Author Topic: Frontends (Read 4780 times)

scoddie007 · « **on:** January 31, 2007, 06:31:29 pm »

I was wondering what frontend to use perferably and easy one , and is there any that support zip files?

Thanks.
Scott

spacies · « **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2007, 06:43:48 pm »

MAME32 is the easiest as its all-in-one.

That will get you up and running in no time.

As for a dedicated front end and MAME, then MALA would be the next choice.
I use MAMEWAH, but some say its hard to set up.

The zip files you ask about? Are they your roms?
Leave those zipped and place them on your rom folder.

ahofle · « **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2007, 07:09:39 pm »

I personally find it irritating that frontends don't support zipped up snaps/controlpanels/marquees (I assume that's what he was referring to?).

Buddabing · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2007, 07:18:10 pm »

spacies · « **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2007, 07:21:18 pm »

Oh yeah, what he said ^^^

Gamester · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2007, 09:16:07 pm »

Quote from: ahofle on January 31, 2007, 07:09:39 pm

I personally find it irritating that frontends don't support zipped up snaps/controlpanels/marquees (I assume that's what he was referring to?).

Actually, I believe MAME32 does support zipped snaps/CPs/MQs...

Unfortunately, my preferred FE (MaLa) does not...

fatfingers · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2007, 09:25:14 pm »

Quote from: Buddabing on January 31, 2007, 07:18:10 pm

wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki

Where is this wiki you speak of?

btp2k2 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 01, 2007, 01:09:15 am »

I like Maximus Arcade.

I use it on my cabinets and it is really easy to setup and has a wide array of different emulators supported. I also like it cause it has a MP3 jukebox mode and supports batch files, so I can write a batch file to run a regular PC game from the front end on the cabinet. Kinda fin playing GTA San Andreas on an arcade cab

ahofle · « **Reply #8 on:** February 01, 2007, 01:16:58 am »

Quote from: Gamester on January 31, 2007, 09:16:07 pm

Actually, I believe MAME32 does support zipped snaps/CPs/MQs...

Unfortunately, my preferred FE (MaLa) does not...

Yeah MAME32 does, but it's not really an arcade cabinet friendly FE. I still use it though. $:-\$ I also like using my trackball as a mouse to select games and quickly scroll through the games list. I can't stand using the joystick and waiting 5 minutes to scroll to a particular game.

spacies · « **Reply #9 on:** February 01, 2007, 02:36:59 am »

Quote from: ahofle on February 01, 2007, 01:16:58 am

I can't stand using the joystick and waiting 5 minutes to scroll to a particular game.

Thats why I use MAMEWAH.
Left and right on the joystick takes you to the next or previous letter in the alphabet or press start 2 and find a game.

Easy as pie!

loadman · « **Reply #10 on:** February 01, 2007, 03:15:56 am »

Quote from: spacies on February 01, 2007, 02:36:59 am

Quote from: ahofle on February 01, 2007, 01:16:58 am
I can't stand using the joystick and waiting 5 minutes to scroll to a particular game.

Thats why I use MAMEWAH.
Left and right on the joystick takes you to the next or previous letter in the alphabet or press start 2 and find a game.

Easy as pie!

That feature is avail in many other FE's too

Try some... :-)

spacies · « **Reply #11 on:** February 01, 2007, 03:32:06 am »

Oh really?

I might give MALA another go on a vertical machine.

fatfingers · « **Reply #12 on:** February 01, 2007, 08:52:56 am »

Quote from: spacies on February 01, 2007, 03:32:06 am

Oh really?

I might give MALA another go on a vertical machine.

MaLa supports Up X games and Down X games with one push of the joystick as well.

Buddabing · « **Reply #13 on:** February 01, 2007, 09:08:18 am »

Quote from: ahofle on January 31, 2007, 07:09:39 pm

I personally find it irritating that frontends don't support zipped up snaps/controlpanels/marquees (I assume that's what he was referring to?).

I don't think this is such a good idea. Some of those files can be hundreds of megabytes. Do you really want your frontend to search a gigantic zip file every time it wants to display an image? Seems to me it would cause a huge performance hit.

FrizzleFried · « **Reply #14 on:** February 01, 2007, 10:06:55 am »

I use MAMEWAH for both my vertical and horizontal cabinets and I have been toying with AtomicFE for to be used on my cocktail (that uses a PC monitor).

ahofle · « **Reply #15 on:** February 01, 2007, 11:14:15 am »

Quote from: Buddabing on February 01, 2007, 09:08:18 am

Quote from: ahofle on January 31, 2007, 07:09:39 pm
I personally find it irritating that frontends don't support zipped up snaps/controlpanels/marquees (I assume that's what he was referring to?).

I don't think this is such a good idea. Some of those files can be hundreds of megabytes. Do you really want your frontend to search a gigantic zip file every time it wants to display an image? Seems to me it would cause a huge performance hit.

You don't have to unzip the entire file to get a snap out of it if properly implemented. MAME32 has this feature and it's pretty much instantaneous.

Are there any frontends out there that allow manipulation of the games list with a mouse/trackball?

Kaytrim · « **Reply #16 on:** February 01, 2007, 11:39:13 am »

Quote from: ahofle on February 01, 2007, 11:14:15 am

Are there any frontends out there that allow manipulation of the games list with a mouse/trackball?

GameEx allows the use of the scroll wheel on a mouse (Z Axis)

Havok · « **Reply #17 on:** February 01, 2007, 11:53:13 am »

Quote from: ahofle on February 01, 2007, 11:14:15 am

Are there any frontends out there that allow manipulation of the games list with a mouse/trackball?

I think they all do - the best thing to do is try them out. AtomicFE has four options for game list navigation:

keyboard/joystick/steering wheel
mouse/trackball
mouse/spinner
mouse/light gun/touch screen

ahofle · « **Reply #18 on:** February 01, 2007, 12:26:28 pm »

Well I did try Mala and Mamewah -- still need to try Atomic. I guess I should've clarified what I meant by 'mouse manipulation'. It would be nice to have a windows-like scroll bar that one could drag and drop the scroll 'slider' immediately to go from a game starting with 'B' to Zoo Keeper for example. Slowly sliding the games list up and down with the mouse (or holding shift to move by X games) wasn't exactly what I meant. Are there any frontends out there that have an actual scroll bar?

Havok · « **Reply #19 on:** February 01, 2007, 01:51:17 pm »

I haven't seen any with a scroll bar, but Mamewah is probably the best for that: my friend is running it, and when you spin the trackball fast, the list scrolls like crazy. With all the roms listed on his, I could spin through them all within seconds...

fatfingers · « **Reply #20 on:** February 01, 2007, 02:04:44 pm »

Quote from: ahofle on February 01, 2007, 12:26:28 pm

Well I did try Mala and Mamewah -- still need to try Atomic. I guess I should've clarified what I meant by 'mouse manipulation'. It would be nice to have a windows-like scroll bar that one could drag and drop the scroll 'slider' immediately to go from a game starting with 'B' to Zoo Keeper for example. Slowly sliding the games list up and down with the mouse (or holding shift to move by X games) wasn't exactly what I meant. Are there any frontends out there that have an actual scroll bar?

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you can increase the scroll rate in MaLa.

Where's loadman?!?!?!?

loadman · « **Reply #21 on:** February 01, 2007, 03:33:25 pm »

Quote

wasn't exactly what I meant. Are there any frontends out there that have an actual scroll bar?

Quote

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you can increase the scroll rate in MaLa.
Where's loadman?!?!?!?

Well I was in the 'software' section where I think this post should be moved to

Yeah you can get MaLa scrolling fast with a mouse (trackball/strering wheel) but it does not have an actual 'scroll bar'

emb · « **Reply #22 on:** February 03, 2007, 07:26:07 pm »

I've been a big fan of MaLa, except I (and a couple other friends), have had issues with it crashing frequently.

loadman · « **Reply #23 on:** February 03, 2007, 10:11:04 pm »

Quote from: emb on February 03, 2007, 07:26:07 pm

I've been a big fan of MaLa, except I (and a couple other friends), have had issues with it crashing frequently.

The only time I have experienced this is when it comes across a 'bogus' snap pic or video.

Try and find if if happens at the same point(s)

disciple · « **Reply #24 on:** February 04, 2007, 10:14:05 am »

Quote from: spacies on February 01, 2007, 02:36:59 am

Quote from: ahofle on February 01, 2007, 01:16:58 am
I can't stand using the joystick and waiting 5 minutes to scroll to a particular game.

Thats why I use MAMEWAH.
Left and right on the joystick takes you to the next or previous letter in the alphabet or press start 2 and find a game.

Easy as pie!

And the using the right hand stick you can jump up/down around 50 games each time.

freckleface · « **Reply #25 on:** February 04, 2007, 07:17:15 pm »

I'm fond of the folder menu in MAME32. I didn't see anything like this in MaLa and GameEx.

Fozzy The Bear · « **Reply #26 on:** February 04, 2007, 08:08:15 pm »

Quote from: freckleface on February 04, 2007, 07:17:15 pm

I'm fond of the folder menu in MAME32. I didn't see anything like this in MaLa and GameEx.

You can set up Mala, GameEx, and MameWah to give you the same result.... Just that it's not so easy, but it is far more flexible.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

spacies · « **Reply #27 on:** February 05, 2007, 10:01:46 pm »

Ok,

I just gave MALA a go in a vertical cocktail.

EASY!!!!!

And I found that you can scroll fast.

Nice work to whoever wrote this FE.

loadman · « **Reply #28 on:** February 06, 2007, 12:35:19 am »

Quote from: spacies on February 05, 2007, 10:01:46 pm

Ok,

I just gave MALA a go in a vertical cocktail.

EASY!!!!!

And I found that you can scroll fast.

Nice work to whoever wrote this FE.

SWINDUS


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