MaLa Beta Testing Closed

[loadman]

Hi

Here is the link:

I strongly recommended you Install MaLa betas IN A SEPARATE DIRECTORY to your current working MaLa. That way there is no risk of breaking your current setup.

** STALE LINKS REMOVED ***

I expect bugs, so please report how to reproduce the problem so I can squash the bugs.

Thanks.  

Here is a vid showing how you might want to use the 2nd video window/ Layout video.

It shows one video window of the selected game, and the other associated with the current layout (on constant loop at the moment). But you could choose to play an animated gif instead.





Some other changes since the last official release.

August 22, 2010
•  MaLa 1.664 - MaLa - Dialog will now pop up if MaLa is not allowed to write to Windows registry rather than crash. This is for 'MaLa Start with windows' option.
MaLa . Possibly fixed bug where MaLa would crash if switching game lists faster that the configured display delay interval(s).

August 15, 2010
•  MaLa 1.663 - MaLa - Fixed bug blocking MaLa messages feature from external apps and plugins since 1.658
MaLa = Fixed Other Emu zero size game list bugs

August 9, 2010
•  MaLa 1.662 - MaLa . Fixed bug when loading/refreshing mame game lists using nplayers.ini with roms without matching master entries.

August 8, 2010
•  MaLa 1.661 - MaLa . Fixed 'white line' bug when rotated 270 deg.

August 1, 2010
•  MaLa 1.660 - MaLa . Altered/ improved the way audio volume is handled.
MaLa . Fixed scrolling bug after rotation

July 11, 2010
•  MaLa 1.659 - MaLa . Made even more changes to help 'rotate mame with mala'.

July 10, 2010
•  MaLa 1.658 - MaLa . Made changes to help 'rotate mame with mala' with 'other' flavours of Mame.

July 9, 2010
•  MaLa 1.657 - MaLa . Fixed wrong gamelist loaded bug on startup
•  MaLa - Second part of work on minor 'resume from Standby' display refresh Bug

July 8, 2010
•  MaLa 1.656 - MaLa . Added 'Show Game Metadata' screen via right click.
•  MaLa - First part of work on minor 'resume from Stby display refresh Bug

June 18, 2010
•  MaLa 1.655 - MaLa . Fixed - other Joystick setting was not saving to ini file.
•  MaLa - Fixed polling / display delay bug.
•  MaLa - Fixed tab key select order on config screen

June 13, 2010
•  MaLa 1.654 - MaLa . Enhanced MaLa to auto up convert old 'Other emu' file formats. (eg *.mle)

June 12, 2010
•  MaLa 1.653 - MaLa fixed bug in Audio menu if Audio was disabled
•  MaLa 1.652 - MaLa fixed bug where selected game in list may jump up or down one item if mouse was moved during game play (if mouse enabled)
•  MaLa 1.651 - MaLa fixed bug/crash when option to launch Application on exit was enabled and Sound was enabled.

May 30, 2010
•  MaLa - Added auto key repeat for 1-up/down to support older iPacs
•  MaLa - Added optional delay for Game starting picture

May  23, 2010
• MaLa - Added Shift Keys for Joystick control

April  28, 2010
• MaLa - MaLa Muzac/ Jukebox finally finished transition to new Engine.  No More bass.dll required.

April  25, 2010
• MaLa - Joystick Control- Fixed bugs preventing button use over 16 and in some menus over 12

April  7, 2010
• MaLa .  Fixed Menu control via Joystick

April  5, 2010
• MaLa .  Fixed time display for Layouts and LCD

March 21, 2010
• MaLa .  Improved native USB hardware (LED & LCD) handling and setup. Still more work to do here as there is a minor bug where if you have two of the same types of hardware connected the item with the highest id get discovered and assigned first even if in MaLa you have it configured to be Hardware #2.

March 20, 2010
• MaLa .  Added memory usage logging on Game List loading and Game Start / Quit/ (to find potential memory leak?)
• MaLa .  Added 'Windows Focus' command after every video loop. I will invoke this code in other areas too after user testing.

Febuary 13, 2010
• MaLa .  Added option to launch game with left mouse button

December 28, 2009
• MaLa .  Added Plug-in Events. ConfigureStart/Stop Events.

December 26, 2009
• MaLaTree .  Fixed Minor bug with tree display

December 20, 2009
• MaLa .  Added option not to loop video (play once)

• MaLa .  Enabled Layout Video options to include animated gif's (not just avi's)

• MaLa Layout Editor- Added code to support above MaLa change

December 13, 2009
• MaLa .  Added 5th definable for Mame and 'other Emu',

December 12, 2009
• MaLa Layout Editor: Added 5th definable... I need to add this to MaLa later otherwise I just wasted my time adding it to the editor ;-)  

November 27, 2009
• MaLa - Improved the logic with the 'skip to next letter' when dealing with games starting with numbers, also if partial way through a group of letters skip back to the first of it's type rather than the next letter.

November 23, 2009
• MaLa - Fixed bug/crash with zero lengths game list
• MaLa - Improved messages and logging when creating game lists and reminders in various places about the requirement to use mame >0.84 to produce XML files.

