Looking for Beta testers 1.62g (Finished)

[loadman]

I just went through 111 games from my game list, dragging them in one at a time and watching on average for about 3-4 seconds. The player handled them all great. The one "problem" video is Super Mario Bros, which has audio/video sync issues. That video causes mala to lock up if you try to switch off of the game later on in the video, but no problem for this test player!
So it's not a lot of data to go on, but from my experience the new player seems to be more robust than the old one.

 

now...

For the 'super keen' amounst you here is another beta version. It is a work in progress. I will finish this week.

It needs more work with the video window position/ window size / loading and reveal timing/scrolling).

I am hoping that it is stable enough to persue this work with the new video engine (I have not paid for yet)

Feedback welcome....


url=http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162ba.zip
url=http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162d.zip

[zophar707]

Been testing for a few days now and only problem ive had is, when exiting a game the odd time, the layout goes all to pot and i have to exit and run it again.  Need to get some flv's ordered now. Next thing is to put together my machine.  Great frontend.

[bsweet0us]

I'm still able to crash MALA into "Not responding" mode with my MAME gamelist.  Sometimes I'll get to a game and the video won't load and it just crashes.  Next time I launch MALA it works for the same game just fine but crashes on a different one.

this only seems to happen within the MAME gamelist.  I have NES, SNES, N64 and Genesis gamelists (all with videos) and haven't experienced this behavior with any of those gamelists.

I did have it happen once when switching from MAME to NES, but not before or since.

Not sure if this is any help to you, but I zipped the logfile and attached here if you wanna take a look at it.

[arzoo]

Hey loadman - any chance you'll be able to add support for animated gifs to the background images? We were talking about this some time ago and I recall you had a working solution.

HI,

Yep I have not forgotten.   

The stability of MaLa became the priority.

With Animated gifs, I only have a solution when rotated at 0 deg at this point. Is that OK?

The current mala code flips the pics (on the fly) when you flip orientation. Not sure how you would handle a muti framed animated gif?  Any Ideas?

I guess you could implement the animated gif feature and just mention that it doesn't work when the orientation is flipped. This would probably be fine for most users - works for me 

[loadman]

I'm still able to crash MALA into "Not responding" mode with my MAME gamelist.  Sometimes I'll get to a game and the video won't load and it just crashes.  Next time I launch MALA it works for the same game just fine but crashes on a different one.

this only seems to happen within the MAME gamelist.  I have NES, SNES, N64 and Genesis gamelists (all with videos) and haven't experienced this behavior with any of those gamelists.

I did have it happen once when switching from MAME to NES, but not before or since.

Not sure if this is any help to you, but I zipped the logfile and attached here if you wanna take a look at it.

Thanks but there is a problem with this forum and attachments so I can't download it :-(

Are you using the latest beta?


url=http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162ba.zip
url=http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162d.zip

Hey loadman - any chance you'll be able to add support for animated gifs to the background images? We were talking about this some time ago and I recall you had a working solution.

HI,

Yep I have not forgotten.   

The stability of MaLa became the priority.

With Animated gifs, I only have a solution when rotated at 0 deg at this point. Is that OK?

The current mala code flips the pics (on the fly) when you flip orientation. Not sure how you would handle a muti framed animated gif?  Any Ideas?

I guess you could implement the animated gif feature and just mention that it doesn't work when the orientation is flipped. This would probably be fine for most users - works for me 

ok

[bsweet0us]

I'm still able to crash MALA into "Not responding" mode with my MAME gamelist.  Sometimes I'll get to a game and the video won't load and it just crashes.  Next time I launch MALA it works for the same game just fine but crashes on a different one.

this only seems to happen within the MAME gamelist.  I have NES, SNES, N64 and Genesis gamelists (all with videos) and haven't experienced this behavior with any of those gamelists.

I did have it happen once when switching from MAME to NES, but not before or since.

Not sure if this is any help to you, but I zipped the logfile and attached here if you wanna take a look at it.

Thanks but there is a problem with this forum and attachments so I can't download it :-(

Are you using the latest beta?

url=http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162ba.zip
url=http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162d.zip

Yeah....downloaded it and tried it right away.

Do you want me to email the log to you?

[loadman]

I'm still able to crash MALA into "Not responding" mode with my MAME gamelist.  Sometimes I'll get to a game and the video won't load and it just crashes.  Next time I launch MALA it works for the same game just fine but crashes on a different one.

this only seems to happen within the MAME gamelist.  I have NES, SNES, N64 and Genesis gamelists (all with videos) and haven't experienced this behavior with any of those gamelists.

