[yunti]

I'm curious to know if anyone uses the game menu function much and what they use it for?

I just have Repo's installer in there at the moment but other than that it doesn't seem much use at the moment.

Do people use the launcher plugin here to do other things in this section.

Ideally I would like to be able to scroll through available games on emulators (eg mame) but that seems a difficult job and there doesn't seem to be much progress on the game library.

Do most of you just have the game menu turned off?

[Naser]

That is one very important feature i would love to get running but i never could figure how to get launcher running the way i wanted, infact i actually tried outsourcing a team to code one & i was willing to give it back to the community for free, i needed something integrated in xbmc & that has to be done in C++.

Guess why i never did it?! Cause they ended up asking $5k.

I am still willing to pay $1000 if anyone out there is willing to take this task.

[arosequi]

That is one very important feature i would love to get running but i never could figure how to get launcher running the way i wanted, infact i actually tried outsourcing a team to code one & i was willing to give it back to the community for free, i needed something integrated in xbmc & that has to be done in C++.

Guess why i never did it?! Cause they ended up asking $5k.

I am still willing to pay $1000 if anyone out there is willing to take this task.

$1K is pretty good. I doubt I have the proper skills, but are your requirements posted somewhere to look through?

yunti: Do you have the Launcher plugin installed? You should be able to set up emulators, where you choose the game system, then choose a game. That part's working correctly for me, but there are a lot of things that I think need changed.

[Naser]

$1K is pretty good. I doubt I have the proper skills, but are your requirements posted somewhere to look through?

yunti: Do you have the Launcher plugin installed? You should be able to set up emulators, where you choose the game system, then choose a game. That part's working correctly for me, but there are a lot of things that I think need changed.

Hi arosequi, if you or anyone else is still intrested then here is the job title & breif description i posed on oDesk.com : (copy & paste)

Need someone to be able to design a plugin which can be integrated into XBMC (XBMC.org) to scan games installed on the system & fetch coverart etc from the net.

The program must be integrated into xbmc :
Metadata information provided are:

Title;
Synopsis (plot);
Cover Poster;
Screenshots (thumbnails and large pictures);
Platform;
AMG Rating;
ESRB Rating;
Genre;
Styles;
Developer;
Publisher;
Release Date;
AMG Game ID (only for internal database use);
Similar Games (not sure if this would be of any interest to XBMC)

A couple of things that needs to be in mind:
Python scripts is not the way to get it fully integrated into XBMC like Movies, TV shows, etc. it is C++ is that XBMC native programing language, and C++ is the programming language that you would have to use to get it fully integrated into XBMC

This is the official documentation for development:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Development_Notes


Someone (with the forum username "leo2") has already been working on this before but unfortunately he abandoned his project do to time restraint from his real-life job and personal life. It would be much better if you tried to get someone to pick up where he left of and continue with his source code (which is C++), there is a branch in the SVN which that source code can be downloaded from, it is not finished and needs to be completed before it can be accepted into the mainline XBMC as fully integrated into XBMC like Movies, TV shows, etc. ...so checkout:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=40715


My offer still stands and i might increase it if we get it done the way it should, also i am sure that once someone starts, there will be lot of other donors to this project.

[rwparris2]

What you're asking could certainly be done in python, and unless you had a few hundred games in a single node I don't think you would ever see any performance difference (of course this would need to be tested before you dish out any money based on this claim).

scan games installed on the system

Do you want emulators + roms to be included? Or just full games?

Metadata information provided are:

Do you know of someplace that has that metadata avaliable for scraping? That's one of the biggest issues IMO.

[hikaricore]

If anyone else's emu/rom collection is anything like mine I easily have 10k games to choose from.
Mythgame handles these all just fine with very little delay browsing through and I currently use it for my gaming needs launched from the programs section of xbmc. ^_^

[Naser]

I know im posting in the wrong forum for this but im hoping you guys can spread the word;

What you're asking could certainly be done in python, and unless you had a few hundred games in a single node I don't think you would ever see any performance difference (of course this would need to be tested before you dish out any money based on this claim).

The problem is after discussing this with Gamester17, he assured me that if i wanted it to be implemented into xbmc like movies, music etc, we will need to code it in C++ & that is exactly how i think it should be (part of XBMC) aka fully integrated.

Also we definatly want to be able to add emulators & roms too.

