MaLa v1.0 RC7a available

[swindus]

Small update of MaLa and MaLaLayout:

Improvements
- Improved the MAME XML import matching the new 107 format
- Added access to the Windows Control Panel from the joystick tab to setup your connected gamecontroller
- Added an optional message box which shows the current volume and plays a sound when changing the volume with a controller
- Added support for mameinfo.dat file. Info window displays recommended games now
- Added the ability to play a video on MaLa start

Bugfixes
- Joystick not working/always disabled when using a joystick with 2 axis only
- When using cocktail/controller mapping only the detection keys (1up, 1down, start game) of the keyboard sets are working
- Volume up/down commands of joystick set are overwritten by info select command when opening the options dialog

http://mala.arcadezentrum.com/download.html

Have fun!

[loadman]

 

[Timoe]

Small update of MaLa and MaLaLayout:

- Added support for mameinfo.dat file. Info window displays recommended games now
- Added the ability to play a video on MaLa start

Here are two options I REALLY need but haven't even thought about wanting yet.

I'm too busy just getting the emu's to work.

Thats really great.  Thank you Swindus!

[gamecreature]

- Added the ability to play a video on MaLa start

Great, now I have to make a video...   

Just kidding, love all of the work you've done. I can't wait to get this installed. 

[Dreamwriter]

Woot, you rock!  When I next have money, I'll send a donation your way.

[loadman]

- Added the ability to play a video on MaLa start

Great, now I have to make a video...   

Just kidding, love all of the work you've done. I can't wait to get this installed. 

I plan to use a cut-down version of one of these vids from here:
http://www.cinemarcade.com/movies.html

[fatfingers]

Thanks for the update!   

[Samanai]

I replaced my 107 file with the 107a, and now when my computer tries to shell into Mala, it tells me it can't find the bass.dll file, even though it's in the same folder.  Any ideas what is going on?

[gamecreature]

If you're shelling, you'll need to have all of your files (including the .dll files) in your windows root directory or it won't be able to find them.

[Samanai]

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.  However, seems odd that it worked the way I currently have it set up with 107 but not with 107a.

[fatfingers]

I think what is wrong is that the RC7a package only contains three files (mala.exe, something else, and readme.txt).  No bass.dll file is included.  I think the intention of this package is to unzip it into the same directory you unzipped your original mala package.  That is what I did and it seems to have worked fine for me.

[gamecreature]

Fatfingers is probably right. Give his suggestion a try first.

[Samanai]

That's actually what I did, so not sure where my system's hang-up is coming from.  I'll re-do from scratch tonight and see if it works better on the second try.  I know that shouldn't matter, but sometimes it seems to do the trick.

[loadman]

I think what is wrong is that the RC7a package only contains three files (mala.exe, something else, and readme.txt).  No bass.dll file is included.  I think the intention of this package is to unzip it into the same directory you unzipped your original mala package.  That is what I did and it seems to have worked fine for me.

Nothing is 'wrong'  . This was just an small 'update' not a full version release.

MaLa v1.0 RC7a - update package
Update package contains:
MaLa
MaLaLayout (Layout Editor)

[fatfingers]

Nothing is 'wrong'  . This was just an small 'update' not a full version release.

Yes, sorry about my choice of words.  I knew there was nothing wrong with the package, just perhaps how it was applied.  I'll try to choose wisely next time.

[loadman]

I'll try to choose wisely next time.

Just me being over-sensitive again. I must speak to my therapist Jack Daniels about my problem

[fatfingers]

I hear he can perform wonderful things!

[Samanai]

A couple of additional questions on this topic:

- I finally got the the dll file working, but now when I shell into Mala, it seems to shell into the baseline 107 file (at least that's my guess; it's unconfigured and without any gamelists available).  Once I exit out of that file and launch from my desktop, it starts the 107a version (configured and with game lists available).  I've triple-checked my shell and it's pointing to the same exe file as my desktop launch is.  Any ideas what is going on?

