Launch Daphne (via DOS batch file) from Mame?

[Smeghead]

Just like it says..........
Is there any way to launch a batch file from Mame? Could you fool Mame that instead of launching a Mame game kick off a .bat instead?
My Daphne games launch from a DOS batch file (from within Windows) but it'd be cool to be able to go from Mame to a laserdisc game using only the joystick/buttons

This maybe a simple NO answer, just wondering as I dont know much about how Mame works

Maybe I could just set one of the IPAC inputs to input a key combination that windows is set to watch for then launch Daphne

[leapinlew]

Whats your front end, I've been told MALA can do it, but I haven't had any luck yet. If I remember right, there is a post by UncleT floating around which gives instructions on how to do this. Another thing that would be useful is launching games from different versions of Mame. So you could have fast Ms. Pac and Fast Galaga shoot in the same list.

[helpmebuild]

are you not using a front end of any sort?

to be honest just using a FE would prob be a more logical way to have Daphne launch

[Smeghead]

Sorry yes im using AtomicFE

[Havok]

Sorry yes im using AtomicFE

Excellent choice!

I'm at work now, but tonight I can post the command lines for Atomic - I have all the Daphne games working on my cab...

[Smeghead]

Thanks!
I have them all working, you launch them from a batch file which just executes a really really long command line
If you know how to use AtomicFE to do that, that'd be awesome

I was actually going to use a menu-batch file to LAUNCH AtomicFE on startup
That way, when you quit out of AtomicFE, it would drop back to a menu system where you could choose Daphne or AtomicFE again

[Havok]

You can do it all in AtomicFE - I have separate menus for LaserDisc games, but you could just include them in a Mame list as well. Of course, you'd want to keep the list fairly small as they would be buried in there. Which way would you like to setup Atomic - one list, or separate ones?

[Smeghead]

Im kind of new to it right now, I currently have everything I have bundled altogether.
I need to make some favorites or something.
Just any way to seperate them or make them easily findable would be cool

[Havok]

No problem - here's what you'll need to do:

Since two menu screens would be best, we'll have to start a hierarchy.

• Open Atomic Studio
• Open your project
• On the right side, right-click on the screen that is there and select remove from hierarchy.
• Click on New Screen, select a menu to select emulators, click OK
• Give it a name (Main is fine - this won't show when Atomic starts up)

You should have a screen for Mame already on left, so we need to create one for Daphne:

• Click on New Screen, select a list of games to launch. Give it a name (LaserDisc, or Daphne - this will show up in Atomic, so choose something appropriate) click OK
• Choose LaserDisc for the emulator type
• Browse to the Daphne program for the emulator exe (daphne.exe - not the loader)
• Browse to the Roms folder
• Browse to the Snaps folder and then click OK

Now we need to configure the Daphne Screen:

• Right-click on the Daphne Screen and select Define Exceptions.
• Select one Rom at a time and under the command line option below, point to the corresponding batch file for each of your Daphne games that you already use, which is probably easier for you since you already have the command lines with switches, or just put the actual command line in there.
• Repeat for each Rom.

(Normally, you would just put a command line with switches, which is why you can't browse to a file here.)


Now we can build the hierarchy:

• Drag the Main screen to the right
• Drag the original mame one you created from before on top of the main one. It should indent to the right to indicate it's a sub-menu
  
• Repeat for the Laser screen

Save your project:

• Click the Save Project button on the left
• Click the Activate and Run button to test and see if it works properly.

Let me know if I missed something (going mostly on memory) or if it doesn't work correctly.

[Smeghead]

I've never even opened studio but I'll give it a try, THANKS!

[Havok]

No problem - the only other thing you may need to do is create a project and create a Mame screen. Let me know if you have any questions...

[Smeghead]

Just remembered I need to do this for another couple of games I have, Light Cycles and Space Paranoids but they are both just .EXEs so the same principle should work