Today is Carnival Night! And while Sonic is stuck on that barrel, let's talk about Update All 2.5! Because once again, carnival brings a new release.CRT users, Desktop users, theme lovers, and anyone who's ever been annoyed by having to copy a Patreon Key... there's something in here for all of you.
CRT Compatibility
It's no secret that running Update All (or Downloader) without extra configuration gives you no output on CRT screens. You could always "fix" this by tweaking some MiSTer.ini options, but the results were pretty mixed.And honestly? Update All has always been a terrible experience that way. The terminal output you typically get is tiny, and the tool was never designed for such a small resolution.Well, that's no longer the case. I've redesigned the UI and menu layouts to adapt to the terminal width, and adjusted many places to avoid overflowing text. It's proper responsive behavior, not a hack.The result is frankly fantastic. I genuinely didn't expect to pull off something that doesn't make me miss my flat panel. But here we are.
Try it yourself! The MiSTer.ini configuration I recommend is the following, just add it to the bottom of the file (or create it if it doesn't exist):
; Only tested on PAL TVs for now!
[Menu]vga_scaler=1video_mode=640,30,60,70,288,6,4,14,12587
NOTE from the future: For NTSC video_mode, check this newer post.
You have to set it by hand for now, but I'm considering adding an option to configure this directly from the Settings Screen. Let me know in the comments if you'd like that, so I can prioritize accordingly.
Arcade Organizer PC Launcher
Many of you use the Downloader PC Launcher, great solution when your MiSTer doesn't have internet. But there's always been one missing piece: the Arcade Organizer.Not anymore. The MiSTer Organize project requested this, but it's something I had in mind for a while. I've been quietly making the Arcade Organizer platform-agnostic under the hood.So now there's a PC Launcher that works the same way as the Downloader one. Run it right after Downloader finishes and you get the same organized folder structure inside the Arcade folder. On Windows you'll get file copies instead of symlinks, but in practice that doesn't eat much extra space.Give it a try: https://github.com/theypsilon/Update_All_MiSTer/blob/master/docs/arcade-organizer-pc-launcher.md
Themes Strike Back
Themes now work during the Log Viewer and Timeline too (at the end of the run).
And I made five new themes, bringing the total to 10. Meet the newcomers:
Pick your favorite!
Patreon Key Auto-Sync
Last but not least, you no longer need to manually install the Patreon Key. There's now a login option in the Settings Screen that auto-downloads it for you. It uses modern single sign-in providers, so security and privacy are solid. Once you're logged in, you can forget about it, the key is managed automatically from that point on.This is now the preferred way to get the Patreon Key, and starting in March it will be the only way, so your benefits are always up to date as long as you're a patron.
Wrapping Up
And that's the tour. As always, Update All will self-update, so the second time you run it you'll already be on the latest version. And there are many more changes in the CHANGELOG that you might find interesting.One more thing: mirror support is already shipped in this version, but there are no mirrors available yet. I'm talking to some people to make it happen. Stay tuned!Happy carnival and see you soon!