Multicade FRONTEND ?????

[koolmoecraig]

Has anyone created a front end for Mame that simulates the style of Multicades frontend?

I like the one big screen shot at a time look. Oh yeah, it has to be vertical too.

Thanks!

[2600]

Are the Multicades an actual business?  Thought it was just a marquee.   I assume they are stealing/using arcadeos or gamelauncher or something.  I think most Fe's can do this, the vertical is the only challenge.

[Fat_Trucker]

Use mamewah. With its layout designer you can pretty much set it up to look however you want.

[koolmoecraig]

Mamewah can be set up vertically with no issues?

[IntruderAlert]

do you mean Multicade or Ultracade?
If Ultracade, there is Ultrastyle http://www.mameworld.net/ultrastyle/

[Q*Bert_OP]

Thanks... now I can finally have an ultrapoo stiled FE without supporting Foley

[koolmoecraig]

Multicade. Not Ultrastyle.

[IntruderAlert]

in that case I have no idea
I thought Multicade was just a generic name
try Mamewah
and yes you can do a vertical setup with it

[paigeoliver]

I think he is talking about the 9 in 1 boards, their frontend looks a whole lot like advancemenu.

[IntruderAlert]

in that case, does this look like what you want craig?
http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/menu-snapshot.html

I'm not seeing any vertical screenshots there but you can check the docs

[paigeoliver]

advancemenu has a vertical mode, and in that mode with the right settings is looks A LOT like the 9 in 1 frontend.

[IntruderAlert]

well.. there you go craig

by the way.. ive never seen paige NOT know what he's talking about

[Popcorrin]

I think he is talking about the newer multicades that have the single screenshot of the game in the middle of the screen and the name of the game at the top of the screen with a starfield in the background. I could be wrong.

[NickS]

I was also looking for a mame frontend like that as well.

Here are a couple of screenshots I found.

[koolmoecraig]

That is EXACTLY what I want. Thanks for the screenshot post.

Anyone wanna create a front end like this?

peace

[AlanS17]

I'm sure there are plenty of front-ends that could be configured this way.

How many games do you plan on having on there, though? If it's more than about 20 then you're gonna want something that shows more at once.

[AlanS17]

Otherwise, yeah I like it too. It would probably come in handy for an upcoming cocktail project of mine.

[Wade]

I want one like this for DOS.  I don't like Windows frontends, nor do I want to run Windows on my Mame machines.

The source is available for Gamelauncher, and it has a vertical setting already.  I think it could be made a lot nicer with some relatively minor tweaks, if someone wanted to take the time to crack it open.

Wade

[AlanS17]

You could already make it work in GameLauncher without making any changes. It would look slightly different than what you've got there, but it's about the same.

You'd just have to set up an instance of MAME for every game you plan on using. It sounds tedious, but you wouldn't want a front-end looking like this one if you were going to have too many games anyways. This part would take about an hour after you get it all down into a rythm.

Then to get the screen with the space scene and all that, you'd have to custom make one for each game and replace the standard screen shots. This is the part that would take a while. However, there currently are no logos available for display right now, anyways - only marquees. So you'd have to do some custom artwork regardless of what front-end you chose.

[Wade]

I thought about doing this but yes it would take some time.  However, the things I'd really like to add are things like an attract mode, and some sort of animations in the game browsing list.  Things like that.  However, for the standard 12-in-1 setup I stick on 4-way vertical cocktails, just making custom screenshots would be a nice improvement and not much trouble.  Hmmmm....

Wade

[IntruderAlert]

ooh.. that's pretty neat
 like Alan was saying.. you'd be nuts trying to use that with like 100 games or something
but for just a few it would be cool

[paigeoliver]

Oh, I hadn't seen THAT version of the 9 in 1 front end, the one I have seen tiles screenshots.

[Wade]

IIRC the one pictured above has the starfield in motion, the left/right arrows are animated (the colors cycle through the rainbow), and I think the screenshot might even be animated (not sure about that one though).  It is very nice and professional looking.  Much like some of the MultiWilliams boards.

Wade

[AlanS17]

Sounds like pretty basic requirements for a front-end. If I had more time I might even consider making it myself.

If someone does decide to take this project on, I've got just one request. Make it DOS compatible. It won't hold a large game list anyways, and it seems tailored towards older games that play well in DOS.

[NickS]

ooh.. that's pretty neat
 like Alan was saying.. you'd be nuts trying to use that with like 100 games or something
but for just a few it would be cool

From a little research it seems as though this frontend is used for upto 40 games on the Multicade 40 in 1 jamma boards primarily for cocktail tables.

[AlanS17]

You sure you don't mean 39-in-1?

What a serious pain in the butt...

No matter which front end you, you're gonna have to make custom screens. For 40 games, that would take a while.

The only way to NOT have to do custom artwork would be if someone made a logo art pack similar to marquees and screenshots.

[JoyMonkey]

I've only ever seen this style of multicade frontends. They're ugly as hell.

[AlanS17]

In the immortal words of Shaggy...

"ZOIKS!!!"

Anyone ever heard the term "mofugly"?

[pogo]

I've been planning on using this style interface for my cocktail when I get it built.  I'm planning on using advmenu since you can use mng files in place of the snaps.  I am going to create animations in Corel Rave similar to the menus shown above for each of the games and convert them to mng files.  This shouldn't be too hard a task since I'm only planning on having ~20 games on the cocktail.  It might be a while until I get around to doing this since my wife and I are expecting our first child in the next few weeks but anyone is welcome to them when I get done.

[General Zod]

I've only ever seen this style of multicade frontends. They're ugly as hell.

I'll tell you what I do like about the 3-1, and 4-1 boards. I enjoy that mellow sound loop that plays during the menu. I've only heard this certain loop on the earlier 3 & 4'n'1 boards.

Perchance anyone might have a small recording of that loop?