MaLa Plugin - LEDBlinky (v1.0.1 UPDATE)

[arzoo]

MaLa Plugin - LEDBlinky (v1.0.1)!

Here's what it can do:

• Light active and/or inactive controls for MaLa front end (user interface).
• Light active and/or inactive controls for MAME emulation.
• Light active and/or inactive controls for other emulators.
• Remapping controls (MaLa or MAME) will automatically remap the associated LEDs.
• With RGB LEDs, you can specify colors for individual controls or using a pre-defined colors.ini file, match the original game control panel button colors.
• From the MaLa UI, game controls can be lit as you scroll through the game lists.
• Designate LEDs as "Always Active" for use with coin, start, or administration controls.
• Use the LED-Wiz built-in blinking effects.
• <New for v1.0.1> LED Attract Mode. LEDBlinky supports standard LWA files. A single or random file can be played when the MaLa screensaver is active.
• <New for v1.0.1> Support for pre-defined controller files (X-Arcade, SlikStik, etc).

But we already have a MaLa plug-in for the LED-Wiz! This is true - and the LEDWiz plug-in by Loadman and Edge is excellent! The primary difference is how the LED-Wiz hardware is linked to the game controls. The LEDBlinky plug-in maps the hardware by input codes (KEYCODE_A, KEYCODE_LSHIFT, MOUSECODE_1_ANALOG_X, etc.) This allows it to light the LEDs regardless of how you map or remap controls from within MaLa or MAME. It works more like PowerMame or Johnny5.

Loadman and I have discussed the possibility of combining the two plug-ins, but we feel there's enough functional differentiation to keep them separate.

So, if you are already using the LEDWiz plug-in and/or don't often remap your game controls, then I'd stick with it! But, if you want your LEDs to dynamically reflect control remapping, then try the LEDBlinky plug-in.

Please refer to the Install and Config.doc file to get it up and running. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome. There may be a bug or two , so let me know.

Version 1.0.1 is a minor update that adds some additional functionality, improves performance, and fixes some bugs. I've also removed the Microsoft COM dependencies - Thanks to MikeQ for the DLL and Headkaze for the SDK!

The plug-in can now run LED animation files (.LWA). All standard LWZ commands are supported with the addition of one new command: LWZ-REP:n. The REP command can be used to define repeating groups of commands. The LWA parser also supports sending commands to individual LED-Wiz devices - with this you can create sequential or parallel patterns across multiple devices. Eventually I hope to include an animation editor with the LEDBlinky, but for now the files must be created using the GGG LumAura app or manually.

Download LEDBlinky v1.0.1

Next release - LEDSpeaky feature!

I've added some screen shots of the config apps...

[squirrellydw]

sounds great.  Now I have to pick one.  To many choices.

[edge]

Nice job, arzoo!  Options are always a good thing.

Loadman and I have been busy as well.  We should have v2 of the Mala LEDWiz plugin out this week.   It has been a trying, yet, great learning experience.  Right, loadman?

[loadman]

Nice job, arzoo!  Options are always a good thing.

Loadman and I have been busy as well.  We should have v2 of the Mala LEDWiz plugin out this week.   It has been a trying, yet, great learning experience.  Right, loadman?

Yes..  I have learnt a lot.     But I think we will have it out before the weekend

Yes indeed it was not competition between 'LEDBlinky' and the 'LED-Wiz' Plug-in, they are quite different in many ways. At one stage we pondered merging the projects but agreed there is room for both.

Just try them and use the one that works for you in your Cab..   

Great Job Arzoo.   You have produced a very very clever Plug-in 

Why not write another cool Plug-in now you have finished this one   

PLUG ON!!! 

[Silver]

Could someone summarize the differences? How is mapping in LEDBlinky an advantage for a complicated control panel?

[SGT]

I'm with you Silver.  The explanation of the difference went WAY over my head.

[loadman]

I'm with you Silver.  The explanation of the difference went WAY over my head.

I'm sure Arzoo is best equipped to do that for you. The way the controls are mapped is the MAJOR difference.   

[arzoo]

Could someone summarize the differences? How is mapping in LEDBlinky an advantage for a complicated control panel?

Well, maybe that wasn't the best way to explain it. My cp was designed to use different buttons layouts for different games. Since I planned on remapping the control inputs on a game-by-game basis, I needed a LED plug-in that could handle these dynamic changes - hence LEDBlinky was born.

There are other differences between the two plug-ins, but these fall more into bling type features - speech, attract mode animations, lighting controls as you scroll through games lists, etc. My guess is that both plug-ins will eventually match each other for this type of stuff.