I did have it happen once when switching from MAME to NES, but not before or since.

Not sure if this is any help to you, but I zipped the logfile and attached here if you wanna take a look at it.

Thanks but there is a problem with this forum and attachments so I can't download it :-(

Are you using the latest beta?

url=http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162ba.zip
url=http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162d.zip

Yeah....downloaded it and tried it right away.

Do you want me to email the log to you?

That would be fantastic is you have the logging set to 'Verbose' mode   

[loadman]

What the logs show is that I am an idiot sometimes

162d is the version you should be testing!!!!

Sorry About that!!!   

Try this :
http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162d.zip

P.S. I fixed the earlier download links too!

You probably want to run this in seperate copy of your working mala directory (so you don't break what you have already).

I have not made a file converter yet so as soon as beta mala loads (in your test folder) load the config window and click ok. This will save the config in the latest format reducing chance of crash

It would be great for users to test with and without the follwing combos
- Video on Start enabled
- Video on Start disabled
- Video Screensaver enabled
- Video Screensaver disabled
- Layout Videos enabled
- Layout Videos disabled

I am hoping that it is stable enough to persue this work with the new video engine (I have not paid for yet)

[bsweet0us]

Did some quick testing and the new beta seems MUCH more stable than previous releases. 

The only bug I've seen is scrolling through the gamelist quickly by hitting the button rather than holding it down will sometimes cause the video that is playing is from a game earlier in the list.

For example, I scrolled through my MAME list quickly and stopped on "Batman" but the video was from some other game I scrolled past earlier.  This may have something to do with the test version of the video player as I noticed a disclaimer stating something like playback will randomly stop, etc.

Regardless, I would say this video engine is the right piece of the MALA video puzzle, but not at the expense of being a financial strain on you or your family.

Maybe all us grateful MALA users could donate a couple bucks to the cause...

Keep up the good work my friend! 

[loadman]

Excellent news

I have seen what you report and I am sure I can improve it :-)

Regardless, I would say this video engine is the right piece of the MALA video puzzle, but not at the expense of being a financial strain on you or your family.
Maybe all us grateful MALA users could donate a couple bucks to the cause...
Keep up the good work my friend! 

Well if I do buy it it aint cheap. http://www.datastead.com/vidgrab/order.htm
USD $695 ... Maybe I can plead with them to reduce in out case as this is a non profit project?

If I do purchase it then I certainly won't discourage donations but MaLa will always be free.
In any case wait until I have a new official stable release before considering donating. 

[zophar707]

Been testing for a few days now and only problem ive had is, when exiting a game the odd time, the layout goes all to pot and i have to exit and run it again.  Need to get some flv's ordered now. Next thing is to put together my machine.  Great frontend.

Been testing the new 1.6d beta and its running great. The above fault is not happening anymore.  I'll keep testing (and playing).

[loadman]

Been testing the new 1.6d beta and its running great. The above fault is not happening anymore.  I'll keep testing (and playing).

    Thanks,   I expect there to be scrolling through games list video timing issues that I can tune later.
My main interest now is stability to gauge if it's worth buying this new video Engine.

[DaOld Man]

Just downloaded V1.62d.
Unzipped the exe file and placed in current mala folder.
Everything seems to be working great right now, but why is the "TVideoGrabber" message  on top of the game demo videos?
I skimmed through this post, if I missed the reason for this, i am sorry.

You are doing a great job on this project Loadman!

[loadman]

the tgrabber message is there because I am using the demo video engine. I did not want to part with $$ until I was sure it was a valid solution
Thanks for testing :-)

[DaOld Man]

No prob.. I figured that out after I went back and re-read some posts.
I have not used the tree function yet, so it's probably something Im doing wrong, but it has crashed mala a few times while trying to set it up.
Im trying to add wincab jukebox to a tree, not having much luck.

[DaOld Man]

I cant seem to find anyway to turn the video right side up.
They are upside down when mala is rotated to vertical.
I tested it on my older version of mala and it does ok, so it may have something to do with the video engine??

[loadman]

Im trying to add wincab jukebox to a tree, not having much luck.

Have you looked here:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=91094.0

I cant seem to find anyway to turn the video right side up.
They are upside down when mala is rotated to vertical.
I tested it on my older version of mala and it does ok, so it may have something to do with the video engine??

  Yes Probably my fault    I will have a look.  90 deg and 270 deg are the opposite to the old engine so I probably have not changed something to reverse it to what mala is expecting.

Thanks for reporting.   

