LEDBlinky - Arcade LED Control software and Animation Editor - v4.0

[arzoo]

LEDBlinky - Arcade LED Control software and Animation Editor (v4.0)

Downloads, Features, Screen Shots, Demo Videos, Installation and Configuration Information, Support, and all things LEDBlinky can be found on the LEDBlinky.net website.

[arzoo]

Nothing to see here - move along.

[headkaze]

Fantastic to see this released Arzoo, great work! People will love this

[loadman]

 

[DaveMMR]

Awesome - can't wait to try it out!   Thanks!

[polaris]

wow
i think this is exactly what im looking for,
i say i think as i dont fully understand it im a bit slow with this software caper.
 
great skills dude and that goes out to all you software developers , im blown away by the abilities and generosity in making these things

mucho respect

[CM]

 
I will try this out tonight!  My dual PacDrive setup may finally work!

[loadman]

I will try this out tonight!  My dual PacDrive setup may finally work!

:-)  FYI...  I'm sure Swindus will fix the native PacDrive bug eventually (using multiple PacDrives). He has not worked on MaLa for a while  :-)

[CM]

I will try this out tonight!  My dual PacDrive setup may finally work!

:-)  FYI...  I'm sure Swindus will fix the native PacDrive bug eventually (using multiple PacDrives). He has not worked on MaLa for a while  :-)

I'm a patient man 

[headkaze]

I will try this out tonight!  My dual PacDrive setup may finally work!

:-)  FYI...  I'm sure Swindus will fix the native PacDrive bug eventually (using multiple PacDrives). He has not worked on MaLa for a while  :-)

LEDBlinky has gone far beyond Mala's native support for the PacDrive now. I'm fairly certain that even if Swindus added support for multiple PacDrives you'd still be better off using this plugin IMHO.

[kegger]

This is an awesome plugin, started using it today. Now I'm new to the setup and I am having a few problems.... I have an asteroids layout but i can't get a couple of button's to light. I did remap them in  the game but still no luck. Also having the same problem with no matter what game it is. The button will light when in animation but will not light in Mame any ideas on this.  I am using Pac Drive's 2 of them.   

Thanks

Keg

[headkaze]

Arzoo: There also seems to be a few people (including me) who are getting access violations when running the LEDBlinky Animation Editor. Sorry I don't have a screenshot of it right now, but I can get one if needed.

[rdenis]

I'm having a couple of issues which I am not sure are software or hardware related.  Hopefully someone can shed some light or point me in the right direction.  I am using version 3.0 of Blinky and a few of my control panel buttons are lit with RGB's driven by LED Wiz.  I have RGB's at P1B1, P1B3, P1B5 and P2B1, P2B3, P2B5.

First issue:  I am not getting all game controls lit up properly - eg.  Street Fighter 2 - Player one buttons 1,3,5 all light properly in correct colors, however player 2 only lights buttons 1 and 3 correctly - button 5 does not light at all.  I looked in the colors.ini file and it looks correct, even changed some of the colors to make sure I had the right ini file.  The RGB buttons all light up properly otherwise (Mala Start, Mala Exit, Game Pause, etc.)  This one really has me stumped.

2)  I am trying to get the "Flash start buttons when credits are available" to work properly but I am getting some weird behavior.  I have single LED's in the P1 and P2 buttons (driven by LED Wiz).  I have intensity set to 49 for both of them (no blinking).  When I get credits, the P1 and/or P2 lights flash in an erratic pattern with different time intervals - I can best describe the pattern as quick flash, pause, quick flash, pause, long flash, pause - and then it repeats.  I have had the exact same results on Galaga, Dig Dug, and Asteroids.  I have run the MameOutput utility to record the game outputs and everything looks good.  Unfortunately the utility does not report the length of time of each output state so I can't tell if this is a Mame issue or hardware issue.  I have tried various configurations - blinking/not blinking, active/inactive, etc. and still the same results.

ANy thoughts?

[kegger]

I also have the same behavior for blink on credits flashes quick a couple of times then stay lit then back to quick flash

[arzoo]

Arzoo: There also seems to be a few people (including me) who are getting access violations when running the LEDBlinky Animation Editor. Sorry I don't have a screenshot of it right now, but I can get one if needed.

hk,
When do you get the access violation, at startup, on exit, playing an animation? Tx.

