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Author Topic: new frontend F.E.E.L.  (Read 46999 times)

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haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #120 on: July 29, 2015, 03:45:12 am »
Yesterday I've test recent build on my arcade PC and crashed are everywhere !!!!
Sometimes I dind't even click FEEL icon and it already crashes !!!!
Sometimes it crashes just before windows loads !!!!




Just kidding, no crashes at all  ;D I even switched to my layouts and everything was fine for about 2 hours switching layouts and games  :)

dr.prodigy

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #121 on: July 29, 2015, 12:08:29 pm »
Whooa, great haynor.. I was fearing this moment would have never come!! ;D

Hoping that this is the end of your pains :) .. I'd like to renew my thank you's for your hard work of testing.. you located a significant number of annoying bugs in a very short time, helping the project out very much.. really good work! :cheers:


About [emulator_path] thing, I've had a short look at the code in the last days.. the problem is, differently from, let's say, rom paths (which are accessed only when you start a rom), snapshots are read at each list movement, and sometimes path changes rom by rom (for instance, in "Top Games" list).
It is surely possible to insert placeholder management in snapshot, cabinet and marquee paths, but it's something I must do carefully. I'll let you know.

That said.. keep up the good work.. and, if you want, send some pics or videos of your FEEL setup! I'd like to add them to FE's website.. :)
« Last Edit: July 30, 2015, 05:53:20 pm by dr.prodigy »
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org

haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #122 on: July 29, 2015, 01:19:55 pm »
I should thank You in first place so thank You very much for time and effort  :)

Right now my layouts are not completed but when it time  comes I let You know ;)

haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #123 on: July 30, 2015, 06:19:07 am »
Ok, maybe I shed some light on my project.

I'm planning to extend my controller from basic joy (u360) and 8 button to two joy setup (one rotary if Andy will start sell full U360 with rotary mechanism already applied) plus trackball and spinner.
Since it's hard to remember controls for each game that you have on list and mame information from XML or controls.ini are not always accurate or misleading (dial as input control but actually it was wheel for driving game or positional analog was actually rotary part of SNK joystick) I decided to create my own custom control panels that will be shown. I think I use cabinet path to do this. It might look something like this:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,120427.msg1290322.html#msg1290322
or MaLa layout VCP03 - http://malafe.net/index.php?page=layouts&subpage=vcp03

Since there is not way to compose those images from parts I have to create each png contains full panel control, this will take a lot of time :/

dr.prodigy

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #124 on: July 30, 2015, 06:15:17 pm »
Hey haynor.. It took me a little to understand what you meant.. That's a great idea, even if I've never thinked about it, cabinet image is indeed perfect for such things!
You can first create a normal background, and then "over-impress" the commands using transparent command images saved as cabinets.. you can in fact set the cabinet image even to cover the whole screen if you want, and all the texts (lists etc) will still overlap it. In a word.. that's perfect :applaud:
My only concern is.. are you really managing to design and/or copy some thousands of different images by hand?? :dizzy:
IMHO this can be applicable only on small lists (eg. DOS games).. :-\

Btw, have you ever tried to set:
Code: [Select]
smartasd_debug_mode                     1?

You will see how a LED dashboard would appear.. apart from FE command blinking, single rom commands are highlighted when you show rom information (Ctrl key) or the game itself is run, all automatically read from MAME roms' info.. of course, this can help you only if you like LED dashboards :D

Please post a pic or video when you have done your first tests.. I'd really like to see this thing in action! :P

PS @you&all: I've released v.1.8.0.9 which, together with all "our" bugfixes, contains a new optimization to keep the focus locked on FEEL upon startup and after emu run.. maybe you can try and see if with [that bad behaving emu now i don't remember] things get better, and FEEL is maximized back after emu run..
Always available here:

http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/download/ ( http:// feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/download/ )

Let me know.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2015, 06:38:34 pm by dr.prodigy »
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

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haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #125 on: July 31, 2015, 05:11:59 am »
Thanks dr.prodigy. Focus fix brings only more problems with Taito Type X games (which I didn't run during all these tests). Raiden IV still minimalizes main window. In some cases pop ups error "Cannot access a disposed object. Object name 'WindowsGameForm'" (it's visible just after I quit some Taito games) or "A previous Draw call threw an unhandled exception. See InnerException for details". Some Taito game are started in window then enters in full screen mode so focus fix bring FEEL too fast in front cowering game. You know, those games are very problematic so making fixes just for those is waste of time.

dr.prodigy

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #126 on: July 31, 2015, 12:38:56 pm »
Well I didn't do those fixes with those emus in mind.. They were meant to manage some limit cases in "normal" usage.
Unfortunately if things are like that I can catch the exception (I will do this asap) so that FEEL won't exit, but apart from that we won't get any improvement.

