Yay! Some MaLa success - and some questions

[Ummon]

I finally got back to trying this and just started from scratch. I wanted to run Advancemame and there was some error in the manager, I'm guessing, parsing the advmame xml file. So I cheated and just typed in the path to the exe and manually selected the xml - and it worked. Hurrah.

Another thing I was able to figure out was the gamelists. It does easily import Mame32 game list ini's...well, almost. In the MaLa gamelist manager, when you import the ini, it creates a mgl for each sub-folder - but it puts the mgl(s) in the same folder as the ini! So you have to notice this, then cut and paste to the MaLa directory. Then in MaLa options>game lists, you have to name each list on the right the same as the left. Back in MaLa select refresh list for each one. Very doable, though.

Also, I was also able to get all media boxes to show to show their contents, but....

Now my questions:

1. screensaver: can MaLa run and shuffle mame games (hence the attract mode of each game will be the screensaver) ?

2. I compared with Mame32 (.104 vs advmame .106) and I'm not getting all my cabinet pngs. Do I just need to make sure they're renamed?

3. layout backgrounds: it would make sense to be able to select from a set of images right from the layout manager. As it is, it seems you have to place an image in the MaLa directory (and uncheck 'use name as directories' in options), name it to whatever the layout will be named, then create the layout. (I guess you can do this in reverse order, too.) But let's say I want to copy the layout and use a different image. If I simply resave the layout under a different name, then name a corresponding image, the layout doesn't then use the new image. It continues to use the previous image - even if I delete it from the directory!

4. can the 'safe quit' in MaLa be disabled. (Not a big deal, I'm just curious.)

5. jukebox files: I get an error when refreshing the list. (I tried both 'explorer type' and 'gamelist'.) How does it recognize these?

6. In the layout editor, I changed and saved the font color of the menu text (and also selected 'get from gamelist') but no change is showing MaLa.

[loadman]

Now my questions:
1. screensaver: can MaLa run and shuffle mame games (hence the attract mode of each game will be the screensaver) ?
2. I compared with Mame32 (.104 vs advmame .106) and I'm not getting all my cabinet pngs. Do I just need to make sure they're renamed?
3. layout backgrounds: it would make sense to be able to select from a set of images right from the layout manager. As it is, it seems you have to place an image in the MaLa directory (and uncheck 'use name as directories' in options), name it to whatever the layout will be named, then create the layout. (I guess you can do this in reverse order, too.) But let's say I want to copy the layout and use a different image. If I simply resave the layout under a different name, then name a corresponding image, the layout doesn't then use the new image. It continues to use the previous image - even if I delete it from the directory!
4. can the 'safe quit' in MaLa be disabled. (Not a big deal, I'm just curious.)
5. jukebox files: I get an error when refreshing the list. (I tried both 'explorer type' and 'gamelist'.) How does it recognize these?
6. In the layout editor, I changed and saved the font color of the menu text (and also selected 'get from gamelist') but no change is showing MaLa.

help.
1) No. But you can run random videos of games and have the name display in a LCD display like I do.
3) Layout paths can be a bit fiddly. I will look at this
4) What is 'safe quit'?
6) You might want to check your paths (see 3)

I don't have answers for the others as I don't use those features. I hope someone else can 

[TheShanMan]

For item #1, google and download the tb_screensaver. It's a standard screensaver that randomly runs selected mame games every so often. If you use avi's in mala then you'll probably want to use the "mute soundcard" feature of the screensaver, otherwise you'll still hear the avi sounds while the screensaver is active.

[Ummon]

For item #1, google and download the tb_screensaver. It's a standard screensaver that randomly runs selected mame games every so often. If you use avi's in mala then you'll probably want to use the "mute soundcard" feature of the screensaver, otherwise you'll still hear the avi sounds while the screensaver is active.

Ah, thanks. Actually, I normally run my computers with 'blank' for screen saver and I wasn't sure if MaLa allowed Windows to do this, plus I do like to watch the games just run. I'm actually surprised MaLa doesn't have this feature, as most fe's seem to.


@Loadman:

By 'safe quit' I mean when exiting it asks 'quit?'. There's 'quit' and 'shutdown' in the options. I figured 'shutdown' meant shut down the computer, which I don't currently want. Like I said, it's a small thing because my hand is already right there, but I was curious.

Layout paths? I'll have to look at that more...though, again, it surprises me that selecting a background image by directory isn't available from within the layout editor.


Lastly: more bonus - VP works just like unlcet detailed, although you don't have to do a fresh install, etc. The paths, file type, and execution data just need to be correct - of which MaLa tries to automatically set, but manual works better. The only real hitch now is Daphne. I followed the tutorial but I think the bat paths aren't correct. How do I change a path in a bat?

[loadman]

@Loadman:

By 'safe quit' I mean when exiting it asks 'quit?'. There's 'quit' and 'shutdown' in the options. I figured 'shutdown' meant shut down the computer, which I don't currently want. Like I said, it's a small thing because my hand is already right there, but I was curious.

Ahh, Then No. But if you allocate keys to make it easy to select quit it works well.

[Ummon]

Quit: my keys are pause***P1 start***P1 coin] and P1 start is 'shift' so to exit I hold that, press pause (shifted=exit) and then press P1 start again to enable.

A problem I ran into is I messed around with the default 'controller' settings and now I don't have continuous game list scroll. I'm surprised there isn't a 'return to defaults' button in the options pages. In any case, I can't figure out what to change or change back. Anyone have an idea?

[loadman]

A problem I ran into is I messed around with the default 'controller' settings and now I don't have continuous game list scroll. I'm surprised there isn't a 'return to defaults' button in the options pages. In any case, I can't figure out what to change or change back. Anyone have an idea?

Delete the settings in MaLa.ini  (or some of them anyway)

[Ummon]

Well, I should be able to edit it, yeah. Hadn't thought that far.

One other problem I'm having, though I'm thinking it's nothing to do with MaLa, is sometimes when I exit a game back to the gui, the background music is static. If I load and then quit a game, or go to options and stop then start the track, the music is back. Every now and then I've noticed this happen on video clips in WMP if I pause and re-start them.

[loadman]

Well, I should be able to edit it, yeah. Hadn't thought that far.

One other problem I'm having, though I'm thinking it's nothing to do with MaLa, is sometimes when I exit a game back to the gui, the background music is static. If I load and then quit a game, or go to options and stop then start the track, the music is back. Every now and then I've noticed this happen on video clips in WMP if I pause and re-start them.

That is definitely a know bug in mala (well bass.dll probably) and on the list 

Until it's fixed I got around it by allocating a button to next track so I can start it if it ever get's hung up 

[Ummon]

Cool, thanks. Yet, since I have experienced it in WMP, maybe it's really a Windows thing or somehow non-trivially related?

[Ummon]

I'm still having some issues here:

1. emu images showing: it's really hit or miss which types of images (cab, marquee, etc) will show for a particular game in Mame. I'm using the same version number of Advancemame as Mame32 and I get all of each type in Mame32.

2. list scrolling: I looked in the configuration file but don't know what to change to reset this particular feature.