Going INSANE please help !

[Miskatonic]

I am trying to build a vertical arcade cab and I cannot believe the difficulty I am having with the last step, the f*****g system itself.

I am running really old roms on an acer aspire one netbook which does NOT have an orientation option on the screen resolution tab nor does ctrl+alt+arrow keys shift it.

So, I'm looking for a "hands off" frontend that can be controlled all by the 1 player controller in the cab.

Can I find one ? CAN I F**K

I have been at this all day and now have a blinding headache. I tried hyperspin but it's so beyond truncated in terms of install that it's preposterous and, also, it's too "heavy" for this computer. Then I tried mgalaxy which is really unprofessional/messy looking and also doesn't seem to support screen rotation in the "choose a game" menu. Then I tried something called glaunch which, well, wouldn't launch as the rom finding/setup utility made a balls up of everything. That's a shame as it looked really simple/suitable. Then I tried mamewah which, again like hyperspin, is some kind of truncated nonsense which features a "system" files download with it, without which it wont launch. It just crashes my system when I try to install this, loads of red x's "unable to install" etc etc.

I am really ready to smash my head to smithereens. How can this be so f*****g difficult ? Has NO-ONE just made something that WORKS without having to download about 80 other things or edit piles of config files over and over, seemingly "pot luck" style, until something works ?

I just can't be doing with the hassle of this. PLEASE someone recommend something that isn't an 800 part download, doesn't require umpteen other files and just WORKS.

There MUST be something, lol. I want the frontend to be vertical, too, as I've mentioned before.

Going to go out for a walk now, been sitting here all day and just totally fed up of this now. I just want to test the cab not test the inflexibility/broken nature of umpteen frontends that are unsuitable for my purpose :-/

Mamewah looked really promising but this whole "you do not have x file on your system" (which is supplied, supposedly, in the broken system files download) is just nonsense.

[Malenko]

MaLa?

[Miskatonic]

thanks a lot for that, seem to be getting somewhere but now it's listing ALL games for mame instead of just the ones I've got. I'd normally be on top of this but I have had a lot of health problems lately and have a pounding headache today, again. Trying to build the cab to keep my mind off things so the help is much appreciated. Any idea how to stop it listing everything and just show what I actually have ? :-/

[Miskatonic]

figured it out but now just getting a black screen whenever I launch a rom (that I know is working). This is a great, great day :-(

[Malenko]

run "mame.exe -cc" already?

then just go through the set up. Its the easiest front end I know of to set up.

Best bet is to just stop messing with it today, take a break until tomorrow. Then look at it with a fresh set of eyes. 

[yotsuya]

Definitely chillax, brah.

[pbj]

---fudgesicle--- that.  You stay up until 4am and get this working.

[ark_ader]

Arcade os has the screen orientation and it works off old roms.  Sir Woogie, I believe maintains this site.

http://www.mameworld.info/pc2jamma/frontend.html

[Miskatonic]

run "mame.exe -cc" already?

I don't know what this means. I have zero experience of the "command line" version of mame :-/

Well, my pounding headache has gone today (for now.....) so I'm back to try again, lol :-)

[Miskatonic]

i also keep getting a "no controls.ini file set" message. fml.

[Miskatonic]

and i've jumped back to v100 of mame as apparently after around this time the architecture changed and was/is bad for slow computers. Now none of my roms work. Seriously getting fed up of this. I thought this would be the easiest step. I don't understand why it can't be more simple. I'm not retarded but this is just silly. now I have to look for special v100 roms or what ? how irksome.

[Miskatonic]

now I got tempest working but keep getting this.....

[Miskatonic]

I also need a good vertical frontend, this one scales horribly :-/

Is there no way to run mame32 and have the gamelist rotated (I know the games can launch rotated but can I just have the game select window etc rotated, too ?)

As mentioned before, my windows gfx card doesn't support desktop rotation etc but programs that rotate should bypass that.

[Malenko]

I also need a good vertical frontend, this one scales horribly :-/

Make a vertical skin for it / put it in vertical mode. Use the skin maker  and set it to the resolution of your desktop. Then there is no scaling.

[Miskatonic]

yeah, it looks like I will have to do that. Again, though, not really what I signed up for lol. Why can't things just WORK !?!?!

[Malenko]

yeah, it looks like I will have to do that. Again, though, not really what I signed up for lol. Why can't things just WORK !?!?!

