FE's... windows & simple

[x-wing]

Okay you guru's... what mame front end would you recommend for a "non-PC" type person?

I'm almost ready to deliver a cab, but I'm still undecided on what front end to have on the cab as the buyer is not what we would call proficeint with computers.

Here's the criteria:  must be Windows (or else I'd be using GameLauncher in a heartbeat... love that fe!!!), very simple (ie, not AracadeOS where you can mess with the mame.ini file), and be stable.

I've been testing EmuWizard on it, and it seems to perfectly fit the bill, but I experience a lot of lock-ups and freezes with it.  Many times when exiting a game, the whole fe locks up, and I am forced to power down the computer.  
This would definitely freak out the guy buying the cab....  My heart says to find another buyer, but this guy loves the cab so much, I can't tell him he's too stupid to run it.  

Anyone know of an extremely straight-forward FE for winmame that is stable?

I personally use RD, but I'm afraid that "casual users" can accidentally mess with the mame settings too much to make it unusable, if you know what I mean.  Thx!!


x-wing

[aramis]

hmm...as I started reading your post, the first thing I thought of was...EmuWizard. It's the simplest, easy to use FE I've found for windows, and powerful too...

I'm not sure why you are having lock-up problems with it...I've been using 0.7 for months now with no problem. I know 0.8 is out, but I haven't had a reason to update it. Is anything else running in the background that shouldn't be? That, or maybe not enough RAM? I dunno...it's been completely stable on my P3/667 WinXP machine.

If you get it running, you might want to change some of the default EmuWizard keys...for example, you don't want him hitting P2 start by accident and have it bring up the EmuWizard menu. Also, you can set it to automatically shut down the PC, etc...so the buyer never has to deal w/ windows at all.

[aramis]

I forgot to mention that I've used EmuWizard with both Mame for Win and Mame32, versions .57-.59.

It's been perfectly stable for me for some reason...

[Jakobud]

Try Cocktail FE:

http://mikebillings.com/frontend

Windows FE, very simple like Game Launcher.  I wish there was a Windows build of Game Launcher. It is by far the best FE. Period. It doesn't have all the fancy and unnecessary bells and whistles that FE programmers seem to think are necessary. Anyways, try Cocktail FE.  It's resemblant of Game Launcher, although it's Windows Based.

Let me know what you think

Jakobud

[x-wing]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I'm not sure why EmuWizard locks up so much.  I'm using the .7 version and winMAME .58 with an Athlon 1GHz w/ 256MB ram on Win98.  The video is handled with an ATI Radeon 7500 using the s-video out to a 27" Toshiba.  Just for kicks, I tried EmuWizard on another computer - Athlon 1800, WinXp, 512MB ram, blah, blah, blah... and it locks up on that one, too.  I'll try the latest version and see how that works out.

I'll also give the cocktail fe a look, too.  It looks very clean and sharp, like GL as Jakobud said.

Thanks again!

[Lilwolf]

did you try ArcadeFX?  Another must see!  
 

[x-wing]

Yeah, I tried AFX shortly after it came out.  I'm still afraid that it may be too complex of a FE, unless more features have been added that allow everything to be locked out.  I think I've tried almost all of these "new-gen" front ends, but I always find one lacking in a particular area.

My idea of the "perfect" FE?  Game Laucher for Windows is where I'd start.  Or perhaps one of these prettier new FE's like AFX or RD that had a global "lock-down" switch.  What I mean is that when you have all the settings how you want them, you could select an option that locked out all the menus, popups, etc.  You guys that host arcade parties, you know what I'm talking about.  Like I said, I haven't tried AFX for a while, so maybe this has been implemented already.

There was a cool FE that I used a few years ago, QuickMAME (by DreadBoy, I think).  That had an option where you could password protect the config menu.  That way nobody could mess with the settings.  I haven't tried QuickMAME since the move to winmame, so I'm not sure if it would work correctly, or where I could even find it.  It also kept all the game info in a database that you could edit with access or other freeware db editors.

Aramis.... It appears that I am using the .8 version of EmuWizard already.  Maybe that's the problem??  Anyone know where I can find the older .7?  Perhaps I'll email the author and see if it is still available if I can't find it anywhere else.

Thanks again!

[Lilwolf]

btw, I think arcadefx can lock down now.

Mine, (jfront) you have to know the password to get into the configuration.  This (by default) is typing in 'edit'.  This works great for my cabinet since I don't have 1/2 the keys on the control panel.

[BASSOFeeSH]

The only problem I have with Umuwizard is that whenever I exit a game it loses focus.

There aren't any other programs running, so I'm not quite sure what's going on.