[DaOld Man]

Thanks for the quick reply Loadman.
About wincab, I did read that post you linked above, and in the tree I named the jukebox "Wincab" and it's still not working. Im sure it's something I havent figured out yet.

[dungbeetle46]

to DaOld Man
How I set wincab up was to set it up first normally as an emu
Under other emu set it up and under emulator point this to wincab.exe
Under rom path point this to a folder which has a file in it, name the file whatever you want to show on your layout before you start wincab, I named mine Scan for Songs
under execution take out everything and leave it blank ie:%folder%%rom%%ext% remove completely
now press ok and under wincab right click and refresh gamelist, the file you named earlier should appear in the gamelist now press 1 and make sure wincab launches.
if all working up to this point you can now setup your tree
under tree
click add menu call it wincab
now add gamelist I called this one almost there now pick your wincab emu and your gamelist you created earlier.
thats it

check pics

[loadman]

Any More Testers.....   

I was hoping to get a bit more feedback please before the release of the next beta version and subsequent release.   

"Help me, help you"     

Thanks in advance 

http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162d.zip

[zophar707]

Would have had more testing but sysytem got nailed with a win32 vitro virus.

Absolute nightmare. After 3 fresh windows installs and switching to kaspersky antivirus my system is now stable so on with the testing   

[loadman]

Would have had more testing but sysytem got nailed with a win32 vitro virus.

Absolute nightmare. After 3 fresh windows installs and switching to kaspersky antivirus my system is now stable so on with the testing   

 

[TheShanMan]

Just got it installed. When I launched it remotely thru Remote Desktop I saw the eval message on the videos, but when I rebooted to see it on the cab, no eval message. I double checked the about box and it says 1.62d. Not that I'm complaining, but any idea why?

The only trouble I've noticed so far with the video engine is that it seems to take longer to start playing the video (like 1 second) than the old engine. I haven't done extensive testing with it yet though so I can't speak to the stability of it at this point (other than the testing I did with the test app).

[wooowman93]

Video trouble i just wanted to report for some reason the video snaps don't stop playing when i start the game it keeps on playing

[loadman]

 yes it does take a bit longer to load. I think we are going to have to live with that

I have fixed the video playing while a game is running

Thanks. ;-)

[TheShanMan]

I hate to say it, but if taking a second to start is to be expected, then I'd be pretty disappointed in the upgrade.

[loadman]

I hate to say it, but if taking a second to start is to be expected, then I'd be pretty disappointed in the upgrade.

Disappointed sure but You would rather it stay unstable?

I don't know how to deal with that comment 

The only downside I have found is initial load time. The upside is stability, multiple videos playback simultaneus, multiple monitor options and ability to play a wide range of videos

http://www.datastead.com/vidgrab/index.htm

I have emaiedl them asking if thaey can make the videos load any faster

 I don't have any otrher alternatives, but not through lack of research.  This solution is gonna cost me $$$$ so I want to be sure. I asked others to look for an a Delphi solution and got ZERO response   

But.......... I don't want to waste any more of my time if it is not going to be appreciated by the majority.

Shall I put it to a vote?

Stable V Fast? Or is it more complex than that?

I dunno    Should I bother working any more on this 

The irony is I have just taken 2 weeks leave, part of this time is to push out a release, but your feedback his given me doubts as to the MaLa users expectations

Personally I don't see this the video delay as a big deal. On my existing MaLa Layout I have my video's window on top of of my snaps window with a set delay so the video shows up in place of the snap after 2 secs. IE Snaps turn to videos if i stop on an item so you don't get any extra delay. This works well as you get fast scroll and it only plays the video if you stop on an item

Having said that I notice VideoLab have released a new version so Maybe I should try that?

http://www.mitov.com/html/what_s_new_in_videolab.html

[dungbeetle46]

Dont get disheartened Loadman, I for one think you deserve a medal, I dont use videos but even if I did, I would be happy with the slight delay setup as you have. I think the majority would feel as I do.
You are much appreciated. Dung

[Orclord]

Personally I don't see this the video delay as a big deal. On my existing MaLa Layout I have my video's window on top of of my snaps window with a set delay so the video shows up in place of the snap after 2 secs. IE Snaps turn to videos if i stop on an item so you don't get any extra delay. This works well as you get fast scroll and it only plays the video if you stop on an item

That's exactly the way I have mine setup.....Instant loading mucks up the scroll......

Keep up the good work old chap........

 

[loadman]

Cool, so maybe the delay is not a showstopper

I am a bit down as I cut my leg open yesterday waterskiing, 10 stitches later.

I personally would like to use this new engine also it is easy to use (in the code).

