MaLa v1.04 released

[FrizzleFried]

Is there a way to add a 2nd delay for art components?  I need that feature in order for the menu to scroll faster as I have a TITLE SCREEN jpg appear...then 3 seconds later the PREVIEW .avi goes over the TITILE SCREEN (which means I am using the only DELAY you offer)...that means the TITLE SCREENS have to appear instantly which KILLS the scroll speed.   In MAMEWAH I can scroll SUPER fast with the trackball and VERY FAST with the joystick.   With MALA I am stuck to SLOW period.

I added a display delay for the video object. This enables you to put the video over an image in the layout and displaying it with a delay without using the scroll delay for this.

Additional I added a scroll acceleration value for the mouse and the joystick. This means you can now set the acceleration for the keyboard, mouse and joystick independent from each other.

After testing the joystick stuff at home later I will upload version 1.03.

Now that was FAST!  Thanks!  I know I will be updating my cocktail now...but it looks like I will also be changing front end software on my standup cabs as well!

[Green Giant]

GREAT!  If/when you do,  please let me know!  I am surprised I am the only one that seems to put an image up immediately,  then wait a few seconds for the video to kick in over the initial image.

Several people did it just that way with the image instantly and then the video later.  I think your scroll problem is cause your computer is not fast enough to keep up.  I can skim up and down through a list really fast with the images showing briefly through the scroll.  Guess I will give this new feature a try and see if there is any noticeable accelleration.

[FrizzleFried]

GREAT!  If/when you do,  please let me know!  I am surprised I am the only one that seems to put an image up immediately,  then wait a few seconds for the video to kick in over the initial image.

Several people did it just that way with the image instantly and then the video later.  I think your scroll problem is cause your computer is not fast enough to keep up.  I can skim up and down through a list really fast with the images showing briefly through the scroll.  Guess I will give this new feature a try and see if there is any noticeable accelleration.

I dunno...it is an XP1800 w/512MB of RAM.   When I set the delay for all images it scrolls fine...but then I couldn't do what I wanted and have the animation appear after the title screenshot.

[Kangum]

i have a 1.7 ghz laptop with 2 gigs of ram and it still takes like a second per list item to change. this might not sound like long but if you want to scroll down 25 items and it is pausing for every single item.

if there is a way to speed up the scrolling how would i do that.

[CM]

Started playing with the Ultimarc PacDrive and came across this.   I am getting a repeatable crash "Unexpected Error. MaLa will terminate now. Check the file mala.exe.log for more information."   when I toggle or change any LED button definition in the Hardware LED tab and then try to click OK.  As long as I am in the options it is fine (toggle LEDs on and off working .. defining them working .. it just crashes once OK is clicked therfore I cannot save settings).

I don't have the full error handy right now, but it is something like: "Error: Object Class: (something) , Object Function: TPop___(?), Exception Class: EStringListError, Exception Message: Der Index der Liste überschreitet das Maximum (-1)".   It will be another day before I can get back to it and get the full description, but hopefully this points to something.

I could not re-create the error here
I think the files that get saved when you click OK in the hardware tab in mala.ini and mala.mlc, have a look at them to make sure one of them is not read only or something.

In any case as Swindus said do a fresh install in another directory and see what happens

OK.  Clean install resolved this issue.  I then went back to my existing install and deleted the LED section from the mala.ini as well as the .mlc file and restarted Mala.   That also resolved the issue.  Guess some funk got caught up in the LED settings 

I am seeing a NEW issue now however.  Using 2 PacDrive boards, buttons listed in Mala as 1-16 (board 1) and 33-48 (board 2).  The 2P_BUTTON3, 4, 5, 6, 2COIN, 2P_START assigned as Mala inputs #35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 respectively are not lighting off the controls.ini file.   I can click the check mark and they light up so it is not wiring.  I also checked a specific game in the controls.ini file for one with many 2P buttons defined and yet the only board#2 LEDs firing correctly seem to be the 2P_BUTTON1, 2  (inputs 33, 34).   

