Sega Monaco GP 1979/1980 - My Remake

[suverman]

Thank you very much, ofcourse no expectations of sprite edits anytime soon, just an idea for the future if possible. I will need to get my Turbo Twist spinner back up for 1.5.0

[Erpa]

What a fantastic job, congratulations! One question is, is it possible to incorporate a way to connect two monitors, 1 for the game and the other just for display? With this possibility, it is possible to recreate a machine very faithful to the original using these two monitors.

[geecab]

What a fantastic job, congratulations! One question is, is it possible to incorporate a way to connect two monitors, 1 for the game and the other just for display? With this possibility, it is possible to recreate a machine very faithful to the original using these two monitors.

Cheers Erpa!

Yes this should be possible. In fact, if you look back at previous posts from a few years ago, you'll see a user named 'xfassa' achieved this. He had an original non-working Monaco GP upright cabinet, he used one monitor for the game, and the other monitor for the LED artwork (He positioned the artwork such that the LED artwork shined through his original Monaco GP scoreboard Bezel). We achieved this by running 2 instances of Monaco GP, one instance is configured as EXPORT mode (Which runs the game, and saves scoreboard information to shared memory), and the other instance is configured as IMPORT mode (Which is low CPU intensive mode, where the game does not run and only the artwork elements are displayed/updated using data read from shared memory).

The game package comes with a couple of example configurations that demonstrate this working

[Erpa]

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[Erpa]

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[Erpa]

What a fantastic job, congratulations! One question is, is it possible to incorporate a way to connect two monitors, 1 for the game and the other just for display? With this possibility, it is possible to recreate a machine very faithful to the original using these two monitors.

Cheers Erpa!

Yes this should be possible. In fact, if you look back at previous posts from a few years ago, you'll see a user named 'xfassa' achieved this. He had an original non-working Monaco GP upright cabinet, he used one monitor for the game, and the other monitor for the LED artwork (He positioned the artwork such that the LED artwork shined through his original Monaco GP scoreboard Bezel). We achieved this by running 2 instances of Monaco GP, one instance is configured as EXPORT mode (Which runs the game, and saves scoreboard information to shared memory), and the other instance is configured as IMPORT mode (Which is low CPU intensive mode, where the game does not run and only the artwork elements are displayed/updated using data read from shared memory).

The game package comes with a couple of example configurations that demonstrate this working

I understand, but I say this, when connecting two monitors the Windows desktop is expanded, so I think that if you can put in the game the option of being able to position the display on the second monitor and with that the game is running in just one instance and the display will be adjusted (x,y) on the second monitor, just like the virtual pinball system where it is possible to connect up to 5 monitors if I'm not mistaken and adjust each part of the pinball on its respective monitor, would it be possible?

[geecab]

Sorry Erpa, I trying to understand what you’re asking but I’m a bit confused. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with how Virtual Pinball machines are setup.

The graphics library MGPr is built with (Allegro) limits each game instance a single monitor to output a fullscreen display to. Currently, MGPr defaults to the monitor that the OS has decided is the Primary monitor. In a multi-monitor system, I’m not sure if Allegro will allow you to choose larger resolution than the resolution of the primary monitor.

In a multi-monitor system, where each monitor is indexed 1,2,3 etc… then with the new MGPr v1.5.0 version, it is possible to specify a “monitor_id” configuration option, so you can have a particular MGPr instance show in fullscreen on a particular monitor (Rather than just default to the Primary monitor always).

Does this help?

[geecab]

Hi All!

Monaco GP Remake (v1.5.0) for windows is ready download from my google drive.

The release notes can be viewed here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WyXoX9MZN7jUz74cnaId97UMFgwSDKtl/view?usp=drive_link

The zipped up game package can be downloaded here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sz4rt2-nQIdsnQMNVkC3ZPE7ofUw_-Ip/view?usp=drive_link

The release notes should explain everything there is to know about using Monaco GP Remake and all its new features. It should be as easy as:

 1. Downloaded the game package and unzip it into a folder of your choice.
 2. Double click on 'gui_launcher.exe'.
 3. Choose a configuration and click the “Start” button to play.

All the configurations are set up by default for fullscreen and keyboard control. Keys are LeftArrow = Steer left, RightArrow = Steer Right, A = Accelerate, S = Gear, 5 or 6 = Instert Coin, 1 = Start Button, TAB = In game configuration editor.

Note. No arcade ROMs are required, and all of the arcade background artwork I created (As seen in the v1.5.0 teaser trailers) should work straight off the bat.

Note. The Linux / Raspberry Pi packages will be available soon (We have a few compatibility issues to sort out with a couple of distributions first).
 
