Atomic Front End Available for US!

[Gunstar Hero]

http://www.freevbcode.com/ShowCode.Asp?ID=1308

Seems pretty harmless... maybe your spyware killer is wack.

Still, with a name like hook.dll... 

[daywane]

spybot has no problems with Atomic FE.
thanks anyway. I found 3 other problems I had.
I only have Atonic on this PC to test it out. My Arcades are not on the web so I am not worried about it.

[youki]

Sorry i was not here yesterday to answer.

Don't worry about Hook.dll , (my hookdll) , i created this dll to manage a functionnality of Atomic Fe.

On option of the screensaver is to run random game.

[daywane]

so far , I like it.
I downloaded the pro version.  Anyone else think the sound is off in the menu that comes with the main download? Sounds  Clanky and strange on my PC.
Also after running spybot and testing the FE (all worked well) but... when I tuned off the FE and came back here to7 reply all is well, I had to reboot because the web page was HUGE... like three pages wide
I am at 1024 x 768 highest 32 bit color
radion 7000 video card (agp 4x)
creative SB live 5.1 sound card (pci)
xp pro SP1 ( I do not want Sp2)

[youki]

The sound, you mean the background music?

Yes, in fact due to size for Download, i resample the music to a really low quality. may be 11khz mono... But you can put the music you want , just replace the BkMusic.mp3 file in the layout folder by the one you want. Just rename it to BkMusic.mp3. I just put this "music" as a example.

I don't think the probleme you have is due to the FE. I think the cause could be spybot.

[daywane]

Nope I forgot to save my settings 
problem solved
Thanks for the heads up on the music. (i am off to replace it  )

[papaschtroumpf]

By the way Youki, I love your avatar, reminds me of how much time I spent watching Goldorak as a kid.

[youki]

Yes, I'm looking foward to see this mange in DVD.  But it seems unfortunaly it had only success in Europe.     Goldorak was Grandizer in US.

[Invader_Stu]

Burners are charging the service at little to no profit.  The second someone make a decent profit off of Mame, is the day Mame development stops. 

Comments like yours will only need to the death of the Mame Project.

I hate to break it to you, but people are ALL READY MAKING A PROFIT OFF MAME!!!
Unless you don't count the sale of Ipac's, trackballs, cab kits, spinners .........you get the idea. Without mame people would not be buying that stuff. Bare in mind, I do not look at this as a bad thing. New industries and jobs have been created. I say good for them.
     Mame takes products that are no longer commercially  viable (roms) and creates derived demand for other products. And do you think burners do it for FREE? Most offer other roms at a mark-up that allows them to justify there time while still given away mame roms.
     I do not think that anyone should use MAME in a commercial, for profit environment. I also do not believe that the inclusion or the lack of inclusion of a "coin system" in a FE will prevent or even slow down someone who chooses to set up a cab. I do believe that we would be better off if we dispensed with the righteous indignation over people making a profit off mame while ignoring profit made from supporting mame.
     Once again, I do not develop FE's and I have no influence (other than someone reading my rantings on this board, which is time that would be better spent developing!) over people who do develop FE's. Irrational arguments like "comment like your will lead to the end of development" serve no developmental purpose and show ignorance of the real world.
     I do not mean this to sound rude or harsh. I think the "coin system" is a good idea. You are entitled to disagree, present arguments as to why you disagree and criticise my arguments.  And I am entitled to criticise yours!


Todd " never purchased a product that made profit off mame" Kelley

Here here, well said! I know I'm not a major contributor to this board and obviously there are a lot of people here that care a lot more about MAME and related issues than I do - so I dont want to tick any of you off.

My somewhat ignorant opinion - This feature is good, I like it, it should stay, and some people really sit on a high horse around here - your butts are tighter than the coin slots on your cabs.

Seriously, this one little feature is suddenyl going to bring down MAME in its entirety? Oh, this feature *could potentially possibly maybe* mean that it makes some spainol's life easier to lifting quarters from little kids, in a country arcade down Mexico way? Newsflash, who cares!