[loadman]

OK.  Clean install resolved this issue.  I then went back to my existing install and deleted the LED section from the mala.ini as well as the .mlc file and restarted Mala.   That also resolved the issue.  Guess some funk got caught up in the LED settings 

 

I am seeing a NEW issue now however.  Using 2 PacDrive boards, buttons listed in Mala as 1-16 (board 1) and 33-48 (board 2).  The 2P_BUTTON3, 4, 5, 6, 2COIN, 2P_START assigned as Mala inputs #35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 respectively are not lighting off the controls.ini file.   I can click the check mark and they light up so it is not wiring.  I also checked a specific game in the controls.ini file for one with many 2P buttons defined and yet the only board#2 LEDs firing correctly seem to be the 2P_BUTTON1, 2  (inputs 33, 34).

 

I can tell you that the way they are listed is not an error as (17-32) is reserved for LCD use (or extra 16 LED's) using MaLa Hardware.

But the lighting error may be a Bug I guess as neither Swindus or I possess Two PacDrives to test this.  I just checked using an PacDrive (as the 1st Controller) and MaLa hardware as the 2nd controller assining the same (The 2P_BUTTON3, 4, 5, 6, 2COIN, 2P_START assigned as Mala inputs #35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 ) and all was good.

[swindus]

MaLa v1.04 released. Check first post of this thread.

[The Chugnut]

I want to have your babies! 

 

[swindus]

I want to have your babies! 

No way! 

[SGT]

I want to have your babies! 

No way! 

Apparently you FE authors are like rock stars.  Now I know why you work so hard on Mala; its the fringe benefits.

[Green Giant]

Score, already on 1.03

At this rate, I will be playing with 1.04 on Thursday and 1.05 on Saturday.

Sweet, I was only off by a day.  Should be playing with 1.05 on Monday instead. 

You rule swindus

[ARTIFACT]

fyi

i set my video delay to 1 second
when i launch a game 1 second after selecting the item
the video 'starts' while the emu launches
it doesnt get muted
i can hear it playing in the back of the game i launch
mind you it only happens if timing is just right (selection, launch...)

i *love* mala
thank you so much

[swindus]

Thanks for reporting. Indeed the display timer was starting the video after an emu launch. Please re-download MaLa from the download page. It should be fixed now in 1.0.4.5.

[psychotech]

 

psychotech

[ARTIFACT]

WOW you are amazing...

[loadman]

Any chance on some how being able to pick what U360 joystick you want to use to scroll through game lists?  I have four of them and I use to have two working but now only one is working.  they all work game wise but I can only use one to scroll through the game lists.

if not maybe a plugin?

Now in Wiki

[swindus]

Thanks loadman. You are doing a great job with your Wiki contributions. 

[loadman]

Thanks loadman. You are doing a great job with your Wiki contributions. 

It would be cool if you added a link to the MaLa Wiki from your MaLa website in the help section 

[swindus]

Yes Sir! Done!

[loadman]

Yes Sir! Done!

Nice work...Thanks  .. in Bold too 

[ARTIFACT]

i will update tonight

oh btw w sometimes reslution seems to get messed up after going to options and coming back. i did tweak the option to not change resolution, but there is still something going on there. this does not happen al the time though.

also, it seems that focus takes several seconds (5?) after i quit a game and try to scroll the list again. it does not respond during that period.

thanks again

[SGT]

oh btw w sometimes reslution seems to get messed up after going to options and coming back. i did tweak the option to not change resolution, but there is still something going on there. this does not happen al the time though.

Yep, I get that quite a bit, but it seems to be totally random.

[CM]

I am seeing a NEW issue now however.  Using 2 PacDrive boards, buttons listed in Mala as 1-16 (board 1) and 33-48 (board 2).  The 2P_BUTTON3, 4, 5, 6, 2COIN, 2P_START assigned as Mala inputs #35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 respectively are not lighting off the controls.ini file.   I can click the check mark and they light up so it is not wiring.  I also checked a specific game in the controls.ini file for one with many 2P buttons defined and yet the only board#2 LEDs firing correctly seem to be the 2P_BUTTON1, 2  (inputs 33, 34).

