J5 Viewer Question - Almost perfect

[mccoy178]

Hello,
I am attempting to use Howard's viewer, and I cannot get it to show up in mamewah.  Could someone please help me get this running?  I used the setup for the viewer, but I don't know if I have it right.  Could someone show what they have in there paths in the setup?  What do I put in the path to the configs to use the mame ones?  Help......me....please............

[Tiger-Heli]

How far did you get?  Is it working at all on it's own (from the command line?).

Did you read the WIP, User Questions, and AHK scripts here?  Are you using Win2K or XP?

OOOPS - Here was http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?board=3.0

[mccoy178]

I'm using XP.  I will try command line tonight to see if it is even working.  Thanks!

[Tiger-Heli]

XP should have less problems.  There are some fairly major tweaks to get it working under Win98.

[mccoy178]

The program does work from command prompt.  I'm gonna check my mame.ini in mamewah.  Just to clarify, if I set the exit and toggle button to the pause button, it should enter and exit on pressing "p" in mame? 

[mccoy178]

My mame.ini is correct.  What should the command line part of my mame.ini app 1 say?

BTW: Howard, please help.  Go ahead and castrate me for being stupid, but please help.  Go ahead an belittle me for asking a question, but please help.

[Howard_Casto]

Afaik mamewah does not yet support the ahk script to get it working

From within mame if that is what you are trying to do.  You'll have to check the thread tiger-heli linked you to to see how he got it working without support via batch files.

Right now I am actually busy with the next release, so I don't have time to troubleshoot.  Regardless questions about the viewer will be addressed over at the controls.dat forum.   

[mccoy178]

Thanks for the reply; a very nice one at that!  Okay, I'll attempt to figure this out.

[Tiger-Heli]

It would also help if Tiger-Heli didn't screw up and post the link to THIS forum.  Can't trust that guy to do anything right.

Link to the discussion on Johnny5, AHK, etc should have gone to here:
http://fe.donkeyfly.com/forum/index.php?board=12.0

My step by step set-up on setting up the batch files is here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=39449.0

Recent developments - You should be using the latest daily Beta for Johnny from
http://fe.donkeyfly.com/forum/index.php?topic=119.msg943#msg943 (download and change from .txt to .exe).

This version contains a glitch in the loffilters.txt reading section, but all (known) other bugs are fixed.  HC has fixed the above glitch but not released that version yet.

The above version also now automatically searches for the parent game if you enter a clone, so you no longer need to send the -cloneof parameter.

This means that you no longer need to pass %2 to the batch file and that you have to edit the AHK script to remove this callout.

If you need more help, post back at what point you are getting stuck.

UPDATE:  Also, I forgot to mention that it works best if MAME, MAMEwah, and your regular desktop are all running at the same resolution (800x600, 1024x768, etc.).  It looks excellent under these circumstances.  If one of these is set different, it may still work, but screen output may not be as pretty.

Also, sometimes you have to press P twice to get the viewer to display or to return and re-start MAME.  Not a big deal, but the final version of the AHK script should fix this, when it's released (if HC or I figure out a solution . . .)

[mccoy178]

Off to the cabinet I go!

[mccoy178]

Well, I have everything working, except in mamewah.  I have the AHK and the bat files working.  I can use command prompt to fire up mame and J5 works great.  I will try to do some problem solving in mamewah.  Could someone please post there mame.ini from mamewah?  I have a mame.dat in my mame folder, but I don't know how that should look in mamewah's mame.ini.  Thanks for the help.  The light bulb is a little brighter now.

EDIT!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I changed my mame.ini in mamewah to execute mame.bat instead of mame.exe.  Now, J5 comes up.  When I hit "p" I get the black screen and have to C A D out of mamewah and project 1.  I will read back again, as I think Tiger mentioned this problem before.  Goodness, I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon! j/k

[Tiger-Heli]

I think you or I may be getting confused on what you want to do.

Okay, I changed my mame.ini in mamewah to execute mame.bat instead of mame.exe.  Now, J5 comes up.

You might just have to wait a little bit on the black screen.

What I was setting up was to have MAME run from the frontend, and then have Johnny come up when I paused MAME.  It seemed to work fine under Win2k, although I only ever launched it from the command line, not from the FE itself.

If you are wanting the viewer to come up before MAME starts, and then also when you pause MAME, you would need to edit the batch files.

The problems I was having with Black Screens and having to C-A-D out of Project 1 occurred only under Win98 and from the command prompt also.  BTW, the fix was to run J5 from the command prompt with the -debug tag, and then right-click in the title bar of the batch file that Johnny5 was launching, select Properties and Close on Exit, and then X out of the window.

FWIW.

[mccoy178]

I love lamp!

[mccoy178]

The software works fine except that the game name is not getting passed onto J5.  All I am seeing is the generic J5 setup screen(not the layout).  What else do I need to do to get this done in mamewah.  Here is my mame.ini from mamewah.

### 000_mame.ini (mamewah v1.61) ###

emulator_title                            M.A.M.E.

### List Generation Settings ###
rom_path                                  C:\mame\roms
rom_extension                             zip
dat_file                                 
nms_file                                 
catver_ini_file                           
list_generation_method                    rom_folder_vs_listxml

### Execution Settings ###
emulator_executable                       C:\mame\mame.exe
commandline_format                        [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_1                  [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_2                  [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
game_specific_config_path                 

### Artwork Locations ###
artwork_1_image_path                      C:\mame\Snap
artwork_2_image_path                      C:\mame\titles
artwork_3_image_path                      C:\mame\cabinets
artwork_4_image_path                      C:\mame\cpanel
artwork_5_image_path                     
artwork_6_image_path                     
artwork_7_image_path                     
artwork_8_image_path                     
artwork_9_image_path                     
artwork_10_image_path                     
movie_preview_path                       
movie_artwork_no                          1

### Screen-Saver Settings ###
enable_music_in_screensaver               1
saver_type                                launch_scr
movie_path                                C:\Mamewah 1.61b\ssmovie
movie_fullscreen                          1
quit_delay                                30
wrapper_executable                       
wrapper_commandline_format                [name]
scr_file                                  C:\Mamewah 1.61b\ssmovie\ms_pacman.scr

### External Application Settings ###
ipc_file_or_path                         
app_1_executable                          c:\j5viewer\j5.bat
app_1_commandline_format                 
app_2_executable                         
app_2_commandline_format                 
app_3_executable                         
app_3_commandline_format                 
auto_launch_apps                          1

### Additional Settings ###
music_path                               
lcd_display_file_path                     
lcd_fe_text                               

### Settings used by MAMEWAH ###
current_list                              1



P.S. I tried to put [name] in the app_1 format, with no results

[mccoy178]

In summary, when I run command prompt as such:
c:\j5viewer\j5 1942
c:\cd\
c:\cd mame
c:\mame\mame 1942

the system works perfectly except for the pause bug.  The controls are there and properly displayed with the proper res.

In mamewah, when "p" is pushed, the blank Johnny5.exe screen comes up.  What is wierd here is that the "p" delay is not present.  J5 shuts down and the game unpauses like it should.  I don't get it?  Seems as though J5 is not getting the game upon starting up.  It seems as though when J5 does get the game like above in command prompt, it causes the delay issue where mame stays paused.  At this point, I'm on standby untill the big boys can get there hands on this thread.

[Minwah]

Hmmm.  Well I haven't used J5 for a looong time, and I've just had 9 days of solid drinking etc...so I'm not feeling too clever atm.

However, it looks to me like you need to set this:

app_1_commandline_format  [name]

This should send the romname after the app_1_executable.

[mccoy178]

I tried that you drunken fool! j/k

[Minwah]

I tried that you drunken fool! j/k

Sorry, I missed that in your post.  You definately need it tho, so put it back in!

[mccoy178]

I reinstalled it, and still no dice.  There is also the pause issue, but that is already stated to be a bug.  Anybody know how to add a delay in the AHK script so "p" isn't received before mame is ready?

[Howard_Casto]

let me try to shed some light... although minwah is going to have to fill in the gaps.

Tiger already told you this, but since you promptly ignored him I'll say it yet again.

You are trying to do two different things by adding cfg for one. 


Getting the viewer to work in mamewah requires the ability for mamewah to launch "johnny5.exe romname" at the press of the key of your choice.  The j5.bat has NOTHING to do with this. 

Now.... getting the viewer to work while in mame requires mamewah to be able to launch "j5.bat romname"  just before mame is launched and then launch  mame as normal.   The bat actually contains code to launch the ahk script.   The ahk script assumes that you use "esc" to exit out of mame.  When you press "esc" while in mame, the ahk script terminates itself.  Also and this is important.  While while in mame, mamewah should NOT be trying to handle the launch of j5. 


From your cfgs I see that you are trying to get it to do one thing.  And my guess is the wrong thing.  (To me that section looks like something mamewah launches once you stop moving through the list, but I dunno, minwah will have to help you. 

I hope this helps.  And minwah, I hope you do any modifications necessary to your fe to get this supported.  It's shaping up to be the viewer to end all viewers.

At this point this is all the help I can offer, as I'm not familair enough with your fe to tell specifically what is wrong. 

[mccoy178]

My understanding of mamewah is this, by having the app 1 set to run j5.bat, it is in effect telling j5.bat [name] to run while mame is firing up.  When I run a command prompt, I do the following:
c:\j5viewer\j5 1942
c:\cd\
c:\cd mame
c:\mame\mame 1942

and the program runs fine except for the pause issue.  Is that not the same thing that mamewah is doing?  Giving the go ahead for j5.bat to run with the rom name in front, then firing up mame with that rom?

