Looking for Beta testers 1.62g (Finished)

[wooowman93]

Here they are

[loadman]

Thanks

[system01]

Allright, so Ive been messing with this for a little over a week now.  I LOVE the new video engine and fades behavior!

I'm having problems with multi-list layouts (not tree).  I'm trying to use my "Generic Cocktail" layout and lists.  I either get the 'all games' list with the correct pages, or I get the correct lists with the 'standard' layout as each page.  Is something wrong, or am I really, really high?  I've even copied the INI from my cocktail machine with no success.

Per previous discussion, have animated GIFs been integrated?  If so, wheres the new layout editor?

Beside that, I'm having no issues.  I'm not using tree or multi-emus, but as far as mame goes I'm pleased as punch.  I'd like to get the page switching sorted so I can upgrade my cocktail.

Lastly, THANK YOU LOADMAN!   MaLa would suck hind teat if you weren't putting in all these ungratifying hours of work.  Maybe, once again, I'll inch closer to that Donate button.

PS. Wheres that guy that had the bubbles over his head with beer, women, and arcade thoughts?  I figured he'd be all over this!

[loadman]

I'm having problems with multi-list layouts (not tree).  I'm trying to use my "Generic Cocktail" layout and lists.  I either get the 'all games' list with the correct pages, or I get the correct lists with the 'standard' layout as each page.  Is something wrong, or am I really, really high? 

What do the Logs say in 'verbose mode'?
MaLa defaults to the standard layout if the custom layout is not found
The attached snapshot of the options screen should explain, as this is how I work too.
eg mame_JakeMame.mll
mame_MameMore.mll

Per previous discussion, have animated GIFs been integrated?  If so, wheres the new layout editor?

Looks like that is in the 'too hard' basket. The problem is resizing / rotating animated gifs. As I mentioned to Arzoo an alternative might be to have the option of a second video window as the new video video engine allows this.

PS. Wheres that guy that had the bubbles over his head with beer, women, and arcade thoughts?  I figured he'd be all over this!

Good Question. I think I PM'd him at one stage for some feedback as he used to report video issues. Possibly you could ask him to test please

[system01]

The log says nothing, literally blank.  I had the same boxes ticked as you.  I'm switching to regular mame, mameXT is now giving me some fuss about INIs and snaps or something and I'm not feeling confident with it.

Per previous discussion, have animated GIFs been integrated?  If so, wheres the new layout editor?

Looks like that is in the 'too hard' basket. The problem is resizing / rotating animated gifs. As I mentioned to Arzoo an alternative might be to have the option of a second video window as the new video video engine allows this.

With the new engine, will video still remain on top?  It would be cool to have some animated backgrounds, or at least some scrolling bars on the top and bottom.

[csa3d]

I looked at the 1.62f today.  I was hoping the new video addition would allow me to REMOVE the delay for full screen (1920x1240) snaps to be display.  Sadly, it does not.

I'm using the "game launcher" layout which stretches the snap in the background very large.  Something with this stretching code is very slow, so I always end up having to muck with the delay in order to get responsive scrolling.  Once you stop scrolling, the image finally shows about a second or so later.  Not optimal.

Any chance you might be able to look into why image stretching brings MALA to a crawl?  Because my resolution is so "high" (read as LCD monitor), I have to disable fades as well for the same reason.

Thanks again for all your hard work and continual updates on this front end!

-csa

[loadman]

I looked at the 1.62f today.  I was hoping the new video addition would allow me to REMOVE the delay for full screen (1920x1240) snaps to be display.  Sadly, it does not.

I'm using the "game launcher" layout which stretches the snap in the background very large.  Something with this stretching code is very slow, so I always end up having to muck with the delay in order to get responsive scrolling.  Once you stop scrolling, the image finally shows about a second or so later.  Not optimal.

Any chance you might be able to look into why image stretching brings MALA to a crawl?  Because my resolution is so "high" (read as LCD monitor), I have to disable fades as well for the same reason.

Thanks again for all your hard work and continual updates on this front end!

-csa

A thought outside the box.

Use graphics software to increase the images  so mala does not have to do so much work on the fly 

[system01]

Any idea what this means?