Anyway, let me know how things go with custom commands images project! ;-)
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
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haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #127 on: July 31, 2015, 02:24:52 pm »
I forgot to give answer for second question :/

I used smartasd debug mode about 3 weeks ago (after I saw video on your site) and I was quite happy but I quickly realize that xml information from mame does not match exactly controls used in particular game. In fact after this idea was born.
I've made some sketch layout (in paint.net) but it's too ugly to show public  ;D Anyway project will not be started anytime soon because:
- I need to learn some decent graphic program (this will take a lot of time :/ )
- I need actually build first my extended control panel (this will take a lot of money and some time too)
- Process about 2500 playable true arcade games (not mahjong, fruit, pinball and games that I do not like) will take really lots of time

dr.prodigy

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #128 on: August 03, 2015, 07:12:49 pm »
Okay okay that's clear..
I don't really feel MAME info about commands are so "wrong".. I mean they aren't perfect for sure, but IMHO they're quite decent, according to usual needs! I fear your work is far too big.. :o
Anyway, let me know when you make some progress ;D

But then.. Nobody else playing around with FEEL? :timebomb:
« Last Edit: August 03, 2015, 07:17:41 pm by dr.prodigy »
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org

haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #129 on: August 04, 2015, 01:46:37 am »
Maybe there are some other users but they do not make experiments, just use standard configuration, nothing else.

dr.prodigy

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #130 on: August 04, 2015, 11:33:05 am »
Of course there are! We have had hundreds of downloads on v.1.8.x only! ::)

Anyway, apart from experiments and bug reports, it's always good to receive feedbacks and/or hints.. that's the spirit of this 3d ;)
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
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dr.prodigy

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #131 on: October 24, 2015, 05:30:35 am »
Go get new v.1.9! Very nice upgrades on board!
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/v-1-9-available/



;D
« Last Edit: October 25, 2015, 03:26:59 am by dr.prodigy »
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #132 on: October 31, 2015, 07:21:53 am »
V.1.9.1 available!

Now FEEL supports MESS software lists (MAME/MESS 0.162+), parsing extended ROM information in -softwarelist output.
An example of configuration (mess-svision) is provided inside sample configuration files (config\console\mess-svision).

Changelog:
Code: [Select]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 1.9 (19/10/2015) -> 1.9.1 (31/10/2015)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW FEATURES
- **** "check for updates" feature ****
- **** service mode ****
- **** MAME/MESS 0.162+ machine support (-softwarelist file integration) ****
- changelog (shown after update or from menu)
- new menu organization and design
- new UI widgets (scrollable text)
- async tasks complete refactoring
- parent videosnaps used on clone games (if clone one is missing)

BUGFIXES
- unprintable chars crash fixed

Have a nice day :cheers:
« Last Edit: October 31, 2015, 09:20:41 am by dr.prodigy »
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org

baritonomarchetto

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #133 on: October 31, 2015, 08:51:00 am »
My cabinet is not network linked, but the autoupdate feature is one-of-a-kind!
Great work Maurizio, as always!

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #134 on: October 31, 2015, 11:54:22 am »
Thank you Marco ;D
I know you're still not "wired".. but please go get a wifi dongle for your cab.. apart from auto-update (useful and convenient.. perfect even for me in upgrading my personal cab!  ::) ) in some time you'll be able to access some *really interesting* features you won't regret ! :blah: :laugh:
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
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baritonomarchetto

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #135 on: October 31, 2015, 12:00:02 pm »
He he, unfortunately it's not that easy for me being the place the cabinet sits not plugged to the net.
I am curious to see what you will use the net for :) keep the great work up!
« Last Edit: October 31, 2015, 12:03:34 pm by baritonomarchetto »

haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #136 on: November 01, 2015, 03:37:11 pm »
I'm not planning connect cab PC to internet as well but since You already wrote such function it's ok  ;)

I'm glad to see switching layout on the fly without test mode even if I must keep service mode enabled to do this  :)

I'm not going to request new functions again but if You have time in the future and some other users might sees this as worthy implementing:

- add wrap text function to game, manufacture field (possibly others)
- add function to cut in game names everthing in brackets (I use ROMlister for now)
- remove triangles from screensaver (really ugly)
- remove black fill in screenshot or make it optional
- move switching layout from service mode to standard functions
- solve problem with white flashing screen (I bypassed this as I mentioned some time ago)

Keep it up good work dr.prodigy :applaud:

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #137 on: November 02, 2015, 04:43:41 pm »
First of all.. really glad to hear from you again Haynor! :cheers:

Quote
I'm not planning connect cab PC to internet as well but since You already wrote such function it's ok  ;)
Well I know there shouldn't be need for network connectivity in a cab, but auto-update is very convenient and effective (I use it for my own cab as well: build FEEL on dev PC -> play it on cab), so I would surely suggest to use it..

Quote
I'm glad to see switching layout on the fly without test mode even if I must keep service mode enabled to do this  :)
This is something I tought quite a lot about.. layout test is a nice feature and having it always handy could possibly give something, but in the end it's not really useful in daily usage.. and a "casual" player (a little bad boy for instance :) ) could mess up a perfect configuration with it.
That's why I put it in service mode area: this suits better an average use.. Otherwise, if you like playing around with your cab, nothing should stop you from keeping service mode active: that's what I personally do :)

Quote
I'm not going to request new functions again but if You have time in the future and some other users might sees this as worthy implementing:

- add wrap text function to game, manufacture field (possibly others)
This would be a great improvement, but should be thought about quite accurately, otherwise we could possibly break compatibility with all current layouts. I'll think about it!

Quote
- add function to cut in game names everthing in brackets (I use ROMlister for now)
This is very simple, I don't know why I haven't done it until now :) .. will do it soon!

Quote
- remove triangles from screensaver (really ugly)
Yeah they're quite ugly indeed .. they belong to a long time ago in FEEL's history! ;D
I will maybe replace them with something better, but honest I don't feel like removing them: user needs to know he can move left/right to choose snapshot->start game.. any idea to solve this? ::)

Quote
- remove black fill in screenshot or make it optional
This can be done quite easily, but usually doesn't match graphics.. have you designed some "special" layout?

Quote
- move switching layout from service mode to standard functions
See above

Quote
- solve problem with white flashing screen (I bypassed this as I mentioned some time ago)
How did you do it? Sure you told me about this?

Quote
Keep it up good work dr.prodigy :applaud:
..And your suggestions are always very sharp and focused.. thank you! ;)
« Last Edit: November 02, 2015, 05:23:31 pm by dr.prodigy »
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org

haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #138 on: November 08, 2015, 04:09:42 pm »
Quote
This is something I tought quite a lot about.. layout test is a nice feature and having it always handy could possibly give something, but in the end it's not really useful in daily usage.. and a "casual" player (a little bad boy for instance :) ) could mess up a perfect configuration with it.
That's why I put it in service mode area: this suits better an average use.. Otherwise, if you like playing around with your cab, nothing should stop you from keeping service mode active: that's what I personally do

I use two layouts - horizontal and vertical switchable using Shift key which means I create to identical mame sets (emulators in FEEL) with just different layouts. If FEEL had key for switching between layouts on the fly I could set only one set (emulator).

Quote
This is very simple, I don't know why I haven't done it until now :) .. will do it soon!

Thanks. I could finally abandon ROMLister :)

Quote
Yeah they're quite ugly indeed .. they belong to a long time ago in FEEL's history! ;D
I will maybe replace them with something better, but honest I don't feel like removing them: user needs to know he can move left/right to choose snapshot->start game.. any idea to solve this? ::)

You could make them optional. Maybe You could ask users how many actually using this feature.

Quote
This can be done quite easily, but usually doesn't match graphics.. have you designed some "special" layout?

I converted all screenshots to match either 4:3 (320x240) or 3:4 (240x320) dimensions. I did this to easily recognize horizontal and vertical games. You know some game uses square resolutions like256x256 (hard to say what orientation such game use) or where vertical lines are more than horizontal like 240x252 and that's for horizontal games like Moon Patrol, Knuckle'n'Joe. In practice converting to proper proportions helps a lot and doesn't make them look too bad on typical TV, arcade monitor unlike LCD monitor.
Here is the problem - many games are black area that fills either sides of game or most of playfield. For example Rip Off, Barrier. If You put those games already prescaled to 320x240 and 240x320 to black area 320x320 You will not recognize proper orientation because You will get black screen with 320x320 pixels with some graphics inside.

Quote
How did you do it? Sure you told me about this?

I've set one of windows colors to black.

Now the problems:
FEEL does not properly recognize CHD only games like XII Stag (in fact all in taitogn driver) - it was since the beginning
FEEL puts on list devices like NMK004, BSMT2000
FEEL does not properly recognize sets with partially missing files for example cps2 games where qsound.zip is missing - discovered today.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2015, 04:15:59 pm by haynor666 »

dr.prodigy

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #139 on: November 11, 2015, 05:12:48 pm »
Hi hay!
I use two layouts - horizontal and vertical switchable using Shift key which means I create to identical mame sets (emulators in FEEL) with just different layouts. If FEEL had key for switching between layouts on the fly I could set only one set (emulator).
Unfortunately, this is far a "limit usage": almost nobody has just 2 themes available under "layouts" directory (which is the only configuration usable in 1<->2 switch fashion).. it would be very limitating in terms of GUI personalization. Also, it wouldn't be really clear and intuitive to user IMHO. I don't think I'll implement it soon, sorry mate :cheers:

Quote
Thanks. I could finally abandon ROMLister :)
It's been easy, nevertheless it's a very useful feature.. thank you too ;D

Quote
Quote
Yeah they're quite ugly indeed .. they belong to a long time ago in FEEL's history! ;D
I will maybe replace them with something better, but honest I don't feel like removing them: user needs to know he can move left/right to choose snapshot->start game.. any idea to solve this? ::)

You could make them optional. Maybe You could ask users how many actually using this feature.
You're right: I can put a simple config switch to hide them. But ROM choice thru left-right will remain: I think it's a nice and even useful feature, moreover I consider it part of FEEL "personality" ;)
Will do!

Quote
I converted all screenshots to match either 4:3 (320x240) or 3:4 (240x320) dimensions. I did this to easily recognize horizontal and vertical games. You know some game uses square resolutions like256x256 (hard to say what orientation such game use) or where vertical lines are more than horizontal like 240x252 and that's for horizontal games like Moon Patrol, Knuckle'n'Joe. In practice converting to proper proportions helps a lot and doesn't make them look too bad on typical TV, arcade monitor unlike LCD monitor.
Here is the problem - many games are black area that fills either sides of game or most of playfield. For example Rip Off, Barrier. If You put those games already prescaled to 320x240 and 240x320 to black area 320x320 You will not recognize proper orientation because You will get black screen with 320x320 pixels with some graphics inside.
Sorry, I read this a dozen of times, but I really don't catch it  ???
Snapshot area is set at layout level, so you always have a fixed ratio (4:3, for instance).. what's your objective / what you mean with "recognizing"?.. would you please explain it better?

Quote
I've set one of windows colors to black.
Right.. must investigate soon..

Quote
Now the problems:
FEEL does not properly recognize CHD only games like XII Stag (in fact all in taitogn driver) - it was since the beginning
FEEL puts on list devices like NMK004, BSMT2000
FEEL does not properly recognize sets with partially missing files for example cps2 games where qsound.zip is missing - discovered today.
I remember about these issues .. unfortunately I never found time to download a newer romset than my old 0.134 (I installed MAME v.0.164 exe only for compatibility tests, running it against my usual romset), so I couldn't fix them, even it would be easy with the right data handy. Now I've got a new romset dl on the go.. hopefully I'll have it in some days ;)
BTW.. which romset version do you recommend for such tests?
« Last Edit: November 11, 2015, 05:28:45 pm by dr.prodigy »
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

F.E.E.L. - FrontEnd (Emulator Launcher) development & support
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org

haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #140 on: November 12, 2015, 03:18:10 am »
Quote
Unfortunately, this is far a "limit usage": almost nobody has just 2 themes available under "layouts" directory (which is the only configuration usable in 1<->2 switch fashion).. it would be very limitating in terms of GUI personalization. Also, it wouldn't be really clear and intuitive to user IMHO. I don't think I'll implement it soon, sorry mate :cheers:

No problem at all :)

Quote
It's been easy, nevertheless it's a very useful feature.. thank you too

Works great for me. I hope other people will make this feature usefull too.

Quote
You're right: I can put a simple config switch to hide them. But ROM choice thru left-right will remain: I think it's a nice and even useful feature, moreover I consider it part of FEEL "personality" ;)
Will do!

