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CPWizard v2.63 Released
headkaze:
There are quite a number of apps and utils written in .NET so I would recommend you install at least .NET 2.0 runtimes. People who write native code tend to fear monger with "dependancies" like their some big bloated boogy man who's going to slow your PC. The truth is installing .NET will have 0% effect on your system performance.
CPWizard does use a bit of RAM though but that's because it stores MAME info in memory. I did address that issue with the "Dynamic Data Loading" feature with a speed compomise. Just try it out, it really shouldn't be a problem, and I probably wouldn't bother with the dynamic option if you have at least 512MB of RAM.
If you don't want MiniInfo.xml being overwritten I guess you could set it to be read only (right click on it->properties and tick read only)
jasonbar:
Thanks for your help. I installed .net 2.0 & CPW 2.21 on my cab.
Still configuring & fussing & making my layout. So far so good.
Oh, and I have exactly 512MB of RAM on my cab PC, so I'm running a bit on the weak side. I should look into more RAM one of these days--I'm sure it would be dirt cheap to up it to 1GB.
Thanks for the read-only tip too. Sounds like a plan. :cheers:
Thanks,
-Jason
jasonbar:
Howdy Headkaze-
I've got CPWizard pretty much up & running but have a handful of issues. Sorry if this is a big hunk o' questions all at once. ;D
1 - Mouse cursor shows when CPW is displayed. No combination of "Enable", "Hide Mouse Cursor", & "Move Mouse Offscreen" in the "Hide Desktop Options" section of the "General" tab works. Note that I have a custom animated Space Invader mouse, but the mouse is cursor is still
2 - Can CPW be set so that any key will exit it? (both for showing CPW when launching game from MaLa & for showing CPW from within MAME). I'd like the user to be able to hit any key to exit. Is there a code for "any key", or must I enter every button sequentially in the "Exit Key" box in the "Input" tab?
3 - I have MaLa set to show CPW shows when launching a game. While CPW is showing the controls, the mouse is still active & moving the mouse will scroll MaLa the game list "behind the scenes". I hear the sound corresponding to scrolling the MaLa menu, & then when game launches, it's not the same game I selected, because the MaLa menu has scrolled while I was looking @ CPWizard!
4 - If playing a MAME game w/ a bezel, after showing CPWizard & hiding CPWizard, there are no more graphics inside the bezel (bezel still shows, though). I'm using 115 with the hiscore patch & compiled to be optimized for my PC's processor.
Thanks--fancy program--I hope you can help me with these issues.
Thanks,
-Jason
headkaze:
CPWizard v2.3 Released
- Multi-Layouts
- Sub Screen Display
- Auto Show
- Advanced Layouts
This is quite a big update done over the weekend adding some features I've been promising for a while now. Thought it was about time to put them in.
The first new feature is Multi-Layout support which means you can have layouts with multiple screens. Just name your layout with a " (n)" (including leading space) at the end of the filename and you can use the joystick to rotate through them by moving left and right. Eg. "My CP (0).xml", "My CP (1).xml", "My Cp (2).xml" etc. This is for people who have complex panels that require lots of labels. You can split your panel up into sections or show multiple controls such as gamepads on seperate screens.
The second new feature is Sub Screen which can display layouts on a secondary monitor. This can be used in conjunction with Multi-Layout's which will rotate through the screens while MAME is running (and other Emulators but haven't tested it yet). You can display any layout including the new Advanced Layouts (more on that below).
Auto Show allows CPW to show itself when MAME has been detected. You no longer need to send CPW command line args for it to show before MAME. Now it will detect MAME has launched, minimize it and show the CP for a set period. After the set timeout it will hide CPW and maximize MAME. If you press a button while it's showing you can exit back to the menu or set it to close (check out the Data tab in Options for configuring this as well as in Display options).
Finally Advanced Layouts allow for more complex layouts that include information such as Hall of Fame stars, status bars, display info (like the built in GameInfo). You can also display images such as snaps, titles, cpanel's, marquee's etc by using special built in image types (Eg. IMAGE_CABINET, IMAGE_CPANEL, IMAGE_FLYER, IMAGE_ICON, IMAGE_MARQUEE, IMAGE_PCB, IMAGE_PREVIEW, IMAGE_SELECT, IMAGE_SNAP, IMAGE_TITLE). You can move and size them as standard Image objects but when displayed will replace the images for the current game. These can be used in conjunction with the Sub Screen and Multi-Layout features to have whatever info you want displaying on a secondard monitor.
One thing that didn't quite make it into this release is a feature I plan for the future and that is for people with secondary monitors that want the full CPW menu available at all times. The Sub Screen feature will eventually be expanded to support the full menu system using custom defined controls. This would probably be most practical to control the menu using the shift feature of the IPAC so you can hold a key and use the joystick to browse the menus on the secondard screen while MAME is running.
If you have any problems please post your full CPWizard.log (and perhaps temporarily put the log in Verbose mode to get any additional info).
arzoo:
Very nice! :cheers: