"To All the FE's I've Loved Before...."

[garnerb350]

I'm at a crossroads here....I having thoughts of changing to a different FE.
Currently I have Maximus Arcade, and I do love it, but I am being tempted to try out Hyperspin...

I'm a graphic designer by trade and I love the art enriched flavors of MA and HS...To me HS is more colorful....

So far on my cab I have a Dimension 4600 P4 with 2 gig memory and enough hard drive to carry most emulators...my control panel is X-Arcade Tankstick, and I am still trying to familer myself with the CP layout. (just got it 3 days ago).

A problem that I am having now, and i'm unsure if it is my button configurations or it might just be my FE....is that when I open a game in Maximus Arcade and then I finsh playing...I have to hit the 2+4 buttons to exit the game and go back to the menu. For some reason, sometimes MA locks up when I do this...( maybe 1 out of 4 times)...I hate this because I have to take the time to close MA all together and reboot. Even some times when I close out MA, the controls on X-arcade doesnt work and the trackball stays "frozen" ( only moves an inch radius) With this I have to restart the CPU.

Ive looked at the Forum poll and I see that HS has passed MA in recent polls and I'm wondering if it is easier than MA. Yes I am a noob...I'm not that Computer sauvey, but I consider myself average.
One of my forum buddies here ask me to consider HS ( He has it ) and he swears by it...

I guess that I am at a crossroads...and I am wanting everyone opinion on this...I am about 80 % done with buliding my cab...and I really want to impress and blow the socks off my friends and family who are already thinking "What crazy idea is he doing now?"  My wife calls me Dr. Frankenstien and she is wondering when "the Creature" will be completed... 

[gonzo90017]

Personally I don't think it's easier than MA. But if MA is locking up on you, you should try to get help on their official forums. If you still can't resolve your problem you should definitely give HS a try. They have alot of very helpful people.
Personally I use Mamewah. Not as colorful but very powerful.

[Dazz]

The key word here is "X-Arcade"...  I believe if you search the MA forums or even the X-Arcade knowledge base they may have a special setup for the X-Arcade. 

I know for HyperSpin X-Arcade did create a special configuration file.  I am not sure if they did the same for Maximus.  I just searched the X-Arcade site and I do see that they have config files for Maximus as well.

Give HS a try and see if it is for you...  Setup is a little more involving and game lists are a pain in the ass right now, but if you can learn how the files work then it is excellent once you get it setup.

[billpa]

I am graphic designer too...I've helped out quite a bit with the HS project. I think you would enjoy it just for the fact that you can create some great looking themes. It's relatively easy to set up (I am not computer savvy either).

[garnerb350]

I'm looking at the webpage...and please correct me if I am wrong....This is a Noob's perpective....

So Hyperspin is....
"The front end brings up a emulator selection...You can set a basic theme...say I choose Battletoads....
The screen shows a BT like theme?....Then say I "Nahhh!" I want to playyyyyyy ....Street Fighter 2....then a SF2 theme comes up when i scroll down to SF2?" Is this correct? Thats what I am confused about....

I see basic themes for emulators ( MAME, NES, DAPHNE...)

Then I see custom themes for indivual games....

Does a diffetrent theme pop up when i scroll through the games, or is there just a SET theme for the whole kit-n-kabodle?

For someone who has never touched HS....what must a newbie get  to start ?

The Only thing I  know is that I have to find an X-arcade cfg file....what else?   

I feel like a kindergarten going to Harvard here....

[Dazz]

You have the basics of how HyperSpin works...  It works just like any other front end out there.  When you launch HyperSpin it plays an intro video (this can be turned on/off). The first menu that comes up is the Main Menu.  The main menu contains those systems that you want to be able to select from.  Each system on the Main Menu has a theme created for it that is specific to that system.  You can change these themes or create new themes as you see fit.

This video is a bit outdated, but this is an example of System Themes (Aka Main Menu) in HyperSpin:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyIDeUE9aGk[/youtube]

Once you select a system this takes you to the game menu, just like any other front end out there.  However, HyperSpin allows you to have a generic, what we call a "default" theme.  This theme will appear for any game that you do not have a specific game theme for.  I personally use default themes for most consoles like Nintendo, Sega, etc... We have complete theme sets for some systems such as Daphne where each game has it's own theme.  Select Dragon's Lair and you see a Dragon's Lair theme, move down to Space Ace and you see a Space Ace theme.  From there you hit your designated start button to enter the selected game.

For MAME, and any other system out there, we have what we call Game Specific Themes.  Game Specific themes are themes that has been created for a specific game.  You select Battletoads you'll see the Battletoads artwork/theme for that game, move to Street Fighter 2 and you'll see specific artwork/theme for Street Fighter 2. 

This is also an old video.  Once you select a system from the system theme/Main Menu (see previous video) you are taken to the game menu.  The video below is of Game Specific themes.  What you don't see in this video are default themes.  Default themes were implemented after these demo videos were taken.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEgaqXsavYA[/youtube]

Not every game has artwork though and we haven't been able to create a theme for every game yet, but for those games...  You can either set the front end to display only those games that you have a game specific theme for OR you can mix game themes with default themes.  If you have a game theme for a game then when that game is selected then you'll see the theme for that game.  If you move to a game that does not have a game specific theme then this is where the default theme comes into play.  You'll see the default theme instead of a game theme since one is not available yet.  So, yes a different theme can pop up when you scroll through the game OR you can have a SET theme for the whole kit-n-kabodle.  When it comes to themes HyperSpin is by far the most robust and flexible front end out there.

If you want a one theme setup, like Maximus, then that is possible as well.  However it really takes away from what HyperSpin is really capable of.

Download the main package.  It contains most of the stuff to get you started... Main Menu and some default themes.  You will have to provide your roms and emulators as these DO NOT COME with HyperSpin.

[chrisnack]

I used Hyperspin for awhile, it was just too busy for me.

I use Maximus right now, it's simple and works.
I have an x-arcade, but the new beta 10 version works great with it, no more lock-ups.  Thank god, i was about ready to get rid of my tankstick.

[garnerb350]

chrisnack....

Is there any new things to MA with the beta 10 version?

[chrisnack]

chrisnack....

Is there any new things to MA with the beta 10 version?

Too many to list from what i've noticed.  Its got alot of new features that the official release doesn't have.   (yet)

The only thing that had been holding me back from purchasing it was the x-arcade tankstick issues.  I bought it so i could use the beta, and i couldn't be happier, everything works slick.   Occasionally a game won't exit correctly, but if i hit a few keys on the keyboard, then it exits correctly, i haven't had a single black screen lock-up, or the other issue where you kill MA in the task manager, and then the controller is whacked and stuck flipping through selections when you reload MA.  Everything is working great for me with the newest beta.

I've been meaning to wire up a few more buttons, mainly so i can have a single quit button, but just haven't yet, i believe even my exit issue would go away if you had a single quit button, i'm using a combo mapped to buttons that are used in the game, so sometimes MA just doesn't see the combo.  A single exit not mapped to anything a game would use would work without issues.  I really only have trouble with MAME, since the buttons for my exit are used in MAME.

[Todd H]

chrisnack....

Is there any new things to MA with the beta 10 version?

Too many to list from what i've noticed.  Its got alot of new features that the official release doesn't have.   (yet)

The only thing that had been holding me back from purchasing it was the x-arcade tankstick issues.  I bought it so i could use the beta, and i couldn't be happier, everything works slick.   Occasionally a game won't exit correctly, but if i hit a few keys on the keyboard, then it exits correctly, i haven't had a single black screen lock-up, or the other issue where you kill MA in the task manager, and then the controller is whacked and stuck flipping through selections when you reload MA.  Everything is working great for me with the newest beta.

I've been meaning to wire up a few more buttons, mainly so i can have a single quit button, but just haven't yet, i believe even my exit issue would go away if you had a single quit button, i'm using a combo mapped to buttons that are used in the game, so sometimes MA just doesn't see the combo.  A single exit not mapped to anything a game would use would work without issues.  I really only have trouble with MAME, since the buttons for my exit are used in MAME.

I have a single quit button and it occasionally takes two presses to exit sometimes. Other than that I am very pleased with Maximus Arcade. It's the easiest frontend to set up I've ever used.

[garnerb350]

I totally agree...MA is the easiest.... I was so ill for about a week when I came across the issues with the tankstick...I didnt find out about the problems untill after I got the tankstick...I was in a bind....so I went with trying Hyperspin...I'm too deep into it now to switch back...but hopefully when they come out with a finalized version I might get it for backup...

[chrisnack]

so I went with trying Hyperspin...I'm too deep into it now to switch back...

Exactly why i don't like it, just too much configuration, it's a pain.. MA is a cakewalk and works slick.