DKAFE - Donkey Kong Arcade Frontend (Windows and Raspberry Pi4)

[KenToad]

I'll test it when I get home, but the persistent problem of the launcher not reloading seemed to go away when I looked at the old and new settings files and added -video opengl, although I haven't tried to break it with rapid inputs again yet.

[10yard]

I'll test it when I get home, but the persistent problem of the launcher not reloading seemed to go away when I looked at the old and new settings files and added -video opengl, although I haven't tried to break it with rapid inputs again yet.

Yes, explicitly setting the video mode should resolve the issue on Windows.  I'll make -video opengl the default.

[KenToad]

Left Alt, the default action button, kills the frontend. It doesn't do anything when you're in a game, though.

Also, I am not able to rebind the coin button from 5 to 3 in the settings file.

With opengl enabled, I can't replicate the directional input crash when exiting out of a game.

[10yard]

Left Alt, the default action button, kills the frontend. It doesn't do anything when you're in a game, though.

This was a stupid bug that I have now fixed and updated the release.  Thanks!

Also, I am not able to rebind the coin button from 5 to 3 in the settings file.

This setting should remap the button for you.

Code: [Select]

CONTROL_COIN = 3Note the bindings will apply to the frontend only.  You will also need to change and save your DKWolf/MAME controls config.

With opengl enabled, I can't replicate the directional input crash when exiting out of a game.

Fantastic!  Looks like we fixed it.  I can't replicate the issue either.

[KenToad]

I tried the coaching mode with DKjr. Nothing seemed to be different other than the coaching indicator at the top. What is the point of that mode?

Also, I would recommend including some instructions that pressing 1p start on a game in the frontend brings up the launch menu, while the jump button jumps into the default game.

I also would suggest adding a note that the controls in settings.txt won't affect the settings in the emulator, that you have to start a game and press the menu button (tab) like usual, if you want to remap gameplay buttons. I was confused by that, maybe for the second time.

Everyone should try this out, at the very least for DK chorus. All the music and sound effects are replaced by chorus samples, almost sounds like a barbershop quartet narrating your game, so great.

[wp34]

This is quite cool.  Love the ROM hacks!   

[10yard]

I tried the coaching mode with DKjr. Nothing seemed to be different other than the coaching indicator at the top. What is the point of that mode?

The coaching and chorus modes are not applicable to DK Junior and were incorrectly set.  I have rectified this now.  Thank you!!

Also, I would recommend including some instructions that pressing 1p start on a game in the frontend brings up the launch menu, while the jump button jumps into the default game.

I agree with your observation.  Now,  when Jumpman faces a machine,  Pauline will announce "Push P1 START for options or push JUMP to play".  The screengrabs below show the announcement as Jumpman is approaching and then facing a machine.  This feature is also displayed on the controls page (when in attract mode) and in the readme docs.

I also would suggest adding a note that the controls in settings.txt won't affect the settings in the emulator, that you have to start a game and press the menu button (tab) like usual, if you want to remap gameplay buttons. I was confused by that, maybe for the second time.

Notes have now been added into the settings file and into the readme documentation as suggested.  Thank you.

Everyone should try this out, at the very least for DK chorus. All the music and sound effects are replaced by chorus samples, almost sounds like a barbershop quartet narrating your game, so great.

It was a lot of fun to work on that chorus version.  Glad you like it 

[10yard]

Version 0.28 of DKAFE is now available for Windows OS.

It includes a big update to my Galaga themed shooter hack "GalaKong".  There is a single player and a CO-OP mode (were a second player controls the Galaga ship).  I made various tweaks and bug fixes after watching 2 legends play a 1.59M point game on twitch:



Installing my DKAFE frontend is the easiest was to play GalaKong and all the other rom hacks. 

Alternatively,  you can download my MAME plugin.  Instructions are at https://github.com/10yard/galakong

[10yard]

I have made an update to my Galakong hack to make it more beneficial to hit multiple targets with one missile.

1 hit = 200 points
2 hits = 500 points
3 hits = 800 points
4 hits = 1200 points

The 4 hit maximum is new.  When achieved, a love heart is displayed with a bonus sound.

Here's a really short video showing me hit 4 barrels.




I am thinking to make my own dedicated cab for Galakong.  It would require a DK control panel which is adapted to have 2nd player (for the CO-OP mode) with 2 way directional controls and a fire button.    I'll post about that project in a new thread.

[SpaceAce83]

This is very cool. Thanks for making this available.

[10yard]

This is very cool. Thanks for making this available.

