MaLa v0.9.8 released

[swindus]

Improvements
- Rotate MaLa in any direction (0, 90, 180, 270)
- Different controller sets particularly for cocktails and 180 degrees screen rotation
- New lcd and text value: time and date
- Rotate MaLa with Mame after quitting game
- Option to search layout images and sounds in MaLa dir or selected dir
- Option to use a directory for images and sounds of each layout
- Backup and restore complete or parts of MaLa configuration and settings
- MaLaLayout: Function to center objects horizontal and vertical on layout
- MaLaAttractMode: Copy, move, repeat, reverse functions for led states
- MaLaAttractMode: Led state templates

Bugfixes
- No sounds in MaLa menu fixed
- MaLaLayout: Sound for list switch not saved fixed

Get it here:
http://www.mala.de.tt
http://mala.arcadezentrum.com

[swindus]

MaLa v0.9.8a

 Improvements
- Double buffered draw of all windows. No flickering anymore.
- Option to disable gui sounds in jukebox mode

[surf]

Has anyone used this frontend?  If so, how does it compare to MAMEwah?

Thanks...

[loadman]

I find it much better than Mamewah as I have a vertical setup on my Cocktail table and Mala has good rotation options. I am yet to find a better FE for a vertical setup.

Also you can purchase the optional 'Hardware kit' to drive a LCD screen and LEDS to make your cabinet Sexy too. I just got mine today.

Try it and let others know what you think.

[swindus]

I just got mine today.

Nice!

[swindus]

Two xvid videos of the MaLa Hardware led driver:

Selecting games: 1.07mb
Attract mode: 576kb

[millercentral]

Hey Swindus, a couple of questions/feature requests:

* The distinct inputs for each rotation type is great. If I move a joystick on one side of the cocktail, will it rotate over to that side?

* Can you change the default list after rotating to a new orientation (ie, if I switch to the left vertical orientation, can I specify it to autoload a "LeftVertFavorites" list?)

* I'd love to see a FE that allowed me identify my favoirte version of games that have multiple clones (defaulting to the primary version) and only show those favorite versions rather than showing just originals or all clones...

* I'd like to be able to optionally hide the "(...)" part of the game description...


just some thoughts...
-james

[swindus]

Hi millercentral, some nice thoughts.
Will see what can be done.

[loadman]

I'd love to see a FE that allowed me identify my favorite version of games that have multiple clones (defaulting to the primary version) and only show those favorite versions rather than showing just originals or all clones...

One way to achieve for a this is to edit the mame.xml file (as I have done) You use an xml editor such as XML Markerhttp://symbolclick.com/
That way when you refresh the list it will only show the Games you have roms for but won't show every version of the game that you don't want.
It is probably only worth doing for short list of games as it involves a bit of editing. But it was worth it!!!
EG:
In my case I only want about 85 games and I didn't want the clone of every game coming up on my list, but in some cases I did want the clone and not the main version. To achieve this I effectively corrupted the rom names in the xml file that I did not want to appear by putting a ZZ after it. Then I modified the description of the games that I did want to appear to be cleaner if necessary (Eg

[MadWRX]

Hi Swindus.  First off, thanks for putting all the time and effort into the front end.  I am almost done building a cocktail cabinet and I really like what you did with it. 

I have a couple of questions:

1.  Can you navigate the list using a mouse?  I have trackballs on both the short and long side of the cocktail and that would be nice.

2.  I also would be interested in having the screen 'auto rotate' to the correct side of the cocktail table based on the last arcade control input detected.

3.  I really liked Game Launcher's ability to put lightly transparant full size screen shots behind the game list.  I see that you can build a layout to do this, but is there any way to control the 'transparancy' so it doesn't make the game list text hard to read?  I tried the transparent check box and that didn't help.  Game Launcher had a 0-100% setting I think to adjust.

Thanks!

[swindus]

hello,

1. Can you navigate the list using a mouse? I have trackballs on both the short and long side of the cocktail and that would be nice.

This will work in the next version.

2. I also would be interested in having the screen 'auto rotate' to the correct side of the cocktail table based on the last arcade control input detected.

Will also work in the next version

3. I really liked Game Launcher's ability to put lightly transparant full size screen shots behind the game list. I see that you can build a layout to do this, but is there any way to control the 'transparancy' so it doesn't make the game list text hard to read? I tried the transparent check box and that didn't help. Game Launcher had a 0-100% setting I think to adjust.

Sorry, but there is no possibility anymore to blend an image, this worked till version 0.9.7. The used control can only blend on the top of all other objects and this results in hidden text elements.

Thanks for your interest.

[donjuanzx9]

I tried mamwah and mala had alot more problems with mamwah,there both great but mala is easier to set up and run, by far.I tried it with mame32 for fun,even though it already had a frontend and it even worked with that.Great front end, 2 thumbs up!Everyone should give this one a try.If I can set it up anyone can!