Author Topic: Want a solution for running only Qbert on mame (Read 15915 times)

youki · « **Reply #40 on:** February 16, 2006, 01:32:20 pm »

Hi,

This is a first draft. Unfortunaly i'm not an artist .

I used a Marquee List , if you prefer a Text list instead , say me , i will do another one.

I don't know if you have marquees so i put marquees for game you want in a Marquee folder. you have to make point the MARQUEE folder in atomicmanager to that folder.

I didn't find the MArquee for MELLO YELLO QBERT , may be you can find it or do one yourself.

IMPORTANT: To Use this layout in vertical mode you have to select HORIZONTAL for screen-orientation. (it is because that layout is a "pure" vertical , not a horizontal rotated)

http://www.AtomicFe.com/divers/layout_qbert.zip

Feel free to modify it. If Marquee are not enough readable you can replace them by a simple picture where you write the name of the game yourself.

Let me know.

juggle50 · « **Reply #41 on:** February 16, 2006, 02:27:55 pm »

SirPoonga,

This is a little off topic, but can you do a tutorial for dummies for the knocker in Qbert when you get it to work with LEDwiz. i.e. powersource, relay, how to hook it up etc. That would be much appriciated.

Kevin

SirPoonga · « **Reply #42 on:** February 16, 2006, 05:33:34 pm »

I will give you the basic idea.

The knocker is 27VDC. There is a 30V DC adaptor at radioshack. Will need to add some resistors to knock that down to 27V. The ledwiz's outputs are 5V. So a relay that is triggered with 5V that can handle 27V is needed. I posted the radioshack part numbers somewhere, on the powermame thread probably. I plan on using powermame, as it will do the qbert knock if I recall, to trigger the relay via the ledwiz.

However, if you do find a qmame somewhere it uses the scroll lock keyboard led when qbert dies. For that you'd just need a keyboard hack, unsolder the scroll lock led and attach the relay to the it instead.

redfivexw · « **Reply #43 on:** February 16, 2006, 10:48:13 pm »

Youki, that layout looks great!

And everything is working now! Thank you so much, it is just what i was looking for. Do you know how to make it so that when i exit atomic, the machine will just shut down, without going through windows? also, is there a way to boot directly into atomic, so windows does not really show? I am running windows me, which is almost identical to windows 98 so win98 instructions should work. Also, i have a choice of either putting a computer monitor in my qbert, or using the existing arcade monitor with my pc, does atomic support an arcade monitor?

juggle50 · « **Reply #44 on:** February 17, 2006, 02:49:47 am »

Thanks Sir Poonga,

I guess this will take some more research on my part. To be honest I don't know what a relay is other than you need one for score boards and coin counters. I looked at the Qmame site but the pictures are down.

Right now I am assuming that you hook the Led Wiz to the relay to the powersource to the knocker. I guess I'm still trying to figure out how the knocker worked in the original game.

This project is a ways off for me but I'd love to know more about it. Thank you for your help.

youki · « **Reply #45 on:** February 17, 2006, 03:29:50 am »

Quote

Do you know how to make it so that when i exit atomic, the machine will just shut down, without going through windows?

Yes, i know..

...

Just run AtomicManager , and on the General Tab check the check box "Shutdown when exit" .
(i hope it works under ME...it should)

Quote

is there a way to boot directly into atomic

Yes, the simpliest is to put a short cut to Atomic in your windows StartUp folder.

The other way , is to put Atomic as Shell , but you need to modify system files, and i think the first solution should be enough.

then it exists some utility to change windows boot image and other stuff. I don't have a name in my head but i sure if you search on this forums you shoud find something.

Quote

Also, i have a choice of either putting a computer monitor in my qbert, or using the existing arcade monitor with my pc, does atomic support an arcade monitor?

Atomic supports Arcade Monitor if you use an ArcadeVGA or PowerStrip software or a Driver thats transform the vga signal to a 15khz signal. The Front End itself won't make windows run at 15khz. You need a special driver, or a special video card. If you manage to have windows on your Arcade screen Atomic will work.

Did you find how to run directly in Qbert (or other game) from Atomic at Start up?
Just in case, it is on the "option tab". Check "Run game at start up" then check Radom game if you want start randomly on a game , or Specify the GameName .(give the ROM name).

redfivexw · « **Reply #46 on:** February 17, 2006, 07:06:00 am »

i have not tried to launch directly into a game, i love the menu screen that you made, i like booting to that. I will try what you said about start up and shut down tonight when i get home and will let you know. I am happy this worked out so far!

youki · « **Reply #47 on:** February 17, 2006, 07:15:25 am »

I'm just think , i could try to make it in a greater resolution (640x480).