 

I can tell you that the way they are listed is not an error as (17-32) is reserved for LCD use (or extra 16 LED's) using MaLa Hardware.

But the lighting error may be a Bug I guess as neither Swindus or I possess Two PacDrives to test this.  I just checked using an PacDrive (as the 1st Controller) and MaLa hardware as the 2nd controller assining the same (The 2P_BUTTON3, 4, 5, 6, 2COIN, 2P_START assigned as Mala inputs #35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 ) and all was good.

I still have not made any progress on getting the 2nd PacDrive working 100%.  I asked the Ultimarc forum and Andy said if it is not resolved that he would send Mala devs a 2nd PacDrive board.   Is this the next step?  Have you tried Mala HW as 1st controller a PacDrive as the 2nd?

[RitchieTheBrit]

Hey Swindus, great work on the FE.  Once I have everything working the way I like it, I'll be knocking up some skins.

Anyway, a few niggles, and a few possible suggestions?

Niggles first...

1.  Video still seems to be slower than it should be (I'm running 1.045) when using EmuMovies SQ videos in the skin.
2.  Video runs EXTREMELY choppy full screen when used for the screensaver or intro video (around 50% the speed of the audio).
3.  Cursor becomes visible during screensaver.

Okay, my video hardware/settings...

Codec: XviD v1.1.3 Final
VGA: OnBoard Via UniChrome KM400 AGP (latest drivers - 19/05/2005) using 64MB shared memory.

Okay, I've got a few suggestions as well (hope you don't mind dude!)...

1.  I know this has been mentioned by FrizzleFried; an alternate image for the video previews.  That way, if the video doesn't exist, I can it default back to an image or video that I can use to inform the user the video is missing.  At the moment, I have an image set behind the video saying 'Sorry, this video cannot be found', but it is actually when changing videos.

2.  More definables!  They are so cool!    I wanted to have a vertically scrolling row of screenshots alongside the game list (like another gamelist set to display images), so I used definables.  Unfortunately, I ran out of definables, and now I can't have a dynamic controller display!  Arrrgh!  Maybe there could be a duplicate gamelist on-screen?  That way you could set one gamelist to text, and the duplicate to images?

3.  Jukebox waitlist.  Personally, I would prefer to be able to view the waitlist without going into the menu, and being able to bind keys to other functions in the menu would be handy, like STOP MUSIC and FAST FORWARD.

4.  Browsing the jukebox in EXPLORER mode.  Would there be a way to have the folder art contained WITHIN the folders used as the snap for the folder?  I know once you get into the folders, the album art shows, but it would be cool to have the album images at the top level as well.  Again, it would also be pretty cool to have both the name and the art displayed in the game/tracklist.

No idea if any of these suggestions make sense, or whether is would be something others would want, jusy kinda' throwing it out there...

[loadman]

I still have not made any progress on getting the 2nd PacDrive working 100%.  I asked the Ultimarc forum and Andy said if it is not resolved that he would send Mala devs a 2nd PacDrive board.   Is this the next step?  Have you tried Mala HW as 1st controller a PacDrive as the 2nd?

I tried various combos of MaLa hardware and PacDrive  and could not get it to fail... 

Yeah if Andy could send another one to Swindus that would help.

3.  Jukebox waitlist.  Personally, I would prefer to be able to view the waitlist without going into the menu, and being able to bind keys to other functions in the menu would be handy, like STOP MUSIC and FAST FORWARD.

There are some options (see attached pic)

[RitchieTheBrit]

Hey Loadman,

Yeah, I found those options.  The STOP and PAUSE buttons are not really that much of a concern, but I would dearly love to be able to access the waitlist to be able to skip/delete songs.  It would make sense for the waitlist to be opened with the same button as the info pane is in the gamelists.

More information about my video issues.  It would appear that the clips used in the game lists are falling out of sync as well, though it's not quite as noticeable as when it is full screen.  I noticed in a few threads in the German forum that there was mention of DirectX.  I'm running 9.0c.

EDIT:  Just taken a screengrab to try and illustrate what I was talking about earlier with the text AND image game list.  This is just a test more than anything, while I work out where I want to put things, spacing etc.  Once I have everything the way I want it, and working, I'll make a skin for it. 