[Howard_Casto]

I have no clue.  Like I just told you above, I don't know anything about mamewah.  I have my own fe you know. 

[mccoy178]

I don't really believe I promptly ignored Tiger since we talked for about an hour on Saturday about this, but thanks for the help.  I know you have your own front end.  Congrats.  I love how blunt you are.  Let me know when the pause bug gets fixed.  Untill then I'm gonna shelve it.  I'm sure its just a matter of time untill someone stumbles across this issue and resolves it.  I think it's a great program, too bad I'm not on the same wavelength.
Thanks,
mccoy178

[Minwah]

let me try to shed some light... although minwah is going to have to fill in the gaps.

Thanks Howard, makes it pretty simple for me to get...haven't messed around with anything like this for >6 months...

Getting the viewer to work in mamewah requires the ability for mamewah to launch "johnny5.exe romname" at the press of the key of your choice.  The j5.bat has NOTHING to do with this. 

This is how to achieve this:

app_1_executable                          c:\j5viewer\johnny5.exe
app_1_commandline_format              [name]

Now.... getting the viewer to work while in mame requires mamewah to be able to launch "j5.bat romname"  just before mame is launched and then launch  mame as normal.   The bat actually contains code to launch the ahk script.   The ahk script assumes that you use "esc" to exit out of mame.  When you press "esc" while in mame, the ahk script terminates itself.  Also and this is important.  While while in mame, mamewah should NOT be trying to handle the launch of j5. 

This is how to achieve this:

app_1_executable                          c:\j5viewer\j5.bat
app_1_commandline_format              [name]
auto_launch_apps                          1

I hope this helps.  And minwah, I hope you do any modifications necessary to your fe to get this supported.  It's shaping up to be the viewer to end all viewers.

Well from what I can tell it should already work...but my latest beta has a better system of launching pre-emulator and post-emulator apps, although come to think of it I might need to check that batch files work...I think I may have done a check for an .exe file...

Sounds good tho, I really must find the time to check out your latest...

[Tiger-Heli]

McCoy is trying to launch J5 when MAME is paused, not before starting the games.

I experimented with this over the weekend and see the same problems he is having.  I believe it is a script problem with the script getting confused between the MAMEwah window and the MAME window.

Will be posting more replies on the Controls.dat and MameWah forum.

[2600]

Tiger-heli was nice enough to go to the respective forums, but I'm going to shoot two birds with one stone.  There are other ways to do this, but I thought this one was pretty clean.


ScenarioA: I believe this is what Tiger-Heli is doing.  Basically instead of executing mame.exe from mamewah you are executing mame.bat.  Change autodosbox to dosbox for commandline_format  under Execution Settings.


ScenarioB: I believe this is what mccoy178 is doifng. i.e. Launching an external app. Your app_1_commandline_format  should be:
app_1_commandline_format                  [name]{dosbox}{nosafelaunch}



Both Scenarios: Script not calling MAME correctly when used with mamewah.  I changed the script so that I get the exact title of MAME.  Basically, In the Ahk script put this line:

WinGetActiveTitle, Title

near the top, then substitue all instances of MAME for %Title%


I didn't work on the pause issue because I think Howard is working on it and it's his script so better to use his solution.

EDIT: Will crap.  Looks like I took too long to triple check my work and Tiger-Heli beat me to the punch.  Thought I tried his method and it didn't work, but I may be wrong.

[Tiger-Heli]

Tiger-heli was nice enough to go to the respective forums, but I'm going to shoot two birds with one stone.  There are other ways to do this, but I thought this one was pretty clean.

Unfortunately, we have too many discussions on the same topic on different forums now.  I hope Howard sees this.

ScenarioA: I believe this is what Tiger-Heli is doing.  Basically instead of executing mame.exe from mamewah you are executing mame.bat.  Change autodosbox to dosbox for commandline_format  under Execution Settings.

I didn't change this (wasn't familiar enough with MAMEwah to know I should), but I'll take your word for it . . .

ScenarioB: I believe this is what mccoy178 is doifng. i.e. Launching an external app. Your app_1_commandline_format  should be:
app_1_commandline_format                  [name]{dosbox}{nosafelaunch}

Basically, I think mccoy178 and I are doing the same thing in different ways - he is launching johnny5.ahk from MAMEwah prior to launching MAME, and I am launching a batch file which calls johnny5.ahk and then launches MAME, but I think it's the same in the end.

