Hacking WiiFlow Lite Theme - Rhapsodii

Hakaisha

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Here are two newly modified versions of Rhapsodii to try out. Made for users who want the rotating GCN/Wii/Channel/Emu source button added back.

This version removes the Disc button and replaces it with the source swap button. I could only recommend this option for people who don't need/use the disc drive:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/fc6hnpfxq4xfdw5/Rhapsodii_ONLY.rar/file

This version keeps the Disc button, and adds the additional source swap button next to it:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/evatoix4g5g4rve/Rhapsodii_ADDED.rar/file
 

suspendedhatch

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This is great! And just in time... I'm sending my friend her modded Wii tomorrow. She was about to get the default WiiFlow Lite, and that would have been okay, but this really shines!

I'm completely new to the Wii, and it's been a real struggle trying to quickly sort out all the ins and outs of modding it. I haven't had time or luck in getting the Source menu working. But now with this there's a way to cycle between wii, gc, and mgba. vbagx just isn't on the level of Snes, Fceumm, Gens and the virtual console games I set up but I'm familiar with mgba through it's RetroArch core. So now there's a nice GUI of flipping through boxcovers (vs the text list of mgba)!!

All this because several weeks ago she told me she was all about trying to beat Final Fantasy 1 on the original hardware. I said You Must play the bugfixed version!! I'm hoping her, her kid, and her hubby will enjoy jamming on this together.

Yep. Sorry for anyone reading this but this is how I write a thank you note.

I'm a PhotoShop professional and former web developer/coder so if there's any way for me to contribute, lmk. My email is my username at gmail.com

Thanks! Thanks Fledge!
 
Last edited by suspendedhatch,

matt!

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I've noticed that often if I go I to settings and page through them, but don't make any changes, when I press "Back" it reloads all of WFL?

This has gone away since I stopped using JPG covers (bad idea!) so ignore this
 
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Hakaisha

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@matt! , thanks for your kind words. I'm currently working on getting Rhapsodii updated for WFL 5.0 and plan to have it out soon.

Have you checked out the WiiFlow wiki? It has a vast amount of information on how WiiFlow works, including the science behind Source Menu.

https://sites.google.com/site/wiiflowiki4/source-menu-setup

Most people generally just take the source_menu.ini from the Masterpiece pack and alter it to their liking. If you still have questions concerning Source Menu however, I'll do my best to help out.

I'll be uploading my own source_menu files along with the next Rhapsodii release, to provide a template for users to understand how tiers work and apply it to their own setup (basically folders for Source Menu).
 

matt!

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Hakaisha

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You added a source_menu.ini file to SD:/wiiflow/source_menu and still are having no luck with bringing it up in WFL, using the B button?

Good idea. The next release of Rhapsodii will have the Source View button(s) added by default, since the option to remove them is now in the Settings.

Yes, it's possible to use your own images for the loading animation. Fledge added the ability for users to add their own custom images for the loading animation. However, the initial splash screen can only be changed before compilation of the program.

Here's a quote from Fledge's release notes when he added the feature, which should shed some light on how it works:

"so the meta.xml args work like this:
in your apps/wiiflow_lite folder create a subfolder named wait_imgs and put all your wait images in it.
then open meta.xml in a editor (notepad++ or whatever you like) and add these lines before the </app> line:


<arguments>
<arg>waitdir=sd:/apps/wiiflow_lite/wait_imgs</arg>
<arg>waitloop</arg>
</arguments>


only add <arg>waitloop</arg> if you want the images to play and repeat rather than forward and backward.
this line <arg>waitdir=sd:/apps/wiiflow_lite/wait_imgs</arg> is for setting the full path to the images folder. so if you have them on usb then change sd: to usb:. or maybe you want to put the folder somewhere else that's fine. just be sure this is set the full path of the folder containing the images and don't add a '/' on the end."

From my own experience, the images have a max size of 200w x 100h and can use up to 10 images for the animation. The naming structure for the image files determines the order of the frames: wait_01.png, wait_02.png, wait_03.png, etc.

@kaisersozeh has created a thread where he has uploaded several boot animations that are compatible with this method: https://gbatemp.net/threads/wiiflow-lite-wait-animations-r1148-or-higher.507827/#post-8062732
 

matt!

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I managed to get the source button working, but the layout was a grid filling the screen, not one horizontal row. Not to worry, I will leave that for now and wait for a while. I'm only playing Wii and GC right now, but would like to add my Intellivision and MSX games in the future.

I'll look into the startup animations, I don't mind the default animation it's just that I find the JPG compression artefacts really noticeable and quite annoying

I've also been playing with custom fonts: ChakraPetch-Medium.ttf with line height of 16. Looks very future!
 
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Hakaisha

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A grid filling the screen you say? You're either seeing the standard Source Menu (a 4x3 grid of icons) instead of SourceFlow, or Rhapsodii's coverflow.ini file is missing, and WFL is displaying the default SourceFlow coverflow in its absence (it looks like a ton of floating squares in a grid pattern).

