The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls

Main => Software Forum => Topic started by: pucci on June 21, 2015, 06:56:26 am

Title: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pucci on June 21, 2015, 06:56:26 am
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/ (http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/)

actively developed with contribution of www.arcadeitalia.net (http://www.arcadeitalia.net)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: gingerone on June 21, 2015, 08:02:22 am
Looks good, does it hide Windows totally? The screenshots show Windows at the top

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pucci on June 21, 2015, 08:23:44 am
yes, ithide windows totally (screenshot are talen form "test mode" where frontend work in windows mode)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: gingerone on June 21, 2015, 08:56:14 am
Excellent, I'm in the process of getting bits and pieces sorted for a build and whilst is think Mala is great it doesn't have many layouts, all of these look really good so I will have a fiddle as soon as I can

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: gingerone on June 21, 2015, 08:58:22 am
The pc shutdown looks to be a real assett for me, mamewah used to do this but haven't found it in mala yet

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on June 21, 2015, 12:54:43 pm
Nicely done. Looks like a lot of work!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 21, 2015, 04:56:18 pm
But why this is another frontend using .NET and other ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. ???
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on June 21, 2015, 06:23:36 pm
But why this is another frontend using .NET and other ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. ???

I don't understand this sentence. Is it me? If it is can anyone translate it for me?
Thanks
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Slippyblade on June 21, 2015, 06:32:40 pm
Most of this thread seems to have taken language as we know it and fed it through a blender.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: yotsuya on June 21, 2015, 06:40:59 pm
What you say?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on June 21, 2015, 06:44:03 pm
Me be must be it why no? dead isn't punctuation grammar is?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: bulbousbeard on June 21, 2015, 07:17:22 pm
But why this is another frontend using .NET and other ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. ???

Because it's trivial to write a frontend using .NET, if you don't run Windows you're doing it wrong anyway, and performance is a non-issue? Basically, if you've got hardware so weak that it can't run a .NET program, it's not powerful enough to run MAME properly anyway.

What's wrong with .NET?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Slippyblade on June 21, 2015, 07:23:02 pm
...if you don't run Windows you're doing it wrong anyway...

Wow.  How come every time I see a post from you it's negative and condescending?  Between you and X2 we've got enough "one, true way" to last a lifetime.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: bulbousbeard on June 21, 2015, 07:27:04 pm
My post wasn't negative. In fact, I was responding to a negative post. .NET is awesome. There's no reason to bad mouth it. You can tap dance around it all you want, but Windows IS objectively the best OS for an arcade cabinet.

Pros:

* It's got the most software available
* For some reason, every emulator seems to run the best in Windows
* It's got the most hardware support

Cons:

* It isn't free (sort of...you CAN get Windows 10 for free now)
* ??

Honestly, I can't think of any. What's the justification for not using it again?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Howard_Casto on June 21, 2015, 08:01:53 pm
It probably wasn't the best way to say it but in terms of OS choice he is correct.  PC games typically don't run on other operating systems and if they do the modding community (which make it possible to actually run said pc games on a cab) is much smaller.  Middleware is virtually non-existent and you've got to admit, a LOT of this hobby involves middleware unless you have a rather basic setup.  Don't get me wrong, you can use another OS, but why would you want to?  Windows is the best choice. 

Now .net I can't defend.  There is a reason I still use vs6... all that bloat isn't needed for simple applications.  Now if you have a reason, perhaps there is a feature in .net you really need then sure, but M$ switching all their languages to run on .net was one of the stupidest things they've ever done.  I know I sure love having my pc run slowly for 20 minutes after a windows update because .net has to reconfigure itself and even apps like my video card app use stupid .net so I have to keep it on my pc. 

I don't agree with the comment about mame either.  If you want to run pac-man and those golden-age games then you can get away with a REALLY modest pc, even running windows and the latest version of mame.  A .net front-end might not run smoothly though.  Then again it might... resource requirements vary a lot depending upon various factors.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: bulbousbeard on June 21, 2015, 08:14:51 pm
It probably wasn't the best way to say it but in terms of OS choice he is correct.  PC games typically don't run on other operating systems and if they do the modding community (which make it possible to actually run said pc games on a cab) is much smaller.  Middleware is virtually non-existent and you've got to admit, a LOT of this hobby involves middleware unless you have a rather basic setup.  Don't get me wrong, you can use another OS, but why would you want to?  Windows is the best choice. 

Now .net I can't defend.  There is a reason I still use vs6... all that bloat isn't needed for simple applications.  Now if you have a reason, perhaps there is a feature in .net you really need then sure, but M$ switching all their languages to run on .net was one of the stupidest things they've ever done.  I know I sure love having my pc run slowly for 20 minutes after a windows update because .net has to reconfigure itself and even apps like my video card app use stupid .net so I have to keep it on my pc. 

I don't agree with the comment about mame either.  If you want to run pac-man and those golden-age games then you can get away with a REALLY modest pc, even running windows and the latest version of mame.  A .net front-end might not run smoothly though.  Then again it might... resource requirements vary a lot depending upon various factors.

Big Blue runs at 640x480 on a toaster and it's .NET.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Malenko on June 21, 2015, 09:23:54 pm
Windows IS objectively the best OS for an arcade cabinet.

Its SUBJECTIVELY best. I agree that windows is SUBJECTIVELY the best OS for a cab.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: yotsuya on June 21, 2015, 09:36:52 pm
This thread needs more Kaneda.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: bulbousbeard on June 21, 2015, 09:54:00 pm
Windows IS objectively the best OS for an arcade cabinet.

Its SUBJECTIVELY best. I agree that windows is SUBJECTIVELY the best OS for a cab.

How is it subjective? By any measurable quality metric, it's better than the alternatives.

The only argument you can make for the other operating systems is that they're theoretically cheaper, but price isn't a variable if we're just talking about what's the best from a functional standpoint.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Malenko on June 21, 2015, 10:27:15 pm
I'm not going to explain how English works.  :cheers:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pucci on June 22, 2015, 01:24:08 am
Can we talk about F.E.E.L. and not about. NET?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 22, 2015, 05:53:02 am
I'm sorry for my language but I'm really upset that every frontend in windows oriented and uses mostly .NET or Java instead rely on nice and clean C++ code. I always prefer small frontend in terms of memory and processor usage rather than fancy frontends like Hyperspin. Most of the frontends right now does not differ from each other when we speak about options, functionality. After all these years I'm still with MAMEWAH - though not too easy to configure starts very fast and eats really low amount of memory. The only downside is lack of manual switch from horizontal to vertical position and vice versa.

Sadly FEEL does not have such option, does not have option to generate list based on roms that I already have (or maybe have but I didn't discovered this option), does not have favorites import from MAMEUI (would be nice).

Also it crash my windows explorer (windows 7 x64) quite often.

PS. I'm from Poland so my english might be bad  ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Malenko on June 22, 2015, 07:47:00 am
I'm sorry for my language but I'm really upset that every frontend in windows oriented and uses mostly .NET or Java instead rely on nice and clean C++ code.

I look forward to your front end release.

I'll give feel the once over after my vacation. I love MaLa but it looks like dev is dead on it.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on June 22, 2015, 09:22:26 am
Sadly FEEL does not have such option, does not have option to generate list based on roms that I already have (or maybe have but I didn't discovered this option), does not have favorites import from MAMEUI

Ah. Now I understand. And youve just confirmed that you were basically heavily slating this guys work. Did you ever think that he may actually have put a lot of work into this and may feel quite proud of it? The other nice thing is that he SHARED it. It may not be to your requirements but was there really any need to be so negative?

Im sure youre a good guy, but please think twice before discouraging and being rude about creativity and effort. That could ultimately kill the hobby and thus leave you with nothing, leaving you to do it all yourself. We shall, however, endeavor to work harder to ensure the universe spins around you....

I like how the image funtions work in this fe....

Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: yotsuya on June 22, 2015, 10:10:00 am
Your hosting site is blocked by my work filters.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 22, 2015, 10:46:38 am
I'm sorry stigzler but this is my opinion what frontend should have. Besides .NET req. I'm not complaining here.

But ok, FEEL is still in early stages of development (Is it ??) so it might suprise me in the future.

I forgot one usefull feature from MAMEWAH - ability to run different emulators on one single list for example all games with mame 162 and ironhorse with mamefx162. I used this feature to group Taito Type X games, Daphne and mame into one single list.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on June 22, 2015, 11:21:51 am
I like this frontend very much: it's incredibly light (even more than advancemenu), has some great features (i.e. the possibility to autostart the last game played/selected), it support vertical layouts, it allows the pc shutdown (and other selectible optionsvon exit), it's up to date (abandoned FE could have problem generating lists with the latest xml files), it support a  very unique single list feature (all your favs from different emus on one single list...)... you should really give this a try instead of debating how "bad" is .NET ;)

In addition, the developer is very open to new features, which is  OBJECTIVELY a great pro ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 22, 2015, 12:19:53 pm
If it's really has "all your favs from different emus on one single list" than I try configure such list but probably won't be easy for Taito Type X games because every game uses different exe.

Someone discovered how to run vertical layout in full screen? Everytime I tried program crashed.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on June 22, 2015, 12:25:43 pm
IIRC you must set "rotate" or an option like that in feel.ini. I am using it succesfully on a cocktail cab.
For taito games, you can use a batch file to run it, so it's definitely possible to show it in the list.

Ah, almost forgot: this FE has a complete input remapping capability. Remember such games where pressing ESC goes to windowed mode (es. Elsemi Model2)? You can define an input map on a per-emu basis to exit the game when pressing ESC without additional software... not that bad, right?
Uh, what about the possibility to run an app before the emu and close another after the emu exiting?
All these features are present in the current version.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 22, 2015, 12:49:18 pm
Quote
Ah, almost forgot: this FE has a complete input remapping capability. Remember such games where pressing ESC goes to windowed mode (es. Elsemi Model2)? You can define an input map on a per-emu basis to exit the game when pressing ESC without additional software... not that bad, right?

For model2 I used Closemul. Indeed it's good feature.

Quote
Uh, what about the possibility to run an app before the emu and close another after the emu exiting?

Nice feature but already in MAMEWAH.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on June 22, 2015, 12:55:54 pm
@ OP - You guys need to show it off a bit more though. Full-screen snaps of various features. Also, some vids of it in action. I couldn't get my head around the SmartASD thingy - maybe a bit more clarity around that as looks like could be a unique feature?

I realize you guys are Italian so language stuff, but pictures tell a thousand words!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on June 22, 2015, 12:56:20 pm
@Haynor666:It's not a race on who made it first: we are dealing with a very good FE still in development, that deserves attention for sure, that's it.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on June 22, 2015, 12:57:09 pm
Quote
Uh, what about the possibility to run an app before the emu and close another after the emu exiting?
Nice feature but already in MAMEWAH.

Blimey - you on commission!?  ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on June 22, 2015, 01:02:20 pm
The smartasd support is something useful for bartops, not original arcades. Essentially you can toy with lights effects on a per-game basis (i.e. you select street fighter 2 and 6 buttons lit up, you select joust and only one lit up).
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 22, 2015, 01:09:08 pm
Stigzler You don't have to be sarcastic. Iit was for years long before I choose MAMEWAH to use.

BTW. Changelog says that dev. cycle started in 2011.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on June 22, 2015, 01:30:24 pm
Wasn't being sarcastic, chap. Was just trying to make light.
However, I'm not sure it's terribly good form to come onto someone's thread when they are proudly announcing the results of 4 years of hard work and say "Meh...you've developed that on a rubbish platform and all those features you've worked so hard at - well they're all available in other frontends that have been around for ages"

I just think it's quite rude.

Anyways, this is sadly hijacking the fella's thread so I'm going to leave it at that and to echo someone else's comment above, I shall look forward to your perfect Front End written in sparkly C++ with ground breaking features (now that was sarcastic).
Good day.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pucci on June 22, 2015, 01:34:19 pm
I forgot one usefull feature from MAMEWAH - ability to run different emulators on one single list for example all games with mame 162 and ironhorse with mamefx162. I used this feature to group Taito Type X games, Daphne and mame into one single list.

FEEL have this feature
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pucci on June 22, 2015, 01:37:20 pm
@ OP - You guys need to show it off a bit more though. Full-screen snaps of various features. Also, some vids of it in action. I couldn't get my head around the SmartASD thingy - maybe a bit more clarity around that as looks like could be a unique feature?

I realize you guys are Italian so language stuff, but pictures tell a thousand words!

I'll tell developer
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pucci on June 22, 2015, 01:41:15 pm
does not have option to generate list based on roms that I already have (or maybe have but I didn't discovered this option), does not have favorites import from MAMEUI (would be nice).

FEEL for rom list use the same format of MameWah
so you can use your MameWah list or generate new list with RomLister
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 22, 2015, 02:09:14 pm
Ok, my apologies - it can generate list based on available roms  :) I didn't study manual because it's italian  :D

As for list I notice this. It's generally the same list. After closer look I noticed that FEEL and MAMEWAH have the same two small problems:
1. Both programs list devices with roms and support roms like qsound, nmk004 etc.
2. Both programs does not see chd only sets for example Taito GNET games.

Quote
IIRC you must set "rotate" or an option like that in feel.ini. I am using it succesfully on a cocktail cab.

Yeah, it works now just how to this without rotating desktop everytime I rotate my TV  :)

Quote
Wasn't being sarcastic, chap. Was just trying to make light.
However, I'm not sure it's terribly good form to come onto someone's thread when they are proudly announcing the results of 4 years of hard work and say "Meh...you've developed that on a rubbish platform and all those features you've worked so hard at - well they're all available in other frontends that have been around for ages"

I just think it's quite rude.

The only so called rude behaviour it might be my complaining about usage of .NET, that's all. Later I simply pointed some lacking features but this wasn't rude at all. Also it really crashing my windows explorer when I disable test mode, right now I'm trying to investigate this.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pucci on June 22, 2015, 02:56:43 pm


Ok, my apologies - it can generate list based on available roms  :) I didn't study manual because it's italian  :D

As for list I notice this. It's generally the same list. After closer look I noticed that FEEL and MAMEWAH have the same two small problems:
1. Both programs list devices with roms and support roms like qsound, nmk004 etc.
2. Both programs does not see chd only sets for example Taito GNET games.

I report this to front-end programmer
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 22, 2015, 03:25:53 pm
Thanks pucci. Frontend is really good even if I don't like .NET and XNA  :D

Right now I have take a closer look on rotating without rotating desktop and how to put games from many emulators on single list.

BTW. How I can edit layouts besides standard text editor? Is there program for this?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pucci on June 22, 2015, 03:39:51 pm
BTW. How I can edit layouts besides standard text editor? Is there program for this?

for the moment there isnt a layout editor, you must edit with a text editor
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on June 22, 2015, 04:03:10 pm
Layouts are "easy" to be created being made up of a marquee and a background.
All the lines are almost self-explanatory so there's no need for an external layout editor ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 22, 2015, 07:54:21 pm
Hi there, I'm dr.prodigy, FEEL main developer.
Maybe I should present myself somewhere else before posting here, but hopefully you'll forgive my rudeness (and my english too) ;)
My friends from Arcade Italia brought me here to talk about my small piece of work, so hereiam..

I'll try to answer to some questions I've read around (trying to avoid the most pointless ones ::) ):

FEEL has started development in 2011 as 2 friends' project (me and a friend of mine, antogeno, being involved in building/restoring an arcade MAME cabinet, one for each), in replacement to MameWah, which was very good to us at the beginning, though missing some options we needed.

So we started developing *our own* FE as a hobby in our spare time, using .net 2.0 and DirectX managed (FEEL 1.2.x, still available for download, is based on it), which - we thought - was the best choice for running on XP and DX7 on very old hw, without implementing the whole thing in C++ , which would have taken a lot more time (btw, I used to be quite a VB6 fan and still quite I am for *really tiny* things, but come on.. we must evolve sometimes! :) ).
Then after some good work, antogeno left the project and since then (2013) I'm keeping it up on my own (apart from the graphics work, which is helped out by Arcade Italia users, adolfo69 as first).

In these years I then decided to move to .net 3.5 and XNA 3.1 (I intentionally chose outdated versions because of their compatibility and lightness qualities).. a little more requesting in terms of hw, but still very light and very well supported even on very old hw (e.g.: a crappy P4 ATI-Radeon-9xxx-equipped - which I still use in my cabinet - is always my requirement target, and on it FEEL runs like hell .. any test ;D ).

This technology change allowed me to rewrite the whole graphics engine (yep FEEL is not Windows forms app, instead it's developed on a "proprietary" ;D 2D game engine, whence implementing all graphics at quite low level), adding transparencies and transitions and a very better videosnap management thru DirectShow. This has been available from v.1.5 on, and then the FE has been upgraded with a lot of nice layouts made by the good guys at A.I. ;)
Then I went on adding support for LED dashboards on SmartASD (from v.1.7) with a quite unique approach (i.e.: no LED configuration required: all is plug-and-play with MAME roms' controls), and finally I've been working on vertical screens management (v.1.8 ).

Okay such a long story.. well to cut it short FEEL (at least, IMHO) is:
- capable of running on any PC you'll find useful for something
- perfect for 15khz arcade cabinets, bartop and so on (coupled with Win7 or - even better - WinXP)
- damn fast (it features the fastest frontend GUI I know), lightweight and effective in managing huge amount of roms and as many emu you would want (the same adolfo69, for instance, is running near 100 different emu on it)
- able to run any commandline-driven emulator, even the "worst", at its best conditions
- configurable at any level of need
- fulfilled of quite interesting features, some designed by me, some coming from A.I. community concepts and hints

Yep, it's not a professional product (so it lacks some useful facilities, such as layout design and others), it's not hyper-wow-C++ ::) , it's not graphics-at-top as hyperspin, it doesn't run on Arduino or RaspPI, but when properly set, it works quite flawlessly, faster (in terms of responsiveness and GUI) and "smarter" than any other FE I've ever tried. Or at least - as always - to me!

Another big lack is probably.. a complete english documentation (and even an updated doc, I must admit). The thing is: I don't have much time, and doc writing is not the most enjoyable thing in the world isn't it?), so I'm trying to fix this with the new website some of you have visited (very "primitive", since it's born just in the last weeks).

In the end, if you want, give FEEL a try, check it out yourselves and let me know your impressions.. or if you don't no prob, to me FEEL development is just a nice hobby so I surely won't argue :lol

PS: I've read about those CHD and devices small issues.. you're probably right.. I'll investigate.. thx!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: bulbousbeard on June 22, 2015, 08:13:51 pm
FWIW it crashes on launch on my machine, too. I have .NET 4.5.2 installed. Maybe I don't have an older version installed that it needs.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 22, 2015, 08:18:51 pm
Please use .NET 3.5 (which is not superseded by 4.x) and XNA 3.1.. refer to requirements in the website.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 22, 2015, 08:25:37 pm
Also it crash my windows explorer (windows 7 x64) quite often.
I was forgetting.. Yep, that's due to a W7 bug, occurring when you right-click (explorer crashes).. it seems like they've (finally) fixed with a WinUpdate some time ago.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 23, 2015, 03:51:44 am
Thanks for explanation dr.prodigy and I'm sorry for critics on NET usage. Indeed works very fast (unlike some applications that I have "pleasure" to use at work). Right now I'm starting to install it on my arcade PC (XP x32).
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 23, 2015, 10:03:03 am
Very good haynor.. Glad you had some time to make a small test .. I wasn't bullshitting so much in the end ;)

Keep me updated on how it goes.. thank you very much!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 23, 2015, 10:45:18 am
Full success despite some problems with .NET (PC without internet but .NET insist to download missing stuff).
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 23, 2015, 03:57:00 pm
I see.. Well whenever you don't have a connection handy on your target PC, you should always stick to "redist package" versions.. Just google them or search on ms site.
They're quite large, but during installation they won't ask for any download ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 23, 2015, 06:01:21 pm
This was full offline installer about 240 Mb but somehow it tries download 10 Mb. Anyway everything works fine without those 10 Mb from package.

I configured Taito Type X with your frontend and it works better with those games than MAMEWAH though Raiden IV after quit minimalizes MAMEWAH and FEEL the same way. This is of course Taito Type X problem.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 25, 2015, 09:49:55 am
dr. prodigy I have few questions:

I noticed that after I quite mame there is white screen for second. Is it my fault ie. wrong configuration, some side effect or intentional behaviour?

In romstatus options in layout F.E.E.L does read only one of three status lines (preliminary, good, imperfect). How can I add other two ?

Is there option to wrap text in layout instead of scrolling ?

In screenshot section the remaining area (from edges of screenshot to edges of area for screenshot) is filled with black colour. Is there any option to make it transparent?

So far I'm out of luck with displaying mp4 videos from AntonPisa site and emumovies. What codec I need to make this function work ?

Any plans for rotated layouts without actually rotating desktop ?

From time to time I see mouse cursor when I launch game, I messed something or this is how frontend works ?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 25, 2015, 10:14:40 am
I noticed that after I quite mame there is white screen for second. Is it my fault ie. wrong configuration, some side effect or intentional behaviour?
None of the 2.. that small flash occurs, I've tried hard to remove it, but it's still there.. it appears for a moment when FEEL regains control. Being sincere, in the end I got accustomed to it, and I don't notice it anymore :)
In romstatus options in layout F.E.E.L does read only one of three status lines (preliminary, good, imperfect). How can I add other two ?
As best I can remember, this has been done to remain consistent with MameWAH's lists.. we could change this, but we would break compatibility.. not so good.
Is there option to wrap text in layout instead of scrolling ?
Unfortunately no, not currently :)
In screenshot section the remaining area (from edges of screenshot to edges of area for screenshot) is filled with black colour. Is there any option to make it transparent?
Currently there isn't. It would be trivial to do it (we should just remove the black fill, which I added intentionally), but in my tests this brings to not-so-nice graphics results: all snapshots are black-bordered, that's why I use black to fill the area.
So far I'm out of luck with displaying mp4 videos from AntonPisa site and emumovies. What codec I need to make this function work ?
Whenever you are able to view them in a Windows Media Player window, you should be up&running..
Any plans for rotated layouts without actually rotating desktop ?
hmmm.. not sure about what you mean! :-\
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 25, 2015, 11:27:46 am
Right now before I switch to vertical layout I have to rotate desktop with irotate or other program, otherwise I get error about EXECUTION ERROR Change resolution failed. It's simply impossible to switch orientation without leaving frontend, rotating desktop and finally go to configuration and manually edit line responsible for layout from let's say [something] to [something]_vertical. Rotating/switch to vertical layout on the fly would be great feature. :)

I was thinking about another addition - resizing screenshots according to aspect ratio and orientation. Right now every (but I might be mistaken) frontend stretches screenshots to filed area desired by user either keeping screenshot aspect ratio or not. Some games with resolutions like 620x240 or 480x224 looks bad that way. You could imagine how looks screenshot of Blasteroids (640x224) squashed to box 256x256 for example. The only way to bypass this right now is to manually resize such screenshots with IrfanView or similiar program. This would be nice addition but not necessary.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 25, 2015, 04:47:19 pm
1)
No no wait.. :)

Vertical layout usage does not imply rotating Win desktop with external tools, neither the normal layouts are re-arranged in any way if you try to use them in vertical (i.e.: rotate_screen = 1): in that case FEEL will try to change resolution to, let's say, 480x640, which for sure is not a resolution supported by your VGA.. kaboom :D
Instead, to use it you need first of all to set your FE layout (setting "current_layout" parameter, or using "change layout" menu option when running in test mode) to a vertical one (in the std package you got only "MAME-vertical"), then after that you'll be able to apply screen rotation and go fullscreen.
You will result in keeping your Windows desktop in a standard mode (for instance 640x480) and rotating the FE only, in order to match your screen rotation (90° clockwise).
Of course you'll need to set up all your emulators (e.g. mame) as well to screen rotation mode.

2)
In FEEL you got 2 different snapshot (as any other image on the screen) modes: normal or stretched mode.
In normal mode, FEEL will draw the snap keeping its aspect ratio intact, using the most possible space of its "place", and filling the rest with black (this only applies to snapshots: you've already noticed) (this should be the mode you're looking for).
In stretched mode instead, as the word says, the image is stretched to fill the snapshot space. In this case aspect ratio, of course, is not respected.
Your chosen mode can be easily set in the layout definition file (via "snapshot_stretch" parameter).

Anyway, I noticed too (maybe that's your point) that snapshots and videosnaps contained in the usual zip packages you can find on the internet are not consistent: sometimes the images are bordered in black, sometimes they're perfectly trimmed.. this can lead to some wrong visualization from one to another (for instance, some vertical games will appear very "thin" or "fat" compared to others) even using normal mode.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 25, 2015, 05:53:58 pm
I managed to set vertical mode without rotating desktop but I don't see any option to switch orientation on the fly. I try to bypass this by cloning emulator configs with different orientation but looks like option screen_rotation is only allowed in feel.ini

EDIT. Or maybe it's not but FEEL only sets this once. When I change emulators with shift this option is only applied from first started emulator, switching to emulator with different orientation and different layout does not change anything :/ But again, I may doing something wrong.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 26, 2015, 02:00:38 am
Okay.. Did you set rotate_screen to 1 in feel.ini file?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 26, 2015, 03:13:31 am
At the beginning yes and it works but next step was to move this option to platform sections to see if this option during platform changes also takes effect. It does but only from platform that is started with FEEL. Switching platform does not change orientation. Anyway the fact that I can now use vertical layouts is big improvment for me :)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 26, 2015, 07:20:23 am
Ooooh, now I see.. you've pushed the thing forward, trying to apply different orientations according to active platform..
Well, for the FEEL 4 config "golden rules" it should be theoretically possible..
Actually I instead decided not to allow this, accommodating rotation setting only at startup (what I thought is: if you have a vertical screen it'll always be vertical! ). I can of course change this, if needed.
Why should you need to change rotation at runtime? What's your need precisely?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Malenko on June 26, 2015, 08:28:47 am
Some people have rotating monitor set ups.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 26, 2015, 09:09:16 am
Exactly, many people are rotating monitor when they need ie changing game from Rastan to Asuka.