I got a response from my email to the supplier, they sent me tool to obtain some special logging, so we will see if anything comes of that

[isucamper]

Personally, I prefer there to be a small delay.  I like the screenshot to be visible for just a bit before the video starts.  Also, for people going through the list, just wanting a glimpse at each screenshot, it's good not to be starting the video at each short stop.

Loadman, at one point, someone requested an option to only play videos once instead of looping them.  Is this feature included in the new version?

[Neverending Project]

First of all, I haven't installed the beta, so I am only replying with my opinion on the video - not my feedback on the video engine.

For me personally, I would prefer a video engine that did not take one second to load and begin playing the videos. There is an option in MaLa for just that reason - if people want to delay the start of the videos so their menus scroll smoother than they can, but if we want to set that delay to 0 (or very small) than we should be able to.

That being said, what are the other pros of using this video engine? There are always trades to be made, so if you are giving up a small load-time performance for being able to load many more types of videos, perhaps that is the vote that should be put out there.

Also, it is your prerogative to make a decision on what you feel is best for the future of MaLa. Maybe there is a slight setback on this one area now, but if coding is simpler, more formats are available, and this will enable you to have simpler code and focus on other areas, maybe this decision is making itself? And finally, maybe a solution to the video-start delay will present itself over time... maybe there is some tweaking to be done. Maybe it only delays certain types of videos? Maybe only certain sizes?

Just my 2 pennies... As always, thanks for your great support and development.

[Orclord]

I am a bit down as I cut my leg open yesterday waterskiing, 10 stitches later.

That'll teach ya for having a real life..........

 

[TheShanMan]

Sorry to upset you loadman. You really do a great job and I appreciate it. Hopefully most people don't mind, but it is something that would very reluctantly cause me to consider switching to another FE (although I have no idea if another one would please me more).

Like NP said, there is a delay option for a reason. I use it to prevent instant display so scrolling works better, but I see long delays as a problem especially when I have friends over that want to go through a big list of games looking at one at a time to bring back memories of childhood. That's time consuming enough as it is, without adding extra delay for each video.

Frankly, I have never liked seeing a snapshot for an instant before the video starts. It gives a jerky feel to it. And having the video take longer to display only worsens that problem. I've always wished that mala would not bother showing the snap at all if a video is present. But with the slow loading I think it would be worse to look at blank space for a second.

You say "stability vs. speed". Well, for me the old one has been plenty stable with the rare exception of not being able to handle a bad video gracefully. So while I know the old engine has been problematic for some people, and for you to support, from a selfish standpoint the trade off is really more like "slow vs. fast". So I'm sure you can see why it's a disappointment to me.

I sure hope there is some sort of optimization that the engine's provider can tell you about that will speed up loading. It "seems" kind of silly that if the engine is already loaded and initialized from other game selections that it wouldn't be able to start a new video more quickly. Maybe it is doing buffering that would be important for a web based video but is irrelevant here, and maybe you could just turn off the buffering? Just a wild guess.

Again, sorry to rain on your parade - I really do hate to do it. But this is my honest opinion and I REALLY don't like the idea of entertaining other FE's as a solution to this problem but that's where I'm at right now. It really is a big enough deal to do that. Of course, maybe they all have the same problem or other downsides I couldn't live with and I'd end up sticking with MaLa anyways (albeit with less satisfaction). Not that I am some super-important user though - if 95% of users don't care about the delay then of course you shouldn't let my concerns stop you.

[drventure]

I'd be happy to take a look at the 1.62 version but anyone know if it might address this problem....

When I have a number of apps loaded, I get the following crash in Mala on startup.

2009/04/13  12:46:11.17   Error: Object Class: TfrmMain, Object Function: FormShow, Exception Class: EOutOfResources, Exception Message: Not enough storage is available to process this command.

2009/04/13  12:46:52.72   Error: Object Class: TfrmMain, Object Function: FormShow, Exception Class: EOutOfResources, Exception Message: Not enough storage is available to process this command.



It's pretty consistent, but if I unload +MOST+ of the running apps, Mala loads no problem.

I can't imagine it's a memory issue (even with all the other apps loaded I still have >1gb free mem when I start Mala, the machine I'm working on now has 4gb ram (though it's 32 Vista, so I don't get to use ALL 4gb). I've got >100gb free on my hd so it can't be a disk space issue.

I'm guessing it must be a resources issue (too many icons trying to be allocated, too many windows, or something), and not really a storage issue but I'm not sure.

Any other debugging I could turn on to help run it down?

[zophar707]

That's exactly the way I have mine setup.....Instant loading mucks up the scroll......