Enjoy! 😊


-=Disclaimer=-

'Monaco GP Remake is NOT a SEGA product. 'Monaco GP Remake' is a fan made simulation of SEGA's 'Monaco GP' (1979) arcade game. Making money from 'Monaco GP Remake' in any way is strictly prohibited. The author of 'Monaco GP Remake' has observed due diligence in creating and testing the game, but cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused by it.

[suverman]

Thank you! 

Thanks for the scores updating fast like the real machine, it made it totally authentic now. Will explore the game now.

Wishlist for future:
1. High score file that can keep the high scores after reboot / program restart with option to reset it.

[geecab]

Thank you! 

Thanks for the scores updating fast like the real machine, it made it totally authentic now. Will explore the game now.

Wishlist for future:
1. High score file that can keep the high scores after reboot / program restart with option to reset it.

Great stuff suverman, thanks for trying out the new version!

Regarding the hiscore saves. See the new HISCORES_LOADSAVE configuration option in the GAMEPLAY section. This defaults to "no" for the Original Monaco GP configurations (Because the original 1979 Cabinet did not have battery backed-up hiscores). For the Pro Monaco GP configurations, it defaults to "yes" (Because the original 1980 Pro Cabinet did have battery backed-up hiscores). I guess you've just been trying out the Original Monaco GP configurations so you'll probably want to set HISCORES_LOADSAVE to "yes".

To reset the hiscores I suggest doing one of the following:

1. Manually delete the hiscore save file (It is created in the the new 'hiscores' directory. It'll have the same filename as the configuration but with the ".hs" extension.

Or 2. Using the in-game configuration editor, set HISCORES_LOADSAVE to "no" and restart MGPr. Once its restarted, go back into the in-game editor and set HISCORES_LOADSAVE to "yes".

I should probably add this explanation in the release notes.

Hope this helps?

[suverman]

Too good, working like a champ, also just discovered music_config.ini, added in these lines
song=1,150,./sound/Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka.ogg
song=2,150,./sound/Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka.ogg
song=3,150,./sound/Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka.ogg

Amazing. I will try to run this on CRT next month with scores on something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005452978779.html. Very excited.

[geecab]

Great stuff suverman! Glad you like the new hiscore features.

That thin LCD screen looks cool and a very good price too! Just to make you aware, even though I've added the new video_adapter (Screen ID) configuration setting,  I have noticed a few issues with running 2 instances (The game and the scoreboard instance) in 'full screen' mode on 2 separate screens (I think I mentioned this in a previous post). You might have to settle for having both instances running in 'window' mode, and then moving the windows to the desired display (There are configuration options allowing you to position the window startup position). I guess we'll have to wait until you have the new display and see what works for you

[suverman]

Got you. I will keep the expectation in check with regards to the two monitor setup. Thanks for the heads up. If you ever commercialize this and have a mode with global scoreboard, I will def buy it  But really this is amazing how similar it is to Monaco GP videos online also most TTL games change overtime due to ageing components so this remake will keep the game alive.

[geecab]

Cheers suverman!

I don't think I'll ever be able to commercialize it in its current state, quite certain Sega wouldn't like that, but thanks a lot anyway I'm doing some experimenting myself now with multi-screens. Trying to get my head fully around why some things work and other things don't. I'm quite familiar with my MGPr code again so if modifications are needed to help you get good results with your new display, then it hopefully it shouldn't be too tricky add them

[suverman]

Hi Geecab, just got the screen, did a brief testing. Looks like
"DISPLAY scoreboard_mode "export" " is crashing the export instance in my setup. The moment I change it to private or even import it runs. Tested it on couple of configurations. I am running a Windows 11 system currently.

Also IIRC back in 2016 there was a way to edit the scorecard, I have a narrow LED screen and "pro_monaco_gp_8bit.png" like stacked scorecard for example would look great on that in import mode. Is there a way I can customise the import scorecard so it looks like that? Current the scorecard is going offscreen.

Thank you

[geecab]

Hi suverman,

>>"DISPLAY scoreboard_mode "export" " is crashing the export instance in my setup.

I imagine rather than crashing, MGPr is just exiting immediately because it can't create shared memory. If you run MGPr from command line, you'll hopefully see a helpful error message indicating why it decided to exit.

When you run a configuration in export mode, MGPr will attempt to create & write to shared memory. On Windows 7 and newer, you'll have to give mgpr.exe administrator rights to do this (Right click on mgpr.exe and choose the "Run as administrator" option).


>>Also IIRC back in 2016 there was a way to edit the scorecard, I have a narrow LED screen and "pro_monaco_gp_8bit.png" like stacked scorecard for example would look great on that in import mode. Is there a way I can customise the import scorecard so it looks like that? Current the scorecard is going offscreen.

The artwork should be fully customisable. You should be able to achieve the look you want using the in-game editor (Pressing the TAB key and having a play around with the values in the ARTWORK OPTIONS). I'm not 100% sure I understand your question, but the artwork options haven't changed for years, so hopefully all that was possible in 2016 is still possible now.

