Favorite Front End

[Minwah]

With regard to the poll...I would be interested to know the split of people who use each FE and what screen type they are using.

I say this because a lot of the FE's are geared towards nice eyecandy, but I wonder if people with low res. screens use them? Or are there more people with multi-sync screens than standard res. nowadays?

Just curious...

[Dazz]

With regard to the poll...I would be interested to know the split of people who use each FE and what screen type they are using.

I say this because a lot of the FE's are geared towards nice eyecandy, but I wonder if people with low res. screens use them? Or are there more people with multi-sync screens than standard res. nowadays?

Just curious...

I personally use a 27" flat CRT television on my cabinet using a composite out from my video card.  I run everything at 800x600 and it looks good enough.

HyperSpin scales the themes, images and videos to sizes in relation with the resolution that is being used.  So even at low resolutions HyperSpin still looks pretty good.  Scaling up to bigger resolutions does cause some images not to look as well though.  I know that we have many users that are running arcade monitors and I don't think many (if any) have complained about visual quality in the Front End.

I'm not sure if that's an answer to your question/poll...

[Ginsu Victim]

Though I've considered trying a new frontend several times, Mamewah still has my loyalty. I don't really care much about eye candy, I just want to have a good menu system I can work with and gives my guests no problems.

Since you asked about monitors....

Up until yesterday, I was running a PC monitor horizontal at 640x480@60, but now I'm using 1024x768@60 (though I haven't adjusted my layouts yet for the resolution change. It would be a nice feature not to have to do this. Sure, the 640x480 layout displays full screen, but there is a resolution change each time I enter and exit a game)

[Blanka]

I personally use a 72" flat CRT television on my cabinet

OMG! That is huge. It must weigh 500 kilos

[Dazz]

I personally use a 72" flat CRT television on my cabinet

OMG! That is huge. It must weigh 500 kilos

Doh!  I meant 27".  Heh, the largest TV in the house is a 1080p 65" DLP which I have used as my arcade cab screen for a couple hours. 

[Ginsu Victim]

I personally use a 72" flat CRT television on my cabinet

OMG! That is huge. It must weigh 500 kilos

Doh!  I meant 27".  Heh, the largest TV in the house is a 65" DLP which I have used as my arcade cab screen for a couple hours. 

Ha....I was wondering about that.

[Ummon]

I personally use a 27" flat CRT television on my cabinet using a composite out from my video card.  I run everything at 800x600 and it looks good enough.

Sounds scary to me. Perhaps you mean component?

[RetroBorg]

Check this Moon Patrol theme out:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=5_0gMhdnvVA

[Ummon]

Check this Moon Patrol theme out:

Ha. That's cute.

[Hoopz]

Added Simple Touch Front End to the list.

Thanks to Lave Laar (developer) and wbuschman for bringing it to my attention.

[Adultery]

Easy to choose GameEx there. It's head and shoulders above any other FE I've ever used... But that's just one user's opinion.

[lingpanda]

GameEx when you demand more from a Front End

[Ummon]

GameEx when you demand more from a Front End

Just depends what you want out of it.

[Hunk_4TH]

Speaking of front end. Does anyone know what happened to Hyperspin's site?

[RetroBorg]

Speaking of front end. Does anyone know what happened to Hyperspin's site?

It would appear to be down right now.

[mayhem]

(ive posted this else ware as well)

To be honest each FE has it Pluses and Negatives. I personly like nearly all of them as far as im concerned each one bring some thing different to the table and ups the game with each new innovation.

I love Gameex the best though must admit but HS and marla again are both quite conventional and handy for different builds or PC set ups.

Popularity polls like this only prove how insecure some one is over there own proposals. Personly it should be a Question . What would you like to see incorporated in a FE !!! ect ect not which is the best as this is just fan boy trash talk ...

[headkaze]

Popularity polls like this only prove how insecure some one is over there own proposals. Personly it should be a Question . What would you like to see incorporated in a FE !!! ect ect not which is the best as this is just fan boy trash talk ...

I think the reason Hoopz started the poll is because everyone was sick of people posting "whats the best FE" all the time. I was also sick of those posts. So the poll is a good idea IMHO and infact cuts down the trash talk because people look at the poll instead of having to listen to the same replies from the same people all the time.

[Hoopz]

Popularity polls like this only prove how insecure some one is over there own proposals. Personly it should be a Question . What would you like to see incorporated in a FE !!! ect ect not which is the best as this is just fan boy trash talk ...

I think the reason Hoopz started the poll is because everyone was sick of people posting "whats the best FE" all the time. I was also sick of those posts. So the poll is a good idea IMHO and infact cuts down the trash talk because people look at the poll instead of having to listen to the same replies from the same people all the time.

True.  I thought if we had one comprehensive poll that addressed ALL of the FEs, it would allow a better representation of what actually is in use.  The fact that a user can change his/her vote over time allows for changes in use of FEs.

And I really got fed up with the "which is best" threads.  Not only were they cluttering up the boards with subjective questions, a lot of the older members here stopped participating as it was the same thing all the time.  Those questions weren't really reflective of what was in use.  That, and the fact that someone was a smart ass to me when I pointed out the flaws in the poll that someone else started.  I suggested a better way and they acted like I was an idiot.  So, I had to show them I may be an idiot, but I was an idiot who was right.   

 

[tspeirs]

I just wanted to say, in the initial post of this thread it says you can change your vote at anytime. It does not seem that its possible to do that, so just thought the inital post should be edited.

[Hoopz]

I was pretty sure I set it up that way, but let me check on it.   

[retrometro]

I tried mamewah and HS.  MALA is easy and flexible.

[liquid8]

As much as I enjoy using (and looking) at Hyperspin, I currently still give my vote to Mamewah. Even though Mamewah still is a bit difficult to configure, it is comfortable to me and I like the easy way of setting up groups, platforms, and lists... including adding games to lists right from the frontend.. which is important to me.

As we all know, though, it depends on what your using it for, and as Minwah pointed out, your setup.

If you are going for LEDs or Cocktail setups, I can't imagine using anything but Mala. If I was using MCE for my media center, I would go with GameEx, as it integrates nicely. If you want the most customizable frontend ever (with the "cool" factor), use Emulaxian/3D Arcade. If you want a fairly simple setup with eye candy, go with Hyperspin.

I am finally (hopefully) starting to work out my own setup, and I'll be playing with many of these again, or for the first time as sort of a re-evaluation. I am in and out of the emu scene, and love coming to see the improvements and new features in ALL frontends... so keep it up, guys!

[drewbagel423]

I love the way Maximus Arcade looks and operates, but now that I've got Hyperspin successfully launching PC games for me (the only one that CAN out of the 4-5 I've tried!) I'd hafta say that's my favorite.  But I am having trouble with it regarding some emulators and the fact that it doesn't close them.  Instead I'm told I have to set my emulators to have the same exit key (if the emu supports it) or map a button for the exit key for the specific emu.

It comes with this Hyperlaunch thing which supposedly does the job but I can't find any support documentation on it.  If someone could combine MA and HS it would be the ultimate front-end!


EDIT:  Ok so the guys over there at HS have been really helpful, and I'm getting closer to having a front-end that does EXACTLY what I want it to.  I'm definitely leaning more towards HS at this point.

[boomstick]

Only FE I have used so far is MaLa, love it and dont see any need to change at present

[geocab]

Right now I'm using MAMEUI as it is the only FE I knew anything about until I found this forum a week or two ago.  I want to try the others eventually to see if I find one I like better, but as I'm in the earliest stages of cabinet planning, I don't have a real need to change from the keyboard/mouse friendly MAMEUI.  For instance, I briefly tried Hyperspin and although it was definitely flashier, I can find the game I want with the mouse much quicker than scrolling though a wheel.  I'm not knocking Hyperspin, obviously when I want to control my FE from my arcade control panel (when I have one) MAMEUI probably will no longer be the right choice for me. 

[Ummon]

Right now I'm using MAMEUI as it is the only FE I knew anything about until I found this forum a week or two ago.  I want to try the others eventually to see if I find one I like better, but as I'm in the earliest stages of cabinet planning, I don't have a real need to change from the keyboard/mouse friendly MAMEUI.  For instance, I briefly tried Hyperspin and although it was definitely flashier, I can find the game I want with the mouse much quicker than scrolling though a wheel.  I'm not knocking Hyperspin, obviously when I want to control my FE from my arcade control panel (when I have one) MAMEUI probably will no longer be the right choice for me. 

Actually, if you have a 'tab' button as a shifted function, then navigating through game lists and such in MameUI shouldn't be a big deal. Then it becomes an issue of, 'it's not arcade authentic'.

[jackhammerslam]

I've used 3d arcade (a pain in the ass to set up but the end result is worth it)
                Game Ex   (straight forward to setup and some nice features but a little basic but it's designed for home entertainment systems in whcih its perfect
                 Hyperspin (has to setting the baby up for mame I just change 2 measly option so setting this up is way too easy, only problem is too much to download with a 3 minute waiting period between downloads (this is the same with Vpforums unless you pleasuredome). this has more pluses than minuses)
                  Mala (I couldn't set this up so i gave up)
                   Atomic FE (this fe crash my system so i went sod it)

[youki]

Atomic FE (this fe crash my system so i went sod it)

Did you contact me about that?

[Portnoy]

Mala was my favorite for a long time but Hyperspin has found a permanent home in my Cab. Heck, I even named my cab after it!

P

[Cakemeister]

Mala was my favorite for a long time but Hyperspin has found a permanent home in my Cab. Heck, I even named my cab after it!

P

I'm waiting to see you post in the "unfavorite frontend" thread. We could call that "Portnoy's Complaint".

[loadman]

Mala was my favorite for a long time but Hyperspin has found a permanent home in my Cab. Heck, I even named my cab after it!

P

I'm waiting to see you post in the "unfavorite frontend" thread. We could call that "Portnoy's Complaint".

 

[Cakemeister]

I guess that joke was a bit feeble.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portnoy's_Complaint

[loadman]

I guess that joke was a bit feeble.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portnoy's_Complaint

 

[dungbeetle46]

Mala for me, it handles all my emus and jukebox, easy to configure and great support and development from Loadman

[IrishKrush]

Hyperspin all the way! It is the best I have found, easy to set up, in one great simple to use front end.

[Nesagwa]

Which front end would you guys recommend for an old 500mhz P3 thats easy to setup?

[kingb33]

Emuloader is probably for you Nesagwa

http://emuloader.mameworld.info/

not sure why it's not on the list?  it's been around for years

[Banacek]

Loved Mamewah, used it for years until HyperSpin came out. Now I have Hyperspin on both the cab and my HTPC.

[GoddTodd]

I just love the look and feel of Hyperspin. It's a bit time consuming to set up but the end result is worth the effort.
However, I have spent way to much time trying to get working with the consoles.
So I think I'm going to make Hyperspin Mame exclusive and use Game Ex for all my other emulators.

GoddTodd

PS Don't forget to send a few bucks to your favorite developer as well.

[Hazzard]

I wonder wich one of these front ends is best for running standard PC games?

I have finaly got hyperspin to launch my pro pinball games, but it was quite time consuming (probably 3-4 hours) to get it to work properly for a newbie like myself..