You can on the left there is the game list, with a small screenshot for unselected games, and on the right there is the basic information, as well as a video snapshot.  I wanted to include some basic icons for the controls and number of players, etc, but as it is, I've ran out of definables! 

[Davrkw]

I am trying to download/install MaLa.  When I download the Mala V1.04 file, it is saved as "MaLa.7z".  When I double-click to attempt to extract/install/execute this file, my computer does not recognize the file type.  I tried changing the extension to ".zip" but it did not work.  What am I doing wrong? 

[Congui]

It's zipped in a different format from winzip or winrar.  Just go to "http://www.7-zip.org/download.html" and download it.

Cheers, 
Congui

[AndyWarne]

I still have not made any progress on getting the 2nd PacDrive working 100%.  I asked the Ultimarc forum and Andy said if it is not resolved that he would send Mala devs a 2nd PacDrive board.   Is this the next step?  Have you tried Mala HW as 1st controller a PacDrive as the 2nd?

I sent an email yesterday, just checking that both your boards have different IDs.
Andy

[ARTIFACT]

It's zipped in a different format from winzip or winrar.  Just go to "http://www.7-zip.org/download.html" and download it.

Cheers, 
Congui

WinRAR will open that format too... Just download the latest WinRAR.

[ARTIFACT]

Reporting a bug (maybe)

I am using an ambiance MP3 in the background .. one of those Arcades Ambiance with all the arcade sounds in the background (VERY nice while scrolling for games in MaLa)

This is a ~40 minutes audio file I believe

I set the ambiance playlist to repeat

But it seems that once this long audio file is over, MaLa does not play it again (no repeat)

[RitchieTheBrit]

I'll have a look at that ARTIFACT, I've got the three Arcade Ambience tracks myself (great, aren't they!).

Which one is is, Arcade, Arcade '83 or Arcade '85?

[8way]

Just wondering if you had any plans on adding side to side scrolling for the game list?

Side to side scrolling with snap or title images?

title images

I was still wondering if this is possible? 

[RitchieTheBrit]

Do you mean a horizontal game list, as opposed to vertical?  That's how I had my skin for Dragonator many moons ago, using marquees instead of game names.  It looked pretty nice, and it gave me far more screen real-estate to put up screenshots and game info.

[ARTIFACT]

i plan to list all 3 but for now w i have the 1st one
thx for checking

[RitchieTheBrit]

EDIT:  I thought it was okay, but obviously not, I must have hit the skip forward button or something.

I'll have a play tomorrow and see if I can work out what the problem is.  I;ve had other MP3's working fine in playlists, so it must be to do with the files?

[CM]

I still have not made any progress on getting the 2nd PacDrive working 100%.  I asked the Ultimarc forum and Andy said if it is not resolved that he would send Mala devs a 2nd PacDrive board.   Is this the next step?  Have you tried Mala HW as 1st controller a PacDrive as the 2nd?

I sent an email yesterday, just checking that both your boards have different IDs.
Andy

I replied to the email .. yes Device IDs are different.

[8way]

Just wondering if you had any plans on adding side to side scrolling for the game list?

Side to side scrolling with snap or title images?

title images

I was still wondering if this is possible? 

Is it possible to just get a YES / NO answer on this?

[loadman]

Just wondering if you had any plans on adding side to side scrolling for the game list?

Side to side scrolling with snap or title images?

title images

I was still wondering if this is possible? 

Is it possible to just get a YES / NO answer on this?

Chill Buddy,    It appears Swindus has not vistited this forums for the last few days. Maybe you should try another FE if you can't wait?

[lettuce]

Reporting a bug (maybe)

I am using an ambiance MP3 in the background .. one of those Arcades Ambiance with all the arcade sounds in the background (VERY nice while scrolling for games in MaLa)

This is a ~40 minutes audio file I believe

I set the ambiance playlist to repeat

But it seems that once this long audio file is over, MaLa does not play it again (no repeat)

I had this problem too, so i just added the file again to the list, you can add the same file as many times as you want