Keep up the good work old chap........

 

Me too.  I would rather have the delay than a buggy scroll.  1 second is nothing .

[loadman]

thanks for the feedback

Got it loading faster now I think

Will release a new beta today

[TheShanMan]

Sounds like good news. I'll do my best to get it installed this evening if it's available (it's 5:45 PM here ATM).

[loadman]

Sounds like good news. I'll do my best to get it installed this evening if it's available (it's 5:45 PM here ATM).

Cool,

FYI: You didn't upset me,    I really appreciate the honest feedback, I just was very concerned that I was on the wrong track with MaLa development priorities.

I can't wait to start adding new features to mala but don't want to build on a unstable ground (for some users anyway) .

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE NICE WORDS AND PROMPT FEEDBACK.   

[loadman]

I'd be happy to take a look at the 1.62 version but anyone know if it might address this problem....

When I have a number of apps loaded, I get the following crash in Mala on startup.

2009/04/13  12:46:11.17   Error: Object Class: TfrmMain, Object Function: FormShow, Exception Class: EOutOfResources, Exception Message: Not enough storage is available to process this command.

2009/04/13  12:46:52.72   Error: Object Class: TfrmMain, Object Function: FormShow, Exception Class: EOutOfResources, Exception Message: Not enough storage is available to process this command.



It's pretty consistent, but if I unload +MOST+ of the running apps, Mala loads no problem.

I can't imagine it's a memory issue (even with all the other apps loaded I still have >1gb free mem when I start Mala, the machine I'm working on now has 4gb ram (though it's 32 Vista, so I don't get to use ALL 4gb). I've got >100gb free on my hd so it can't be a disk space issue.

I'm guessing it must be a resources issue (too many icons trying to be allocated, too many windows, or something), and not really a storage issue but I'm not sure.

Any other debugging I could turn on to help run it down?

In the beta there is verbose logging.

You can run mala in XP and run video with 1 gig of memory.

This kind of instability is a major reason for switching video engines

Please try the beta   

Dont get disheartened Loadman, I for one think you deserve a medal, I dont use videos but even if I did, I would be happy with the slight delay setup as you have. I think the majority would feel as I do.
You are much appreciated. Dung

:-)

Personally I don't see this the video delay as a big deal. On my existing MaLa Layout I have my video's window on top of of my snaps window with a set delay so the video shows up in place of the snap after 2 secs. IE Snaps turn to videos if i stop on an item so you don't get any extra delay. This works well as you get fast scroll and it only plays the video if you stop on an item

That's exactly the way I have mine setup.....Instant loading mucks up the scroll......

Keep up the good work old chap........

 

:-)

Personally, I prefer there to be a small delay.  I like the screenshot to be visible for just a bit before the video starts.  Also, for people going through the list, just wanting a glimpse at each screenshot, it's good not to be starting the video at each short stop.

Loadman, at one point, someone requested an option to only play videos once instead of looping them.  Is this feature included in the new version?

No, But that would be very easy to add.  As it is extra code to make it loop so I can just bypass that code.
Remind me to add this later will you please. I need a MaLa dev clerk. 

First of all, I haven't installed the beta, so I am only replying with my opinion on the video - not my feedback on the video engine.

For me personally, I would prefer a video engine that did not take one second to load and begin playing the videos. There is an option in MaLa for just that reason - if people want to delay the start of the videos so their menus scroll smoother than they can, but if we want to set that delay to 0 (or very small) than we should be able to.

That being said, what are the other pros of using this video engine? There are always trades to be made, so if you are giving up a small load-time performance for being able to load many more types of videos, perhaps that is the vote that should be put out there.

Also, it is your prerogative to make a decision on what you feel is best for the future of MaLa. Maybe there is a slight setback on this one area now, but if coding is simpler, more formats are available, and this will enable you to have simpler code and focus on other areas, maybe this decision is making itself? And finally, maybe a solution to the video-start delay will present itself over time... maybe there is some tweaking to be done. Maybe it only delays certain types of videos? Maybe only certain sizes?

Just my 2 pennies... As always, thanks for your great support and development.

Seems to be consistent delay. After some advice from Datastead i have set the video renderer to VMR7 rather than auto and removed the FrameGrabber option as I am not performing performing graphic or text overlays, or to capture frames. I think this has helped.

I am a bit down as I cut my leg open yesterday water skiing, 10 stitches later.

That'll teach ya for having a real life..........

 

Just back from the doctor. Healing up well.  I got the injury due to failed 'beach start' but I got dragged over a very sharp shell fish (Razor Fish).