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Front End Support => MaLa Frontend => Topic started by: weisshaupt on March 02, 2008, 06:45:35 pm

Title: Get Mala to Rotate on Game Selction and Start, va after games completes
Post by: weisshaupt on March 02, 2008, 06:45:35 pm
Is there a way to configure MALA so it will send a Orientation Event as it launches a game, rather than after the fact?
I am trying to wtie a plugin that will allow control of a motor for rotating the monitor to match a games aspect, but Mala seems to catch up to Mame, rather than turn itself and then launch MAME.. ?

I can get around it, its just seems somewhat bacl-a$$wards to me and I was wondiner if I just don't know how to configure it right..

Thanks!



Title: Re: Get Mala to Rotate on Game Selction and Start, va after games completes
Post by: loadman on March 02, 2008, 09:14:52 pm
Is there a way to configure MALA so it will send a Orientation Event as it launches a game, rather than after the fact?
I am trying to wtie a plugin that will allow control of a motor for rotating the monitor to match a games aspect, but Mala seems to catch up to Mame, rather than turn itself and then launch MAME.. ?

I can get around it, its just seems somewhat bacl-a$$wards to me and I was wondiner if I just don't know how to configure it right..

Thanks!





I would use the 'game selected data' which should have the games orientation in it.

Then only act on it when launching a game
Title: Re: Get Mala to Rotate on Game Selction and Start, va after games completes
Post by: weisshaupt on March 02, 2008, 11:02:43 pm
Hi Loadman, thanks for the response.

Yeah, I was planning to to it that way i( I already went ahead and coded it) if there wasn't something simpler I was missing.  It just seemed counter intutive to tell me that the orientation had changed AFTER MAME has already gone and changed it..

I hear you are writing a plugin for DaOldMan to move Mala to the "right" orientation on startup?...
What are you using to code? I am a newbie to Visual C++, so most of what I have coded so far is brute force crap (for instance, I can't seem to reference the * int orientation as an integer variable directly without causing Mala to crash - so I had to copy it into a string and pull it out with atoi()...if I have to look at another class defintion I will just shoot myself ) ,  but if I can get the right sytax for the call to mala for setting orientation, I could integrate that functionality into my plug in..

 or not..







Title: Re: Get Mala to Rotate on Game Selction and Start, va after games completes
Post by: loadman on March 03, 2008, 04:13:24 am
just seemed counter intutive to tell me that the orientation had changed AFTER MAME has already gone and changed it..

 ??? Ahh Sorry for being dumb, but what do you mean Mame had chnaged 'it'
Do you mean Mame had rotated itself for it's game OR mame had rotated MaLa?
Title: Re: Get Mala to Rotate on Game Selction and Start, va after games completes
Post by: DaOld Man on March 03, 2008, 07:00:27 am
Hey Weisshaupt:

Koz319 created a mala plugin to rotate the monitor and turn Mala when the screen is rotated, based on the game selected. I tried it and it works good. You have to set up mala to rotate with mame, I cant remember exactly.
But I can look it up.
He said he was going to post the code, but I dont think he did, or at least i cant find it.
Check out this thread. (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=72750.msg757342#msg757342)
Title: Re: Get Mala to Rotate on Game Selction and Start, va after games completes
Post by: weisshaupt on March 03, 2008, 03:10:08 pm


 ??? Ahh Sorry for being dumb, but what do you mean Mame had chnaged 'it'
Do you mean Mame had rotated itself for it's game OR mame had rotated MaLa?

Mame of course just rotates the game itself, but its at that point you need to know that the monitor needs to be rotated, rather than when the game exits and Mala rotates the menu. Keying off the Horizontal and vertical descriptions tags works fine. I was just hoping there was a way to get Mala to do that for me.. I have actually written the plugin so you can have motor stops at 0, 90, 180  and 270. Most folks will either move from 180 to 90 or from 0 to 90 and back,  but if Mala tells me which way to go, I don't have to add a config item for that . Alas, not I have to tell my program that Horizontal really means 0 or 180 degree, and that vertical really means 90 and not 270.. .

Title: Re: Get Mala to Rotate on Game Selction and Start, va after games completes
Post by: loadman on March 03, 2008, 06:42:06 pm
Yeah I see what you mean.

MaLa did not have automatic monitor rotation in mind with that option.

But as you can see that is why Plug-ins was catered for so you can make a set-up custom to your Cab  ;D
Title: Re: Get Mala to Rotate on Game Selction and Start, va after games completes
Post by: loadman on March 05, 2008, 04:23:45 am
) ,  but if I can get the right sytax for the call to mala for setting orientation, I could integrate that functionality into my plug in..

You should be able to use windows messages to do that