[APP] CPWizBiz - Game Controls display

[stigzler]

CPWizBiz is a multi-system game info and controls generator. Use it to display the controls for any game on any system. It also creates dynamic layouts, leveraging media such as images, video, flash, youtube, gifs and scrollers.



More Details and Download Here:
http://www.magoarcade.com/software/cpwizbiz

[headkaze]

This is really cool stigzler 

CPWizard does actually support other emulators it's just not a feature that has been thoroughly tested or documented. Either way development of CPWizard has pretty much ceased since I'm busy working on the new GameEx Evo engine and layout editor which, by the way, has a CPViewer built into it 

[stigzler]

Cheers Headkaze!

Hope I didn't imply that CPWizard doesn't deal with other emulators - really this just pulls together the whole process of 'feeding' CPWizard.

and whoa - exciting pre-release screenshot of Evo tools! Can't wait to see it in the final release. "Animation"... how cool..

[sc23]

Cheers Headkaze!

Hope I didn't imply that CPWizard doesn't deal with other emulators - really this just pulls together the whole process of 'feeding' CPWizard.

and whoa - exciting pre-release screenshot of Evo tools! Can't wait to see it in the final release. "Animation"... how cool..

Looks awesome, will try it out over weekend. Love CP Wizard but every time I tried setting up other emulators the whole thing stopped launching on second screen. Much appreciated.
And shout out to Headkaze, CP Wiz on my second screen is great, lets kids know what buttons do what. I was hoping for an official update one day, its cool someone else is building upon a fantastic program. Thanx to you both.

[stigzler]

Thanks. 

Rather embarrassingly, the last release had some install issues. However, hopefully fixed now - tested my end. Get the new release here:

https://cpwizbiz.codeplex.com/releases/view/614939

Very Beta at the moment - so let me know if any probs.

[stigzler]

Ver 7.0.0 Released. Finally, a stable release.

[stigzler]

CPWizBiz Release 0.7.2

Some bugfixes + followed Draco's idea to add system info to log.

Also, added "Master/Slave" support. Setup CPWizBiz on your game rig, and a "Slave" installation on a second/third/forth PC. You can then edit setups offline, or edit them "on-the-fly" leaving your main rig running as usual. Also added Refresh hotkey to CPWizBiz to show changes immediately on main rig, All synced via dropbox, which also allows users to share setups (controllers, game controls, controller images etc) if setup in the public folder...

Vid here:

[gamepimp]

Hi Stigzler. Are you still working on updating this program to display images on multiple monitors for rigs that have more than 2? My arcade machine has 3 monitors (main monitor, marquee monitor, and CP monitor) and I am looking for an alternative to Marquee Magician which I can't seem to get working properly with all of them. I was hoping that maybe your program might be updated at some point so I could give it a try. But it looks like the last update was back in May. Just wondering if you were still in the process of tweaking it...

[stigzler]

On its way... just doing final tweaks. Its gotten a lot more complex, so going to be very beta for a while whilst bugs are squashed...

Vid in action here (poor quality):



Vid of example marquee make:

[gamepimp]

Looks like it's coming along very nicely. Great job!  Are the "marquee" files you are creating animated GIFs? Or are those actually short videos?

[stigzler]

If you mean the System Intros - they're videos. You can choose to show them or not on marquee load, or set a probability that they show. With the actual marquees, you can knock them together with any combo of:

• Images
• GIFS
• Flash Animations
• Scrolling text
• Customisable game title text (strokes,dropshadow,image fill, glow etc)
• Local Video files
• Youtube videos

[gamepimp]

Very cool. I always hoped that I could find a program that would display video files and not just still images. Will your program allow for separate "windows" in the same monitor to display multiple images? For example, on my marquee monitor I wanted to display box art in a window on the left, a logo of the console being played in the center, and a title screen snapshot on the right. So basically there would be 3 separate windows displaying art from 3 different folders.

[stigzler]

Yes. As many images, gifs and falshes as you want. Check out "Vid of example marquee make" above to see this in action. You can also embed video and youtube anywhere on the marquee at any size..

And it will figure out logos, snaps, titles, boxart, system picture etc dynamically from the gamename/systemname etc. You can pass these from the launching app or set them in the CPWizBiz admin interface. Best results are setting up your front-end to pass them. CPWizBiz has a download feature to donwload the images for different systems, system controllers, developers, emulators and other stuff....

[gamepimp]

I see. I use GameEx as a FE for my machine. I believe that it passes the name of the game/system being played to 3rd party programs as that appears to be what Marquee Magician leverages to pull up the proper artwork to display. Is the "marquee make" a separate program? Or is it part of CPWB? Btw if you need anyone to help test out your beta let me know. I would be happy to help out with its development.

[stigzler]

If you're using GameEx, you're golden. That's the FrontEnd this is designed from. You just use one of Adultery's plugins to feed the various info to CPWBAdmin and it (should!) do the rest!

