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

[arzoo]

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.

On my cp, I use the FE animation option - I don't find the demo mode necessary because the buttons flash and speak the actions when the game starts. But I will look into allowing the animation and demo mode to work together. You could also light up the FE buttons (both active and non-active) - and that feature does work with the demo mode.

[Kayden]

That wouldn't work for me as my front end buttons are the same physical buttons as the gameplay buttons.  I have my u360 setup so game buttons are 1-6 and admin functions are 9-14... which are the same button, just shifted.

[CatttDaddy]

I must say that I LOVE LEDBlinky, Its the best in its class of software IMHO.
I only would have one request. Do you have a request board or anything BTW?
Well I was wondering if it would be possible or how difficult it would be to reflect colors on the monitor on the LEDs on the CP. I understand that you have far fewer LEDs than pixels on a monitor but I mean just general colors.
Segment the monitor into 8x8 segments or something and take that color and display it on a set of LEDS. that way you could decently reflect the color on the monitor onto the CP. at very lease have an item going across the screen actually "reflect" on the LEDs. I'm sure it would be a ton of work but just an Idea I had.

I actually built a cabinet with a translucent top with lights under it. I guess I'm being selfish cause I would LOVE to have my TV control the colors and have my TV mounted above the cabinet.

Hope you get what i am trying to say with the Idea. I'm sure it would open up a lot of things for people.

[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.

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.

I'll work on a new debug.zip file, but I wonder if using MultiMame has anything to do with my odd behavioral problems. 

[arzoo]

I must say that I LOVE LEDBlinky, Its the best in its class of software IMHO.
I only would have one request. Do you have a request board or anything BTW?
Well I was wondering if it would be possible or how difficult it would be to reflect colors on the monitor on the LEDs on the CP. I understand that you have far fewer LEDs than pixels on a monitor but I mean just general colors.
Segment the monitor into 8x8 segments or something and take that color and display it on a set of LEDS. that way you could decently reflect the color on the monitor onto the CP. at very lease have an item going across the screen actually "reflect" on the LEDs. I'm sure it would be a ton of work but just an Idea I had.

I actually built a cabinet with a translucent top with lights under it. I guess I'm being selfish cause I would LOVE to have my TV control the colors and have my TV mounted above the cabinet.

Hope you get what i am trying to say with the Idea. I'm sure it would open up a lot of things for people.

That's an interesting concept. But even if you segmented the display into an 8x8 grid as you suggested, there could by hundreds of colors in each quadrant - which would you use and for which button?

[Kayden]

Do you mean have each button act like one pixel on the monitor?  And I presume you mean RGB LEDs.  That's so far from infeasible it's not even funny.

That 8x8 section you're talking about would be the size of your thumbnail on the monitor, but would be over a foot wide of buttons on your CP.  It would take 64 buttons and at $7 a piece that'd be well over $300... not to mention you'd need 2 LEDWizs just to accommodate them.  Even then, it'd be such a small part of the screen blown up so big no one would be able to tell what it was anyways.

Or are you talking about having a part of the screen where you could click a pixel to change the color of the associated RGBLED?  Even still, how does controlling the color of the LEDs with the TV come into play?  A TV is an output only device.  It doesn't sent data back to anything. 

In short... lolwut?

I must say that I LOVE LEDBlinky, Its the best in its class of software IMHO.
I only would have one request. Do you have a request board or anything BTW?
Well I was wondering if it would be possible or how difficult it would be to reflect colors on the monitor on the LEDs on the CP. I understand that you have far fewer LEDs than pixels on a monitor but I mean just general colors.
Segment the monitor into 8x8 segments or something and take that color and display it on a set of LEDS. that way you could decently reflect the color on the monitor onto the CP. at very lease have an item going across the screen actually "reflect" on the LEDs. I'm sure it would be a ton of work but just an Idea I had.

I actually built a cabinet with a translucent top with lights under it. I guess I'm being selfish cause I would LOVE to have my TV control the colors and have my TV mounted above the cabinet.

Hope you get what i am trying to say with the Idea. I'm sure it would open up a lot of things for people.

[arzoo]

That 8x8 section you're talking about would be the size of your thumbnail on the monitor, but would be over a foot wide of buttons on your CP.  It would take 64 buttons and at $7 a piece that'd be well over $300... not to mention you'd need 2 LEDWizs just to accommodate them. 

Actually, you would need 6 LED-Wiz controllers 

[Kayden]

Heh, yea, I forgot to multiply by 3.   

