Using screenshots for control directions

[RayB]

Welp, as some of you may know, I'm using a simple though limited front end for my cab. (GameLauncher). I had the idea to draw controls instructions right into the screen shots of the games. GL shows the screen shot dimmed in the background (any intensity you set it to) and with a button press it will show the screenshot full intensity with no menu on top.

Here's a test image I whipped up. So far it looks really good, but it means I have to manually edit hundreds of snaps:

(If anyone has any comment. Perhaps pitfalls I am missing, please chime in. Also I would appreciate if a source already exists for 640x480 screen caps with no white borders???)

[namedos]

That is a very good idea.   :)I like simple solutions.  Let us know if you find any shortcuts and how it works out.  I'm running around 100 games on mine but the FE does show screenshots and this would be a great way to show what the controllers do.

Thanks Ray!

[Wade]

I have done this before but only with a small number of games, like a dozen or two.

You can make it easier by putting everything in Layers in Photoshop, including the X's, buttons, etc. and just hiding the layers you don't need, and saving a Copy.

This will also make it so all your controls are lined up for each shot, so when scrolling through the menu, the controls look to be static on screen, for the most part.

I have also wanted to rebuild GameLauncher, but I couldn't find all the parts he used.  Rule #1 if you make software available to others, be sure to make all the libraries available to.  Most of his weblinks to libraries are dead, and a web search couldn't turn up an compatible versions of some of them.

Wade

[SirPoonga]

I wonder if you could use johnny5, if it supports outputting transparencies.  Johnny5 does do batch control pic creation.  Ask HowardC about that.
Then I'd think it would be photoshop script to combine that with the screenshot.

The question is, how do you handle horizontal vs vertical gameS?

[Howard_Casto]

I could add support, but with respect I doubt I will.  It's quite visually confusing to do it the way you have depicted due to different shots having different colors and patterns.  One scheme will be readable in one shot and disappear in the next. 

Use the ahk scripts or something similar to have the control layout display in-game.  This will make for a far more ledgible/practical soluiton.

[brian23]

Couldn't the same be accomplished less intrusively by using the catver.ini file? Maybe you could label each button on your CP such as Joy 1, But 1, But 2, etc. Then alter catver.ini to say something like "For this game use Joy 1, But 1, But 2, But 3". It already tells you what type of controls that are used: Trackball, 8way, etc. Why not go the extra mile? Just a thought.

[RayB]

I could add support, but with respect I doubt I will.  It's quite visually confusing to do it the way you have depicted due to different shots having different colors and patterns.  One scheme will be readable in one shot and disappear in the next. 

Nope. Take a good look. The controls have a black feathered background to them.

[brian23]

I just remembered... CPViewer does something similar by allowing you to hit a hotkey in your frontend to tell you what controls are used. Works with Mamewah:
http://home.comcast.net/~cpviewer/downloads.htm

[Buddabing]

Welp, as some of you may know, I'm using a simple though limited front end for my cab. (GameLauncher). I had the idea to draw controls instructions right into the screen shots of the games. GL shows the screen shot dimmed in the background (any intensity you set it to) and with a button press it will show the screenshot full intensity with no menu on top.

Here's a test image I whipped up. So far it looks really good, but it means I have to manually edit hundreds of snaps:

(If anyone has any comment. Perhaps pitfalls I am missing, please chime in. Also I would appreciate if a source already exists for 640x480 screen caps with no white borders???)

So what you want, then, is controls artwork with no background image? I suppose I can add support for that in CPMaker.