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Author Topic: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation  (Read 70952 times)

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ids

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MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« on: December 10, 2013, 12:37:06 pm »
I've rewritten MAWS and extended it quite a bit, which you can find at mawler0206.5.zip) It is a stand-alone app, written in Java, so it should run just about anywhere (windows, mac, linux, r-pi, etc).  See the readme file in the zip for how to configure.  To work, it needs to load all data files, so it needs a bit of memory.  This may result in it not running in constrained environments (e.g. older or lesser spec'd raspberry-pi, etc).  As a very rough estimate, assume you'll need about 750MB-1GB free RAM.

The coding was done largely without looking at the original MAWS code, so differences may exist.  I've attempted to recreate the GUI, based on images from the wayback machine, with some tweaks to make better use of screen real-estate.  The current feature set is largely due to BYOAC member feedback, with artwork from 8bitmonk, et al.

For background, see this thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129498.0.html

Please report bugs and feature requests in this thread.

fwiw, the name MAWLER was chosen by members - i think we're still trying to figure out what it stands for  ;D  We've collected a decent assortment of guesses, which will be displayed on the splash screen and title bar.

Screen shots and application details in the next few posts below.

Start-up splash screen (thx 8BitMonk):

« Last Edit: June 19, 2019, 06:50:42 pm by ids »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2013, 02:43:29 pm »
First time in, this application will ask you to specify where to find things like "mame.xml" and other data files.  The more you have, the more it can display back to you.  The more the merrier.  It can take a few seconds to load all the data, but after this we create caches and indexes and the next startup will be really fast.  I'm working a feature that will point to URL's for download and make this even easier, but...that's down the road, for now....

The app starts with search/filter criteria displayed down the left side of the screen; results are shown when you hit the "search" button:



Some explanations:
  • The "User definable search criteria" really just defines what fields will run down the left side.  Out of the box you get a minimalistic "Simple" and a big "Deluxe" option, but you can redefine these and make your own.  There are options not show in "Deluxe", so have a look at the configuration options.  I've created one call "All" which contains (almost) all fields.  Some are quasi-duplicates.  For example "name", "description" are both combined to "Name/Desc" to simplify searching, and "Resolution" is a combination of horizontal and vertical, etc.  The drop list includes "Custom..." which takes you to the dialog that lets you define your own.
  • "Clear search criteria" will de-select all selected items and clear the text fields, fresh for a new search
  • "Purge" will remove items from the in-memory database - a pop-up will ask if you want to purge everything shown in the list, or just those things you have selected (if any).  Your mame.xml and other files are NOT changed - your data is safe.  This just allows you to prune away things so they never come up (during this session).  You may also notice that search criteria drop-lists have fewer elements after a purge - for example, if you purge all games with a "hanafuda" control, then "hanafuda" will be removed from the list.  Another benefit of the purge - simpler UI
  • Export supports CSV, Hyperspin and ".ini" formats right now - more to come possibly.  The "ini" files can be imported to Mala and maybe others?
  • "Clear cache.." - this clears cache and index files created after first launch which help the startup time.  If things get weird or you update files (like mame,.xml) you should hit this one.
  • Tags - the drop list is editable so you can type in a new tag name, hit the Assign and whatever is selected (or all) gets tagged.  "Remove" will erase the tag from selected (all) games.  And "Clear all" does just that, all tags are removed from selected (all) games.
     The choice between selected or all is simple - if nothing is selected, it applies to all
  • "Copy ROMs" brings up a dialog that lets you select what to copy/move and to where, or to simply delete - again, selected or all
  • Not well represented here is the saved search criteria (near top left you see "racing").  You can save search criteria, and create your own freehand via the "Custom search scripting" option, which allows for far greater flexibility than what appears along the left side of the screen; nesting, arbitrary logic (and/or), addiitonal comparison types like "equals" "does not equal", "greater than" etc.  Special handling added for things like Version Added, which needs special care to get "greater than" type queries to work properly.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2019, 12:54:16 am by ids »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2013, 02:44:55 pm »
Then, what many are looking for, the details.  Game details are shown when you double click an item from the search list:



Available images are shown in top-right of screen, and you can scroll through them all.

As you can see from the scroll bar on the right side of the screen shot, there is a lot more data not shown, such as remaining dip switch details, history.dat and mameinfo.dat entries, etc.  These latter two are nicely formatted and include hyperlinks, game links, etc.

Cheats are shown (if you specify the file in settings).  Click the blue cheat name to find other games with a cheat of the same name.  Some cheats have specific values - those are shown in the accompanying drop list. Some values have a numeric range, such as shown here, "Sound Test" support values from 1 to 17 in increments of 1.  For the dip switches, the pinkish colour highlights the default setting.  The dip switch setting title is in blue - this mean you can click it to search for other games that have a setting with that same title.

Example of a clickable link found in the info file:



and here is more formatting mameinfo, with recommended games clickable - clicking takes you to the game detail page for that game.  With this you can traverse endlessly through related games....:
« Last Edit: April 04, 2019, 12:30:29 am by ids »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2013, 03:06:10 pm »
The app also tries to respect your right to do things your way.  Some basic config:


The items above are:
  • If checked, monitor resolutions will be shown as per monitor rotation.  The default, unchecked, leaves resolution as reported by mame.xml, which is the resolution of the monitor itself, with no rotation (e.g. horizontal style, such as would be used for watching standard def tv)
  • Text searches (e.g. "name", "history") will match if any of the words entered are found, unless this is checked, then all words must be present (in any order)
  • The named "ini" files may contain entries not found in the mame.xml itself, such entries can be numerous and have little info, so the default (unchecked) is to ignore those entries.
  • Similarly, mameinfo.dat contains many entries about drivers - and without matching data from mame.xml and other sources, these entries are quite lean and confusing.  Leaving this unchecked will therefore remove a lot of driver entries from your in-memory database, so you can focus on games.
  • The executable and rom paths should be fairly self-explanatory



As shown in the next screenshot below, you can define which search criteria fields are shown along the left side of the main window.  You can create (green plus sign) a variety of your own criteria settings, remove ones you don't like (via the red "x" which is shown disabled and grey here as you cannot delete the built-in settings, just modify them), etc:




This next screen defines what fields are shown in the search result listing.  "Name" is required by a few hard-coded bits inside the app, so you have no choice with that one (that's why it's disabled):




Here you can define what fields are included when you hit the Export toolbar button (applies to CSV, but other formats may ignore this).  For CSV, you have the option to include a header line; you can have just the data, or the first line with column headings and then the data.


Lets you define where the source input files reside.  The buttons with ellipses will show a file selection dialog:


And finally, where to find images of varying types.  You can specify more than one location (directory, zip file) using the system path separator:



When it comes to moving, or copying, or even deleting roms and maybe even images, we have this:
   

Note that when you select "delete" many items are disable (destination directories don't apply).  If you have selected items in the search result, you have the ability to specify if your copy/move/delete should apply to selected or all items; as this operation applies to the search results.


And finally, the custom search scripting.  This allows for arbitrarily complex search queries - if you can imagine it, you can compose it here:


You don't need to know what all the various fields are called in this scriptable language, as the Criteria drop list provides them all, pick one and insert into your growing textual query.  And when you select a Criteria, all of its known Values are shown - again, you don't have to be an expert here, this screen will help you along.  And if you get something wrong it will tell you about it.  Also shown are all your saved queries, the ability to save what you have, delete a query, and review all recent searches.  Matching multiple values is also supported with shorthand syntax, like:
genre = {Driving, Fighter, Shooter}

If you're wonder what various filters may have in common, put each in (maybe surround with parenthesis) with an "and" between them.  Want everything that various filters might produce?  Put them in with an "or" between them.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2019, 07:20:12 pm by ids »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2013, 03:50:34 pm »
Pulled the to-do list from the other thread, removed items which are done, etc:

  • Improve formatting of mameinfo and history - feedback needed on this one
  • Better diagnostics when things go wrong
  • Start up without any files, so user can go to config dialog and specify where they are
  • Provide URL's to source files (dat's, ini's, images, etc).  Add a "click to download"?  - first pass complete
  • Provide a "launch" button to run currently viewed game in mame (and mess?)
  • Stats/graphs
  • Print - search result table prints, not sure what else has values
  • More export options - will implement when asked for, so please ask
  • fix scrolling speed w/ mouse wheel
  • Enable mouse forward and back buttons for traversing history
  • use colors.ini? - first attempt coded, need to refine
  • custom meta-data
  • a NOT option on search (eg exclude Fruit Machines, Mature, etc) - first cut implemented
  • Tab-based details pages. Ability to open new tabs when viewing game details
  • Improve default resolution for windoze
  • It would be nice to support multiple snaps.  ie Snapshots, Cabinets, Control Panel, Flyers, Manuals, Marquees and PCB.  If you go here they have all of those in separate packages.  Snapshots are also broken down into different categories like snaps of the Title screen, Snaps of Gameplay, Snaps of Bosses, Snaps of Game Over, etc.  It doesn't have to display all of them at once. - first cut implemented
  • Add more options (eg driver) to the search result options (config dialog).  When you change this setting the list should refresh automatically. - Added Driver - will add anything asked for - so please ask
  • There are several hundred roms I see at the top of the list that have almost no information, are these from the mame xml? tecomcup, tecmocupu, tecmocups are examples. - See config dialog, first (general) tab, last two check-boxes, likely the cause before those two things were implemented
  • I remember in maws a feature was that you could, through one of the filters, change the mame version of the data you were looking at. I don't find this terribly useful but if you want to fully replicate maws this is something I see missing.
  • For browsing roms a hierachical listing with the clones indented and a different color would be visually useful. - Added colour coding, indenting is a to-do
  • Allow the user to manually flag selections in list view, sort them, export/import list, custom meta-data assignment, etc
  • Dip-switch settings can consume a lot of screen space - need to rework this
  • If the window is focused on the list view (ie. a record is selected) and you start typing, it filters the list automatically based on the first few letters you type.
  • save games to separate groupings instead of deleting them
  •      -- and/or save the criteria? merge/join criteria?
  • Command line interface which, among other possibilities, will allow filtering and creation of a CSV to be used as input into various front ends

Please let me know if I've missed something (bug or feature or other).  Since I don't really know what to focus on next - "squeaky wheel gets the oil" - I'll do random things (if anything) until I hear specific requests.

I really need to thank those who helped move this along with their ideas, testing, and encouragement!
« Last Edit: May 02, 2019, 07:55:30 pm by ids »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2013, 04:40:46 pm »
It looks great man!  My suggestion and I'm not sure how hard this would be to implement, would be command line options. 

Like you send it some filters and it silently spits out a csv file. 

If it can do that then FE authors can write an app that'll read the file and convert it to their particular list format (or better yet just use the default file) and the app would double as a list generator. 

If you add native support for all the FEs out there you will kill yourself with work only to discover that when you complete it they've decided to add more features and thus the format is invalid (been there, done that). 

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2013, 08:29:31 pm »
You raise a very good point - I would not want to get stuck on the never ending treadmill of playing catch-up with front ends.  But are all, or most, front ends able to import some form of CSV?  If not, I could also provide a very simple plug-in interface and tie it into the GUI via the export option.

Otherwise, a command line interface would not be too difficult at all.

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2013, 09:11:35 pm »
Most of them do yeah, but they all use different data or want it in a custom order ect....

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2013, 09:21:55 pm »
Many thanks - to-do list above has a new entry.  I'll start researching the expectations of various front-ends.

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #9 on: December 10, 2013, 09:29:19 pm »
It'd be nice to be able to pick the location of the snaps and icons and support non-zipped format. That way you don't have to dupe them into the mawler root if you want to use them as it's a lot of space. Most people will keep one copy of these, typically in their mame folder uncompressed if they want to use them in other apps that only support non-zipped format.

