Hacking BAGPlug Release 1

[2-bias]

I just put bagplug again on my SD with the latest EOS and i only see black squares instead of any text. dunno why.
i used it before and it worked fine

 

[BassAceGold]

I just put bagplug again on my SD with the latest EOS and i only see black squares instead of any text. dunno why.
i used it before and it worked fine

Are you using the default skin? If not then the text is probably a png file, and there is a bug with the png text that causes it to draw all non transparent (in the alpha mask itself) pixels rather than omitting a transparent color.

 

[Terminator02]

pretty nice that it runs commercial roms now, i just wish spinal and u could work together to create the ultimate iBagMenuPlug

 

[freestile]

Edit: "pretty nice that it runs commercial roms now"

@Terminator02 how does that work?? I cant figure it out. It still says commercial roms not supported?


Looks good. Would be nice to see Imenu run commercial roms. Still rocking the Imenu though.
Touchscreen would be a def plus for Imenu. Thats one I really want. Other than that
I think both are great. Haven't had any problems with the autoboot in Imenu.
I can switch between, Imenu, Bagplug and Original Plug In Menu with no problem.
Thanks for keeping up the good work.

 

[Terminator02]

Looks good. Would be nice to see Imenu run commercial roms. Still rocking the Imenu though.
Touchscreen would be a def plus for Imenu. Thats one I really want. Other than that
I think both are great. Haven't had any problems with the autoboot in Imenu.
I can switch between, Imenu, Bagplug and Original Plug In Menu with no problem.
Thanks for keeping up the good work.

you can

 

[BassAceGold]

pretty nice that it runs commercial roms now, i just wish spinal and u could work together to create the ultimate iBagMenuPlug

It would be fairly hard for us to combine to create the ultimate menu as we both have very different views on what our menus should accomplish. Although we have worked together on some aspects of each others menu (see below).

There are the similar goals which are:
-launch homebrew
-launch plugins with plugin arg support

Then there are the goals I have which are:
-easy to set up menu
-no hassle homebrew/plugin installation(no need to make so many extra files to launch stuff)
-created as a shell for the purpose of having extra features provided by external programs (using args). A fancy external file browser for programs.

The goals Spinal has:
-a nice interface
-highly accessible layout (everything laid out for you to see)
-created for the purpose of being just a fancy menu

Why I created this menu:
When I was working on BAGSFC R3, I wanted the ability to launch snes roms without having to go through the emulator menu. However no menu supported this yet so Spinal and I created a standard method of passing information to plugin files and coded a universal loader. Prior to the loader being officially completed, I had already started work on this menu which was in a working state and then helped Spinal get arg support in his menu.
/end story

While iMenu does support args, it is extremely basic and somewhat tedious in having to set instructions for each individual file and not being able to support multiple programs per file, instead of allowing global settings per file type as well as settings for individual files. (run on sentence, too lazy to reword and fix)

I feel my menu handles this much better than iMenu, in that it allows you to set multiple programs per file type (or individual files), and within each setting for each program, you can set as many launch parameters as you want. This allows for programs to be made in which you can set options via args, such as a zip program in which the default cpu speed and compression levels can be defined via args.

Just a small note, that isn't really relevant but kind of bugs me:
iMenu has screwed up the standard for args in .nds homebrew. The original loader we created did not create a plgargs.dat file for .nds homebrew because it is not needed. Args are passed directly to the main function in .nds homebrew through the loader. So by branching off the loader, this has created some inconsistencies in the standard because now some .nds homebrew (nesDS) now look for this plgargs.dat which may not be created in all loaders.

Spinal if you're reading this, fix your loader!
/end rant

The least we could do towards a *super menu* would be by creating standards for the plugin icons. Instead of having a double set of icons for everything, the menus could share them. Everything else is not really a big deal in that you can easily boot up the other menu within each menu, however, a double set of icons is rather a pain in the ass.

