How do I get Mala to start Super Model games (Daytona 2)

[sega_mad]

Title pretty much says it all.

I'm happy configuring the MaLa side of things, it's just the Mame command file I need help with.

Attached is my current mame.cmd file

Here is the command line to run the game

supermodel daytona2.zip -res=640,480 -fullscreen

I'm guessing it will need a new line for each game...scud, daytona2 (power edition), sega rally 2

Thanks in advance

[nitz]

I still haven't gotten around to trying the Supermodel emu yet, but I'll take a crack at this based on the info you've given...try adding this stuff to the appropriate places in your cmd file. You really shouldn't need a new line for each game.

if "%2" == "C:\emulators\other_emus\supermodel goto superM

:superM
cd C:\emulators\other_emus\supermodel
supermodel %1.zip -res=640,480 -fullscreen
exit

Substitute the appropriate paths of course. Also, you may need to throw a sleep command in there.

Good luck.

[sega_mad]

Thanks Nitz

That's not quite right.

When in the supermodel folder, the cmd line needs to be supermodel daytona2. zip etc etc

[Le Chuck]

Nitz's code calls supermodel then uses whatever game you selected from the menu in the place of %1.  This is to enable you to use one emulator setting for all the games that go with it.  All you should need to do is pop in that code and point MALA at the folder where your supermodel roms are and hit refresh games list.  Then whether it's daytona or <insert some other supermodel rom here> MALA will drop it into that code.   

What errors are you getting with that code?

[sega_mad]

Nitz,

Please accept my apology.

Everything you did was 100% correct and "spot on"

Just proves how little I know about this stuff.

You are one cleaver dude!!

last problem....on exiting any supermodel game, in the bottom left hand corner it looks like a CMD box is showing for a very very brief second.

Any thoughts how to get rid of that? (DOS box is hidden in Mala)

Thanks again 

[nitz]

You could try using an ahk script to put a solid black image on the screen for a second or so after SuperModel exits. Make a solid black image the size of your screen resolution. If you name it black.bmp and place it in the same directory as your ahk script, you could try something like this:

$esc::
splashimage, black.bmp, B
send {esc}
sleep 1000
exitapp

You'll have to modify your cmd file to run the script when it launches SuperModel. Note that this script assumes that escape exits SuperModel - adjust accordingly if that's not the case. If you still see the box, try increasing sleep, if the screen stays black too long, try decreasing sleep. Hope this helps.

 

[Le Chuck]

You could try using an ahk script to put a solid black image on the screen for a second or so after SuperModel exits. Make a solid black image the size of your screen resolution. If you name it black.bmp and place it in the same directory as your ahk script, you could try something like this:

$esc::
splashimage, black.bmp, B
send {esc}
sleep 1000
exitapp

You'll have to modify your cmd file to run the script when it launches SuperModel. Note that this script assumes that escape exits SuperModel - adjust accordingly if that's not the case. If you still see the box, try increasing sleep, if the screen stays black too long, try decreasing sleep. Hope this helps.

 

Now we're just getting ridiculous 

I'm going to do use that but it's going to be a Tom Selleck Sandwich Waterfall pic. 

[sega_mad]

Thanks Nitz,

Will give it a try.

[sega_mad]

Hi Nitz,

I couldn't get that to work......almost certainly I'm doing something wrong!!

Anyway, I asked the same question in the "Supermodel" forum.

http://www.supermodel3.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=344

A guy there has written a script that doesn't open the command box.

Is there a way to make it work with my mame.cmd for Mala?

if so, is there a way to run Daytona 2 + Daytona 2 PE and Sega Rally 2?

Cheers

Sega_mad

Update....

The guys at Supermodel said to do this..

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=91263.0

Still need some help with that!!  

 

[sega_mad]

OK Nitz,

Have tried your way again.

Here is my sm.ahk (supermodel) & mame (mame.cmd) files...but its not working...any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Cheers

Sega_mad

P.S If you manage to work out what I'm doing wrong...I'll also need to run it at 640,480 etc

Thanks again

[nitz]

Sega_mad, change the sm.ahk script to this:

setworkingdir, C:\emulators\supermodel
run supermodel.exe %1%
return

esc::
splashimage, blackimage.bmp, B
send {esc}
sleep 1000
exitapp

Without "return" after the command to run supermodel, the script just falls through to the next command which is the esc hotkey. So basically your script was probably just launching supermodel and then immedately exiting it.

I don't really hang out in the Mala forum regularly, I just pop in from time to time. I'll keep an eye on this thread for a couple days to see how you're making out, but if you need more help after that, you may have to pm me again.

[sega_mad]

Hi Nitz,

Thanks for the reply.

Still no go.

Here is what the command box looks like. It just stays there, and does nothing!!

[nitz]

I just noticed in one of your earlier posts that you had included the zip extension when launching a rom with supermodel like

supermodel.exe scud.zip

but I see your AHK script does not account for that. Try changing

run supermodel.exe %1%

to

run supermodel.exe %1%.zip

and see if that works. If it doesn't, I would start manually trying to run supermodel and your script from the command line and see if that's working correctly.

[sega_mad]

Well that partially worked.

It opened but not full screen. I tried adding -res=640,480 -full screen after   .zip but it bought up any error!!

Also, after exiting supermodel it goes back to Mala ok, but if I exit Mala, super model is still running!!

Getting close 

[nitz]

Try adding this after zip instead:

-res=640`,480 -full screen

Commas in ahk can be a bit tricky since they usually seperate parameters. Placing ` in front means a literal comma.

