Favorite Front End

[Dazz]

Yeah, but this uses graphics for the game titles as well. What if they do not exist? Do I get some fancy Helvetica then?

Yes, there is text that can replace the use of wheel images.  However, the text is really just a place holder as the images really make the wheel look nice.  The text is just as boring as other text based front ends, but you can select out of a couple fonts if you really want text.

If you are worried about having games that don't have a wheel image... The whole MAME collection, all 6000+ games, almost all have a title image created.  Our team has been cranking out wheel images and they have completed a huge majority of them.  Right now they are going into each game and getting a screenshot of the title screen and then taking the title screen and tracing the title image to use on the HyperSpin wheel.  It's a grueling task and these guys have been working on wheel images for almost a year straight.  Wheel images for almost all other systems have been completed.

Here is a quick video showing what a text wheel looks like in HyperSpin.  There are different options that you can use to change the text and colors, but I haven't messed with them. The video below shows what the default is.



The thing with HyperSpin is that you can go from extremely basic layouts with only a screenshot and text to fully animated and elaborate themes.  There are people that simply use a full screen video and list text to fully animated themes with rotating 3d box images.  HyperSpin is extremely customizable and with the new version coming out soon there are even more items that can be customized.

[Blanka]

 

[ragnar]

I like the idea of favorites.  I wish there was an FE that supported passwords though.  I'd love to be able to lock kids out of games like mortal kombat.

[youki]

Atomic supports password.  there is a parental control feature.

you can create  "screens"  that are accessible only with password (password you can enter with the control panel of course).

there is also password feature to exit the front end, to avoid kid to go back to the system or shutdown the cab by accident.

[headkaze]

I like the idea of favorites.  I wish there was an FE that supported passwords though.  I'd love to be able to lock kids out of games like mortal kombat.

Check out GameEx Login. Everyone in your family can have their own avatar and password (or no password), their own favourites list and theme. All options can be customized individually so you can remove adult games for your children etc.

[scept1c]

i like the appearance of Maximus Arcade. I' can say that's my favorite. 

[coffinsnail]

a poll like this might be better set with letting the person vote for 1-2 or 1-3 diffrent ones, as sometimes its hard to pick just one, as in the case of one does this but the other does that, now if they both did x and y id pick it. so really letting people have two choices would have gotten a better feel for what people like for  a front end.

[SophT]

that are accessible only with password (password you can enter with the control panel of course).

it should definitely be uuddlrlrabba

[smalltownguy]

+1

Now, if only there were a 'select - start' button on my CP....

[Necro]

that are accessible only with password (password you can enter with the control panel of course).

it should definitely be uuddlrlrabba

SophT, your geek license has been revoked.  Please hand it over at the door, I'm sorry.

It's U U D D L R L R B A (Start or Select Start).

[SophT]

SophT, your geek license has been revoked.  Please hand it over at the door, I'm sorry.

It's U U D D L R L R B A (Start or Select Start).

ah-ha.  Then you wouldn't be getting into my cab with the Konami code   But seriously, that code (not the konami one) was used in some games, can't remember what though...  I wanna say NBA jam or UMK3 on SNES...

[Necro]

Hehe   Was that one of the big head ones or something like that?  I do remember that from when I worked at a Chucky Cheese like place...

[Howard_Casto]

I like the idea of favorites.  I wish there was an FE that supported passwords though.  I'd love to be able to lock kids out of games like mortal kombat.

Hey now, I was raised on Mortal Kombat and I turned out fi.... err nevermind

[romshark]

Wasn't sure what to vote for, since I use both Mala and 3D Arcade. My computer boots to Mala by default, though, so I voted for that one. I can actually run 3D Arcade from a menu option in Mala.

Mala I can use for selecting a game quickly. Plus, my non-arcade stuff (NES, SNES, Jukeboxes, ect) are all on the menus.

3D Arcade is more for the WOW factor. No console game, only arcade games. Lately I've been doing lots of tweaking. Making sure cabs are lined up, enough space for players to get to the controls, proper airflow between cabinets, classic and kids games towards the front, more mature stuff like Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, and House of the Dead toward the back, installed a soda machine...
  ...maybe I'm taking my little virtual arcade a little too seriously. 