Code: [Select]

2009/04/25  22:15:42.44   Error: Object Class: TTimer, Object Function: DisplaySnap, Exception Class: EListError, Exception Message: List index out of bounds (0)
I'm getting this consistently when I exit (Hit "OK") the options menu inside Mala.  It gives me the dialog "MaLa has found an error, check the logs, blah blah" then exits the FE.  I am now using the regular build from mamedev with the Generic Cocktail layout and lists.  I have all of the artwork paths pointing to all valid paths.

[csa3d]

Use graphics software to increase the images  so mala does not have to do so much work on the fly 

Indeed, probably something I could look into.
-csa

[loadman]

Use graphics software to increase the images  so mala does not have to do so much work on the fly 

Indeed, probably something I could look into.
-csa

I should not take you too long, I'm sure someone could point you to a good batch program.

I think it would make a big difference.

I don't plan to change that section of mala any time soon as it works good for most and I have a long list of things to do.   

[csa3d]

Use graphics software to increase the images  so mala does not have to do so much work on the fly 

Indeed, probably something I could look into.
-csa

I should not take you too long, I'm sure someone could point you to a good batch program.

I think it would make a big difference.

I don't plan to change that section of mala any time soon as it works good for most and I have a long list of things to do.   

Ha, fair enough.  I hope one day your list becomes much shorter, but I understand.  While your suggestion seems like telling someone with squeaking car breaks to spray the rotors with WD40, I'm sure it will probably help the delay issue.  I will not however, resolve full screen fade effects, etc.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I might also try creating a layout with smaller snaps.  I think the more you enlarge the snaps, the worse it slows.

-csa

[SGT]

While your suggestion seems like telling someone with squeaking car breaks to spray the rotors with WD40, I'm sure it will probably help the delay issue. 

I don't see the analogy.  It makes a lot more sense to have the graphics scaled to the right size in the beginning rather than have them the wrong size and require the software to resize them on the fly while scrolling at a high rate of speed.   Resizing graphics to the size YOU want is a permanent fix, spraying WD40 is not.

[loadman]

While your suggestion seems like telling someone with squeaking car breaks to spray the rotors with WD40, I'm sure it will probably help the delay issue. 

I don't see the analogy.  It makes a lot more sense to have the graphics scaled to the right size in the beginning rather than have them the wrong size and require the software to resize them on the fly while scrolling at a high rate of speed.   Resizing graphics to the size YOU want is a permanent fix, spraying WD40 is not.

I agree, I find 'csa3d' response a bit rude, especially considering the suggestion has not even been attempted yet

Used to use that Layout myself being an old GameLauncher user and I know it was slow, but I understood why. I am not sure I can do much to make 'resize on the fly' much faster anyway.

[csa3d]

While your suggestion seems like telling someone with squeaking car breaks to spray the rotors with WD40, I'm sure it will probably help the delay issue. 

I don't see the analogy.  It makes a lot more sense to have the graphics scaled to the right size in the beginning rather than have them the wrong size and require the software to resize them on the fly while scrolling at a high rate of speed.   Resizing graphics to the size YOU want is a permanent fix, spraying WD40 is not.

I agree, I find 'csa3d' response a bit rude, especially considering the suggestion has not even been attempted yet

Used to use that Layout myself being an old GameLauncher user and I know it was slow, but I understood why. I am not sure I can do much to make 'resize on the fly' much faster anyway.

Sorry to offend.  I just don't think that resizing all the snaps is the best solution for the problem; though I am positive it will likely mask the image delay issues I mentioned earlier.  I could always make a backup copy of the snaps before batch resizing for when the image scaling code is better optimized.  Points for thinking outside the box and suggesting a "in the meantime" solution.  Maybe some of the other front-end devolopers on this board would have suggestions on how to improve the scaling code.

-csa

[loadman]

While your suggestion seems like telling someone with squeaking car breaks to spray the rotors with WD40, I'm sure it will probably help the delay issue. 

I don't see the analogy.  It makes a lot more sense to have the graphics scaled to the right size in the beginning rather than have them the wrong size and require the software to resize them on the fly while scrolling at a high rate of speed.   Resizing graphics to the size YOU want is a permanent fix, spraying WD40 is not.

I agree, I find 'csa3d' response a bit rude, especially considering the suggestion has not even been attempted yet

Used to use that Layout myself being an old GameLauncher user and I know it was slow, but I understood why. I am not sure I can do much to make 'resize on the fly' much faster anyway.

