"loss of focus" problem. *Testers Wanted* for possible permanent fix

[PaTrYcK]

My test on win xp 32 bit



* Button Hit **
* Please click another window before time runs out.
No longer in focus.
Attempting to force focus back using "SetForegroundWindow" : Delphi Focus Tester
Now back in focus. Using Method #1. :-)
* Button Hit **
* Please click another window before time runs out.
No longer in focus.
Attempting to force focus back using "SetForegroundWindow" : Delphi Focus Tester
Now back in focus. Using Method #1. :-)
* Button Hit **
* Please click another window before time runs out.
No longer in focus.
Attempting to force focus back using "SetForegroundWindow" : Delphi Focus Tester
Now back in focus. Using Method #1. :-)

[BobA]

Ran it 8 times with alot of overlap.  The first time used Irfanview went to method 2 to correct.   After that all programs used method 1 even Irfanview when run again.   Win 7 64bit

[jasonbar]

Cool, Are any of you finding that if the window is on top (or at least overlapping) the tester will often fail using Method#1? Not that the method is critical I am just trying to work out the pattern as to when certain pattern fail...... 

My "other" programs were Windows Explorer & Notepad.

In all my tests, the other programs were partially or completely covering your test program.  In some tests, I clicked on 2 other windows in the 4 seconds before focus was restored to the test program.  In some tests, I clicked on 1 other program twice & focus was still restored properly.

Thanks,
-Jason

[loadman]

Ok Guys....

I am putting this code into MaLa now.

I will add logging to show what is stealing focus to reduce the need for a Plugin or other tool

I just need to decide where to put the CheckFocus call.

So reading back through this whole thread again, these are the sections I was thinking of adding the Check/Force to start with

1) On MaLa Start (Straight to Menu) *
2) On MaLa Start with start-up Game x
3) On MaLa Start with Start-up Video *
4) On MaLa Start With Start-up Video And Game x
5) After Game Quit *
6) After MaLa Screen Saver Finish - Pictures *
7) After MaLa Screen Saver Finish - Video *
Possibly: (it may break things)
After a Video Plays once ?


Anywhere else?


It will need to be tested to make sure I have not broken something else. (Like focus from a game) So it make take a few attemts to get the calls in the right place but I'm sure you all will help testing right  

Anyway I will get a new beta version out tomorrow  

[empardopo]

Loadman,

perhaps it might be interesting to set a button to bring the focus MALA.

Greetings!

[loadman]

Loadman,

perhaps it might be interesting to set a button to bring the focus MALA.

Greetings!

  Please explain what you mean. Do you mean configurable options ?

[loadman]

New Beta ready for focus testing 1.745

[PaTrYcK]

New Beta ready for focus testing 1.745

 

[TheShanMan]

Loadman,

perhaps it might be interesting to set a button to bring the focus MALA.

Greetings!

  Please explain what you mean. Do you mean configurable options ?

I think what he means is being able to configure a key to tell mala to take focus back. I think this could be helpful for any cases which aren't covered by your automatic focus grabbing (i.e. something you might have missed). Incidentally, occasionally on bootup my system doesn't give mala focus (I think it happens if my son happens to be pushing buttons before the system is fully booted). I'm hopeful that your new changes will eliminate that, but if not, that's where a special shifted key to tell mala to grab focus could be helpful.

Nice work loadman!

[loadman]

I think what he means is being able to configure a key to tell mala to take focus back. I think this could be helpful for any cases which aren't covered by your automatic focus grabbing (i.e. something you might have missed). Incidentally, occasionally on bootup my system doesn't give mala focus (I think it happens if my son happens to be pushing buttons before the system is fully booted). I'm hopeful that your new changes will eliminate that, but if not, that's where a special shifted key to tell mala to grab focus could be helpful.

Nice work loadman!
[/quote]

That is what I don't understand. If MaLa does not have focus the Key won't respond to set focus

Has anyone tested yet.    :-\I find it hard to believe I got it 100% perfect the first time 

Thanks in advance

[TheShanMan]

Oh, yes. Good point.

[muggsy]

I get an error when trying to use the config mame button in the latest Beta (1.7.4.5), but no issue with focus yet

[loadman]

I get an error when trying to use the config mame button in the latest Beta (1.7.4.5), but no issue with focus yet

Thanks I will fix that......

Thanks for testing

[kagaden]

Hi Loadman!

I haven't had focus issues in a long time! I fixed it by upgrading to the latest version (which is probably old now lol), but it works and I'm happy

Thank you so much for all your effort on the development of Mala!

-K

[loadman]

I get an error when trying to use the config mame button in the latest Beta (1.7.4.5), but no issue with focus yet

Thanks I will fix that......
Thanks for testing

Still fixing that.. more work than I thought 

Are there any users out there taht have been using the latest beta that had focus issues prior to that release?
ie Have I any conformation from you testers out there of real case fixes in all / some scenario's?
Ideally I want this to be a fix that means you don't have to use the FocusLogger program anymore....
Feedback appreciated.

[jimmy2x2x]

Getting loss of focus very reliably here, sometimes on every game quit.

