Removing all text apart from the game list. Can it be done?

[leefy]

I really want to get rid of all the clutter on my screen and just have box art and game names….The rest of this ratings rubbish and description seems a complete waste of time (to me anyway)….I’ve tried for a while now at chopping out chunks of codes and reloading to see what happened (That’s pretty much my ability level….Remove things or cut and paste from tutorials). I have managed to enlarge the box art to a size i really like and shuffle the game list about enough to know how to get that where i want…..But the rest of that “times played” and “ratings” junk just gets shoved to the bottom of my screen and won’t go away. I’ve pretty much deleted everything available in simple.xml and the individual emulators theme.xml….So why o why does it keep sitting there mocking me. -_^

[robertybob]

I hope you get answers, I’m sure you’re not the only person who’d be interested in this.

[Roo]

EmmulationStation has two modes for displaying game lists, basic and detailed.

If there are no images defined in a given system’s gamelist (for example /home/pi/.emulationstation/gamelists/nes/gamelist.xml) then it displays basic mode. If even one image is defined, it uses detailed mode.

Once ES decides to use detailed mode, it displays box art and other metadata (rating, release date, developer, players, etc.). I’m pretty sure this is hard coded into ES and not configurable. You can’t get box art without all the other metadata.

I would love for this to change – I too want box art without the other metadata.

I suppose you might be able to trick ES into drawing the other stuff off screen by messing with size and position parameters… Or maybe change the color to match the background…

[Roo]

OK, I’ve got a basic config for tricking ES. I was able to change the text color to match the background, move the (invisible) text to the bottom of the screen (since it was still being drawn on top of the box art), and replace the star images with blanks.

First, I changed all the text color to match the background. The background is /etc/emulationstation/themes/simple/art/mid.png which is hex color code 97999b. So I ended up with this section in /etc/emulationstation/themes/simple/simple.xml:

    <view name="basic, detailed">

		<text name="md_lbl_rating, md_lbl_releasedate, md_lbl_developer, md_lbl_publisher, md_lbl_genre, md_lbl_players, md_lbl_lastplayed, md_lbl_playcount">
			<color>97999b</color>
			<forceUppercase>1</forceUppercase>
			<fontPath>./art/OPENSANS-LIGHT.TTF</fontPath>
			<fontSize>0.03</fontSize>
			<size>0.12 0.04</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_rating, md_developer, md_publisher, md_genre, md_players, md_playcount">
			<color>97999b</color>
			<forceUppercase>1</forceUppercase>
			<fontPath>./art/OPENSANS-LIGHT.TTF</fontPath>
			<fontSize>0.03</fontSize>
			<size>0.14 0.04</size>
		</text>

		<text name="md_description">
			<color>97999b</color>
			<forceUppercase>1</forceUppercase>
			<fontPath>./art/OPENSANS-LIGHT.TTF</fontPath>
			<fontSize>0.03</fontSize>
		</text>
		
		<datetime name="md_releasedate, md_lastplayed">
			<color>97999b</color>
			<forceUppercase>1</forceUppercase>
			<fontPath>./art/OPENSANS-LIGHT.TTF</fontPath>
			<fontSize>0.03</fontSize>
			<size>0 0.04</size>
		</datetime>

Then I killed the stars by pointing the relevant lines to use mid.png instead of the star images. I moved all the metadata text down to the bottom of the screen and resized the box art and game list to use the available space better. Here’s my full /etc/emulationstation/themes/simple/snes/theme.xml

<theme>
    <formatVersion>3</formatVersion>
    <include>./../simple.xml</include>

	<view name="system">

		<image name="background" extra="true">
			<path>./art/snes_art_blur.jpg</path>
		</image>

		<image name="logo">
			<path>./art/snes.svg</path>
        </image>
		
		<helpsystem name="help">
			<textColor>00000077</textColor>
			<iconColor>00000077</iconColor>
		</helpsystem>
		
	</view>

	<view name="basic, detailed">
	
		<text name="system_name_1" extra="true">
			<text>Super Nintendo</text>
			<forceUppercase>1</forceUppercase>
			<size>0.45 0.08</size>
			<pos>0.527 0.01</pos>
			<color>7b7d7f</color>
			<fontPath>./../art/OPENSANS-LIGHT.TTF</fontPath>
			<fontSize>0.055</fontSize>
			<alignment>right</alignment>
		</text>
		
		<text name="system_name_2" extra="true">
			<text>Entertainment System</text>
			<forceUppercase>1</forceUppercase>
			<size>0.45 0.08</size>
			<pos>0.527 0.07</pos>
			<color>7b7d7f</color>
			<fontPath>./../art/OPENSANS-LIGHT.TTF</fontPath>
			<fontSize>0.055</fontSize>
			<alignment>right</alignment>
		</text>

