LEDBlinky V2 Support

[dna disturber]

I have a problem with the remapping of leds.
It looks like the cfg files aren't read by the ledblinky plugin.
Whenever I remap it stays on the default button.
the button remap works just fine , in other words within mame the button remaps (but not the associated led, even after restart of game and or mala)

I'm using mala v1.0 RC 9 , ledblinky v2.0 with mame 0.115
In the plugin directory in settings.ini the path to the mame cfg directory is present and points to the right directory.
 
Maybe arzoo can help in this one ?   

TIA,

Dna Disturber

[arzoo]

DNA,
Can you pm me one of the config files for a remapped game? Also, edit the settings.ini file and set LogFile=debug.log (or any name), then run MaLa, start a game, remap something, quit the game, start the game again, and then quit out. Send me the log - we'll figure out what the problem is!

Thanks,
arzoo

[dna disturber]

Arzoo,

After some testing with different games out of my favo-list I noticed that the remapping with a lot of games does work.
But everytime it doesn't work it happens to be a clone, but then again not all clones refuse to remap.

I tried to remap the original and it remaps the led and lo and behold when I return to the clone that one is now also correct.

This happened to me with pengo4, zaxxon2 and mrdot.

Perhaps you can recreate this with deleting (if you already have one)  zaxxon2.cfg. Then start the game zaxxon (set 2) , remap, exit the game and start again.
If it doesn't remap try the same with zaxxon (set 1), this one should remap.
Start the game zaxxon (set 2 ) and the led is now also remapped to the correct button. 

I will PM you the requested files.

Again thanks for helping me out and ofcourse for making ledblinky... (made me switch from powermame to mala ) 

 

[arzoo]

Dna,
No need for the additional files - the info you've provided should be enough for me to figure out what's going on. If the code requires a patch (which I'm sure it will), I'll send you the fix.

If Powermame hadn't gone into the deep freeze, I probably would have stuck with it also. But I really like MaLa and LEDBlinky aside, it has some really useful plugins! 

[dna disturber]

Arzoo,

I also found a little configuration issue.
In the deviceport-input my first led is at number 10 (from the first and only ledwiz)
At first I had all my led's set at Single but if I do that then none of the led's work.
By setting the first one (being number 10) to "R" they all work.

Maybe this has something to do with the first one not being set (as a normal person would do  )

[arzoo]

Hmmm, starting at port 10 should'nt make any difference. I may need you to generate that log file after all, but before you do, let me see if I can recreate the bug.

[arzoo]

Arzoo,

I also found a little configuration issue.
In the deviceport-input my first led is at number 10 (from the first and only ledwiz)
At first I had all my led's set at Single but if I do that then none of the led's work.
By setting the first one (being number 10) to "R" they all work.

Maybe this has something to do with the first one not being set (as a normal person would do  )

DNA,
Could you zip up all the INI files in the LEDBlinky folder and send them to me. That would be a great help. Thanks.

[arzoo]

Dna,
Try this patch - it should fix the clone remapping bug. Let me know if it works for you.

[dna disturber]

Arzoo,

I posted the ini files to your emailaccount.

<embarrasment on>
Couldn't find the attachment option with PM (I'm such a newbie at this forum-thingy) 
<embarassment off>

But I now know where to find it so for the next time.....

I will try the patch and let you know.

Thanks,

Dna Disturber



 

[arzoo]

Arzoo,

I also found a little configuration issue.
In the deviceport-input my first led is at number 10 (from the first and only ledwiz)
At first I had all my led's set at Single but if I do that then none of the led's work.
By setting the first one (being number 10) to "R" they all work.

Maybe this has something to do with the first one not being set (as a normal person would do  )

Here's a update to the profile editor which fixes the Test buttons. You can set all your LEDs to Single and it should work.

[dna disturber]

Arzoo,

The patch works  like a charm
I remapped as if I was on an island and had to push the buttons for like every 108 minutes (hmmmm make that every minute) afraid of otherwise getting a system failure.

Felt a little "LOST"  in the process.

For the other outstanding issue maybe you should file this one under the big dusty pile of "user errors"  because I can't seem to reproduce it.

Thanks for the support 
 

[dna disturber]

Ýou've got me.....
Can't type fast enough to keep up with your updates it seems 

The previous post was ofcourse about the  "clone" patch.

As I stated in the previous post I'm not sure if the configuration issue is a bug , I changed it into single and it worked. Tried the earlier version of the plugin and it also worked.....unless you've found something irregular maybe it doesn't need patching....and was I very drunk at the moment of configuring or gremlins had just purchased my cab as their new house and were turning the lights on and off or  ...........






 

[arzoo]

Glad the patch worked! 

I'm currently working on the animation editor for LEDBlinky which should make the attract mode much easier to use.