Have a play around with the in-game editor and see how you get on. If you have no joy, perhaps you could sketch out a design of what you want so I can get a better idea (Might be able to make you a configuration).

Hope this helps

[GPForverer2024]

Geecab Hello,

 I have registered especially on this forum to thank you for your fabulous remake

for me it evokes a lot of memories.

 I tested the new version and I have problems with 2 screens Unable to display scores on the 2 screens(import/export)

 I have a 270 degree model steering wheel connected to it I set the sensitivity to the maximum, it's playable but I noticed that when the car drives on the blue stripe it reacts better with the steering wheel Is it possible to add this option in the settings as well?
We look forward to hearing from you soon
 sorry for my English

[geecab]

Geecab Hello,

 I have registered especially on this forum to thank you for your fabulous remake

for me it evokes a lot of memories.

 I tested the new version and I have problems with 2 screens Unable to display scores on the 2 screens(import/export)

 I have a 270 degree model steering wheel connected to it I set the sensitivity to the maximum, it's playable but I noticed that when the car drives on the blue stripe it reacts better with the steering wheel Is it possible to add this option in the settings as well?
We look forward to hearing from you soon
 sorry for my English

Hi and welcome GPForverer2024!

Glad you are enjoying the remake and thanks for trying the new version.

No need to apologise for your English

>> I tested the new version and I have problems with 2 screens Unable to display scores on the 2 screens(import/export)

Unfortunately, there does seem to be problems when running an MGPr import instance and an MGPr export instance at the same time, both in fullscreen mode.

Please can you let me know:

   1. If you run an MGPr import instance and an MGPr export instance at the same time, both in WINDOW mode, does that work ok?

   2. Can you tell me a bit more about how your windows OS display settings are configured for your 2 screens? For example, what is your "Multiple Displays" option set to ("Extend these Displays" perhaps?),  what desktop resolutions you have set for Screen 1 and Screen 2, how are the screens positioned (Screen 1 is positioned above Screen 2 perhaps?).


>>I have a 270 degree model steering wheel connected to it I set the sensitivity to the maximum, it's playable but I noticed that when the car drives on the blue stripe it reacts better with the steering wheel Is it possible to add this option in the settings as well?

I am a bit confused by what you are asking, but I'll have a guess

When you say "car drives on the blue stripe" I shall assume this is when the car drives on the Ice road or over a puddle.
When you say "I set the sensitivity to the maximum", I shall assume this means you are setting MGPr's STEERING_SENSITIVITY configuration option to maximum.

So are you are asking for a new ICE_ROAD_STEERING_SENSITIVITY (or something like that) configuration option that applies only when you drive on an Ice road or through a puddle?? Perhaps I've got the wrong idea as I did make quite a few guesses here lol!

[GPForverer2024]

Hello Geecab!

 Thank you for your reply

So I'll try to be as clear as possible

 My Windows 11 Config

1- position screen in 1920x480 landscape mode (scores), 2 Position Screen in Portrait Mode 1080x1920 Main Screen (Play)
2- mgpr.exe in Run Mode in Administrator Mode.
3- In the Windows 11 display settings in position Screen 2 is at the bottom and Screen 1 is at the top, and they are in Extend mode these displays
4- if I run an MGPR import and export instance in window mode it works
5- if I run an MGPR import and export instance in full-screen mode it doesn't work the window closes automatically
6- if I run an MGPR import instance in windowed mode and run a full-screen export instance, it works

the problem in all these tests is that I can't change the resolution of the import instance either by pressing TAB or editing the file.CFG to have the image of the scores that displays the full size of the window In the window, the image of the scores is always displayed halfway through the window, unable to change the resolution.


 For the steering wheel:

1. It's when the car drives on blue ice

2. yes the configuration option STEERING_SENSITIVITY MGPr to the maximum

3. Yes is it possible to add a new configuration option ICE_ROAD_STEERING_SENSITIVITY that applies when driving on a normal road this will allow you to be able to adjust the sensitivity of the steering wheel even more 270 degree!!
 Because when I'm driving on blue ice, the car responds much better.

 I hope I have answered as best I can Once again, a big thank you and congratulations for your work

[geecab]

Hi GPForverer2024!

Thanks for answering those questions. I think I understand a little better.

At the moment, MGPr has a limitation that will only let you create a window that is a "typical" resolution (640x480, 800x600, 1360x768 etc...). 1920x480 is an unusual size, and when you try to manually set that resolution (by editing the .cfg file to read 1920x480), unfortunately MGPr will ignore it and default to using the lowest "typical" resolution available (probably 800x600).

