CPWizard v2.63 Released

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TheShanMan:
Well, considering the fact that the preview screen now has a "launch game" button, I'd say you should change it back - otherwise that feature is broken because cpwizard is never minimized when you click the button!

Well, at least we got to the bottom of it!

TheShanMan:
Don't forget to change the subject to announce 1.72! :)

I like the mini info option, and it's nice to see you fixed the non-minimized issue.

A few things...

* Being able to unpause mame in recent versions of mame would be huge (at least to me) - I know you're working on this but if you have a test version I could try and use until you're ready to release it publicly, I'd be very excited (PM me if you want to take it off list).
* I have a vertically oriented monitor and the panel gets squished (aspect ratio not maintained). What do I need to do to correct this?
* I could have sworn that 1.70 showed numbers for the PLAYER START labels, but they appear blank now - did this get broken?
* I'm working on separate layouts for 3 and 4 player games (I have external boxes that plug into my panel with DB9 cables) but I can't get the alternating filter to work. The only filters I set for my layout map are numplayers=3 and alternating=no. Then when I try to preview Rampage, it falls back to the default layout. If I change alternating to a *, then it works (but of course that's not how I want it configured). Rampage does list as 3 players and not alternating, so it seems that there's a bug in determining which layout to use.
* I noticed that when I pause mame, there is a flicker where the desktop becomes visible for a moment and then mame plus cpwizard appear. Is there any way to eliminate that? It's not a huge issue, but of course ideally you want cpwizard to essentially appear to be part of mame, not something that is clearly distinct.
* I don't know if this is common or not, but I have been editing my layouts and settings on my desktop machine and then copying certain files over to my cabinet. This would include my layout maps (including default "mame layout" map) and panel files (including graphics, because not all of them came with the install). A "deploy to cabinet" feature would be cool, where you would specify the UNC path to the remote cpwizard installation and it would copy over all relevant files and/or settings. Certainly not critical by any means, but if this is something many people do manually, then it might be worth adding.
* Oh, and I still think making the preview window modeless just like the object properties window would be very handy while making several iterations of tweaks to a layout.
I finally moved my cpwizard stuff over to my cabinet today and tried it out. It is fantastic and a tremendous addition to it. Thanks so much and keep up the great work!!! :notworthy:

headkaze:
The main issues I have with my code to send keys to Mame is (a) stability, because I use a dll to attach to the Mame process and subclass it's WndProc calls it might inadvertantly cause Mame to crash. If you exit CPWizard before closing Mame for example, Mame will crash. This is because the only way to inject keys into Mame's new Raw Input System is to "hack" your way into it. And (b) The fact the host application needs to run on any CPU and launch either the 32 or 64 bit versions of the dll (which I have working) but because CPWizard is still only 32-bit because of some of the 32-bit dependancies I will probably have to launch a separate program to inject the keys. It's just a little "ugly" for my liking so I am hessitant to implement it.

As for modifying the Mame source to pause, I don't think it would be that difficult. All you have to do is add a new message for the "Mame Output" window (check out output.c) there is a function called output_window_proc(). Basically you would add an extra event using RegisterWindowMessage() (lets call it IM_MAME_PAUSE).

Inside winoutput_init()

im_mame_pause = RegisterWindowMessage(IM_MAME_PAUSE);

Then inside output_window_proc()

if (message == im_mame_pause)
mame_pause(Machine);

From CPWizard I simply say PostMessage(hwnd, im_mame_pause, 0, state); to pause Mame.

Anyway something like that should work. I would prefer to use this method and create a diff for it as it doesn't have all the problems my other method brings.

--- Quote ---I have a vertically oriented monitor and the panel gets squished (aspect ratio not maintained). What do I need to do to correct this?
--- End quote ---

Have you tried replacing the background image to be a vertical orientation? You will have to move all the buttons around to make it look right, but it should work okay.

--- Quote ---I could have sworn that 1.70 showed numbers for the PLAYER START labels, but they appear blank now - did this get broken?
--- End quote ---

No I don't think it ever did this. Just add a "Custom Text" label if you want to put numbers on your start buttons.

--- Quote ---I'm working on separate layouts for 3 and 4 player games (I have external boxes that plug into my panel with DB9 cables) but I can't get the alternating filter to work. The only filters I set for my layout map are numplayers=3 and alternating=no. Then when I try to preview Rampage, it falls back to the default layout. If I change alternating to a *, then it works (but of course that's not how I want it configured). Rampage does list as 3 players and not alternating, so it seems that there's a bug in determining which layout to use.
--- End quote ---

Yep you found a bug. I'll upload a fix soon.

--- Quote ---I noticed that when I pause mame, there is a flicker where the desktop becomes visible for a moment and then mame plus cpwizard appear. Is there any way to eliminate that? It's not a huge issue, but of course ideally you want cpwizard to essentially appear to be part of mame, not something that is clearly distinct.
--- End quote ---

You could try one of the "Hide Desktop Options" under General options. Like "Hide Desktop Using Forms". To be honest I didn't do a hell of alot of testing with all that though. I should probably look into using that same method just for when CPWizard is being shown.