Because everyone's set up is different   If you tell me your resolution I can make you a skin, but you'd still have to set the skin in the MaLa menu.

[Miskatonic]

setting the skin is not a problem it's just finding one. Also, when I import my picture it makes it 800x600 and I don't see anywhere I can click to change this. Is there a database of mala themes anywhere ? Seems hard to find on "an internest". This is really bugging me (as you can probably imagine, lol). I would like to browse some other peoples themes if possible. I don't really have time to guddle around and I'd like to just get things rolling now, don't want another day of terror thanks to this frontend lark.

Also, I'm running everything on a different pc at the moment as my netbook is piss slow, which is a real hassle to work with. However, I'm fully expecting some kind of shitstorm when I move over to that, too :-/ (as in "nothing works").

I've also got a raspberry pi which I could use but I imagine that'd be even more hassle, lol.....

To go back to a question I asked a post or so back, do you know if it's possible to use mame32 as a frontend in vertical mode ? Is there a switch or something I can make in the program to do this ? I just want to get to testing the machine, spent a chunk of time yesterday soldering/hacking a gamepad and want to make sure all the buttons work etc instead of spending another 12 hours or so getting more wound up by A) the speed of my netbook and B) it's inabilty to do anything properly...

I just want something simple that requires next to no editing and works in vertical mode.

[Malenko]

To go back to a question I asked a post or so back, do you know if it's possible to use mame32 as a frontend in vertical mode ?

No, not without a front end like MaLa. Yes you can use a front end on the GUI version of MAME.

As for MaLa layout, http://malafe.net/index.php?page=layouts

you need to click the letters on the bottom left to get the skins.  I dont mind making a simple one for you, but Id rather make it the res of your final computer. If you have 800x600 now , but when you move over to the netbook and it runs a different or weird resolution like 762x 584 then things are going to look off.

[Miskatonic]

that's mighty reasonable of you :-)

I still need to move over and check some stuff on the machine, just ripped the keyboard out the netbook with pliers as it had a key repeat issue which it developed overnight "as if by magic....". Maybe god (if he/she exists...) doesn't want me to finish this cab :-/ So, yeah, I have the monitor installed it's a 4:3 and I'm planning on running at 1024x768 I guess BUT do you have any idea about that ? Will my mame stuff look bad if it's running at a lower resolution than native ? I remember in mame32 I could set resolutions for each game but will mala stretch games to the default/standard res ? I wish it was as simple as mame to use, I appreciate it's fairly straightforward but it's bugging me as it keeps crashing/freezing and doesn't seem that stable on this system. Options that are simple to mess with/standard in mame32 aren't there. meh...

But, yeah, I'll move over to the cab and see how that goes :-)

[Malenko]

are you running the latest stable build or the latest beta?

[Miskatonic]

I have absolutely no idea I just got it off their site so I presume it's the latest stable. My netbook is ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, as I mentioned, and freaks out with anything requiring gfx etc. Also, when I boot roms from it through mala they take about 30 seconds to start, even the likes of pacman. When I use mame32 it's instant :-(

[Miskatonic]

seems to be mala 174 that I have. I'm sure I would have grabbed the proper rather than beta version, I never grab betas

[tomstewdevine]

yeah, it looks like I will have to do that. Again, though, not really what I signed up for lol. Why can't things just WORK !?!?!

A big part of this hobby is perseverance and patience......... might want to try to work on those at the same time you work on your computer.

[Miskatonic]

thanks for the constructive input, tom.

I've been more than patient with this business, I'm just reaching my wits end with it now. I do not understand how it can be so arsey. I do not understand that no-one has made a frontend that just plugs-and-plays without rakes of configuration/problems/bespoke nonsense cropping up. There's mame32 and mameui, sure, but neither of them offer a vertical option and this ass backwards netbook doesn't support screen rotation (either through official channels or third party softhacks etc).

I've been building the cabinet for ages and just finished soldering everything yesterday. I presumed this (getting the emulator running in vertical mode) would be the simplest step but NAY !

Basically, my computer is an utter r-soul. It's very slow and just doesn't seem to want to play ball. I chose to run just really old vertical games on it because, well, it seems to run them fine, but outside of mame32 it runs them all crappily and everything looks stretched/weird. That's if I can even get the games to actually open in the first place.