		<image name="logo">
			<path>./art/snes.svg</path>
			<pos>0.025 0.0775</pos>
			<maxSize>0.55 0.1</maxSize>
			<origin>0 0.5</origin>
		</image>

	</view>

	<view name="basic">
	
		<textlist name="gamelist">
			<pos>0.025 0.22</pos>
			<size>0.950 0.68</size>
			<alignment>center</alignment>
			<horizontalMargin>0.01</horizontalMargin>
		</textlist>
		
	</view>

	<view name="detailed">
	
<!-- measuring rectangle
		<image name="measure" extra="true">
			<pos>0.08 0.33</pos>
			<origin>0 0</origin>
			<size>0.33 0.45</size>
			<path>./../art/white.png</path>
			<color>ff00ff</color>
		</image> 
-->

		<image name="md_image">
			<pos>0.08 0.33</pos>
 			<!--  <size>0.48 0.4</size>  -->
			<maxSize>0.45 0.45</maxSize>
			<origin>0 0</origin>
		</image>

		<text name="md_lbl_rating">
			<pos>0.292 0.9</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_releasedate">
			<pos>0.292 0.9</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_developer">
			<pos>0.292 0.9</pos>
			<size>0.133 0.04</size>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_publisher">
			<pos>0.292 0.9</pos>
			<size>0.133 0.04</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_genre">
			<pos>0.292 0.9</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_players">
			<pos>0.292 0.9</pos>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_lastplayed">
			<pos>0.292 0.9</pos>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_playcount">
			<pos>0.292 0.9</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_playcount">
			<pos>0.425 0.9</pos>
		</text>

		<datetime name="md_lastplayed">
			<pos>0.425 0.9</pos>
		</datetime>
		
		<text name="md_players">
			<pos>0.425 0.9</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_genre">
			<pos>0.425 0.9</pos>
		</text>

		<text name="md_publisher">
			<pos>0.425 0.9</pos>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_developer">
			<pos>0.425 0.9</pos>
		</text>
		
		<datetime name="md_releasedate">
			<pos>0.425 0.9</pos>
		</datetime>
		
		<rating name="md_rating">
			<pos>0.425 0.9</pos>
			<size>0.028 0.028</size>
			<filledPath>./../art/mid.png</filledPath>
			<unfilledPath>./../art/mid.png</unfilledPath>
		</rating>
		
		<text name="md_description">
			<size>0.52 0.3</size>
			<pos>0.025 0.9</pos>
		</text>
		
		<textlist name="gamelist">
			<pos>0.45 0.22</pos>
			<size>0.5 0.68</size>
			<alignment>left</alignment>
			<horizontalMargin>0.01</horizontalMargin>
		</textlist>

	</view>
	
</theme>

[robertybob]

Great work!!

[gentlemanfinn]

Hey. Just registered to write here.. I copypasted your work over and everything seemed right, but i noticed that the games infotext is still showing in the options bar at the botten. What i am trying to say is that the text is the right coller, but it is showing in the lighter optionsbar at the bottom.

Do you know how to fix this? I imagine that it is a question about the placement of the text.

Ps. I did this for other emulators and found it worked all around. I just had to change the emulator names in the last lage text.

Edit: I have found a solution, but it is not perfect..

In

/etc/emulationstation/themes/simple/simple.xml

I have changed the “footer” from true to false:

<image name=”footer” extra=”false”>
<pos>0 1</pos>
<origin>0 1</origin>
<size>1 0.065</size>
<path>./art/bright.png</path>

i can still see the “press that to do that”, but i just dont have the lighter coller in the bottom anymore.

[Roo]

I imagine it has to do with position of the various text on different resolutions. On my 1080p display I don’t get that. Try moving it up a bit – the various lines where you see

<pos>0.xx 0.9</pos>

change the Y value from 0.9 to 0.85 or even 0.8. You need to find that sweet spot where it’s between the box image you’re using and the bottom “menu” bar

[gentlemanfinn]

I actually like it better as it is now. I have maneged to make the pictures bigger. I have also played around with the console titles.. Instead og having the logo AND the name og the console in the top I have moved the logo in to the middle :)

[theslx]

I’ve been playing around with this as well and I found an easy way to get rid of the text all together. I had the text running in front of the box art as well.
I solved this by changing he pos and size of each md_ element i don’t wish to see to:

<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
<size>0.01 0.01</size>

I had to paste this about 18 times in a theme.xml for one system. It’s easily copy pasted further to other systems though.

