From f35fbd21c5f37237e2fe799e3126b1d445f86f26 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Leon Styhre Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:06:34 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Documentation update. --- CHANGELOG.md | 14 ++++++++++++++ THEMES-DEV.md | 8 ++++---- USERGUIDE-DEV.md | 16 ++++++++-------- 3 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-) diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md index 77d4e542d..4b7e9e6ac 100644 --- a/CHANGELOG.md +++ b/CHANGELOG.md @@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ ### Release overview +The 2.0 release introduces multiple fundamental changes to the application, most notably a new theme engine with various new concepts. The traditional view styles (basic/detailed/video/grid) have been replaced with only a system and gamelist view in addition to _variants_, which are essentially theme profiles. These are much more flexible than view styles and can be freely defined by the theme author. The new engine is also fully generalized and almost all theme elements can be used anywhere and in unlimited numbers. + +Theme variants, color schemes, aspect ratios and transitions can now be defined by the theme author and are user-selectable from within the menu system. In addition to all this new theme functionality the application is still backward compatible with legacy theme sets. + +The renderer has been modernized and rewritten and while still using OpenGL it's now fully shader-based instead of using a fixed function pipeline as was the case in previous releases. Rendering performance has been greatly improved in some areas such as post processing (used for the video player scanline and blur shaders among other things). A new SVG rendering library (LunaSVG) has also been introduced which offers much better file compatibility than before, while doing it with better performance. + +Overall application performance has been greatly improved with faster startup times, less latency and lower CPU utilization. Many bugs have been fixed and multiple quality of life improvements have been made. Support for a lot more standalone emulators is also included with this release, see below for more details. + ### Detailed list of changes * Made fundamental changes to the application logic by removing most view styles and replacing them with a new theme variants concept @@ -78,6 +86,12 @@ * (Linux) Added FinalBurn Neo standalone as an alternative emulator for the arcade, cps, fbneo, mame, neogeo, neogeocd and neogeocdjp systems * (Windows) Added FinalBurn Neo standalone as an alternative emulator for the arcade, cps, fbneo, mame and neogeo system * Set DOSBox-X and DOSBox Staging to start in the game directory so per-game dosbox.conf files can be used +* Changed the fullname for the atomiswave system from "Atomiswave" to "Sammy Corporation Atomiswave" +* Changed the fullname for the bbcmicro system from "BBC Micro" to "Acorn Computers BBC Micro" +* Changed the fullname for the colecovision system from "ColecoVision" to "Coleco ColecoVision" +* Changed the fullname for the dragon32 system from "Dragon 32" to "Dragon Data Dragon 32" +* Changed the fullname for the samcoupe system from "SAM Coupé" to "MGT SAM Coupé" +* Changed the fullname for the vectrex system from "Vectrex" to "Smith Engineering Vectrex" * (macOS) Added an additional find rule entry for DOSBox-X as the binary name has been changed * (Linux) Added Flatpak support for Mednafen using the Mednaffe package * (Linux) Added Flatpak support for Solarus using the Solarus Launcher package diff --git a/THEMES-DEV.md b/THEMES-DEV.md index 80ddd3176..aa47d9fa9 100644 --- a/THEMES-DEV.md +++ b/THEMES-DEV.md @@ -568,13 +568,13 @@ Here's an example configuration: The `name` attribute is mandatory and it must be set to a unique value for each profile. Any string can be used except the three reserved values `builtin-instant`, `builtin-slide` and `builtin-fade`. -The `selectable` property which is set to `true` by default defines whether the transition profile can be selected from the _Theme transition animations_ entry on the _UI Settings_ menu. The `label` defines the label to show there. If no label value is set then a default _Theme profile_ label will be applied. +The `selectable` property which is set to `true` by default defines whether the transitions profile can be selected from the _Theme transitions_ entry on the _UI Settings_ menu. The `label` defines the label to show there. If no label value is set then a default _Theme profile_ label will be applied. At least one of the six transition types must be defined or the `transitions` entry is not considered valid. Any non-defined types will be set to `instant` with the exception of `startupToSystem` which will be set to the same value as `systemToSystem` and `startupToGamelist` which will be set to the same value as `gamelistToGamelist`. The profiles will be listed in the _UI Settings_ menu in the order that they have been defined, and the first profile (regardless of whether it's set as user-selectable or not), will be used if the _Automatic_ entry has been selected, unless a per-variant configuration is defined in the theme configuration. -In addition to defining custom transition profiles it's possible to suppress the built-in profiles. For example slide transitions will look very broken with some theme designs so in such cases it could make sense to disable this animation type altogether. Suppressing a profile simply means its entry will not show up under _Theme transition animations_ in the _UI Settings_ menu, making