[JoaoHadouken]

please test them in Delphi

Sorry, but I don't know how to do it I don't know any programming language yet

 

[tabai]

I think Patrick is the one that's going to test them. Don't worry about that Joao.

 

[patrickvl]

Don't worry, I'll test them for you.
Rest assured I'll know where to find you when they are not all perfect

 

[JoaoHadouken]

Patrick, sorry for the delay to post the icons, but here they are... See if you like them :x3:

I have made them only using the standard sizes (256x256; 48x48; 32x32; 16x16) :thumb:

PS: I have changed the Dxbx icon... now it looks like a real chip... in my opinion

 

[patrickvl]

Well done!
The icons look good; I've added them to their respective applications, and they work just fine under Windows XP. Could someone confirm Vista and Windows 7 compatibility, please? (See the attachments).

PS: I've already added them to our public repository here too.

 

[tabai]

This is how it looks:

 

[JoaoHadouken]

You liked *-* Now I'm going to make the backdrops! For the 'About' screen I'm going to use the circuit board idea... and for the main screen, something like a portable video game console. I have already made the project in a paper! I hope you like it :thumb:

 

[JoaoHadouken]

Here is my suggestion for the Dxbx main screen, I know it doesn't look like a portable video game console... but I didn't know how to express my idea in words, but here it is See if you like it

PS: The dimensions of the rectangle of the game list and where Turok Evolution is being displayed are 640x480.

 

[patrickvl]

Oh, that's really nice!

Indeed, if you put all options behind buttons, the main menu wouldn't be needed anymore. But I do like to use shortcut keys, and a menu makes this more intuitive. But perhaps a 'hide menu' option could do the trick. Good of you to include an explanation too, btw.

Shadow_tj and me where wondering how it would look if we integrate the XdkTracker functionality right into this interface. (That would mean one less executable to maintain, which could be a 'good thing' (TM).)

However, I do think we would also want to add filtering capacilites then, especially if I compare this to NDScrc and OfflineList, that have grown to showing thousands of titles.

Sure, there's a difference between 'having' the game, and 'knowing' about it;

• When you have it, it could be emulated, and it's resources could be explored too (which we currently do with XbeExplorer, but which functionality could also be integrated right into Dxbx).
• When we know about it, all we can show is the info that has been dumped (which is currently only the XBE header info, so we don't even have an image to show).

PS: There's also a problem with transitions - what if you had the game, but Dxbx can't find it anymore? And what if before we only knew about the game, but now obtained a copy of it? (That would mean matching up the new titles.) Food for thought...

PS2 : Your idea of embedding the game into a frame is doable, I even suspect the contents can be automatically resized to whatever dimensions we give to it. Whether it's desirable seems to be seen though...

PS3 : Perhaps you could be inspired by this header too?

 

[JoaoHadouken]

When I wrote "PERHAPS THIS BAR ISN'T NECESSARY"... my intention was that the user wouldn't need to use that bar anymore, because all the functions are already in buttons, my intention wasn't take it off from the emulator, but I liked the idea of 'Hide/Show the main menu'

PS: There's also a problem with transitions - what if you had the game, but Dxbx can't find it anymore? And what if before we only knew about the game, but now obtained a copy of it? (That would mean matching up the new titles.) Food for thought...

I didn't understand this text above really well :/

PS2: Your idea of embedding the game into a frame is doable, I even suspect the contents can be automatically resized to whatever dimensions we give to it. Whether it's desirable seems to be seen though...

Let me express my idea in this case: in the Video Configuration window, there might be an option where the user can put which resolution (s)he wants for the windowed resolution. If the windowed resolution selected is 640x480, the game will be displayed at the Dxbx main screen, but if the resolution selected exceeds 640x480, another window could be automatically opened to display the game! Would this idea be possible?

Anyway, I'll improve the design of the emulator as I have understood (inspired in the header you showed and trying to include XDKTracker functionality into the interface). :thumb:

 

[patrickvl]

If we build a 'Hide/Show main menu' option, it doesn't need to have a prominent button - an item in the popup menu will suffice (if I can get it to work at all, that is ).

As for the resolution - I don't really know. Assume for now that the embedded frame view may work (if I can fix the scaling issue), and that any size above that will cover the entire Dxbx window (so while emulating, the Dxbx interface will be completely covered by the Xbox screen).

I'm also investigating how we can add a pause button to the caption bar, and how we can extend the system menu of Dxbx, to set addition options at runtime (like refresh rate, controller swapping, that sort of thing).

But please understand, that actual emulation is the most important part of Dxbx, and that part requires most of my available time right now. Enriching the GUI is nice, but not my top priority. I think having a consistent set of icons and a functional backdrop is already much an improvement over our current situation.
For now, I'll try to focus on emulation aspects (like symbol-detection, which I hope to improve a bit the following weeks) so that Dxbx can start to emulate more complicated software than the few small demos that now run (somewhat).

Also, you should know that Shadow_tj wants to spend some time on GUI aspects, so I'll ask him to chime in here and continue working out the GUI design with you.

And of course : don't hesitate to ask if you need my input/help!

 

[JoaoHadouken]

I'm also investigating how we can add a pause button to the caption bar

Project64 has a function that pauses the CPU by pressing the F2 button, in this page there is the source code of the v1.4 and perhaps the 'pause function' had already been implemented. So you can have an idea of how you can add the pause button in Dxbx.