Not sure about the exiting problem, but try this first and see what happens.

[sega_mad]

Hi Nitz,

OK that ran OK,

But now it shows the full command box on screen before loading supermodel. Also, I can see the command box at the sides of the screen.

On exit, still the same problem.....supermodel still running in the background

[sega_mad]

Update,

I copied the script that you wrote for the model 2 emulator to hide the splash screen, and pasted it into the begining of the sm.ahk file.

  Now it hides the command box, and some how does not show the command box at the sides of the emulator when playing!!

Only problem now is the exiting!!

See screen shot (top left of screen).....and if i exit mala....supermodel emu still running!!

We  are getting there 

[nitz]

This looks like maybe supermodel doesn't exit with esc...under the esc hotkey, try changing this

send {esc}

to this

send !{F4}

and see if that does the trick.

[sega_mad]

No go on that either!!

Still the same result.

Super model does exit on esc if i dont use hotkey (just normal cmd script), but like i said at the start of the thread, it shows the cmd box in the bottom left corner for a very brief second.

 

[nitz]

I'm guessing maybe Supermodel doesn't respond to key presses sent from a program then.

Try replacing send {esc} with this:

WinClose, A

and if that doesn't work, try this:

WinKill, A

Winkill is not the nicest thing to use since it just kills the process if the window cannot be closed normally, but if you really need to do this, try it as a last resort.

[sega_mad]

Thanks Nitz,

Will try this when I get home today.

Here is the response I got from the developer
of the "supermodel" emulator.

"Supermodel is a console application for now and as far as I know, there is no way to prevent the console window from popping up. If you're comfortable with compiling Supermodel yourself, it wouldn't be too difficult to turn Supermodel into a normal Win32 application, but it would require changing some code, changing build settings, and adding a function to convert Windows-style command line arguments (stored as a single string) into an argv[] array, which is what Supermodel expects. Maybe someone with some basic C skills could volunteer? I don't think I have the time to look into it now, I'm afraid. At some point in the future, we will make the Windows port a proper Win32 app with GUI."

Thanks for all your help to date 

[sega_mad]

Hi Nitz,

Just tried that, and WinClose, A worked  

But the command box still very very briefly shows in the bottom left corner.

I've tried increasing the sleep....it didn't help.

I put the sleep 1000 up 1 line, but it never closed the emulator

Do you think it can't be achieved after reading what the developer said in the above post?

This is how the sm.ahk stands at the moment

[nitz]

If increasing sleep doesn't help, the only thing I can think of is that maybe the splashimage being used before Supermodel closes is an issue somehow...you could give this a try:

esc::
WinClose, A
WinWaitNotActive, Model
splashimage, C:\emulators\blackimage.bmp, B
sleep 1000
exitapp

If anything, I actually think this might make it worse, but I'm pretty much out of ideas...you may just have to live with this until the emu gets updated to take care of that, or someone else has an idea.

Cheers.

[sega_mad]

No luck unfortunately 

Oh well, I'll have to wait till they make it a Win 32 app.

Thanks so much for all your help Nitz

Regards Sega_mad

[thatgammon]

dude i feel your pain on this one. Its a pity your running this emu from a cmd because it works from mala with no splash screens and exits on escape with no problems as far as I can see. I will look in to this more but have you tried supermodelui? I have no idea if that will work for you but if it doesn't, cant you dedicate a layout for your supermodel games until a fix becomes available?? Let us know how you get on as I'm attempting something similar.. peace

[sega_mad]

Hi thatgammon

I have to run it via a command line becuse I'm running 3 different versions of MAME, Model 2 and Supermodel, plus Rave Racer emulator in the future (when I get time).

As for SupermodelUI, I have played with it, but a frontend within a front end...Not so flash!!

Not sure if you fully understand my problem, it launches from Mala fine, and exit (escapes) fine too, the only problem is the small command box that briefly shows in the bottom left corner on exit. I contacted Bart (the developer), and he says there is no way to avoid this until they make it a win 32 app.

Will have to wait this one out, or pay someone to re-compile the source code.

 

[thatgammon]

ok am with ya.
I guess we will have to wait...     

What I was suggesting was, until that happens if you run supermodel as an 'other emu', this problem doesn't occur.

I know you want one list (as we discussed previously I think) but you could set up say the brake pedal to be switch list.
So you have your games list and your supermodel list.
This wouldn't be hard to set up and would at least for now sort any annoying windows.

Im running 10 or so emus this way and 4 mames under a cmd.

Well good luck in your quest man, Im sure the fix is out there...
peace 

[sega_mad]

Thanks for that suggestion.....but have already been down that road.

It's not what I want....I like the simple approach.....all in one list.

I'm just being "super anal".......The cmd box is very small, and only flashes for a micro second. Most people wouldn't even see it until I pointed it out.

But might as well go for perfection.

Any idea when supermodel 0.3a is out?

 

[thatgammon]

Yeah I got that version. Its not official by any means and wasn't off their downlaod page.
It was off a thread in the forum. I just had a look but cant see it atm.

Have a look on there and if not i'll email it to ya.

There's minor changes like widescreen support and some games fixes.

[sega_mad]

It's only a WIP version. Ill wait for the complete 0.3a version.

Bart advises that the Daytona 2 track selection screen will be fixed, so that will be a big improvement.

 

[thatgammon]

k man, gives us a shout if you find that version comes out and/or you succeed in this one.

Would be interested to see... Peace