[Neverending Project]

Is there a way to have a different profile for each emulator other than MAME?

I am using MaLa and LEDBlinky to light the game-specific controls when a MAME game is launched. I set it up to use a profile for "Other Emulators", but can I have a different profile for each "Other Emulator"? In other words, can I have it light P1B1 when Atari 2600 is selected, and P1B1-4 when SNES is selected, etc.? Also, is there a way to set it so it lights these emu controls when the emu is selected from the tree, rather than on game launch?

[arzoo]

Is there a way to have a different profile for each emulator other than MAME?

I am using MaLa and LEDBlinky to light the game-specific controls when a MAME game is launched. I set it up to use a profile for "Other Emulators", but can I have a different profile for each "Other Emulator"? In other words, can I have it light P1B1 when Atari 2600 is selected, and P1B1-4 when SNES is selected, etc.? Also, is there a way to set it so it lights these emu controls when the emu is selected from the tree, rather than on game launch?

Yup - but you need to upgrade to the latest version (3.7.4). Using the Controls Editor you can define the default controls for each individual emulator. As for lighting the controls from the mala tree - if you turn on the Demo Controls option they should light up as you scroll through the games lists, but this may not be exactly what you're looking to do.

[arzoo]

I've added a download link on the first post for the 3.7.4.3 patch - fixes a few annoying bugs. If you're using 3.7.4.x you should grab this update.

[DaveMMR]

Eprom lives again!   Thanks! 

I still have to send you a log file, I will send later on. 

[Hollywood]

Does LedBlinky allow you to make a RGB button change colour when pressed while in a game.

For instance I would like the buttons to display as blue....but when pressed while playing the game to turn green

Thanks,

Lance

[ivwshane]

That would be sweet but I'm guessing that that would require ledblinky to actually intercept inputs which might mean a cpu hit or cause some lag.


It's probably harder than it sounds:(

[Hollywood]

Check this video out



I am looking to accomplish what happens at 2:05 in the video

Thanks,

Lance

[Kayden]

[arzoo]

Does LedBlinky allow you to make a RGB button change colour when pressed while in a game.

For instance I would like the buttons to display as blue....but when pressed while playing the game to turn green

Thanks,

Lance

LEDBlinky can intercept key presses and in fact has a button flash mode similar to what you want (flashes all buttons when any is pressed) but it's only available when the FE is active. As ivwshane suggested, I didn't want to add any additional load on the cpu when the emulator is running so LEDBlinky pretty much stays in the background.

But it is a cool concept - I'll consider it as a possible future enhancement. Right now I'm working on an audio animation mode so that LEDBlinky can blink to music.

[tyson171]

First of all.....LEDblinky is great! (lol drove myself crazy trying to make it work....helps if you setup the mame.xml list and the controller.ini....lol).  Two quick questions, when using the trackball during a game, is there a way to make the colors change or do you have to just set it to a standard color?  I also wanted two of my admin  buttons to be lighted during game play, how/where do i set this up?  Thanks in advance!

[arzoo]

First of all.....LEDblinky is great! (lol drove myself crazy trying to make it work....helps if you setup the mame.xml list and the controller.ini....lol).  Two quick questions, when using the trackball during a game, is there a way to make the colors change or do you have to just set it to a standard color?  I also wanted two of my admin  buttons to be lighted during game play, how/where do i set this up?  Thanks in advance!

tyson171,
The trackball should light the color specified in the colors.ini file (for mame). If it's not working, you can turn on the Debug Log and Verbose option, play a game that uses the trackball, then send me the debug.zip file and I'll try to figure out what's going on.

As for lighting the admin buttons - run the Controls Editor; If you don't have one already, add a "Default" control group for mame. Then, on the Common Controls tab, add the mame UI controls your cp uses (UI_CONFIGURE, UI_PAUSE, UI_SELECT, UI_CANCEL). Check the "Always Active" option for each control and you should be good to go.

[sinkhead]

You mention that two controllers are needed when using in collaboration with a screensaver. I'm only having two lit buttons, the start buttons which I'd like to light up when credits are available, and the other outputs will be used for some cabinet lights I'd like to flash when a screensaver is on. Would I need two controllers for this?

[arzoo]

You mention that two controllers are needed when using in collaboration with a screensaver. I'm only having two lit buttons, the start buttons which I'd like to light up when credits are available, and the other outputs will be used for some cabinet lights I'd like to flash when a screensaver is on. Would I need two controllers for this?

sinkhead,
You'll only need one controller and you won't need to use the Cabinet LEDs option - just use the Screen Saver animation for your cabinet lights.

