LEDBlinky - Arcade LED Control software and Animation Editor - v8.2

[arzoo]

First off, I must say that LedBlinky is very impressive.  Great work. 
I did have a feature request though.   It would be nice to have the option to run an animation when a person chooses a gamelist, picks a category,  etc.

  I'm not trying to compare your plugin to Headkaze's by any means but when browsing gameex, everytime you make a menu selection or go back a page it flashes an animation,  it's a pretty cool feature.  I thought it would be nice if LedBlinky had this option.   I suppose it is somewhat dependent on the frontend.  I plan on using it with Hyperspin.

I agree, that could be a nice feature - but you are correct, it is FE dependent. I'll look into it for a future release.

[Charles4400]

Is there a way to change the controls.ini file (or any other file) so that led blinky speaks additional control information?

For example for "19XX: The War Against Destiny"

Button 1 is fire
Button 2 is bomb

But if you hold down button1 (fire) you get a special attack.... Is there a way for the voice to tell you to hold down fire for the special attack?

Is there also a way for it to tell you moves which require you to hold down 2 buttons at the same time?

(such as 1943 Kai: Midway Kaisen (Japan) pressing button 1 and 2 together allows you to loop)

-Thanks!

[arzoo]

Is there a way to change the controls.ini file (or any other file) so that led blinky speaks additional control information?

For example for "19XX: The War Against Destiny"

Button 1 is fire
Button 2 is bomb

But if you hold down button1 (fire) you get a special attack.... Is there a way for the voice to tell you to hold down fire for the special attack?

Is there also a way for it to tell you moves which require you to hold down 2 buttons at the same time?

(such as 1943 Kai: Midway Kaisen (Japan) pressing button 1 and 2 together allows you to loop)

-Thanks!

You can edit the controls.ini and modify the action for any button. For example, you could change button one to "Fire, hold for special attack". As for combo buttons, there's currently no way to flash and speak both buttons at the same time. I may be able to enhance this in a future release.

By the way, the next release of LEDBlinky will have a new Controls Editor which will let you make these kinds of configuration changes without having to manually edit any ini files. It's mostly designed to help configure other emulators, but you'll also be able to modify MAME controls for speech and color.

[Charles4400]

Thanks Arzoo!!!...Of course why didn't I think of just adding more descriptive text to the button speech !?  makes perfect sense.... should have tried that first!!!

Having two button speech and flash would be great on a future release! 

One more question though,
If controls.ini is what LEDBlinky reads for mame what file does it read for other emulators such as Daphne so I can edit it appropriately?

Thanks!

[arzoo]

One more question though,
If controls.ini is what LEDBlinky reads for mame what file does it read for other emulators such as Daphne so I can edit it appropriately?

You can edit the controls_emu.ini for all other emulators. Or just wait for the next release with the control editor app - but it could a month or so before it's ready, unless you'd like to do some beta testing? Regardless, if you modify the controls_emu.ini file, all the data will be imported with the controls editor - so you won't lose anything.

[Charles4400]

Got it Thanks again Arzoo!

I'll have to decline on the beta testing, not because I don't want to help but I feel I'm far from qualified to really beta test since I'm stubling along trying to learn as I go.... and can honestly say I'm dabling on a bunch of things for the cabinet but am no master at any of them!  hehe don't know how much use I would be at beta testing!

But thanks for the offer!

Cool can't wait for the next release whenever it gets released..and again thanks for the help!

[arzoo]

As for combo buttons, there's currently no way to flash and speak both buttons at the same time. I may be able to enhance this in a future release.

Turns out this was easy to add - so you'll be able to configure combo buttons in the next release.

[Charles4400]

Awesome Arzoo!!!!!! Great thanks for that request and can't wait for the next release!!!

[Popcorrin]

Arzoo,  I was wondering about a setting and I currently have no way to test it.
If I have ledblinky set up to light up gameex's controls, will those controls stay lit when I load up the mame list or will it only light up the controls that the highlighted game uses?   Is this something that is configurable?
Thanks

[arzoo]

Arzoo,  I was wondering about a setting and I currently have no way to test it.
If I have ledblinky set up to light up gameex's controls, will those controls stay lit when I load up the mame list or will it only light up the controls that the highlighted game uses?   Is this something that is configurable?
Thanks

It should do both. The game controls can be configured to stay lit for a few seconds, then return to the fe controls.

