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My official MAME output wip thread.
bdam:
So over the last month or so I've been working to find and decipher outputs in the MAME source. A few questions arising out of that.
I've been working through a very old list Stiletto posted that you can find here: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/browse_thread/thread/b3067b3125c5987f/b1c20350a1a5dc9d. It seems that early last year you were working on generating a more complete list (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=82987.40) and I'm wondering if you ever got a chance to make any headway with the CHDs. I'm almost finished going through Stiletto's list so if there's something more complete I'll start hacking away at it. I'm not sure how you're putting the info together but, if possible, it would be nice to have the name of the driver and the driver status.
Some of the outputs are pretty straightforward so I'll probably submit source changes directly. To that end, had you worked out for yourself some sort of standard way to name these? From your submissions it would seem to be name_type such as Start_lamp. Things get a bit foggier however when there are things like a seat and steering wheel that shake or vibrate. I'm thinking vibration_seat_motor and vibration_wheel_motor.
What have you been doing with the existing led calls? Should they be left in for backwards compatibility or replaced with the newer output system?
The namcos22 driver has some motion cabs similar to the ones you worked on in segaorun. You linked the motor position to the steering wheel and connected the limit switches; I'm assuming in order to pass motor tests. I was wondering if it might be worthwhile/possible to virtually track the positions in situations like this. Then, kick off the limit switches at the extremities of the ranges. I just seems that if the motor outputs and limit switch inputs are implemented that it would be nice to have them interact similar to how a real machine would.
Howard_Casto:
--- Quote from: bdam on May 26, 2011, 01:36:39 pm ---So over the last month or so I've been working to find and decipher outputs in the MAME source. A few questions arising out of that.
I've been working through a very old list Stiletto posted that you can find here: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.arcade.collecting/browse_thread/thread/b3067b3125c5987f/b1c20350a1a5dc9d. It seems that early last year you were working on generating a more complete list (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=82987.40) and I'm wondering if you ever got a chance to make any headway with the CHDs. I'm almost finished going through Stiletto's list so if there's something more complete I'll start hacking away at it. I'm not sure how you're putting the info together but, if possible, it would be nice to have the name of the driver and the driver status.
Some of the outputs are pretty straightforward so I'll probably submit source changes directly. To that end, had you worked out for yourself some sort of standard way to name these? From your submissions it would seem to be name_type such as Start_lamp. Things get a bit foggier however when there are things like a seat and steering wheel that shake or vibrate. I'm thinking vibration_seat_motor and vibration_wheel_motor.
What have you been doing with the existing led calls? Should they be left in for backwards compatibility or replaced with the newer output system?
The namcos22 driver has some motion cabs similar to the ones you worked on in segaorun. You linked the motor position to the steering wheel and connected the limit switches; I'm assuming in order to pass motor tests. I was wondering if it might be worthwhile/possible to virtually track the positions in situations like this. Then, kick off the limit switches at the extremities of the ranges. I just seems that if the motor outputs and limit switch inputs are implemented that it would be nice to have them interact similar to how a real machine would.
--- End quote ---
The names I use are quite similar to those.... check out some of my previous drivers to get an idea of how I name them. For the gun games I used terminator 2's outputs (which have actual, clear, names in the test menu) as a base and modified them as needed. I try to use descriptive names when possible.... for example, I rarely use lamp0, lamp1, ect... I would rather use Brake_Lamp, Start_Lamp, ect....
Generally speaking, if a driver only needs to be touched to change the actual names of the outputs I ignore it. The only exception would be if the name doesn't make sense..... for example if it's galaga and led0 and led1 are hooked up to the start lamps I leave it alone... that's close enough for now. It's not that they don't need changed, it's just that the devs might get kind of pissy (and rightly so) if we submit 30 some odd driver changes that are nothing more than renames.... once we get a good standardization going we can go back and change all the "legacy" inputs in one fell swoop. If on the other hand it's operation wolf and the solenoids are hooked up to led0 and led1... I need to go ahead and change it. Also, if I'm hooking up a motor input and the lights are already hooked up but have a generic name like led0 I go ahead and give them a proper descriptive name.... the driver is being re-submitted anyway, so we might as well and get it 100% up-to-date.
I'm pretty sure I worked on the namcos22 driver... you might want to check...
It's been over a year though, so my memory is a little fuzzy.
The good news is that the new mamehooker comes out this weekend, which means I can help with this again.... really need to get that outrun driver sent off as well as afterburner and a few others.
bdam:
--- Quote from: Howard_Casto ---I'm pretty sure I worked on the namcos22 driver... you might want to check...It's been over a year though, so my memory is a little fuzzy.
--- End quote ---
You did some work to the namcos2 and namcos12 drivers but not namcos22 ... at least nothing that I found in the current MAME source. It's a heck of a driver with no less than 16 games with outputs although not all of them boot and some of them have input problems that make the test menus unnavigable.
--- Quote from: Howard_Casto ---The good news is that the new mamehooker comes out this weekend, which means I can help with this again....
--- End quote ---
That is indeed good news; when you get that far let me know. I hope to wrap up work on Stiletto's list in the next week or so and have a whole whack of relevant memory addresses, offsets, and bits documented.
bdam:
I've made my initial run through the original list Stiletto came up with about a decade ago to try and find the outputs. I marked those that have already been implemented as done. Those that are done which aren't mentioned already in this thread are based on my submission for which the diff (142u4) is attached.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k5GSS9l264KzBuYguQwt3PWY5spPAk6tFjsr_R46nvE/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CJe-tdUG
Howard_Casto:
Great Job!
It's nice to finally get some help. ;)
Assuming the source changes are accepted, I would like you to let me know which drivers have been changed and I'll add them to the front page. Generally speaking unless it's a lamp or led, any outputs added to mame are done by me, so if we add yours as well then people will have easy reference to which drivers are beign worked on.
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