The implementation of joysticks etc and the management of varying/individual resolutions per game is a godsend in mame32 BUT if I choose any of these other frontends it seems these options go out the window.

I'm perfectly capable of getting something running in horizontal mode. If my cab was horizontal this would be absolutely no problem. However, sadly, it's not. I've also in the last couple of days been diagnosed with a permanent and debilitating disease so I apologize for being a little impatient. As I mentioned previously, I'm doing this to keep my mind off things and because I've had the parts and suchlike lying around for ages. I enjoyed making the cabinet (less so the soldering of usb snes pads to get joystick working but still, I know what I'm doing there). I don't necessarily have a massive amount of time to be spending on this lark and I'd rather do so without wanting to put my head through the plexiglass. Also, I'd quite like to see an end to the interminable messing around with this netbook and get down to playing some games sometime soon.

[tomstewdevine]

I'm sorry that you are going through medical problems, never fun, always stressful.

Malenko already gave you an perfect answer to that problem you are stressing about, Just edit the layout(skin) so that it's vertical.

[yotsuya]

I use AtomicFE for my vertical layouts. Simple as 3.14159265.

[Malenko]

I use AtomicFE for my vertical layouts. Simple as 3.14159265.

Thats a cherry of a joke right there!

Never used Atomic, might give it a whirl. I thought him using mala layout maker to adjust the default skin to vertical and to his resolution would be just as easy. Its like 3 mouse clicks.

[Miskatonic]

might check atomicfe if this mala continues to be slow/refuses to play ball. Tried to make my own frontend but the image just doesn't appear, I get a grey background. It all works fine in the editor then when I try to run it the text is all f****d and the image is not there. This is a "wizard wheeze" as excited victorian children might say :-)

Can you "do vertical" with atomic ?

[Miskatonic]

I meant can one edit/make their own layouts easily enough, sorry, my "do" reference was probably murky. Also, any links to downloads or things I can look at ? I checked their site but it put me onto a download page for themes which offered an all in one 600 mb file with no option to preview anything :-/

[Miskatonic]

sorry again, lol, I scrolled down on the main page and saw some examples. I've had tramadol today for teh pains so I'm a bit muddy on details :-/

[Malenko]

I can make you a MaLa layout when I get home. You want 800 x 600 or 1024x768?

[Miskatonic]

I am not sure, does the resolution of the frontend control the resolution ingame or do they just default to their normal resolution ? In mame32 I have no problem with this as you can set/override resolution for each game but in mala, meh, there doesn't seem to be such an option and the scaling is poor :-o

[Miskatonic]

I am going to take a break from this. Another days tinkering has yielded little in the way of results. I wish I understood this frontend business a bit better (and I wish this verticade wasn't such an annoying customer). It's weird, my other cabs went >LIKE A DREAM< but they're all horizontal and, I guess, most frontends and mame32 function fine with this. The next thing I'll probably have the chance to get tetchy about is the joystick mapping on lol I can't even remember what it's called now. mala, that's the one.

[tscottn]

Hi, Look I have been watching this thread fpr a few days now and i have been debating weather to chime in now or not, however I feel I need to add my .02 cents.  Take it or leave it.  First let me say that I am sorry you are going through medical issues.  Its never fun and I truly hope things change for you on that front. 

Now..  I feel like most of your frustration is happening because you are trying to build a system around a computer that is just not up to the task.  While MAME and most of its games don't need much computing power ( by today standards) I can not stress enough how a stable computer environment that can do basic things like orient the monitor vertically is a must.  Its like trying to build a house on a unstable foundation.  If your foundation isnt up to snuff everything you build on top of it will have issues as you start to build. 

For instance, I just finished up a vertical cab.  And while the hardware I chose was not the most powerful, it was chosen because it was able to do the things I needed it to do with the least amount of effort.  I run Mala as my front end and having the system run vertically from the windows environment really made everything else easier for me right from the get go.  Also, while it is not the fastest hardware, it runs mame just fine and it is stable and does not crash at all.  These things are all important when setting out to do any project.  I bought a mini MB and processor combo, 60GB SSD, PSU and monitor all for under 175.00.  I am not sure of your financial situation, however if you continue to try and use a system that is unstable, tooo slow,  old and wont do what you need, then you will continue to have problems, be frustrated and eventually give up. 

I always go back to the foundation analogy.  Its the most important part of any building project. 