Lost is a great show. I thought the season got off to a slow start - but man did it pick up in the end!

[Green Giant]

I am having some trouble getting this plugin to work correctly for me.

My first problem is that none of the Mala buttons work correctly except the mouse.  I think I setup the input maps correctly since some of the games light correctly, and the default inactive buttons (set to a dim white for testing) lightup like they should.  I am including my default.cfg file from mame if you want to take a look.  But basically it is the 7 button layout with start game set to the first button in the 6 button portion.  Then the next two are page up and down and the last two are letter up and down.

I should probably say I am using all RGB led's with just the first seven and my mouse with its two buttons connected right now.  I will soon have another ledwiz for the rest of the buttons.

That is just the first of my problems, but the rest are probably my setup.  Very few of my games when scrolling lightup to the correct colors in the colors.ini folder.  Most of the time they are just off when it is supposed to display the controls.  This might be because I think most of my games are the latest versions of the originals such as marbles version 2 or 3.  I am going to try reformating with clrmamepro later on tonight, but not sure if you have any input.

My last problem is with my custom mame config files.  I used my mame to config king of fighters, and then I used that .cfg to make duplicates for all my other neo-geo games.  They all work correctly in mame mapping to my bottom four games, but none of the led's lightup.  Even on games that I think have no extra versions.  I also noticed on all my golden tee games, the two mouse buttons lightup but the mouse does not.  I am attaching some standard config files for a golden tee and neogeo game.  Anything you can offer would help.

I did already try the patched version that you posted here to no avail.   

[arzoo]

I am having some trouble getting this plugin to work correctly for me.

My first problem is that none of the Mala buttons work correctly except the mouse.  I think I setup the input maps correctly since some of the games light correctly, and the default inactive buttons (set to a dim white for testing) lightup like they should.  I am including my default.cfg file from mame if you want to take a look.  But basically it is the 7 button layout with start game set to the first button in the 6 button portion.  Then the next two are page up and down and the last two are letter up and down.

I should probably say I am using all RGB led's with just the first seven and my mouse with its two buttons connected right now.  I will soon have another ledwiz for the rest of the buttons.

That is just the first of my problems, but the rest are probably my setup.  Very few of my games when scrolling lightup to the correct colors in the colors.ini folder.  Most of the time they are just off when it is supposed to display the controls.  This might be because I think most of my games are the latest versions of the originals such as marbles version 2 or 3.  I am going to try reformating with clrmamepro later on tonight, but not sure if you have any input.

My last problem is with my custom mame config files.  I used my mame to config king of fighters, and then I used that .cfg to make duplicates for all my other neo-geo games.  They all work correctly in mame mapping to my bottom four games, but none of the led's lightup.  Even on games that I think have no extra versions.  I also noticed on all my golden tee games, the two mouse buttons lightup but the mouse does not.  I am attaching some standard config files for a golden tee and neogeo game.  Anything you can offer would help.

I did already try the patched version that you posted here to no avail.   

Hmmm, where to start? Let's turn on the LEDBlinky debug mode so I can see what going on. Edit the Settings.ini file (in the LEDBlinky folder) and set LogFile=Debug.log. Then start up MaLa and run it through the games you're having problems with. After you quit, find the Debug.log file (in the LEDBlinky folder) and zip it up along with all the .INI files in the folder and get it back to me.

[dna disturber]

Hmm seeing the problems that the GG had I started testing some more outside my favo-list.
Sure enough the neo-geo games don't light up (even on default settings).

I started to go through the whole mame-list (all games)  with the demo game controls on.
A lot of games still don't light up (on default setting) , even after game start and checking whether the buttons were actually used.

One thing I did notice was that there was a relationship between the games not lighting up, for instance all megatech....and a serie of Taito F3...
maybe it's driver related.

Arzoo perhaps you can reproduce this by a selection of all games and with the demo-mode on scroll through the list (you should see that a lot of games don't light up)

TIA,

Dna Disturber

P.S I haven't setup a mala profile but will do that to check if that works on my cab.

[Green Giant]

I will get to it tonight or most likely tomorrow morning.  Have to take the little woman out after work.

[arzoo]

Guys,
I see why the plugin is not working for NeoGeo (and other games). I'll try to get you a fixed version soon, but I'm a bit busy, so it will have to wait a few days. Don't give up on the Blinky! 

[Green Giant]

Here are the ini files and debug.log you asked about.  Couldn't see where to attach for a PM.

Just finished hooking up my second ledwiz.  For this test, I noticed on games that do work, it is correctly lighting everything and the default innactive is showing up with a dim white like they are set to do.  On other games nothing lights up at all and the button speak feature doesn't happen.

I think I mentioned earlier, but in Mala, the only button that lights up correctly is the mouse, the rest are just all the default innactive buttons.  Not sure if it is important, but I am using two GPwiz49's with all the buttons connected up as joystick buttons.  The trackball is connected through an optiwiz. 