[Harakiri]

Hello!

I'm looking for a minimalistic GUI for MAME. The latest MAMEGUI that i compiled successfully crashes randomly (such as the previous one) and most of the frontends are biased towards arcade cabinets. I'm looking for something like this:



It's very frustrating not being able to use xMAMEgui with basic mame though...  :'(

If anyone knows of a similar approach to this please let me know ok!?

Thanks in advance!

[deweyhewson]

I like the idea of favorites.  I wish there was an FE that supported passwords though.  I'd love to be able to lock kids out of games like mortal kombat.

*laugh* One of the reasons why I LOVED Mortal Kombat (and other games) when I was a kid was because my mom forbade me from playing them...

 

[SophT]

If anyone knows of a similar approach to this please let me know ok!?

The simplest one is MAME's built-in FE.  Just run mame.exe without any command line options.

[200X]

I like the idea of favorites.  I wish there was an FE that supported passwords though.  I'd love to be able to lock kids out of games like mortal kombat.

You are mean 

[tspeirs]

It seems most folks prefer visuals over content, which is where GameEx stives. Ill keep pushing on though.

Blatant promotion below

[200X]

Im using Maximus Arcade. Fair enough, You have to pay but I think its worth it. Its easy to setup, Easy to use. I cant fault it to be honest. The support could be a little better though.

The support just plain sucks. They have been asked to fix a (most likely) simple problem with LedBlinky but no dice. They won't even answer anyone's questions.

[Firebat138]

Gotta love HS...  Still setting up some stuff, but I love me some eye candy, although I find myself using plain old Mame64 sometimes.

[Harakiri]

Hello!

I'm looking for a minimalistic GUI for MAME. The latest MAMEGUI that i compiled successfully crashes randomly (such as the previous one) and most of the frontends are biased towards arcade cabinets. I'm looking for something like this:



It's very frustrating not being able to use xMAMEgui with basic mame though...  :'(

If anyone knows of a similar approach to this please let me know ok!?

Thanks in advance!

I found the solution to my very own problem!

If you tried to compile the lastest MAMEUI using MAME compiler and you are experiencing random crashes here's a simple solution:

1- Compile the latest version of MAME

2 - Download MAME+GUI mamepgui-1.5.0.win-20100305

3 - Run the program, locate compiled version of MAME, set the rom directories and other options

There are no crashes with this setup. I noticed that MAME+ emulator by itself doesn't skip nag screens in certain games so i decided to try this setup and it works flawlessly.

Have fun!

[eclipso]

It seems most folks prefer visuals over content, which is where GameEx stives. Ill keep pushing on though.

Blatant promotion below

For me I actually prefer this type of FE. I enjoy having all the historic data at my finger tips as well as being able to play alot of great games.

[RobbyMac]

I use maximus/ Easy, simple, customizable. Support sucks I know.
Hyperspin has alot of eyecandy... but ultimately I want to play games, and navigate through menus quickly and easily... I'm not much interested in being entertained by the front end.

[shateredsoul]

I use maximus/ Easy, simple, customizable. Support sucks I know.
Hyperspin has alot of eyecandy... but ultimately I want to play games, and navigate through menus quickly and easily... I'm not much interested in being entertained by the front end.

 I've not completely given up on Hyperspin, but I definitely have had trouble.  If they add a auto list generator (based on your games) then I'll come back and check it out. Funny thing is that I think having the box art for nes and snes games is way more interesting than the themes... the boxes give me more nostalgia.  I might come back to it when they've had more time to work things out and make the theme, wheel image, box art, collection a little less painless.  I think I heard Dazz was working on on a folder for the ftp that would have all the art already setup so we'll see. I must say hat I do like how easy they made it to add emulators.

Maximus us just really easy to setup, and it doesn't look that bad, it's pretty nice.  The support does suck, but many issues have already been solved or are not too hard to figure out. I must say that I love it and a lot of the issues can be fixed with a hopefully upcoming update. Lets keep hoping on that.

I think if I was having a group of people who loved videogames over I'd use Maximus Arcade, if I was having a party with non gamers and wanted the cab to be out then I'd use hyperspin and have MAME as the main wheel.

[200X]

I have almost everything set up for Hyperspin.  A couple of emulators are still giving me problems.

I already prefer it over Maximus Arcade. It looks nice, it's more fun...and support is great. Sure, it's a pain in the butt to set up but I think it's definitely worth the trouble. If the MA crew would have fixed the ledblinky problem, I still would be using MA. But I'm glad they didn't because it forced me to take on the challenge: Hyperspin! 

[scept1c]

HyperSpin, Mamewah was the previous one.

[shateredsoul]

I just setup Maximus Arcade with all my emulators.. every console system (including gamecube, wii, and ps2) + mame + sega m2 + sega naomi.  I think I just need Amiga, turbo duo cd, and virtual boy (can't find a good emulator for this though). Other than that, I'm pretty much done setting it up.  I might not even add these systems as I never even plaid them.

I was able to install gamecube, wii, and naomi by hacking other systems  and changing the art.

Hyperspin is great, and like I've said before.. when they change it so that it scans your folder for you, I'll go back and try it again.  I'll even download all the videos again from emumovies.

[200X]

I just setup Maximus Arcade with all my emulators.. every console system (including gamecube, wii, and ps2) + mame + sega m2 + sega naomi.  I think I just need Amiga, turbo duo cd, and virtual boy (can't find a good emulator for this though). Other than that, I'm pretty much done setting it up.  I might not even add these systems as I never even plaid them.

I was able to install gamecube, wii, and naomi by hacking other systems  and changing the art.

Hyperspin is great, and like I've said before.. when they change it so that it scans your folder for you, I'll go back and try it again.  I'll even download all the videos again from emumovies.

Dir2Xml isn't too hard to use.

[gaffner]

I just setup Maximus Arcade with all my emulators.. every console system (including gamecube, wii, and ps2) + mame + sega m2 + sega naomi.  I think I just need Amiga, turbo duo cd, and virtual boy (can't find a good emulator for this though). Other than that, I'm pretty much done setting it up.  I might not even add these systems as I never even plaid them.

I was able to install gamecube, wii, and naomi by hacking other systems  and changing the art.

Hyperspin is great, and like I've said before.. when they change it so that it scans your folder for you, I'll go back and try it again.  I'll even download all the videos again from emumovies.

Hyperspin does have this option... it's called HyperList.  It took about 10 minutes for me to figure out how to use it, but it's worked pretty well.

[mud409]

I seriously have a hard time believing that most people are using hyperspin. It's likely the most preferred frontend for looks, but definitely not the most widely used. Most cabs I've see have mala/mamewah or gamex

[headkaze]

I seriously have a hard time believing that most people are using hyperspin. It's likely the most preferred frontend for looks, but definitely not the most widely used. Most cabs I've see have mala/mamewah or gamex

There is a pinned topic on their forums asking people to vote, so that might have something to do with it

[shateredsoul]

Hey tspeirs, I have a question for yah. How easy is it to integrate naomi, aotmiswvae, ps2, dreamcast (via nulldc), and different types of emulators like this? Am I limited to the systems you have added in, or are there easy ways to add in new systems?

It seems most folks prefer visuals over content, which is where GameEx stives. Ill keep pushing on though.

Blatant promotion below

[shateredsoul]

Also, is there an easy way to modify the layout of the control panel viewer you have integrated? I have a hybrid layout (neo geo + street fighter)

[loadman]

I seriously have a hard time believing that most people are using hyperspin. It's likely the most preferred frontend for looks, but definitely not the most widely used. Most cabs I've see have mala/mamewah or gamex

There is a pinned topic on their forums asking people to vote, so that might have something to do with it

  

[Hoopz]

People can only vote for one at a time so unless they're asking their moms to sign up to vote too, I don't see any reason to be worked up about who is leading.

The other thing to consider is that there is probably a huge number of people who either don't visit this site or will never vote for whatever reason. 