Being able to custom mark/flag groups of roms and then filter and/or export by those groupings is still the highest on my wish list. Squeak squeak. You said squeaky wheel right?  ;D Not to be a request hog, I have made most of the feature requests I guess so hopefully some others chime in here.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2013, 09:32:31 pm by 8BitMonk »
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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #10 on: December 13, 2013, 12:40:58 am »
New version uploaded - minor changes:
  • Mouse wheel speed improvement
  • Controls/Misc was hidden - restored
  • Sometimes when clearing text search fields (e.g. via the "wand" icon in toolbar) the bold/red would remain - fixed
  • Titlebar shows random acronym
  • Performance improvement in XML parsing (15-20%) - some aggressive work here, pls report issues
  • Purge pop-up dialog updated; when row(s) are selected, now shows row count, and defaults to purge selected rather than all in table
  • etc

sry 8Bit, nothing from your list this time...have patience, we'll get there...
« Last Edit: December 13, 2013, 12:45:24 am by ids »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #11 on: December 13, 2013, 11:37:25 pm »
another new version uploaded: more big improvements in the XML parse time

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2013, 12:32:35 am »
New version available.  Changes include: dat files can be anywhere on first launch, better image support, minor gui tweaks, minor performance tweaks, "readme" updated to reflect relevant changes, ...

Most notable diffs:
  • On startup, if mame.xml cannot be found, you get a chance to locate all relevant files.
  • Improved handling of images - you can specify, via new tab in config dialog, the location of zip files or directories for images.  You can also use the systems path separator (e.g. ":" in *nix, ";" in windows) to provide more than one location for a given type of image.

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2013, 02:20:03 am »
Looks like some snafu's in this version, first version I haven't been able to successfully launch.

  • If the mame.xml is in the folder it errors out, says 'unable to load mame.xml, application cannot continue, please make sure mame.xml is in the C:/xxx/xxx directory. Tried changing the location of the folder on different hard drives/sub folders etc.
  • If I put the support files in separate folder named 'support files' the paths dialog box comes up but the file browser does not work. Selection a location on your computer at left doesn't allow you to navigate to file. This works for the icons, flyers etc. however. I tried manually putting in a path to the support files as well and not luck, it says it can't find mame.xml and crashes
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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2013, 12:33:17 pm »
Sorry - it seems I forgot to include "app.properties' in the zip file this time around.

That, the file selection dialog issue, and a few other bugs are fixed and I've posted an update
« Last Edit: December 17, 2013, 01:02:03 pm by ids »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #15 on: December 17, 2013, 01:16:20 pm »
Cool, seems to be working again! It doesn't seem to like unzipped image files though. I pointed it to my snaps and icons within mame folder that are unzipped and it's not showing them.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the splash screen is back to the original as well.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2013, 04:11:57 pm by 8BitMonk »
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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #16 on: December 17, 2013, 04:59:32 pm »
Fixed and posted.

I use the IDS splash screen if the mame.xml is not found and the config popup is shown.  Otherwise, the standard one should be seen.

I think we need a version of the splash without the text in the bottom-right.  I can paint that on at run-time, using the random acronym thing :)

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #17 on: December 17, 2013, 06:56:43 pm »
Cool, thanks for the update.

My spot checking shows some of the images work now but not all. For instance when I pull up 1943 I only see the flyer. When I pull up Robotron I can see the flyer and using the arrows can go to the control panel as well but not the snapshots or icon or cabinet etc.

Noticed an error that it's not finding Catver.ini even though it's in the path i'm pointing to.

