Direct boot to Game

[nheuer]

Okay here is what I want to do:

I am looking for the best way and what software to use  (os and emulator) so that when I hit the power switch the system loads directly to the game every time.

Note: I only plan on putting one game or rom on the system.

Here is my hardware:

Motherboard:
via epia 800 itx
     Specs:
            Processor
                - VIA C3 E-Series 800Mhz processor
                - 100/133MHz Front Side Bus
                - 128K L1 and 64K L2 cache
            Video
                - Integrated AGP4X with 2D/3D Graphics Acceleration
            Audio
                - VIA VT1612A AC'97 onboard
                - 3 Audio Jacks - Line-Out, Line-In and Microphone-In
                - Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro Compatible
                - Digital I/O compatible with consumer mode S/PDIF
            I/O Ports
                - 3 Audio Jacks - Line-out, Mic-in and Line-in
                - Four USB ports (two USB ports located at rear side)
                - 1 EPP/ECP parallel port
                - 1 16C550 compatible serial port
                - 2 External PS/2 Compatible Keyboard /Mouse ports
                - 2 TV output ports (S-Video or optional RCA TV out)
                - 1 S/PDIF out (optional and multiplex with RCA TV out)
                - 1 RJ-45 LAN port
                - 1 PCI slot (Note: support for two PCI devices)

Hard Drive
      Compact Flash
          Adapted to IDE

Monitor
      19" LCD

Any Thoughts?

[javeryh]

Just use MaLa as your front end.  There is an option to launch MaLa with windows (and various ways to streamline bootup and "hide" windows) and there is also an option to launch a game of your choice upon MaLa start.  My Donkey Kong + boots straight to Donkey Kong when I power it on.

[mr_doles]

You could write a batch file and have it kick off from the startup folder. 
If you are using Windows 98 or lower modify the autoexec.bat to run mame.
In XP use the Run key in the registry to kick off the batch file.
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run)

I wonder if you could modify the shell key under Winlogon in the registry to run mame directly. 
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon)  Not sure if it could handle paremeters though, never tried it.

WARNING: Do not edit the Registry directly without first backing it up

[Space Fractal]

I gonna think bat file could do that to boot on any emulator with the game of chooice?

No need for a frontend like that, but some frontends does support game on launch as well (like my own too).

I think this project is a dedicated game.... Like that one I saw for Tron recently.

[abispac]

easy if using xp, just create a batch file, use batch to exe to convert the batch file to an exe file, and use instant sheller to hide windows and boot directly into the exe file, or if you use dos (can be a bit harder but i did'it) you can set the pc to boot in pure dos to a batch file that includes the game and the sound drivers, if done correctly, this is the fstest method, but recuires a compatible sound card, if you need more help let me know.

[Jack Burton]

I've thought about this every so often and I always come to the conclusion that if I wanted to do this I probably wouldn't use Windows.

I don't know much about linux, but I think it should be possible to create a very minimal installation of the operating system and mame + rom. 

This would have a few benefits.

1) Very Fast loading time.  I think it should be possible to go from a cold boot to the attract mode of your game in less than 30 seconds.

2) Stability.  The less drivers and background services running the better.  This will result in the game running faster and less chance of the system crashing randomly during gameplay.  This almost never happens anyway, but if you wanted to leave the system on for a long time the chances increase.

3) Video Sync.  I may be talking out of ---my bottom--- here, but I've always heard that having an operating system running in the background contributes to screen tearing and jittering.  With one ROM you should be able to set a specific resolution and not have much need for V-sync or triple buffering.  Of course I would still leave it on.

4)Input delay.  This is related to video sync.  The less stuff running in the background the less chance that something will slowdown the emulator and create input delay.

5)Volatility.  It's possible that a person could even flash the entire operating system + emulator and ROM onto an EEPROM and run it as an embedded system.  If you did this right it might be possible to do a VERY fast boot, like less than 5 seconds.   This would also eliminate the need for a hard drive, which would cut down on noise and add the ability to just switch the machine off whenever you feel like it.

[abispac]

I've thought about this every so often and I always come to the conclusion that if I wanted to do this I probably wouldn't use Windows.

I don't know much about linux, but I think it should be possible to create a very minimal installation of the operating system and mame + rom. 

This would have a few benefits.

1) Very Fast loading time.  I think it should be possible to go from a cold boot to the attract mode of your game in less than 30 seconds.

2) Stability.  The less drivers and background services running the better.  This will result in the game running faster and less chance of the system crashing randomly during gameplay.  This almost never happens anyway, but if you wanted to leave the system on for a long time the chances increase.

3) Video Sync.  I may be talking out of ---my bottom--- here, but I've always heard that having an operating system running in the background contributes to screen tearing and jittering.  With one ROM you should be able to set a specific resolution and not have much need for V-sync or triple buffering.  Of course I would still leave it on.

4)Input delay.  This is related to video sync.  The less stuff running in the background the less chance that something will slowdown the emulator and create input delay.

5)Volatility.  It's possible that a person could even flash the entire operating system + emulator and ROM onto an EEPROM and run it as an embedded system.  If you did this right it might be possible to do a VERY fast boot, like less than 5 seconds.   This would also eliminate the need for a hard drive, which would cut down on noise and add the ability to just switch the machine off whenever you feel like it.

if you find a way to do that, that would be very cool setup, please let me know if you do somenthing...

[danfman]

abispac,

Haven't written a batch file before and was wondering if you could give me a hand.  I would like to use instant sheller to hide windows.  I currently set Instant Sheller to shell my Mala file, but would also like to launch Xpadder and Cabvol at start up.  If all 3 executables reside in say, C:\ProgramFiles\, what would the batch file look like?  Would I just list the path and executable?

[thomascirca]

I've thought about this every so often and I always come to the conclusion that if I wanted to do this I probably wouldn't use Windows.

I don't know much about linux, but I think it should be possible to create a very minimal installation of the operating system and mame + rom. 

This would have a few benefits.

1) Very Fast loading time.  I think it should be possible to go from a cold boot to the attract mode of your game in less than 30 seconds.

2) Stability.  The less drivers and background services running the better.  This will result in the game running faster and less chance of the system crashing randomly during gameplay.  This almost never happens anyway, but if you wanted to leave the system on for a long time the chances increase.

3) Video Sync.  I may be talking out of ---my bottom--- here, but I've always heard that having an operating system running in the background contributes to screen tearing and jittering.  With one ROM you should be able to set a specific resolution and not have much need for V-sync or triple buffering.  Of course I would still leave it on.

4)Input delay.  This is related to video sync.  The less stuff running in the background the less chance that something will slowdown the emulator and create input delay.

5)Volatility.  It's possible that a person could even flash the entire operating system + emulator and ROM onto an EEPROM and run it as an embedded system.  If you did this right it might be possible to do a VERY fast boot, like less than 5 seconds.   This would also eliminate the need for a hard drive, which would cut down on noise and add the ability to just switch the machine off whenever you feel like it.

I've found that Gentoo Linux (as opposed to Ubutnu/Fedora/etc) is VERY good for what you described. I had it running on my MAME cab for a bit (switched over to Windows because half my house couldn't figure out how to use it) and it was incredible. So looking at your list:

1. Fast Loading Times- Check- my cab uses a P4 (2.0 GHz) and it would boot in under 20 seconds. Granted, I didn't boot to a MAME frontend, but I'm sure that would only add a few seconds.

2. Stability- Check- provided that you installed it correctly there's no shot that it's going down.

3. Video Sync- no idea

4. Input Delay- Never ran into any delays, so I doubt you would hit any. You build the OS to your needs, so there's none/little excess processes running in the background.

5. That would be pretty hardcore. You could make a Live CD using LFS (probably would take you a few months) that would accomplish this as opposed to using an EEPROM. I know some Asus motherboards have some sort of 5 second boot for certain apps, like Firefox, but I've never used one.

I think Gentoo would be the ideal solution because you literally build it from the ground up. It takes a while to set up, but once you have it running you pretty much have the ultimate OS- you tailor it to your needs in ways that I feel can't be matched by other distros.

Sorry for the Gentoo/Linux promotion but I thought that would be of interest.

[daywane]

C:
cd \
cd mame
mame32.exe roms\mspacman.zip -ror -joystick
put in startup folder