[csa3d]

Great additions on the latest toolset!

Is there a way to force Mame to light my start buttons and playerX buttons to colors other then the values defined in the Common tab?  Mame seems to be ignoring my color overrides defined in the PlayerX group, however the same basic color configuration for the Stella emulator works as expected.

Any help much appreciated.  I'm using 3.7.4.3

-csa

[arzoo]

Great additions on the latest toolset!

Is there a way to force Mame to light my start buttons and playerX buttons to colors other then the values defined in the Common tab?  Mame seems to be ignoring my color overrides defined in the PlayerX group, however the same basic color configuration for the Stella emulator works as expected.

Any help much appreciated.  I'm using 3.7.4.3

-csa

csa,
I assume you're not using the colors.ini file (if you are then mame will always use those colors for the defined games).

I did a quick test and you're correct - LEDBlinky does not use the colors in the default group for mame. I guess I never tested this case without the colors.ini file  . I'm very close to going into beta on the next release and I should be able get a fix in for this issue.

[csa3d]

csa,
I assume you're not using the colors.ini file (if you are then mame will always use those colors for the defined games).

I did a quick test and you're correct - LEDBlinky does not use the colors in the default group for mame. I guess I never tested this case without the colors.ini file  . I'm very close to going into beta on the next release and I should be able get a fix in for this issue.

Arzoo,

You're correct.  No colors.ini file here.  I didn't even have to send you a debug log, which I was prepared to do!    Thanks for looking into this.
-csa

[csa3d]

I haven't looked much into the issue, but is there way to get "other emulators" to recognize the trackball as an option to light up, short of going into a specific game config and forcing it on?  I'm assuming that's probably the solution, unless the other emulator somehow notifies LED Blinky about the trackball input?? 

Thanks
-csa

[arzoo]

I haven't looked much into the issue, but is there way to get "other emulators" to recognize the trackball as an option to light up, short of going into a specific game config and forcing it on?  I'm assuming that's probably the solution, unless the other emulator somehow notifies LED Blinky about the trackball input?? 

Thanks
-csa

Correct, only mame has the data to light up the correct controls - for other emulators you either set a default or config each game separately.

[wolfsoft]

I am using ledblinky with mala and it works great with mame.
Now I want to Lite some Buttons of other emulators. eg. PC-Engine, SNES
But I didn´t know how to lite some buttons for these emulators.
In the first step I want to lite 2 buttons and the stick for all pc-engine games
How will this work?
thanks

[arzoo]

I am using ledblinky with mala and it works great with mame.
Now I want to Lite some Buttons of other emulators. eg. PC-Engine, SNES
But I didn´t know how to lite some buttons for these emulators.
In the first step I want to lite 2 buttons and the stick for all pc-engine games
How will this work?
thanks

If you haven't already, from MaLa (with LEDBlinky) play at least one game for each of the new emulators. Then you'll need to use the LEDBlinky Controls Editor to add a <default> control group from each emulator; use the Import Unknown Games menu option. Then you can add the controls (joystick and buttons). There's a couple of sections in the help doc that should help:
"Configuring Other Emulators" and "Import Unknown Games".
If you still have questions let me know.

[wolfsoft]

thanks,
Via import Unknown Games i could see the right names for the emulators and it works *great*

But I have a little problem with the emulator mess.
I want to set default button lights for each emulator.
eg I use mess for vectrex, atari 800, atari 5200
is there a way to set default buttons for each mess emulator
default for all atari 800 games via mess  one button
default for all vectrex games via mess  four buttons?

[csa3d]

thanks,
Via import Unknown Games i could see the right names for the emulators and it works *great*

But I have a little problem with the emulator mess.
I want to set default button lights for each emulator.
eg I use mess for vectrex, atari 800, atari 5200
is there a way to set default buttons for each mess emulator
default for all atari 800 games via mess  one button
default for all vectrex games via mess  four buttons?

the latest version of the software has options for "other emulators".  All you have to do is create a profile which matches the name of the emulator, then add buttons to that profile and set their default lighting options.  If you got Mame to work, other emulators isn't much different.  Read over the help pdf that ships with the distribution and hit us back with specifics.

-csa

[arzoo]

But I have a little problem with the emulator mess.
I want to set default button lights for each emulator.
eg I use mess for vectrex, atari 800, atari 5200
is there a way to set default buttons for each mess emulator
default for all atari 800 games via mess  one button
default for all vectrex games via mess  four buttons?

