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The setup assistant

MarqueeManagerSetup.exe, at the root of the plugin, is the visual tool that configures everything without editing config.ini by hand — and writes the configuration cleanly (with a .bak backup, never touching the file's comments).

French or English

The assistant follows RetroBat's language (EmulationStation setting), else Windows' — and can be switched anytime with the FR/EN button in the rail (the choice is remembered). To force it: MarqueeManagerSetup.exe --lang fr or --lang en.

First launch: three steps

On the very first start, a welcome wizard does everything in under three minutes:

  1. “We detected N screens” — identification with big numbers;
  2. one pre-picked type per screen based on its shape (a 5:1 strip → Marquee?) — fix it in one click;
  3. “Your setup is ready” — default surfaces and components laid out, confirmation patterns, runtime started.

“Configure later” skips the wizard (relaunchable from Home). Then browse EmulationStation: your marquees show up.

The six rail views

View What it does
Home Installation health, shortcuts, startup wizard relaunch
My setup The map of your screens: zero-config types, surfaces, graphic creation, display states, test patterns, physical DMD, touch
My systems Per system: source priorities, automatic templates, personal media folder, pre-generation
My games A game's sheet: per-surface graphic creations, online media, ingame effects, lamps, lighting
Options APIExpose connection, Lighting Engine, MAME layouts, RetroAchievements, live score/timer, online sources (API keys, ScreenScraper account)
Diagnostics Detection report (screens, DMD, ports), data source status, latest runtime events

Home

Home tab

One status card per link of the chain, with a green/orange/red dot and actions: MarqueeManager (Start/Stop), APIExpose, Screens & surfaces, physical DMD (orange when the configured panel is unplugged) and My content (graphic creations, personal effects). Under the navigation, the Detected hardware card lists your screens and the DMD.

Options

Options tab

Everything else, presented as simple settings:

  • Connection: APIExpose address with a test button.
  • Lighting render: the marquee's Lighting Engine — quality/performance, framing, glass reflection, tube sounds.
  • MAME layouts: .lay file rendering for marquee, topper, iccard and DMD.
  • RetroAchievements: per-surface enabling, badges, fullscreen unlock.
  • Live score and timer: the real-time overlays on the marquee and DMD.
  • Online sources: SteamGridDB/TheGamesDB/Twitch/YouTube keys and the ScreenScraper user account (picked up from EmulationStation when empty).

Fine-grained settings (durations, thresholds…) stay available in config.ini, where every option is commented — the assistant never overwrites those comments.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics tab

“Why is my screen black?” — the full detection report (screens with suggestions, DMD stack, serial ports), the data source status (APIExpose tested, keys set or not) and the latest events from the runtime's log file.