Because the problem you had it was when Atomic tried to rotate a horizontal layout to a vertical position. The layout i made for you , is a "pure" vertical, so there is no rotate. It should work.

Are you happy as it is , or would you prefer a greater resolution?

SirPoonga · « **Reply #48 on:** February 17, 2006, 10:26:16 am »

Quote from: juggle50 on February 17, 2006, 02:49:47 am

I guess this will take some more research on my part. To be honest I don't know what a relay is other than you need one for score boards and coin counters. I looked at the Qmame site but the pictures are down.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/relay.htm
It's a switch, but instead of you pushing the button an electromagnet does. For our purposes since the LEDwiz outputs 5V we need a relay where the magnet trips the switch at 5V. You just have to make sure the switch side of the relay can handle 27V.
I attached a quick diagram of what I plan.

Quote

Right now I am assuming that you hook the Led Wiz to the relay to the powersource to the knocker. I guess I'm still trying to figure out how the knocker worked in the original game.

The original knocker was tirggered when qbert fell off. If you have the sound samples you will here the twack.

juggle50 · « **Reply #49 on:** February 17, 2006, 11:45:41 am »

Thanks Sir Poonga, that diagram was exactly what I was looking for. I remember where the knocker was in the game, I just didn't know how the actual knocker component worked. This project is still aways off for me. But I may pm you with more questions later on if that's okay with you.

thanks again

SirPoonga · « **Reply #50 on:** February 17, 2006, 12:30:23 pm »

On the real game I think it just hooked up directly to the pcb. But for the pc you need something to trigger the relay. In my diagram it is the ledwiz. If you find qmame you'd use a hacked keyboard's scroll lock led output.

Also note that that diagram is a working theory. I haven't built it so I can not say for sure it will work as planned. But it should. And it will require some version of mame to output to the ledwiz when the knocker is suppose to knock. PowerMAME has or is going to have this feature. If not I will hadd the feature to PowerMAME.

redfivexw · « **Reply #51 on:** February 17, 2006, 12:32:08 pm »

Youki,
if you think it will work, a higher resolution would be better, the current one looks good, the marquees kind of break up a bit. If it isnt too much work, sure. If it is, i can live with what i have. i appreciate what you have done so far.

redfivexw · « **Reply #52 on:** February 17, 2006, 09:19:14 pm »

PS- when i am in atomic, how to i shut it down? I set the "shut down pc at exit" checkmark in atomic manager, but i dont know how to tell the program to shut down, other than pressing the escape key. Is there a keyboard shutcut to shut down, or is the layout missing an exit program icon?

youki · « **Reply #53 on:** February 18, 2006, 03:21:23 am »

but it is the ESC key that is the exit key!

When you press ESC you exit from the FE and if the option is checked it will shutdown the machine automatically.

If you want change that key , use AtomicKey.exe to define keys.

redfivexw · « **Reply #54 on:** February 18, 2006, 08:22:30 am »

OK,
but when i press the esc key it just exits into windows, and i have the "shut down" option checked. If i am using only arcade controls, i will have no way to shut down the computer. I will see if i missed something.

redfivexw · « **Reply #55 on:** February 18, 2006, 11:11:08 am »

I checked all the settings, and when i press ESC atomic does shut off, but then it just goes back into windows.

youki · « **Reply #56 on:** February 19, 2006, 05:07:24 am »

hum, surely a specificity of windows ME...

I will give you a solution on Monday.

redfivexw · « **Reply #57 on:** February 19, 2006, 08:31:48 am »

thanks, sorry about that, i thought me and 98 were the same.

redfivexw · « **Reply #58 on:** February 19, 2006, 11:16:24 am »

I have another question, does anyone know how to make the game fill the screen? I am rotating the picture via atomic, but the image only takes up about 3/4 of the screen, i want to stretch it out so it fills top to bottom. I have tried a lot of the settings in mame32 but have not found the right combo, anyone know?

redfivexw · « **Reply #59 on:** February 19, 2006, 12:00:58 pm »

also, the rom i have does not have qbert making his "swearing" noise, has anyone heard of a rom that has better speech simulation?

Brad · « **Reply #60 on:** February 19, 2006, 11:06:34 pm »

Try the samples:

http://www.mame.net/downsamples.html

Brad

redfivexw · « **Reply #61 on:** February 19, 2006, 11:58:44 pm »

thanks Brad, i will try the samples out.

youki · « **Reply #62 on:** February 20, 2006, 08:26:14 am »

Hi,

So for your shutdown problem. Can you check if you have in your windows\system32 directory a file called Shutdown.exe ?