However, I've recently made a change that will honour whatever resolution you manually set in the .cfg file, regardless of how unusual it is. This also opens the possibility of disregarding the import/export idea, and just having 1 large window showing both the game and the scoreboard. I've done a few experiments with 2 1920×1080 monitors, where I was able to create a 1920x2160 window, and position that window so that it filled both screens. So I'm hoping this change will help you.

I'm having a little trouble understanding what you want for the steering sensitivity. Currently, you are able to set STEERING_SENSITIVITY from 0 to 200. I *think* you are saying you have this set to 200 and you are happy with that on normal roads. When you are driving on the Ice road you want even more sensitivity, say a value of 300?

So I'm thinking of making changes that will allow the following:
STEERING_SENSITIVITY (values can range from 0 to 400)
ICE_ROAD_STEERING_SENSITIVITY (values can range from 0 to 400)

Does that sound ok?

Once I get a good idea of what you are after, I can make you a debug build for you to test.

[GPForverer2024]

Hello GEECAB!

Thank you very much for your prompt feedback 

I understand better why it was possible for me to change my import window resolution for full-screen scores

 For the steering wheel I explain with my 270 degree steering wheel,
 I always notice a latency between the time I turn right or left on normal roads and this effect disappears when I drive on blue ice I think it comes from the fact that as the car slides you lose this visual effect of latency,

 it may sound weird but it's obvious when playing that's why the idea of adding an ICE option _ROAD_SENSIVITY from 0 to 400 could make the Latency effect disappear, (which would allow to add a small sliding effect)

 then for STEERING _SENSIVITY that can go from 0 to 400 is a good idea "to be tested"

 I can't wait to receive a debug version so I can test it Thank you very much

[geecab]

Hi GPForverer2024!

Great stuff! I think I finally understand your steering sensitivity issue. I think what would help is if I try to add an option that reduces "Steering Deadzone". If you google Steering deadzone, the best description I've found is...

'The steering deadzone is non-responsive “dead” area around the centre of your wheel's rotation; movements within this area will not cause the car to turn.'

Now I can understand why things 'seem' better on the Ice road tracks, because the car is always in motion (skidding constantly to the left or to the right) and MGPr only needs to detect a very tiny change in wheel position to make the car move/skid in another direction.

Leave this with me, I'll see what I can do

[GPForverer2024]

Hi Geecab!

 yes that's exactly it!!

 You are very strong 

I can't wait to test this!!

Thank you

[suverman]

I am using MiSTerCast (also downscales) to capture 640 x 480 window and broadcast it to MiSTer to get a RGB output. Slight lag with this process my scores were terrible. Also since this is window, and I got scorecard on window on LED screen as well, it already seems awesome when I pair both together in the future

geecab: I am expecting a negative response since its a feature creep and maybe time consuming and maybe not even possible, but is it possible to add nogpu video output option for the main game screen in distant future?
https://github.com/psakhis/Groovy_MiSTer
Basically only useful for people who have MiSTer FPGA, what it does it pushes video directly from gigabit ethernet port to MiSTer (1ms lag over direct ethernet) thereby bypassing the windows / linux gpu overhead and makes it very snappy. GroovyMAME has added this to the official build and the lack of lag is amazing.

[geecab]

I am using MiSTerCast (also downscales) to capture 640 x 480 window and broadcast it to MiSTer to get a RGB output. Slight lag with this process my scores were terrible. Also since this is window, and I got scorecard on window on LED screen as well, it already seems awesome when I pair both together in the future

geecab: I am expecting a negative response since its a feature creep and maybe time consuming and maybe not even possible, but is it possible to add nogpu video output option for the main game screen in distant future?
https://github.com/psakhis/Groovy_MiSTer
Basically only useful for people who have MiSTer FPGA, what it does it pushes video directly from gigabit ethernet port to MiSTer (1ms lag over direct ethernet) thereby bypassing the windows / linux gpu overhead and makes it very snappy. GroovyMAME has added this to the official build and the lack of lag is amazing.

That's cool suverman! Your scores aren't terrible btw, 4000+ (running Classic arcade mode) is pretty good You can always lower the difficulty setting in the gameplay options if the game feels 'unfair' with the 1ms lag. I'll have to read up about the MiSTer / GroovyMAME nogpu option as it is all new to me. Off the top of my head, it does sound like the option would need to go in the Allegro game library the I build MGPr with. Not sure how much work it would be to add that. I shall do a bit of investigation.

[geecab]

Hi Geecab!

 yes that's exactly it!!

 You are very strong 

I can't wait to test this!!

Thank you

Hi GPForverer2024!

The steering deadzone issue is rather interesting and, unfortunately, not as easy to fix as I initially thought. It appears the issue is in the Allegro game libraries that I build MGPr with. I've been discussing the issue (and the fix for it) here -> https://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/618893, and I've since raised the issue with the Allegro Developers on GitHub here-> https://github.com/liballeg/allegro5/issues/1538. So am just waiting, keeping my fingers crossed that someone responds.