Thanks, it's not important but it will improve visual a bit ;)

Quote
Sorry, I read this a dozen of times, but I really don't catch it  ???
Snapshot area is set at layout level, so you always have a fixed ratio (4:3, for instance).. what's your objective / what you mean with "recognizing"?.. would you please explain it better?

I'll explain using screenshots I just need hour.


Quote
I remember about these issues .. unfortunately I never found time to download a newer romset than my old 0.134 (I installed MAME v.0.164 exe only for compatibility tests, running it against my usual romset), so I couldn't fix them, even it would be easy with the right data handy. Now I've got a new romset dl on the go.. hopefully I'll have it in some days ;)
BTW.. which romset version do you recommend for such tests?

Taito GN was added after version 131 but for some time flash rips were packed if I remember correctly as zip, then after some time converted to chd. Problem is, I don't remember version when mamedev did this conversion. Qsound has been added just before 149, NMK004 even later 155 or 156 so it's best to use latest version of mame. Of course I only tested arcade part of mame, I don't know how it works with mess part

haynor666

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #141 on: November 12, 2015, 06:56:15 am »
OK, here is why I use area of 320x320 pixels in layout. If I use preserve aspect ratio (which is I think normal) many of my screens will still look bad, examples:
Ketsui (does not look too good due 224x448 resolution)
Original; shrinked to fit 320x320 area by frontend; resized manually to fit 320x320 layout area with proper aspect


Renegade (240x240 so it's square - it's hard to tell is it vertical or horizontal)


Knuckle'n'Joe (horizontal game even it 240x256 so keeping aspect ratio is no good)


As You can see I cannot rely on frontends for making proper view, that's why I resized all screenshots.
Now, why I don't need black area where screenshot is put.

Rip Off resized from 640x480 to 320x240 put in test layout with screenshot area 320x320. As You can see even it's correctly resized it's hard to say is it vertical or horizontal because screenshots blends with layout area.

Now without black fill of screenshot area I can clearly see that game is horizontal.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2015, 07:14:18 am by haynor666 »

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #142 on: November 12, 2015, 04:15:08 pm »
Quote
Unfortunately, this is far a "limit usage": almost nobody has just 2 themes available under "layouts" directory (which is the only configuration usable in 1<->2 switch fashion).. it would be very limitating in terms of GUI personalization. Also, it wouldn't be really clear and intuitive to user IMHO. I don't think I'll implement it soon, sorry mate :cheers:

No problem at all :)
BTW, you already can do your trick, setting a horizontal layout to a MAME gamelist, and a vertical layout to another gamelist.
You can do this simply adding
Code: [Select]
current_layout         [layout name]
in - e.g. - mame-0.ini and mame-1.ini.
.. switching between the two (next_gamelist parameter sets relevant shortcut) you'll switch layout as well.. moreover you will be able to divide gamelists between vertical and horizontal titles, or if you want to browse all the games in both lists you can just replicate gamelists data.
Probably you already knew it (quite a FEEL power-user as you are ;D ), but for any other user's sake ..

Quote
Taito GN was added after version 131 but for some time flash rips were packed if I remember correctly as zip, then after some time converted to chd. Problem is, I don't remember version when mamedev did this conversion. Qsound has been added just before 149, NMK004 even later 155 or 156 so it's best to use latest version of mame. Of course I only tested arcade part of mame, I don't know how it works with mess part
Thanks, I'll try to find the right versions ;)
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #143 on: November 12, 2015, 04:28:44 pm »
OK, here is why I use area of 320x320 pixels in layout. If I use preserve aspect ratio (which is I think normal) many of my screens will still look bad, examples:
[...]
As You can see I cannot rely on frontends for making proper view, that's why I resized all screenshots.
Now, why I don't need black area where screenshot is put.
[...]
Now without black fill of screenshot area I can clearly see that game is horizontal.
Well thank you very much for this explanation.. quite clever and professional work, it would deserve a sticky 3d!
I noticed this glitch as well and thought a little about it in the past, even if to me it is bearable so I haven't given myself a solution in the end ;D
Now, I can surely remove black background (I'll add a parameter for it soon), but don't you think that dividing vertical from horizontal games would be much comfortable in choosing / playing games?
Never seen your rotating monitor (I'm quite curious btw.. would you please post some pics??? :P ), but I can imagine it takes at least some moments to rotate it. So browsing vertical games with vertical screen, or horz games with horz screen would be maybe less "spectacular", but probably more effective..
« Last Edit: November 12, 2015, 04:31:45 pm by dr.prodigy »
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #144 on: November 13, 2015, 02:39:53 am »
Quote
BTW, you already can do your trick, setting a horizontal layout to a MAME gamelist, and a vertical layout to another gamelist.
You can do this simply adding
Code: [Select]
current_layout         [layout name]
in - e.g. - mame-0.ini and mame-1.ini.
.. switching between the two (next_gamelist parameter sets relevant shortcut) you'll switch layout as well.. moreover you will be able to divide gamelists between vertical and horizontal titles, or if you want to browse all the games in both lists you can just replicate gamelists data.
Probably you already knew it (quite a FEEL power-user as you are ;D ), but for any other user's sake ..

