Controlling MAME via VNC?

[8BitMonk]

Does anyone have a workable solution for controlling MAME over VNC?

Once I launch MAME over VNC no controls work for me. Other emulators work fine. I've tried a couple VNC clients, launching MAME in and out of FE's, not changing resolution, with and without multiple keyboards etc. to no avail. I've tried Logmein and uVNC and MAME .144 and .150.

A quick forum search shows the latest posts on the topic are from '09. I couldn't find anything conclusive online, some vague info about MAME using raw inputs and the ability to control via VNC maybe going away around version 117-118?

Not something I'd use a lot, just some minor remote testing but I'm curious if it's doable.

[dgame]

You have to compile your own MAME:

You cannot inject keys into MAME because it uses Raw Input to read the keyboard.

You can compile Mame to use the DirectInput API by modifying src\osd\windows\input.c following line:

Code: [Select]

// For testing purposes: force DirectInput
#define FORCE_DIRECTINPUT       1
Then you should be able to send keys again. This "hack" may not work anymore though.

[severdhed]

I can't help but think that it would be unplayably slow....vnc isn't exactly fast.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2

[dgame]

Yeah, VNC is not good for playing but great for administration. Can peek in on the cabinet to see what is being played. Can drop credits, service menu, shutdown, reboot, etc. Also works when you select a resolution that the monitor can't display properly. And since most VNC servers have a web client interface you can access the cabinet from any web browser on your network.

[8BitMonk]

For me it's primarily for troubleshooting but the speed and display with Logmein as the VNC client wasn't as bad as I thought it would be just watching the games attract mode. I compiled a version of mame150 with direct input forced so I'm going to test actually playing a game remotely tonight and see if it works. Thanks to dgame for the suggestion.

[8BitMonk]

The compiled version forcing direct input works great, the speed is plenty good for testing. I only tested Frogger, almost no lag when I played from another machine on a local network. Just tried from a more remote location and while there's definitely some lag it's playable.