Mala Question

[Catastrophic]

Is it possible to set Mala to start a new random game from your list every few minutes? 

I'm seeing it as sort of an attract mode where a new game pops up on the screen every 2 or 3 minutes and goes into its own little demo show rather than using a screensaver.  I know you can set Mala to load a random game when it starts up, but how about when it wants to go into screensaver mode?


Thanks for any info!

[Dustin Mustangs]

I was just trying to figure this out and couldn't find how to do it.  While reading your post I realized that it wouldn't work very well due to the fact that it would just hang at the 'press any button to continue screen' that mame starts with.

[Catastrophic]

I just compiled a fresh MAME that does away with all those screens and launches straight into the game, so that wouldn't be a problem.

I highly recommend doing a compile yourself to do the same.  Doing the old left-right boogie everytime you start up a rom gets old fast.

[Catastrophic]

So I've done some more research and it looks like this is not possible with the current build of MaLa.  Could it be done with a plugin, similar to emuWave?  I can't be the only one who would like this feature as an option instead of a screensaver...

Anybody feel like taking a stab at whipping out said plugin?  I unfortunately lack the programming knowledge, my programming education ended back in the pascal and fortran days... 

[Green Giant]

You can't setup mala to do what you want, but there is a way.

http://home.comcast.net/~tacobirds/

This is a mame screensaver that has multiple configurations from showing screenshots to flashing titles randomly that you can then insert a coin to actually play.  It also will start games randomly.

You could have this running as a standalone screensaver that opens over mala and runs in the background.

But it sounds like you just want a video of a game to pop up.  This can already be done using the video screensavers.

[Catastrophic]

Not a video, and actual rom.  Since pretty much all arcade games had some sort of attract demo that would run on them when no one was playing, I'd like to have MaLa load up a random game instead of a screensaver, then 5 minutes later pick a different random game, etc., etc..

I'll check out that other option you posted about, thanks!


EDIT - It looks like that will do what I'm looking for, I just wish that function was native to MaLa.  I'll submit it as a suggestion for a future build...  Thanks for the link!

UPDATE:  I got that Mame Screensaver installed and it works very well.  It can start random games after a set time, and then switch games after a set time.  You can also use the option of inserting a coin and playing the current game, and set it so that a particular key has to be pressed to exit out of the screensaver.

All in all it is a great way to tour the roms you have, especially if you're like me and a huge number of them and don't know what 3/4 of them are.  Thanks again, Green Giant

[loadman]

Anybody feel like taking a stab at whipping out said plugin?  I unfortunately lack the programming knowledge, my programming education ended back in the pascal and fortran days... 

I use delpli and is very Pascal based.. You could teach me no doubt. So have a play..
Look Here: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Mala_Plugins

Anyway, I started such a plug-in as I would like it myself. I got it launching random games OK and quitting them after set time. But hit a snag with the launch on the next game. I never resumed development on that, but may try again sometime

[deanoemcke]

Hey loadman. Have been looking at building a plugin similar to the one you attempted here. Do you think I could grab the code off you for the one you wrote? I have never written a mala plugin before and figured your attempt might be a great place to start.

[mike boss]

So MaLa screensaver will play the videos you would see in the snap/video window in random order, but if you hit the joystick/buttons you dump out to the menu ?

You are looking for something that when you see said video and want to play it you can ?

[CoryBee]

So MaLa screensaver will play the videos you would see in the snap/video window in random order, but if you hit the joystick/buttons you dump out to the menu ?

You are looking for something that when you see said video and want to play it you can ?

Yea sounds like what he wants, and I like it. Will be doing this to my current build as well. Thanks for the idea Catastrophic