Mala info window: interesting findings and questions...

[Dustin Mustangs]

Lately I have been waking up every morning with a different opinion on how to best use the info button in Mala.  Initially, I was dead set on having a control panel viewer app and since I had zero luck with J5 I was forced to use one that launches from Mala.  This is done via the info window button and it shows your control panel viewer app instead of the standard info window that would normally launch.  Not what I originally had in mind (I really wanted to be able to view this while in the game) but it works and works reliably.  Then the other night I decided to switch back to the standard info window function just to give it a try because I never really did before.   Well, it turns out I really liked having this available and was no longer ok with loosing this function in lieu of a control panel viewer.  Well as they say, necessity leads to innovation (at least I think this is innovation)...

It turns out you can have both!  I used my control panel app of choice (cpv2) to generate a full set of cp snaps.  These are basically static images of your control panel labeled for and named after each game.  Then I pointed one of my mame definables to that directory and added that definable as a new page in the info window.  So I have my info window just like before, but now it has one additional page that shows my control panel as it relates to whatever game I have selected in Mala.  Sweet!

Now, there are some limitations to this...  For one, the info window is not all that big.  So, even with my cp image filling it completely, I couldn't fit both player one and player two controls and still be able to read them.  So, sacrifice number one is that I was only able to show my player one layout and my trackball.  The other, more obvious, limitation is that these do not automatically update when you change your mappings.  Not the biggest deal, but that means every once in a while you'll have to generate a new set if your game specific mappings are still a work in progress.  This is a batch process, so it doesn't take much time from the user, but it does take about 15-20 min of computer time. 


So finally, I have a few questions about enhancing this capability...

-What is the largest resolution image that can be displayed in the info window (as-is) without scaling?
-Is there any way to make the info window larger or even full screen?
-Is there even a remote possibility of calling the info window while in a game?
-Is there any way to get the info window working with emulators other than Mame, like the consoles for example?  Obviously these would have just one image per system, not a unique one for each game like in Mame.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have about any of this...

 

[headkaze]

CPWizard was designed to be shown in game although it's still in beta.