[Popcorrin]

Perfect, thanks.

[arzoo]

First off, I must say that LedBlinky is very impressive.  Great work. 
I did have a feature request though.   It would be nice to have the option to run an animation when a person chooses a gamelist, picks a category,  etc.

This will be included with the upcoming release (in beta now) 

[Twin-X]

Hey i am running hyperspin 8.0.0.1 with ledblinky 3.7.3.

It works perfect however i must have done something wrong.
When i edit the butting mapping in mame with the tab key a perfect cfg file is created.

In ledblinky config i repeatadly selected the cfg folder of mame to point to this direction.
However for some reason the lights do not map to my newley chosen button layout.

How can i get this to work? Or do i need to create 1 big ctrlr file with all the games and mapped buttons in it?

thanks,
Jeffry

[arzoo]

Hey i am running hyperspin 8.0.0.1 with ledblinky 3.7.3.

It works perfect however i must have done something wrong.
When i edit the butting mapping in mame with the tab key a perfect cfg file is created.

In ledblinky config i repeatadly selected the cfg folder of mame to point to this direction.
However for some reason the lights do not map to my newley chosen button layout.

How can i get this to work? Or do i need to create 1 big ctrlr file with all the games and mapped buttons in it?

thanks,
Jeffry

There's a bug in LEDBlinky when used with newer versions of mame which prevents it from correctly reading the cfg files. It's been fixed in the current code in beta - which should be ready for general release in a couple weeks.

[Twin-X]

There's a bug in LEDBlinky when used with newer versions of mame which prevents it from correctly reading the cfg files. It's been fixed in the current code in beta - which should be ready for general release in a couple weeks.

Aha i missed that one! Thanks arzoo.

[arzoo]

New Release - v3.7.4
See the first post for download links.

Thanks to all the beta testers! 

[Popcorrin]

New Release - v3.7.4
See the first post for download links.

Thanks to all the beta testers! 

FE List change animation feature.   Very Nice!!

[Bender]

Just wanted to say thanks! Especially for the new release!

This is just so awesome
So glad I'm able to run this with Maximus Arcade

You are truly a genius, as well as generous to do all the work on this 

[arzoo]

Just wanted to say thanks! Especially for the new release!

This is just so awesome
So glad I'm able to run this with Maximus Arcade

You are truly a genius, as well as generous to do all the work on this 

Definitely not a genius - but thanks!

One thing though - Last I checked there were still problems when using LEDBlinky with the Maximus Arcade beta. MA seems to send every command twice. Hopefully this will be resolved for the final MA release.

[Bender]

MA does send some things twice, like running an animation twice, but it hasen't botherd me so far, but lets hope Mameseer fixes it though!

[arzoo]

I've posted a minor update to the Controls Editor (v3.7.4.2) - fixed a couple of bugs. Most notably, the Unknown Games list was not being saved permanently after games were imported. For those of you who have used this feature, you should delete the UnknownGames.dat file.

If you're already running 3.7.4, just download the upgrade file and unzip into the folder above /LEDBlinky.

[Kayden]

Hey arzoo,

First,  , never has being pretty been so easy.

Secondly, I'm running into issues when enabling the speaking of controls.  For some games, it works, and for others it doesn't.  After I play a game where it doesn't work and close Mala, I get the following error:

"Control List and Control Speech List do not have the same number of values."


Also, would it be possible to set LEDBlinky up so it can both display the controls and play an animation while the front end is active?  There's a timer setting for demoing the controls, would it be possible to allow the animation to play after the demo period?  If you enable one, the other is disabled.  It took me a while to figure that out as they're on separate pages and there's no note that they don't work together.  (That I saw, but I'm good at missing things.)

[arzoo]

Hey arzoo,

First,  , never has being pretty been so easy.

Secondly, I'm running into issues when enabling the speaking of controls.  For some games, it works, and for others it doesn't.  After I play a game where it doesn't work and close Mala, I get the following error:

"Control List and Control Speech List do not have the same number of values."


Also, would it be possible to set LEDBlinky up so it can both display the controls and play an animation while the front end is active?  There's a timer setting for demoing the controls, would it be possible to allow the animation to play after the demo period?  If you enable one, the other is disabled.  It took me a while to figure that out as they're on separate pages and there's no note that they don't work together.  (That I saw, but I'm good at missing things.)