Let's say I played I played Rastan for I while and I decided to browse games. After I while I chosen Asuka so I'm forced to rotate my TV, played an hour then quit and again started browsing to find next game but I still have TV rotated and till I decide what next game will be I don't know it I need still rotated TV or not so I would like to browse games normally on vertical orientation instead rotate TV to horizontal position only for browsing when I finally choose again vertical game  :)

About mouse cursor - MAMEWAH used simple trick - during running it swaps cursor with invisible one. Maybe it can done the same way. Right now I set cursor as one dot (sometimes I need it on desktop so I cannot make it completly transparent).
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 26, 2015, 03:19:20 pm
@Malenko: apart from the fact that automatic rotating monitors are probably .. 10 in the world? ;D if your setup is really effective in changing its rotation on the flight, you could simply keep the frontend horizontal and rotate it to vertical in MAME games only.

@Haynor: I understand your point.. the thing is.. given that FEEL can't know anything on how mame has arranged video for the last rom played (it depends both on rom specs and mame config), how could possibly set itself to horizontal or vertical mode accordingly? ::)

About mouse cursor, I think I'll implement it (being sincere I've never noticed it too much before you said it!).. probably we can keep it even simpler, hiding cursor when the frontend is started, and show it when it's closed.. will investigate on how to do it, I'll let u know ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 26, 2015, 03:44:35 pm
Many people are using rotating setups, not too many with mechanical/ electronical devices but manually probably a lot.

MAME uses auto rotation (option autoror) so all vertical games are automatically rotated. The same goes to groovymame though option for this is different. -listxml also gives as such information - rotate="0" or rotate="270". Anyway auto switch is not needed here, I prefer switch from horizontal to vertical and vice versa manually. Right now I can but I have to quit FEEL in order to rotate takes effect so for this change I would greatly thankful  :)

About cursor. This not a problem with mame but when I use Nestopia or VBA-M then cursor stays in center of screen for a while and since it's low resolution cursor is big, really big  :/

And one thing - maybe you could present your frontend also on mameworld  :D Since MAMEWAH will not work after MAME 162 it's really great replacement and folks there might be interested  ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Malenko on June 26, 2015, 08:20:59 pm
@Malenko: apart from the fact that automatic rotating monitors are probably .. 10 in the world? ;D if your setup is really effective in changing its rotation on the flight, you could simply keep the frontend horizontal and rotate it to vertical in MAME games only.

I don't have a rotating monitor, I was just telling you why someone would want that.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on June 27, 2015, 01:44:27 am
[quote author]
About mouse cursor, I think I'll implement it (being sincere I've never noticed it too much before you said it!).. probably we can keep it even simpler, hiding cursor when the frontend is started, and show it when it's closed.. will investigate on how to do it, I'll let u know ;)
[/quote]

Maurizio, pay attention to this: if for some reason FEEL crashes (you know how newbies could "explore" inexepected fields...) your mouse will be hidden, making it difficult to navigate windows.
I think that this should be a non default option (maybe "not hidden", "completely hidden" and "dot" could be the tree alternatives)... and it would be a really nice feature!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 27, 2015, 08:58:21 am
Crashes happen sometimes indeed, maybe it's my fault or frontend has some problems with U360 stick but from to time when I quit mame FEEL right away crashes. This happens on XP x32.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 29, 2015, 05:30:14 pm
Anyway auto switch is not needed here, I prefer switch from horizontal to vertical and vice versa manually. Right now I can but I have to quit FEEL in order to rotate takes effect so for this change I would greatly thankful  :)
Okay this is done.. you can dl the new version from the usual place ;)

About cursor. This not a problem with mame but when I use Nestopia or VBA-M then cursor stays in center of screen for a while and since it's low resolution cursor is big, really big  :/
I see.. gonna do it, let me work on it..

And one thing - maybe you could present your frontend also on mameworld  :D Since MAMEWAH will not work after MAME 162 it's really great replacement and folks there might be interested  ;)
Will do! Thank you  ;D
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 29, 2015, 05:50:31 pm
[quote author]
About mouse cursor, I think I'll implement it (being sincere I've never noticed it too much before you said it!).. probably we can keep it even simpler, hiding cursor when the frontend is started, and show it when it's closed.. will investigate on how to do it, I'll let u know ;)

Maurizio, pay attention to this: if for some reason FEEL crashes (you know how newbies could "explore" inexepected fields...) your mouse will be hidden, making it difficult to navigate windows.
I think that this should be a non default option (maybe "not hidden", "completely hidden" and "dot" could be the tree alternatives)... and it would be a really nice feature!
[/quote]
Of course Marco, you know I always care about details .. Mouse cursor will always be reset ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 29, 2015, 05:51:56 pm
Crashes happen sometimes indeed, maybe it's my fault or frontend has some problems with U360 stick but from to time when I quit mame FEEL right away crashes. This happens on XP x32.
This is something I must investigate on..
Can you collect the content of feel.log file after a crash, and post it here?

Thank you very much ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 30, 2015, 03:09:54 pm
Right now I tried to log this bug on Win 7x64 but without luck and I don't have access to XP x32 for a moment (my second PC is doing right now mame benchmarks on win 7 x64) but this crash was different. Looks like crashed actually some NET component instead FEEL itself. Might be ralated only to XP and/or due to fact that I excuted also other emulators especially Taito Type X games.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 30, 2015, 03:25:10 pm
Okay, let me know..
What about rotation change on platform-basis?
By the way, with the fix I went a little deeper than your request: you can now set rotation in all config levels, so the most easy way is to put the relevant parameter in the layout ini files, so rotation depends only on layout change (should be the most "natural" behaviour).
I will soon update all the standard layouts in the package to include that parameter, so they'll be ready for the next downloaders ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 30, 2015, 04:06:53 pm
I'm still very interested, waiting then for next release ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 30, 2015, 04:30:15 pm
Hey but as I said yesterday that's already there to be downloaded! ::)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 30, 2015, 05:57:19 pm
On your site version is still 1.8 so I thought that You didn't post new binaries but what I can see main exe is newer.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 30, 2015, 06:18:09 pm
Yep I used to avoid updating website on minor versions (a little annoying y'know!).. but you're right, it's not totally clear.. I'll try to do it from now on ;D

Btw, now you can dl 1.8.0.6 which includes mouse hiding as well ::)

PS: if upgrading from previous versions, please don't forget to save feel.cur (new file in the package) in your FEEL directory.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on June 30, 2015, 06:22:16 pm
I've tested  vertical layouts and switching works great :)

I just thinking - would a good idea now to enable layout switching not only in test mode but also in normal mode ?

I'll check mouse cursor changes tomorrow. It's after midnight in Poland :)

EDIT. I forgot one thing. Right now some (not tested all) layouts have misplaced fields for snaps. MAME is in wrong place but mame vertical is ok.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 30, 2015, 06:32:28 pm
Well layout switching is disabled intentionally in normal mode: IMHO it would be not really useful and, let's say, "confusing".. instead you should use it to test new layouts, and/or to set which layout you want for your emulator lists (change emu -> change layout -> change emu -> change layout and so on... all these settings are saved at exit). Less precise than thru ini files editing, but easier for sure.
When you're happy with your setup you move to normal mode with everything in place :D

Btw, it's after midnight in Italy too.. I'm going to sleep as well :cheers:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on June 30, 2015, 06:35:42 pm
PS: Sorry didn't understand misplaced fields thing..  ???
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 01, 2015, 02:07:29 am
Screenshot was not on monitor but instead a bit higher. Anyway with latest version tested at work I cannot reproduce this.

There is other problem. At work I have 1440x900 desktop I started FEEL with default mame layout. When I start game using mamefx and quit FEEL changed it's resolution to 1440x900 too. At the beginning it's probably due  MAMEFX using also 1440x900 for game but when I enable res. switching in mamefx game started in 640x480 but upon exit monitor informed than 1440x900 is active. I did screenshot using PrintScr but it's 640x480. Really strange  ??? Maybe it's Intel HD2000 fault.

EDIT. Let's just ignore this, test was done with computer at work so it's not the best for testing.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 01, 2015, 03:15:52 pm
It's quite a strange behaviour.. The emu should restore the right res upon closure, don't know how it happens but it should not be FEEL's fault anyway.. ;)

About wrong positions in layouts, it can sometimes happen, in case of crashes on layout change, to have some layout settings messed up..
In that (really not usual btw) case you have to restore layouts from the install package (or better from a good backup by you ;) ) to get back to work.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 01, 2015, 04:58:23 pm
I think I've found cause of crashes and one strange error. Error or crash always happens when I set vertical layout run game in game, quit mame (groovymame32_163) and hit lShift to change emulator with horizontal layout. But when next emulator is also vertical then everything is fine, in fact next emu can be horizontal again and nothing bad happens.

EDIT. No, wait. Orientation is not important, emulator is also not important. When run nestopia from horizontal layout and then switch to vba-m crach also appear :/

EDIT 2. Looks like problem is with resolution change, if one layout uses different resolution (denim, wood, MAME) then FEEL crashes during switching of course only when I run one game in any emulator.

EDIT. 3 Works fine (mostly) if I use option select emulator in menu

Sadly this crash is not logged in feel.log but error is. Attached

Another problem (it's probably my fault) is that sometimes layout switching does not rotate correctly. I managed fix this by setting everything once again form scratch but I attached current good configuration and previous bad. I really don't know what I did wrong.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 03, 2015, 03:17:10 pm
There is second crash (so no log). Usually happens after I run couple games. Today  FEEL crashed twice after I leaved Tumble Pop.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 03, 2015, 03:25:32 pm
Hi haynor, I must admit in more than 3 years nobody's never experienced such a number of crashes.. And never in conjunction with mame's execution!! ??? Are you using screen resize very extensively?
That's the only place in which I noticed some bad behaviour.
This is somewhat related with XNA, because my code is quite clean and tested , and the crashes are not repeatable every time.
Anyway, I will locate some workaround for it..
Btw, I'll be out of home for weekend, I'll do some tests next week ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 03, 2015, 03:58:29 pm
First crash (layout switching) does not care what emu I use but second might be ralated to groovymame. It generates modelines on the fly for game. Second crash so far was reproduced only on XP x32. If I have to play on LCD I prefer MAMEUIFX.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on July 04, 2015, 08:41:12 am
Never ever had a FEEL crash on my racing cabinet with racermame, model 2, vivanonno and a bunch of other emus. I suppose there are problems on the emu side, in your case.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 04, 2015, 05:15:37 pm
First crash is present only from most recent version so if You have older FEEL than won't be any crash. Second one is probably related to groovymame. I'll do more test tests with model2, Nestopia and see how it goes.

BTW. What system do You use?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on July 04, 2015, 06:13:33 pm
OS? Windows xp sp3. I update FEEL as soon as a new release pops up
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 05, 2015, 10:59:33 am
I also have XP SP3. FEEL right now is v.1.8.0.6. Is this your current ?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 10, 2015, 04:51:44 pm
Hey haynor.. I'm out with new v.1.8.0.7.
This version contains a (possible) fix to your resolution-change bugs.
When you can, please try it and tell me if things work well now.
Thanks mate ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 11, 2015, 09:05:50 am
Both bugs are still there :(

Couple days ago I tried to enable second monitor (actually PC). Sadly my PC never enabled it. Since this experiment that white screen after leaving mame looks different so maybe all these problems are related to my specific hardware/software - Radeon 4350/Calamity (or maybe even general) ATI drivers.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 11, 2015, 10:26:15 am
Oh sh.. :(
I currently use Calamity drivers on my cab, but with a older simplest 9250 ..
If you as i see are experiencing various problems with your videocard I suggest to remove drivers completely using ATI driver remover, and re-install from scratch the emudrivers.. That *should* solve most defects.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 11, 2015, 11:56:24 am
Reinstalling driver (full uninstall and install using ATI setup) didn't help. I even switch to LCD monitor (supports 640x480i) and still the same.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on July 11, 2015, 12:19:32 pm
But why this is another frontend using .NET and other ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. ???

..and to think I thought that you didn't like it! :D

What fantastic support from these devs.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 12, 2015, 04:41:16 pm
dr.prodigy, I've found source of this grey screen during FEEL start and mame quit - this is color from windows gui - main color from oblject 3D in advanced properties of screen. If I change it to green than FEEL also has green screen.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 12, 2015, 06:25:42 pm
Whooooa, interesting! Never thought about that, thank you! :)
Mmmmmh, now I wonder how to hide it.. There's nothing about grey Windows' window in my code!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 12, 2015, 06:31:33 pm


..and to think I thought that you didn't like it! :D

What fantastic support from these devs.
Yep haynor in the end has jumped on this side of the barricade !! :-D
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 13, 2015, 05:40:14 am
Maybe this color is caused by the fact that whole FEEL screen is draw as one big window  instead draw as fullscreen :-\

Switching to second monitor works fine. It was my(or maybe even windows) fault. I simply cannot switch to undetected monitor (standard TV). Besides on second output unlike primary I use custom cable instead UMSA.