Theres my two bits on the whole iMenu vs BAGplug. Each menu created with different ideas in mind, not really competing, no/little issues between them.
At least if no one uses my menu, I still will as it suits my needs.

 

[CannonFoddr]

As said, it's down to preference.... I'm a little biased towards iMenu,& not because I was a beta tester, but the way I look at these 2 'menus' is like this...

'iMenu' is an alternative to the 'plugin' menu for the DSTwo - with added features,
while 'BagPlug' is more like 'Moonshell2 as the default OS' for the DSTwo - a file selector that can load/run many more file types straight away with use of 'Extentions'

& as for the bit about 'super menu' & getting a standard for the graphics... I agree, but mainly with the supercard team actually.... Why do we need so many different 'skins' scattered around in different folders... Can't they just have the one folder with all the graphics in one....

 

[BassAceGold]

A couple new screenshots of the new settings menu:

All these menus can be controlled with the stylus and or d-pad. Double tapping an option selects as well as pushing the A button.

 

[BassAceGold]

Some more screenshots with new features:

The new favorites menu

The open with window - old feature but CATSFC has been added to the ext files for snes games

The ability to copy, paste, and delete files and folders

 

[Shabutie78]

any plans for a near-future beta release?

 

[BassAceGold]

Release 2 should be on its way soon, I just need to finalize a few more aspects and do some tests to ensure a (hopefully) quality release.

 

[Sausage Head]

How far do you think the interface will be skinnable?
E.G. Will people be able to change the location of the sidebar in the future?

 

[BassAceGold]

The location of the sidebar may be customizable in a future version (not the upcoming one however).

Apart from that there are very few restrictions in terms of skinning. Only the file icons must be 32 x 32 pixels, and the font characters must fit within a 16 x 16 tile. Other than that the rest of the graphics can be whatever size you desire and the menu will try to adapt to fit them.

The windows (screen sections that are not directly a skin able object with an image) size themselves based on whatever graphics are displayed in them and the text size of the font used. The only exception to this would be the favorites menu which is locked at full screen.

The media player is locked to full screen specs, however depending on the font size, more or less items can be displayed per screen.

So while its not perfect customization, a lot more can be done simply by using transparent sections in the graphics which are used for basing the size and positions of other objects.

Of course, with all this freedom, it is entirely possible to break the menu in terms of usability. So one needs to use common sense with skinning.

 

[Terminator02]

dang u really wrote a lot lol, i was just saying it would be awesome to have the functionality of bagplug inside iMenu, however i know bagplug is just a file browser while imenu uses icons

btw, will u be able to support .mp3 files in the future?

 

[VatoLoco]

BAGplug is starting to look real nice. Cant wait to try out the new beta release=)

@Terminator, BAGplug has icon support, too. It can use 32x32 24bit .ico extention pics...
guess who couldn't resist making a lil homebrew icon set for it (in the VatoPack-ola), LOL =D

 

[Terminator02]

BAGplug is starting to look real nice. Cant wait to try out the new beta release=)

@Terminator, BAGplug has icon support, too. It can use 32x32 24bit .ico extention pics...
guess who couldn't resist making a lil homebrew icon set for it (in the VatoPack-ola), LOL =D

i know, but i'm saying that BAGplug is purely a file browser while iMenu is purely an icon selector

 

[BassAceGold]

btw, will u be able to support .mp3 files in the future?

Mp3 support has been added. It isn't perfect though so it is not worth using. Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to improve it in a future release.
Yes there is mp3 support now.

 

[Terminator02]

btw, will u be able to support .mp3 files in the future?

Mp3 support has been added. It isn't perfect though so it is not worth using. Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to improve it in a future release.
Yes there is mp3 support now.

sweet

is .m4a possible too?

 

[BassAceGold]

sweet

is .m4a possible too?

Probably is, but I'm not looking to create a complex media player here.

 

[Terminator02]

it doesn't have to be complex to support a multitude of audio containers/codecs does it?