If yes , can you try to open a dos box and type :

Shutdown -s -t 0

then Enter. And let me know, if it shutdows..

Thanks

redfivexw · « **Reply #63 on:** February 20, 2006, 08:50:55 pm »

Youki,
it does not have the file, all that is in the system32 folder is a folder that says "drivers". The dos box just said invalid command.

youki · « **Reply #64 on:** February 21, 2006, 04:02:16 am »

So that 's the problem.

Atomic try to call API function to shutdown the system it works on 2000 and XP , if the shutdown fails that way it try to call the Shutdown.Exe ,and usually it works under windows 98.

So would you have a way to find the Shutdown.exe of window98 ? And just put it in your system32 folder? I don't have win98 so i can not provide it to you.

redfivexw · « **Reply #65 on:** February 21, 2006, 08:07:14 am »

Yes,
i think i can get that. I have windows 98 disk here, but i cant use it on the computer i have because i dont have the drivers disks, windows me auto installs all the drivers. I can install 98 on another drive, then copy that file, then plug in the other drive and copy it over. I will let you know if it works.

redfivexw · « **Reply #66 on:** February 21, 2006, 08:08:50 am »

Ps - does that folder exist in XP? my everyday computer uses xp but i dont see it.

youki · « **Reply #67 on:** February 21, 2006, 08:48:20 am »

This folder exists in all windows version.

May be it is simply the fact that your display settings are configured to hide the folder.

Open Windows Explorer, go in the tools menu , then "folder options".

then "view" tab , here there is a list of option and you should have an option like "Hidden Files and Folders". Choose : "show hidden files and folders".

redfivexw · « **Reply #68 on:** February 21, 2006, 11:05:06 pm »

Youki,
I ended up upgrading the computer to windows 2000 Pro, after the upgrade, the program shutdown with the pressing of escape! So, it seems to be working perfectly now. I tried to modify the registry so that windows would shell to Atomic, but it kept giving me errors (i have made other programs direct boot before, but atomic would not boot). But it still works fine as it is in the startup folder. I even changed the sound effects so that qbert says Hello, i am turned on and bye bye! Thanks to everyone that helped, i put the samples in and now qbert talks! Youki, you really went the extra mile answering all my questions, you have been the most helpful of any person on this board. I am going to be ebaying the working parts of my qbert , i would like to send you some of the proceeds, do you have a paypal address i can donate to? I am not a rich man, but i am happy to give you some of what i get from the parts sale. Let me know. I am going to be setting up another computer for a regular mame machine, this one will have thousands of roms. I think i can do it now, Atomic seemed really daunting to set up to me before, but now it seems pretty straightforward. thanks again for all the help, My Qbert will live again (i just have to move all the PC electronics into the cabinet, but i know how to do all that.

youki · « **Reply #69 on:** February 22, 2006, 03:31:52 am »

Hi Redfivexw,

Thanks.

You're welcome.

If you want run Atomic as Shell , look here :

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=38316.msg347068#msg347068

For the donnation, you have a "Paypal donnate" button on my website. You can use it!

Thanks a lot.

redfivexw · « **Reply #70 on:** February 22, 2006, 09:19:16 am »

Thanks Youki,
i will do that! have a good one.
-jesse

MikeQ · « **Reply #71 on:** February 26, 2006, 09:47:21 pm »

Quote from: SirPoonga on February 17, 2006, 12:30:23 pm

On the real game I think it just hooked up directly to the pcb. But for the pc you need something to trigger the relay. In my diagram it is the ledwiz. If you find qmame you'd use a hacked keyboard's scroll lock led output.

Also note that that diagram is a working theory. I haven't built it so I can not say for sure it will work as planned. But it should. And it will require some version of mame to output to the ledwiz when the knocker is suppose to knock. PowerMAME has or is going to have this feature. If not I will hadd the feature to PowerMAME.

It does have this feature. You just need to create an qbert.lsq file that fires a lighting sequence for the output wired to the selanoid. I've been wanting to hook up a selanoid but for now just have a lighting sequence fire instead. Video is

if interested.

madk · « **Reply #72 on:** May 26, 2006, 08:05:07 pm »

Quote from: redfivexw on February 16, 2006, 12:33:32 pm

thanks Youki! I will be running in vertical only, i will be running only the following roms:
QBERT
QBERT'S CUBES
MELLO YELLO QBERT
CONGO BONGO

The mame that i have running is the mame 32 that you had in your pre-made pack, i do not know which version it is but you must. As far as the rotation, it was rotated Vertical Right.

Just a quick thought...I could only get my vertical screen running correctly if I used the command line version of MAME.


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Author Topic: Want a solution for running only Qbert on mame (Read 15915 times)

MikeQ