As stated there are already people making money from illegal Mame cabs. And there is an industry made for supporting home cabs. I dont think its fair that we deprive ourselves (us, the personal owners) of features just because of what some people may or may not do with them. Its a land of free choice people, lighten up and enjoy the FE (top work to the dude who wrote it too).

[youki]

Thanks for your comment invader_Stu.

There is a new problem with this version now. As you know (or may be not yet) the boss from Ultracade is trying  to gain rights of MAME. And he is already claiming he owns MAME. And already shutdowned some ebay action about MAME (even same legals ones) , pretending he is the owner of MAME.

If the "exploitation" feature of my FrontEnd is freely available, i'm sure it will have a influence on his business. Don't know how big will be this influence but sure it will be.  Because with about 500$ (including cab, pc, arcadeVga, Jpac) and 1 days of work , you can have something like a Ultracade Cab which cost lot of more!
Sure, the cab will be illegal for a commercial usage but who will check? I don't know how it works in U.S .  But in France, Authorities just check if you pay your taxes for the cab and they don't check what there is in the cab.

The ultracade boss won't like that i think.  Even if personnaly just because he is trying to steal mame i would like to break his market. (but it is another story)

[Chris]

so I dont want to tick any of you off.

<...>

... some people really sit on a high horse around here - your butts are tighter than the coin slots on your cabs.

You don't want to tick any of us off?  Wow, you failed miserably.

[daywane]

The ultracade boss won't like that i think.

[Witchboard]

Youki, if he finds out about your FE he'll probably end up using it.     I hope you have it trademarked.

[nostrebor]

Youki, if he finds out about your FE he'll probably end up using it.     I hope you have it trademarked.

I fully agree. Take steps NOW to protect your hard work before he slides up and snags it from you.

[JoyMonkey]

Does the Ultracade front end have some kind of coin management system like this?

[Witchboard]

I'm sure it does considering it's for commercial use.  From what I understand, you insert a quarter then see the game list that's available for play.

[Alpha17X]

Oh   I love the skinnability on this thing.   *makes skins*

[daywane]

Thanks for your comment invader_Stu.

There is a new problem with this version now. As you know (or may be not yet) the boss from Ultracade is trying

[youki]

Oh   I love the skinnability on this thing.   *makes skins*

Yes, makes Skin! and send it to me, i will put it on my website.

The LayoutManager (the skin tool) is not very good but i will recode it soon (just have to find time to do that!).

[RitchieTheBrit]

Just downloaded this, excellent!  Set up in minutes!  Highly recommended!

Just a quick request, are you planning to add IDv3 tagging for the Jukebox?  My bro wants to build a JB, and although this is primarily an Emu FE, the skinnability has got him interested!

Again, nice work, looking forward to trying this in my cab!   

[youki]

Thanks RichiTheBrit,

JukeBox features will be enhanced in future versions , but now it is not on top priority on my todo list. Unfortunaly i don't have enough time to do all what i would like. 

[screaming]

Wow, great job youki!  I haven't tested it out yet, but it looks fantastic!  I love the animated backgrounds!

Aside from the ass-kissing, I have a comment regarding "forwarding" credits to MAME.  Personally I wouldn't use it because I have more than just MAME in my cabinet and I favor continuity over "coolness".  I do, however think it would be perfect for MAME-only cabinets but I hate having to worry about what "other people might do".

 Like having a bank account, if you take reasonable steps to protect yourself you should feel confident that your product won't be used for maliciousness. I vote for having a warning prominently displayed that would scare off any potential paying customers for someone. A banner at the bottom that's on all the time is good. I giant message before the game loads that says "Making money off this arcade is a CRIME. If you deposited coins, seek the proper authorities now!" would be scary enough but less intrusive to people that make nice layouts.

-Steve

[youki]

Thanks! 

Yes, i think the Big warning message when roms are loading would be a good idea.

[vibez]

Thanks! 