I think with mess you'll need to create a separate batch file for each emulator (vectrex.bat, atari800.bat, etc.). The batch files will need to accept the mess parameters and then launch the mess exe (mess32.exe %1). Then from mala you'll pass the params to the batch file. This way LEDBlinky will use the batch file name as the emulator and you can then specify unique controls for each actual emulator.

[csa3d]

Arzoo:

Just some feedback tonight on getting Nestopia hooked up to Mala and Ledblinky.  Because Nestopia runs a windows menubar, you cannot use the default MAME mappings for Left Control, Left Alt buttons, as it activates Nestopia's menus.  Thus, I've gone ahead and created an emulator remapping for this one emulator.  This resolves the menu bar issue, but to make this work, you need to upload this new keyset to the ipac when that emulator is selected via Mala.  Thus far, Nestopia is the only emulator on a different key mapping.

There are a few issues here.  Led Blinky appears to map lighted buttons for Other Emulators based on the current keyset loaded into my ipac, and defined in the main mapping.  At this time, I do not remember if I had to go back to the master port mappings and add two bogus entries, just so Led Blinky thought I had extra key bindings available for assignment.

Upon selecting a NES game, Mala will eventually upload that keyset to the ipac, but NOT BEFORE led blinky looks to see what keys are currently mapped to what.  What this means is that when setting up the "other emulator" in Led Blinky, what you are really doing is setting up the emulator button handles to be whatever default keys those buttons WERE before the ipac key remapping happens.  If you do not anticipate the key change, and assign your 'other emulator' buttons with the keys they eventually WON'T be, then Led Blinky will not know how to correctly light up your buttons.  (Does this make sense?)  Checking the "always light this button" didn't seem to light the button at all, despite the fact that I really don't give a rat's    if my other emulator never turns any buttons on or off.

I found setting up an Other Emulator while changing key mappyings to my ipac quite confusing.  I really wasn't sure where to change data for quite some time, and after much playing around with different settings just to try to trick it into working.

If i'm being totally dumb, please let me know.  Perhaps there's a few bugs in the system, perhaps another iteration on the interface is necessary for clarification.  I did get it to work, but just wanted to let you know of my experience setting this up, in case you haven't tested this scenario of events.  I get the feeling that Mala's order in which key remapping happens vs. led blinky plugin is called to light the buttons is off, or Led Blinky didn't really anticipate encoder remapping on the fly.   

Love this app, would love to help make it better.  Hope this helps.

-csa

-csa

[arzoo]

csa-
Sorry you had a hard time. A bit of clarification - LEDBlinky doesn't read any data from the IPac - the only way it knows what keycodes are assigned to each button for any emulator (other than mame) is based on the settings defined using the controls editor for each emulator.

So here's an example;

Let's assume in the device/port input map you have LEDWiz port 1 assigned to KEYCODE_A. That means any game for any emulator with a control assigned to KEYCODE_A will light up port 1.

Next, LEDBlinky needs to know for each emulator (other than mame) what controls each game uses and what keycode is mapped to each control. This mapping should match your keyboard encoder (IPac). Since LEDBlinky doesn't read any data from the keyboard encoder, you need to configure this manually - that's where the controls editor comes in.

So let's configure a fictitious emulator; ABC. You create a <default> control group for emulator ABC and add the control P1_BUTTON1 and assign it to KEYCODE_A (very important!).

Now, when your FE starts a game for emulator ABC, here's what LEDBlinky does;
- The FE passed the emulator name ('ABC') and the game name ('pac-dog').
- LEDBlinky looks for unique controls defined for 'pac-dog'.
- Since none have been defined, it looks for 'ABC' <default> controls.
- It finds P1_BUTTON1 mapped to KEYCODE_A.
- The device/port input map links KEYCODE_A to port 1 and the LED wired to port 1 lights up!

So that's the basics.

But let's say you defined P1_BUTTON1 for ABC but didn't assign it to any keyboard input code. Technically, nothing should light up. Unless... you've upgraded from an older version of LEDBlinky. In this case your controls xml file may have defined a set of overall default control input codes for all non-mame emulators. This can lead to some confusion and in retrospect maybe I should not have migrated this data. If you want, edit (using notepad) the LEDBlinkyControls.xml file and looks for this node:
<controlDefaults groupName="OTHER"
If you find it, you can just change it to this and the data will be ignored:
<controlDefaults groupName="OTHER-ignore"

Anyway, hopefully this helps understand what's going on. But if you send me your debug.zip file I can get a better picture of your exact configuration and help out.

arzoo

[arzoo]

I'd be down, but I can't seem to get my sh*t together. When I add plugins to mala it crashes/freezes...