This weekend, I hope to have a go at building all the Allegro libraries from source (I'd managed to build the core stuff, to prove my deadzone fix/hack works, but to build everything I need to run MGPr is a bit of a nightmare). In the mean time, do you know if there is an option your steering wheel has for it to use the Xinput (Xbox) driver instead of DirectInput driver? I suspect (though have no proof yet) that the problem might only happen when Allegro uses the windows DirectInput driver, and might go away if you were to use the XInput.

[suverman]

You can always lower the difficulty setting in the gameplay options if the game feels 'unfair' with the 1ms lag.

Oh no, that 1ms would happen if the nogpu was native in the game. Currently using the general capture program "MiSTerCast" by Shane Lynch, its around 1 to 2 frames. I am looking at other options to downscale, maybe I will go with the traditional AMD groovyMAME setup with crtemudrivers, I have done that before and Monaco GP plays really well with that setup

PS. Also this was Pro Monaco GP ("Pro" go cut off in the overscan) and I remember getting over 5K (maybe even 8K - I didnt know of the high score save option that time) many times in the past 

[GPForverer2024]

Hello Geecab!

For steering wheel it's homemade with an arduino nano and Leonardo board,

I followed this tutorial on youtube here is the link if it can help you



And I'm using the software wheel_ config 0.4.exe

Here is the link to the software tutorial that I've been following To set up the steering wheel

and then I use joytokey to use the buttons (e.g. start, acceleration...)

 Hope this helps because thanks to you I built a special racecab for MGPR

it Thank you again and congratulations on your work

[geecab]

Hello Geecab!

For steering wheel it's homemade with an arduino nano and Leonardo board,

I followed this tutorial on youtube here is the link if it can help you


And I'm using the software wheel_ config 0.4.exe

Here is the link to the software tutorial that I've been following To set up the steering wheel

 and then I use joytokey to use the buttons (e.g. start, acceleration...)

 Hope this helps because thanks to you I built a special racecab for MGPR

it Thank you again and congratulations on your work

Hi GPForverer2024!

I've finally manged to get the Allegro 5 game library built from source and compiling with MGPr!
So I've made you a debug version (v1.5.0D1) to try. Hopefully it run ok on your PC (I've tried it on a Windows XP machine and a Windows 10 machine at it ran fine on both). When running this version, there should be no steering deadzone. Also, when editing the configuration files, if you set the screen display mode to 'Window' then whatever non-typical resolution you set should be honoured.

You might notice I've added a steering_deadzone option to the configuration. This currently does nothing, but I do plan to get this working soon (Just ran out of time this weekend!).

Let me know how you get on, see how the steering feels to you without the deadzone.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HhqEWp6euoTxvFhhUG534Ci3WTBvg2r8/view?usp=drive_link

[GPForverer2024]

Hi Geecab!

 I just tested version D1 It's impressive to see the change of direction without a dead zone!!!

I feel like I'm playing with a new GAME, but what a pleasure!!

The steering is working at 100%

On the other hand, when the car is driving on blue ice, the steering is too sensitive, the car moves very fast from left to right (maybe make the car slide slower at that time?

I also noticed that the vertical scrolling is slower than version 1.5.0 Even the car at the start of the game accelerates more smoothly than version 1.5.0, nothing too bad, the most important thing was the dead zone for the steering wheel!

 I have put you a picture of the score display so that you can see the problem which is always the same Can't display it full screen in windowed mode,

nothing changes FYI the gui_lancher.exe doesn't work, the window closes on its own, I had to run an instance mgp.exe..... CFG directly from a bat file to make the game work
 In any case,

a huge thank you for your work which is remarkable!!

 We look forward to hearing from you soon

[geecab]

Hi Geecab!

 I just tested version D1 It's impressive to see the change of direction without a dead zone!!!

I feel like I'm playing with a new GAME, but what a pleasure!!

The steering is working at 100%

On the other hand, when the car is driving on blue ice, the steering is too sensitive, the car moves very fast from left to right (maybe make the car slide slower at that time?

I also noticed that the vertical scrolling is slower than version 1.5.0 Even the car at the start of the game accelerates more smoothly than version 1.5.0, nothing too bad, the most important thing was the dead zone for the steering wheel!

 I have put you a picture of the score display so that you can see the problem which is always the same Can't display it full screen in windowed mode,

nothing changes FYI the gui_lancher.exe doesn't work, the window closes on its own, I had to run an instance mgp.exe..... CFG directly from a bat file to make the game work
 In any case,

a huge thank you for your work which is remarkable!!

 We look forward to hearing from you soon

Excellent stuff GPForverer2024!

