RetroFE 0.5 beta has now been released

[emb]

We are thrilled to announce that RetroFE 0.5 beta is available for download! We have been working very hard at this release and decided that now is the time to hand out the latest version to the public.

If you have not heard of RetroFE, it is an (open source) frontend for arcade cabinets that runs on both linux and windows. The intent of RetroFE is to be customizable and easy.

Website: retrofe.com
Forum: retrofe.com/forum
Wiki: retrofe.com/wiki   (work in progress)
Source: http://bitbucket.org/teamretro/retrofe

Here is a showcase video showing a couple concept themes:

(thanks to timmyb for creating this video)

A steam-punk theme created by a member on the RetroFE forums



Important note: This version is incompatible with all previous versions of RetroFE


New Features:
Content management

• New directory structure for managing artwork and ROMs
• A fully setup “Sega Genesis” collection with artwork for one game
• Command line option to create a new collection (retrofe.exe –createcollection “your collection name”)
• New database design, data scraping for hyperlists and mamelists
• Cleaner log.txt output
• Easy system setup
• Support for %ITEM_COLLECTION_NAME%, %BASE_MEDIA_PATH%, and %ITEM_COLLECTION_NAME% for collection settings.conf file paths
• baseMediaPath and baseItemPath setting option

New layouts to showcase new capabilities

• Default layout – created by timmyb
• Mamed layout – created by phulshof
• Updated splash screens (now as part of the layout itself)

Improved fonts

• Improved font spacing
• Support for multiple font colors

Enhanced menu system

• Multiple menus can be displayed at once
• new vertical menu option (eliminates the need to specify individual points)
• New feel when scrolling (scrolling feels more like a the clicking of a gun)
• Menu arguments to control menu scroll speed
• Up/down/left/right scrolling options

New layout display options

• New tag to display the current status of RetroFE
• New tag to display boxes (container tag)
• tag option to display a picture of a collection
• option to display images and text for manufacturer, genre, year, number buttons and number players
• option to display text if image was not found
• Fixes for min/max scaling

A strong special thanks goes out to the main development team in their huge contributions towards the project (in particular timmyb, obiwantje, phulshof, warham, and myself).

Enjoy!

[emb]

0.5.144 update has been uploaded to http://retrofe.com/download.php

Features for release include:

Bug Fix: emulators (like mame) were not working. Emulators now correctly launch from the current directory of emulator instead of from RetroFE.

BugFix: exitOnFirstPageBack now works

BugFix: overriding media paths for collections was not working

BugFix: issues with menu (existed only in 0.5.138 which has been removed)

BugFix: RetroFE sometimes hangs at startup (potential bugfix)

Re-added support for subcollections
Removed several more dependencies from needing microsofts c++ redistributable

[thomas_surles]

This looks promising.

[Loafmeister]

Indeed, also kudos on the great logo!  Congrats on the release, will need to check this out.

[emb]

Version 0.5.148 has been released. Features include:

Bug fix: Press back when scrolling causes menu to misbehave (or sometimes crash)

Feature: Artwork is checked using the ROM name instead of the full name (i.e. "mslug.png" instead of "Metal Slug.png")

Feature: Display artwork for parent ROM if artwork does not exist for the clone

Feature: new list.includeMissingItems parameter for collections settings. Set to true to allow items from include.txt to show up in list even if ROM does not exist (i.e. useful for merged ROM sets)

[emb]

Version 0.5.151 has been released. Changes include:

Feature: Games are now ordered by their actual game name instead of their ROM name.

New layout: Added preliminary Pandora concept layout (created by phulshof)

[emb]

To help with any palettes I have uploaded a (poorly recorded) video of it running on my linux cab.

RetroFE running mamed theme: http://youtube.com/watch?v=u8A6oQdQxKk

[bosco]

What a nice start.  I look forward to following the progress.  Can you tell me what electronic sounding song that is playing on the 'showcase' video?  Me  likes 

[emb]

RetroFE version 0.5.154 has been released. Features include:

Bug Fix: Any keypress would launch game or cause random scrolling (after returning from launching game)

Bug Fix: Fixed screen focus issue in linux when returning from launching game

Bug Fix: Linux now launches games from the same folder of the emulator executable

[emb]

RetroFE 0.5.156 has been released. Features include:

Feature: Raspberry Pi 2 is now (partially) supported (video playback is slow)
Feature: Variable path expansion for Linux
Bug Fix: Improved folder path support for windows
Bug Fix: List was immediately scrolls when returning from game

Visit the retrofe.com website for the download link.

[keilmillerjr]

Raspberry pi 2 support? Very cool!

[emb]

RetroFE 0.5.162 has been released. Features include:

Feature: Alphabetical scrolling support
Feature: Remembers your last highlighted item when re-entering a menu
Feature: Improved artwork scanning (scans for more variants)

Visit the retrofe.com website for the download link.

[lettuce]

Any ideas if this will be ported to Openelec (Kodi/Xbmc)?

[emb]

No