MAMEWAH most wanted...

[Minwah]

Minwah,

It was mentioned before about the ability to cut off the excess stuff at the end of console rom names:  for instance just seeing Super Mario Bros.  in the gamelist instead of Super Mario Bros. (USA) [o1], etc.   You mentioned it may not be that hard to do--this would be a GREAT addition I think as I truly hate looking at the extra stuff in trying to make my setup look as "professional" and "non-pc" as possible.  Any chance in the next release?
Thanks.

I've already done that too...

This is getting easy  

[MisterB]

All these wonderful changes already done...when can we play with it?  

[Minwah]

All these wonderful changes already done...when can we play with it?  

In 2 minutes

[bdsjake]

you know my vote:

Vertical!

you get mamewah going vertical, you will have created the perfect frontend.

 

[EndTwist]

Trust me, that's not gonna happen unless Minwah gets some real motivation. That takes a lot of work! In the meantime...use mine (VertiWAH) as it is natively vertical. I have a new version (big updates) coming out in the next couple days.

[Minwah]

Trust me, that's not gonna happen unless Minwah gets some real motivation. That takes a lot of work! In the meantime...use mine (VertiWAH) as it is natively vertical. I have a new version (big updates) coming out in the next couple days.

LOL, EndTwist is right, use VertiWah

I like the vertical idea, one step at a time tho....

[Onji]

Great new release Minwah! Thanks alot.
I'm probably way late for this, OR mamewah may do thsi already and I might not know.

It would be nice to have it where when you set the screensaver option to start a random game, and after a certain amount of time, that game would stop and it would start a different one.

example: screensaver kicks in, pacman starts, the pacman demo runs for 5 minutes, then pacman stops and then the galaxian demo starts etc.

I know about the 'start random game options' Ive also noticed 'start random game with wrapper' what exactly is this? I didnt find it in the documentation anywhere.

Anyway thanks again Minwah for a great frontend

[Minwah]

Great new release Minwah! Thanks alot.
I'm probably way late for this, OR mamewah may do thsi already and I might not know.

It would be nice to have it where when you set the screensaver option to start a random game, and after a certain amount of time, that game would stop and it would start a different one.

example: screensaver kicks in, pacman starts, the pacman demo runs for 5 minutes, then pacman stops and then the galaxian demo starts etc.

I know about the 'start random game options' Ive also noticed 'start random game with wrapper' what exactly is this? I didnt find it in the documentation anywhere.

Anyway thanks again Minwah for a great frontend

The wrapper is exactly what you need to do this  Grab Howards 'Emusaver' wrapper from www.oscarcontrols.com/lazarus .  I can't remember exactly how to set it up atm, and Howard has released a new version or 2 since I last tried...

[Onji]

Sweet! Thanks so much, thats what I wanted to know.

[Minwah]

Sweet! Thanks so much, thats what I wanted to know.

If you get stuck let me know and I'll give it a go, I've been meaning to do it anyway...

[Magnet_Eye]

Hey Minwah, are we gonna get some layer usage with the Layouts anytime?

[Aceldamor]

Minwah.....Lovin' the updates to far, thanks for a great fe....

One question. Can you set Mamewah to play an intro movie before you get into the main skin?

Example:  I have the short version of Arcade 84 (thanks to Dave Dries) and would like it to run before the main interface comes up.

If it doesn't do it now...can you put that on the "to do" list?  

*edit*

Also wondering if you can assign key's to gamelists...

Example: I would like to use a launchpad and have buttons for each emulator..when I hit the button I get that emulators game list.

is that possible?

[Minwah]

Hey Minwah, are we gonna get some layer usage with the Layouts anytime?

Can you explain a bit more please  

[Minwah]

One question. Can you set Mamewah to play an intro movie before you get into the main skin?

Example:  I have the short version of Arcade 84 (thanks to Dave Dries) and would like it to run before the main interface comes up.

If it doesn't do it now...can you put that on the "to do" list?  

*edit*

Also wondering if you can assign key's to gamelists...

