Creating Custom Mamewah Layouts

[Josh]

I have saw lots of really good looking custom Mamewah layouts around.  How are these created?  Is there a good website that would help me with that?  I opened up the Mamewah layout designer, but couldn't figure out how to do anything.  Could someone please help me here and give me some pointers

Thanks

[screaming]

I have saw lots of really good looking custom Mamewah layouts around.  How are these created?  Is there a good website that would help me with that?  I opened up the Mamewah layout designer, but couldn't figure out how to do anything.  Could someone please help me here and give me some pointers

  The very first thing you need to do is get a graphics program that will allow you to make a new image and save it as a .JPG.  On Windows you have a program called Paint, but this isn't nearly good enough. If you're cheap but don't mind spending the days it will take to get used to it, get Gimp. If you're less than cheap but not rollin' in the dough, get Paint Shop Pro.  Otherwise, Photoshop is the creme de la creme in this field.

  Second, you need to figure out where you want to place stuff on the screen. Give your image the same dimensions as your MAMEWAH resolution (800 width and 600 height, for example).  Give it a nice background.. maybe some borders around the different elements.. Maybe a couple game characters from games you like.. Whatever you want!  When you're done, just save it as a .JPG file.  MAKE SURE YOU SAVE IT WITH THE RIGHT NAME. Read the layout.txt trhat came with MAMEWAH (in your MAMEWAH/docs directory).

  NOTE: That part is all ambiguous because it's 100% up to you how you lay out your elements.  A little artistic talent can't hurt..

  Next, you're going to use that file as your background in your MAMEWAH skin. Don't worry, this is the easy part   Open up the MAMEWAH layout designer and go to Background->Image and find your new image that you created. Now for each element that you want on your skin, go to Display Objects->Main Form and make sure it's checked.  Then place it where you want and how big you want it.  When you're done, save it with the right name in your layout directory. Again, make sure to read that layout.txt file.

  That's about it, really. It's not too hard.  In fact, I find that the hardest part is coming up with ideas for the actual skin layout!  When I start with a blank white canvas in Paint Shop Pro, my mind automatically goes blank *shrug*

I hope this helps..

-Steve
P.S.  Min, feel free to use this (or any other post of mine) as a base for any docs/faq you need.  They're all yours, m'man.