Really pleased the deadzone issue has gone! I'm still going to add some new steering wheel options though, I think we can make it better still

The scrolling slow down is a bit concerning... I'm hoping its because I accidentally left some debug print statements in the code, that constantly print out the position of the joystick. If you run the game from command line, you'll see my debug output in the window that you ran mgpr.exe in. I think that's what slowing things down. You could test this theory by changing the steering device to keys, that'll stop the debug output and hopefully the scrolling will be back to normal.

Regarding the score display. I think that looks like what I'd expect (I can see a 1920x480 window has been created OK in your picture). You'll now have to use the in-game editor to stretch/move the artwork and LEDs to fill the window as you wish. While the import mode is running, press the TAB key, use the arrow keys to navigate into the ARTWORK OPTIONS. In the ARTWORK OPTIONS, try increasing the BEZEL_W from 1024 to 1920 and you should see the big monaco sign getting wider (Hold down the shift key to speed up the rate at which the values increase). Try then changing the TIME_X option to move the position of the time LED display. etc.. Also, in DISPLAY OPTIONS, try setting WINDOW_FRAME to no (That should get rid of the boarder around the window).

Hope this helps

[geecab]

Hi GPForverer2024!

I've been giving some extra thought about the things you mentioned in your last post. I think it would be good if you can let me know the following:

1. What is the total expanded desktop size of your system?
 
2. Are you running all this on a PC with a graphics card, a PC with onboard graphics, or a Laptop with onboard graphics?

3. When looking at your Display Settings (I.e. right click on you windows desktop and click "Display Settings"), is your 1920x480 monitor set to be screen 1 or screen 2?

4. I know it's not a major issue, but I'm curious as why the GUI Launcher isn't working for you. *I'd guess* that given my recent modification to honour the exact screen resolution set in the configuration file is causing this. Perhaps you attempted to use the GUI Launcher to run a fullscreen configuration, set to a resolution of which is not one that your graphics hardware can switch to... Quite a lot of guesses and perhaps here lol!.. The GUI Launcher shouldn't have any problems running configurations set to 'window' mode, so just to be absolutely sure, have you tried to running the scoreboard configurations using the GUI Launcher (As I know these are set to window mode)?

[GPForverer2024]

Hi Geecab

 So I'll try to be as clear as possible

1. I have 2 screens in extended mode

2. The pc model I use brand Beelink Mini PC with Alder Lake-N95(Turbo 3.4G), 4 cores, DDR4 8GB, Dual HDMI, Graphic HD GPU

3. In Display Settings screen 1 is 1920x480 in landscape mode Screen 2 is the main screen at 1080x1920 in portrait mode

4. If I run GUI launcher and try all the configs, none of them launch, even when switching to full screen or window mode if I run all the configs in MGPR mode.... CFG Same Nothing Launches. On the other hand, if I run the MGPR config... import.cfg sa works then I run the MGPR config... export.cfg sa works!!
for the problem of displaying the scores, I followed your advice and I was able to put the scores in full screen with BEZEL_W however I left WINDOW_FRAME on YES because it would not stay in place when I restarted the import.cfg file then in the import.cfg file.
I put SCREEN 1
And the SA works, it keeps its location, no need to touch the window!!!

If I quit the game and restart it manually on the command line it works the 2 scores and game screens are well placed


For your post just before actually I have a debug window that pops up with the joystick positions and yes you may be right about the fact that it slows down the game

 I hope I've answered a better

[geecab]

Hi Geecab

 So I'll try to be as clear as possible

1. I have 2 screens in extended mode

2. The pc model I use brand Beelink Mini PC with Alder Lake-N95(Turbo 3.4G), 4 cores, DDR4 8GB, Dual HDMI, Graphic HD GPU

3. In Display Settings screen 1 is 1920x480 in landscape mode Screen 2 is the main screen at 1080x1920 in portrait mode

4. If I run GUI launcher and try all the configs, none of them launch, even when switching to full screen or window mode if I run all the configs in MGPR mode.... CFG Same Nothing Launches. On the other hand, if I run the MGPR config... import.cfg sa works then I run the MGPR config... export.cfg sa works!!
for the problem of displaying the scores, I followed your advice and I was able to put the scores in full screen with BEZEL_W however I left WINDOW_FRAME on YES because it would not stay in place when I restarted the import.cfg file then in the import.cfg file.
I put SCREEN 1
And the SA works, it keeps its location, no need to touch the window!!!

If I quit the game and restart it manually on the command line it works the 2 scores and game screens are well placed


For your post just before actually I have a debug window that pops up with the joystick positions and yes you may be right about the fact that it slows down the game

 I hope I've answered a better

Hi GPForverer2024!

Many thanks for this.

