Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: jteexy on April 25, 2024, 11:15:50 am
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Hey guys, it’s been a while. So what arcade front ends are people using these days? I need to rehab a driving cab I built which got some water damage from construction
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I'm using LaunchBox (in BigBox mode) for my stand up cabinets as well as on my Daytona Twin driving cab.
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that depends on what OS your running and what PC your using
windows PC + what version of windows, Android, Pi?
My 1up arcades have Pi's in them 3Bplus. my arcade in a box has a Pi zero 2w. All running Retro Pi
My main PC (daily use PC) windows 10 I use retrobat And Launch box. (retrobat) I had issues with my PS2 controllers I had to switch to Xbox controllers.
my newest project I am using batocera linux version 30. It is a very wimpy as PC standards go. It will go head to head with a Pi 4 and smoke a Pi 3. With batocera linux I can also use Kodi for my movies .
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I still use one of the most versatile FE out there, even if no more updated: FEEL
https://feelfrontend.altervista.org/it/
It's opensource now.
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Another vote for Launchbox/Bigbox, EXCELLENT FE. However, I made the switch to Retrobat because it checked some boxes for me I wanted, and it's portability works well for the situation I'm going to use it with. So I would take a look at that one as well, although for some situations it might require a bit more technical knowledge.
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I think it depends on what your display is. If you're still using a 15khz CRT, then Hyperspin with GroovyMAME is hard to beat. The thing that held me back from using LaunchBox / BigBox is the developer's stance on using real CRTs. It's not a priority for them and they're not interested in fixing bugs in that domain (https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/71242-launchbox-bigbox-not-crt-friendly/#comment-428778)
But if you're using a modern display that can support high res, just use Launchbox.
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I use Launchbox for old DOS strategy games on my main Windows 10 computer with a LCD monitor + mouse, and it is great for that, but find it too "boxy" for CRT/joystick setup. The layouts I see are all much like a file manager, with too many windows and options. I've seen plenty of tutorials/vids about Launchbox/BigBox, and maybe I'm missing something, but seems that you need a higher res monitor and a mouse to get the best out of it.
I find it interesting (though not surprising) that the Launchbox devs created their software for organising old DOS games, but then have a "don't care" attitude about people wanting to use "old tech" like CRTs to play them authentically. Even writing off the CRT users as a "minority" and having no interest in something as simple as resizing options popup windows. I get that developers always want to be working with current tech, but we are talking about retrogaming on CRTs here. Sure, they aren't being made anymore, but there will still be plenty for decades to come. Expecting you to use VNC or attach another monitor just to change settings is unrealistic (esp considering they won't be bothered to test on CRT themselves). Fair enough, they claim to not have many CRT users, now you know why. One understands but it is still a frustratingly narrow viewpoint. Anyway, all you can do is politely ask, make your case, getting angry about it won't help.
C-beats summarised it well here: "We don't actively target such a low resolution because frankly a lot of the content just won't fit and be real legible on the majority of machines using that resolution.", which is why I don't use LB with CRTs, too little fine control over content shown. Then they go on to say "As many others have stated the amount of users touching resolutions THAT low are extremely small.", this is clearly an exaggeration, and only true because CRT users needs are not being met. So it is a snake-eating-tail kind of thing, a self-fulfilling prophesy, a trap professional developers *should* be aware of but so often fall into with eyes wide open while complaining about limited time and needing to service their primary user base.
It is what it is and we are grateful for that. So move on.
For my windows 7 arcade PCs, which are all setup for CRT + arcade cab + joysticks/buttons, I use Attract-Mode instead. It is free and easy to setup, and the default layouts provided automatically scale and work fine in 640x480i and similar resolutions (I use 720x480i mostly). Menus are legible and navigable in low-res with joys/buttons. Simple to setup, but also potentially very powerful if you want to spend the time on it.
One drawback with AM is that there is no built-in GUI layout designer. This makes tweaking layouts for CRTs painful. There is an online GUI designer tool ("AM Builder") which is great but not portable and doesn't work well in 640x480i anyway, so to test I have to download from my main Windows PC, copy to USB and walk it over to my arcade PC as they are "air gapped", not connected to internet. It is often easier to just edit the layout files directly in Notepad (I use Notepad++, which is free and much like Notepad just better).
Am interested in learning more about people's experience with Hyperspin for 15khz CRTs if anyone wants to talk about that. Pics. Layouts. That kind of thing. Also Interested in FEEL, a few people say it is like Mala/MameWAH which I'm familiar with.
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+1 for Attract Mode with the ArcadeSD theme. Dead simple and looks great.
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Attract Mode. Great level of customization if you want it, but you don't have to either. On something attempting to look like an original arcade cabinet, it's a very good "front end in hiding".
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Not sure if this will be a popular answer, but I still use Maximus Arcade. I got a license with my x-arcade years ago and only just built my first cabinet late last year / early this year.
Support is almost non-existent for it, but with some fiddling and experimenting, it makes for a fantastic front end. Had to edit the Mame gamelist.xml a bit, but once I had loaded the graphics (screenshots/marquees, etc...) I wound up with a fantastic front end for my cabinet.
Looks like you can still buy it from their website (https://maximus-arcade.com/) and it currently lists at $10. If you have/buy an x-arcade stick or control board, they come with a license also.
I know there's a lot of folks that don't like this one for valid reasons (dearth of support, not really been developed since about 2015, etc...), but for me it was worth the extra effort. I know there's other front ends out there and I am experimenting with some (Attract Mode looks good...), but for me this one works.
Best of luck!
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Am interested in learning more about people's experience with Hyperspin for 15khz CRTs if anyone wants to talk about that. Pics. Layouts. That kind of thing. Also Interested in FEEL, a few people say it is like Mala/MameWAH which I'm familiar with.
For me its always the best way to go, using windows 7, plus hyperspin with groovymame, its a no brainer, the only drawback is that BBB the developer, never fixed the bug of hyperspinnot not acepting more than 99 video modes, so when using groovymame with emudrivers you can only create 99 modelines, but thats ok , that covers most of the classic games,if you have a game thats not covered you can always use 640x480 and it does the trick. All regular themes are rezised automaticly and look great, i even used it on a vertical mode and it looks great to. The vertical cocktail themes and it looks great to. The other thingg they never fixed to, its hyperspin taking longer to load the first game, but after that games loads all other games load fast if you have a decent pc for it.
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AttractMode is fantastic. Easy to use, setup, and customize.
For Raspberry Pi: I think I'm sold on the Batocera. So much easier to use than RetroPie. But not 100% sure (yet) that it supports all the games I need. Stay tuned.
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Launchbox, using BigBox for the front end. Got the forever license and very happy. Can't beat the auto setup and download of basically everything except the roms. Extremely active development and regular updates\fixes. I had an issue and submitted it - got resolved within a couple of days.
This Attractmode looks pretty cool though - is it totally free?
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There are no wrong options here so long as your rig can handle it. If you have the time and patience, try them all out.
Personally, my latest project is using Batocera. It's self-contained, completely eliminates the need for Windows and has a fairly active community with regular updates. The downside is that there is definitely a little more mucking around in Linux to get things set-up exactly how you want. Also, I'm using it as an all-in-one game machine, with console emulators alongside MAME. If you are only concerning yourself with arcade games, it might be a little too bloated for that purpose.
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For my driving cabinet which is running a G923 wheel, im looking at Checkered flag.
Im just going for mame, model 2 and supermodel use but the frontend needs a bit of configuration to get games loading into fullscreen
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Attract Mode (with custom setup)
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Batocera! I have it on several Intel NUCs, and a Raspberry pi 3B.
I still have Retropie on a couple of Raspberry pi 3Bs and a 4B, but Batocera is better in every way so they are going to get backed up and switched over soon.
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If you're looking for something fundamentally different, you could check out my FE on GitHub here (https://github.com/gildahl/arcadeEIP). I just updated it today (https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,165138.0.html).
It can be used standalone or integrated with LaunchBox/BigBox (https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/64771-arcadeeip/) and has a number of features that I believe are completely unique.