Yeah - the marquee thingy's incorporated into CPWizBiz. If I was a super-wizz coder then it'd be a plugin or stand alone, but I aint - it's all very 'organic' this end!

Thanks for the kind offer of helping out with the testing and I'll defo take you up on your offer! This has been my first foray into anything beyond a simple batch or ahk script, so there's bound to be lots of bugs! I am hoping that they are getting less and less the more I test for release. It may be good if you could sign up for a codeplex account so you could post issues on the CPWizBiz repository - that'll keep them all in one place, which will be really helpful to me.

Working hard this end to try get something out very soon.

[gamepimp]

This looks like a pretty awesome program for your first outing with writing code.  I was actually going to take up programming to write my own if I couldn't find another program to do the job. I may still take up programming down the road. But if CPWB does everything that I need it to, I will just have to find something else to code. LOL! 

I signed up at CodePlex and sent a request to join your project. Just let me know if/when you would like me to do some testing. I'm including a pic of my arcade machine so you can see what your software is going to be used on. I have a slightly different monitor for my marquee now. It is a LG digital sign that is roughly 12" high by about 27" wide. It's technically 29" diagonal. The monitor in the CP is 8" diagonal. 

[stigzler]

Nice Rig! I'm a sucker for functionality - so loving the CPanel embedded controls display  You have lightguns set up on this rig?

Thanks for the assist. Currently testing on non-dev PC - old Win7 laptop. Problem being had to factory reset it, and it's so far taken a total of 2 days to get updated and deal with MS update brainfarts. MS - I love ya and hate ya at the same time.

Good to have a contributor on board. Hopefully, if I can get this in a usable state, my aim is to pool all the hard work of anyone that uses it - that is game controls + associated images (beyond the usual snap,title,video - such as logo, developer, fanart etc) and also pool the marquees for every game. Gonna need some good contributors for that - which can be like finding rocking horse s**t in this game!

[gamepimp]

Thanks For the compliments! I don't have lightguns yet. But those are next on my list. 

I hear ya with regards to M$. Definitely a love/hate relationship there. I'm just getting ready to switch my office computer from Win 7 to Win 10. So we'll see how well that goes. I have Win 7 on the arcade machine and have no plans to change that. So if your program works on that, I should be golden.

I will definitely contribute anything I can to this project. Unfortunately I'm not very artistic or creative, so I've always relied on others for artwork and videos. All the artwork on my cabinet was done by someone else. I really want to come up with a unique theme for GameEx, but I need to get a good program like Adobe PS and really learn how to use it. That involves time and money, two things that are always in short supply. Lol!

[stigzler]

CPWizBiz V0.8.0.0 Released

Totally overhauled installer. Now:
   - Guides through the Master/Slave installation
   - Accommodates re-install ontop of existing installations
   - Auto-downloads CPWizard + sets it up.
Tootips added to Admin interface.
Added facility to delete game setups and edit game names
** Added Assets dowloader - keeps all imgaes up to date from server **
** Added Controllers and Game Controls downloader  - download other user's setups - save yourself a job**
Above resulting in much smaller download.
Added some view tools for the datagrids
Added Change GUI font size/style (for old man eyes like mine)
Total reshuffle of layout
oh and....
** MARQUEE EDITOR!!! **
- Autogenerate Marquees from image paths
- Add images, animation (flash or gif), vidoes (local or youtube link) + scroller texts to a custom marquee
- Flashy text generator - makes styalized text from game name.
- In-app image searcher to find logos, backgrounds, fanart etc
- In-app game info searcher
- Video Intros before marquee display (e.g. for console boots)
Loads of other stuff...

[gamepimp]

This is awesome Stig! Wasn't expecting the release this soon. Looking forward to playing around with the updated program this week. It will definitely give me an excuse to tinker around with my cabinet. It hasn't been getting too much love lately due to some other projects I've been working on. Will keep you posted on any issues that arise. Thx again for all your hard work!

[stigzler]

Nice one and no worries. Post any (innevitable) bugs on codeplex. 

[gamepimp]

Hi Stigzler. I tried configuring CPWB over the weekend and got hung up at the point where the program was supposed to create some folders/files as part of that configuration. I logged an issue on the CodePlex site. Wasn't sure if you saw that there yet or not. Let me know if you need any additional details. Thx!

[stigzler]

Reply posted.

[stigzler]

** Updates **

Above issues fixed. Recent patches:

0.8.0.1
Bug Fixes:
- Importing controllers
   - cleaned code - prevents hang
   - Changed controllers ini file on remote server "{assets}" was missing

0.8.0.2
Bug Fixes:
- Setup + ResetCPWInstall Proceedure - fixed xcopy bug requiring user prompt in batch freezing program.

[RxBrad]

Hey, stig..

So, I tried to set up CPWB on my cab and hit a wall.  In the meantime, I'm just displaying pre-generated CPWizard PNGs of the controls when each game loads (using GameEx's GameExtender feature).  Whenever I tried using vanilla CPWizard to display the controls, it only briefly shows the controls, and then they disappear when I start playing the game.