Do you know of someplace that has that metadata avaliable for scraping? That's one of the biggest issues IMO

There are many out there already here is a sample http://www.gamefaqs.com/ & this is for WOW game http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/...34914.html

Check out the tabs on top for Data, Images etc...

Also for Emulators meta data you might wanna check this out http://www.camya.com/eccblog/

[JustinAiken]

The problem is after discussing this with Gamester17, he assured me that if i wanted it to be implemented into xbmc like movies, music etc, we will need to code it in C++ & that is exactly how i think it should be (part of XBMC) aka fully integrated.

Yeah, that will make it easier for themes like Aeon or Transparency to integrate it...

I drool at the thought of going through a library of SNES all with 720p fanart and meta icons with Transparency's fanart view!

[rwparris2]

Yeah, that will make it easier for themes like Aeon or Transparency to integrate it...

I drool at the thought of going through a library of SNES all with 720p fanart and meta icons with Transparency's fanart view!

No, (*I think*) it would make it harder since they would have to skin views specifically for games.
Program Plugins are already skinned.
Edit:Metadata would be wonky/not displayed in a plugin view, though

[yunti]

yunti: Do you have the Launcher plugin installed? You should be able to set up emulators, where you choose the game system, then choose a game. That part's working correctly for me, but there are a lot of things that I think need changed.

I think that's part of the reason why I haven't really tried to use the Launcher plugin because so many people have mentioned it's not really ideal.

If anyone else's emu/rom collection is anything like mine I easily have 10k games to choose from.
Mythgame handles these all just fine with very little delay browsing through and I currently use it for my gaming needs launched from the programs section of xbmc. ^_^

From the screenshots I have seen of it, Mythgame certainly doesn't look very attractive. Plus it seems to go against the idea of having it integrated within one Media Centre ie XBMC

No, (*I think*) it would make it harder since they would have to skin views specifically for games.
Program Plugins are already skinned.
Edit:Metadata would be wonky/not displayed in a plugin view, though

I suppose it's a choice about whether it's about developing a quicker fix - ie via a plugin or a better longer term solution via direct integration in C++.
The/a problem with having it in a plugin is that the look of it can jar with the rest of the look of a skin. If it's fully integrated and as you mentioned the skinning engine extended, then the skin can customise the look. As you are all in the aeon forum I presume this is the method you would prefer as people here tend to be a bit particular about the look of their Media Centre.

My offer still stands and i might increase it if we get it done the way it should, also i am sure that once someone starts, there will be lot of other donors to this project.

I'm very much with you on that one Naser - although I probably couldn't go quite that far I'm certainly willing to stump up a couple of hundred $'s.
Perhaps that isn't in the spirit of things - ie rewarding some work in XBMC while some isn't. But then perhaps that isn't so bad if some people are very keen for some particular development within XBMC and happy to pay for it.

This discussion has probably ended up in the wrong forum - so to bring it back on topic - what do you use the game menu for?
It seems like some of you use the launcher plugin with not ideal results but people would like to have a proper integrated games section which unfortunately isn't there yet. So it looks like for now I'll just disable it in the Aeon skin.

-

[rcoops]

The problem with the python integration in XBMC is that it is well a cute addon at best, switching from XBMC to the launcher plurin or back again results in a black screen that just sits there for up to a second. (nothing to do with the speed of the PC, E8400, 4GB mem and a 8800GT GPU doing nothing else but running XBMC).

I would love to see a C++ coder spend some time on this, I know that others have started this multiple times but it seems that these efforts keep on stalling every time due to time constraints and or other personal reasons.
My skill in C++ is by far not up to the level needed to code this, even if I had the time to do it.

$5k is a lot of money, but looking at the number of people who tried to do this and the time they spend on in it seems like a reasonable cost estimation.
Maybe with a bit of prodding the code that has already been written can be made available to everyone which should help others to base their work on that. It might also help drive down the cost estimation from paid developers as they will have a decent chunk of the work already coded, which should reduce the time needed to code the whole thing.

[hikaricore]

From the screenshots I have seen of it, Mythgame certainly doesn't look very attractive. Plus it seems to go against the idea of having it integrated within one Media Centre ie XBMC

It doesn't look super great, but from a functionality standpoint it handles most of what I need it to.
I wasn't suggesting it be used but visual appearance ontop of functionality isn't that much more work. :p