Themes

ArchR ships with Art Book Next as the default theme. It's the same theme ROCKNIX uses, designed to support every aspect ratio (16:9, 4:3, 16:10, 5:3, 3:2, 1:1). It's installed at /usr/share/themes/es-theme-art-book-next and symlinked into the user theme path as system-theme.

Configure the default theme

ES → UI Settings → Theme Configuration has six knobs:

Option	What it does
Distribution	Which folder under your ROMs is checked for theme customizations. Leave at `ROCKNIX` (carry-over from upstream) — it points at the right path.
Aspect Ratio	Auto-detected (640×480 ≈ 4:3 on R36S). Override if the layout looks off.
Color Scheme	Pick a built-in color scheme or `custom` to use your own (see below).
Font Size	`default` or `custom`.
System View Style	Layout for the home screen — Centered Artwork, Multi Artwork, Fullscreen Artwork, Carousel.
Gamelist View Style	Layout per game list — Metadata On / Metadata Off / Immersive variants.

Recommended settings

For an R36S (4:3, 640×480) with screenshots:

Setting	Value
Aspect Ratio	`4:3` (auto)
Scraper: Image Source	`Screenshot`
Scraper: Box Source	`Box 2D`
Scraper: Logo Source	`Wheel`
Gamelist View Style	`Metadata On (Immersive)` or `Metadata Off (Immersive)`

For boxart-first:

Setting	Value
Scraper: Image Source	`Box 2D`
Scraper: Box Source	`None`
Scraper: Logo Source	`Wheel`
Gamelist View Style	`Metadata On`

Customizing Art Book Next

Art Book Next reads customizations from a specific path so your changes survive ArchR updates:

/storage/roms/rocknix/theme-customizations/art-book-next/

(The folder name is rocknix because that's the upstream's distribution key — the theme reuses it across forks. Don't rename.)

Background art

/storage/roms/rocknix/theme-customizations/art-book-next/backgrounds/
   _default.jpg          fallback for systems without a custom image
   snes.jpg              per-system override (filename = es system tag)
   psx.png
   ...

In Theme Configuration, set System View Style to one of the (Custom) variants:

Centered Artwork (Custom)
Multi Artwork (Custom)
Fullscreen Artwork (Custom)

To craft a custom centered artwork that follows the theme's aspect mask, the original author publishes a resources mask.

Custom logos

/storage/roms/rocknix/theme-customizations/art-book-next/logos/
   snes.svg              SVG preferred (scales clean)
   psx.png

Color Scheme → Custom is what enables the override.

Color scheme

Download the template → save as:

/storage/roms/rocknix/theme-customizations/art-book-next/colors.xml

Edit the values, set Color Scheme to Custom.

Adding additional themes

Drop a third-party theme into:

/storage/.emulationstation/themes/

Each theme is its own folder. ES picks them up on next boot (or UI Settings → Theme Set → choose).

Sources of compatible themes

ArchR's EmulationStation is forked from the same Batocera/ROCKNIX lineage, so themes designed for either generally work:

Batocera themes — large catalog. Some don't ship every system or fit non-16:9.
es-theme-gbz35-jelos — works well at 4:3.
es-theme-albedo — 3:2, 4:3, 5:3.
es-theme-elementerial — 3:2, 4:3, 5:3.

Themes designed for portrait-oriented or 16:9 devices may look cramped on the R36S 4:3 panel. Test before committing — the theme picker is reversible.

Writing your own theme

Out of scope for this page, but the Batocera theme guide is the closest match for the EmulationStation flavour ArchR ships.