- Even with 107a, I can't get J2 enabled for use with the FE (to hard to use just J1 for all the gamelist scrolling, etc.), no matter what I try.  I'm using two Gpwiz49s, so I'm wondering if Mala is not seeing the two joysticks as part of the same CP.  Is that maybe the problem?

[loadman]

A couple of additional questions on this topic:
- I finally got the the dll file working, but now when I shell into Mala, it seems to shell into the baseline 107 file (at least that's my guess; it's unconfigured and without any gamelists available).  Once I exit out of that file and launch from my desktop, it starts the 107a version (configured and with game lists available).  I've triple-checked my shell and it's pointing to the same exe file as my desktop launch is.  Any ideas what is going on?

Do a Windows search to make sure you have not got more than one mala.exe on your PC

[gamecreature]

If you're using MaLa as your shell at boot-up, you're going to need to have everything in the windows directory - gamelists, etc. or else MaLa can't find them and Windows won't tell MaLa where to look.

[Havok]

If you're using MaLa as your shell at boot-up, you're going to need to have everything in the windows directory - gamelists, etc. or else MaLa can't find them and Windows won't tell MaLa where to look.

A better way would be to edit your path variable to point to your Mala directory. (Press Windows key + Pause\Break, Advanced Tab, Environment Variables button, Scroll down to the Path statement, Click Edit, arrow to the right of all the entries, put a semicolon and then the Mala directory.)

Either way will work, but the path edit is cleaner. I personally don't like to clog up my Windows dir with extra stuff. This way if you upgrade, you don't have to worry about where the stuff is located.

Loadman? What the heck? Me giving support to a Mala user? Shouldn't I just say use Atomic?

 

[gamecreature]

Thanks! I was certain that such a thing was possible, but not having tried it I was hesitant to suggest it.

Here's the conundrum - the way things are now on my machine, MaLa expects to find the DLL's and gamelists in the same directory as the executable. By adding the MaLa directory to your path, does that mean that you can now path to your executable or does it still have to be in the windows directory? If the latter is true, won't MaLa start saving files (gamelists, etc.) in the local directory - the Windows directory?

[Havok]

All the path edit will do is give windows a place to look if it doesn't find a .dll, etc that it needs when it runs a program that doesn't specifically state where to load it from. I would keep all the Mala specific stuff in it's own directory, and all should be well. It should continue to save all data in the directory it was called from, this should only fix problems with when the program bombs when looking for a dll that it cannot find.

[jlfreund]

Does anyone know how to get Mala setup?  When I run it, it says "bass.dll" not found.  I didn't see any instructions or an item on the FAQ, and the help forums are all German.

[gamecreature]

Did someone say "MaLa How to guide"?

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=56010.0

[fatfingers]

Does anyone know how to get Mala setup?  When I run it, it says "bass.dll" not found.  I didn't see any instructions or an item on the FAQ, and the help forums are all German.

Did you only download the 107u1 (or whatever it was called) package?  If so, you need to download the entire 107 package first (as the website says to do) and then extract the u1 package over that 107 package.

Good luck!

[loadman]

Does anyone know how to get Mala setup?  When I run it, it says "bass.dll" not found.  I didn't see any instructions or an item on the FAQ, and the help forums are all German.

I'm sure you were just so excited to run MaLa you missed the instructions on the Download page 

[Samanai]

loadman, it doesn't make any sense to me at all, but I finally got around to searching for other copies of mala.exe tonight, found a couple in an old "junk" directory I dump stuff in when I'm not 100% sure I want to delete it, and once I deleted those, my shell worked 100% A-ok.  Thanks for the idea.

Now, as to the joystick question . . .anyone have any ideas?

[loadman]

loadman, it doesn't make any sense to me at all, but I finally got around to searching for other copies of mala.exe tonight, found a couple in an old "junk" directory I dump stuff in when I'm not 100% sure I want to delete it, and once I deleted those, my shell worked 100% A-ok.  Thanks for the idea.

Great News   

Now, as to the joystick question . . .anyone have any ideas?