Sorry to offend.  I just don't think that resizing all the snaps is the best solution for the problem; though I am positive it will likely mask the image delay issues I mentioned earlier.  I could always make a backup copy of the snaps before batch resizing for when the image scaling code is better optimized.  Points for thinking outside the box and suggesting a "in the meantime" solution.  Maybe some of the other front-end devolopers on this board would have suggestions on how to improve the scaling code.

-csa

To use more Hardware analogy you are trying to dig a mine with a gardening tool 

But what I personally think is what you are asking it to do 'on the fly' is pretty extreme.  How may percent increase in size is that? The adverage width is 300pixels and you needed stretched to 1920pixels.

That said if you find (or obtain) some 'Delphi' code for faster scaling of PNG images, please share so I can test to see if it is any better. 

...why not try another FE, to see if that is more suited to you.  Especially since you believe they have a better way of scalling graphics. Makes Sense to me.

But if you decide to keep using mala you might consider in options UnChecking gui-options-Display Delay (snaps). Then it will only load the snap when you stop scrolling. That is what I did when I used that layout.

[loadman]

OK Guys...

For anyone with a Joystick/ Gamepad/ etc with more than 12 Buttons this is for you to test please, as I don't have the hardware to test it.    (well one with more than 12 buttons anyway)

For beta testers with 1.62f don't bother downloading this as the Joystick expansion is all I have done.

Download latest beta here:
http://www.malafe.net/files/download/MaLa162g.zip


Note to all:  If you can recreate a crash/freeze please send the log (in verbose mode to me) 
Send Bugs reports to :    bugs@malafe.net

Thanks For reporting everyone 

[Orclord]

OK Guys...

For anyone with a Joystick/ Gamepad/ etc with more than 12 Buttons

I thought that was called a keyboard......

 

[Lave Laar]

The PNG's I used were created in FireWorks, so they had lots of extra "baggage" though.

Thanks for that ;-)

If you're using pngimage to display the PNG-files and still have problems with these files there is a known bug in the 1.564 version.
Had similar problems with my program. Take a look at post 16 here or this page.

[system01]

Any idea what this means?

Code: [Select]

2009/04/25  22:15:42.44   Error: Object Class: TTimer, Object Function: DisplaySnap, Exception Class: EListError, Exception Message: List index out of bounds (0)
I'm getting this consistently when I exit (Hit "OK") the options menu inside Mala.  It gives me the dialog "MaLa has found an error, check the logs, blah blah" then exits the FE.  I am now using the regular build from mamedev with the Generic Cocktail layout and lists.  I have all of the artwork paths pointing to all valid paths.

Sorry, my bad.  Turns out I was really, really high.  My gamelists were misnamed and causing the crash.

And maybe I should rephrase this:

MaLa would suck hind teat...

Did not want to offend swindus, he built a great app.  What I meant was that, with all the FE competition out there, MaLa could easily fall by the wayside if it werent for all your hard work.

[loadman]

OK Guys...
For anyone with a Joystick/ Gamepad/ etc with more than 12 Buttons

I thought that was called a keyboard......
 

Yeah, I think it is more for people with these USB encoders really

Sorry, my bad.  Turns out I was really, really high.  My gamelists were misnamed and causing the crash.

Could you PM what you did so I can reproduce it? It would be better if MaLa did not crash 

If you're using pngimage to display the PNG-files and still have problems with these files there is a known bug in the 1.564 version.

I am using that but the links just tell me that it is no longer avaliable for download? Also I was half asleep and made quick attempt to flick the and from my monitor (your avitar)     

[system01]

I rescanned the whole topic but didn't see it mentioned yet.  It looks like the standard video won't rotate with the layout in vertical mode correctly.  It's squashed at 90° (right side up).

A thought about animated GIFs... If you rotate the screen, its changing layouts.  So if I wanted flashing "left" and "right" arrows like Maximus, wouldn't the different layouts have different arrow GIFs, with one set pointing to relative up and down?

[loadman]

I rescanned the whole topic but didn't see it mentioned yet.  It looks like the standard video won't rotate with the layout in vertical mode correctly.  It's squashed at 90° (right side up).

?    I just tested this again and videos are working fine for me rotated in vertical. Can you check your vertical layout is not busted and you are using the latest beta.

A thought about animated GIFs... If you rotate the screen, its changing layouts.  So if I wanted flashing "left" and "right" arrows like Maximus, wouldn't the different layouts have different arrow GIFs, with one set pointing to relative up and down?

Yeah animated gifs seem like more pain that it is worth. Might have to settle for a second video window unti MaLa version 2338929323 when I use Direct 3d 

[dungbeetle46]

if you could put in the extra video window and anyone had animated gifs they wanted to use

river past video cleaner will convert gifs to avi

the second window would have to allow for a base video though as it wont be using the rom name like the other video window.

[loadman]

if you could put in the extra video window and anyone had animated gifs they wanted to use
river past video cleaner will convert gifs to avi
the second window would have to allow for a base video though as it wont be using the rom name like the other video window.

That is my current thinking. Need to test.

I hope to have a updated Beta (Mala & Layout Editor) soon

[system01]

I rescanned the whole topic but didn't see it mentioned yet.  It looks like the standard video won't rotate with the layout in vertical mode correctly.  It's squashed at 90° (right side up).

?    I just tested this again and videos are working fine for me rotated in vertical. Can you check your vertical layout is not busted and you are using the latest beta.

I just got home, and it works fine.

I was at work and I messed with this many times with the non-rotated, squashed result.  Before I left, I copied the MaLa and MAME dirs and put them on my home PC.  Same exact files; Worked fine.  I'll try it again tomorrow at work, but it's feeling like an isolated problem.

I'm a bad tester and I should feel bad.

[loadman]

I rescanned the whole topic but didn't see it mentioned yet.  It looks like the standard video won't rotate with the layout in vertical mode correctly.  It's squashed at 90° (right side up).

?    I just tested this again and videos are working fine for me rotated in vertical. Can you check your vertical layout is not busted and you are using the latest beta.

I just got home, and it works fine.

I was at work and I messed with this many times with the non-rotated, squashed result.  Before I left, I copied the MaLa and MAME dirs and put them on my home PC.  Same exact files; Worked fine.  I'll try it again tomorrow at work, but it's feeling like an isolated problem.

I'm a bad tester and I should feel bad.

Better safe than sorry,      Thanks

[system01]

I'm not getting definables to work either in a box or through the additional info windows.  They come up fine in 1058.

[loadman]

I'm not getting definable to work either in a box or through the additional info windows.  They come up fine in 1058.

 

Sorry, More Info please. I don't understand 'box or through the additional info windows' ?

Definables for 'other emu' was intoduced in the beta.  Is that what you are talking about? 

[system01]

No, I mean the regular Definables1/2/3/4 boxes.

I now have both 1058 and 162f both in the same folder and using the same INIs and art folders.  I cant get my 'controls' definable (or snaps, marquees, cpanel) to show up in that box in 162.

- see attached - and pay no mind to the misalignment, my crappy monitor isn't 4:3 right now.

[loadman]

No, I mean the regular Definables1/2/3/4 boxes.

I now have both 1058 and 162f both in the same folder and using the same INIs and art folders.  I cant get my 'controls' definable (or snaps, marquees, cpanel) to show up in that box in 162.

- see attached - and pay no mind to the misalignment, my crappy monitor isn't 4:3 right now.

Thanks for reporting

Is it Definable 4 you are using in that box? I just found a problem with that and fixed it for the next version. Definable 4 was using Defianable 3's path. Copy and Paste error.. D'oh!

You will probably find if you set a path for defainable 3 the definable 4 it will work in the last beta's

If not 4, What definable number are you using?

[system01]

Yep, #4.  At least it wasn't me this time.

Thanks.

[loadman]

Yep, #4.  At least it wasn't me this time.

Thanks.

That's why I pay you the Big Bucks.....  Well maybe not   

Thanks for reporting.  I like the easy ones.

Update of my beta dev work:

I today have added an extra video window to the Layout editor, that was relatively painless.
The pain is layouts (*.mll) won't  be backward compatible , this is a similar issue I stuck with (*.mle) files when I added defainables to 'Other Emulators'. Hmmmm

[dungbeetle46]

just obtained a full set of vids for mame and have done some testing, this is the first time I have used videos and just wondering if this is normal or anyone else having this problem.
My videos will play for the first 5 or 6 games I scroll through then I will just get a black screen in the video box, if I goto the next game and then back to the one that was just black, I now have a video playing, not a big problem and its not the video as it picks and chooses which one it will turn black, its seems random.
does this happen to others or is it something in my setup
cheers Dung

[system01]

I today have added an extra video window to the Layout editor, that was relatively painless.
The pain is layouts (*.mll) won't  be backward compatible , this is a similar issue I stuck with (*.mle) files when I added defainables to 'Other Emulators'. Hmmmm

Will the new video have to remain on top still?

Backward compatability - Are you saying 1.5 layouts won't open in 1.6, or that 1.6 layouts won't open in 1.5?  If it's the latter, I don't see any real issues with it, other than the fear of no turning back.  And all the layouts released so far will still exist on malefe.net (or elsewhere) in their pre-1.6 state, so if something goes wrong you could always reDL it.

@dung
My videos show up consistently anywhere in the list.  If it matters, I'm running XP SP2 with the CCCP.  I put delay on ~1s and also disabled it with no black boxes.

As mentioned yesterday, I'm still having non-rotated video on my work machine (see attached).  At home it works fine.  I first thought it was nVidia twinview causing the problem, but I turned it off and nothing changed.  To me it's not that big a deal, and I'm suspecting the video card/driver.  At work I'm using a QuadroFX 4500, at home I'm running a 8800 GTX.

[system01]

Another nitpick:
Basics tab -> Mame executable -> Config button -> Display tab -> 'Use additional artwork' doesn't do anything, and it won't remain unchecked...  i.e. 'OK' out of options and it will be checked again when you go back into options.  The individual checkboxes (bezel, backdrop) below work fine though.

This had the same behavior in the later 1.5s.

[loadman]

Another nitpick:
Basics tab -> Mame executable -> Config button -> Display tab -> 'Use additional artwork' doesn't do anything, and it won't remain unchecked...  i.e. 'OK' out of options and it will be checked again when you go back into options.  The individual checkboxes (bezel, backdrop) below work fine though.

This had the same behavior in the later 1.5s.

Many options don't work in that section (depending on what version of mame you are using as they have changed). I can't cater for every mame version I guess

It's a starter and you need to finish off by editing mame.ini manually

Will the new video have to remain on top still?

At this stage yes, but I am sure you 'creative' people can think of ways to make a video window blend into the layout. 

Backward compatability - Are you saying 1.5 layouts won't open in 1.6, or that 1.6 layouts won't open in 1.5?

 
1.62x won't open in 1.5 or lower (at this stage)

@dung
My videos show up consistently anywhere in the list.  If it matters, I'm running XP SP2 with the CCCP.  I put delay on ~1s and also disabled it with no black boxes.

I certainly think not have any delay with video's is going to cause grief with scrolling. I would enable delay (~100ms) and have in the Delay Exceptions text and snap

[TheShanMan]

Another nitpick:
Basics tab -> Mame executable -> Config button -> Display tab -> 'Use additional artwork' doesn't do anything, and it won't remain unchecked...  i.e. 'OK' out of options and it will be checked again when you go back into options.  The individual checkboxes (bezel, backdrop) below work fine though.

This had the same behavior in the later 1.5s.

Many options don't work in that section (depending on what version of mame you are using as they have changed). I can't cater for every mame version I guess

It's a starter and you need to finish off by editing mame.ini manually

I'm not able to look at MaLa right now so excuse me if this is already there, but might I suggest adding a disclaimer to the settings window so people's expectations aren't too high? Might even want to suggest using MameUI (version matched to the command line mame being used) for more accurate/complete configuration (I only use MameUI to configure because my expectations are not that high for having MaLa do it ).

[loadman]

might I suggest adding a disclaimer to the settings window so people's expectations aren't too high?

Good Idea

[dungbeetle46]

does Mala 1.62f now have the licensed version of tvideograbber or still the demo version. just wondering if after a while will it stop working or something.
cheers

[loadman]

does Mala 1.62f now have the licensed version of tvideograbber or still the demo version. just wondering if after a while will it stop working or something.
cheers

All paid for.  ;-)

Refer here:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=90230.msg962101#msg962101

So if it stops working it is for another reason.