FE with button layout on screen?

[gothroughthegate]

I have been looking at all the FE out there.  I've gotten myself  confused .  Is there a FE with a screen that pops up with the button layout of games on mame?

[dkubarek]

you want an add on for your front end in that case. CP2viewer and CPwizard. Many FEs support them. But I use Mala and it has the setup in the GUI. I have CP2viewer and like it because it was easy to setup but the program will sometimes run several times if I play a lot of games, which can sap some PC power. (If I go into task manager, I see a few "CP2viewers running, I mean.) CPwizard I never used, but it has another screen to show steps for combo attacks and fatalities in fighting games. I'll probably switch for that reason. It requires a file for reference, but you can find it on the Web.

[Ginsu Victim]

CPwizard link
http://members.iinet.net.au/~freeaxs/cpwizard/

[Turnarcades]

I've always seen those cp layout programs as a bridge too far and one more wait between the FE and a game loading. As most games can be attributed to a 3 or six-button JAMMA layout anyway, I find it easier just to trial and error for a moment or two on my first game. Most games I play do not use non-standard layouts anyway though.

[dkubarek]

yea, for fighters I can see it, but my nephews don't even look at the screen when it pops up. like you said, just one more thing in the way. I think you can set them to work during pause, tho, and just access them when needed. and then it's only there when you want it.

[cmoses]

CPwizard link
http://members.iinet.net.au/~freeaxs/cpwizard/

I looked at CPwizard and it looks pretty cool.  I am almost to this stage and figured I would be using one of these programs.  I like the ability to bring up the layouts and see what is programmed.

I do have a question, can it do cutom layouts for certain games?  Example: I plan to use a combination of Player 1 and Player 2 buttons for a Asteroids button configuration.  Can it be edited to match this?

[dkubarek]

I think I remember something on the site that allows that. Also, I think CP2viewer can make a .png file of a CP for each game you own, so it loads very fast. You can then make a custom one and save over the original one.

[TheShanMan]

I not only use CPWizard for in-game display of controls (when paused), but I also export png's and then batch crop/resize them using irfanview to make them display in my FE along with the other images that are shown for the selected game.

And it reads your key mappings, including per-game custom keymaps, for displaying the active controls.

[gothroughthegate]

Thanks for the info on the cpwizard.  I will try it out.

[cmoses]

I not only use CPWizard for in-game display of controls (when paused), but I also export png's and then batch crop/resize them using irfanview to make them display in my FE along with the other images that are shown for the selected game.

And it reads your key mappings, including per-game custom keymaps, for displaying the active controls.

Can you post a picture showing your FE using the images?  What FE are you using.  I think that showing the layout in the FE is even a better idea.

[TheShanMan]

I'll try to remember to do that next time I plug my cab into the network. It's especially helpful to me because I have swappable panels, so not only does this image show me what the controls do, but it shows me which panel the game requires.

[TheShanMan]

Here is the pic you requested. The cropped and shrunken CPWizard image is in the lower left corner.

[cmoses]

Wow that is pretty sweet.  Is that Mamewah?  I am using Mala, but I think it would be the same to incorporate it.  I am surprised I have not seen that used before.  It makes a lot of sense to me to have the controls right there. 

How do you export the files from CPWizard?

[smalltownguy]

Not sure how you export the images from CPWizard, but I know you can do it from CPViewer. If you execute the command 'cpv2.exe –s' the program can create a custom snapshot of your control panel layout with the controls listed for every mame game you have documented in in your controls.ini file. You can then reference the images in Mamewah, calling up the custom controls layout right on the screen as you scroll through the games in Mamewah.

The '-s' can take a while, depending on how many roms you have. Execute the command, and walk away for a while.

Here's the link for the CPViewer manual, in .pdf format.

http://cpviewer.emuchrist.org/downloads/cpv2_manual.rar

[TheShanMan]

Wow that is pretty sweet.  Is that Mamewah?  I am using Mala, but I think it would be the same to incorporate it.  I am surprised I have not seen that used before.  It makes a lot of sense to me to have the controls right there. 

How do you export the files from CPWizard?

Look at the name of the image file. CPWzard has an Export menu item, so I exported an entire set of png's, and then I set up irfanview to process them as a batch job, first cropping the images to remove all but what you see there, and then resizing to the size I needed for display in the fe.

[headkaze]

I've always seen those cp layout programs as a bridge too far and one more wait between the FE and a game loading. As most games can be attributed to a 3 or six-button JAMMA layout anyway, I find it easier just to trial and error for a moment or two on my first game. Most games I play do not use non-standard layouts anyway though.

CPWizard can run in the background so you can pause Mame to view the controls, so you don't have to show the CP before launching a game. You can also export them as bezels so it will appear as an overlay inside Mame when you pause.

[Bender]

I've always seen those cp layout programs as a bridge too far and one more wait between the FE and a game loading. As most games can be attributed to a 3 or six-button JAMMA layout anyway, I find it easier just to trial and error for a moment or two on my first game. Most games I play do not use non-standard layouts anyway though.

CPWizard can run in the background so you can pause Mame to view the controls, so you don't have to show the CP before launching a game. You can also export them as bezels so it will appear as an overlay inside Mame when you pause.

that is cool

could you explain in a little more detail how to get mame to display it when it Pauses

[TheShanMan]

Bender, I'll give just a quick 2 cents on that, not a full explanation. CPWizard can either actively show its CP image for the game by popping up when it detects that mame is paused (and if you use the cpwizard patch for the mame source, it can unpause mame for you when you hit pause again), or you can have cpwizard export standard mame bezels which get shown or hidden by mame itself when paused/unpaused (again, you'd want the cpwizard patch). There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Believe it or not, I'm using a combination of both, and then on top of that showing the mini cpwizard image in my FE as I showed above!