EDIT. I forgot to mention - crashes reproduced also on Win 7x64 on totally different hardware.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 14, 2015, 03:35:17 am
I've found another problem. This time with variable [emulator_path] and/or roms_path.

Let's say I configured paths:

emulator_path            D:\mame
roms_path                  [emulator_path]\roms

Loading roms with such configuration works but creating games list does not. I get error "can't find [emulator_path]\roms".
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 14, 2015, 06:27:03 am
I've found another problem. This time with variable [emulator_path] and/or roms_path.

Let's say I configured paths:

emulator_path            D:\mame
roms_path                  [emulator_path]\roms

Loading roms with such configuration works but creating games list does not. I get error "can't find [emulator_path]\roms".
Quite good testing you're doing! ;D
This is fixed and released (v.1.8.0.7: not changed version for such a simple debug!).
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 14, 2015, 06:31:18 am
Maybe this color is caused by the fact that whole FEEL screen is draw as one big window  instead draw as fullscreen :-\
Okay, but I'm not sure I can do something about it.. underlying grey window is probably out of the scope of FEEL code.. I'll investigate and let you know. BTW, do you notice the grey background only when running in fullscreen mode, or even in test mode?

Switching to second monitor works fine. It was my(or maybe even windows) fault. I simply cannot switch to undetected monitor (standard TV). Besides on second output unlike primary I use custom cable instead UMSA.

EDIT. I forgot to mention - crashes reproduced also on Win 7x64 on totally different hardware.
Would you please explain this thing better? I'm not sure I understood..
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 14, 2015, 07:23:42 am
I didn't notice it in test mode but right now I can only test Windows 7 x64. I'll try at home XP x32.

EDIT. Tested. Flashing screen is even in test mode.


I used two different solutions to TV connection. First TV was connected using primary (DVI) and using UMSA, Second TV was connected using secondary (VGA) using custom made cable. Maybe cable didn't allowed me to enabled second monitor or maybe it was windows detection problem (lack of EDID from TV which is normal). Anyway this has nothing to do with FEEL.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on July 14, 2015, 01:42:41 pm
Sorry - only half-reading, but is there a query about how to have from background as transparent in vb?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 14, 2015, 03:55:56 pm
Hi.. Well no, not exactly.. It looks like that, although through xna code FEEL controls all the video output of its window, for some reason during some transients upon emulator closure the underlying Feel main process window (which is grey as windows' default) appears for a fraction of sec.
Looks like a small bug in XNA, in the end.
Everything is developed in c# .NET framework 3.5.
If you have any suggestion, it would be of course very appreciated ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 14, 2015, 04:25:42 pm
I've probably another problem - building games list from mame exe twice causes program to crash.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 14, 2015, 05:25:01 pm
Well this 3d is getting embarassing!!
What kind of set-up you use haynor?!? :-D
This is something nobody has ever reported.. After dozens of satisfied users and more than 1 hundred emulators currently in use in FEEL!
..Would you please explain better what happens?

Ps: of course I appreciate the good work you're doing.. Thanks :)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 14, 2015, 05:45:03 pm
This behaviour was reproduced on Win7x64 with i5 2400 and Intel HD2000 and on Win 7x64 i5 4670k, GTX770, FEEL in test mode and with official mame 64 163.

When I start building games list using option Build list for first time this works but when I try to do this once again FEEL crashes right away. For testing I had only about 10 roms at work so list is short but at home whole mame set is readed.

This is what I get (description fields in polish, sorry):

Opis:
  Stopped working

Podpis problemu:
  Nazwa zdarzenia problemu:   CLR20r3
  Podpis problemu: 01:   feel.exe
  Podpis problemu: 02:   1.8.0.7
  Podpis problemu: 03:   55a4e1df
  Podpis problemu: 04:   mscorlib
  Podpis problemu: 05:   2.0.0.0
  Podpis problemu: 06:   53a12268
  Podpis problemu: 07:   3457
  Podpis problemu: 08:   21c
  Podpis problemu: 09:   System.IO.IOException
  Wersja systemu operacyjnego:   6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
  Identyfikator ustawień regionalnych:   1045

EDIT. FEEL does not crash on XP x32.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: stigzler on July 15, 2015, 02:50:36 am
Dunno xna. But there are ways to make form backgrounds transparent. If its brief, is xna reverting to a windows form briefly?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 20, 2015, 06:44:16 am
Today I've tested FEEL once again taking latest package and configuring everything once again on win 7 x64 with HD2000 with all updates for NET 3.5 so this time without groovymame and ATI/Calamity drivers.

This time I used official mame64 without any ini file (so mame is started with desktop resolution) and FEEL in test mode. For test I configured Daphne emu to use denim layout (because of different size/resolution). After I started single game I played short time, then quit and after couple second I hit LShift to change emulator to Daphne (with denim applied) FEEL popup error, even in test mode :/

Must call BeginScreenDeviceChange before calling EndScreenDeviceChange
System.InvalidOperationException: Must call BeginScreenDeviceChange before calling EndScreenDeviceChange
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameForm.EndScreenDeviceChange(String screenDeviceName, Int32 clientWidth, Int32 clientHeight)
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameWindow.EndScreenDeviceChange(String screenDeviceName, Int32 clientWidth, Int32 clientHeight)
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GraphicsDeviceManager.ChangeDevice(Boolean forceCreate)
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GraphicsDeviceManager.ApplyChanges()
   w feel.OBJScene.ChangeRes(Int32 resX, Int32 resY, Boolean rotateScreen)
   w feel.Feel.RefreshLayout()
   w feel.Feel.UpdateUI(GameTime gameTime)
   w feel.Feel.Update(GameTime gameTime)
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Tick()
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.HostIdle(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameHost.OnIdle()
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.ApplicationIdle(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   w System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponent.FDoIdle(Int32 grfidlef)
   w System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMe ssageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData)
   w System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   w System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   w System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(Form mainForm)
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.Run()
   w Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Run()
   w feel.Feel.Main()

Dr.prodigy, could You look at this problem again, please?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 23, 2015, 05:42:51 pm
Well of course I'll do.. In these days I'm a little busy so I cant do a lot.
Unfortunately I've been digging the thing quite deeply in the past, still without success (it's probably something wrong in xna code).
But if there's a solution, I'll find it.. Take it for granted ;-)
In the meanwhile I would suggest you to use layouts with same screen resolution only (this is true even if you move from a horizontal to a vertical layout with same sizes, i.e. 640x480 or 480x640v is the same): in this case resolution change code is not executed, so no crash should occur anymore.

Ps: Sorry for my late answer, let me know if this solves ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 24, 2015, 01:51:59 am
All my layouts has 640x480 but FEEL crashes even I switch from emulator layout mame to emulator with layout mame-vertical so orientation also cause this.

I did some tests and tested previous version. I tested back to 1.5 crashes happens but since previous ones didn't have layout switching crashes are only after I quit game (random - sometimes just quitting one game cause this, sometimes 10 different games).

EDIT. I forgot two things:
Yesterday I build list using ROMLister (it has nice feature - cutting from game names everything that is in brackets) I realized that ROMlister adds more control devices than FEEL. After browsing xml I've found differencies cause:

<input players="1" buttons="1" coins="2" tilt="yes">
         <control type="joy" ways="8"/>
         <control type="trackball" minimum="0" maximum="255" sensitivity="50" keydelta="10" reverse="yes"/>
      </input>

FEEL takes only first control type but ROMLister takes all so in FEEL we have for 720:
720
720 Degrees (rev 4)
1986
Atari Games


raster
Horizontal
stick - 1P - 2Bt

but in ROMLister we have:
720
720 Degrees
1986
Atari Games



Horz
stick, dial
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 26, 2015, 04:17:27 am
All my layouts has 640x480 but FEEL crashes even I switch from emulator layout mame to emulator with layout mame-vertical so orientation also cause this.
This should *never* happen: at layout change, if size x*y is not varying (even upon screen rotation), FEEL reloads object positions only, and doesn't touch anything about screen resolution.
Please double-check your setup (maybe, if you want, you could perhaps send me your zipped config and layouts, so that I can take a look? Send me a pvt msg if you want ;) ).
Anyway, I added another small res-change optimization code in v.1.8.0.8 new version (still applies to res-change cases, not when sizes don't change). Maybe it can help you out.

EDIT. I forgot two things:
Yesterday I build list using ROMLister (it has nice feature - cutting from game names everything that is in brackets) I realized that ROMlister adds more control devices than FEEL. After browsing xml I've found differencies cause:

<input players="1" buttons="1" coins="2" tilt="yes">
<control type="joy" ways="8"/>
<control type="trackball" minimum="0" maximum="255" sensitivity="50" keydelta="10" reverse="yes"/>
</input>

FEEL takes only first control type but ROMLister takes all so in FEEL we have for 720:
720
720 Degrees (rev 4)
1986
Atari Games


raster
Horizontal
stick - 1P - 2Bt

but in ROMLister we have:
720
720 Degrees
1986
Atari Games



Horz
stick, dial
Aaaah okay this is easy.. never noticed there's the possibility to have more than one controltype per rom!
This is fixed (now you'll see "stick,dial - 1P - 2Bt"), pls download v1.8.0.8 and you'll find out (of course, you'll need a list rebuild to see changes) ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 26, 2015, 08:05:36 am
Thanks dr. prodigy but now it's getting even worse. Now I try to switch layouts from lets say r-type to r-type_vertical sometimes FEEL crash but sometimes not. When it crashes last used layout changes it's orientation partially - FEEL writes into layout.ini switched values for either background values or orientation or even option for rotation is erased. This is really strange. Should FEEL writes anything in layout.ini ? The same problem is with official layouts.

Crashes after I quit game are still there also :/
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 26, 2015, 09:49:55 am
Okay let's start it over..
- copy STD layouts in place from download pack
- start with horizontal layouts only, all with the same sizes x*y
- configure all your emus (set their own layout editing ini files manually - not changing it via menu)
Now..
1) Does everything work correctly in test mode?
2) Does it in fullscreen mode?

I know this looks a little stupid, but I fear in this troubleshooting we're getting too much "noise".. Beginning from scratch and simple things can help.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 26, 2015, 11:00:03 am
Right now no crashes. For first time I've build everything from newest package using mame layout (default) leaving other emu also default.
For second time I copie my r-type layout (640x480) and so far no crashes.

Of course if I set daphne to use mame-vertical, then all problems regarding changing emulators reappear.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 27, 2015, 04:48:06 pm
Okay, now this is *something*! :)

Well, given that (ie.: without rotations everything is well), download the new exe I uploaded just now (still numbered v.1.8.0.8 ), I've finally found why change res was occurring on rotation (my fault).

Now it isn't run anymore, so if you stick to the same screen size in your layouts you won't (hopefully!) never get exceptions/crashes.

Let me know, thank you! ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 28, 2015, 05:53:16 am
Today I've test using LCD and fresh install XP x32, standard mame, standard ati driver (X1550). No crashes if I use layouts with 640x480 (which is my default config). Combination of rotated, non rotated layouts are finally fine but If I use denim layout then a different error appears:

EXECUTION ERROR
Must call BeginScreenDeviceChange before calling EndScreenDeviceChange
System.InvalidOperationException: Must call BeginScreenDeviceChange before calling EndScreenDeviceChange
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameForm.EndScreenDeviceChange(String screenDeviceName, Int32 clientWidth, Int32 clientHeight)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameWindow.EndScreenDeviceChange(String screenDeviceName, Int32 clientWidth, Int32 clientHeight)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GraphicsDeviceManager.ChangeDevice(Boolean forceCreate)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GraphicsDeviceManager.ApplyChanges()
   at feel.OBJScene.ChangeRes(Int32 resX, Int32 resY, Boolean rotateScreen, Boolean applyChanges)
   at feel.Feel.RefreshLayout()
   at feel.Feel.UpdateUI(GameTime gameTime)
   at feel.Feel.Update(GameTime gameTime)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Tick()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.HostIdle(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameHost.OnIdle()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.ApplicationIdle(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponent.FDoIdle(Int32 grfidlef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMe ssageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(Form mainForm)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.Run()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Run()
   at feel.Feel.Main()

BUT I'm not going to use layouts with different resolutions so it's no problem for me. Next step will test my own layouts and test everything on my hardware at home with groovymame and Calamity driver.

BTW. There is one bug, in fact already mentioned for one condition - [emulator_path] is some places does not work correctly. Today I realized that it does not work also with snap section, possibly others.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 28, 2015, 06:06:25 am
::) Okay haynor.. we knew that (when you change resolution you have crashes, and the exception you've posted is always the same..), but you should have no point in doing so (and probably nobody else should).

Please stick to one screen size of your choice (e.g. 640x480 as said, or any other) and you will be more than fine.

About [emulator_path] thing, would you please give me some details?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 28, 2015, 06:52:00 am
No problem, I'm using only 640x480 in layouts.

emulator_path               E:\mame
snap_path                     [emulator_path]\snap
Using [emulator_path]\snap does not show snaps in main window or screensaver but using just E:\mame\snap it's fine.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 29, 2015, 03:45:12 am
Yesterday I've test recent build on my arcade PC and crashed are everywhere !!!!
Sometimes I dind't even click FEEL icon and it already crashes !!!!
Sometimes it crashes just before windows loads !!!!




Just kidding, no crashes at all  ;D I even switched to my layouts and everything was fine for about 2 hours switching layouts and games  :)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 29, 2015, 12:08:29 pm
Whooa, great haynor.. I was fearing this moment would have never come!! ;D

Hoping that this is the end of your pains :) .. I'd like to renew my thank you's for your hard work of testing.. you located a significant number of annoying bugs in a very short time, helping the project out very much.. really good work! :cheers:


About [emulator_path] thing, I've had a short look at the code in the last days.. the problem is, differently from, let's say, rom paths (which are accessed only when you start a rom), snapshots are read at each list movement, and sometimes path changes rom by rom (for instance, in "Top Games" list).
It is surely possible to insert placeholder management in snapshot, cabinet and marquee paths, but it's something I must do carefully. I'll let you know.

That said.. keep up the good work.. and, if you want, send some pics or videos of your FEEL setup! I'd like to add them to FE's website.. :)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 29, 2015, 01:19:55 pm
I should thank You in first place so thank You very much for time and effort  :)

Right now my layouts are not completed but when it time  comes I let You know ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 30, 2015, 06:19:07 am
Ok, maybe I shed some light on my project.

I'm planning to extend my controller from basic joy (u360) and 8 button to two joy setup (one rotary if Andy will start sell full U360 with rotary mechanism already applied) plus trackball and spinner.
Since it's hard to remember controls for each game that you have on list and mame information from XML or controls.ini are not always accurate or misleading (dial as input control but actually it was wheel for driving game or positional analog was actually rotary part of SNK joystick) I decided to create my own custom control panels that will be shown. I think I use cabinet path to do this. It might look something like this:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,120427.msg1290322.html#msg1290322 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,120427.msg1290322.html#msg1290322)
or MaLa layout VCP03 - http://malafe.net/index.php?page=layouts&subpage=vcp03 (http://malafe.net/index.php?page=layouts&subpage=vcp03)

Since there is not way to compose those images from parts I have to create each png contains full panel control, this will take a lot of time :/
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 30, 2015, 06:15:17 pm
Hey haynor.. It took me a little to understand what you meant.. That's a great idea, even if I've never thinked about it, cabinet image is indeed perfect for such things!
You can first create a normal background, and then "over-impress" the commands using transparent command images saved as cabinets.. you can in fact set the cabinet image even to cover the whole screen if you want, and all the texts (lists etc) will still overlap it. In a word.. that's perfect :applaud:
My only concern is.. are you really managing to design and/or copy some thousands of different images by hand?? :dizzy:
IMHO this can be applicable only on small lists (eg. DOS games).. :-\

Btw, have you ever tried to set:
Code: [Select]
smartasd_debug_mode                     1?

You will see how a LED dashboard would appear.. apart from FE command blinking, single rom commands are highlighted when you show rom information (Ctrl key) or the game itself is run, all automatically read from MAME roms' info.. of course, this can help you only if you like LED dashboards :D

Please post a pic or video when you have done your first tests.. I'd really like to see this thing in action! :P

PS @you&all: I've released v.1.8.0.9 which, together with all "our" bugfixes, contains a new optimization to keep the focus locked on FEEL upon startup and after emu run.. maybe you can try and see if with [that bad behaving emu now i don't remember] things get better, and FEEL is maximized back after emu run..
Always available here:

http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/download/ (http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/download/) ( http:// feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/download/ )

Let me know.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 31, 2015, 05:11:59 am
Thanks dr.prodigy. Focus fix brings only more problems with Taito Type X games (which I didn't run during all these tests). Raiden IV still minimalizes main window. In some cases pop ups error "Cannot access a disposed object. Object name 'WindowsGameForm'" (it's visible just after I quit some Taito games) or "A previous Draw call threw an unhandled exception. See InnerException for details". Some Taito game are started in window then enters in full screen mode so focus fix bring FEEL too fast in front cowering game. You know, those games are very problematic so making fixes just for those is waste of time.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on July 31, 2015, 12:38:56 pm
Well I didn't do those fixes with those emus in mind.. They were meant to manage some limit cases in "normal" usage.
Unfortunately if things are like that I can catch the exception (I will do this asap) so that FEEL won't exit, but apart from that we won't get any improvement.

Anyway, let me know how things go with custom commands images project! ;-)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on July 31, 2015, 02:24:52 pm
I forgot to give answer for second question :/

I used smartasd debug mode about 3 weeks ago (after I saw video on your site) and I was quite happy but I quickly realize that xml information from mame does not match exactly controls used in particular game. In fact after this idea was born.
I've made some sketch layout (in paint.net) but it's too ugly to show public  ;D Anyway project will not be started anytime soon because:
- I need to learn some decent graphic program (this will take a lot of time :/ )
- I need actually build first my extended control panel (this will take a lot of money and some time too)
- Process about 2500 playable true arcade games (not mahjong, fruit, pinball and games that I do not like) will take really lots of time
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on August 03, 2015, 07:12:49 pm
Okay okay that's clear..
I don't really feel MAME info about commands are so "wrong".. I mean they aren't perfect for sure, but IMHO they're quite decent, according to usual needs! I fear your work is far too big.. :o
Anyway, let me know when you make some progress ;D

But then.. Nobody else playing around with FEEL? :timebomb:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on August 04, 2015, 01:46:37 am
Maybe there are some other users but they do not make experiments, just use standard configuration, nothing else.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on August 04, 2015, 11:33:05 am
Of course there are! We have had hundreds of downloads on v.1.8.x only! ::)

Anyway, apart from experiments and bug reports, it's always good to receive feedbacks and/or hints.. that's the spirit of this 3d ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on October 24, 2015, 05:30:35 am
Go get new v.1.9! Very nice upgrades on board!
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/v-1-9-available/ (http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/v-1-9-available/)

(http://i.imgur.com/McYVCwK.png)

;D
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on October 31, 2015, 07:21:53 am
V.1.9.1 available!

Now FEEL supports MESS software lists (MAME/MESS 0.162+), parsing extended ROM information in -softwarelist output.
An example of configuration (mess-svision) is provided inside sample configuration files (config\console\mess-svision).

Changelog:
Code: [Select]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version 1.9 (19/10/2015) -> 1.9.1 (31/10/2015)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW FEATURES
- **** "check for updates" feature ****
- **** service mode ****
- **** MAME/MESS 0.162+ machine support (-softwarelist file integration) ****
- changelog (shown after update or from menu)
- new menu organization and design
- new UI widgets (scrollable text)
- async tasks complete refactoring
- parent videosnaps used on clone games (if clone one is missing)

BUGFIXES
- unprintable chars crash fixed

Have a nice day :cheers:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on October 31, 2015, 08:51:00 am
My cabinet is not network linked, but the autoupdate feature is one-of-a-kind!
Great work Maurizio, as always!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on October 31, 2015, 11:54:22 am
Thank you Marco ;D
I know you're still not "wired".. but please go get a wifi dongle for your cab.. apart from auto-update (useful and convenient.. perfect even for me in upgrading my personal cab!  ::) ) in some time you'll be able to access some *really interesting* features you won't regret ! :blah: :laugh:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on October 31, 2015, 12:00:02 pm
He he, unfortunately it's not that easy for me being the place the cabinet sits not plugged to the net.
I am curious to see what you will use the net for :) keep the great work up!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on November 01, 2015, 03:37:11 pm
I'm not planning connect cab PC to internet as well but since You already wrote such function it's ok  ;)

I'm glad to see switching layout on the fly without test mode even if I must keep service mode enabled to do this  :)

I'm not going to request new functions again but if You have time in the future and some other users might sees this as worthy implementing:

- add wrap text function to game, manufacture field (possibly others)
- add function to cut in game names everthing in brackets (I use ROMlister for now)
- remove triangles from screensaver (really ugly)
- remove black fill in screenshot or make it optional
- move switching layout from service mode to standard functions
- solve problem with white flashing screen (I bypassed this as I mentioned some time ago)

Keep it up good work dr.prodigy :applaud:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 02, 2015, 04:43:41 pm
First of all.. really glad to hear from you again Haynor! :cheers:

Quote
I'm not planning connect cab PC to internet as well but since You already wrote such function it's ok  ;)
Well I know there shouldn't be need for network connectivity in a cab, but auto-update is very convenient and effective (I use it for my own cab as well: build FEEL on dev PC -> play it on cab), so I would surely suggest to use it..

Quote
I'm glad to see switching layout on the fly without test mode even if I must keep service mode enabled to do this  :)
This is something I tought quite a lot about.. layout test is a nice feature and having it always handy could possibly give something, but in the end it's not really useful in daily usage.. and a "casual" player (a little bad boy for instance :) ) could mess up a perfect configuration with it.
That's why I put it in service mode area: this suits better an average use.. Otherwise, if you like playing around with your cab, nothing should stop you from keeping service mode active: that's what I personally do :)

Quote
I'm not going to request new functions again but if You have time in the future and some other users might sees this as worthy implementing:

- add wrap text function to game, manufacture field (possibly others)
This would be a great improvement, but should be thought about quite accurately, otherwise we could possibly break compatibility with all current layouts. I'll think about it!

Quote
- add function to cut in game names everthing in brackets (I use ROMlister for now)
This is very simple, I don't know why I haven't done it until now :) .. will do it soon!

Quote
- remove triangles from screensaver (really ugly)
Yeah they're quite ugly indeed .. they belong to a long time ago in FEEL's history! ;D
I will maybe replace them with something better, but honest I don't feel like removing them: user needs to know he can move left/right to choose snapshot->start game.. any idea to solve this? ::)

Quote
- remove black fill in screenshot or make it optional
This can be done quite easily, but usually doesn't match graphics.. have you designed some "special" layout?

Quote
- move switching layout from service mode to standard functions
See above

Quote
- solve problem with white flashing screen (I bypassed this as I mentioned some time ago)
How did you do it? Sure you told me about this?

Quote
Keep it up good work dr.prodigy :applaud:
..And your suggestions are always very sharp and focused.. thank you! ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on November 08, 2015, 04:09:42 pm
Quote
This is something I tought quite a lot about.. layout test is a nice feature and having it always handy could possibly give something, but in the end it's not really useful in daily usage.. and a "casual" player (a little bad boy for instance :) ) could mess up a perfect configuration with it.
That's why I put it in service mode area: this suits better an average use.. Otherwise, if you like playing around with your cab, nothing should stop you from keeping service mode active: that's what I personally do

I use two layouts - horizontal and vertical switchable using Shift key which means I create to identical mame sets (emulators in FEEL) with just different layouts. If FEEL had key for switching between layouts on the fly I could set only one set (emulator).

Quote
This is very simple, I don't know why I haven't done it until now :) .. will do it soon!

Thanks. I could finally abandon ROMLister :)

Quote
Yeah they're quite ugly indeed .. they belong to a long time ago in FEEL's history! ;D
I will maybe replace them with something better, but honest I don't feel like removing them: user needs to know he can move left/right to choose snapshot->start game.. any idea to solve this? ::)

You could make them optional. Maybe You could ask users how many actually using this feature.

Quote
This can be done quite easily, but usually doesn't match graphics.. have you designed some "special" layout?

I converted all screenshots to match either 4:3 (320x240) or 3:4 (240x320) dimensions. I did this to easily recognize horizontal and vertical games. You know some game uses square resolutions like256x256 (hard to say what orientation such game use) or where vertical lines are more than horizontal like 240x252 and that's for horizontal games like Moon Patrol, Knuckle'n'Joe. In practice converting to proper proportions helps a lot and doesn't make them look too bad on typical TV, arcade monitor unlike LCD monitor.
Here is the problem - many games are black area that fills either sides of game or most of playfield. For example Rip Off, Barrier. If You put those games already prescaled to 320x240 and 240x320 to black area 320x320 You will not recognize proper orientation because You will get black screen with 320x320 pixels with some graphics inside.

Quote
How did you do it? Sure you told me about this?

I've set one of windows colors to black.

Now the problems:
FEEL does not properly recognize CHD only games like XII Stag (in fact all in taitogn driver) - it was since the beginning
FEEL puts on list devices like NMK004, BSMT2000
FEEL does not properly recognize sets with partially missing files for example cps2 games where qsound.zip is missing - discovered today.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 11, 2015, 05:12:48 pm
Hi hay!
I use two layouts - horizontal and vertical switchable using Shift key which means I create to identical mame sets (emulators in FEEL) with just different layouts. If FEEL had key for switching between layouts on the fly I could set only one set (emulator).
Unfortunately, this is far a "limit usage": almost nobody has just 2 themes available under "layouts" directory (which is the only configuration usable in 1<->2 switch fashion).. it would be very limitating in terms of GUI personalization. Also, it wouldn't be really clear and intuitive to user IMHO. I don't think I'll implement it soon, sorry mate :cheers:

Quote
Thanks. I could finally abandon ROMLister :)
It's been easy, nevertheless it's a very useful feature.. thank you too ;D

Quote
Quote
Yeah they're quite ugly indeed .. they belong to a long time ago in FEEL's history! ;D
I will maybe replace them with something better, but honest I don't feel like removing them: user needs to know he can move left/right to choose snapshot->start game.. any idea to solve this? ::)

You could make them optional. Maybe You could ask users how many actually using this feature.
You're right: I can put a simple config switch to hide them. But ROM choice thru left-right will remain: I think it's a nice and even useful feature, moreover I consider it part of FEEL "personality" ;)
Will do!

Quote
I converted all screenshots to match either 4:3 (320x240) or 3:4 (240x320) dimensions. I did this to easily recognize horizontal and vertical games. You know some game uses square resolutions like256x256 (hard to say what orientation such game use) or where vertical lines are more than horizontal like 240x252 and that's for horizontal games like Moon Patrol, Knuckle'n'Joe. In practice converting to proper proportions helps a lot and doesn't make them look too bad on typical TV, arcade monitor unlike LCD monitor.
Here is the problem - many games are black area that fills either sides of game or most of playfield. For example Rip Off, Barrier. If You put those games already prescaled to 320x240 and 240x320 to black area 320x320 You will not recognize proper orientation because You will get black screen with 320x320 pixels with some graphics inside.
Sorry, I read this a dozen of times, but I really don't catch it  ???
Snapshot area is set at layout level, so you always have a fixed ratio (4:3, for instance).. what's your objective / what you mean with "recognizing"?.. would you please explain it better?

Quote
I've set one of windows colors to black.
Right.. must investigate soon..

Quote
Now the problems:
FEEL does not properly recognize CHD only games like XII Stag (in fact all in taitogn driver) - it was since the beginning
FEEL puts on list devices like NMK004, BSMT2000
FEEL does not properly recognize sets with partially missing files for example cps2 games where qsound.zip is missing - discovered today.
I remember about these issues .. unfortunately I never found time to download a newer romset than my old 0.134 (I installed MAME v.0.164 exe only for compatibility tests, running it against my usual romset), so I couldn't fix them, even it would be easy with the right data handy. Now I've got a new romset dl on the go.. hopefully I'll have it in some days ;)
BTW.. which romset version do you recommend for such tests?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on November 12, 2015, 03:18:10 am
Quote
Unfortunately, this is far a "limit usage": almost nobody has just 2 themes available under "layouts" directory (which is the only configuration usable in 1<->2 switch fashion).. it would be very limitating in terms of GUI personalization. Also, it wouldn't be really clear and intuitive to user IMHO. I don't think I'll implement it soon, sorry mate :cheers:

No problem at all :)

Quote
It's been easy, nevertheless it's a very useful feature.. thank you too

Works great for me. I hope other people will make this feature usefull too.

Quote
You're right: I can put a simple config switch to hide them. But ROM choice thru left-right will remain: I think it's a nice and even useful feature, moreover I consider it part of FEEL "personality" ;)
Will do!

Thanks, it's not important but it will improve visual a bit ;)

Quote
Sorry, I read this a dozen of times, but I really don't catch it  ???
Snapshot area is set at layout level, so you always have a fixed ratio (4:3, for instance).. what's your objective / what you mean with "recognizing"?.. would you please explain it better?

I'll explain using screenshots I just need hour.


Quote
I remember about these issues .. unfortunately I never found time to download a newer romset than my old 0.134 (I installed MAME v.0.164 exe only for compatibility tests, running it against my usual romset), so I couldn't fix them, even it would be easy with the right data handy. Now I've got a new romset dl on the go.. hopefully I'll have it in some days ;)
BTW.. which romset version do you recommend for such tests?

Taito GN was added after version 131 but for some time flash rips were packed if I remember correctly as zip, then after some time converted to chd. Problem is, I don't remember version when mamedev did this conversion. Qsound has been added just before 149, NMK004 even later 155 or 156 so it's best to use latest version of mame. Of course I only tested arcade part of mame, I don't know how it works with mess part
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on November 12, 2015, 06:56:15 am
OK, here is why I use area of 320x320 pixels in layout. If I use preserve aspect ratio (which is I think normal) many of my screens will still look bad, examples:
Ketsui (does not look too good due 224x448 resolution)
Original; shrinked to fit 320x320 area by frontend; resized manually to fit 320x320 layout area with proper aspect
(http://s17.postimg.org/qe3emknsf/ket.png) (http://s4.postimg.org/f2k9ee7n1/ket240x160.png) (http://s10.postimg.org/sqy1pzjyx/ket240x320.png)

Renegade (240x240 so it's square - it's hard to tell is it vertical or horizontal)
(http://s12.postimg.org/6p8oix2kt/renegade.png) (http://s13.postimg.org/gz0fyzj8n/renegade320x320.png) (http://s1.postimg.org/sv6j8tpfj/renegade320x240.png)

Knuckle'n'Joe (horizontal game even it 240x256 so keeping aspect ratio is no good)
(http://s4.postimg.org/50eo357hp/kncljoe.png) (http://s24.postimg.org/w3pua97f9/kncljoe300x320.png) (http://s24.postimg.org/4uegvr6c5/kncljoe320x240.png)

As You can see I cannot rely on frontends for making proper view, that's why I resized all screenshots.
Now, why I don't need black area where screenshot is put.

Rip Off resized from 640x480 to 320x240 put in test layout with screenshot area 320x320. As You can see even it's correctly resized it's hard to say is it vertical or horizontal because screenshots blends with layout area.
(http://s30.postimg.org/udlnlfv8x/lay_320x320.png)
Now without black fill of screenshot area I can clearly see that game is horizontal.
(http://s7.postimg.org/7yay3fs8b/lay_ripoff_ok.png)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 12, 2015, 04:15:08 pm
Quote
Unfortunately, this is far a "limit usage": almost nobody has just 2 themes available under "layouts" directory (which is the only configuration usable in 1<->2 switch fashion).. it would be very limitating in terms of GUI personalization. Also, it wouldn't be really clear and intuitive to user IMHO. I don't think I'll implement it soon, sorry mate :cheers:

No problem at all :)
BTW, you already can do your trick, setting a horizontal layout to a MAME gamelist, and a vertical layout to another gamelist.
You can do this simply adding
Code: [Select]
current_layout         [layout name]
in - e.g. - mame-0.ini and mame-1.ini.
.. switching between the two (next_gamelist parameter sets relevant shortcut) you'll switch layout as well.. moreover you will be able to divide gamelists between vertical and horizontal titles, or if you want to browse all the games in both lists you can just replicate gamelists data.
Probably you already knew it (quite a FEEL power-user as you are ;D ), but for any other user's sake ..

Quote
Taito GN was added after version 131 but for some time flash rips were packed if I remember correctly as zip, then after some time converted to chd. Problem is, I don't remember version when mamedev did this conversion. Qsound has been added just before 149, NMK004 even later 155 or 156 so it's best to use latest version of mame. Of course I only tested arcade part of mame, I don't know how it works with mess part
Thanks, I'll try to find the right versions ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 12, 2015, 04:28:44 pm
OK, here is why I use area of 320x320 pixels in layout. If I use preserve aspect ratio (which is I think normal) many of my screens will still look bad, examples:
[...]
As You can see I cannot rely on frontends for making proper view, that's why I resized all screenshots.
Now, why I don't need black area where screenshot is put.
[...]
Now without black fill of screenshot area I can clearly see that game is horizontal.
Well thank you very much for this explanation.. quite clever and professional work, it would deserve a sticky 3d!
I noticed this glitch as well and thought a little about it in the past, even if to me it is bearable so I haven't given myself a solution in the end ;D
Now, I can surely remove black background (I'll add a parameter for it soon), but don't you think that dividing vertical from horizontal games would be much comfortable in choosing / playing games?
Never seen your rotating monitor (I'm quite curious btw.. would you please post some pics??? :P ), but I can imagine it takes at least some moments to rotate it. So browsing vertical games with vertical screen, or horz games with horz screen would be maybe less "spectacular", but probably more effective..
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on November 13, 2015, 02:39:53 am
Quote
BTW, you already can do your trick, setting a horizontal layout to a MAME gamelist, and a vertical layout to another gamelist.
You can do this simply adding
Code: [Select]
current_layout         [layout name]
in - e.g. - mame-0.ini and mame-1.ini.
.. switching between the two (next_gamelist parameter sets relevant shortcut) you'll switch layout as well.. moreover you will be able to divide gamelists between vertical and horizontal titles, or if you want to browse all the games in both lists you can just replicate gamelists data.
Probably you already knew it (quite a FEEL power-user as you are ;D ), but for any other user's sake ..

Actually I didn't think about this. Yeah, seems to be better option than mine. I'll to do this on saturday when I "survive" colonoscopy  :-\

EDIT. Tested at work - works the same as switching emulators with the same list but organization is simpler (less files, no additional directories)

Quote
I noticed this glitch as well and thought a little about it in the past, even if to me it is bearable so I haven't given myself a solution in the end ;D

There is solution - resized screenshots according to mame xml info ROT90, ROT270.
EDIT. On FEEL list there are actually fields vertical and horizontal but it's the same so we have data for this, now it's just wrote function for proper resizing according to those fields  like horizontal 320x240, vertical 320x320.

Quote
Now, I can surely remove black background (I'll add a parameter for it soon), but don't you think that dividing vertical from horizontal games would be much comfortable in choosing / playing games?
Never seen your rotating monitor (I'm quite curious btw.. would you please post some pics??? :P ), but I can imagine it takes at least some moments to rotate it. So browsing vertical games with vertical screen, or horz games with horz screen would be maybe less "spectacular", but probably more effective..

It's just a typical TV Thomson 21 '' (but I need replacement, this one has poor sharpness, especially in vertical mode) that I put on wood construction (actually part of children chair for feeding :D ) horizontal or vertical. I don't have enough space for entire cab right now. I dismantled my entire cab before I moved to new home.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 13, 2015, 03:36:22 pm
Actually I didn't think about this. Yeah, seems to be better option than mine. I'll to do this on saturday when I "survive" colonoscopy  :-\

EDIT. Tested at work - works the same as switching emulators with the same list but organization is simpler (less files, no additional directories)
Yep, right.. moreover, you centralize game stats for the whole MAME ;)
..Of course I wish the best for your bad exams! :cheers:

Quote
It's just a typical TV Thomson 21 '' (but I need replacement, this one has poor sharpness, especially in vertical mode) that I put on wood construction (actually part of children chair for feeding :D ) horizontal or vertical. I don't have enough space for entire cab right now. I dismantled my entire cab before I moved to new home.
It's official.. now I *definitely* want to see a pic of your arcade high chair!! :lol
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on November 14, 2015, 07:42:29 am
Quote
Yep, right.. moreover, you centralize game stats for the whole MAME ;)
..Of course I wish the best for your bad exams! :cheers:

It's over, they didn't find anything bad :)

Quote
It's official.. now I *definitely* want to see a pic of your arcade high chair!! :lol

Here it is  ;D

(http://s13.postimg.org/6gaimo343/arcade_tv.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/6gaimo343/)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 14, 2015, 11:00:15 am
..Very simple, yet effective!! ;D
Go take v.1.9.1.3, you'll find
Code: [Select]
# snapshot_blackbackground             1parameter added to all layouts you use: uncommenting the line and setting it to 0 will remove the black background ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on November 14, 2015, 03:55:33 pm
Thanks dr. prodigy, work great :)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: SNAAKE on November 18, 2015, 11:41:30 am
yeh.....so I never used any frontend before(usually just console lol). I can map buttons for all emulators at once correct? mame and snes? I am installing all that net stuff now  :dizzy:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 18, 2015, 05:24:48 pm
Well I really didnt catch your question, sorry.. :)
With FEEL, like any other frontend, you can setup one or more emulators and start any number of relevant roms.
Each one will (hopefully, if you set your FE properly) be run with proper config, including key mapping, if needed.

You can find all installation and basic config steps on FEEL website.

Good luck, let me know ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 02, 2015, 06:07:40 pm
FEEL v.1.9.2 released! ;D

Apart from small UI refinements, in this release I've upgraded the whole FEEL task manager, providing asynchronous tasks for all heavy operations (e.g.: snap and videosnap loading), so the user interface now is responsive at 100% (i.e.: 60 fps) on *any hardware* even during max speed scrolling on huge lists.
Complete changelog of version 1.9.x:
Code: [Select]
-------------------------------------------------
Version 1.9 (19/10/2015) -> 1.9.2 (27/11/2015)
-------------------------------------------------
NEW FEATURES
- **** Video/snap loaded in background => max. UI responsiveness ****
- **** "check for updates" feature ****
- **** service mode ****
- **** MAME/MESS 0.162+ machine support (-listsoftware integration) ****
- rom description cleanup
- search toasts
- changelog (shown after update or from menu)
- new menu organization and design
- new UI widgets (scrollable text)
- async tasks complete refactoring
- parent videosnaps used on clone games (if clone one is missing)
- snapshot black background enable param

BUGFIXES
- unprintable chars crash fix
- missing custom image fix
- missing emulator_path fix
- toast display fix
- bad videosnaps exception trap
- rom list correctly positioned after order change

Available here as usual:
http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/download/ (http://feelfrontend.altervista.org/en/download/)

NOTE: as for last versions, FEEL 1.9+ users can update via OTA just connecting the cab to the internet.

..Enjoy :afro:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on December 03, 2015, 12:44:12 am
Great news! I will update my two cabinets from 1.8 to 1.9 during Christmas days! Thank you Doc!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pixelObsession on December 04, 2015, 08:25:57 pm
Pardon my ignorance and laziness but does FEEL play nice with automated LCD rotation? 

Looking for a current (in development) FE with rotation support.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 05, 2015, 02:50:05 am
Hi!
Yes it does support any screen resolution (so either CRT either LCD ones) and can be easily configured to switch from horizontal to vertical visualization.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: pixelObsession on December 07, 2015, 07:57:33 am
Great!  Thanks for answering Dr.p.

Adding it to my list of FEs to test over the holiday.

pO


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on December 14, 2015, 08:47:55 am
dr.prodigy have You considered to upgrade FEEL to NET 4.0 ? This version still works fine with any XP system (at least with SP3 built in), might even have function that may XNA leave obsolete.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Havok on December 14, 2015, 04:16:48 pm
Looks nice. One feature I would like to see is a password protect option for custom menus...
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 14, 2015, 04:38:03 pm
dr.prodigy have You considered to upgrade FEEL to NET 4.0 ? This version still works fine with any XP system (at least with SP3 built in), might even have function that may XNA leave obsolete.
Hi haynor!
Yep, I surely considered it in the past.. in fact first 1.5 alpha versions (the first ones with FEEL's current graphics engine) were based on .net 4.0 and XNA 4.0. All was good looking and running smoothly, BUT..
I found out that XNA 4 requires a pixel shader 2 or more capable video card.. which in turn means cutting out all Radeon 9xxx from compatibility list: unacceptable for any CRT and old tech lover like me ;D

So I finally moved back to .net 3.5 and XNA 3.1 (with a considerable overhead in terms of development, given that a lot of useful things were not available in the old XNA lib) and went out with this stack in all the subsequent versions, until now.

Apart from this extra effort (fortunately done now), anyway, currently I don't see any point in moving towards 4.0: 3.5 is still well supported and perfectly running even on W10.. ;)

If I update the stack another time in the future, probably it'll be to move to some opensource libs, which could possibly extend FEEL compatibility to other OS / hw architectures.. but - given the overall cost of the operation - it sure won't be very soon :)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 14, 2015, 04:53:38 pm
Looks nice. One feature I would like to see is a password protect option for custom menus...
Thank you very much :D
Which menu items you would like to see password-protected?
Consider that "service mode" ones (which are typically the ones you wouldn't like to show to the end user) can be disabled/totally hidden via very simple config parameters..  ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on December 15, 2015, 12:46:09 am
Maurizio, has the "lock menu" feature just been implemented?
I remember you talk about that and how to implement in a smart way, but i am not aware of the following developments...
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on December 15, 2015, 10:51:48 am
Quote
I found out that XNA 4 requires a pixel shader 2 or more capable video card.. which in turn means cutting out all Radeon 9xxx from compatibility list: unacceptable for any CRT and old tech lover like me

Well, that's a good reason, question is how many people are still using such old cards when X300 we can get for 2 USD.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on December 15, 2015, 10:58:19 am
ATI series 92XX are definitely in use in mamecabs being that most of the time a good P4 with AGP slot can run almost all 2D games MAME offers.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on December 16, 2015, 05:50:17 am
Yeah, ArcadeVGA if I remember correctly is one of them. Anyway I was just curious why NET 3.5/XNA 3.1 instead of NET 4.0. Now I know that XNA 4.0 is even still required to function.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 16, 2015, 05:59:12 am
Maurizio, has the "lock menu" feature just been implemented?
I remember you talk about that and how to implement in a smart way, but i am not aware of the following developments...
Sorry Marco, I don't remember this.. what do you mean with "menu lock"?
Anyway the simplest way to disable menus is to remove menu open key association in feel.ini.. which is possible already.

Let me know thank you ! ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 16, 2015, 06:10:24 am
Yeah, ArcadeVGA if I remember correctly is one of them. Anyway I was just curious why NET 3.5/XNA 3.1 instead of NET 4.0. Now I know that XNA 4.0 is even still required to function.
Indeed.. Microsoft has been quite messy in .NET framework version management (v4.0 is definitely not a v3.5 update, which instead is a v.2.0 update :dizzy: ), so nothing is really clear to end users.. sometimes even to developers :lol
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on December 16, 2015, 07:30:32 am
No, i was not asking for a new feature: i remember that the menu lock (the possibility to scroll the game list only) was discussed in another forum and from your words i interpreted that it was still there... keep the great work up!
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on December 18, 2015, 06:09:42 am
dr.prodigy is it possible to map certain function to two keys for example map RUN game to button and keyboard press?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 18, 2015, 01:41:05 pm
Nope currently you can map only a single command key to a specific function.
Maybe I'll implement multiple assignments in the future (you're not the first to ask this)  ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on December 18, 2015, 02:48:06 pm
Ok, I understand. Would be nice to remap certain function to keyboard and stick.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on January 02, 2016, 05:09:57 pm
I've (almost) decided to move from XP x32 to 7 x64 and naturally new configuration is based on latest groovymame, latest crt driver and of course latest FEEL. Problem is that annoing crash that was on XP (which actually newer fully dissapears but I gave up, after all You spend a lot of time on this) it's still there. Fresh windows 7 install, fully patched NET 3.5, FEEL installed and configured from the beginning. I know it's sad and it's shame to post this. Really nobody reported this ?  :banghead:

I've traced this a bit so far it only happens when I run game that switch resolution during play either automatically or manual (yes this can be done by switching views in mame, Air Rescue and Backfire)

Another problem - when game uses exact the same rosolution and frequency as FEEL then quitting game results white screen (the very same all the time noticed as short flash). Good example is Armor Attack run in 640x480@59,981. Sometimes FEEL will crash, sometimes works in background and I can even choose blindly other game.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on January 08, 2016, 04:51:30 pm
Hi hay, always nice to hear from you.. even if you're not always carrying good news!! :embarassed: :laugh2:

I don't really (really!) have good suggestions for your case.. lots of people (hundreds to thousand est. users) are using FEEL both on XP and 7 with no notable graphics issues.. they've reported good working with almost any possible version of mame (even "heavily modded" ones), although I must admit I don't have enough users on groovy, which btw is quite "aggressive" in managing video modes.
I've been reported about some issues in resolution changes similar to yours only on some "weird" emulators (1-2 cases upon almost 100 tested systems) but the average user shouldn't care about them.
I'll need to make a full test session with groovy to work it out.. I'll let you know.

Anyway, in my and other users' tests, XP 32bit + Radeon + CRT emu drivers is still the best stack for arcade-cabs (or cab-like, as in your case :) ), even if I am currently looking for setting up a new PC with 7 (moving my cab to a "newer" PC - a luscious core2duo!! :laugh2: ), as it is very well supported by FEEL (I myself develop on it).
Win8 and 10 as well are, so they say (I don't use 'em).

Sticking to 7, be sure to use a MS "stock" installation (there's a lot of badly assembled install + crack ISO around on p2p sources), and don't forget to fully patch Windows first of all, otherwise you'll experience frequent explorer.exe crashes (sorry, it looks like FEEL's fault, but instead it's something in the stack 7->.net->xna, not really related to FEEL code). After a full win update you should be good to go with no more errors (this has been confirmed by a lot of users).

Even focus losses like yours, occasionally occurring (more upon FEEL in win autostart) have already been analyzed and managed in the past (in fact there's no more reports about them). But if you keep experiencing this I can possibly add some more accurate logic for re-gaining control after emu termination.
Let me know ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on January 09, 2016, 05:42:28 am
Problems are 100% connected to groovymame behaviour. Right now there is active dev. so for some time I hold on. We will see how this will look in next 2 months.

One problem that might cause this is - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,148586.0.html (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,148586.0.html)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on January 30, 2016, 09:30:12 am
Some progress - with device reset applied to grovymame 170 and latest driver plus beta 7 VMMaker right now I receive error "The GraphicsDevice must not be null when creating new resources" when I run game that switch resolution during game. Probably it will take some time to fully examine and fix those problems but at least running game with the same resolution as F.E.E.L does not produce white screen when exiting game.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on February 22, 2016, 06:34:42 am
After some new CRT emu drivers it seems nothing will change so I have a question - how many people are using new CRT driver with new tools and F.E.E.L on windows 7 x64? Could You ask user on Your forum?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on February 23, 2016, 05:50:01 pm
Hi Haynor, I've been away for some time, sorry.. But still alive and kicking ;)
Honest I didn't have much time to test with GM, but until they find a good fix I'd suggest you to keep using plain mame, helped by peculiar ini files for each game (this can be achieved very well with VMMaker, delivered with CRT emudrv) .

About typical setup with 15khz screens, I always suggest win xp and old CRT drivers, cause It's usually lighter, more reliable and easier in 15khz modes, and usually better supported by all sw around.

Talking statistics, the largest part (say 90% or more) of feel win7 users use it in weecades etc. so with hires monitors. No CRT emu drivers there in other words.
The other ones didn't report any notable video bug (apart from some very "bad behaving" emus) , but I must admit I don't know any of them using groovymame.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: haynor666 on February 24, 2016, 08:45:53 am
Sadly XP and probably 32 bit platform soon will be abandoned by mamedev so for CRT users with groovymame can now rely on 7 x64 and futher.

Due those problems I decided last time install XP x32 (if mame 171 will be compatible). Probably next year I will not have such option :/
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on November 05, 2017, 10:25:49 pm
Hi,
Just setting up software on y new cabinet and trying F.E,E,L,  I can't figure out how to make it so that my joystick will move thru the menu list of games.  The only thing that works are the arrow keys on the keyboard, and they aren't mapped to anything on my control panel.  I'm using two Utilmarc U360s for joysticks, and they go into USB and show up as joysticks in Windows.  I've tried looking in the .ini files and not found anything that works.

Thanks,
Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 06, 2017, 02:21:07 am
Hi erzak!
given that the joystick is being recognized by windows (looks like so), it's quite simple: stop Feel, then go into Feel.ini file and you'll find:

- Use_joystick parameter => set to 1

- Command settings for lists and menus (up, down, left, right, menu_up, menu_down, etc..) => set them to joy_up, joy_down etc.

For the latter point, you should find all the relevant values into file's comments.
Then restart Feel and you should be good to go! :)

Let us know, thank you!

Inviato dal mio ONE E1001 utilizzando Tapatalk
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on November 06, 2017, 10:41:46 am
So in the fee.ini file, I found a line that says:
"use_joypad   0"

and then further down, after the keyboard codes, there are JoyPad codes such as JoyUp, JoyDown, etc. listed.

So if I change the first line to "use_joypad   1", and make changes such as "menu_up  JoyUp", etc. that should do the trick?

I'm at work at the moment, so will have to wait until this evening to test it out.

Thanks for the quick reply.  I like the look/feel of this FE so far, I'm using an old Pentium 4 with WinXP so it doesn't do too well with HyperSpin, GameEx, etc.

Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 06, 2017, 11:14:04 am
Exactly Eric, that's it..

Ps: glad you like it.. your P4 will be more than good to go! ;)

Let me know how it goes..!

Inviato dal mio ONE E1001 utilizzando Tapatalk

Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on November 07, 2017, 12:03:26 am
I got it working!  Then figured out how to re-build the game list after adding more ROMs to MAME, and away we go.  Still need to learn how to add video or still clips to the game list, unsure if that's done in MAME or in F.E.E.L.?
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on November 07, 2017, 10:24:06 pm
Okay, a few more questions:

1) What format do video previews need to be in?  I downloaded one sample video (Elevator Action), added it to mame\video, and when I select that game in the list I see a message saying that the video can't be played.  I downloaded still clips and put them in mame\snap, and they show up just fine.

2) To make FEEL auto-start when Windows boots, do I just just drop a shortcut to FEEL in the Startup folder, or is there a different/better method?

3) I added a mame/marquees path and dropped in a few marquee artwork files (left them zipped) and they don't appear when that game is launched.  I got them to show up somehow in an earlier version of MAME, when I wasn't using a frontend at all.

4) Not necessarily FEEL specific, but is there a version of Tyrian (or OpenTyrian) that runs under MAME?  I know there's a Windows version out there, but would be nice to have a version that will launch from the FE.