Example: I would like to use a launchpad and have buttons for each emulator..when I hit the button I get that emulators game list.

Can't do either atm

I'll be adding movie screensaver/preview support at some point so I'll look into that then.

I'm not sure the best way I could add shortcuts for each emulator as it would now require 50 keys!

[Magnet_Eye]

Hey Minwah, are we gonna get some layer usage with the Layouts anytime?

Can you explain a bit more please  

I mean, more than just a background image and the objects on top. how about a background, then objects, then ability to lay other images or objects on top of those? multi-layered.

AracdeFX had this, and it was key to making great skins.

[Minwah]

I mean, more than just a background image and the objects on top. how about a background, then objects, then ability to lay other images or objects on top of those? multi-layered.

AracdeFX had this, and it was key to making great skins.

Not likely, unfortunately it just wouldn't work using VB's GDI  That's partly why Howard ditched Lazarus and made Dragon King I believe...

[Onji]

If you get stuck let me know and I'll give it a go, I've been meaning to do it anyway...

Well I messed with it last night, I got it halfway working, It will launch a game, then when the time interval is up, it will attempt to switch to another game, but it just drops to the desktop. Not sure whats going on. I'm going to mess around with some settings tonight though.

[Aceldamor]

One question. Can you set Mamewah to play an intro movie before you get into the main skin?

Example:  I have the short version of Arcade 84 (thanks to Dave Dries) and would like it to run before the main interface comes up.

If it doesn't do it now...can you put that on the "to do" list?  

*edit*

Also wondering if you can assign key's to gamelists...

Example: I would like to use a launchpad and have buttons for each emulator..when I hit the button I get that emulators game list.

Can't do either atm

I'll be adding movie screensaver/preview support at some point so I'll look into that then.

I'm not sure the best way I could add shortcuts for each emulator as it would now require 50 keys!

Heh..I don't mean a button for every emulator, I mean being able to assign a hotkey to launch a gamelist for an emulator....I personally don't use 50 emulators....good god that is too many. I only use about 10ish..(which is still horrible)  

[SaiNRuB]

Well I messed with it last night, I got it halfway working, It will launch a game, then when the time interval is up, it will attempt to switch to another game, but it just drops to the desktop. Not sure whats going on. I'm going to mess around with some settings tonight though.

I have the same predicament Onji, here is the thread i was using for feedback in case your interested.

Help needed for Emusaver 3.0 please

[Minwah]

Heh..I don't mean a button for every emulator, I mean being able to assign a hotkey to launch a gamelist for an emulator....

Sorry I don't know what you mean?  Isn't that the same thing?

I personally don't use 50 emulators....good god that is too many. I only use about 10ish..(which is still horrible)  

I agree (I use 3 atm), but I'd still have to make whatever functionality available for all 50 possible emulators...

[Valence]

These have been asked for in other threads but I wanted to make sure they were included.


Different background images based off of game launched on the msg screen.


Selected game broadcasted to main window ( Mamewah window title - something like   'mamewah - pacman' , 'mamewah - metal slug 2')

[Minwah]

These have been asked for in other threads but I wanted to make sure they were included.


Different background images based off of game launched on the msg screen.


Selected game broadcasted to main window ( Mamewah window title - something like   'mamewah - pacman' , 'mamewah - metal slug 2')

The background image thing won't happen until the layout format next changes (I don't really plan to do this unless something really killer comes along).

The broadcast thing doesn't sound too difficult, but remind me why?  Could you not read the debug.log file to do what you want?

[Valence]

Doesn't the debug.log contain the game launched and not the one that is currently selected?

All is in this thread

[Aceldamor]

Heh..I don't mean a button for every emulator, I mean being able to assign a hotkey to launch a gamelist for an emulator....

Sorry I don't know what you mean?  Isn't that the same thing?

I personally don't use 50 emulators....good god that is too many. I only use about 10ish..(which is still horrible)  

I agree (I use 3 atm), but I'd still have to make whatever functionality available for all 50 possible emulators...