If you're seeing the 4x3 grid, press Home, Enable SourceFlow - On, SourceFlow Smallbox - On, Box Mode - Off.

If it's the larger mass of floating icons in a grid pattern and you have the above options enabled, check to make sure the provided rhapsodii.ini is placed SD:/wiiflow/themes_lite/coverflows.
 
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Hakaisha

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Hmm. So WFL is still displaying the default CoverFlow, rather than Rhapsodii's CoverFlow. I just double-checked to make sure the small_flows were intact with that release, and it all checks out.

I used to have a similar issue where WFL wouldn't recognize the coverflow.ini for the currently loaded theme. I always had to rename it to default.ini.

It eventually stopped having this issue as newer WFL updates came out, and I thought it was a thing of the past.

Try renaming the rhapsodii_added.ini to default.ini in the coverflows folder. If this fixes the problem, perhaps that issue is still lurking in WFL somewhere.
 

Tetsuo Shima

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Hi @Hakaisha I'm really digging Rhapsodii and your sourceflow idea!
I'm trying to mod your small covers to create an alternate set that include a picture of the consoles with a smaller logo in the grey space, instead of the title
Here is a small preview:
NES.png
Sega_Megadrive.png
I've hidden the title text like you said in your tutorial to clear the grey space, this also has the advantage of being able to sort the buttons any way you like instead of just alphabetically. Unfortunately that nice parallax sliding effect is lost.
I've also slightly increased the images size by adjusting the zoom in Camera settings. However the zoomed images became a little blurry.
My question: is it possible to use bigger res png's to avoid zooming the camera?
I hope you like my idea and I'd be happy to share these icons with you if you want to incude them in Rhapsodii
 
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Hakaisha

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Wow, that's a great idea! Thanks so much for your kind words and your interest in Rhapsodii. By all means, please do share your work. Fledge recently added the ability for WFL to change SourceFlow art folder, depending on the theme currently loaded; so we could even make a separate Rhapsodii branch that loads your SourceFlow art.

I haven't been very successful in using higher resolution artwork in SourceFlow small_covers. If the image is too large it will usually either create a visually corrupted WFC file, or not produce a WFC file at all. I honestly think yours already looks great at its current size, but do I understand wanting it to look as best as possible.

I've actually been working on a somewhat similar idea that uses console photos with a differently-styled SourceFlow inspired by Xbox360 dashboards, which utilizes 480x345 images, as opposed to Rhapsodii's current 480x202 images. Although this is a larger size, it is only larger in height. The issue with creating a higher resolution image for Rhapsodii's SourceFlow is the inablity to use a width size larger than 480, without running into WFC corruptions.

You could theoretically use some of the extra height pixel space in your output images, by creating your artwork with a high definition master and outputting the images sized at 480x345, instead of 480x202. Albeit, this will make the image look vertically stretched, WFL's SourceFlow will still display the artwork at the correct proportions.

SF2.png


SF1.png


atari-2600.png
 
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matt!

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WFL crashes when using Rhapsodii (I used ADDED version) and viewing a screen that uses the "error.png" icon.

examples:
- install game (error because that feature is broken)
- delete cover (from game settings screen)
 
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Hakaisha

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That's very unfortunate to hear. I just checked the error screens on my setup and they work fine, using both vanilla Rhapsodii and the alternate versions.

error1.png

From my experience with WiiFlow, a single corrupted file can make the entire WFL installation very unstable/crash a lot. You may very well have a corrupted error.png image, but I'm unsure. Usually if an image file from the theme can't be found or read, WFL will just use the default image from apps/wiiflow/imgs.

I'm still working on the next release, but I have a small, early update of Rhapsodii here, if you guys want to try it out in the meantime: http://www.mediafire.com/file/wqbyn3gh1xq0y0o/rhapsodii_beta1.rar/file

This release has some small fixes, adjustments and new features:
- Source_View button(s) are now added to the main release, since they can now be manually disabled in Settings
- Rhapsodii background now appears in the new Settings pages
- 6 Flatflows are now included for thumbnail usage
- Notice screen text placement has been fixed
- Removed the "Big Button" SourceFlow and replaced it with another zoom option of the standard SourceFlow style, so now there is a Small, Medium and Large variant of the SourceFlow
- CD Jewel Cases have been slightly tweaked to be more accurately sized
- 8X FSAA is now applied to all CoverFlows for best visual quality possible

Someone please let me know if the Big Button SourceFlow is actually missed, and I'll add it back for you.

Applying 8X FSAA to CoverFlows while playing MP3s in the background can cause WFL to perform a bit sluggishly/choppy. However, playing OGGs with 8X FSAA doesn't seem to affect performance at all. I would suggest to always use OGGs in WFL's music player. But, if anyone here still wants to use MP3s with Rhapsodii, let me know and I'll create a variant of Rhapsodii that uses 4x or 6x FSAA instead.
 

matt!

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Investigations into my crashing issue

- I recopied Rhapsodii images from a verified unrar, but problem persists
- I re-saved all PNG images using Preview, bonus is that the total filesize is much reduced, but problem persists
- to be continued
 
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