[arzoo]

This is an awesome plugin, started using it today. Now I'm new to the setup and I am having a few problems.... I have an asteroids layout but i can't get a couple of button's to light. I did remap them in  the game but still no luck. Also having the same problem with no matter what game it is. The button will light when in animation but will not light in Mame any ideas on this.  I am using Pac Drive's 2 of them.   

Thanks

Keg

Kegger,
Seems like this is a config issue. I'll need to see the debug log. From the config app on the "More Options" tab, check "Enable Debug Log" and "Verbose Logging". Run some games and then send me a pm or post the debug.log results back here. Afterward, remember to uncheck the debug option.

By the way, I don't know which version of mame you're using, but I've noticed that at some point after .111 the Asteroids controls were changed from "3 buttons and a two-way joystick" to the more correct "5 buttons". But controls.dat (controls.ini) has not yet been updated, so the rotate left and rotate right buttons won't light - also the order of the button functions has changed. So if you're using a recent mame version, you can manually update controls.ini - here's the correct values:

P1NumButtons=5
P1Controls=
P1_BUTTON1=Rotate Left
P1_BUTTON2=Rotate Right
P1_BUTTON3=FIRE
P1_BUTTON4=THRUST
P1_BUTTON5=HYPER SPACE

As to the issue with the credit flashing feature - this turned out to be a major headache and a problem I've been working on for the past 3 weeks or so. It's actually not a bug in LEDBlinky but a thread priority issue between MaLa and Mame and LEDBlinky. Anyway, I have a fix which I'll post later this week.

Thanks,
arzoo

[arzoo]

I'm having a couple of issues which I am not sure are software or hardware related.  Hopefully someone can shed some light or point me in the right direction.  I am using version 3.0 of Blinky and a few of my control panel buttons are lit with RGB's driven by LED Wiz.  I have RGB's at P1B1, P1B3, P1B5 and P2B1, P2B3, P2B5.

First issue:  I am not getting all game controls lit up properly - eg.  Street Fighter 2 - Player one buttons 1,3,5 all light properly in correct colors, however player 2 only lights buttons 1 and 3 correctly - button 5 does not light at all.  I looked in the colors.ini file and it looks correct, even changed some of the colors to make sure I had the right ini file.  The RGB buttons all light up properly otherwise (Mala Start, Mala Exit, Game Pause, etc.)  This one really has me stumped.

2)  I am trying to get the "Flash start buttons when credits are available" to work properly but I am getting some weird behavior.  I have single LED's in the P1 and P2 buttons (driven by LED Wiz).  I have intensity set to 49 for both of them (no blinking).  When I get credits, the P1 and/or P2 lights flash in an erratic pattern with different time intervals - I can best describe the pattern as quick flash, pause, quick flash, pause, long flash, pause - and then it repeats.  I have had the exact same results on Galaga, Dig Dug, and Asteroids.  I have run the MameOutput utility to record the game outputs and everything looks good.  Unfortunately the utility does not report the length of time of each output state so I can't tell if this is a Mame issue or hardware issue.  I have tried various configurations - blinking/not blinking, active/inactive, etc. and still the same results.

ANy thoughts?

rdenis,
Post or pm your debug.log (see my prior reply to kegger), and we can figure out why the button is not lighting correctly. I've also fixed the mame output timing issue - see my prior post. Tx.

[kegger]

Here is the log

Great Job on the plugin It's Very Cool

And Thank You for having a look, I'm using Mame122 so I will adjust the ini for Asteroids

Keg

[arzoo]

Here is the log

Great Job on the plugin It's Very Cool

And Thank You for having a look, I'm using Mame122 so I will adjust the ini for Asteroids

Keg

Ok, here's what I think the problem is - from the debug file, the only game you launched was Missile Command - and it seems that you have one of the buttons mapped to a joystick button and the other 2 buttons are mapped to mouse buttons, correct? I'm guessing that the LEDBlinky input map file (DevicePort-Input.ini) does not have the joystick and mouse button codes assigned to the various LEDWiz ports. For example, you should have JOYCODE_1_BUTTON7, MOUSECODE_2_BUTTON1, and MOUSECODE_2_BUTTON2 mapped to the correct LED ports - these are the Missile Command controls. Use the "Generate Input Map" tool to add the correct input codes.

If this doesn't make any sense, could you post your DevicePort-Input.ini file?

arzoo

[kegger]

Arzoo, That fixed it

Sorry for the error's on my part and
Thanks again for the help.

Keg

[rdenis]

As to the issue with the credit flashing feature - this turned out to be a major headache and a problem I've been working on for the past 3 weeks or so. It's actually not a bug in LEDBlinky but a thread priority issue between MaLa and Mame and LEDBlinky. Anyway, I have a fix which I'll post later this week.

Thanks,
arzoo

Cool - now I don't have to come up with a funky hardware solution - ie - putting an on/off switch inline with me pressing it on/off continuously once the credits are available!! 

[rdenis]

rdenis,
Post or pm your debug.log (see my prior reply to kegger), and we can figure out why the button is not lighting correctly. I've also fixed the mame output timing issue - see my prior post. Tx.

Okay I looked at the debug file and looked like a MAME config issue - went into a game and selected Admin menu/General Controls and selected Player 2 controls.  Sure enough Player 2 buttons 4,5,6,7 were mapped to Joycodes with no corresponding Keyboard input.  I manually overode the default configs to have keyboard inputs and the lighting works now.  However, with the override, I lost the original Joycodes (not sure it matters or not?) and the change in mapping I made within MAME is not reflected in the Control-Input_mame.ini file which says it is generated by GenMameDefault.exe from the Mame Source file (input.c).  I ran (double clicked) GenMameDefault.exe again and while it seemed to do something my  Control-Input_mame.ini file is still the same.  Huh?  Me confused.

The short answer is I got it working - but I don't really understand how.  I seem to recall in the dark recesses of my mind that MAME does not assign keyboard inputs beyond four buttons but I thought that was only for Players 3 and 4.

Anyhoo, it works, I don't know why - but I would like to know the proper way to correct this for future reference.  If someone asked me tomorrow how to fix it I'd tell them they were high. 

[rdenis]

Alright I think I am starting to figure some of this out - put all my Mame General Input controls back to default configurations and then added the relevant Joycodes in GenLEdBlinkyInput for all my buttons.  Works like a charm now.

Another thing I am trying to figure out is how to light the Player and Credit buttons at the same time the game controls are dislayed when scrolling in the Mala UI screen.

[arzoo]

Alright I think I am starting to figure some of this out - put all my Mame General Input controls back to default configurations and then added the relevant Joycodes in GenLEdBlinkyInput for all my buttons.  Works like a charm now.

rdenis,
Glad you got it working!

The thing to remember when using the GenLEDBlinkyInputMap is that you need to assign the same keycode, joycode, or mousecode to each LED port as is physically wired to the keyboard or joystick encoder. So for example, if player 2 button 5 is wired to a joystick encoder, joystick 2 button 1, then use JOYCODE_2_BUTTON1. But if it's wired to a keboard encoder, "Y", then use KEYCODE_Y. But again, you've got it working so that's all that counts! 

Just for reference - for a control that has never been remapped within Mame, LEDBlinky uses the value in Control_Input_mame.ini. When you remap a control in the General Input section (which effects all games), LEDBlinky uses the Default.cfg file (in the Mame cfg folder). And when you remap controls for a specific game, LEDBlinky uses the <rom>.cfg file.

You should never really need to run the GenMameDefault.exe app - in fact I've removed from the most recent LEDBlinky install because it's of no use anymore. You can delete it.

Another thing I am trying to figure out is how to light the Player and Credit buttons at the same time the game controls are dislayed when scrolling in the Mala UI screen.

This is a new feature that I've already added for the next release. It will work for both the MaLa scrolling and during game play.

[rdenis]

Thanks Arzoo - this is an awesome app!!!

[iano]

Hi Arzoo. I have 2 problems with the ledblinky animation editor. My first problem is violation access errors. They occur everytime i try to create a cp layout (by selecting the deviceport-input file). Please see screenshots. The 2nd problem i'm having is i have a trackball with 4 single leds wired to 4 ports of my ledwiz. I have given them mousecodes but when i try to create a cp layout (i did manage to open it once without a violation access error) i only see one led on my cp layout instead of 4 leds. I would like to be able to control the 4 trackball leds individually for animation purposes. Any advice would be great. Thanks for the app.

ian.

 

[LEDWiz-Device1]
Port01=P1Coin,S,KEYCODE_5
Port04=P1B1,R,KEYCODE_LCONTROL
Port05=P1B1,G,KEYCODE_LCONTROL
Port06=P1B1,B,KEYCODE_LCONTROL
Port07=P1B2,R,KEYCODE_LALT
Port08=P1B2,G,KEYCODE_LALT
Port09=P1B2,B,KEYCODE_LALT
Port10=P1B3,R,KEYCODE_SPACE
Port11=P1B3,G,KEYCODE_SPACE
Port12=P1B3,B,KEYCODE_SPACE
Port13=P1B4,R,KEYCODE_LSHIFT
Port14=P1B4,G,KEYCODE_LSHIFT
Port15=P1B4,B,KEYCODE_LSHIFT
Port21=P1B5,R,KEYCODE_Z
Port22=P1B5,G,KEYCODE_Z
Port23=P1B5,B,KEYCODE_Z
Port24=P1B6,R,KEYCODE_X
Port25=P1B6,G,KEYCODE_X
Port26=P1B6,B,KEYCODE_X
Port27=P1B7,R,KEYCODE_C
Port28=P1B7,G,KEYCODE_C
Port29=P1B7,B,KEYCODE_C
Port30=P1B8,R,KEYCODE_V
Port31=P1B8,G,KEYCODE_V
Port32=P1B8,B,KEYCODE_V
Port17=,S,MOUSECODE_1_UP
Port18=,S,MOUSECODE_1_RIGHT
Port19=,S,MOUSECODE_1_DOWN
Port20=,S,MOUSECODE_1_LEFT
[LEDWiz-Device2]
Port01=P2Coin,S,KEYCODE_6
Port04=P2B1,R,KEYCODE_A
Port05=P2B1,G,KEYCODE_A
Port06=P2B1,B,KEYCODE_A
Port07=P2B2,R,KEYCODE_S
Port08=P2B2,G,KEYCODE_S
Port09=P2B2,B,KEYCODE_S
Port10=P2B3,R,KEYCODE_Q
Port11=P2B3,G,KEYCODE_Q
Port12=P2B3,B,KEYCODE_Q
Port13=P2B4,R,KEYCODE_W
Port14=P2B4,G,KEYCODE_W
Port15=P2B4,B,KEYCODE_W
Port21=P2B5,R,KEYCODE_I
Port22=P2B5,G,KEYCODE_I
Port23=P2B5,B,KEYCODE_I
Port24=P2B6,R,KEYCODE_K
Port25=P2B6,G,KEYCODE_K
Port26=P2B6,B,KEYCODE_K
Port27=P2B7,R,KEYCODE_J
Port28=P2B7,G,KEYCODE_J
Port29=P2B7,B,KEYCODE_J
Port30=P2B8,R,KEYCODE_L
Port31=P2B8,G,KEYCODE_L
Port32=P2B8,B,KEYCODE_L

[headkaze]

Arzoo: I just wanted to add that iano's errors are the same I was getting. Sorry I don't have access to my cab at the moment but they are the same errors anyway. They seem to occur when trying to open the deviceport-input or closing the application.

Also that deviceport-input file that iano has posted is generated by my plugin. Can you let me know if I need to do anything different when creating that file? Perhaps it's something in that file your program is not liking?

Thanks mate appreciate your time

[arzoo]

Hi Arzoo. I have 2 problems with the ledblinky animation editor. My first problem is violation access errors. They occur everytime i try to create a cp layout (by selecting the deviceport-input file). Please see screenshots. The 2nd problem i'm having is i have a trackball with 4 single leds wired to 4 ports of my ledwiz. I have given them mousecodes but when i try to create a cp layout (i did manage to open it once without a violation access error) i only see one led on my cp layout instead of 4 leds. I would like to be able to control the 4 trackball leds individually for animation purposes. Any advice would be great. Thanks for the app.

ian.

