Request: Multiple Artworks (and more)

[Psycho-A]

Hi, mGalaxy developers!
I'm very glad to use your wonderful frontend, and want to suggest some improvements

Since services like EmuMovies suggest a lot of useful artwork stuff, it would be nice if you made support for multiple artwork types:
- box art (may contain 2 or 3 types: front, back, 3D-view);
- cart art;
- title snaps.

In this regard, I propose to implement the following functions:
- make support for auto-slideshow between existing artwork types (switchable and with various time interval);
- make manually switching between game artworks, including movies (add buttons Next, Prev);
- make support for zipped image archives (f.e. all titles in "titles.zip" archive) to reduce hard disk usage and filesystem load.

I also suggest to consider "backgrounds" artwork, that mean the program's window background will be filled with an existing image (maybe transparent, blurred or darkened - as you wish). Moreover, we can make program able to consider manuals (pdf, doc etc) that mean it will be open an external software if we push appropriate hotkey or option.

The next wish (sorry, not very good to make new thread for such little things) - it would be nice to display game information from databases under snap field (like genre, company, clones list) and also played times count.

For the future: add support for merged parent/clone romsets in 7-zip archives (make popup rom list on launching or even don't make it since the much of emus can do this itself).

I understand, it very much to realize in time, so I think, the switchable artworks and game infos are more foreground suggestions
Best regards, Psycho-A.

P.S. About bugs:
Please, make 'Enter' and 'Space' buttons in GUI active - now we can't run games or options via them even if we set them in configuration menu (they works, but not properly).

// Sorry for my English %)

[mgalaxy]

it would be nice if you made support for multiple artwork types

This option will more than likely be available in the next major mGalaxy update! ;-)

[wescotte]

One more artwork related suggestion.

Rather than going through the hassle of downloading massive collections of premade art perhaps you could automate the process. If there is no gameplay screenshot for a rom it should just make one the next time you play it. When you launch the game mGalaxy waits a random amount of time (say between 2-5 minutes) and then takes a screenshot and names it according to the rom you are playing and puts it in the proper folder. That way if you select it again in the future it has a gameplay image to display. If you don't like the image you could add a button/function to tell it to make a new one next time the game runs.

You could extend this to video too but I suspect it would be a pretty big performance hit capturing video while playing a game. However, maybe if you limit it to say 15 FPS it could still work.