Both Scenarios: Script not calling MAME correctly when used with mamewah.  I changed the script so that I get the exact title of MAME.  Basically, In the Ahk script put this line:

WinGetActiveTitle, Title

near the top, then substitue all instances of MAME for %Title%

Sharp!!! I simply changed MAME to MAME: in the script.  Seemed to work, but your method is a lot more fail-safe.  I hope Howard will try both methods and incorporate the one that works best.

I didn't work on the pause issue because I think Howard is working on it and it's his script so better to use his solution.

Agreed.  BTW, I think there are two pause issues, but HC is working on both of them, so I'll let him work out the details.

EDIT: Will crap.  Looks like I took too long to triple check my work and Tiger-Heli beat me to the punch.  Thought I tried his method and it didn't work, but I may be wrong.

I did a quick test last night in MAMEwah.  The script is not getting confused between MAME and MAMEwah any longer when I pause and unpause MAME, but I still have to press Esc TWICE to get back to MAMEwah (first press launches MAME from the beginning of the game again).  Then agian, I MIGHT have only changed the first set of calls (the P key section) in the script.  I only ran one test and quit for the night.

[Minwah]

I did a quick test last night in MAMEwah.  The script is not getting confused between MAME and MAMEwah any longer when I pause and unpause MAME, but I still have to press Esc TWICE to get back to MAMEwah (first press launches MAME from the beginning of the game again).  Then agian, I MIGHT have only changed the first set of calls (the P key section) in the script.  I only ran one test and quit for the night.

Now I've read this I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is.  If you are using mame.bat as your executable, then you need to stop using the {autodosbox} flag - try {nodosbox} instead.

FYI the {autodosbox} thing runs MAME twice; firstly with the -verifyroms switch (to determine whether or not to show the dos window for bad dumps etc.), and secondly to run the game.  This is why the game is being launched from the start for the second time.

Hope that helps, sorry I didn't spot it before.

[Tiger-Heli]

Now I've read this I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is.  If you are using mame.bat as your executable, then you need to stop using the {autodosbox} flag - try {nodosbox} instead.

Hope that helps, sorry I didn't spot it before.

Awesome!!! Thanks Minwah!!!

[Howard_Casto]

I just wanted to clarify something....

The reason I search for "MAME" and not "MAME:" in the script is incase someone uses a non official build (like mameplus, ect)  see not all builds of mame have the caption "MAME:" but almost all have mame somewhere in the title.  But if mamewah has the ability to send the widnow title then that'd probably be best for that fe as anyone using a non-official buld would be screwed. 

[Tiger-Heli]

But if mamewah has the ability to send the widnow title then that'd probably be best for that fe as anyone using a non-official buld would be screwed. 

I don't think 2600 meant that MAMEwah can send the window title, I think he meant that the AHK script can read it and assign it to a variable, and I think this is a good idea to add to the script, FWIW.

[Minwah]

If anyone needs me to add an option to change the window caption to something not containing 'MAMEWAH' then let me know...

[Howard_Casto]

I think it might not be a bad idea.  A lot of resident emu-related apps look for "mame." On teh other hand I might just start looking for the class name, (which is also mame).     

[Tiger-Heli]

I think it might not be a bad idea.  A lot of resident emu-related apps look for "mame." On teh other hand I might just start looking for the class name, (which is also mame).     

Howard,

I just tested 2600's suggestion under Win2K and it seems to work flawlessly.  I highly recommend implementing it.  Three reasons:

First - Will work with any build - If you had a custom build without MAME in the name - even with Zinc - This would work, and no conflicts with similarly named apps.

Second - Will work with any app - For example, if you launched Johnny5.ahk prior to loading your frontend, you could press P and the controls viewer would come up and P again and go back to the frontend (but you wouldn't be passing a game name to it).

Third - If you or someone were to make say a Daphne viewer, the same script could be used (I think) to launch it by changing the Johnny5 line to Daphne5 or whatever.

Basically, it makes the script say:  Launch the specified program and then return focus to the current window.

BTW, here is what the changes are:

else
   {
      WinGetActiveTitle, Title
      J5=Johnny5.exe %1%

And then in eight places you replace MAME with %Title%, as follows:

WinActivate,%Title%

I also deleted the two SetTitleMatchMode lines as they were no longer required, and I think this sped up script execution.

FWIW.

[Howard_Casto]

Works for me.  Expect some sort of test script tonight.

[mccoy178]

On the other forum, Howard said a new testing release will come out tonight and hopefully a final tomorrow.  Good news!

[Tiger-Heli]

Viewer is out on the other forum, haven't tested it yet.  Test script is not out yet, AFAIK.

[mccoy178]

 

[Tiger-Heli]

Viewer got broken with 0.99u3 changes.  Howard is working on it.  Test Script is on hold until that gets sorted out.

[mccoy178]

For the most part, everything seems okay with the latest update except the pause issue still.  I'll see what I can find.