Code: [Select]

I:\Arcade [ Tools ]\MAWLER>java -Xmx768m -Xmx768m -jar maws2.jar
log4j:WARN No appenders could be found for logger (xmc.util.xml.PropertyDescript
or).
log4j:WARN Please initialize the log4j system properly.
log4j:WARN See http://logging.apache.org/log4j/1.2/faq.html#noconfig for more in
fo.
Warning - data being overwritten: Mame.game; key='vector'
Parse took 16814.432791ms
I:\Arcade [ Tools ]\MAWLER\support files\mame.xml: Processed 29610 games in 16.8
22000 seconds.
I:\Arcade [ Tools ]\MAWLER\support files\nplayers.ini: Processed 29648 games, 0
failed, 9836 games, 19812 non-games, in 0.086000 seconds.
I:\Arcade [ Tools ]\MAWLER\support files\hiscore.dat: Processed 4498 games in 0.
007000 seconds.
I:\Arcade [ Tools ]\MAWLER\support files\controls.xml: Processed 0 games in 0.01
4000 seconds.
Cannot find Colors.ini file: Colors.ini
I:\Arcade [ Tools ]\MAWLER\support files\history.dat: Loaded info for 10737 game
s in 0.283000 seconds.
I:\Arcade [ Tools ]\MAWLER\support files\mameinfo.dat: Loaded info for 8949 game
s in 2.239000 seconds.
Read 28627 files from 'I:\Arcade [ Tools ]\MAWLER\support files\cheat.7z' in 2.3
39207 seconds
        7425 files had cheat codes, and 21202 files had none.
Cannot find catver file: Catver.ini
Database contains 29610 unique entries.  Total load time of all files was 22.141
 seconds

I've taken the version text off of all the boot screens, maybe pull a random one with each load unless that adds too much to the file size? Images here: http://s1194.photobucket.com/user/8BitMonk/library/MAWLER

EDIT: Was also going to mention that it might be a good idea to have the flyers smaller or be able to set the default size. With them full size you can't see any of the other info below as it takes up the whole screen. Might be good to have little previews that you could click to enlarge only if you wanted to.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2013, 07:44:18 pm by 8BitMonk »
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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #18 on: December 19, 2013, 05:21:07 pm »
I've dl'd an assortment of images and will work on improving things in that area.  I see flyers are quite big, as you mention, so I'll put an upper limit on size and scale them appropriately.

I have tweaked the splash to cycle through a selection of images, each time drawing a different random acronym expansion.  Not much of a change, so I'll wait till I get more done before pushing out a new build.

8bit: In cases where an image does not come up - can you confirm there is an image, it is named <romname>.{jpg|png|ico}, and is not in a subfolder?  For ex, for 1941 (not a clone or otherwise), there should be a file called 1941.png (or other extension) in the named zip file or directory, and not in a nested folder/dir.

thx

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #19 on: December 19, 2013, 10:05:50 pm »
Ok, I did some further testing. I made 6 new folders named Cabinet, Icon, Snap, Control Panel, Marquee and Flyer. Inside each of the folder I placed the appropriate image with the rom name of 19xx so each was 19xx.png. I then went into MAWLER and set the path to the 6 folders using the browse button and then looked up 19xx by searching for it and no images appeared. Opening up the preferences again to set the paths I noticed that there was a colon in from of the drive letter name so for instance :I:\ArcadeTools\MAWLER\image files\snap. I removed the colon at the beginning and then all images appear. It seems selecting the folder with the browse button adds a colon at the beginning.

I don't like having the icon as one of the images to scroll through, it should be visible at all times. Another image that would be cool to have visible at all times in a Hyperspin wheel image if possible. This is basically a logo for each game that is about 400x175. More info here: http://hyperspin-fe.com/oldsite/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=91
Games: Asteroids Deluxe | Atomiswave | Centipede | Championship Sprint | Defender | Donkey Kong | Dig Dug | Frogger | Ikari Warriors | Missile Command | Pac-Man | Pole Position | Robotron | Spy Hunter | Tempest | Super Mario Strikers

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #20 on: January 04, 2014, 01:17:15 am »
Updated version available at the usual URL.

  • put a cap on image sizes - they are scaled if too big
  • fixed the ":" thing
  • added mame.exe and ROM path options to config dialog
  • shuffled toolbar a bit
  • added toolbar btn to launch current game - but it's not operational yet
  • added ROM copy/move/delete options - not tested so use with caution (maybe back up your rom set first)
  • New search option to show matches (as has been the case) - or everything else (a logical NOT)
  • more performance improvements - but perhaps less noticeable this time
  • etc

sorry updates have been slowing down lately, i'm just swamped

SGT

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #21 on: January 06, 2014, 11:42:57 pm »
Just tried Mawler.  It is awesome.  Thanks for doing this.

 :applaud:

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #22 on: January 07, 2014, 10:03:02 am »
It's been my pleasure... and my hope that it is found useful.  I just wish I had more time to for it, so much yet to do...

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #23 on: January 08, 2014, 07:10:32 pm »
New update, old URL:

  • Icons shown separately from other images, no need to scroll through them
  • Wired up the "launch game" toolbar button.  Currently there is no mechanism to define the command line, it runs "mame <romname>";  hopefully that covers most usages for now.  You can specify where the mame executable lives in the Config dialog.  The process is run in the directory containing the executable.

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #24 on: January 11, 2014, 12:41:48 pm »
New update, old URL:

  • Icons shown separately from other images, no need to scroll through them
  • Wired up the "launch game" toolbar button.  Currently there is no mechanism to define the command line, it runs "mame <romname>";  hopefully that covers most usages for now.  You can specify where the mame executable lives in the Config dialog.  The process is run in the directory containing the executable.

Nice update, thanks!  The "Launch Game" feature is very useful as I use Mawler to find games I would like to add to my front end.  Is there any way to mark a game as a favorite or to add it to a custom list?  Currently if I find a game using Mawler that I want to add to my fe, I must either write it down or start my fe and go ahead and add it to a game list in the fe.  Might be nice to be able to flag games as favorites if there are others that would find that useful.  If another drop down in the search panel was added for user created custom lists,  it opens up more possibilities to make your export even more useful.

On a related note, mameui32/64 allows games to be added to custom folders.  These are just ini files that contain the rom names of those games a user adds to each custom folder.  Mala can currently import these ini files into game lists.  I'm not sure if storing favorites in a similar format would be feasible or not.  If not, perhaps adding this same format to your export procedure would at least add support for Mala, mameui32, and any other frontend that can import custom lists from mameui32.

Thanks again!

« Last Edit: January 11, 2014, 02:17:23 pm by SGT »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #25 on: January 16, 2014, 11:24:48 am »
Looks like you have come a long way in a short time.   Tried to use the download link in the first message but it keeps bringing me back to this thread. :dunno

My mistake works fine new.  Just downloaded so fast that I missed it.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2014, 12:11:05 pm by BobA »

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #26 on: January 16, 2014, 01:43:54 pm »
BobA - the download link (http://www.ids.ca/mame/maws2.zip) does not have a web page to show, it's a direct link to the file.  If clicking is not triggering a download, maybe a right-click is needed or something to suggest to your browser you'd like to save the file at that link?  It is coming along - much slower than I'd like, but I'm quite swamped at the moment.  I need to update those screen shots above as well.

SGT: seems I assume the "launch game" works then (I've not really tested it).  The idea of flagging and custom lists has been on my TO-DO list for a good while, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet, sorry.  Been busy, and trying to think of good visuals and interaction mechanisms for it.  On a related note, I'm also trying to visualize building more complex search filters - e.g. some of those, not that, etc (ie arbitrary combinations of AND, OR, NOT).  Perhaps these can be combined in some way, as well, and then saved with a user selectable name ("favourites", "shooters", etc.) - would be nice to have small icons to go with each list, but that might be a stretch.  The favourites/ini list-file thing sounds like a great way for the app to store these things, as the current "properties" file is being pushed beyond it's typical usage and is becoming a bit fragile (ie. please don't edit, or at least be careful).  I could easily use it both as the apps way to track user lists, and also provide access via the Export, so you can save these things anywhere you'd like.  Hopefully I'll find time for this soon.

Thx

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #27 on: February 03, 2014, 08:15:04 pm »
ids,

Quick question.  When I use Mawler to list only those games that require a CHD, it lists 383 games.  I am using mame.xml from mame 0.151. When I use mameui.151, it lists 619 games with CHDs.   An example of a specific game is cndypuzl.  Mameui32 lists it as requiring a chd while mawler does not.  If I try to run it, mame confirms the chd is missing.

Thanks!

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #28 on: February 03, 2014, 10:17:13 pm »
Took a quick look at a mame.xml I have lying around, seems like there is no simple means to determine if a CHD is required.  Some ROMS have a <disk...> entry, some have a <device..> that specifies a "chd", etc.  Not sure why there is not a single, simple flag (or maybe there is and I'm missing it).  I'll try to get an updated build out soon.  Thanks for pointing this out.

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #29 on: February 04, 2014, 03:22:44 pm »
Wasn't going to comment since I'm still on an old build, but since SGT mentioned CHDs.....
Someone in the main forum requested a list of games requiring CHDs, so off to Mawler to generate a list!
I tried to run a list of working or imperfect games requiring CHDs, but noticed a lot of ommisions.

So yeah, whatever it is using as criteria for CHDs is missing a lot.
Off the top of my head:
Killer Instinct 1 & 2, Area 51, Maximum Force.....

Most of what was listed were the rhythm games.

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #30 on: February 07, 2014, 06:56:18 pm »
I've tweaked the code a bit (not posted) and ran a quick test against mame.xml from 151.  I'm getting 602 instead of 619 for "CHD Required".  An improvement, but not perfect.

The resulting list shows the games mentioned; several Killer Instinct and Maximum Force games, as well as Candy Puzzle

I've checked with MameUI source code - it's leveraging some mame internals to make this determination.  Internals which do not appear to map directly to the mame.xml.  I ran MameUI and didn't see any obvious ways to export a list.  Without knowing which games I am missing, it's going to be a challenge to figure out what's wrong. :(  I'll try to keep at it, hope to find the problem and post a fix soon, but lately I've had negative free time (much sleep being sacrificed).  If I can't make it perfect soon, I'll post the better but still imperfect version.

Thanks

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #31 on: February 08, 2014, 12:02:33 am »
With the current version of Mawler, if you choose games that have a:

Driver Status of imperfect or good
CHD required of yes

Mawler gives us a list of 178

Mameui151 gives us a chd list of 181 when filtering out non-working games.

A difference of four games which may already be reconciled with your latest changes.  I doubt many find those games with drivers marked as preliminary as very useful.  Just my $.02

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #32 on: October 07, 2014, 06:23:11 pm »
Hey ids. I can't seem to get this to download. Do you have another way to link to it? I keep getting this:

The connection has timed out

The server at www.ids.ca is taking too long to respond.

    The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.
    If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection.
    If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.
"I know what a HAL 9000 is... I was wondering if HAL 7600 was his retarded cousin or something..."
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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #33 on: October 07, 2014, 06:26:00 pm »
Sorry, server is down temporarily, hope to have it back up real soon (hardware issues)

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #34 on: October 07, 2014, 08:40:40 pm »
server back up but with temporary patches (aka chewing gum, shoestrings, that sort of thing)

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #35 on: October 07, 2014, 10:43:34 pm »
Got it Ids! Thanks a lot.  You wouldn't happen to know if this will work with an older version of mame would you? I'm talking version .85.
"I know what a HAL 9000 is... I was wondering if HAL 7600 was his retarded cousin or something..."
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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #36 on: October 07, 2014, 10:48:46 pm »
I don't know what range of versions it's compatible with, but if it doesn't work, it should be a minor effort to enable.  If not, we'll talk :)

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #37 on: October 07, 2014, 10:49:34 pm »
Thanks, I will let you know.
"I know what a HAL 9000 is... I was wondering if HAL 7600 was his retarded cousin or something..."
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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #38 on: November 16, 2014, 03:19:30 am »
i think this is a bug, but it could be user error. It seems rom copying/moving is not supported with .7z roms, only .zip. I seem to get a bunch 0kb zip files when I try to move a batch of 7z roms.

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Re: MAWLER: A MAWS Recreation
« Reply #39 on: November 16, 2014, 01:48:14 pm »
I'll post a fix asap, thanks for reporting this.