The culprit seems to be something called "GDI+ Window" which seems to only exist in task manager - no visable window.

This is a very lean install of windows and the pc only runs mame (groovymame x64 v1.43)

XP X64
Mala 1.7.4.5
MalaFocusLogger


*********** LOG ***********

MaLaFocusLogger started.

Program Manager (process: (error))

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

(error) (process: (error))

frmBlend (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Options (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

GDI+ Window (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLaFocusLogger ended.

[loadman]

Getting loss of focus very reliably here, sometimes on every game quit.

The culprit seems to be something called "GDI+ Window" which seems to only exist in task manager - no visable window.

This is a very lean install of windows and the pc only runs mame (groovymame x64 v1.43)

XP X64
Mala 1.7.4.5
MalaFocusLogger

Thanks for that....

Is it possible for you to set 'MaLa' logs (as apposed to the Plug-in logs) to DeBug and send those too when it fails please 

We must be able to solve this

[jimmy2x2x]

Sure, here it is.

http://hotfile.com/dl/124486221/02a8e0a/Mala-log.log.html

and new log from focuslogger:

Code: [Select]

MaLaFocusLogger started.

Program Manager (process: (error))

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

(error) (process: (error))

frmBlend (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Options (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

GDI+ Window (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLaFocusLogger ended.

MaLaFocusLogger started.

Program Manager (process: (error))

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

(error) (process: (error))

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

frmBlend (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

GDI+ Window (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

About (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Options (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

GDI+ Window (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Options (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLaFocusLogger ended.

MaLaFocusLogger started.

Program Manager (process: (error))

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

(error) (process: (error))

frmBlend (process: MaLa.exe)

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Selected Game Metadata (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Options (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

Starting (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MAME: Galaga (Namco rev. B) [galaga] (process: (error))

No window has focus: setting focus to MaLa.

-- Failed to set focus to MaLa.

GDI+ Window (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLa (process: MaLa.exe)

MaLaFocusLogger ended.

[loadman]

** Interesting.

Can you try the latest beta 'without' the plugin running please, there may be a confliction there

[Dartful Dodger]

Was there ever a solution to this?

I have MAME 0.95 and I don't have this issue, but when I installed the latest MAME I got it.

If this is a MAME thing, what's the latest version of MAME we can run without having this problem?

[ragnar]

I used to have probelsm like this and the one thing I noticed is that my anit virus program (anti-vir) would pop up a dialog.  But it would be behind mala's full screen gui.  So, the fix would be to alt-tab to the Anti-Vir dialog and alt-tab to Mala.  Then mala worked.

I wonder if taskbar notifications would also cause this.  I think that those notifcations can be disabled.

[ragnar]

This weekend I updated my MAME to 141 and I started having this same issue.

I've got an XP and I'm running Mala 171.

The only non game on this computer is AVG. The cabinet's computer is for gaming only and it's offline. I tried to disable AVG, but I was still losing focus when quitting a game.  I noticed that even though AVG was turned off I could still see it in the taskbar so I uninstalled it completely.

Now everything (except AVG) works.

I'll have to be extra careful about installing and copying files onto this computer but this allows Mala to keep the focus and I've freed up a bit more of the processor from AVG.

My post that should be right above this is the exact program that I was having issues with.  Loadman, install AVG (it's free) and see if you have these issues.


EDIT: Finished reading the whole thread.  Loadman.  Thanks for all the work you have done.

[NelsonPJ]

By the way - I haven't had any "loss of focus" issues running 1.745 for the past week or two.  I used to get them fairly often with an older Mala version (1.62g I think - then also the base 1.74 earlier this year). 

I also used to have "scrunched up" layouts returning from Virtual Pinball- but I've found that "Reorder Layout after game quit" seems to have fixed that issue.  I'm not sure when that option was added - it definitely seems to have fixed my problem.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Don't forget to get rid of the cftmon process.  That knocked it out for me.  It's buried in the thread but check for it.  Worth a try. 

[Dartful Dodger]

I didn't realize there was a newer release of MaLa.

I haven't had time to actually play with the cabinet (I never do), but after I installed it I was able to open and close a few games without any problems. Although I wasn't having any issues when I first uninstalled AVG either.

I've got an old XP computer, so I'm just going to leave everything as is. I was getting ambitious because I wanted to play more light gun games, but I'll be better off playing the games I have now smoothly than playing more games poorly. It would also be huge pain to update all the emulators and files just for a few new (to my cabinet) games.

Thanks loadman for staying on top of this. Mala is the best.

I'll look forward to what advances you'll have programmed when I eventually upgrade the computer and OS.

[Catastrophic]

I've been experiencing the loss of focus problem on the very latest version of Mala.  

After looking at the focus plugin log,  I kept seeing frmBlend and learned that it had to do with the fade settings in GUI>Display>Fades tab.  I went in and set them all to NONE and presto, no more losing focus.  

I even have cabvol running underneath, which was a notorious focus stealer, and seem to have eliminated the problem.  

Just an FYI, give it a shot!