Yes, i think the Big warning message when roms are loading would be a good idea.

that would be awful! I'd like to run this in my cab, but having warnings plastered all over the place would just spoil the feel of my cab.

[youki]

But just when you load a Rom, not everywhere.  And we can try to do something nice.

a little bit something like the "Winners don't use drugs" message there were in arcade game in U.S.   

[screaming]

But just when you load a Rom, not everywhere.  And we can try to do something nice.

a little bit something like the "Winners don't use drugs" message there were in arcade game in U.S.   

  Yeah, that's what I was thinking.. but "Winners don't use MAME" just doesn't work for some reason...

-Steve

[vibez]

Well could you keep the warnings out of the non pro version?

Also, how is the multiconfig creation tool coming along? I love this front end but would really like a way of automatically creating game lists based on a current dat file

[RitchieTheBrit]

Erm, all good so far apart from one thing...

The background, and indeed, all sound in the FE, doesn't seem to work when I change the skin from anything but the default skin!

I've checked and double checked every thing, skin manager, the sound settings, the BkMusic filename (or what ever it is!) and nothing looks amiss!  The skins that I have been trying to use are the excellent set from Youki's own site, the set with the neat Mortal Kombat theme with the movie theme as the background.

Help!  I want the music playing on my cab!   

[gonzobrian]

Erm, all good so far apart from one thing...

The background, and indeed, all sound in the FE, doesn't seem to work when I change the skin from anything but the default skin!

I've checked and double checked every thing, skin manager, the sound settings, the BkMusic filename (or what ever it is!) and nothing looks amiss!

[youki]

No sounds? 

I need more precision. Because i tried and it works for me.

You lost sound when you switch from one configuration to another? (using the "on Fly configuration switch" ?)

- if you spoke about Sounds (not the BkMusic) , it is normal. You have sound specific to a layout or if not global sounds.  If you want your sound are present for all layouts which don't have his own sound , just go in the Nuss_space layout folder and copy all .WAV files you can find in the folder where is Atomic.exe  . And be sure that the "enable sound" checkbox is check in AtomicManager.

- Concerning the BackGround music.  this music is specific to each layout. If a layout have a music you will find a file BkMusic.mp3 in the layout folder.  If the music doesn't play, it is may be you have a problem of Codec.  Try to play the BkMusic.mp3 with windows media player to be sure it plays.

Let me know what layout (and resolution) you use.

I did a test switching from Nuss_space_640x480 to Zarouk7_640x480 (the mortal kombat one) , it works for me.

Let me know.

[youki]

Well could you keep the warnings out of the non pro version?

Of course.

Also, how is the multiconfig creation tool coming along? I love this front end but would really like a way of automatically creating game lists based on a current dat file

I can not say you a Date , but i think a first usable version should arrive this month (end of month).

[RitchieTheBrit]

Hey YOUKI, do you ever sleep!?!?!   

My own fault for not explaining myself in my last post...

The MK theme plays fine in Media Player and MP3Edit.  Everything is as it should be, from what I can see... 

It isnot yet multi-config, I used (nearly) ALL of Zarouk's skins for in a config picker, and although the skins and configs worked fine, still no BG music on ANY of them!  Again, all of the files would play externally, and everything seemed set up correctly.  After this I switched to using a single (atomic.cfg) config, using ZAROUK's MK skin, and still the same problem!  For the record, I'm running the 800x600 version.

As soon as you get a WSIWIG skinner in place I'm gonna' knock some skins up in Cinema4D (me like 3d skins!  ), and I'm waiting with baited breath for the hierachal config util to come out.

AtomicFE is starting to become my choice of FE now, with Kymaera and ArcadEpic running a close joint second, but I am a sucker for seeing someone beavering away at a project!  Expect a little something from PAYPAL in the near future!   

[youki]

Hey YOUKI, do you ever sleep!?!?!   

Yes, but i'm in Europe.. so i don't know where you are but there is jet lag between 6 and 9h! 

Concerning the problem. I almost sure it is a codec problem. I suppose you are using a media player above version 7 ?   I think Api function i use , use the old format.

Can you try to install Codec for media player 6.4 ?  You can find it on microsoft site, or i put the .exe of my site for you here :

http://www.atomicfe.com/divers/wmp6cdcs.exe

Let me know if it  solves your problem.   thanks.

[RitchieTheBrit]

Sure, I'll give that a try when I get home!  As for the time difference, I'm in the UK, mate!  What I meant is that you seem to be dedicating a phenominal amount of time to this project!  Dedication, man!

As my testing machine is actually my workhorse, it should really have all the codecs that I would ever need on it (including a few obscure asian ones!).  I'm actually studying a degree in Multimedia!  But then again, this is XP, and it can do some weird and wonderfull things from time to time!

Take care Y, and as sonn as I get some time tommorrows, I'll look at that file!

[gonzobrian]

- if you spoke about Sounds (not the BkMusic) , it is normal. You have sound specific to a layout or if not global sounds.

[papaschtroumpf]

Somewhere along the line I forgot about what's different about AtomicFE (except for the credit stuff in the Pro version).
Lat time I tried to run it it wasn't working right, although I think Youki has fixed those problems by now.

I'm trying to decide if I want to give it another go or not, can someone remind me of the differences between this and Mamewah? I run SKJukebox (launched from mamewah) so I'm not interested in the jukebox functionnality either at this time.

Thanks

[youki]

There is absolutly no difference between the pro and no pro version of Atomic.  The pro is provided with a special version of mame. But the Front end is the same.

I don' t really know mamewah , i never tested it. so i can not enumerate differences. But here some feature of Atomic.
-Animated layout
-Multilayer layout
-Alpha blending on Layout
-a layout can work in any resolution and any orientation. You can use an Horizontal designed layout on a vertical screen.
-CockTail mode
-Background MP3 music . 
-Configurable sounds.
-2 Multi configuration modes . (Simple and hierachycal)
-FULL Support of ArcadeVGA
-Built in JukeBox
-Built in Video JukeBox
-Can play Video as Snap Shot. (suppose you have the right codec for media player 6.4)
-Totally customizable
-Build in support for Zinc
-Can display Snap, Marquee, Flyer, Cab or on you want on layouts.
-Support JPAC and home made keyboard hack.
-Can work with all command line emulators.
-Easy to configure
-And a almost Real Time Support! (i always try to do my best to solve all problems as soons as possible) , I even add special feature on request.
-more and more... 

[papaschtroumpf]

multilayer/animated/alpha blending is the biggest draw for me.
I might be interested in hierarchical config too.

Mamewah has basically everything else (not sure what the AtomicFE jukebox looks like. you can sort of do a jukebox using mamewah but it's not very friendly for large music collections).

Thanks for your asnwer.

[youki]

The jukebox feature of Atomic is relativly Light.  This part need to be enhanced.
It allows to do a play list and play song.  Combinated with hierachycal multiconfiguation you can do something good. ex : Select an Album and display the CD Snap , enter in it and see all song of the album.  You can do really lot of thing with atomic. It is a very flexible tool, but sometime you need a little bit more configuration and Trick.  I plan to write a set of wizards to help for some "tricky" configuration you could have to do.

One other feature of Atomic is  Screensaver. You have the slideshow of snap , or a slideshow of what you want. But it can run randomly game you have for a duration you set.  And if you enter a credit on the game which has been launched by the screensaver , you will stay on the game. (Atomic won't shutdown the game if you are playing!). I detect credit insertion. This features works on the Normal version , you do not need the pro version for that.

[daywane]

once I found some arcade music in mp3 format (took some time to find)
(Thinks killer clown!) I used wolverine.
I showed it to my wife. She loved it. That is a big complament. She is not much into the arcades, When I told her I was getting into this arcade stuff she said I could do what ever I like , But I had to build a Mspacman 1st. (it was second  I plan on using your front end on the Mspac for good.
well done