[arzoo]

Here are the ini files and debug.log you asked about.  Couldn't see where to attach for a PM.

Just finished hooking up my second ledwiz.  For this test, I noticed on games that do work, it is correctly lighting everything and the default innactive is showing up with a dim white like they are set to do.  On other games nothing lights up at all and the button speak feature doesn't happen.

I think I mentioned earlier, but in Mala, the only button that lights up correctly is the mouse, the rest are just all the default innactive buttons.  Not sure if it is important, but I am using two GPwiz49's with all the buttons connected up as joystick buttons.  The trackball is connected through an optiwiz. 

GG, can you post your MaLa.ini also - it should be in the MaLa folder. Thanks.

[arzoo]

Ok, here's the patch which should fix the games that don't light up. Let me know how it works for you guys.

GG - As for the MaLa controls, LEDBlinky only works with buttons assigned to keycodes or the mouse. I'll need to do another update so that it works with the joystick buttons. I'll try to get to that fix soon. 

[dna disturber]

Arzoo,

Thanks again for the support.. 
I'll test the patch tonight and let you know.

Dna Disturber

[dna disturber]

Ok tested the new patch.
Nearly all games light up except for a large portion of the mahjong (type) games.
Is that really really terrible ..?... heck no coz I can't lead japanese velly well 
But to make the list complete........I had to mention it.

He Arzoo,

I know it isn't x-mas yet and that you're not Santa but I have sort of a wishlist:
Okay here it goes....what I want for x-mas 

1) custom lighting for games
    for example mortal kombat lower punch/kick intensity 10 high punch/kick 49 and block    rampup/down  or hyper olympics where the jump button could rampup/down.
2) lwa's that are triggered by events for instance mala start, exit , emulator switch , gamelist switch etc and preferably in a  way that you can chose an lwa with that event.
3) Mameinterop

I hope x-mas comes early this year but I can imagine you've got a social life and other things to do.......

I really can wait till x-mas so no hurry's here.....   but I want you to know I've been a really really sweet boy




 

[Green Giant]

Arzoo,

You mentioned the mala portion not setup to work with joystick buttons yet.  Can I assume this holds for the emulator config as well? 

One last thing, I am guessing you don't need my mala config since my problem is the joystick buttons. 

Thanks for all the hard work.  Looking great.  Your plugin is the only reason I got a second ledwiz, mainly for the correct colors.  Can't wait to get home and test out this new patch.

[arzoo]

OK tested the new patch.
Nearly all games light up except for a large portion of the mahjong (type) games.
Is that really really terrible ..?... heck no coz I can't lead japanese velly well 
But to make the list complete........I had to mention it.

Yeah, for some reason mame seems to report mahjong games as having no buttons. Not sure why, but that's the reason nothing lights up. I guess if you really want to play mahjong (which you and I don't  ), you can add the game(s) to controls.ini and then Blinky will light the buttons.

1) custom lighting for games
    for example mortal kombat lower punch/kick intensity 10 high punch/kick 49 and block    rampup/down  or hyper olympics where the jump button could rampup/down.

That's a great idea and if your cp has RGB LEDs you can do that by overriding the values in colors.ini. But you don't have RGBs, correct? So I'm thinking that a real easy solution would be if Blinky accepted intensity values (0-49, 129, 130, etc.) from colors.ini. That way you could set the intensity for each button on a game by game basis. Let me look into that!

2) lwa's that are triggered by events for instance mala start, exit , emulator switch , gamelist switch etc and preferably in a  way that you can chose an lwa with that event.

So you're saying that you'd want to animate the buttons from MaLa rather than light up the buttons used by the UI? Or do you want to animate the buttons only for a brief time, then return to the active buttons?

3) Mameinterop

This one I've thought about. But to be honest, I don't really see the benefit. So far all the interop would provide is the ability to flash when coins are inserted. I guess that's cool and all, but for me it's low priority. I'll keep it in mind for a future release. 

[arzoo]

Arzoo,

You mentioned the mala portion not setup to work with joystick buttons yet.  Can I assume this holds for the emulator config as well? 

Joystick buttons should work for other emulators, but too be honest, I've done very little testing in that area. 

One last thing, I am guessing you don't need my mala config since my problem is the joystick buttons. 

Correct, no need for you to post your mala.ini.

Thanks for all the hard work.  Looking great.  Your plugin is the only reason I got a second ledwiz, mainly for the correct colors.  Can't wait to get home and test out this new patch.

Here's an even newer patch - this one fixes the Joystick buttons for the MaLa UI. But since I don't have my cp wired with any analog joysticks (actually, that's not true, I do have a 49-Way hooked to a GPWiz49, but none of my buttons are wired to it), I'll need you to confirm that it works.