You don't have to accomadate all 50 emulators...mamewah could only accomodate 26 emulators anyway couldn't it? Can you set a limit on the number of hotkeys for gamelists you can have?

for example: Say I have a series of buttons on my cp (or bottom of monitor bezel) set for each emulator I use. I would like the ability to hit the button and load that gamelist for that emulator. Granted, you couldn't accomodate those users with 50 emulators, but mamewah can't support more than 26 gamelists anyway can't it? Mabye the ability to "quicklaunch" 10 gamelists or so...Does that make much better sense? Sorry, I'm not very good at explaining things.  

I don't know...mabye my idea is too far fetched...I'm just trying to set up my arcade so anybody can walk up to and use it... If it's unrealistic or not very easy..i'll search for an alternative...(though I do love mamewah, great fe  )

[Silver]

Hey I posted this in the "serial LCD project" thread but realised that you may not be reading it - excuse me for copy/pasting the comments over as I had not seen this thread before....

"
Also Minwah -  if you read this - I am keen to implement this feature in my setup, ideally without making up millions of batch files for each game/emu. I was thinking of writing an app in VB to run in the background and catch commands to load romd and then kick out the right file to the LCD, but realise that its far from ideal. Is MAmewah written in VB? Would you be interested in sticking an option in to allow sending a txt file to the com port on loading a game? (extremely easy if you're using mscomm.ocx in VB). Then anyone with an LCd can work out what control characters their LCD requires and stick it their txt files.

Oh - and I'm only picking on you as I love Mamewah so much! ;-)
"

EDIT:
 
Doh! Sorry now read thread and I see MAmewah is in VB. Good news (I hope). Would this option be considered a big update/interesting/possible/pure hassle to you?

[Minwah]

Doesn't the debug.log contain the game launched and not the one that is currently selected?

All is in this thread

Yes, I remember now.  OK well assuming it doesn't have any ill-effects I'll set the caption of the main form to be the name of the game...perhaps romname then description?

[Minwah]

You don't have to accomadate all 50 emulators...mamewah could only accomodate 26 emulators anyway couldn't it? Can you set a limit on the number of hotkeys for gamelists you can have?

for example: Say I have a series of buttons on my cp (or bottom of monitor bezel) set for each emulator I use. I would like the ability to hit the button and load that gamelist for that emulator. Granted, you couldn't accomodate those users with 50 emulators, but mamewah can't support more than 26 gamelists anyway can't it? Mabye the ability to "quicklaunch" 10 gamelists or so...Does that make much better sense? Sorry, I'm not very good at explaining things.  

Remember I have to allow for the maximum possible tho: with 50 emulators with 51 games lists each (inc. main list), that's 2550 games lists you could have.

The best (max functionality and future proof) way I could do what you want is to have a hotkey for each list, which obviously isn't possible given the numbers.  The next best thing would be to have say 10 hotkeys which you could assign to open any emulator/list you want...the problem then is someone will whine that they have 11 games lists and want another hotkey added...so I'll up it to 15 and then someone will want 20, and so on.

Sorry but in this case I think it is best left the way it is: 99% of people use sticks + buttons to select an emulator, or the previous/next emulator/game list shortcuts.  Why not use the buttons you have under your monitor for the previous/next emulator/game list shortcut buttons?

[Minwah]

Hey I posted this in the "serial LCD project" thread but realised that you may not be reading it - excuse me for copy/pasting the comments over as I had not seen this thread before....

"
Also Minwah -  if you read this - I am keen to implement this feature in my setup, ideally without making up millions of batch files for each game/emu. I was thinking of writing an app in VB to run in the background and catch commands to load romd and then kick out the right file to the LCD, but realise that its far from ideal. Is MAmewah written in VB? Would you be interested in sticking an option in to allow sending a txt file to the com port on loading a game? (extremely easy if you're using mscomm.ocx in VB). Then anyone with an LCd can work out what control characters their LCD requires and stick it their txt files.

Oh - and I'm only picking on you as I love Mamewah so much! ;-)
"

EDIT:
 
Doh! Sorry now read thread and I see MAmewah is in VB. Good news (I hope). Would this option be considered a big update/interesting/possible/pure hassle to you?

