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| State of the FE devs? |
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| screaming:
So why don't all of us who don't like the current FE choices get together and build one that works? Would any of you be interested in either starting fresh with a language like C# or picking up where PacManFan left off with Kymaera (C/C++)? I'll go either way - they will probably both take the same amount of time to get up to speed. There are a few threads around here or MAMEWAH's board where I describe what I think is important in an FE. Hopefully we can use these to kickstart some sort of "mission statement". An excerpt of a PM I sent some time ago: --- Quote ---1) Easy to configure. You should be able to hand-edit the configuration files and there should be an integrated interface to guide you along. In addition, just about everything should be as automatic as possible. 2) As flexible as possible but not at the expense of #1. By "flexible" I mean: - Built-in supports for a range of emulators - Can add support for more emulators easily - "skinnable" - multiple emulators per "game list" - the possibility, via configration, of a "tree" view of the emulators/games. 3) It should be fast. 4) It should have integrated support for the most common hardware: ArcadeVGA, GP49s, KeyWiz, IPAC, etc. --- End quote --- In addition: 5) It should support older hardware wherever possible, but not at the expense of *useable* features. I'd love to get some discussion going, if anything, to give the existing FE devs an idea of what we want. |
| youki:
What your are diescribing is where all current active fe are going. no? Just let us time to implement features and enhance it . We can not do perfect FE in one shot. It is why most of FE on the Scene are still in beta. Even if you start your dream FE now. You won't have it as you want before lot of time. I think. |
| Havok:
--- Quote from: screaming on September 11, 2006, 10:27:40 am --- --- Quote ---1) Easy to configure. You should be able to hand-edit the configuration files and there should be an integrated interface to guide you along. In addition, just about everything should be as automatic as possible. 2) As flexible as possible but not at the expense of #1. By "flexible" I mean: - Built-in supports for a range of emulators - Can add support for more emulators easily - "skinnable" - multiple emulators per "game list" - the possibility, via configration, of a "tree" view of the emulators/games. 3) It should be fast. 4) It should have integrated support for the most common hardware: ArcadeVGA, GP49s, KeyWiz, IPAC, etc. --- End quote --- --- End quote --- I think that pretty much describes the state of the most popular FEs available today... Why re-invent the wheel? |
| screaming:
--- Quote from: Havok on September 11, 2006, 10:49:58 am ---I think that pretty much describes the state of the most popular FEs available today... Why re-invent the wheel? --- End quote --- I have two intersecting opinions on this. On one hand, I feel like I'm forced to reinvent the wheel because no one else is willing to step up to the plate and manage thier front end like a real distributed project. Like I said, I would be very happy to help code even the mundane stufff (like a config program), but I don't have time to waste. If I do it again I want to know that the author and I share the same goals and/or I have some influence in the direction of the program (or at least the config files). On the other, I don't think we would be reinventing the wheel. It can be argued that not a single front end out there has all those design goals, and given the longevity of the hobby I think it's a shame. I'm constantly frustrated at the lack of interoperability between the front ends and the hassle to set them all up. Why can't they just WORK? No display issues. No path issues. no artwork issues. No emulator issues. It can, and SHOULD, just work out of the box. youki has the right idea and is getting there with his modules, but where's the automation to back that up? Why can't his config program recognize that I have an SNES emulator in the same directory tree as every other emulator and automatically download, install and configure the module for me? --- Quote from: youki on September 11, 2006, 10:41:05 am ---What your are diescribing is where all current active fe are going. no? --- End quote --- youki, you're a special case. Out of everyone here you're the closest to being on the same wavelength as me with this. I mean no disrespect (to anyone, for that matter). That said, no, I don't think so. Maybe in the back of thier head they sort of like the idea, but no, I don't think those are the standards to which they are coding. --- Quote from: youki on September 11, 2006, 10:41:05 am ---Just let us time to implement features and enhance it . We can not do perfect FE in one shot. It is why most of FE on the Scene are still in beta. --- End quote --- Most of the FEs in the scene are beta because they don't want to share the workload to speed up thier development. They take many years to develop into something The developers manage thier product (yes Howard, it's a product) like a hobby (i.e. they don't manage it much at all). This is all well and good, and I respect that, I'm just calling for something more polished. And i know I'm not alone. |
| Havok:
--- Quote from: screaming on September 11, 2006, 12:21:18 pm --- --- Quote from: Havok on September 11, 2006, 10:49:58 am --- Why can't they just WORK? No display issues. No path issues. no artwork issues. No emulator issues. It can, and SHOULD, just work out of the box. --- End quote --- I believe Atomic is heading for that, but I'll let Youki elaborate on that... --- End quote --- |
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