>>For your post just before actually I have a debug window that pops up with the joystick positions and yes you may be right about the fact that it slows down the game

Ok. I'll try and get another debug version to you over the weekend that doesn't output joystick state. I just want to be absolutely sure which one of the following is the reason for the scrolling slow down:

 - Is it because of the joystick debug I added? Lets hope this is the reason

 - Is it because of the way I compiled the Allegro from source when I created v1.5.0D1? I hope this is not the reason lol!

 - Is it because the Beelink mini-pc onboard graphics is struggling to display the 2 (relatively large) MGPr windows? I have known running multiple MGPr windows that are 1920x<something> can impact CPU usage. If this is the case, I might suggest setting your screen 2 display as low as possible (600x800) and running the MGPr export instance in a window that size as that might help.

I'm probably getting a bit ahead of myself, but I wanted to let you know what is on my mind.

>>for the problem of displaying the scores, I followed your advice and I was able to put the scores in full screen with BEZEL_W however I left WINDOW_FRAME on YES because it would not stay in place when I restarted the import.cfg file then in the import.cfg file. I put SCREEN 1 And the SA works, it keeps its location, no need to touch the window!!!

Hmm, this sounds a strange. It sounds like you are saying that by changing only the WINDOW_FRAME option ON/OFF has an effect on where the window first appears on the desktop? I've tried to recreate this but I can't. When you run an MGPr instance in WINDOW mode, the window should appear in the centre of the screen, and its sounds like something odd is happening when MGPr calculates where the centre of the screen is on your system. You could try setting the SET_WINDOW_POS to ON and WINDOW_FRAME to OFF. That should force the top left of the MGPr window to appear in the top left corner of the screen. The WINDOW_POS_X and WINDOW_POS_Y can then be adjusted (negative values work too) to pinpoint exactly where the window first appears.

Hope this helps

[GPForverer2024]

Hi Geecab!

About the execution of the 2 windows when I use 1.5.0 I don't have any slow motion!

 only the D1 so I'm thinking about joystick debugging and I hope it's not due to the new compiled Allegro

Otherwise for the resolution of the 2 screens I tried to change the resolution to the lowest but strangely Windows has greyed out the box so impossible to change the resolution..

after yes just by modifying the option WINDOW_FRAME ON/OFF it has an effect on the place where the window appears for me it goes well to the 2 screen without having to affected SET_WINDOWS_POS and WINDOW_POS_X and WINDOW_POS_Y if I leave on PRIMARY, yes, it stays on the main screen in the middle and just by putting on SCREEN 1 it is displayed directly on the other screen and position it well!!!!

Perfect for me

I hope I was clear MDR!!

[geecab]

Hi Geecab!

About the execution of the 2 windows when I use 1.5.0 I don't have any slow motion!

 only the D1 so I'm thinking about joystick debugging and I hope it's not due to the new compiled Allegro

Otherwise for the resolution of the 2 screens I tried to change the resolution to the lowest but strangely Windows has greyed out the box so impossible to change the resolution..

after yes just by modifying the option WINDOW_FRAME ON/OFF it has an effect on the place where the window appears for me it goes well to the 2 screen without having to affected SET_WINDOWS_POS and WINDOW_POS_X and WINDOW_POS_Y if I leave on PRIMARY, yes, it stays on the main screen in the middle and just by putting on SCREEN 1 it is displayed directly on the other screen and position it well!!!!

Perfect for me

I hope I was clear MDR!!

Hi GPForverer2024!

I had a few spare moments this evening so I've made you a new version (Which doesn't constantly print the joystick state), v1.5.0D2...
 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K_Z4GENaskaDGTiJ7QKKPRz9fYnp_5YT/view?usp=drive_link


>>About the execution of the 2 windows when I use 1.5.0 I don't have any slow motion!

I understand. I was thinking that perhaps you only noticed the slow down after you'd created the 1920x480 window with v1.5.0D1 (A size window that wasn't achievable using v1.5.0). No worries


>>Otherwise for the resolution of the 2 screens I tried to change the resolution to the lowest but strangely Windows has greyed out the box so impossible to change the resolution..

Ah that's a shame. Does it make a difference if you have Screen 2 set to landscape, perhaps then it'll let you set something different? If that works, then you could run MGPr with its ROTATE option enabled.


>>and just by putting on SCREEN 1 it is displayed directly on the other screen and position it well!!!! Perfect for me

That's all good then, if you are happy then I am too!


Good luck, I shall keep my fingers crossed that v1.5.0D2 sorts out the slow motion scrolling thing

[GPForverer2024]

Hi Geecab!

 I thought I'd be able to answer you yesterday but didn't have time with work...

 otherwise I did the D2 test, good news, the game runs 20% faster than the D1!

 however, it is not possible to change the image size for W and H scores so I ran the import.cfg command from the D1 and then ran the export.cfg file from the D2 and it works!!

 So in conclusion, compared to the speed between version 1.5 and D2, we lost about 15% I think due to my mini PC but frankly I'm delighted with it!!