Does the windows game controller selector in windows controll panel recognise TWO Gpwiz49s?  The latest version of mala uses that to set-up Joysticks

[swindus]

It can be a bug, I have to check this ......

[Samanai]

Loadman, yes it does.  In fact, it recognizes them both in MALA controller/joystick/check as well, but only recognizes J1 as J1 in Set 1 and J2 as J1 in Set 2.  There is never an ability to either (a) recognize both in the same Set in the check mode, or (b) have the J2 joystick figure be activated in either Set in the check mode (always shows up as the dotted line figure; therefore the J2 showing up as J1 in set 2).  Make sense? 

Thanks Swindus.  Your work is always much appreciated.

[Samanai]

One thought on this.  Windows game controller recognizes both GpWiz49 devices, but definitely recognizes them separately (i.e I assume there is a hierarchy between which one is the primary and which is the secondary).  Maybe this causes MALA to then only recognize one J at a time, depending on the set chosen (e.g. the set chosen would dictate which GPWiz49 is recognized at any given time)?  That would make a lot of sense to me.

[loadman]

One thought on this.  Windows game controller recognizes both GpWiz49 devices, but definitely recognizes them separately (i.e I assume there is a hierarchy between which one is the primary and which is the secondary).  Maybe this causes MALA to then only recognize one J at a time, depending on the set chosen (e.g. the set chosen would dictate which GPWiz49 is recognized at any given time)?  That would make a lot of sense to me.

Have you got another joystick you could plug in to test that Theory? That may help Swindus. iE One GpWiz and one Normal joystick.  I would do it but I don't have a GpWiz and I don't think Master Swindus does either

Thanks

[Samanai]

Unfortunately, I do not.  I have an 8-way mapped to the extra gamepad inputs on each GPWiz49, but they of course just show up as button presses on the check function (although they are also segregated just like the Js are, by which encoder they are wired to).

[loadman]

Well.... I'm not sure if it will prove anything, But I will try diffrent combos of Joysticks when I get home and see if I encounter any issues. I have never used (gamepad/joysticks) with a FE before.

(Edit..later) I put a 2nd soundcard in my pc so I would have an extra Joystick port. Plugged the 2nd one in so I ended up with 1x2 axis 2 button joy and 1x2 axis 4 button joy.  I worked ok wih one but when I enabled the 2nd one I got a few errors at times. I guess this area needs work

Personally I would use a keybaord encoder,like a  I-pac or keywiz.

They kick ass!

[swindus]

Loadman, yes it does.  In fact, it recognizes them both in MALA controller/joystick/check as well, but only recognizes J1 as J1 in Set 1 and J2 as J1 in Set 2.  There is never an ability to either (a) recognize both in the same Set in the check mode, or (b) have the J2 joystick figure be activated in either Set in the check mode (always shows up as the dotted line figure; therefore the J2 showing up as J1 in set 2).  Make sense? 

Thanks Swindus.  Your work is always much appreciated.

I checked it and for me it works like it should.
Some explanation on the joystick config and sets:

J2 is not the second joystick, it is the second stick (axis z and r, for example on a gamepad) on the same joystick as J1 (axis x and y). 

So the complete settings of joystick set 1 are related to the first connected joystick only and the joystick set 2 is related to the second connected joystick. I think the GPWiz will provide two axis (x and y) so you can only use J1up, J1down, J1right and J1left with it. But you can use these values/settings in both joystick sets for each GPWiz ....

Or in other words: each joystick in MaLa can handle up to 4 axis (x,y,z and r), 4 pov directions and 12 buttons and this is called a joystick set.

I hope this helps and works!

[loadman]

Thanks Swindus :-)

So the complete settings of joystick set 1 are related to the first connected joystick only and the joystick set 2 is related to the second connected joystick

This is where is I got pop-up error windows (sometimes) yesterday

Today it works without errors.  Could it be that I drunk too much on Friday night?   

Samanai: Did you try SET2 for the 2nd joystick settings?