The error you're getting about the control list and speech list is a bug - I'll try to post the fix tonight. Can you tell me a few of the games that are generating that error (not speaking)?

As for the animation and demo feature - sorry for the confusion (the docs do mention that those features are mutually exclusive - I think the mouse-over tooltip also mentions it ). For now, that's the way it works - but I may be able to make an enhancement in a future release.

[Kayden]

Heh, like I said, I'm good at missing things.  I generally look once, don't find it, ask about it, look more and then find it.   

I can't say for sure, as this was two days ago, but I don't think the 194X games work or the Raiden games.  Metal Slug didn't work.  I don't think Sunset Riders worked.  I tried some random game and that did work, but I can't remember what it was.  If I enable say primary controls, that always works (joystick type, etc).

I will do my best to make a more concrete list when I get home.

[arzoo]

Heh, like I said, I'm good at missing things.  I generally look once, don't find it, ask about it, look more and then find it.   

I can't say for sure, as this was two days ago, but I don't think the 194X games work or the Raiden games.  Metal Slug didn't work.  I don't think Sunset Riders worked.  I tried some random game and that did work, but I can't remember what it was.  If I enable say primary controls, that always works (joystick type, etc).

I will do my best to make a more concrete list when I get home.

No need for a complete list - I just wanted a few for testing. I had discovered that bug a few weeks ago but I don't think it's preventing the games from speaking correctly - it only occurs for games that are not listed in the controls.ini file - so LEDBlinky wouldn't have anything to speak for those games anyway. Basically, it's a false positive (or negative?). But I'm not 100% sure - so I'll check the games that you mentioned.

[arzoo]

Hmmm, found Sunset Riders (ssriders) in controls.ini - so there goes that theory
Metal Slug is a neogeo - that would not have any controls defined for speech. But you can import the neogeo games into the controls editor and assign the voice actions (if you want).

I'll check out what's going on with ssriders tonight. Let me know if you think of one or two more games not speaking correctly (not neogeo). Thanks.

[DaveMMR]

Hmmm, found Sunset Riders (ssriders) in controls.ini - so there goes that theory
Metal Slug is a neogeo - that would not have any controls defined for speech. But you can import the neogeo games into the controls editor and assign the voice actions (if you want).

I'll check out what's going on with ssriders tonight. Let me know if you think of one or two more games not speaking correctly (not neogeo). Thanks.

Since you're checking... I ran into a peculiar problem with the programwith the rom "eprom" (Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters).  The rom exists in both colors.ini and controls.ini, but yet no buttons light up nor are controls spoken.  I even added it manually with the controls editor with the same results. 

I haven't had a chance to play with it recently.  But just wanted to see if you had any ideas.  I can have more information for you tomorrow if needed.

[arzoo]

Since you're checking... I ran into a peculiar problem with the programwith the rom "eprom" (Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters).  The rom exists in both colors.ini and controls.ini, but yet no buttons light up nor are controls spoken.  I even added it manually with the controls editor with the same results. 

I haven't had a chance to play with it recently.  But just wanted to see if you had any ideas.  I can have more information for you tomorrow if needed.

Wow, you’ve stumbled across a really obscure bug! LEDBlinky was originally coded as a MaLa plugin and for some reason (that I no longer remember  ), there's a line of code that specifically ignores the value 'eprom' when a game is selected. I guess I never thought that any game had a rom with the name 'eprom' - but... Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters!

[Kayden]

You're right, ssriders does work. 

I got side tracked wiring up my xbox wheel as USB and then Mala started crashing.  =(

I spent hours setting up cpwizard... I really hate that program now.  click on a button and it moves by itself, sometimes settings from one label migrate to another...  But that's neither here nor there.

Anyways, I'll try to check more tonight. =\

[DaveMMR]

Since you're checking... I ran into a peculiar problem with the programwith the rom "eprom" (Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters).  The rom exists in both colors.ini and controls.ini, but yet no buttons light up nor are controls spoken.  I even added it manually with the controls editor with the same results. 

I haven't had a chance to play with it recently.  But just wanted to see if you had any ideas.  I can have more information for you tomorrow if needed.