 

[bobbyb13]

I just had to say...

Holy crap I have been keeping this thread in my queue since March 10th waiting to have an evening to try and implement this remarkable piece of work!

I hate being so busy that I can't just sit down for some fun.

My head is still spinning from the vector stuff now too of course.

Where do you find the time?!
 

[10yard]

I just had to say...

Holy crap I have been keeping this thread in my queue since March 10th waiting to have an evening to try and implement this remarkable piece of work!

I hate being so busy that I can't just sit down for some fun.

My head is still spinning from the vector stuff now too of course.

Where do you find the time?!
 

Thank man!
I hope you got chance to sit down and get everything working with DKAFE.  I did go a bit overboard with the configuration.

I do an hour of development here and there,  lunch breaks,  or late evenings.  Sometimes I will get "into the zone" and can find myself wasting away hours into the early mornings powered by single malt.  A lot of my ideas and solutions come to me when I'm not at a computer.  I like to get outside to run and think through problems with a clear head.

[classicjoe72]

I am just now discovering this but wanted to say this is super cool and thank you for sharing!

[10yard]

I am just now discovering this but wanted to say this is super cool and thank you for sharing!

 

[10yard]

Version 0.32 of DKAFE frontend is now available at https://github.com/10yard/dkafe#get-dkafe-for-your-system

I've added lots of new features and improvements since my last update here.  Highlights of additions are as follows.

New rom hacks were added:
- "Vector Kong" by me
- "Galakong Junior" by me
- "RNDMZR" by Paul Goes
- "DK Wizardry" by Paul Goes

Improvement to joystick controls:
- Add D-pad/Hat detection to joystick controls
- Fix bug with joystick axis logic
- Update default settings file to include optional joystick mapping

Windows XP support:
- Fix XP build and bring up to v0.31 (v0.32 will be available soon)
- Fix LUA compatibility on XP

Galakong improvements:
- Include end of level and end of game stats (like Galaga does)
- Add animated explosions
- Add Galaga death sound

Bug fixes and improvements:
- Rework the Raspberry Pi4 build script,  it now produces an SD card image.
- Updates to automatic ROM patching to include DK Junior
- Fix autostart bug
- Fix 7:8 pixel aspect typo in settings.txt file

Gingerbred Kong: 
- A large Gingerbread Kong sprite was added to the old Atari 2600 Graphics hack - replacing the regular arcade Donkey Kong.


Jon

[10yard]

Version 0.36 of my arcade frontend is now available at https://github.com/10yard/dkafe#get-dkafe-for-your-system

Highlights as follows.

New Plugins:
- Extreme Galakong - It's a stupidly difficult GalaKong variant.  You only get wild barrels and must shoot your way to survival.  See video below.
- A level 5 start option was added to the game launch menu of selected games.
- A stage practice option (Barrels, Pies, Springs and Rivets) was added.



VectorKong improvements:
- Fireballs now turn blue when Jumpman has the hammer.  See pic below.
- The smash animation was simplified
- Top line is now coloured red



Crazy Kong support:
- Crazy Kong rom support was added (cclimber driver added).  You need to put ckongpt2.zip into your ROMS folder for it to appear in the frontend.

Emulation:
- The bundled DKWolf emulator was updated to WolfMAME v0.241
- Fixes to recording and playback when using a MAME emulator that is not default (dkwolf).
- Automatic plugin installation when using a MAME emulator that is not default (dkwolf).

Simplify the MAME/LUA/frontend interface:
- Score tracking now takes your best score from your session (you could play many games before exiting back to the frontend) and is no longer tied to the high score table. You don't even have to register your name in the high score table. Just exit game after achieving your target score if you want and coins will be awarded.
- The "Push coin to end game" logic is now redundant and has been removed. The player can simply exit game anytime after achieving their desired score.
- Remove custom high score table (player, scores) logic and RAM/ROM updating.
- Retain the original authors intended default high score tables entries.

Intro animation:
- The DKAFE intro animation was tidied up. There is better transition from intro into the frontend startup.

Pi 4/400:
- Raspberry Pi4/400 config optimisations.
- Pi4 now uses accelerated video mode.

Windows XP:
- XP build was brought up-to-date.  You can install DKAFE v0.36 to XP if you really want to.


Jon

[DefJam]

Hi, just stumbled on this front end and it just awesome!    I have a DK machine with a 60 in 1 board in it and that is going to get moved out for this!    Question for you, I am trying to get the X64 version running.    GOod news is the front end opens and runs great, but I cannot get a game to start.    I walk up to machine, push up..... it shows me a little description, I hit the jump button to start, but it just kicks me back to the main screen.     Any suggestions ? (I could be doing something ridiculously wrong).

Also, anyone have any good suggestions on how to get this hooked up to the arcade monitor in the PC ?    I have a pi 4 or I could use an old laptop or something...(If i can get it running).

This is an incredible piece of software!   

What are the chances you can add donkey kong game from the gameboy to this ?   I know it is not arcade based, but that game is fantastic, and very much in the spirit of the arcade games.  be interesting to have all the console ports as well, but that gameboy DK game is really fantastic.   

[javeryh]

Been meaning to try this out...  Glad to see it is still being worked on!

[10yard]

Hi, just stumbled on this front end and it just awesome!    I have a DK machine with a 60 in 1 board in it and that is going to get moved out for this!    Question for you, I am trying to get the X64 version running.    GOod news is the front end opens and runs great, but I cannot get a game to start.    I walk up to machine, push up..... it shows me a little description, I hit the jump button to start, but it just kicks me back to the main screen.     Any suggestions ? (I could be doing something ridiculously wrong).

Also, anyone have any good suggestions on how to get this hooked up to the arcade monitor in the PC ?    I have a pi 4 or I could use an old laptop or something...(If i can get it running).

This is an incredible piece of software!   

What are the chances you can add donkey kong game from the gameboy to this ?   I know it is not arcade based, but that game is fantastic, and very much in the spirit of the arcade games.  be interesting to have all the console ports as well, but that gameboy DK game is really fantastic.

Thanks man!  Glad that you like the frontend.

Did you place your dkong.zip into the dkafe/roms folder and generate all of the patched roms?  You should see confirmation of this when you started up the frontend. 
The bundled emulator supports only DK roms so if you've changed the romlist.csv to include other games then you would also need to define another emulator in the settings.txt

It's already possible to launch GB and other emulators.  There's a shell folder where you can define a launch script.  If you look in that folder you'll see already a file named "dkong_gb.bat".  You can update that .bat file to include the location of your gameboy emulator and location of your gameboy rom.  Then add a new line into the romlist.csv (or change an existing line).  You'll need to set the rom name to "dkong_gb" and the subfolder name to "shell".  Remove the emulator number and prizes.  See screenshot below.  I've changed DK Junior to DK on the GBA.   Give me a shout if you need more help.



Maybe I should add popular console versions to the default DKAFE setup.  Automatically set them up in the frontend when roms are detected.

[DefJam]

Hi 10Yard,

I tried out your front-end on a different PC and it works just fine, so something about it doesn't like my gateway 7811 FX from I think 2009 that is still running strong... well, still running.   Its running Windows 10.... but for whatever reason, no go. 
 

How would you add all the consoles ?    If you added console versions would they show up on the mainscreen ?   (Also Wondering if I could use DKafe to launch some of the other 4 way classics, pacman, frogger, but not ruin the look of the front end...etc..    that DK game on the game boy is really fun, but just recalled it needs two buttons so I won't be able to use that one in the arcade cabinet) 

It really is great, I played the first 3 cabinets, love that there are goals that unlock coins.... and then when all the coins came tumbling down.... just awesome!

[10yard]

I tried out your front-end on a different PC and it works just fine, so something about it doesn't like my gateway 7811 FX from I think 2009 that is still running strong... well, still running.   Its running Windows 10.... but for whatever reason, no go. 

Good to know you have it working on a different PC!  Maybe try the 32bit version on that older PC for better compatibility.

How would you add all the consoles ?    If you added console versions would they show up on the mainscreen ?   (Also Wondering if I could use DKafe to launch some of the other 4 way classics, pacman, frogger, but not ruin the look of the front end...etc..    that DK game on the game boy is really fun, but just recalled it needs two buttons so I won't be able to use that one in the arcade cabinet) 
e!

For console versions,  maybe I should add a second screen that is accessed by climbing up the top ladder.  The screen would become active if console versions of the game were detected in the roms folder.  For 4-way arcade classics,  it's already fairly easy to swap out default DK games in the rom list if you wanted to.  If you take a look in the artwork/icon folder,  you'll see i've already created arcade cabinet sprites for Pacman, Ms.Pacman, Galaga, Rally-X and 10 Yard Fight. 



I already gave some thought to an alternative 60-in-1 frontend on my github project page, under the "What's Next?" heading.

It really is great, I played the first 3 cabinets, love that there are goals that unlock coins.... and then when all the coins came tumbling down.... just awesome!