Thanks,
Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: baritonomarchetto on November 08, 2017, 12:46:09 am

1) What format do video previews need to be in?  I downloaded one sample video (Elevator Action), added it to mame\video, and when I select that game in the list I see a message saying that the video can't be played.  I downloaded still clips and put them in mame\snap, and they show up just fine.
Any video format supported by windows media player.

Quote
2) To make FEEL auto-start when Windows boots, do I just just drop a shortcut to FEEL in the Startup folder, or is there a different/better method?
It's the best method. You can even replace the win shell with the frontend, bit I am not prone to suggest that.

Quote
3) I added a mame/marquees path and dropped in a few marquee artwork files (left them zipped) and they don't appear when that game is launched.  I got them to show up somehow in an earlier version of MAME, when I wasn't using a frontend at all.
It's likely that the layout you selected does not include marquees, or you have not specified the marquees path to the frontend.

Quote
4) Not necessarily FEEL specific, but is there a version of Tyrian (or OpenTyrian) that runs under MAME?  I know there's a Windows version out there, but would be nice to have a version that will launch from the FE.
I dont know.

FEEL is a great frontend. Now it's also opensource ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on November 08, 2017, 11:36:23 pm
Okay, got the marquee issue figured out.  I

Moved on to getting Visual Pinball to work with FEEL.  I have Visual Pinball 9.x running on this PC already, and the one table I have works when I load and launch it from Visual Pinball.  I added the correct path and executable name to the vpinball.ini file in FEEL, built the game list, the table shows up, but when I try to launch it I just get a message saying "launching <name of table>" and nothing happens.

Is there something that I'm missing?  Is there an example and/or guide for configuring vpinball?  Should I be trying to use Vpinmame?

Thanks,
Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on November 14, 2017, 01:17:35 pm
Sorry, been out.. Hope you're doing fine!

About your question.. I can't really give you a complete explanation on how to run a specific emulator.. Though I'm sure a lot of people are running vpinball from FEEL with no issues.

Basically you just need to find out (experimenting on command prompt) the right command line to start it.
Once you have it, it's pretty simple to configure FEEL to run it for you automatically ;)

As far as I know, you won't need vpinmame anyway.

.. Let us know how things are going!


Inviato dal mio ONE E1001 utilizzando Tapatalk

Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on November 20, 2017, 12:13:48 pm
So I have been making progress in getting things configured.  I got Sega and SNES emulators added, and through some experimentation got them working well. 

Pinball continues to give me issues.  Have not done much else with Visual Pinball, but was playing with Future Pinball this weekend.  Through trial and error, I got the command lines figured out to launch and play a table.

For example, this will launch the table "sci-fi classic" and then exit Future Pinball once you quit the table.
"c:\future pinball\future pinball.exe" /open "C:\future pinball\tables\sci-fi classic.fpt" /play /exit

That part works fine from F.E.E.L., but with two issues:

1) Once the pinball table loads (in fullscreen mode), I have to click the left mouse button to get focus on the pinball table.  Until I do that, none of the controls will do anything, so even though the game is fullscreen and that's all that's visible on the screen, it must be in the background to some other process.

2) When I quit the table, Future Pinball exits, but F.E.E.L. isn't restored as the main app.  The screen resolution is correct (low) for F.E.E.L., but I see the task bar, and other Windows elements.  If I have any other apps open, such as a file explorer, I see them.  The mouse cursor is set to the small/nearly invisible size and moving the mouse doesn't move the cursor normally.  So this makes me think that F.E.E.L. is running but somehow in the background.  If I hit my exit key followed by Enter, it drops me back into Windows and the resolution goes to my default Windows resolution.

I've tried playing with some of the settings in the .ini files (FEEL and fpinball) and haven't figured this out yet.  Any thoughts?  Is there a way to send a mouse click from F.E.E.L., after the commandline is called?

I'm going to do some reading about Future Pinball in the forums, etc. as well.

Thanks,
Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on November 22, 2017, 09:40:13 am
A further update reg. pinball.  I got the command line and arguments figured out for Visual Pinball, and F.E.E.L. does launch it now, but it does not put the pinball emulator in front/focus, so have to alt-tab to get to it.  I tried the free version of GameEx and it works fine for both Future Pinball and Visual Pinball, using the same command lines, so I have to assume that it's something related to F.E.E.L. and how it is running the emulators and handling windows, etc.
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on December 13, 2017, 11:28:11 am
Tried to start F.E.E.L. last night and an error box popped up that said: "EXECUTION ERROR Change Resolution Failed: aborting"  If I go into the cfg file and switch off the auto resolution change option, it starts fine, but then occupies a tiny little corner of my screen.  I didn't (knowingly) make any software changes to this PC.  Has anyone seen this before and know how to resolve it?
Thanks,
Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 13, 2017, 01:12:59 pm
Hi erzak, I've been offline for some days.. Now I'm from mobile, I hope I'll be able to answer to your questions today / tomorrow..
Hold on, see ya soon! :)

Inviato dal mio ONE E1001 utilizzando Tapatalk

Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 16, 2017, 04:25:49 pm
A further update reg. pinball.  I got the command line and arguments figured out for Visual Pinball, and F.E.E.L. does launch it now, but it does not put the pinball emulator in front/focus, so have to alt-tab to get to it.  I tried the free version of GameEx and it works fine for both Future Pinball and Visual Pinball, using the same command lines, so I have to assume that it's something related to F.E.E.L. and how it is running the emulators and handling windows, etc.
FEEL doesn't do anything so "esotic".. it just start an external process, remaining "frozen" in the meanwhile.. on the other hand VP when started opens a few windows altogether, so it's quite a "strange beast" :)
Anyway, I need to test this a little.. I've got VP installed on my arcade cabinet and in the past I've always been running it with no issues.. but being sincere I've not played it for quite a long while so maybe we could be facing some small regression..
I'll go test it and let you know if I find sth.. thank you ;)
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 16, 2017, 04:41:23 pm
Tried to start F.E.E.L. last night and an error box popped up that said: "EXECUTION ERROR Change Resolution Failed: aborting"  If I go into the cfg file and switch off the auto resolution change option, it starts fine, but then occupies a tiny little corner of my screen.  I didn't (knowingly) make any software changes to this PC.  Has anyone seen this before and know how to resolve it?
Thanks,
Eric
Well, this basically depends on:
- used layout resolution (a lot of the provided ones in the installation zip file are 640x480, but other, even lower resolutions, are bundled)
- windows supported resolutions
If they don't match, you'll end up with such error.

It's really weird to see such errors coming from nowhere (I mean if you haven't made any remarkable change).. but, from what you say (when you disable auto-res, you end up with a tiny UI), it seems you're running FEEL at a very low resolution comparing to your screen's optimal one.

Are you using an LCD screen? Maybe it doesn't support the low resolution your current layout is based on (for instance, if you've gone under 640x480, that's for sure).

If it's so, apart from fixing the issue itself, you'd better move to a higher resolution layout (eg. 1024x768, or even more.. find 'em on FEEL website) to take advantage of your screen and show more information.

Let me know! :cheers:
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on December 17, 2017, 12:09:34 am
I got it working again by changing my desktop resolution down a notch.  Only thing I can figure is that the highest resolution wants to use a lower refresh rate than the next notch down.  I don't remember changing my desktop resolution, but who knows.  I also downloaded a higher resolution MAME layout, and it looks much nicer!

Still have issues with pinball, but for the moment I'm using FEEL for arcade/console games and PinballX for pinball.  I'd prefer to have one front end for all games, but this is workable in the meantime.  Let me know if you figure anything out reg. pinball.

Thanks!
Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 17, 2017, 02:18:11 am
I got it working again by changing my desktop resolution down a notch.  Only thing I can figure is that the highest resolution wants to use a lower refresh rate than the next notch down.
Uhmmm.. Can't really figure out why..
When Feel is in full screen mode, and set to change resolution, it looks at its current layout x*y size, and asks Windows for a resolution change for it, but without asking for a specific refresh rate.
Windows on its side should have, among its supported modelines (which vary according to present video card and drivers, monitor, etc.), a matching result. If it's so, the change can happen and the refresh rate is set by Windows to the relevant one. Otherwise you receive that error.
That's why it seems so strange to me! Feel doesn't deal with refresh rates..
Which Windows version do you use? Monitor? Video card?

Quote

 I don't remember changing my desktop resolution, but who knows.  I also downloaded a higher resolution MAME layout, and it looks much nicer!
Okay so I assume you're on a LCD.. For sure 640x480 res is perfect for Crt arcade monitors (in fact it's there for them) but on nowadays monitors it sure isn't the best choice.. and not even the second best :)

Quote

Still have issues with pinball, but for the moment I'm using FEEL for arcade/console games and PinballX for pinball.  I'd prefer to have one front end for all games, but this is workable in the meantime.  Let me know if you figure anything out reg. pinball.

Thanks!
Eric
I'll sure let you know if I find something, thank you very much for sharing your experience Eric! ;)
Mauri
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on December 18, 2017, 11:27:19 am
Quote
Uhmmm.. Can't really figure out why..
When Feel is in full screen mode, and set to change resolution, it looks at its current layout x*y size, and asks Windows for a resolution change for it, but without asking for a specific refresh rate.
Windows on its side should have, among its supported modelines (which vary according to present video card and drivers, monitor, etc.), a matching result. If it's so, the change can happen and the refresh rate is set by Windows to the relevant one. Otherwise you receive that error.
That's why it seems so strange to me! Feel doesn't deal with refresh rates..
Which Windows version do you use? Monitor? Video card?

I am using Windows XP SP3 (32 bit), the monitor is a Asus VS278Q-P LED, video card is a Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT.  I suppose it's possible that I had Windows using the lower resolution before, so I didn't see this problem.  I know I'm getting a new video card for this cabinet for Christmas - I ordered it myself!  :)  So possibly this problem will go away shortly.  Or a new problem will crop up!

Quote

Okay so I assume you're on a LCD.. For sure 640x480 res is perfect for Crt arcade monitors (in fact it's there for them) but on nowadays monitors it sure isn't the best choice.. and not even the second best :)

Definitely, I will have to try and get up to speed on how layouts are created/modified so I can make some higher resolution ones.

Quote
I'll sure let you know if I find something, thank you very much for sharing your experience Eric! ;)
Mauri

Thank you for your great work on this program!

Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: dr.prodigy on December 20, 2017, 04:39:49 pm
I am using Windows XP SP3 (32 bit), the monitor is a Asus VS278Q-P LED, video card is a Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT.  I suppose it's possible that I had Windows using the lower resolution before, so I didn't see this problem.  I know I'm getting a new video card for this cabinet for Christmas - I ordered it myself!  :)  So possibly this problem will go away shortly.  Or a new problem will crop up!
Nope.. Indeed the error doesn't depend on your currently set resolution, but instead on the ones your hw (video card + monitor + drivers) is capable of.
Anyway, you'll soon test a new setup, so let's see ;)

Quote

Definitely, I will have to try and get up to speed on how layouts are created/modified so I can make some higher resolution ones.
It is quite easy indeed.. But in the meanwhile you can maybe find a decent one in the collection on my website.

Quote
Thank you for your great work on this program!

Eric
I do my best.. Really glad you appreciate it, thank you too! :)

Inviato dal mio ONE E1001 utilizzando Tapatalk

Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: Erzak on April 16, 2018, 11:34:37 am
Over the weekend, FEEL prompted me to update to version 1.9.8.4.  I let it update, and all seemed fine.  But after my cabinet was sitting idle for a while on Saturday (maybe 2-3 hours), I walked by and noticed that FEEL had quit, and there was a popup error box that said "Execution Error. No joystick found: aborting".  Onsunday, the same thing happened again. 

I opened up feel.log and see the following:

**** 15/04/2018 19:41:01 - Start Front-End Emulator Launcher ****
EXECUTION ERROR
No joystick found: aborting
System.Exception: No joystick found: aborting
   at feel.OBJInput.CreateJoyPad(Int32 deadZone)
   at feel.OBJInput.UpdateJoyPad()
   at feel.Feel.UpdateUI(GameTime gameTime)
   at feel.Feel.Update(GameTime gameTime)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Tick()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.HostIdle(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.GameHost.OnIdle()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.ApplicationIdle(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponent.FDoIdle(Int32 grfidlef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMe ssageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(Form mainForm)
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.WindowsGameHost.Run()
   at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Run()
   at feel.Feel.Main(Boolean newVersion)
*******************************************************************

All of my controls are connected with USB, wondering if maybe the USB controller on my PC times out after a while?  But I did not have this problem with the previous version of FEEL.  I'll go into the device manager and check the USB settings, I seem to recall that you can tell controllers not to allow Windows to power them down when they go idle, maybe that would clear this up?  But any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Eric
Title: Re: new frontend F.E.E.L.
Post by: rickreynolds on September 17, 2018, 12:20:08 pm
I'm a new user to FEEL.  I was a pretty "sophisticated" (??) user of MAMEWah years ago and tried out FEEL because it is so similar.  Is this the right place to post questions and/or report bugs I think I'm seeing?  Or now that the code is on github, should that kind of thing be addressed over there?