--- Quote ---I don't know if this is common or not, but I have been editing my layouts and settings on my desktop machine and then copying certain files over to my cabinet. This would include my layout maps (including default "mame layout" map) and panel files (including graphics, because not all of them came with the install). A "deploy to cabinet" feature would be cool, where you would specify the UNC path to the remote cpwizard installation and it would copy over all relevant files and/or settings. Certainly not critical by any means, but if this is something many people do manually, then it might be worth adding.
--- End quote ---

There is no cure for lazyness! lol Probably not something I would do. You know what though you could setup a shortcut that will copy over the files to your cab when you double click it. That is how I update things to my cab.

--- Quote ---Oh, and I still think making the preview window modeless just like the object properties window would be very handy while making several iterations of tweaks to a layout.
--- End quote ---

Yes it's a good idea, I'll consider it :)

headkaze:
TheShanMan: I uploaded CPWizard again with the fix for using alternative in Layout Maps.

Also I just tried making those source changes I was talking about and got Mame compiling okay, so far so good. All I have to do now is see if I can trigger the pause from sending the message to Mame. I'll let you know how I go :)

EDIT: Okay I got Mame pausing from CPWizard now :) I'll just have to put a diff together and release a new version of CPWizard...

EDIT2: Okay Version 1.73 released with a bezel_0124.diff that should add the unpausing. You will have to apply the diff and also go to Edit->Options->Mame and tick "Send Pause Key" in CPWizard. Can you give it a try and let me know if it works okay for you. Can you also test to see if the Alternating variable in Layout Maps works okay now.

TheShanMan:

--- Quote from: headkaze on April 13, 2008, 04:26:50 am ---
--- Quote ---I have a vertically oriented monitor and the panel gets squished (aspect ratio not maintained). What do I need to do to correct this?
--- End quote ---

Have you tried replacing the background image to be a vertical orientation? You will have to move all the buttons around to make it look right, but it should work okay.
--- End quote ---

I'll give it a try later today.

--- Quote from: headkaze on April 13, 2008, 04:26:50 am ---
--- Quote ---I could have sworn that 1.70 showed numbers for the PLAYER START labels, but they appear blank now - did this get broken?
--- End quote ---

No I don't think it ever did this. Just add a "Custom Text" label if you want to put numbers on your start buttons.
--- End quote ---

The problem with just putting the numbers on there is they will appear whether or not the button is "enabled".

--- Quote from: headkaze on April 13, 2008, 04:26:50 am ---
--- Quote ---I'm working on separate layouts for 3 and 4 player games (I have external boxes that plug into my panel with DB9 cables) but I can't get the alternating filter to work. The only filters I set for my layout map are numplayers=3 and alternating=no. Then when I try to preview Rampage, it falls back to the default layout. If I change alternating to a *, then it works (but of course that's not how I want it configured). Rampage does list as 3 players and not alternating, so it seems that there's a bug in determining which layout to use.
--- End quote ---

Yep you found a bug. I'll upload a fix soon.
--- End quote ---

Confirmed the fix. Thanks! However, I'm trying to get my player 4 controls working. All the keys for player for are on the number pad (num2, num4, num6, num8, num0, numdel, numenter), but for some reason the controls are always dimmed and I can't get them to work. I'm trying it with simpsons. Any idea what could be the problem? Could this be a bug or what could I be doing wrong?

EDIT: Found the problem, and it's the same as the cfg file bug I posted about below, so see that post for more details.

--- Quote from: headkaze on April 13, 2008, 04:26:50 am ---
--- Quote ---I noticed that when I pause mame, there is a flicker where the desktop becomes visible for a moment and then mame plus cpwizard appear. Is there any way to eliminate that? It's not a huge issue, but of course ideally you want cpwizard to essentially appear to be part of mame, not something that is clearly distinct.
--- End quote ---

You could try one of the "Hide Desktop Options" under General options. Like "Hide Desktop Using Forms". To be honest I didn't do a hell of alot of testing with all that though. I should probably look into using that same method just for when CPWizard is being shown.
--- End quote ---

I'll play with these options later today.

--- Quote from: headkaze on April 13, 2008, 04:26:50 am ---
--- Quote ---I don't know if this is common or not, but I have been editing my layouts and settings on my desktop machine and then copying certain files over to my cabinet. This would include my layout maps (including default "mame layout" map) and panel files (including graphics, because not all of them came with the install). A "deploy to cabinet" feature would be cool, where you would specify the UNC path to the remote cpwizard installation and it would copy over all relevant files and/or settings. Certainly not critical by any means, but if this is something many people do manually, then it might be worth adding.
--- End quote ---

There is no cure for lazyness! lol Probably not something I would do. You know what though you could setup a shortcut that will copy over the files to your cab when you double click it. That is how I update things to my cab.
--- End quote ---

Oh, man. You caught me! Yeah, I can make a batch file to do it, you're right. But then again there's that laziness factor (just kidding).

--- Quote from: headkaze on April 13, 2008, 05:01:08 am ---Okay Version 1.73 released with a bezel_0124.diff that should add the unpausing. You will have to apply the diff and also go to Edit->Options->Mame and tick "Send Pause Key" in CPWizard. Can you give it a try and let me know if it works okay for you. Can you also test to see if the Alternating variable in Layout Maps works okay now.

--- End quote ---

I will kick off a build now to try, and I'll get back to you later. I haven't moved to 0.124 yet, but under the hope that the patch is also compatible with 0.123, I'll try that. If the build fails, I'll try it on 0.124.

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