Already not having that dead zone of the steering wheel anymore is incredible

 I'll try to make a video for you this weekend

 I have a question
 
I created a bat file to launch the import, export and joytokey instances but with 3 bat files separate do you know if it is possible to make a single.bat file in order to add a pause between each command launch by start Joytokey pause 3 seconds about then start mgpr_import.cfg pause 3 seconds start mgpr_export.cfg so that I can run a single bat file at Windows startup and MGPR starts automatically?

 And a little idea of adding an option to exit the game with a key that also turns off the PC at the same time would be great! What do you think?

once again GEECAB bravo for your magnificent work!! 


Thank you
Thank you
Thank you

[geecab]

Hi Geecab!

 I thought I'd be able to answer you yesterday but didn't have time with work...

 otherwise I did the D2 test, good news, the game runs 20% faster than the D1!

 however, it is not possible to change the image size for W and H scores so I ran the import.cfg command from the D1 and then ran the export.cfg file from the D2 and it works!!

 So in conclusion, compared to the speed between version 1.5 and D2, we lost about 15% I think due to my mini PC but frankly I'm delighted with it!!

Already not having that dead zone of the steering wheel anymore is incredible

 I'll try to make a video for you this weekend

 I have a question
 
I created a bat file to launch the import, export and joytokey instances but with 3 bat files separate do you know if it is possible to make a single.bat file in order to add a pause between each command launch by start Joytokey pause 3 seconds about then start mgpr_import.cfg pause 3 seconds start mgpr_export.cfg so that I can run a single bat file at Windows startup and MGPR starts automatically?

 And a little idea of adding an option to exit the game with a key that also turns off the PC at the same time would be great! What do you think?

once again GEECAB bravo for your magnificent work!! 


Thank you
Thank you
Thank you

This is excellent news GPForverer2024!!

>>however, it is not possible to change the image size for W and H scores so I ran the import.cfg command from the D1 and then ran the export.cfg file from the D2 and it works!!

Hmm... I have no idea what is going on here, I built 1.5.0D1 and 1.5.0D2 exactly the same way lol! Let me know if you want me to investigate this strangeness some more, but I think for now I'm just happy you've got a setup that works for you


>> So in conclusion, compared to the speed between version 1.5 and D2, we lost about 15% I think due to my mini PC but frankly I'm delighted with it!!

Good stuff! One thing I did think about was making you a 64-bit version of MGPr, built with the latest Allegro sources on my Windows 10 machine. I'd be interested to know if running that improves performance. Let me know if that is something that you like us to pursue.


>>I created a bat file to launch the import, export and joytokey instances but with 3 bat files separate do you know if it is possible to make a single.bat file in order to add a pause between each command launch by start Joytokey pause 3 seconds about then start mgpr_import.cfg pause 3 seconds start mgpr_export.cfg so that I can run a single bat file at Windows startup and MGPR starts automatically?

Yes, you can run the "ping 127.0.0.1" command in your batch file, that takes 4 seconds to complete (So its just like adding a pause between commands). Have a look at my "launch_scoreboard_instances.bat" script that's shipped in the package because I use it in there. I've put comments in the file too which hopefully explains what's happening.


>>And a little idea of adding an option to exit the game with a key that also turns off the PC at the same time would be great! What do you think?
 
Might be easier just to modify my launch_scoreboard_instances.bat script to suit your needs (Rather than have 3 separate batch files). You'll need to add a few lines at the top of the script to start JoytoKey (and then a pause maybe) before the MGPr instances are started. Then at the end of the script you could add a command that shuts down the PC. I've not tested this but looks like the command for an instant shutdown is "shutdown /s /t 0".


One thing I just wanted to mention was regarding the scoreboard artwork (The big MONACO sign) - It probably doesn't look very good when stretched to fit your 1920x480 monitor. If you have an artwork editor and have an artistic flair, you could make your own custom scoreboard artwork that is 1920x480, which might look a lot nicer than the one one I included in the package (found in /bezel/scoreboard.png). If you do decide to make one yourself, just copy it into the bezel directory, and set BEZEL_FILENAME appropriately.


Hope this helps

[GPForverer2024]

Hi GEECAB!

Don't worry about the score window (import.cfg) it works like this

 If you'd like to create a 64-bit version then yes we can continue to test And for the bath file I'm going to try tomorrow I'm going to look at that In fact,

 the idea behind adding the Shut down PC option was to add it on a button directly on my arcade machine But with the examples you give me I'll try to create the bat file

And thanks for the idea of customizing the scoreboard

 thank you GEECAB!

[GPForverer2024]

Hi Geecab!

I managed to add my arcade button to turn off the PC by following your method: I created a bath file and set shutdown.exe -s -t 0

 Then I was in joytokey.exe and I associated my button with the bath file and it works great!!

if it can help others