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Looking for front end FAQ
Ed ONeill:
End Twist ......sorry to make you twich , but I just finished building my first project and I couldn't find any simple explanations like screaming wrote.
steve...Thanks....So according to what you said in your answwer to question 2 I beleive there is no need to use a frontend on this project.
I however have one more question
Is there a front end out there that will display what buttons are used for each game you select?
I thought I heard someone mention that there was such a beast, at the Funspot getogether.
Thanks
Ed
screaming:
--- Quote from: Ed ONeill on June 23, 2004, 01:11:41 pm ---Is there a front end out there that will display what buttons are used for each game you select?
I thought I heard someone mention that there was such a beast, at the Funspot getogether.
--- End quote ---
There is a 'controls.dat' project underway who's goal is to collect all the game control information for all the MAME games and compile it into a computer-parsable format. This will allow various viewers and front ends to display a 'mapping' from the original MAME game control panel layout to your own personal control panel layout.
Currently, the project is a little more than 1/10th complete, but definitely has enough games to get you started with the Johnny 5 viewer.
As far as I'm aware, MAMEWAH, Dragon King, and Kamaera are the only front ends that have this somewhat integrated, even though it's currently a pretty cludgy implementation in all these front ends (instead of just showing the controls when you highlight a game, you have to press a special button, or configure it so it automatically launches the johnny 5 viewer before the actual game launches).
-Steve
Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: screaming on June 23, 2004, 01:43:10 pm ---
--- Quote from: Ed ONeill on June 23, 2004, 01:11:41 pm ---Is there a front end out there that will display what buttons are used for each game you select?
I thought I heard someone mention that there was such a beast, at the Funspot getogether.
--- End quote ---
There is a 'controls.dat' project underway who's goal is to collect all the game control information for all the MAME games and compile it into a computer-parsable format. This will allow various viewers and front ends to display a 'mapping' from the original MAME game control panel layout to your own personal control panel layout.
Currently, the project is a little more than 1/10th complete, but definitely has enough games to get you started with the Johnny 5 viewer.
As far as I'm aware, MAMEWAH, Dragon King, and Kamaera are the only front ends that have this somewhat integrated, even though it's currently a pretty cludgy implementation in all these front ends (instead of just showing the controls when you highlight a game, you have to press a special button, or configure it so it automatically launches the johnny 5 viewer before the actual game launches).
--- End quote ---
Johnny5 is a VERY cool program, but it takes quite a while to set it up properly. You need a background image of your CP and then you have to move all the labels to line up with your buttons on your image.
As long as we're talking about Johnny5, I've been unable to get it to work under Win98SE, and haven't got it completely right under Win2K.
Does anyone have it working under either of these OS's?
Howard_Casto:
--- Quote from: Ed ONeill on June 23, 2004, 01:11:41 pm ---End Twist ......sorry to make you twich , but I just finished building my first project and I couldn't find any simple explanations like screaming wrote.
--- End quote ---
The questions make me twitch too but for a different reason. You call your project "finished" and yet you haven't even started looking at anything beyond mame32 yet.
For the entire general public let me clue you guys in. The software is 60-80% of your project. Woodworking and getting the basic cabinet put togther can be done in a week, but it takes several weeks or even months to get the fe and emulators configured just right and properly skinned so that they match the theme of your cabinet.
Imo software should be tested first. For one it's free so you don't waste money when you make mistakes. Secondly when you "test" your mame setup you actually learn a lot of things that effect the hardware. People who have been running mame on a hardcore level for months generally don't make some of the stupider mistakes like adding "o" and "k" keys to press ok and having 10 buttons per player on a 4 player rig. Lastly, if you hardware isn't properly planned around the software, it might limit your selection. Let's say for example you found out that you could interface this one video card to an arcade monitor using arcadeos. Well if you test out ahead of time you'll find that aos isn't good for anything other than mame for the most part, so there goes your plans to run zinc and windows for that matter, as it only runs well in dos.
I'm not ranting towards you personally, it's just people who think of the software as an afterthought are looking for trouble. It's like building a hotrod without having an engine for measurments for the cavity or even knowing what engine you are going to use. It is possible to work that way but it's also possible to fit a round peg in a square hole if you have a big enough hammer..... I wouldn't reccomend it though. ;)
Ed ONeill:
Howard_Casto ... I understand that your rants aren't totally towards me and please don't take offense to what I have to say and please remember we were all newbies once.
--- Quote ---The questions make me twitch too but for a different reason. You call your project "finished" and yet you haven't even started looking at anything beyond mame32 yet.
--- End quote ---
Sorry I didn't explain my situation good enough or maybe I shouldn't have called it finished .
My laptop arcade is up and runing is more like it. There are pics and descriptions on the projects announcement forum (MAME on the MOVE)
I however am not one of those people who can wait ...I need things done now so that is why I built this cheap inexpensive project to learn as I go. There are people here that have played mame on their computers without building a cp for years. I Just started with mame in Jan and couldn't play the games on my keyboard any longer ;D
--- Quote ---For the entire general public let me clue you guys in. The software is 60-80% of your project. Woodworking and getting the basic cabinet put togther can be done in a week, but it takes several weeks or even months to get the fe and emulators configured just right and properly skinned so that they match the theme of your cabinet.
Imo software should be tested first. For one it's free so you don't waste money when you make mistakes. Secondly when you "test" your mame setup you actually learn a lot of things that effect the hardware. People who have been running mame on a hardcore level for months generally don't make some of the stupider mistakes like adding "o" and "k" keys to press ok and having 10 buttons per player on a 4 player rig. Lastly, if you hardware isn't properly planned around the software, it might limit your selection. Let's say for example you found out that you could interface this one video card to an arcade monitor using arcadeos. Well if you test out ahead of time you'll find that aos isn't good for anything other than mame for the most part, so there goes your plans to run zinc and windows for that matter, as it only runs well in dos
--- End quote ---
I agree this is true but ...my situation is diffrent This is not a permanent MAME machine.It's simply a portable housing with controls for playing MAME. I can take the laptop out and bring my laptop anywhere.
I did ask the questions to find out if I needed one or not and apparently a front end is probably not for this particular project.
BTW I still haven't done the cp overlay yet or figured out if I am adding anymore controls...so the software isn't the only reason it's not officially finished.
thanks for listening
Ed