You could extract them from any of the builds on the Libretro server. But that’s probably more painful than simply downloading the ZIP file from the GitHub RetroArch Assets repository. You can find the PNG files in the /xmb directory and the SVG files in the /src/xmb directory.
GitHub is where we store all the source code for the project, including all the icons.
I just wanted to let you know that NeoActive and RetroActive themes have officially been retired from Retroarch. RetroActive has been merged with FlatUI to become the FlatUX theme, which should be available in an upcoming release.
If you still want to use these themes, they are archived over on baxy-retroarch-themes. You can download them and install them as a custom theme.
If you want to take over development for Retroactive or Neoactive, you are welcome to fork the repo and start contributing.
I was surprised that RetroActive was removed. It was my favorite XMB theme.
It was mentioned in the PR that you feel FlatUX replaces it, but I think they are very different. Here’s a screenshot of the most popular consoles for reference:
RetroActive:
FlatUX:
RetroActive was more colorful, “fun” and closer to the real-life colors. FlatUX has a very different feeling. It’s more muted and does not feel like it serves as a replacement IMO.
I understand that it’s a lot of work to maintain many themes, but does leaving a static theme with no updates that much trouble? Even if it has a few missing icons. I can understand if this is a space limitation, though.
I guess I can keep using RetroActive, doing a custom theme, but most RetroArch users will just not even know the theme exists and I can’t help but feel like it’s a downgrade.
Just wanted to leave my 2 cents.
Regardless, thank you so much for the hard work of maintaining these awesome themes!
Sorry for the double-post, but for any RetroActive fans that might be reading this, I have found out that 2 other themes have console/controller icons similar to the ones that RetroActive had.
Those are the “Daite” and “Systematic” themes. Give them a try.
I think I might use Daite as a replacement for RetroActive.
Sorry for the late response. Thank you so much for your kind words about RetroActive. It made me smile to read your comments and I’m so glad it was/is your favorite. In particular I’m glad you like the color palette. I actually use this same palette in Systematic and expanded it just a bit to help make the systems and media pop even more.
As you said, you can use it as a custom theme since the files are available on the baxy-retroarch-themes repository. You can also simply replace all the PNG files within the FlatUX (or RetroActive) theme directory and that should make it work.
There were a lot of factors involved in the retirement. We received criticism about the size of the repository, so I relocated the source files for all my contributions and retired these two themes.
The RetroSystem theme is technically a fork of the original version of RetroActive, where the icons have parody logos on them. That original version is referred to as “RetroActive Marked” and is also still available over on the baxy-retroarch-themes repository, but is very incomplete at this point. Therefore, RetroSystem currently serves as a spiritual successor and it’s maintained by @alfrix and so I felt like it’s in good hands.
RetroActive was always intended to be a replacement for FlatUI, so it made sense to apply the extended color palette and remove the translucent borders. From my perspective, it’s the completed version of both RetroActive and FlatUI, and they both should be retired. But I don’t want to be the one to remove FlatUI from the repository, because I feel it should be a decision for the community to make.
Last but not least, it all comes down to the ability I have to contribute and maintain the themes. I would probably be a bit more motivated if the themes were available in Ozone, GLUI and RGUI. But since the themes are only a part of XMB, they tend to get buried and forgotten. No artist wants their work buried in obscurity, yet that’s effectively where we are, so long as Monochrome is the only available theme available in the other UXs.
At this point my primary contributory focus is on maintaining Systematic. From there, I’ll do my best to keep up with Automatic and FlatUX, along with contributing to Monochrome here and there when I can.
Didn’t know you were the author of those. Thanks a lot for the themes! I main the XMB interface and you brought a lot of variety to it. Regrettably, your work may not be on the spotlight, but it’s still appreciated. Whatever you done will live on.