Here's some pics of my panel with the buttons lit. The pictures don't do the Electric Ice buttons justice.

The 1st picture shows the buttons lit for MaLa. I chose color pairs for different functions (next list/previous list, next emulator/previous emulator, volume up/volume down). The game start button blinks red - very cool!

The 2nd picture shows the buttons lit for NBA Jam using the standard P1/P2 control mapping. It's hard to tell from the pic, but using controls.ini (thanks to Headkaze), each player has a red, white, and blue button.

The 3rd picture shows the buttons lit for Asteroids (white buttons). In this case I remapped the controls to more realistically match the original game. I also used the "Always Active" option to light the admin buttons (volcano's in the upper left).

[headkaze]

A simple way of explaining the control mapping is with NeoGeo games. If you have the 4 NeoGeo buttons mapped to the bottom row of your CP it will light up the correct buttons (instead of the first 4 buttons which are default).

It was quite a mission to change my plugin to do the same sort of thing so I appreciate the work involved in doing this. I changed mine so you could set up your controls the easy way (by control name) with the option of assigning them to keys if you wanted custom mappings. You might want to consider going this way arzoo (or not I just liked the idea of having both ways). This also supports colors.ini which I don't think the other one does yet. Nice work arzoo

Adding speech is relatively easy, do it in a thread and use WaitForSingleObject(). I posted about my findings in the other Mala plugin thread. Check it out if you want to add speech.

[Silver]

Right ok thanks for clearing that up.....

So if you re-map buttons from game to game, thats what LEDBlinky was designed for, but for just using a standard layout, LEDwiz plugin?

PS arzoo - Are ALL your buttons RGB? How many LedWiz's?!!?

[arzoo]

It was quite a mission to change my plugin to do the same sort of thing so I appreciate the work involved in doing this. I changed mine so you could set up your controls the easy way (by control name) with the option of assigning them to keys if you wanted custom mappings. You might want to consider going this way arzoo (or not I just liked the idea of having both ways). This also supports colors.ini which I don't think the other one does yet. Nice work arzoo

Adding speech is relatively easy, do it in a thread and use WaitForSingleObject(). I posted about my findings in the other Mala plugin thread. Check it out if you want to add speech.

Thanks headkaze! I'll probably add speech eventually, but first I need to focus on the attract mode animations.

Right ok thanks for clearing that up.....

So if you re-map buttons from game to game, thats what LEDBlinky was designed for, but for just using a standard layout, LEDwiz plugin?

PS arzoo - Are ALL your buttons RGB? How many LedWiz's?!!?

Silver,
The LEDBlinky will work fine for standard layouts also. The only real downside is that it's a bit more complicated to initially configure. But I've gone to great lengths to create config apps for doing this - you don't ever have to manually edit any files. I've also included detailed documentation. 

No, the player 3 and 4 buttons and the trackball buttons are just plain old blue  . The cost of this cp just kept going up and up, so I decided to cut back. Now I kind of regret not doing them all with EI buttons. So far I have 2 LED-Wizs. I'll need a third if I add any more EI's!

[Silver]

Ok thanks.

For the sake of my curious mind, if LEDBlinky plug-in maps the hardware by input codes (KEYCODE_A, KEYCODE_LSHIFT, MOUSECODE_1_ANALOG_X...) Then what does the other plugin map the hardware to?

[loadman]

Ok thanks.

For the sake of my curious mind, if LEDBlinky plug-in maps the hardware by input codes (KEYCODE_A, KEYCODE_LSHIFT, MOUSECODE_1_ANALOG_X...) Then what does the other plugin map the hardware to?

It maps to the plug-in config file. This file is created with the nice config ap Edge has produced.
What a day or two and all will be clear after release.... 

[arzoo]

For the sake of my curious mind, if LEDBlinky plug-in maps the hardware by input codes (KEYCODE_A, KEYCODE_LSHIFT, MOUSECODE_1_ANALOG_X...) Then what does the other plugin map the hardware to?

Here's kinda how things work. When a MAME game is started, we have a list of control codes used by that game - Player 1 Button 1, Player 1 Button 2, Player 1 Joystick, etc. MAME then maps these controls to input codes - A, X, Left Shift, Joystick Up, etc. So here's how the two plug-ins differ:

LEDWiz
Game --> Control Code --> LED

LEDBlinky
Game --> Control Code --> Input Code --> LED

This is a very simplified example and as loadman has said, he's about to release a new version. Loadman, please correct me if I've misstated the basics here.