it impossible to select and use it. +In addition to defining custom transition profiles it's possible to suppress the built-in profiles. For example slide transitions will look very broken with some theme designs so in such cases it could make sense to disable this animation type altogether. Suppressing a profile simply means its entry will not show up under _Theme transitions_ in the _UI Settings_ menu, making it impossible to select and use it. Here's an example where all the built-in transition profiles have been disabled: @@ -588,7 +588,7 @@ Here's an example where all the built-in transition profiles have been disabled: Regardless of whether any custom profiles have been created or whether the built-in profiles have been disabled there will always be an `Automatic` entry added to the _Theme transition animations_ menu. If no theme profiles have been defined and all built-in profiles have been suppressed, then the `Automatic` entry will be the only available option. In this case `instant` animations will by applied to all transition types. -Finally it's possible to apply theme-defined transition profiles on a per-variant basis. This requires that the user has selected the `Automatic` profile from the _Theme transition animations_ menu as selecting any other profile will override whatever is defined in the theme configuration. Note that the built-in transition profiles can't be used in this manner, only profiles defined in `capabilities.xml`. +Finally it's possible to apply theme-defined transition profiles on a per-variant basis. This requires that the user has selected the `Automatic` profile from the _Theme transitions_ menu as selecting any other profile will override whatever is defined in the theme configuration. Note that the built-in transition profiles can't be used in this manner, only profiles defined in `capabilities.xml`. ```xml @@ -2097,7 +2097,7 @@ Properties: - Valid values: - `name` - Game name. - `description` - Game description. Should be combined with the `container` property in most cases. - - `rating` - The numerical representation of the game rating, for example `3` or `4.5`. + - `rating` - The numerical representation of the game rating, for example `3` or `4.5` - `developer` - Developer. - `publisher` - Publisher. - `genre` - Genre. diff --git a/USERGUIDE-DEV.md b/USERGUIDE-DEV.md index 134f8c0f6..50c75541b 100644 --- a/USERGUIDE-DEV.md +++ b/USERGUIDE-DEV.md @@ -2280,7 +2280,7 @@ If the theme author has included multiple color schemes, then these can be selec Non-legacy theme sets could optionally be optimized for different screen aspect ratios. ES-DE supports 16:9, 16:10, 3:2, 4:3, 5:4, 21:9 and 32:9 in both horizontal and vertical orientation, but it's completely up to the theme author which of these are actually supported by the theme set. It's normally best to leave this setting at _Automatic_ in which case ES-DE will automatically select the aspect ratio that most closely matches the screen resolution. The _Automatic_ option is however only available if the theme set supports at least two aspect ratios. -**Theme transition animations** +**Theme transitions** Transition animations to play when navigating between gamelists, between systems in the System view and between the system and gamelist views. It's normally recommended to keep this setting at its default _Automatic_ value as that allows per-variant transitions, assuming the theme author has included support for that in the theme set. All other values than _Automatic_ are optional as decided by the theme author. For example there could be multiple theme-defined transition entries to choose from, or there could be the possibility to make a selection between the built-in _Instant_, _Slide_ and _Fade_ transitions (although these options could have been disabled from the theme configuration). @@ -2288,7 +2288,7 @@ Transition animations to play when navigating between gamelists, between systems Sets the view style to _Automatic, Basic, Detailed or Video_ for legacy themes. See the description [above](USERGUIDE-DEV.md#gamelist-view) in this document for more information regarding view styles. _Variants_ have replaced gamelist view styles for non-legacy themes so this option will be grayed out if a modern theme set has been selected. -**Legacy transition animations** +**Legacy theme transitions** Transition animations to play when navigating between gamelists, between systems on the system view carousel and between the system and gamelist views. Can be set to _Instant_, _Slide_ or _Fade_. Only applicable for legacy themes as current theme sets let the theme author define transition animations in a more fine-grained manner. Therefore this option will be grayed out if a non-legacy theme set has been selected. @@ -3079,8 +3079,8 @@ The **@** symbol indicates that the emulator is _deprecated_ and will be removed | atarilynx | Atari Lynx | Handy | Beetle Lynx,
Mednafen **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | | | | atarist | Atari ST [also STE and Falcon] | Hatari | | | | | atarixe | Atari XE | Atari800 | Atari800 **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | No | | -| atomiswave | Atomiswave | Flycast | Flycast **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | | | -| bbcmicro | BBC Micro | _Placeholder_ | | | | +| atomiswave | Sammy Corporation Atomiswave | Flycast | Flycast **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | | | +| bbcmicro | Acorn Computers BBC Micro | _Placeholder_ | | | | | c64 | Commodore 64 | VICE x64sc Accurate | VICE x64sc Accurate **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