I had read the start of the thread but not this far in...

I'll be more than happy to add some kind of support like this in if you're willing to give me a hand.  I have an idea how to use the MSCOMM control, but since I have no LCD hardware I'd be programming blind somewhat...

One thing I am curious about, once the file is sent to the COM port and thus LCD, what happens after?  Does the display scroll whatever was sent?  Or do you have to make sure the text fits on the screen?

[Silver]

Well I'll throw you some source that will do the trick in a bit....

how the text is displayed is basically down to the the controlling microchips/firmware on these LCD's. They tend to have a RS232 interface built in so the hard part is already done.

The fonts/scrolling can be setup in commands at the start of each line. for example when generating the text to send, if its greater than 24 characters (on a 24 character width LCD) then you can simply insert a scroll command at the start of that line, and that line only will scroll. However, as this changes depending on brand of LCD, I suggest that mamewah does not deal with that.

...basically all that can be setup beforehand in a txt file for each game - so all mamewah would have to do is open the txt file, open and setup a port (e.g. com1, 19200baud, etc..) and send the file to it. (and perhaps some error handling, such as revert to a default txt file). There is no fancy comms checking as it all the comms can be one way.

This method also means that people can customise the txt files to work with their lcd and match their own control setup.

I'm having a go now at knocking together an app in VB similar to the one maraxle had for generating the txt files before he took it down. (unfortunately parsing xml files in VB6 is new to me... anytips?)

[Minwah]

Well I'll throw you some source that will do the trick in a bit....

blahblahblah

This method also means that people can customise the txt files to work with their lcd and match their own control setup.

I'm having a go now at knocking together an app in VB similar to the one maraxle had for generating the txt files before he took it down. (unfortunately parsing xml files in VB6 is new to me... anytips?)

Cool, drop me an email if you would

Thanks for explaining, I agree it best to just send whatever's in the text file for user customisations sake...

Is XML the -listinfo format?  I think my method is possibly not the most technically correct, but it's pretty quick and does the job - I can send it you if you like, you might just need to add a few lines to get the info I don't currently use in MW (no. buttons etc.).

[Aceldamor]

Minwah....that's cool..I'll figure something out.

BTW...I have an extra LCD screen that I could send you as a "loaner" so you could add that functionality to Mamewah...it's the least I could do to "help out"  If your interested let me know and I'll send it to you so you can play around/test with it  

[Minwah]

Minwah....that's cool..I'll figure something out.

BTW...I have an extra LCD screen that I could send you as a "loaner" so you could add that functionality to Mamewah...it's the least I could do to "help out"  If your interested let me know and I'll send it to you so you can play around/test with it  

Thanks for the offer  What I will do is try to do it blind with the help of some testers, and see how it goes...if I'm struggling I'll give you a shout!

[Aceldamor]

thats cool...if you need beta testers or whatever..let me know and i'll test  

[FoX]

Any chance you have that skin up anywhere spamme?

I love how clean it looks.

[Richy]

How about limitinga game's time played to only count the first hour or so, because I sometimes leave games playing for hours at a time and it pushes them up my longest played list.
by the way, does anyone know how to reset this on individual games, or even at all?

[Minwah]

How about limitinga game's time played to only count the first hour or so, because I sometimes leave games playing for hours at a time and it pushes them up my longest played list.
by the way, does anyone know how to reset this on individual games, or even at all?

Hey you just emailed me with this one!...

For the benefit of the others, I don't want to limit this for the sake of games purposely left (I think the majority of the time people don't leave disliked games running).

You can edit the .FAV file and alter (reduce) the figure which applies to the time played (you should be able to tell which this is).  I haven't tried it but I can't see why it wouldn't work...

[Minwah]

I am going to try to get this thread locked, since it has served it's purpose (v0.97 is out).  I already know the most wanted features for the next release, and a few not-so-most-wanted.  Of course feel free to email me if you have a good idea which hasn't been mentioned