MaLa v0.9.9 released

[swindus]

v0.9.9
Improvements
- Mouse support for trackballs, spinners and dials
- Controller detection: rotate and load gamelist on controller movement
- Snap can display cover picture in jukebox mode
- MaLaLayout: Double buffered draw of all windows
- MaLaAttractMode: Double buffered draw of all windows

Changes
- Mouse is hidden by default. Option to hide mouse removed.

Get it here: http://mala.arcadezentrum.com

[swindus]

[MadWRX]

Wow, that was quick.  I appreciate you taking suggestings and implementing them.  I'm looking forward to trying this out later this weekend. 

Oh, another question - is there a way to implement mame options on a per game basis?  I have a trackball on one side of my cocktail and a spinner on the other and based on the game need to initiate the proper rotate command.

Thanks!

[swindus]

No. MaLa doesn't send any parameter to mame. All mame or game specific parameters must be in the mame ini files.

[MadWRX]

Thanks Swindus.  I got time yesterday to try out the new version and it's absolutely great.  Thanks again for all the hard work...

[loadman]

Thanks Swindus.

[Hoopz]

Having played around with it for just a few minutes, I have to say that this is really great.  I have installed it on my laptop to test out and am anxious to get it on my mame pc.  Great job.

[Buddabing]

A couple of things I noticed in the "first time config":

- There are "Ja" and "Nein" in a couple of dialog boxes in the English version.

- The toolbar is hidden when the first-time config program is run. I would prefer the toolbar to be accessible, for the purposes of copying files, etc.

- I would like there to be an option of where to put the nplayers.ini and the catver.ini. The program wanted the files in it's own directory and I prefer to have a central location for all frontends to use it.

- Why isn't the config program available after the first time MaLa is run?

- How do I put movies into my MaLa skin?

- More content (skins, background images) would be nice.

- A config program for buttons and controls would be nice.

- I would like an option for the toolbar to appear when the front end is not the topmost application (ie. ALT-TAB)

Regards,
Buddabing

[Silver]

Coming along really nicely - Buddabing mentioned most of the stuff I was going to ask - although you can get back to the config by right clicking anywhere while running and selecting it in the menus. no idea how to do this if you are not using a mouse.

I'd ideally like support for the controls.xml not just the .ini version, but I know XML parsing could be a pain to add.

Also regarding the LCD support - are you planning to support any LCD's  apart from the Mala Hardware one? An ability to copy txt files out to a com port would suffice (although you've obviously already done a lot of the hard work by having it generate all the details on the fly).

[swindus]

There are "Ja" and "Nein" in a couple of dialog boxes in the English version.

Ahh, ok.

- Why isn't the config program available after the first time MaLa is run?

It is. As Silver said just click with your right mouse button anywhere on the screen.

- How do I put movies into my MaLa skin?

Add the video panel to your layout. Enter the path to your video files in the options dialog.

- More content (skins, background images) would be nice.

Sure. Would like it too.

- A config program for buttons and controls would be nice.

Don't know what you mean exactly. You can redefine all controls and buttons (in the option dialog)

- I would like an option for the toolbar to appear when the front end is not the topmost application (ie. ALT-TAB)

Good idea.

[swindus]

Coming along really nicely - Buddabing mentioned most of the stuff I was going to ask - although you can get back to the config by right clicking anywhere while running and selecting it in the menus. no idea how to do this if you are not using a mouse.

It's a windows program but if you prefer windows without a mouse you can still edit the mala ini file.

I'd ideally like support for the controls.xml not just the .ini version, but I know XML parsing could be a pain to add.

XML parsing is implemented (mame rominfo). So it can be done also with the control.xml.

Also regarding the LCD support - are you planning to support any LCD's apart from the Mala Hardware one? An ability to copy txt files out to a com port would suffice (although you've obviously already done a lot of the hard work by having it generate all the details on the fly).

No, I don't think so.

[Hoopz]

- Why isn't the config program available after the first time MaLa is run?

This was a question that I ran into also.

[swindus]

Hehe, funny ... 

The way into to options dialog is described on the mala homepage (Getting started) and in the included readme file (Use the right mouse button to open the options dialog again!) ....

[Buddabing]

I got the videos to work.

One thing, though. If the user scrolls from a game whch has a video to one that does not, the panel will still have the video from the first game, in freeze frame. It should just display black, or "no video available", or a snapshot.

[Buddabing]

Also, it would be super sweet if your attract mode editor would work with my LED controller.

I have my own animation language that I am using for it. I don't think your ledconfig file is compatible with it.

I also have my own control panel layout files. I don't see any samples of .cpl files in your distribution.

PM me if you are interested in collaborating.

Regards,
Buddabing

[Hoopz]

Hehe, funny ...

The way into to options dialog is described on the mala homepage (Getting started) and in the included readme file (Use the right mouse button to open the options dialog again!) ....

Readme file?  homepage?  Must not have been in my file...or I mean the dog ate it! 

[MadWRX]

Swindus

Can you explain how MaLa determines the resolution to display at?  I couldn't find a setting to control this.  Thanks!

Bob

[millercentral]

Would be cool if your hardware support (LED and LCD control) was made into a plug-in system so the MaLa hardware support could be replaced with plug-ins for alternatives (where others providing the alternatives had to write the plug-ins too).

Would love for the video panel to be able to default back to a snap when a title doesn't have a video to show.

How about support for image lists (ie select from a list of screenshots or marquees instead of text names ala UltraStyle, defaulting to a text label only when a image is not available)?

[CM]

Looking good.   I think it may be time to change the FE soon. 

[swindus]

Swindus

Can you explain how MaLa determines the resolution to display at? I couldn't find a setting to control this. Thanks!

Bob

It's quite simple! It uses the resolution of your windows desktop.
Here is a explanation:

MaLa works with two kinds of layouts, fixed size layouts and scalable layouts.

Fixed size layouts are for a specific resolution like 640x288 or 288x640 on arcade monitors. Fixed size layouts will only work on this resolution.

Scalable layouts will scale to your selected screen resolution automatically. The only thing you have to consider is the ratio of your screen resolution.

1.33: 320x240, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200
1.25: 400x320, 640x512, 800x640, 1280x1024, 1600x1280

That means a layout for 800x600 will also work on 1024x768 and so on. For all other resulutions use a fixed size layout.

MaLaLayout uses 800x600 and 800x640 as default for the scalable layouts.

[swindus]

Would be cool if your hardware support (LED and LCD control) was made into a plug-in system so the MaLa hardware support could be replaced with plug-ins for alternatives (where others providing the alternatives had to write the plug-ins too).

What do you pay? Maybe in version 5.x ...

Would love for the video panel to be able to default back to a snap when a title doesn't have a video to show.

As Buddabing reported there are some problems with the video panel. Will do some work on this.

How about support for image lists (ie select from a list of screenshots or marquees instead of text names ala UltraStyle, defaulting to a text label only when a image is not available)?

Nice thought. Will think about it.

[swindus]

Also, it would be super sweet if your attract mode editor would work with my LED controller.

I have my own animation language that I am using for it. I don't think your ledconfig file is compatible with it.

I also have my own control panel layout files. I don't see any samples of .cpl files in your distribution.

PM me if you are interested in collaborating.

Regards,
Buddabing

Maybe we can get in touch later.