But please understand, that actual emulation is the most important part of Dxbx, and that part requires most of my available time right now. Enriching the GUI is nice, but not my top priority. I think having a consistent set of icons and a functional backdrop is already much an improvement over our current situation.
For now, I'll try to focus on emulation aspects (like symbol-detection, which I hope to improve a bit the following weeks) so that Dxbx can start to emulate more complicated software than the few small demos that now run (somewhat).

Everything would be easier if I know how to program in Delphi So I could work on the GUI aspects while you are focusing the emulation aspects, but this isn't possible at the moment :/

Also, you should know that Shadow_tj wants to spend some time on GUI aspects, so I'll ask him to chime in here and continue working out the GUI design with you.

So I'll spend my time making the background of the 'About window' while Shadow_tj don't come back to the forums...

 

[JoaoHadouken]

I've done a sketch of the design for the "About window" in a paper, but, before I start drawing, I need some information:

• When did the Dxbx project begin? (only the year)

• Who are the contributors?

• Is the special thanks only for ChecKeR?

Thanks :thumb:

 

[patrickvl]

Well according to this http://forums.ngemu.com/dxbx-official-discussion/88114-dxbx-cxbx-delphi-port.html#post1121824, Shadow_tj started Dxbx on April 12, 2007.

The first source-code SourceForge.net Repository - [dxbx] Revision 1 dates from March 23, 2008.

Shadow_tj is the most active contributer (almost 400 commits until now), I joined in May 22, 2008 and commited about 300 change already. Zomby2D did some work too in the beginning, others helped in various other ways.

ChecKeR I don't know about - that's before my time, maybe you should ask shadow_tj.

Here the details from our SourceForge.net Repository - [dxbx] View of /Readme.txt :

Special thanks
--------------
We would like to send our regards to :

Caustik and the other members of the Cxbx project, for creating the original source code of Cxbx!
Without this code and amazing high tech cxbx application, we would never have started this project.

Robert Yates for his Xbox FLIRT files.

The Jedi project members, for providing us with a wonderfull library of high-quality Delphi code!

N1ghtjar and NexXxus for making lots of xbe dumps for filling the XDKTracker.

Kingis85 for donating a lot a xbox games !!

Contributors
------------
Contributors to the Dxbx project are (in alphabetical order) :

PCucho (from Argentina) - XIso translation
PatrickvL (from Holland) - Coding Style, Relocation, Kernel API's, Function detection, XBE Loading, XBE Explorer
Shadow_tj (from Holland) - Main Cxbx translation
Wayo (from Guatemala) - GetProcAddress trick with CxbxKrnlInit, (Unswizzled) Icon extraction
Zomby (from Canada) - Vista compatibility, lots of fixups

Recently, Defiance helped us too.

 

[tabai]

hmm... to be completely honest, I'm not sure those mock ups are as good as the icons. Maybe you can get some inspiration here: XBGM# Xbox Game Manager. I feel the interface is too saturated with icons, and even the logo looks like four more icons.

I think DxBx also needs another logo. The one you made looks good, but I feel its too big.

I really like Dolphin's GUI, maybe you can take some ideas from it?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Dolphin_(Emulator)_screenshot.png

Or something like one of the several Wii Backup Loaders:
http://cdn2.ioffer.com/img/item/145/280/945/lCwRBEUk8kkUEEh.jpg
http://img.youtube.com/vi/_0b8BAXLLSA/0.jpg

Can we play with 3D ideas and something that may be controlled solely with an xbox controller?

Just ideas...

 

[JoaoHadouken]

I liked your ideas... really helpful... I'll try to make the mock ups based in those links you have suggested... thanks for the ideas! The only problem with the ideas is the programming part... specially this: "Can we play with 3D ideas and something that may be controlled solely with an xbox controller?". As I have already said, if I knew how to program in Delphi... I could spend ALL my time making the GUI, while Shadow_tj and PatrickvL are focusing in the main emulation, but I don't know programming languages yet :/

PS: My first idea was to make something like the Dolphin's GUI, but I wanted to be original and make a thing different from other emulators/programs...

 

[tabai]

I know. Shadow_tj is the 3D guy, we need to know what he thinks. But maybe making it 3D is putting too much effort into something that is not completely necessary...

Edit: I'm looking forward to see your new mockups

 

[patrickvl]

A 3D interface? Well, I don't really see that happening anytime soon. We might sooner run a dashboard than that! (And no, that's no where near, either).

As for the suggestions of tabai : I really like the XBGM screenshot! It can double as a database and launcher. (The Dolphin screenshot is not very different).

It doesn't give much freedom for a design though - the only thing I can think of, is using a backdrop of some sorts. (Implementing that is also a bit tricky, as I can't seem to find a good open source grid component with support for a background image.)

 

[JoaoHadouken]

Here is my other suggestion for the Dxbx backdrop, I hope you like it!

I still insist on the idea of the resolution: if the resolution selected exceeds 640x480, another window is opened, and not cover the entire Dxbx window. Dolphin has an option for open a new window or render to the main window, and PCSX2 always opens a new window for playing the game. Please, do not interpret me wrong: I'm not comparing the main emulation aspects from other emulators with Dxbx, I'm comparing the programs themselves.

 

[JoaoHadouken]

Patrick, I'll take a while to post the backdrop of the window 'about' because I need to learn some effects for my idea be like I want. :thumb: