Star Wars Frontend?

[kaptaink_cg]

Does anyone have a copy of Urban Interactive's awesome Star Wars Frontend launcher? I'd love to have a copy of it, but his link is dead.

You can see an example of it here:


Thanks!

[Le Chuck]

I might have a copy at home, I'll check.  The emu is great if you only want to run those three games.  I put out feelers looking for help to deconstruct it and add more options a few years ago but never got any bites.  If I have the file I'll upload it here or PM you some details on where to get it. 

My old thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,118518.msg1255156.html#msg1255156

[kaptaink_cg]

Oh man, that would awesome! Thanks.
I'm starting work on a replica Star Wars system, so yeah, it would only be playing those three.

[Le Chuck]

DISASTER!!! I seem to have up and lost that beyotch!  I think it went when I had a PC dump about a year ago.  I've recovered most of my stuff but that little gem fell off the plate I guess. 

I have a PM in to a friend on a different forum that also downloaded it before the link went tits up. Hopefully he'll save the day, if not it looks like it's back to square one.

[Generic Eric]

Oh the humanity!

I don't think I saved that either.  I don't know where to start with that.

[hsr]

The internet wayback machine lets you download the zip file.  Problem is, for me, it came down empty.  Maybe one of you is smarter than me and can figure out how to bring it down with the contents.  I downloaded by searching the zip URL in the wayback and then right click, save target as on the one and only date it was captured - May 15, 2013

[Le Chuck]

I sent a message to Shrunkenmaster and Leedsfan, both of whom I'm pretty sure had it at one time, lets see if they have better long term data retention than I

[shrunkenmaster]

Here you go:

http://we.tl/BXsnkM0BMa

Have fun!

[LeedsFan]

I did download that frontend back in the day, but I never used it because I decided to ditch Return Of The Jedi from my project. There was a problem with it anyway from what I can remember.... it didn't run on a certain operating system or something. There was no way to tweak the front end at all. What you see is what you get. If someone can remember the name of the actual file then it would make searching for it a bit easier... I've built at least one new desktop since then.

[kaptaink_cg]

Here you go:

http://we.tl/BXsnkM0BMa

Have fun!

SHRUNKENMASTER!! YOU ROCK! Thanks!

[Le Chuck]

Rar'd it down to an uploadable size for posterity (as posterous as this site is  ) Lemme know if it works.  HUUUUUGE Thanks to Shrunkenmaster and to AC for his copy as well!

[yotsuya]

Got it up and running! Whoo!

Wish I could strip out the web address, though, since it's obsolete.

[Generic Eric]

Hip. Hip!

[Le Chuck]

Okay, stay with me here - I'm close to getting a passable version of this FE going in Maximus Arcade but I'm running into a snag

1) I downloaded a craptastic little program that simulates the old XP starfield screen saver and a screen video capture program
2) I recorded about 30 seconds of stars wizzing by and then used VLC to export that to frames
3) I imported to photoshop and trimmed off the watermark on the series then exported as a gif
4) I also created a swf in flash
5) I downloaded the SW, ESB, and ROTJ vector logos from lucasfilm, did some stroking and got them to look like vector drawings
6) I saved these as transparent pngs at 1024x768
7) I set the starfield swf as background in MA, got rid of all the game lists boarder, general crap on MA, set the emulator to batch, put everything in a folder together, and aimed it at the shortcuts to the roms that launch directly so I can mix in whatever games I want
8 ) I made sure to resize batch_screen sprite to 1024x768 (same as the layout) to ensure a nice fill over the starfield
9) I'm totally borked, the damn snapshots won't change size, they seem to be proportional to whatever size layout I'm using.  No matter what I set that shizzle to it's about a quarter of the screen.  No more, no less. 

I'm clearly doing something wrong. 

Oh, I tried this in Mala with a gif, the background works but the stupid snaps won't show transparency *grumble grumble grumble

Anybody got any recommendations, I'll try other FEs, I'm stupid close on this, I even set the selection to scroll sideways so it would feel right navigating with a yoke.  BLAST!

screenie I took isn't animated, just pretend the stars are flowing by

[bleargh]

Okay, stay with me here - I'm close to getting a passable version of this FE going in Maximus Arcade but I'm running into a snag
.....

* bleargh thinks that someone has waayyyy too much spare time on their hands....

[Le Chuck]

It took about an hour. I know how to use a computer. You know you're on a hobby forum right? 

[drventure]

Oh, I tried this in Mala with a gif, the background works but the stupid snaps won't show transparency *grumble grumble grumble

You probably already know this but just in case, Mala only uses key transparency, not alpha channel. So your're snaps will have to have all transparent areas colored to a single specific color, then you can set that color to use for transparency in Mala config.

Yeah, it's not ideal by any stretch. At one point, I started work on a plugin to correct that, but never completed it. One of these days....

[Le Chuck]

Yeah, there is no way to get a glow in the transparency. I'll try and clean it up tho and see if I can get a passable result

[Le Chuck]

Got it figured out.  Once you make the skin in MA you have to open the skin.ini and change the values to screen=[#default: [1024, 768], #wide: [1024, 768], #tall: [1024, 768]] if are needing your snaps to fill a 1024, 768 screen.  The adjustment in the gui doesn't seem to do crap besides track center position of the snap. 

Attached is my working photoshop doc so if you want to do something similar you don't have to start from scratch.  I'm going to do up screen shots for all the games I'll play using my sw yoke in the same style.

Also, I could use a much cleaner swf of the stars flying, the one I have is okay but it skips when it loops and isn't great.  I would like a really sharp one if anyone wants to help me out on this.  I think it has potential. 

[drventure]

Nice. I like it! 

[Le Chuck]

Gussied it up a bit, flashing letters and whatnot.  Added a few more game screens.  Now I just need to finish any number of things I could use this with 

If anybody is interested in the actual layout its in the neighborhood of 40mb (MA layouts are always needlessly huge) but I can get it posted for download if you want it. 

[yotsuya]

Downloaded, LeC. Thanks! Gonna try using 'em with AtomicFE.

[Le Chuck]

Cool, if you can do animated backgrounds I can send you my craptastic starfield, it works but one that loops and has smaller more vectory stars would be tits. It's 8mb or something.  I have it in gif and swf.  Let me know how atomic works, if it has less overhead than MA I might switch. 

[yotsuya]

Send it to me as a SWF. I can use that. Thanks.

[Le Chuck]

You've got mail and stuff.  If you need it to a different address pm me, I used the last one you sent. 

[drventure]

You've put stun runner on that thing? Fantastic. Loved that game!

[TKW4rr10r]

This is too perfect, just acquired a ROTJ cabinet and wanted to run a PC with the series as an alternative to the PCB.  I really love the launcher shown at the top of the thread, if only there was a way to modify it.

Le Chuck's setup is incredible especially considering how quick it was done, awesome work!     I'd offer my assistance in making an animated version, but I have no skills in programming. I can be a quine pig once I get my cabinet setup in case anyone want to give it a try.

Anyone have a link for the best way of setting up the Atari yoke for PC use?

[PL1]

Anyone have a link for the best way of setting up the Atari yoke for PC use?

The Atari Yoke is electrically the same as an analog joystick.

Use the 2-axis KADESTICK (link in sig) firmware and the AVR board + options indicated in the first post of that thread.

TwistyWrist has the 12 pin molex connector and pins that mate with the yoke harness so you don't need to hack the harness.



The mounting template for the yoke is here.


Scott

[rockyrocket]

Man I was just thinking about revisiting the front end in my SW cab! .
On a side note yesterday I installed free space 2 with all the source code updates and apart from needing some extra keys it plays great on a yoke (interfaced with an A-pac).
Worth a look..

[Generic Eric]

Man I was just thinking about revisiting the front end in my SW cab! .
On a side note yesterday I installed free space 2 with all the source code updates and apart from needing some extra keys it plays great on a yoke (interfaced with an A-pac).
Worth a look..

http://www.moddb.com/mods/star-wars-the-original-trilogy-mod

[rockyrocket]

Sweet thanks for the link - downloading now!.
Its this one right?.

[TKW4rr10r]

 
Sweet baby jebus.....

Suddenly re-thinking the PC I was going to put into my ROTJ cab. Hmmm... requirements shouldn't be too high on a low res screen, maybe I can substitute a 19" VGA CRT? (Keeping the G07 for if I ever make it back to stock of course)

I'm assuming Maximus Arcade would handle side loading of PC games?

[Generic Eric]

Sweet baby jebus.....

Suddenly re-thinking the PC I was going to put into my ROTJ cab. Hmmm... requirements shouldn't be too high on a low res screen, maybe I can substitute a 19" VGA CRT? (Keeping the G07 for if I ever make it back to stock of course)

I'm assuming Maximus Arcade would handle side loading of PC games?

 http://www.gog.com/game/freespace_2 yours for $9.99  It was cheaper over christmas sale.
Its a late 1999 game.
Minimum system requirements: Windows XP or Windows Vista, 1 GHz Processor (1.4 GHz recommended), 256MB RAM (512 recommended), 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7 (compatible with DirectX 9 recommended), monitor capable of displaying 1024x768 resolution, Mouse, Keyboard. Patched to version 1.02.

@rockyrocket  I think thats the one.  I also think there are others.

[rockyrocket]

Yep that is the one.
I can also recommend diaspora the BSG mod, other mods are mentioned here....
http://scp.indiegames.us/mods.php

[ark_ader]

Just bought this when it was on sale.  Plays well.  Thanks for the links for the mods. 

[rockyrocket]

Diaspora itself is freestanding so you do not need the original game and can be found here...
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=81859.0
I have been thinking about maybe building a dedicated cab for space sims but really need to think about the control scheme, I can play with the SW yoke but need more keys and a mouse to navigate.
One thought is to use joy2mouse and make an add-on shield with more buttons that fits around the yoke?.
Others swear by using a HOTAS while others just like a mouse/keyboard.
Think I will just start with the shield and see just how many keys are really needed.
I also have a copy of X-Rebirth that still needs to be installed and have zero idea of how cab friendly it is.

I do though want to apologise  for the highjack - sorry guys!.

[ark_ader]

I remember posting about a cockpit mame cab for this genre, more so than the Star Trek Cockpit or Firefox.

Or a desk with a curved screen.

[rockyrocket]

Man I am customer number one when you start shipping those bad boys!.
Maybe someone needs to build a cockpit with a SW yoke plus extra controls built into arm rests,
 - trackball or even a trackpad
 -  Rudder pedals
 - HOTAS ect
And have a SW, space sim , mechwarrior  multi(cock?)pit.
Know what, just for kicks I think I will buy a trackpad just for an experiment.

A "last starfighter" cab clone has always appealed to me also, and you know that feeling you get when you are talking yourself into something expensive  .

[yotsuya]

A "last starfighter" cab clone has always appealed to me also, and you know that feeling you get when you are talking yourself into something expensive  .

As much as I love that movie (my gameroom and first MAME cab is named Starfighter), the SF cab in the movie is kinda ugly. It's an awkward design, although my 11 year old self would probably love the exact one. 

[rockyrocket]

A "last starfighter" cab clone has always appealed to me also, and you know that feeling you get when you are talking yourself into something expensive  .

As much as I love that movie (my gameroom and first MAME cab is named Starfighter), the SF cab in the movie is kinda ugly. It's an awkward design, although my 11 year old self would probably love the exact one. 

For me the large size makes the shape seem worse than it could be.
 I am running out of space so a scaled down version with alternate controls and paint scheme am what I am thinking.
Originally a bartop was considered as it looks to me like an overgrown bartop on a pedestal, but I do really like the nude cab shape in this photo.