Also, it seems to me that you are just not having fun doing what you are doing.  I really think you need to take a step back, do some research about what you want your cab to do and figure out how to get it done.  While there were parts of my build that were frustrating, i found that if I took a step away for a few days and researched and thought about it, I would be more apt to figuring it out in a calm and fun manner.  I learned so much from this build.  I learned how to work with Mala pretty good and get it to do what I needed.  But that would not have been possible if I was chasing issues with my computer system all the time or my system wouldn't allow me to do what I wanted in the first place.   

just my .02 cents, take it or leave it.  But remember the foundation.  Its all about the foundation my friend. 

[mgb]

I'd say Mala is your easiest bet.
Just take your time and don't forget to read the documentation on it.

I've used atomic fe and it's simple enough, though I'd say mala is easier. But atomic fe gave me some weird resolution issues in the frontend for my vertical cabinet

[DietCoke]

I'd recommend AttractMode.

http://attractmode.org

[juggle50]

I have a vertical cab and as tscottn mentioned above, it's really important to have a graphics card that rotates the whole operating system.  You might try downloading irotate.  That software can help rotate the windows environment so windows is always displayed vertically and therefore mame32 is also rotated.  I also agree that Mala is a great option for a front end.  It took a little time to figure out but pretty easy and even fun when you get it going. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ark_ader]

CoinOPS works with vertical screens.....

[Miskatonic]

Yeah, points taken. The thing is, the pc runs all the games fine with mame32 and auto rotates them perfectly. Remember, I'm just running REALLY old games like pac-man/tempest/dk etc etc. HOWEVER, it does seem to be a bit of a nightmare to get a frontend that works properly for these games. Each time I try one, the scaling/rendering is "off" and the games look crushed/compressed etc etc. Mame32 is perfect as I can (easily) tinker with options for each game until it sits right whereas I don't easily see a way to do this with any of the alternatives, they seem to rely on everything being perfect before you run them.

With regards to irotate etc, yes, I've tried that. I've tried 3 or 4 freeware rotation programs, none of which work. It just seems that it's not possible to rotate the screen on this netbook. I've also updated to the most recent intel chipset drivers and, again, the "rotate/portrait" option is missing from the graphics properties tab and the intel control panel. Nor do the normal windows hotkeys do it, which is most irksome. TBH, although it's ugly, if I could get mame32 running in portrait mode I would just use that as, as I said before, the games work flawlessly under that. Under everything else there seem to have been problems.

In the past I've run mame on 486 systems (lol) at 600mhz and suchlike, so I don't think this computer is underpowered. What I do think, however, is that it's an utter pissant that nearly went out the window yesterday at several points. It's just very uncooperative and, yes, perhaps it's time to rethink using it inside. I have a pi on the way that I was going to use for other stuff but I could definitely use that inside the build (it's certainly fast enough to run all the games I want on this system) and I also have another tower pc lying around, the guts of which could potentially be used. I need to check if it still works, it's old but it's quite powerful (I used to run tekken and suchlike on mame on it so a bunch of 80's vert games should be fine).

Will give this some more thought today. After yesterday I'm pretty much fed up of dealing with this netbook, it's really been nothing but an annoyance. It would be nice to be able to use it in the machine but I might consign it to another horizontal cab as for sure it can run old horizontal games no problem without feeling the need to display it's more asinine abilities.

I have enjoyed pretty much every aspect of my other builds up until this point, it's just this computer that's acting like an idiot and being non cooperative so, indeed, if I remove this from the equation things may become "fun" once more. We shall see.

I shall continue to report on my progress. There may yet be more swearing ;-)

[Locke141]

I'd recommend AttractMode.

http://attractmode.org

+1
In AttractMode its an options in the menu. It can also "Can display MaLa layouts (both horizontal and vertical)."
https://github.com/mickelson/attract/wiki/Compiling-on-the-Raspberry-Pi-%28Rasbian-Wheezy%29

It run's on the R-pi now as well, Nitrogen_widget an active member her did a lot of the work to get it running.

Update:I just down loaded the Mac versions so I so I could write a quick how to:

• When you first open Active Mode select "Displays"
• Select "Add New Display"
• Type a name and hit enter
• Select "Layout"
• Hit the down key till you see "verticals"
• Exit

If you ever need to get back to the menu just hit tab.
You will also have to set the paths to your rome and emulators but thats something you should not have a problem with.