Thanks!

[Green Giant]

  Wow, you are fast, I need to get home and test this out to keep up with development.

[dna disturber]

Arzoo,

For wish number 1:
It would be great to have that in colors.ini
For wish number 2:
I definitely want the "brief animated buttons with the return to active buttons" flavour 
For wish number 3:
Yeah the coinflashthingy is a bit overrated and it´s so prehistoric ....like so 80´s.....
  no worry´s ..... I´ll get over it  (but then again you didn´t say No  )

Thanks again for the great work 
 

[arzoo]

Turns out the colors.ini mod was trivial... so here it is! (I didn't bump the version number, still 2.0.0.3)

[dna disturber]

Arzoo,

The colors.ini works great..... 
But during testing I came across a little bug that has nothing to do with the colors.ini

When you have a button that is ramping up/down and you have the speak button option on,  the global pulse speed from the speak button overrides the one that is set within the profile editor.

I had one button set to ramping and the global pulse speed on 3 , after the speak button it was ramping at i would say 1 (the same speed as the speak button works with)
It doesn´t seem to reset the speed to the right value after the speakbutton.

[arzoo]

Arzoo,

The colors.ini works great..... 
But during testing I came across a little bug that has nothing to do with the colors.ini

When you have a button that is ramping up/down and you have the speak button option on,  the global pulse speed from the speak button overrides the one that is set within the profile editor.

I had one button set to ramping and the global pulse speed on 3 , after the speak button it was ramping at i would say 1 (the same speed as the speak button works with)
It doesn´t seem to reset the speed to the right value after the speakbutton.

Fixed 

[arzoo]

For wish number 2:
I definitely want the "brief animated buttons with the return to active buttons" flavour 

I know that the LEDWiz plugin can flash the buttons when MaLa starts and for some other events. But what you're suggesting is a bit different - the ability to define your own animation effect for each event. It's another great idea, but it will have to wait until after I finish the animation editor.

[Green Giant]

The update looks great.  All of my mame games lighted up like they are supposed to.

The mala controls half worked.  By half, I mean that the buttons hooked up to the gpwiz49 #1 light up but the controls for the second joystick hooked up to gpwiz #2 don't light up.

My emulator games still don't light up, is there something special I should do to set these up? 

But overall, it looks sweet.  Have some friends coming into town this weekend and I know your effort will impress the hell out of em.

[dna disturber]

This is outrageous.
I want you to know that the squashing of bugs at such high rate is dangerous for the species and that we will retaliate at your next picnic.. 

With regards,

Major Bug , highest ranking officer in the ant division.

[dna disturber]

Oops I'm feeling somewhat guilty regarding the previous post from major Bug so I'll let you do your thing and finish the animation editor.

I'm looking forward to create my own lwa's using it.

 






 

[arzoo]

The update looks great.  All of my mame games lighted up like they are supposed to.

The mala controls half worked.  By half, I mean that the buttons hooked up to the gpwiz49 #1 light up but the controls for the second joystick hooked up to gpwiz #2 don't light up.

My emulator games still don't light up, is there something special I should do to set these up? 

But overall, it looks sweet.  Have some friends coming into town this weekend and I know your effort will impress the hell out of em.

I'm pretty sure I know why the controls for joy2 don't work, but I'll need your mala.ini to confirm what's going on.

As for the other emulators, I'm going to need more info. Have you configured the "Other Emulators" control profile and set the default active colors? You could also try checking Use MAME Default Control Mapping for Other Emulators and see if that helps. If not, set LogFile=Debug.log in settings.ini, then run MaLa and switch to a non-mame emulator. Launch a few games, then post the log file back here.

With luck, I may be able to get these bugs fixed by the weekend. 

[arzoo]

So, funny story...
I put all this code into the LEDBlinky for other emulators, but I never really tested it.  Turns out, it doesn't work.  Had I really thought it through, I would have realized that there's no way for MaLa to know which controls are used by non-mame games.

Eventually I'll code it up to accept a custom controls.ini file, but it will still be up to each person to define the controls for their other emu games.

GG - I'll still need your mala.ini to fix the joy2 problem. Tx.

[Green Giant]

Sounds sweet.  I was wondering if I would need an individual config for each emulator.  I guess I was right.  Let me know when it is done and I will test it out.  I figured that way I would have different colors for each emulator like red for nes and purple on snes, etc.

Should be able to get the mala.ini soon.  Have a sick dog to take care of.

[Green Giant]

Ok, got the mala.ini for you.  If you have any questions about how I have everything connected, let me know.

[arzoo]

The mala controls half worked.  By half, I mean that the buttons hooked up to the gpwiz49 #1 light up but the controls for the second joystick hooked up to gpwiz #2 don't light up.

GG,
Here's the update to light up the controls wired to the second gpwiz. Let me know if it works for you.