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MAMEWAH's Options Menu
Minwah:
OK I have been thinking about this for a little while...reasons for ditching the menu are:
Some people don't link the way things are layed out, so they don't use it,
Some people like editing CFG files so they don't use it,
Some people like using MAMEWAH Setup, so they don't use it,
Once setup as you like there is no reason to have to set it up again *
The way I feel atm I want to drop the menu, but bear in mind this:
1) *I will first make the CFG files backward-compatible so you never have to start from scratch when a new version comes out.
2) I will keep the menu, for 'fun' stuff like adding games to custom lists, and generating custom lists with filters.
Also I feel the amount of time spent coding the options menu (quite a lot of time actually) is not worth it, since not many people actually use it...the time could be better spent on other things...
Please post what you think :)
2600:
Is ditching the right word? I think you've gotten it to the point where there aren't any bugs?, shortcut keys for frequently used things, and does everything it needs to. What else are were you planning to do to it?
I think some people's major beef is they don't read the instructions before using it and want things done automatically which is impossible. Once you start using MAMEWAH, you get use to the basically two button interface(which is actually a good thing since not everyone has access to a bunch of buttons) and edit the cfg files by hand. Screenshotarchive helps a lot with this as well. That changed with MAMEWAH Setup abit, but I still do all three for certain things. But even MAMEWAH Setup isn't currently perfect in every situation. For me the only thing that is a bit cumbersome is custom lists, but that's because there are just so many clones to go through in MAMEWAH and MAMEWAH Setup is a little hard to use at 640x480. But you can't please everyone all the time. I say great job, you haven't left that part of the product partially working, work on the part you want.
Basically, I'd personally hate for it to dissapear from the MAMEWAH, but if development stops on it's features then that's not so much an issue.
Minwah:
--- Quote from: 2600 on July 02, 2004, 04:01:49 pm ---1) Is ditching the right word? I think you've gotten it to the point where there aren't any bugs?, shortcut keys for frequently used things, and does everything it needs to. What else are were you planning to do to it?
2) For me the only thing that is a bit cumbersome is custom lists, but that's because there are just so many clones to go through in MAMEWAH and MAMEWAH Setup is a little hard to use at 640x480. But you can't please everyone all the time. I say great job, you haven't left that part of the product partially working, work on the part you want.
3) Basically, I'd personally hate for it to dissapear from the MAMEWAH, but if development stops on it's features then that's not so much an issue.
--- End quote ---
1) Well currently I am re-writing the entire input system (so control mapping etc. is being removed from the menu anyway due to the new system). Actually I have a heck of a lot of stuff to do...and every time I add a feature I have to code it into the CFG structure (easy), and then add to the options menu (not difficult but takes a little while). The biggest pain I guess is making sure after an option is changed, whatever has changed takes effect.
2) Do you know about the clones filter? ;)
3) OK. Certainly development of features is not stopping, but with a better (more intelligent) config system I think the menus would be somewhat less required.
Thanks for posting, lets see what some other's think...
Alcohol:
when you say ditch do you mean get rid of it completely?..
Iuse the menu to change emulators.. add cfg bit's to mame (pic's ect and command lines) also as my system boots into mamewah its nice to be able to drop back to windows using the menu to adjust things.. i like the menu as it makes skiping through the emulators and games very easy.. but i must admit i dont use alot of it and dont no what some of it does..
After saying all of that though.. i use an old version of mamewah (old style skins) , not because i dont like the new ones or what youve done, but just because it works!.. so unless my cab needs re-installing i can say itl matter :/..
but you seem to know what your doing :)
Alc
screaming:
Hmm.. I have personally used the menu a couple times, but not enough for it to be worth significant coding time on your part.
Coming from a UNIX background, I am used to the config-file editting method of configuring a program and don't have a problem with it. As far as filtering and otherwise customizing game lists, MAMEWAH Setup can take care of that for me...
-Steve