Here are some stats that Saint pulled for 2009:

1,093,737 unique visitors (measured by unique IP addresses)
2,237,321 visits

1.1 million unique IPs.  Assume most of us browse from home/work/school/phone/vacation/in-laws etc, I say that's maybe 8-10 different IPs per user.  100,000 unique people visiting the site a year?  Perhaps. 

We have 658 votes.  Not the biggest sample to base anything off of.   

[Dazz]

I seriously have a hard time believing that most people are using hyperspin. It's likely the most preferred frontend for looks, but definitely not the most widely used. Most cabs I've see have mala/mamewah or gamex

HyperSpin must be doing something right... 

Looking at the official forums for the various front ends... The HyperSpin forum has by far the most active community out of any other front end.  HyperSpin has close to the same number of members as BYOAC.

BYOAC:
2110658 Posts in 195220 Topics by 18812 Members

HyperSpin:
Threads: 7,685, Posts: 72,256, Members: 17,386

Maximus Arcade:
Total posts 7814 • Total topics 1793 • Total members 1739

GameEx:
Total Posts: 59,423 
Total Members: 5,214

Mala:  From what I can tell Mala uses BYOAC as their Official forums.

Not to mention, HyperSpin is also the newest front end out with only 1.5 years where MALA has been around since the stone ages, GameEx and Maximus both have been around for 3-5 years.  We may be the new kids on the block, but we are doing something right.

[headkaze]

Looking at the official forums for the various front ends... The HyperSpin forum has by far the most active community out of any other front end.

I think the stats would be alot different if users didn't have to join the forums to download it. In my experience most people join forums to get help, but I would say in HS case it would be to download the program and themes. I'm not saying which FE has more users but that fact combined with the pinned topic probably doesn't hurt the numbers it's getting

[Dazz]

Looking at the official forums for the various front ends... The HyperSpin forum has by far the most active community out of any other front end.

I think the stats would be alot different if users didn't have to join the forums to download it. In my experience most people join forums to get help, but I would say in HS case it would be to download the program and themes. I'm not saying which FE has more users but that fact combined with the pinned topic probably doesn't hurt the numbers it's getting

Well, we could always ask Circo to see which version of Emumovies are being downloaded the most... As far as I know HS is the only FE that supports FLV video.  Surely people wouldn't be downloading 8-13gb of files not to be using them. 

I do know that since the HyperSpin release the number of subscribers to EmuMovies services have more than doubled within a couple months and has steadily increased since then. 

If you really think the pinned thread on our forums is skewing results here; I'm more than happy to have that thread removed...

[shateredsoul]

Hmm...... define active, when people start a thread on the forums (at least lately) it stays on the main forum front page (without any new responses) for a while depending on various things though.

Seriously though, hyperspin is great.. so are many other front ends.  These poll numbers will not reflect which is best for you, try a few of them out and make the decision yourself.

We should have people post pics of their cabs with their frontend instead of a poll, I have searched for hyperspin cabs (on youtube) in the past out of curiosity, wonder if they hyperpin people are so exhausted after setting up their frontend that they don't have as much energy left for the cab

I seriously have a hard time believing that most people are using hyperspin. It's likely the most preferred frontend for looks, but definitely not the most widely used. Most cabs I've see have mala/mamewah or gamex

HyperSpin must be doing something right...  

Looking at the official forums for the various front ends... The HyperSpin forum has by far the most active community out of any other front end.   HyperSpin has close to the same number of members as BYOAC.

BYOAC:
2110658 Posts in 195220 Topics by 18812 Members

HyperSpin:
Threads: 7,685, Posts: 72,256, Members: 17,386

Maximus Arcade:
Total posts 7814 • Total topics 1793 • Total members 1739

GameEx:
Total Posts: 59,423  
Total Members: 5,214

Mala:  From what I can tell Mala uses BYOAC as their Official forums.

Not to mention, HyperSpin is also the newest front end out with only 1.5 years where MALA has been around since the stone ages, GameEx and Maximus both have been around for 3-5 years.  We may be the new kids on the block, but we are doing something right.