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| CPViewer vs BuddaMame vs Johnny 5 |
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| Buddabing:
--- Quote from: papaschtroumpf on September 19, 2005, 11:46:04 pm ---OK, my cab is almost put back together after a lot of rework and a summer off doing other things. One of the things that I wasn't able to do last time I was messing with my cab was display controls properly, which is still one of the "holy grails" for me. What's the current state of affairs with control.ini and the different viewers? Can someone give me an overview of their differences and strengths? --- End quote --- Tiger's post has a lot of useful information. Besides the three options you mentioned, there is another called CP Sketcher. It's promising, but I don't think it can produce images just yet. IMO Johnny's biggest advantage is that it will work (via the AHK script) with any build of MAME. So it will work with Advance and other builds. CPViewer has a superior GUI to Johnny. (IMO) CPMaker has a number of advantages over the other two, and some disadvantages. The advantages are: 1) Open source 2) Should work under other OSes than just Windows XP. 3) Dimming of unused controls (not a very important feature, but a feature nonetheless) 4) Will work with Johnny and CPViewer layout files 5) Faster than Johnny at creating images on the fly (only important for lower end systems) 6) Supports my LED controller. 7) Integrates with my other projects (MAME Movie Maker, etc) Disadvantages: 1) Much more difficult to configure than the other two. 2) No GUI. 3) The issue with the control panel image for vertical games being a bit squished. 4) Requires -artres 2 to display readable text. |
| Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: Buddabing on September 20, 2005, 10:08:44 am ---Besides the three options you mentioned, there is another called CP Sketcher. It's promising, but I don't think it can produce images just yet. --- End quote --- Hadn't heard of that one. --- Quote ---IMO Johnny's biggest advantage is that it will work (via the AHK script) with any build of MAME. So it will work with Advance and other builds. --- End quote --- Agreed. --- Quote ---CPViewer has a superior GUI to Johnny. (IMO) --- End quote --- If you mean the set-up screens, I will agree with this. However, I prefer the output of Johnny5, over that of CPViewer. --- Quote ---CPMaker has a number of advantages over the other two, and some disadvantages. --- End quote --- One thing that gets confusing is if we throw apples and oranges together in the same basket - you mention CPMaker, but some of your comments below apply to it, some to BuddaMAME, and some to both. We have five applications: 1. CPViewer (JCrouse) - Displays images. 2. Johnny5 - Howard Casto - Displays images. 3. CPMaker - Buddabing - Displays images. 4. AHK Script - Howard Casto - Calls Viewer when MAME is paused. 5. BuddaMAME - Calls CPMAKER or external image files when MAME is paused. Editing comments below: --- Quote ---The advantages are: 1) Open source Both BuddaMAME and CPMaker 2) Should work under other OSes than just Windows XP.Principally BuddaMAME, Johnny5 now works under WIn98, but AHK Script does not (with MAME) 3) Dimming of unused controls (not a very important feature, but a feature nonetheless) CPMaker 4) Will work with Johnny and CPViewer layout files. Comment was referring to CPMaker, but BuddaMAME can display static images from Johnny5 5) Faster than Johnny at creating images on the fly (only important for lower end systems)CPMAKER Only? 6) Supports my LED controller. Both CPMaker and BuddaMAME? 7) Integrates with my other projects (MAME Movie Maker, etc)BuddaMame only Disadvantages: 1) Much more difficult to configure than the other two.CPMaker only. BuddaMAME is significantly easier to configure than the AHK script, IMO. 2) No GUI. Intended as CPMaker. BuddaMAME is commandline. 3) The issue with the control panel image for vertical games being a bit squished.BuddaMAME only. N/A to CPMaker. 4) Requires -artres 2 to display readable text.BuddaMAME only, N/A to CPMaker. --- End quote --- |
| Buddabing:
CPMaker is both a standalone application and part of BuddaMAME. This can cause confusion. Maybe your application list should read: 1. CPViewer (JCrouse) - Displays images. 2. Johnny5 - Howard Casto - Generates images, displays images. 3. CPMaker - Buddabing - Generates images. 4. AHK Script - Howard Casto - Calls Viewer when MAME is paused. 5. BuddaMAME - Calls internal or external image generator, calls viewer when MAME is paused. Johnny can generate images (via -justprint) as well as display them. So if you have a system that doesn't support the AHK script, you can generate your images with Johnny and display them with BuddaMAME. You mentioned this on the web site. |
| mahuti:
That's pretty informative. I've been toying with all of these for... a year or so??? Now that Johnny5 is a little further along, and I'm using XP for the cabinet, it is indeed the easiest to configure (IMHO). CPMAKER was pretty difficult to configure, and I just can't stand the squished image on the vertical games. I did get it to work on Win98, though... but it took some major effort. One thing that I still don't understand is mame CTRLR configuration. Is there a good and current tutorial on ctrlr files somewhere (and if so... please provide a link.) I'm not very dense, but I just haven't had any luck making them work. I basically have 1 configuration for 1 button games, 1 for 2 button games, etc, and additional panels. Seems every time I create a ctrlr file it either doesn't get used, or screws MAME up royally. Also, IIRC there have been a few changes to the format of the CTRLR files used in MAME in the last 6-8 months or so. If you are providing info about using the viewers |
| Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: mahuti on September 20, 2005, 10:55:41 am ---One thing that I still don't understand is mame CTRLR configuration. Is there a good and current tutorial on ctrlr files somewhere (and if so... please provide a link.) --- End quote --- http://www.mameworld.net/easyemu/mameguide/mamecontrolini.htm --- Quote ---Also, IIRC there have been a few changes to the format of the CTRLR files used in MAME in the last 6-8 months or so. If you are providing info about using the viewers a link (or a write-up) on CTRLR files would be handy. --- End quote --- In spite of the link above, I quit using ctrlr files when the format changed. The page is about Johnny5 (the other viewers are just shown as alternatives). Johnny5 will figure out whether you use the Tab key or set up .xml (cfg) files, and since the page is long anyway and I'm not familiar with them, I chose not to cover them. |
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