

So if you can provide an option to remove the tint then HM will support custom user overlays to make their marquees 'styled' any way they want!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48928[/ATTACH]

[item 2] Thanks for fixing that up, I haven't loaded the new version yet but I'll check it out. I noticed on the last version in my picture that the grab handle is showing yet that's the live view! Maybe you resolved that in the new version anyway...

[item 3] OK, I think I know what the confusion here is. I'm not talking about when you are actually in HM. That closes down/exits fine. I'm talking about when you first run HM. What happens is you are presented with the dialogue box that asks if you want to create a new template or load an old one. If you close this window using the windows 'X' close window it brings up the next dialogue box and so on. So you are forced to either create a new template or load an existing one so you can get to the main screen. THEN and only then can you exit the program. It's no big deal but there have been a couple of times I've started HM but then went to do something else and I can't get past those initial dialogue boxes until I get through to the main screen. I hope this makes sense!

[item 4] (New). When I was last testing I also had an issue where when I returned from playing a game game back to hyperspin the marquee went blank. If I moved to another game it returned to normal. However when I try this right now it doesn't show that behaviour and is working correctly. So I am wondering if this odd behaviour was also somehow related to the issue I had with the PNG transparency last time. Both issues are not present today and yet I'm using the same version. The issues were consistent on my last test but have since gone now Ive restarted that machine for today's tests. I'll keep an eye out for those things in case they are intermittent but for now I can't recreate them.

Thanks again! I really LOVE the cool transitions when changing and how fast it is to load through the use of DS. Brilliant!

for number 3, that is something that is related when you setup EDS and have EDS call for hypermarquee. when you check your eds setting you want to make sure all your HM's config file labels match the ones that are setup in eds. when typing by keyboard, most common mistakes are the " _ " or " - " and the spaces usage in the confog label. if eds call HM and unable to pull up a config file, it will open up as you have describe.

Sevenseal

[Antos]

Thanks Antos...

[item 1]

OK, I've made some progress. I created a new png file with 30% transparency to use as my mask. I was previously just using a mame png file I got from the internet for testing which had a transparent background. That image I had the issue with. However with my newly created PNG file HM behaves as it should and correctly allows the transparency even after selecting another game in hyperspin. So I'm really not sure why it didn't like the other image? It is now playing nice with my new photoshop created file.

The only remaining issue is HM puts a dark tint by default on the transparent area so even if I have a completely blank transparent image HM will put a dark tint across the whole thing. Unfortunately this tint is too dark and spoils the effect. Ideally HM would either default to not adding a tint or have a selectable option to add/disable the tint depending upon what the user wants to do with their image?

You can see in my attached pic how it is looking at the moment. I squashed the second HM instance over to half the screen so you can see the brightness difference. This is with a PNG file set at 30% transparency. However if I go to a full 100% transparency the image looks about the same darkness due to the default tint.

So if you can provide an option to remove the tint then HM will support custom user overlays to make their marquees 'styled' any way they want!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48928[/ATTACH]

[item 2] Thanks for fixing that up, I haven't loaded the new version yet but I'll check it out. I noticed on the last version in my picture that the grab handle is showing yet that's the live view! Maybe you resolved that in the new version anyway...

[item 3] OK, I think I know what the confusion here is. I'm not talking about when you are actually in HM. That closes down/exits fine. I'm talking about when you first run HM. What happens is you are presented with the dialogue box that asks if you want to create a new template or load an old one. If you close this window using the windows 'X' close window it brings up the next dialogue box and so on. So you are forced to either create a new template or load an existing one so you can get to the main screen. THEN and only then can you exit the program. It's no big deal but there have been a couple of times I've started HM but then went to do something else and I can't get past those initial dialogue boxes until I get through to the main screen. I hope this makes sense!

[item 4] (New). When I was last testing I also had an issue where when I returned from playing a game game back to hyperspin the marquee went blank. If I moved to another game it returned to normal. However when I try this right now it doesn't show that behaviour and is working correctly. So I am wondering if this odd behaviour was also somehow related to the issue I had with the PNG transparency last time. Both issues are not present today and yet I'm using the same version. The issues were consistent on my last test but have since gone now Ive restarted that machine for today's tests. I'll keep an eye out for those things in case they are intermittent but for now I can't recreate them.