My ultimate goal would be to have the controls displayed on my secondary screen for the duration that I'm playing the applicable game.  This would be for MAME and console emulators.

Is this possible with CPWB?  Wondering if I should just try to dig into the configuration again.

[stigzler]

Yes. That's precisely what CPWizBiz is designed to do.

Have you looked through the documentation on CPWizBiz setup? Once you've set it up for the first time, all you would really need to do is to set the timeout to "0" (meaning display permanently) in CPWizBiz Local Defaults and the right Screen in CPWizard settings. Step by step:

Install CPWizBiz

Open CPWizard. One way:



Choose the monitor number of where you want your controls:



Back to CPWizBiz. Open Local Defaults:



Then select "0" as the timeout:



I'd suggest just play around with and installation of CPWizBiz to get used to it before you set it up "proper"

Good luck...

[RxBrad]

Thanks...  So what you're saying is...



I guess I have something to do this weekend...

[stigzler]

Naw - I'd never attempt to be so post-modernistically ironic - I'm a bit too old for that....

Just lending a hand if wanted. If not - feel free to file in the bin.

[stigzler]

Update: 0.8.1.0
Amalgamated Patches
Fixed compiled BATs throwing false positive Windows Defender warnings (due to 3rd party bat>exe compiler)

[stigzler]

0.8.2.0
Fixed installer bug - DropBox no longer putting certain file in appdata - now prompts user for manual choosing of dropbox folder in absence of auto. Also, moved Assets + db delete until end of install in case of bail half way through

[stigzler]

Updates:

0.8.4
Killed brackets bug

0.8.5
Added Auto CPWizard screen grab (puts into Ext_OpCard1 folder if setup for system)
Some updates to the image previewer - resize and fit image

[MartyKong]

Hi stigzler,   Just starting to learn about the software end of the build. Since I'm not planning on lit buttons, CPWizBiz for the kids seems to be a must. I came across a post on the hyperspin forum,  Posted:  September,16  2016 which says -

However, I'd strongly advise waiting a couple of weeks as due to release totally re-written version which is a lot faster and more robust.
You should be able to use it with HS + RL as all it is command line based + minimum it requires if a gamename + system, which I assume HS + RL can provide?

Although I'm not quite ready for this yet, I very much appreciate all your hard work.    Thanks again.

[stigzler]

Errr, no probs. The new version's good to go, just got to knock together some tutorial vids + amend the documentation (like that's ever gonna happen!)

Maybe you could be the first tester.

[MartyKong]

Look forward to testing it but don't rush on my account. Seems where most folks build their computer/games first, I did it backwards starting with the cab first. Thanks again Stigzler

[stigzler]

CPWizBiz V1.0.0

Totally re-coded. Lot more features. See the First Post for demo vid and link.

[wemr97dl]

OK I've been playing with this all day trying to get my rig in CPWIZBIZ. First I set up in cp wizard all the keycodes, labels etc. whin I tried to add it gave me errors. After again reading and watching your video's. I exported a .png of my controls to images and set that down first like your example and used all the images from cpwizbiz ontop of the .png like the example videos. When i try to put my rig in the image never changes from your default?? I'm missing something but dont know what? How to display my rig as default?? even went to settings and changed the default to my image and the frontend to hyperspin, was set to game ex. Any ideas?

[stigzler]

Few things:

1. You followed this video here?
https://youtu.be/rKgWmXrEoZE?list=PLdaXx0sPIMZGP_-hQ1IB7ZhpHHQBNEQfo

2. Go to Misc Tab>Additional Funtions - Select Rigs from the drop down and click "Show List" - is your rig on the list?

3. The way you add games is either via:
 - passing details via the command line (minimum = gamename and system) - if you don't pass your rig name it'll use the default rig set in Misc>CPWizBiz>Settings>[Cog Icon]
 - ChangeSetup>Clear + then fill out the details for the game you want to add. You should be able to select your Rig form the drop down if you've imported it properly.

If above fails - zip up your "db" folder (You can  get the path from Misc>CPWizBiz>Settings>[Cog Icon]) + send me that along with your CPWizBiz.ini from your root folder.

[wemr97dl]

ill go through the videos again tonight and try again from scratch,Ill let you know how it goes

[wemr97dl]

Just a quick question, in cp wizard should I set up all the controls or paste a .png of my controls like your example?  I use arcade controls for Mame and most others but Xbox controllers for some.

[stigzler]

It depends what you want displayed on your controls screen at the end of the day.

So - in my example, the background png essentially shows the buttons on my cab. I then use the Controls images to show the controller Control for the system. For example, if you're emulating Playstation on an Arcade Cab - it'll show the arcade cab button with the Controller Control image overlaid (for example, the Triangle button on the Playstation controller). Hopefully the difference should be obvious in the video.

In your case - if you are sometimes going to use Xbox controllers as well as Keyboard buttons, it may be wise to map xbox buttons to your corresponding cab buttons, even if just to tally up the game-action and x-box control.