This is my simple xml’s detailed view portion:

<view name="detailed">
	
<!-- <measuring rectangle 
		<image name="measure" extra="true">
			<pos>0.025 0.6</pos>
			<origin>0 0</origin>
			<size>0.125 0.301</size>
			<path>./../art/white.png</path>
			<color>ff00ff</color>
		</image> 
-->

		<image name="md_image">
			<pos>0.025 0.22</pos>
<!-- 			<size>0.12 0.301</size>
 -->			<maxSize>0.12 0.301</maxSize>
			<origin>0 0</origin>
		</image>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_rating">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_releasedate">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_developer">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_publisher">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_genre">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_lbl_players">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_lastplayed">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>

		<text name="md_lbl_playcount">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_playcount">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>

		<datetime name="md_lastplayed">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</datetime>
		
		<text name="md_players">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_genre">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>

		<text name="md_publisher">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<text name="md_developer">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<datetime name="md_releasedate">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</datetime>
		
		<rating name="md_rating">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
			<filledPath>./../art/mid.png</filledPath>
			<unfilledPath>./../art/mid.png</unfilledPath>
		</rating>
		
		<text name="md_description">
			<pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
			<size>0.01 0.01</size>
		</text>
		
		<textlist name="gamelist">
			<pos>0.615 0.22</pos>
			<size>0.359 0.68</size>
			<alignment>left</alignment>
			<horizontalMargin>0.01</horizontalMargin>
		</textlist>

	</view>
	

Hope this helps and thanks for the idea :)

[phrazelle]

Just a note on cleaner code, you can group similar elements into the same style definitions.

I.e. instead of this:

<text name="md_lbl_genre">
    <pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
    <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</text>
		
<text name="md_lbl_players">
    <pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
    <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</text>

<text name="md_lbl_lastplayed">
    <pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
    <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</text>

<text name="md_lbl_playcount">
    <pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
    <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</text>

This instead:

<text name="md_lbl_genre, md_lbl_playcount, md_lbl_lastplayed, md_lbl_players">
    <pos>0.05 0.15</pos>
    <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</text>

That way you have similar modifications for multiple elements in one place.

A further note on this – you can make System, Detailed and Basic view global modifications in the main theme’s XML file. For the Simple theme, you would add your code into the simple.xml file and it would affect every sub-page that is related to the theme. Modifications to individual system’s xml files would override these global parameters. The thought here is that you did the same coding on all of your system’s xml files when you only needed to define the properties once in the global xml file.

[phrazelle]

I am having the same issues as this thread, but all my labels and values for that info set are being displayed in the top left corner of the system select screen. They are completely missing from the Basic and Detailed views – only present in the System view.

Here is my code trying to get rid of them, placed in the global theme XML file. I tried giving them negative position values to set them off the screen and that is creating the issue…I think…

<view name="system, basic, detailed">

<text name="md_lbl_rating, md_lbl_releasedate, md_lbl_developer, md_lbl_publisher, md_lbl_genre, md_lbl_players, md_lbl_lastplayed, md_lbl_playcount, md_playcount, md_players, md_genre, md_publisher, md_developer">			
    <pos>-1 -1</pos>
    <size>0.001 0.001</size>
</text>
		
<datetime name="md_lastplayed, md_releasedate">
    <pos>-1 -1</pos>
    <size>0.001 0.001</size>
</datetime>
		
<rating name="md_rating">
    <pos>-1 -1</pos>
    <size>0.001 0.001</size>
</rating>

</view>

[phrazelle]

Update – I was able to hide all of these by putting their position at 1 1, so as follows in the global xml file:

<view name="system, basic, detailed">

<text name="md_lbl_developer, md_lbl_publisher, md_lbl_genre, md_lbl_players, md_lbl_playcount, md_lbl_releasedate, md_lbl_lastplayed, md_lbl_rating">
    <pos>1 1</pos>
    <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</text>
		
<text name="md_playcount, md_players, md_genre, md_publisher, md_developer">
    <pos>1 1</pos>
    <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</text>
		
<datetime name="md_lastplayed, md_releasedate">
   <pos>1 1</pos>
   <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</datetime>
		
<rating name="md_rating">
   <pos>1 1</pos>
   <size>0.01 0.01</size>
</rating>

</view>

This should work across the board and if tested functional you could probably call this resolved.

[ekdor]

Is there a equivalent for the css tag display:none;

I haven’t started on my theme yet. I’m interested in simplifying these pages a bit too.

[tanoshimi]

This really seems to be close to what I want, and apparently a lot of other people too. Maybe someone can just create a theme that only shows an image. I wanted to show just a custom image I made that is a combination of the Screenie and Marquis, with absolutely NO text, not even the games list (and if I could get rid of the commands at the bottom, I would).

In short, someone should make this into a theme that only shows screenies.

[attachment file=”mspacman.jpg”]

[attachment file=”Raiden.jpg”]

[sekazi]

[quote=102540]In short, someone should make this into a theme that only shows screenies.[/quote]

Attached is the theme. Just copy the logo into a game folder with the theme.xml. No need for any changes.

http://i.imgur.com/oneSWLS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/UUBOygC.jpg

[tanoshimi]

Excited to try this out!!!!

Can you walk me through how to get it to work? Like what files go in what directories, and what edits do I need to make to what config files?

[Author]

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