Actually I didn't think about this. Yeah, seems to be better option than mine. I'll to do this on saturday when I "survive" colonoscopy  :-\

EDIT. Tested at work - works the same as switching emulators with the same list but organization is simpler (less files, no additional directories)

Quote
I noticed this glitch as well and thought a little about it in the past, even if to me it is bearable so I haven't given myself a solution in the end ;D

There is solution - resized screenshots according to mame xml info ROT90, ROT270.
EDIT. On FEEL list there are actually fields vertical and horizontal but it's the same so we have data for this, now it's just wrote function for proper resizing according to those fields  like horizontal 320x240, vertical 320x320.

Quote
Now, I can surely remove black background (I'll add a parameter for it soon), but don't you think that dividing vertical from horizontal games would be much comfortable in choosing / playing games?
Never seen your rotating monitor (I'm quite curious btw.. would you please post some pics??? :P ), but I can imagine it takes at least some moments to rotate it. So browsing vertical games with vertical screen, or horz games with horz screen would be maybe less "spectacular", but probably more effective..

It's just a typical TV Thomson 21 '' (but I need replacement, this one has poor sharpness, especially in vertical mode) that I put on wood construction (actually part of children chair for feeding :D ) horizontal or vertical. I don't have enough space for entire cab right now. I dismantled my entire cab before I moved to new home.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2015, 03:41:33 am by haynor666 »

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #145 on: November 13, 2015, 03:36:22 pm »
Actually I didn't think about this. Yeah, seems to be better option than mine. I'll to do this on saturday when I "survive" colonoscopy  :-\

EDIT. Tested at work - works the same as switching emulators with the same list but organization is simpler (less files, no additional directories)
Yep, right.. moreover, you centralize game stats for the whole MAME ;)
..Of course I wish the best for your bad exams! :cheers:

Quote
It's just a typical TV Thomson 21 '' (but I need replacement, this one has poor sharpness, especially in vertical mode) that I put on wood construction (actually part of children chair for feeding :D ) horizontal or vertical. I don't have enough space for entire cab right now. I dismantled my entire cab before I moved to new home.
It's official.. now I *definitely* want to see a pic of your arcade high chair!! :lol
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #146 on: November 14, 2015, 07:42:29 am »
Quote
Yep, right.. moreover, you centralize game stats for the whole MAME ;)
..Of course I wish the best for your bad exams! :cheers:

It's over, they didn't find anything bad :)

Quote
It's official.. now I *definitely* want to see a pic of your arcade high chair!! :lol

Here it is  ;D


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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #147 on: November 14, 2015, 11:00:15 am »
..Very simple, yet effective!! ;D
Go take v.1.9.1.3, you'll find
Code: [Select]
# snapshot_blackbackground             1parameter added to all layouts you use: uncommenting the line and setting it to 0 will remove the black background ;)
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #148 on: November 14, 2015, 03:55:33 pm »
Thanks dr. prodigy, work great :)
« Last Edit: November 15, 2015, 07:04:46 am by haynor666 »

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #149 on: November 18, 2015, 11:41:30 am »
yeh.....so I never used any frontend before(usually just console lol). I can map buttons for all emulators at once correct? mame and snes? I am installing all that net stuff now  :dizzy:

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #150 on: November 18, 2015, 05:24:48 pm »
Well I really didnt catch your question, sorry.. :)
With FEEL, like any other frontend, you can setup one or more emulators and start any number of relevant roms.
Each one will (hopefully, if you set your FE properly) be run with proper config, including key mapping, if needed.

You can find all installation and basic config steps on FEEL website.

Good luck, let me know ;)
« Last Edit: November 18, 2015, 05:29:53 pm by dr.prodigy »
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #151 on: December 02, 2015, 06:07:40 pm »
FEEL v.1.9.2 released! ;D

Apart from small UI refinements, in this release I've upgraded the whole FEEL task manager, providing asynchronous tasks for all heavy operations (e.g.: snap and videosnap loading), so the user interface now is responsive at 100% (i.e.: 60 fps) on *any hardware* even during max speed scrolling on huge lists.
Complete changelog of version 1.9.x:
Code: [Select]
-------------------------------------------------
Version 1.9 (19/10/2015) -> 1.9.2 (27/11/2015)
-------------------------------------------------
NEW FEATURES
- **** Video/snap loaded in background => max. UI responsiveness ****
- **** "check for updates" feature ****
- **** service mode ****
- **** MAME/MESS 0.162+ machine support (-listsoftware integration) ****
- rom description cleanup
- search toasts
- changelog (shown after update or from menu)
- new menu organization and design
- new UI widgets (scrollable text)
- async tasks complete refactoring
- parent videosnaps used on clone games (if clone one is missing)
- snapshot black background enable param

BUGFIXES
- unprintable chars crash fix
- missing custom image fix
- missing emulator_path fix
- toast display fix
- bad videosnaps exception trap
- rom list correctly positioned after order change

Available here as usual:
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/download/

NOTE: as for last versions, FEEL 1.9+ users can update via OTA just connecting the cab to the internet.

..Enjoy :afro:
« Last Edit: December 02, 2015, 06:10:39 pm by dr.prodigy »
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #152 on: December 03, 2015, 12:44:12 am »
Great news! I will update my two cabinets from 1.8 to 1.9 during Christmas days! Thank you Doc!

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #153 on: December 04, 2015, 08:25:57 pm »
Pardon my ignorance and laziness but does FEEL play nice with automated LCD rotation? 

Looking for a current (in development) FE with rotation support.


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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #154 on: December 05, 2015, 02:50:05 am »
Hi!
Yes it does support any screen resolution (so either CRT either LCD ones) and can be easily configured to switch from horizontal to vertical visualization.
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #155 on: December 07, 2015, 07:57:33 am »
Great!  Thanks for answering Dr.p.

Adding it to my list of FEs to test over the holiday.

pO


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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #156 on: December 14, 2015, 08:47:55 am »
dr.prodigy have You considered to upgrade FEEL to NET 4.0 ? This version still works fine with any XP system (at least with SP3 built in), might even have function that may XNA leave obsolete.

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #157 on: December 14, 2015, 04:16:48 pm »
Looks nice. One feature I would like to see is a password protect option for custom menus...

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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #158 on: December 14, 2015, 04:38:03 pm »
dr.prodigy have You considered to upgrade FEEL to NET 4.0 ? This version still works fine with any XP system (at least with SP3 built in), might even have function that may XNA leave obsolete.
Hi haynor!
Yep, I surely considered it in the past.. in fact first 1.5 alpha versions (the first ones with FEEL's current graphics engine) were based on .net 4.0 and XNA 4.0. All was good looking and running smoothly, BUT..
I found out that XNA 4 requires a pixel shader 2 or more capable video card.. which in turn means cutting out all Radeon 9xxx from compatibility list: unacceptable for any CRT and old tech lover like me ;D

So I finally moved back to .net 3.5 and XNA 3.1 (with a considerable overhead in terms of development, given that a lot of useful things were not available in the old XNA lib) and went out with this stack in all the subsequent versions, until now.

Apart from this extra effort (fortunately done now), anyway, currently I don't see any point in moving towards 4.0: 3.5 is still well supported and perfectly running even on W10.. ;)

If I update the stack another time in the future, probably it'll be to move to some opensource libs, which could possibly extend FEEL compatibility to other OS / hw architectures.. but - given the overall cost of the operation - it sure won't be very soon :)
« Last Edit: December 14, 2015, 05:05:46 pm by dr.prodigy »
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Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
« Reply #159 on: December 14, 2015, 04:53:38 pm »
Looks nice. One feature I would like to see is a password protect option for custom menus...
Thank you very much :D
Which menu items you would like to see password-protected?
Consider that "service mode" ones (which are typically the ones you wouldn't like to show to the end user) can be disabled/totally hidden via very simple config parameters..  ;)
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