 

Port17=,S,MOUSECODE_1_UP
Port18=,S,MOUSECODE_1_RIGHT
Port19=,S,MOUSECODE_1_DOWN
Port20=,S,MOUSECODE_1_LEFT

Ian,
Looking at your DevicePort-Input.ini, I noticed that you don't have any port labels defined for ports 17, 18, 19, and 20 on device 1 (the mouse ports). I wonder if that's the problem? I'll look over my code tonight and see what's going on.

By the way - that's an awesome idea to use 4 LEDs under the mouse to indicate up/down/left/right. I only wired three LEDs under my mouse, and they're in a triangle pattern - looks like I'll be reworking that! As long as you provide a different port label for each mouse LED, the animation editor will treat them as separate controls.

arzoo

[headkaze]

Hi Arzoo. I have 2 problems with the ledblinky animation editor. My first problem is violation access errors. They occur everytime i try to create a cp layout (by selecting the deviceport-input file). Please see screenshots. The 2nd problem i'm having is i have a trackball with 4 single leds wired to 4 ports of my ledwiz. I have given them mousecodes but when i try to create a cp layout (i did manage to open it once without a violation access error) i only see one led on my cp layout instead of 4 leds. I would like to be able to control the 4 trackball leds individually for animation purposes. Any advice would be great. Thanks for the app.

ian.

 

Port17=,S,MOUSECODE_1_UP
Port18=,S,MOUSECODE_1_RIGHT
Port19=,S,MOUSECODE_1_DOWN
Port20=,S,MOUSECODE_1_LEFT

Ian,
Looking at your DevicePort-Input.ini, I noticed that you don't have any port labels defined for ports 17, 18, 19, and 20 on device 1 (the mouse ports). I wonder if that's the problem? I'll look over my code tonight and see what's going on.

By the way - that's an awesome idea to use 4 LEDs under the mouse to indicate up/down/left/right. I only wired three LEDs under my mouse, and they're in a triangle pattern - looks like I'll be reworking that! As long as you provide a different port label for each mouse LED, the animation editor will treat them as separate controls.

arzoo

Arzoo, I just noticed that my plugin generates the following for P1_CUSTOM1, P1_CUSTOM2, P1_CUSTOM3 and P1_CUSTOM4...

Port17=,S,MOUSECODE_1_UP
Port18=,S,MOUSECODE_1_RIGHT
Port19=,S,MOUSECODE_1_DOWN
Port20=,S,MOUSECODE_1_LEFT

Since you didn't have any name that matched my custom ones. Any chance you could add them in for the case when someone needs 4 inputs for the trackball?

Or maybe we should make it P1_TRACKBALL1, P1_TRACKBALL2, P1_TRACKBALL3 & P1_TRACKBALL4?

[arzoo]

hk,
The port label (1st value in comma separated string) can be anything you want - it's just a tag to help identify each button and it also ties together the RGB ports. Also, the 3rd value is the input code and that's only required for my LEDBlinky app. So if you're only using the animation editor, you don't need to specify any input code. This should work fine:

Port17=P1_TRACKBALL1,S,
Port18=P1_TRACKBALL2,S,
Port19=P1_TRACKBALL3,S,
Port20=P1_TRACKBALL4,S,

OR this:

Port17=MOUSE_UP,S,
Port18=MOUSE_DOWN,S,
Port19=MOUSE_LEFT,S,
Port20=MOUSE_RIGHT,S,

[headkaze]

Arzoo: Thanks mate

iano: I have released a new version of the plugin so it will output names for all entries in the DevicePort-Input.ini file. So you can download that and it will generate a new file when you exit the config or just put in some dummy names in there.

Eg.

Code:

Port17=Trackball1,S,MOUSECODE_1_UP
Port18=Trackball2,S,MOUSECODE_1_RIGHT
Port19=Trackball3,S,MOUSECODE_1_DOWN
Port20=Trackball4,S,MOUSECODE_1_LEFT

Now we just need arzoo to check out the errors

[arzoo]

Now we just need arzoo to check out the errors

If you provide the port labels for all the ports, do you still get the error?

[headkaze]

Now we just need arzoo to check out the errors

If you provide the port labels for all the ports, do you still get the error?

It's not the port labels causing it because it doesn't crash on my dev machine when I use a DevicePort-Input.ini generated by my plugin. I have the PACDrive here to test and it works fine.

Okay I just booted up my cab and it's not crashing for me anymore on there either So iano you might want to try the new DevicePort-Input.ini and download the latest Animation Editor from this thread.

Cool, now I can make some custom animations for my cab

[iano]

Big thank you Guys ! Everything seems to be working great now !

 

[headkaze]

A few suggestions Arzoo for your LEDBlinky Animation Editor (if you don't mind) when you click an led the color sliders don't adjust to the color of the selected led. So when you go to change the color it will start at white. Also, for every frame intensity is set, even if the values are the same between two frames. The intensity command is quite bandwidth expensive.  Perhaps add a button called "Optimize" which will got through and remove commands that repeat between frames (or even better would be to calculate that "on the fly"). Also I noticed it changes commands that are sent to id 0 (all) into individual commands for each id 1 and 2. Not sure why it would do that (again if the state/intensity of led's for id 1 and 2 are the same you could have it send it to id 0). It also seemed to remove the PacDrive commands because I didn't have it plugged in. I'm not sure why the display is so slow as your only drawing a few ellipses with some text. GDI+ should be fast enough to draw the frames in realtime. Finally I like the new animation control buttons but it would make sense to also add a |> play button that turns into || pause when it's playing. Thanks!

[arzoo]

A few suggestions Arzoo for your LEDBlinky Animation Editor (if you don't mind) when you click an led the color sliders don't adjust to the color of the selected led. So when you go to change the color it will start at white.

I agree - but it was a 50/50 decision - should clicking the button set the current color or clicking the current color set the button? There are times when I'm working on an animation and I feel it should work the way you describe - but other times it seems right the way it is. Anyway, you can right-click a button and select "Get Color" which sets the current color box.

Also, for every frame intensity is set, even if the values are the same between two frames. The intensity command is quite bandwidth expensive.  Perhaps add a button called "Optimize" which will got through and remove commands that repeat between frames (or even better would be to calculate that "on the fly").

The editor handles each frame individually with no memory of the prior frame. But when you save the animation is will be fully optimized.

Also I noticed it changes commands that are sent to id 0 (all) into individual commands for each id 1 and 2. Not sure why it would do that (again if the state/intensity of led's for id 1 and 2 are the same you could have it send it to id 0).

Here's my thinking on this - the editor works with individual buttons, not ports. So the concept of all on or off across multiple devices doesn't make sense. Conceivably you could wire RGBs across devices.

It also seemed to remove the PacDrive commands because I didn't have it plugged in.

Not sure about this, I'll have to try it myself.

I'm not sure why the display is so slow as your only drawing a few ellipses with some text. GDI+ should be fast enough to draw the frames in realtime.

A lot is going on under the covers - but I agree, it should be faster. I'll see what I can do.

Finally I like the new animation control buttons but it would make sense to also add a |> play button that turns into || pause when it's playing. Thanks!

Good idea. Thanks for the feedback!

[milhouse]

Is there a way to have LEDs for each Player buttons light within Mala, so that you can tell how many players a game supports? 

Right now, my Players 1-4 buttons are off in Mala and it would be cool if they would light depending on whether the game was a one player or four player game etc.

[arzoo]

Is there a way to have LEDs for each Player buttons light within Mala, so that you can tell how many players a game supports? 

Right now, my Players 1-4 buttons are off in Mala and it would be cool if they would light depending on whether the game was a one player or four player game etc.

milhouse - great timing! I'm about to release a LEDBlinky update within a few minutes that includes the feature you are requesting.

[arzoo]

Version 3.5 released - see 1st post for details and download links.

[youki]

Great job!!

Just one point , in the documentation i think you have forgotten to update your index table.