Wow, you’ve stumbled across a really obscure bug! LEDBlinky was originally coded as a MaLa plugin and for some reason (that I no longer remember  ), there's a line of code that specifically ignores the value 'eprom' when a game is selected. I guess I never thought that any game had a rom with the name 'eprom' - but... Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters!

Hooray my crappy taste in games!!  Actually no, it's a fun but underrated game.    Thanks for your help! 

[Kayden]

Mmmmk.  After farting around and trying a few games, two that didn't work were Splatter House and Ultimate MK3.

[DaveMMR]

Mmmmk.  After farting around and trying a few games, two that didn't work were Splatter House and Ultimate MK3.

I checked my controls.ini and "splatter" (Splatterhouse) wasn't listed.  I couldn't find "umk3" either (note: I may be looking at older version of file).  What I've noticed, as Arzoo pointed out, is that anything not in controls.ini will not light the controls, even if they are colors.ini (especially the Neo-Geo roms - since I remember going through pretty much every Neo-Geo panel in Headkaze's color.ini generator program).   Even if an unintended bug, I kind of like that it's "all or nothing" since I'm more inclined to find the problem and fix it rather than just shrug it off.

For Neo-Geo games, I've been manually editing the XML file with a quick copy and paste editing the rom and actual name only (A, B, C, D is fine since most of those games are quite good at explaining what those buttons do).  Controls.ini only lists the "bios rom" (Neogeo) instead of the individual games (while LEDblinky calls up the actual name - same goes for clones and bootlegs). 

[Kayden]

My controls light up just fine, but don't actually get announced. 
Tis not a big deal, I just thought I was doing something wrong.

I just wish there was a way I could fix the overscan.  =\  I tried using PowerStrip, but changing the position and size would through off the V and H holds.  Then I'd adjust those and the monitor would squeal horribly... instead of just the moderate squealing it does normally.   

Using soft15khz minimizes squeal and actually performs better, the monitor works as soon as windows loads instead of when powerstrip loads.

I'm tired and go off on tangents easily, I guess this means it's bed time.

[DaveMMR]

My controls light up just fine, but don't actually get announced. 

Darn - then I'm doing something seriously wrong.     Unless it's a Hyperspin thing.

[arzoo]

My controls light up just fine, but don't actually get announced. 

Darn - then I'm doing something seriously wrong.     Unless it's a Hyperspin thing.

It does seem like you may have something configured wrong - If LEDBlinky doesn't find a game in the controls.ini it will look in the mame.xml file. So those games (like neogeo) should light up correctly - they just won't speak the button actions.

Unfortunately the debug file you sent me a few days ago seems to be corrupted - it only contains a few dozen log entries from the end of the file. So I can't really tell what's going on. If you want, turn on the debug/verbose option again, play some games that don't light up and email me the debug.zip file again.

[Kayden]

Me again.  Something else I noticed is that LEDBlinky doesn't light up the game you start on when you open Mala nor does it light up the game you land on when you switch lists.

[arzoo]

Me again.  Something else I noticed is that LEDBlinky doesn't light up the game you start on when you open Mala nor does it light up the game you land on when you switch lists.

You're referring to the demo mode; correct - that's the way it works, by design.

[Kayden]

So if I turn off demo mode, then they'll always be lit or never be lit?  Is demo mode just to light them for a short time?  I turned on demo mode and set the timer to 50000 or something because I didn't want them to shut off but I was under the impression that demoing had to be on because I guess I'm stupid.

I think of questions or things to try while I'm at work, so that's why I ask a lot of stuff I could just test... because I can't just test it.  =\

[arzoo]

So if I turn off demo mode, then they'll always be lit or never be lit?  Is demo mode just to light them for a short time?  I turned on demo mode and set the timer to 50000 or something because I didn't want them to shut off but I was under the impression that demoing had to be on because I guess I'm stupid.

I think of questions or things to try while I'm at work, so that's why I ask a lot of stuff I could just test... because I can't just test it.  =\

If you turn off demo mode, the game controls won't light as you scroll through the lists. I don't think anyone has ever requested that the game buttons remain lit with the FE active - I guess by setting the delay to a long value you can simulate that effect.

[Kayden]

They're LEDs, they're supposed to be on looking pretty.  I'd have them on for 5-10 seconds if the animations also worked at the same time, but they don't so I figured I might as well just leave the game controls lit.