Mala doesn't have focus when it starts

[leapinlew]

I built a new mame machine to replace a computer that was giving me problems and I have an interesting new problem. I had mala launch when windows starts(an option inside of mala). Once windows is loaded the joystick/buttons do not respond. If I move the trackball the gamelist moves but the joystick\buttons do not work. If I click a mouse the joystick/buttons start working.

It happens every time. The joystick and buttons do not work unless I either click a mouse, or close mala and reopen it. I thought something else might be loading up behind mala stealing focus, so I disabled the automatic startup option and I created a shortcut to mala in the startup menu to try to change the timing, but it didn't make a difference.

I copied the Mala/Mame folders from the original computer to a computer with a fresh XP install. I disabled balloon tips inside of windows XP. Installed ATI Catalyst so I can output to Svideo to a tv. But thats about it.

Any other suggestions? I suppose I could map a mouse button from the trackball, but thats a workaround I don't want to do.

[Hoopz]

The one thing that happens a lot when you copy a folder into Windows is that the folder and subfolders often show as read-only.  I don't know how that would affect your problem, but it's something to check for.  Maybe Mala can't write a config file or something because the folder is locked?

Doubt that's it as it's doesn't seem to relate to the issue of losing focus...  Maybe someone will have a better idea to look for. 

If you pull up msconfig, what programs show on the startup tab?

[boardjunkie]

The monitor loses focus? I don't get it.....nothing about the monitor was mentioned.....

[Dartful Dodger]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=76882.0

Good luck.

<Updated Text>

Sorry for the short reply. I reread this and realized that it looks like I know the answer but instead of posting the solution I was being a jerk and just posting a link.

When you read through this link you'll see that I wasn't able to solve my problem. (hence the link and "Good Luck")

This was a known issue with Mala and XP that the developer was aware of and working on. Since you just copied and pasted your old folders/files (depending on how old your Mala is) one thing you can try is downloading and installing the latest version of Mala.

Good luck (again).

[DaOld Man]

It could be that mala is popping up an error message behind the mala screen, when you click it clicks the "OK" button and mala gets the attention.
Check your mala logs, and if you copied everything from one PC to another one, make sure all the paths are correct.
You can also connect a keyboard, when this happens hit ALT + TAB to see what (if anything) is running behind mala.
I think I had this same problem when I moved everything from one PC to another, and it turned out that one of my emulators path wasnt the same on the new pc. (Or something like that that turned out to be a simple fix.)

[markronz]

Likely nothing that's your fault, but like DD said, it's a known issue.  On one of my computers all I had to do was run that registry fix (detailed in the other thread).  It was the codec stealing the focus.  On my second machine, that alone did not fix my problem.  My problem was similar, however, it only occurred upon exiting a game.   So I came up with a simple AHK script that just single left clicks every time after I press the exit button.  This gets Mala back in focus.   So yeah, I'd read through that whole thread.  There are a few things you can try, and then if nothing else works, consider making a simple script to assist.   Also, if you're running an older version of mala, you could try upgrading it.  I believe you can just extract the new mala files into the existing folder, and that's about it.   So you shouldn't lose any of your settings.   Perhaps whatever bug you are experiencing is fixed in a newer version?

[leapinlew]

Likely nothing that's your fault, but like DD said, it's a known issue.  On one of my computers all I had to do was run that registry fix (detailed in the other thread).  It was the codec stealing the focus.  On my second machine, that alone did not fix my problem.  My problem was similar, however, it only occurred upon exiting a game.   So I came up with a simple AHK script that just single left clicks every time after I press the exit button.  This gets Mala back in focus.   So yeah, I'd read through that whole thread.  There are a few things you can try, and then if nothing else works, consider making a simple script to assist.   Also, if you're running an older version of mala, you could try upgrading it.  I believe you can just extract the new mala files into the existing folder, and that's about it.   So you shouldn't lose any of your settings.   Perhaps whatever bug you are experiencing is fixed in a newer version?

Thanks to you and Dartful for the suggestion and link to the other thread. There is definitely a lot of stuff there for me to try. I've had tons of mala machines and never had this issue.

[arximidis]

I built a new mame machine to replace a computer that was giving me problems and I have an interesting new problem. I had mala launch when windows starts(an option inside of mala). Once windows is loaded the joystick/buttons do not respond. If I move the trackball the gamelist moves but the joystick\buttons do not work. If I click a mouse the joystick/buttons start working.

It happens every time. The joystick and buttons do not work unless I either click a mouse, or close mala and reopen it. I thought something else might be loading up behind mala stealing focus, so I disabled the automatic startup option and I created a shortcut to mala in the startup menu to try to change the timing, but it didn't make a difference.

I copied the Mala/Mame folders from the original computer to a computer with a fresh XP install. I disabled balloon tips inside of windows XP. Installed ATI Catalyst so I can output to Svideo to a tv. But thats about it.

Any other suggestions? I suppose I could map a mouse button from the trackball, but thats a workaround I don't want to do.

How can this be even possible. Doesn't mala have code to "force" windows in order to get the focus? This is very important to a frontend (at least this is what I am doing to my own. And I will improve it, since I have released only beta versions)