UPDATE:  Well, scratch that... after a reboot the focus problem still exists.  However when I shut down down cabvol and restart then the focus problem disappears... 

[mazinger-z]

I had nasty focus problems on game exit on my 2 PC's. I installed the new beta and they have disappeared (at least the initial tests tell me so).
I'd like to point out that MaLa never stops responding to joystick events (directions / buttons), so maybe you could add the option to configure a button for focus recovery.

[TopJimmyCooks]

that's an idea but I would never do it, what a confusing thing for casual users - "oh yeah, if the things not working, push this button" 

If your switch to 1.745 doesn't fully take care of it post back and we'll get you going hopefully without an extra admin button.

Interesting you mentioned the joystick inputs working even when mala doesn't have focus - I had that problem and had to disable joystick input into mala to work around it.  With help from the board, I set up an AHK script that translates Joystick axes to keystrokes so my joystick could still be used for mala navigation. 

[mazinger-z]

that's an idea but I would never do it, what a confusing thing for casual users - "oh yeah, if the things not working, push this button" 

Uhm, this makes sense. So... how about creating an option to tie the focus function to any joystick event? 

Interesting you mentioned the joystick inputs working even when mala doesn't have focus - I had that problem and had to disable joystick input into mala to work around it.  With help from the board, I set up an AHK script that translates Joystick axes to keystrokes so my joystick could still be used for mala navigation. 

I have a feeling that this focus stuff is giving the author some nasty headaches. 
Anyway I didn't have a problem since I downloaded the latest beta. XP SP3 here, on 2 different machines.

[Jonny G]

Damn, thought I'd fixed it with an install of the new Beta but I get an error upon trying to open the mame config menu. Back to 174 i go.

Im pretty sure its to do with having the dos window set to hidden.

[MTPPC]

I used MALA 174 for a few months with no focus problem. I recently installed hyperspin and set it up as another emulator under MALA. Now I have the focus problem. I know it is the focus problem because MALA does not accept keyboard commands until I either rightclick or leftclick or press alt-tab on the keyboard. I'm posting this because I believe it has something to do with installing the additional emulator. Perhaps this is just a coincidence. I uninstalled the hyperspin "emulator" and the problem is still there.

For me, the loss of focus only occurs on game exit under MAME. Please accept my datapoint as contribution and not a complaint.

ETA: It seems as though shutting of the ctfmon.exe process on startup may have fixed the problem.

[mattr69]

I'm running MaLa 1.74 on WinXP. Turning off background music fixed the problem for me.

[MTPPC]

Loss of focus reared its ugly head again today. I suspect its a windows process jumping in the cue and changing the application index. But that is wild speculation. My setup works great on a machine that doesn't have a bunch of other stuff on it, but for the main street fighter style arcade, it's been giving me headaches only since I threw a loaded hyperspin configuration into the mix. Since I managed to get a good MAME favorites list, I'll just have the machine boot to hyperspin. I'm super impressed with mala and will leave it on my Ms. Pac-MAME. That machine is done so I don't expect to make any changes and expect Mala FE to continue to work flawlessly. Thanks to those who put in time to develop and improve it.

[Vidiot]

Well, I experienced this problem suddenly today whilst trying to configure my Arcade Classics bartop. I don't know if it will help anyone but one of the changes I had made was under the MAME Basics tab I changed the DOS window state to Hidden. Now I did make other changes as well and I can't remember what else I changed. The loss of focus issue started after I made these changes. Luckily I had just made a backup of my MALA settings before I got my fat fingers in there. When I restored the settings from my backup MALA stopped losing focus! I hope this helps someone.

[plex4r]

I had this problem.  The fix for me was switching "Dos Window State" from hidden to minimized.

[MTPPC]

Fixed my problem the same way. Thanks for helping me figure this out, Vidiot and plex4r.

[coggia]

the minimized option solved the problem for me too.

I'm using the lastest version of Mala on a windowsXP 32b,
It's a cab that I'm working on, so I got the strict minimum installed on my windows
 and without any sound or video playing in the FE.
Even with the mala Focus plugin, I often loosed focus when I quit games.
With the minimized option checked instead of the hide, it's all good

[mike boss]

My system has been working fine, I've had the focus logger installed from day one.
Recently changed a wire for my keyboard encoder (which in retrospect might not have even been an issue, could have been a focus issue!) and now I constantly lose focus. Even upon start up my controls are inoperable. I need to click on my mouse and goto plugins, each and every time I need to select the focus logger.
Sometimes upon exit from game it will work, other times it won't.

Real PITA as this was working flawlessly for along ass time and now just started to give me issues.

[mike boss]

Could not resist so I ran downstairs to try this out, changed the state from hidden to minimized and it seems to have done the trick.
I'll test more tomorrow, play for a bit, do a few restarts, but early tests confirm this works.

Thanks

[nussmier]

I ran across this thread and I can confirm what Mike boss said.  If inside Mala I select Dos Window State equal to hidden I get the loss of focus issue when exiting a game.  If I put the Dos Window State to Minimized I do not get any loss of focus issue.