[edge]

The LEDWiz Plugin:
- Goal was to keep it as simple as possible, with as many features as possible.
- This is meant for most control panels out there, where most of your games are mapped the same way.  Ie, Player 1 Button 1 is usually on your top row of buttons, first position.  Player 1 Button 2 is top row, second position. Etc...
- If in some of your games you remap your buttons (as hk mentioned for NeoGeo)... you can always create specific game overrides.
- Yo ucan also create default lighting for other emulators besides mame.  So, for instance, you can create an atari2600 config to light when playing atari2600 games.

LEDBlinky:
- The power of arzoo's plugin is if you have different control mappings for many different games... and if you also like to change mappings on the fly.
- Instead of mapping buttons to controls in control.ini, it reads the actual mame input codes to figure out which button to light.
- (arzoo - please correct me if I am wrong)

In the end, both can be used for all panels.  I suggest trying both to see which matches your control panel and mappings the best.

[arzoo]

In the end, both can be used for all panels.  I suggest trying both to see which matches your control panel and mappings the best.

That about sums it up!

Just remember to move or rename the plugin you're not using - having both LED plug-ins active at the same time can lead to very strange things. 

[squirrellydw]

Quick question I hope.  I have a 3 sided cocktail table, what do you think the best one would be?  The 3rd pannel is going to be used for horizontal games and the two end pannels will be used for vertical games.

[arzoo]

Quick question I hope.  I have a 3 sided cocktail table, what do you think the best one would be?  The 3rd pannel is going to be used for horizontal games and the two end pannels will be used for vertical games.

Well, this is the LEDBlinky thread, so I'm gonna say go with the Blinky 

[Silver]

The LEDWiz Plugin:
- Goal was to keep it as simple as possible, with as many features as possible.
- This is meant for most control panels out there, where most of your games are mapped the same way.  Ie, Player 1 Button 1 is usually on your top row of buttons, first position.  Player 1 Button 2 is top row, second position. Etc...
- If in some of your games you remap your buttons (as hk mentioned for NeoGeo)... you can always create specific game overrides.
- Yo ucan also create default lighting for other emulators besides mame.  So, for instance, you can create an atari2600 config to light when playing atari2600 games.

LEDBlinky:
- The power of arzoo's plugin is if you have different control mappings for many different games... and if you also like to change mappings on the fly.
- Instead of mapping buttons to controls in control.ini, it reads the actual mame input codes to figure out which button to light.
- (arzoo - please correct me if I am wrong)

In the end, both can be used for all panels.  I suggest trying both to see which matches your control panel and mappings the best.

Wiki!

[loadman]

The LEDWiz Plugin:
- Goal was to keep it as simple as possible, with as many features as possible.
- This is meant for most control panels out there, where most of your games are mapped the same way.  Ie, Player 1 Button 1 is usually on your top row of buttons, first position.  Player 1 Button 2 is top row, second position. Etc...
- If in some of your games you remap your buttons (as hk mentioned for NeoGeo)... you can always create specific game overrides.
- Yo ucan also create default lighting for other emulators besides mame.  So, for instance, you can create an atari2600 config to light when playing atari2600 games.

LEDBlinky:
- The power of arzoo's plugin is if you have different control mappings for many different games... and if you also like to change mappings on the fly.
- Instead of mapping buttons to controls in control.ini, it reads the actual mame input codes to figure out which button to light.
- (arzoo - please correct me if I am wrong)

In the end, both can be used for all panels.  I suggest trying both to see which matches your control panel and mappings the best.

Wiki!

Good Idea.. Could you Create a New MaLa Plug-in Page too please?

[Silver]

Sure: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/MalaPlugins

But anyone can add a page. The wiki help section shows you how...

[arzoo]

Sure: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/MalaPlugins

But anyone can add a page. The wiki help section shows you how...

Thanks Silver!!!

[swindus]

Nice one, arzoo! 

[headkaze]

One option I thought you might want to add arzoo.. "Map black to white" or something like that, so when using colors.ini the color black won't be represented by turning the LED's off.

[arzoo]

One option I thought you might want to add arzoo.. "Map black to white" or something like that, so when using colors.ini the color black won't be represented by turning the LED's off.

The plug-in uses a colors-rgb file to map each color name to the actual ledwiz intensities (0-48). In that file, I've defined black as 5,5,5 - very dim white. But really any color could be used. If a color is not specified in that file, the LEDBlinky will use a default color. Thanks hk!

[headkaze]

Hey arzoo, have you checked out MameInterop? You might like to add support for it in your plugin, it should be a very easy thing to add. Right now my plugin only outputs led0 and led1 to P1_COIN/P2_COIN LED's so for games like DigDug when you drop a coin in they flash.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62982.0

[arzoo]

Hey arzoo, have you checked out MameInterop? You might like to add support for it in your plugin, it should be a very easy thing to add. Right now my plugin only outputs led0 and led1 to P1_COIN/P2_COIN LED's so for games like DigDug when you drop a coin in they flash.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62982.0

I've been following that thread and I do intend to add the MameInterop to the LEDBlinky - but first I'm focusing on the attract mode animations. The LWA file format is not the best for multiple led-wiz's, but it should work.

[headkaze]

Hey arzoo, have you checked out MameInterop? You might like to add support for it in your plugin, it should be a very easy thing to add. Right now my plugin only outputs led0 and led1 to P1_COIN/P2_COIN LED's so for games like DigDug when you drop a coin in they flash.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=62982.0

I've been following that thread and I do intend to add the MameInterop to the LEDBlinky - but first I'm focusing on the attract mode animations. The LWA file format is not the best for multiple led-wiz's, but it should work.

I havn't even bothered adding support for multiple LEDWiz devices to my lwa player yet and I don't really see a reason to right now. I just send each command to every LEDWiz instead and I'm happy with the effect. When there is an lwa animation player (if there ever will be one) then I will probably make the lwa player more advanced.

Also I'm confused as to why people are still using the ocx when MikeQ's dll (with no VB6 dependancy) is IMHO better. Is it defining the callback function that has people confused? Or is it just because the ocx is official from GGG that people use that?

[loadman]

When there is an lwa animation player (if there ever will be one) then I will probably make the lwa player more advanced.

You mean multi-wiz LWA animation 'creator' right.? I already made a player. As you know our LedWiz plug-in supports the extra command to support multip-wiz (eg "LWZ-NUM:2") but the current LWA format does not really lend itself to it very well if you want to send diffrent command to different Led-Wiz at the same time... If you want to send the same command to all Ledwiz that is easy with a "LWZ-NUM:0" command 

Also I'm confused as to why people are still using the ocx when Mike's Dll (with no VB6 dependancy) is IMHO better. Is it defining the callback function that has people confused? Or is it just because the ocx is official from GGG that people use that?

I will look at using Mike's DLL in the next version.  The code for using the OCX was handed to me on a plate. And it seems to work well for now :-)

[headkaze]

Yes I meant lwa animation creator.

Hang tight I'm working on releasing a LEDWiz SDK that will include Delphi code to use MikeQ's dll

[edge]

Hang tight I'm working on releasing a LEDWiz SDK that will include Delphi code to use MikeQ's dll

Very nice, hk.  Thanks.

[loadman]

Hang tight I'm working on releasing a LEDWiz SDK that will include Delphi code to use MikeQ's dll

Very nice, hk.  Thanks.

Indeed

 

[squirrellydw]

I am going to try this out.  I already have the LEDwiz from Edge and Loadman installed, should I remove that one before  I try this one out?  When do you think you would add speech to it? 

[loadman]

I am going to try this out.  I already have the LEDwiz from Edge and Loadman installed, should I remove that one before  I try this one out? 

Yes yes take the 'LedWiz.mplugin' file out of the plugin folderwhile you play with blinky. You don't need to take the config file or Configurator out though.

[squirrellydw]

thanks

[arzoo]

Version 1.0.1 is now available.

Version 1.0.1 is a minor update that adds some additional functionality, improves performance, and fixes some bugs. I've also removed the Microsoft COM dependencies - Thanks to MikeQ for the DLL and Headkaze for the SDK!

The plug-in can now run LED animation files (.LWA). All standard LWZ commands are supported with the addition of one new command: LWZ-REP:n. The REP command can be used to define repeating groups of commands. The LWA parser also supports sending commands to individual LED-Wiz devices - with this you can create sequential or parallel patterns across multiple devices. Eventually I hope to include an animation editor with the LEDBlinky, but for now the files must be created using the GGG LumAura app or manually.

By the way, if you're already using the LEDBlinky, then just unzip the new version into the plugins folder and overwrite any existing files. You'll need to rerun the config app to re-select the plugin options and file paths, but you won't need to rebuild the input map or any profiles.

[headkaze]

Hey arzoo here are some lwa's I made that your welcome to include with your plugin. It's nice to have a bunch of defaults so you can have an attract mode out-of-the-box.

[arzoo]

Hey arzoo here are some lwa's I made that your welcome to include with your plugin. It's nice to have a bunch of defaults so you can have an attract mode out-of-the-box.

I'll add them to the zip! Thanks!