Any plugin? What have you tried?

Basically, I've created a few lwax animations and I only want them to run once the screensaver starts (or a timed period of inoperation). Then I either want all the lights on during both fe and mame use or all off.

Sorry to post this here, but I figured this would get the best responses. I know you, and those who view this, are likely to have faced a similar issue before.

I guess I am asking for a piece of software that will run a lwax file after a period of inoperation. Anybody seen this before? Controlling the lights always on/always off behavior would be a plus.

Thanks guys

Yes - it's called LEDBlinky 
If you've created lwax files you must be using the animation editor. Have you tried LEDBlinky with MaLa?

[kellenmeister]

Hi there,

it is possible to display the associated controls from a Mame Rom by "Selecting" a Game in Hyperspin?  Atm work this only at "Starting" a Game.
In MaLa is this possible.

Sorry for my bad English.   

[arzoo]

Hi there,

it is possible to display the associated controls from a Mame Rom by "Selecting" a Game in Hyperspin?  Atm work this only at "Starting" a Game.
In MaLa is this possible.

Sorry for my bad English.   

Yes, LEDBlinky has a 'demo' mode available for both HS and Mala. Each time you select a game the controls will light up for a few seconds.

[disaac]

Hey guys,

I am a led newbie and could use some guidance on a few issues:

My configuration

4 x Ledwiz + GP
Hyperspin (latest)
Mame 1.32
LedBlinky 3.7.4.3
Windows XP SP3 32-bit

My Problem

"Access violation at address 004997C3 in module 'LEDBlinky.exe'.  Read of address 00000000."

error after launching Hyperspin.  Controls just all blink on when touching any button on either keyboard or controller, but normally stay off.  Same thing in mame.

What I have tried

- reading everything I could get my virtual hands on the topic
- updating all software to latest versions
- re-installing the software from scratch.

I am sure this comes down to my lack of experience with the software/hardware.  Any one have words of wisdom for me?  Or need more information?

Contents of ledblinky.log
/16/2009 20:17:32] Missing value in Settings.ini: [MameControlsFile].

I am under the assumption that this file was optional.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Daniel

[arzoo]

Hey guys,

I am a led newbie and could use some guidance on a few issues:

My configuration

4 x Ledwiz + GP
Hyperspin (latest)
Mame 1.32
LedBlinky 3.7.4.3
Windows XP SP3 32-bit

My Problem

"Access violation at address 004997C3 in module 'LEDBlinky.exe'.  Read of address 00000000."

error after launching Hyperspin.  Controls just all blink on when touching any button on either keyboard or controller, but normally stay off.  Same thing in mame.

What I have tried

- reading everything I could get my virtual hands on the topic
- updating all software to latest versions
- re-installing the software from scratch.

I am sure this comes down to my lack of experience with the software/hardware.  Any one have words of wisdom for me?  Or need more information?

Contents of ledblinky.log
/16/2009 20:17:32] Missing value in Settings.ini: [MameControlsFile].

I am under the assumption that this file was optional.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Daniel

For mame, the controls.ini file is not optional - have you tried LEDBlinky with that file specified? If you have and it's still not working, turn on the verbose debug option, start up hyperspin, then email me the debug.zip file.

[ChazMan]

I am running HyperSpin and the LEDBlinky works great with Mame.  But I want to make a Default control for each emulator. I have 20 emulators so far.  And for Atari 2600 I only need 1 button lit, And for Daphne I need 3 lit. ect...   Do I make Bat files? and if so HOW?   

I see a bunch of people have asked the same type question.  Will you be adding this feature into your next version?     

[arzoo]

I am running HyperSpin and the LEDBlinky works great with Mame.  But I want to make a Default control for each emulator. I have 20 emulators so far.  And for Atari 2600 I only need 1 button lit, And for Daphne I need 3 lit. ect...   Do I make Bat files? and if so HOW?   

I see a bunch of people have asked the same type question.  Will you be adding this feature into your next version?     

No need for batch files...

If you haven't already, from Hyperpin (with LEDBlinky) play at least one game for each of the emulators. Then you'll need to use the LEDBlinky Controls Editor to add a <default> control group from each emulator; use the Import Unknown Games menu option. Then you can add the controls (joystick and buttons) to light up. There's a couple of sections in the help doc that should help:
"Configuring Other Emulators" and "Import Unknown Games".
If you still have questions let me know.