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Information/Preview Pane questions/issue

Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 5:19 pm
by ceensor
Hello and thank you for the wonderful Negatron!

Just installed v.0.100.1 on Windows 10. I configured all paths (including Extras/Multimedia - no CHDs) and left it to complete caching. All seems ok.

1. I choose Pac-Mania, and on the right I click on the Snapshot image. The multi-preview images go away and I only see the Snapshot. I then switch to another machine. I see the Snapshot (which is fine) but it is still the Pac-Mania snaphot. No matter which game I choose, it will always show the Pac-Mania snapshot.

Is this by design? Only solution is to switch to the multi-preview and click on Snapshot again to get the updated, correct image. This happens on all categories (Title, Logo etc.) - not just Snapshot.

2. It would be nice if Negatron remembered the Artwork preview selection. So, if the user clicks on Snapshot it would be nice to remember this even after a Negatron restart. Currently, it always reverts to the multi-preview.

3. Is it possible to remove/disable individual preview items (Game Over, End etc.) or even entire tabs (Machine Internals)? It'd be a nice feature.

4. I'll second a few older requests like disabling the flip effect. I did look a bit but it seems it still cannot be disabled. About the "missing image placeholders", it would be nice if Negatron had an option to simply ignore them i.e. not display "missing" images at all and re-organize the available artwork accordingly. That would make for a very neat preview pane.

That's it, thanks again. :)

Re: Information/Preview Pane questions/issue

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 11:37 am
by BabelSoft
1. It's not by design. I never thought it would be used like that. But this won't be hard to be fixed ;)
If the selected artwork is missing, I'll put the default artwork.

2. Sure, can do.

3. I can add the option to disable tabs easily. As for the individual preview items, it's more complicated. See below.

4.a. the flip effect is there because Negatron is requesting MAME some info. And this takes time. So, it's a nice trick to make it as if this step is going fast while actually the user is waiting for the info to come. This takes 1 to 3 seconds. I didn't add the option to disable it yet because this animation has become deeply linked to the MAME communication process. And in the end I didn't feel like re-engineering this part :p
But well, I'll take a second look at it.

4.b. Re-organising the pane for missing or disabled items is quite a bother actually because this means having to manage all the possible combinations (a lot). I'll see if I can think of some tricks to make it happens without having to manually set up all the possible configurations.

Re: Information/Preview Pane questions/issue

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 2:00 pm
by ceensor
Thanks for your kind answer. I'd be really happy even if you only fixed 1. :)

"If the selected artwork is missing, I'll put the default artwork."

I was a bit confused by this. Do you mean that if I select, say, Title as the 'default artwork preview mode' and run into a machine with no Title, it will:

A) show the "missing artwork" image
B) fall back to the multi-preview

I think B) would be counter-intuitive since it will very often change the 'default' selection (lots of missing artwork on some categories).
A) definitively makes more sense

However, B) would be really nice if Negatron automatically switched back to 'Title' mode (or Snapshot etc.) when it finds a machine with available artwork. Thus: multi-image when "default" artwork is missing, and single artwork when it's available.

Re: Information/Preview Pane questions/issue

Posted: Fri May 29, 2020 2:25 pm
by BabelSoft
I meant A/ show the "missing artwork" image.
Switching automatically back and forth between the multiview and the selected artwork would be confusing for anybody but you and me. So, I'll stay with A.