Thanks again! I really LOVE the cool transitions when changing and how fast it is to load through the use of DS. Brilliant!

Item 1: I am not able to reproduce your problem, but I can see 1 or 2 things causing it;

- Maybe you built from a previous config file which is not compatible with the latest version. Which cause hazard problems. or;

- You need to reset the background or/and foreground brushes. Make sure you select solid color and click on the selected color. Put Alpha to 0. (NB: by default no color is selected in the Brush Editor, even if you believe so.)

- Now FYI, HM do not adjust image transparency, only color brush. Which is behind of in front of the artwork.

Item 3: Will improve this eventually. (not a bug, but will improve)

Item 4: It is important to consider that Hyperspin do not sends events for the main wheel. So, if you look at Hyperspin logs, you will notice that he will send the event 8 just before going to the main menu. So it is important to set up HSFileWatcher & EDS properly. Sevenseal will be happy to support you on this one.

Thanks for your comments. Glad that HM & EDS enhance your gaming experience. Do not hesitate to report other bugs or send us your wish list, never know.

Cheers,

[xzotic]

Item 1: I am not able to reproduce your problem, but I can see 1 or 2 things causing it;

- Maybe you built from a previous config file which is not compatible with the latest version. Which cause hazard problems. or;

- You need to reset the background or/and foreground brushes. Make sure you select solid color and click on the selected color. Put Alpha to 0. (NB: by default no color is selected in the Brush Editor, even if you believe so.)

- Now FYI, HM do not adjust image transparency, only color brush. Which is behind of in front of the artwork.

Item 3: Will improve this eventually. (not a bug, but will improve)

Item 4: It is important to consider that Hyperspin do not sends events for the main wheel. So, if you look at Hyperspin logs, you will notice that he will send the event 8 just before going to the main menu. So it is important to set up HSFileWatcher & EDS properly. Sevenseal will be happy to support you on this one.

Thanks for your comments. Glad that HM & EDS enhance your gaming experience. Do not hesitate to report other bugs or send us your wish list, never know.

Cheers,

Thanks Antos,

Item 1:

- I had installed HM for the first time so there was no previous config - so that wouldn't have been the issue

- What I should do is recheck that original image I got from the internet to see if that problem shows itself again. That way we can rule out the image itself. Remember though that I can't reproduce the issue (at least with my new photoshop file I created).

- What do you mean when you say "HM do not adjust image transparency, only color brush. Which is behind of in front of the artwork". Does this mean that HM is adding an extra layer of 'tint' colour in between the first HM image and the 2nd HM image? If so, is this something that you may be able to change as a user selectable option?

Item 3:

I'm confused what Sevenseal said as the problem I am describing is not when running through EDS. Simply running HM direct. Maybe I've misinterpreted his post. Anyway you have stated that this is not a bug (which I agree) and just something that can be improved so all good.

Item 4: I currently don't have HSFilewatcher running or setup at all. Have I missed something? HM seems to work fine without it although does HSFilewatcher assist with trapping the return event to HS after a game game is run? Either way I'm a little unsure why HM works without it but sometimes it seems to go back to a blank marquee after the game is run. Other times it comes back correctly. I am going to need to test some more to give you more information as I appreciate it is difficult to know what is going on without some more specific tests. But I would be interested to know if I should have HSFilewatcher running?

Item 5 (new): In my testing last night after about 30 minutes of scrolling through games in the HS front end (I was adding games to the HS favourite list), I noticed that the 2nd HM (Ie: My overlay mask) was no longer showing. The first HM (The marquee artwork) was still showing fine. So it looked like the 2nd HM instance quit for some reason. This stayed like this until I exited Hyperspin and restarted and then both HM's loaded. I'll have to keep an eye on it to see if it happens again. By the way, this was with the latest Rev G version.