VICE x64 Fast,
VICE x64 SuperCPU,
VICE x128,
Frodo | No | Single disk, tape or cartridge image in root folder and/or multi-disc images in separate folder | | cavestory | Cave Story (NXEngine) | NXEngine | | | | | cdimono1 | Philips CD-i | SAME CDi | CDi 2015 | Yes | Single .bin/.cue pair in root folder | @@ -3088,13 +3088,13 @@ The **@** symbol indicates that the emulator is _deprecated_ and will be removed | chailove | ChaiLove Game Engine | ChaiLove | | | | | channelf | Fairchild Channel F | FreeChaF | | | | | coco | Tandy Color Computer | XRoar CoCo 2 NTSC **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | XRoar CoCo 2 PAL **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | Yes | See the specific _Tandy Color Computer_ section elsewhere in this guide | -| colecovision | ColecoVision | blueMSX | Gearcoleco,
openMSX **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
ares **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | Yes | Single archive or ROM file in root folder | +| colecovision | Coleco ColecoVision | blueMSX | Gearcoleco,
openMSX **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
ares **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | Yes | Single archive or ROM file in root folder | | cps | Capcom Play System | MAME - Current | MAME 2010,
MAME 2003-Plus,
MAME 2000,
MAME **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
FinalBurn Neo,
FinalBurn Neo **(Standalone)** [UW*],
FB Alpha 2012,
FB Alpha 2012 CPS-1,
FB Alpha 2012 CPS-2,
FB Alpha 2012 CPS-3 | Depends | See the specific _Arcade and Neo Geo_ section elsewhere in this guide | | daphne | Daphne Arcade LaserDisc Emulator | Hypseus [Daphne] **(Standalone)** [UW*] | Hypseus [Singe] **(Standalone)** [UW*] | Yes for Daphne games | See the specific _Hypseus Singe (Daphne)_ section elsewhere in this guide | | desktop | Desktop Applications | _Suspend ES-DE_ | _Keep ES-DE running_ | | See the specific _Ports and desktop applications_ section elsewhere in this guide | | doom | Doom | PrBoom | Boom 3 [UW],
Boom 3 xp [UW],
_Shortcut or script_ | No | | | dos | DOS (PC) | DOSBox-Pure | DOSBox-Core,
DOSBox-SVN,
DOSBox-X **(Standalone)**,
DOSBox Staging **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | No | See the specific _DOS / PC_ section elsewhere in this guide | -| dragon32 | Dragon 32 | XRoar Dragon 32 **(Standalone)** | XRoar Dragon 64 **(Standalone)** | Yes | See the specific _Dragon 32 and Tano Dragon_ section elsewhere in this guide | +| dragon32 | Dragon Data Dragon 32 | XRoar Dragon 32 **(Standalone)** | XRoar Dragon 64 **(Standalone)** | Yes | See the specific _Dragon 32 and Tano Dragon_ section elsewhere in this guide | | dreamcast | Sega Dreamcast | Flycast | Flycast **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
Redream **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | No | In separate folder | | easyrpg | EasyRPG Game Engine | EasyRPG | EasyRPG Player **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | No | See the specific _EasyRPG Game Engine_ section elsewhere in this guide | | epic | Epic Games Store | Epic Games Store application **(Standalone)** | | No | Shortcut in root folder | @@ -3168,7 +3168,7 @@ The **@** symbol indicates that the emulator is _deprecated_ and will be removed | psp | Sony PlayStation Portable | PPSSPP | PPSSPP **(Standalone)** | No | Single .iso file in root folder | | psvita | Sony PlayStation Vita | Vita3K **(Standalone)** [UW*] | | Yes | See the specific _Sony PlayStation Vita_ section elsewhere in this guide | | psx | Sony PlayStation | Beetle PSX | Beetle PSX HW,
PCSX ReARMed,
SwanStation,
DuckStation **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
Mednafen **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | Yes | .chd file in root folder for single-disc games, .m3u playlist in root folder for multi-disc games | -| samcoupe | SAM Coupé | SimCoupé **(Standalone)** | | No | Single archive or ROM file in root folder | +| samcoupe | MGT SAM Coupé | SimCoupé **(Standalone)** | | No | Single archive or ROM file in root folder | | satellaview | Nintendo Satellaview | Snes9x - Current | Snes9x 2010,
Snes9x **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
bsnes,
bsnes-hd,
bsnes-mercury Accuracy,
bsnes **(Standalone)** [UW*],
Mesen-S | | | | saturn | Sega Saturn | Beetle Saturn | Kronos [UW],
YabaSanshiro [UW],
Yabause,
Mednafen **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
SSF **(Standalone)** [W*] | Yes | In separate folder interpreted as a file, with .m3u playlist if multi-disc game | | saturnjp | Sega Saturn [Japan] | Beetle Saturn | Kronos [UW],
YabaSanshiro [UW],
Yabause,
Mednafen **(Standalone)** [UMW*],
SSF **(Standalone)** [W*] | Yes | In separate folder interpreted as a file, with .m3u playlist if multi-disc game | @@ -3199,7 +3199,7 @@ The **@** symbol indicates that the emulator is _deprecated_ and will be removed | to8 | Thomson TO8 | Theodore | | | | | trs-80 | Tandy TRS-80 | sdl2trs DOS Diskette **(Standalone)** [UW*] | sdl2trs Bootable Diskette **(Standalone)** [UW*],
sdl2trs CMD File **(Standalone)** [UW*] | Yes | See the specific _Tandy TRS-80_ section elsewhere in this guide | | uzebox | Uzebox | Uzem | | | | -| vectrex | Vectrex | vecx | | No | | +| vectrex | Smith Engineering Vectrex | vecx | | No | | | vic20 | Commodore VIC-20 | VICE xvic | VICE xvic **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | No | Single disk, tape or cartridge image in root folder | | videopac | Philips Videopac G7000 | O2EM | | | | | virtualboy | Nintendo Virtual Boy | Beetle VB | Mednafen **(Standalone)** [UMW*] | No | |