November 21, 2009
• MaLa - Video2/layout video option implementation finished (I Hope)

November 20, 2009
• MaLa Layout. More 'polish' work to handle Video2/Layout videos

November 8, 2009
• MaLa.. Windows 7. Got startup routine to recognize if being run on this new OS

May 3, 2009
• MaLa.. Bugfix.  Stopped MaLa crashing when disabling Audio

April 29, 2009
• MaLa.. Layout Editor.  Second Video window option added

April 27, 2009
• MaLa.. Number of buttons on a joystick supported increased to 32 (previously 12)

April 24, 2009
• MaLa.. Hardware: Expanded to support the IOWarrior24 Chip to drive a LCD display

**** BETA 1.62 released for testing

April 20, 2009
• MaLa.. Video Engine replaced to improve overall MaLa stability and increase playback compatibility with a wider range of video types. This has taken several weeks of development/testing with a lot of help from a great group of beta testers.

March 8, 2009
• MaLa.. Added MaLa Messages ability to switch to various orientations
• MaLa- Fixed some bugs with Definable images on EMU's

February 14, 2009
- Applied new Icon to the MaLa suite from HERE

January 25, 2009
• MaLa.. Added Definable images option of EMU's (other than mame) FINALLY!
• MaLa.. Added Extra logging (in verbose mode) to show event info passed to the plugins
• MaLa.. BugFix. Fixed orientation that was incorrectly reported for non mame. EMU's
• MaLa.. BugFix. Only one press of start button now required after rotate
• MaLa.. Added hotkeys to switch to various orientations

January 4, 2009
• MaLa. BugFix. MaLa now re-enables mouse (if required) after resuming from standby

January 3, 2009
• MaLa. BugFix. Stop mala crash if gamelist empty and MaLa Hardware leds were enabled
• MaLa. JukeBox Disabled 'brackets removed on the fly' in Jukebox mode
• MaLa. BugFix. JukeBox. Fixed bug where songs that were read only were getting shown twice in the list
• MaLa. Logging - Now can be set at Normal or Verbose Levels

October 16, 2008
• MaLa. Jukebox. Better labelling on config window to make operation more intuitive.

October 11, 2008
• MaLa. Config defaults changed to something I feel is a better starting point ;-)

October 9, 2008
• Dreamcast (Nulldc) preset added

October 7, 2008
• MaLa: When mame.exe is specified in options the user is asked if they wish to create a new mame.xml even if one exists.
• MaLa: Some collection options now shown in display box when refreshing game list for Mame.
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. Stopped mala crashing with delayed layout items if game lists are empty (in some circumstances including rom directory change).
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. LED Hardware override files also are used when game is launched

October 1, 2008
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. Stopped delayed layout video playing in background behind a running game in some scenarios. This did sometimes result in performance and Windows focus issues.
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. Stopped delayed layout video playing when options window opened.
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. Fixed incorrect cocktail command line mapping allocations on 90deg and 270deg

September 27, 2008
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. Fixed flash of default text before Layout loads (in some cases).
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. Background music will not start until Startup Video is finished.

September 22, 2008
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. Switching to and from Jukebox from any list now works correctly.

September 20, 2008
β€’ MaLa: Config. Added more verbose descriptions and logging for custom Layout options, and Other EMU MaLaHook loading.
β€’ MaLa: Bugfix. Fixed bug switching between custom game list with custom layout. Elements switching is now synchronized.

[kegger]

Nice Job! When I get time I'll load it in and give it a whirl   

[Stormrider]

I've been trying it with my layout and everything seems to work fine. It looses focus after playing games, but I suppose it has to do with my monitor resolution (I have not tried it yet in native low res). By theym have you implemented a way to display snaps and title snaps in the same place, like an animated gif? I have not found how to do it, so I suppose it's not there.

[loadman]

I've been trying it with my layout and everything seems to work fine. It looses focus after playing games, but I suppose it has to do with my monitor resolution (I have not tried it yet in native low res).

Bugger.  I added some code to 'force focus' after game quit.  It's hard to fix as it never happens to me. Would you be interested in testing some 'special' mala version where I move the force focus to other parts of the code to see if that helps?

By theym have you implemented a way to display snaps and title snaps in the same place, like an animated gif? I have not found how to do it, so I suppose it's not there.

Not sure what you mean, but videos/animated gifs currently have to be the 'top layer'

[TheShanMan]

Can't wait to try this out for the new shifted joystick feature! That will enable me to keep a lot of functionality at my fingertips without worrying about other people getting mala into an undesirable state or doing things that surprise them. Not a big deal if all you have is a mame cab, but when it's just one cab in a big game room filled with many other arcade games and you're having a gaming party, it's not something I want to have to worry about.

[R0UNDEYEZ]

By theym have you implemented a way to display snaps and title snaps in the same place, like an animated gif? I have not found how to do it, so I suppose it's not there.

Not sure what you mean, but videos/animated gifs currently have to be the 'top layer'

I think he might be asking if there is a way for mala to cycle through multiple snapshots for games.. this would be a pretty cool feature actually,would it be hard to implement?
I'm excited to try out this new build now that i have a couple days off! thanks loadman

[lcddream]

Will try it out asap! 

[isucamper]

Dang it.  Wish I saw this yesterday.  Will be trying as soon as possible.  Thanks Loadman!

[kako121]

Hello loadman


1- In "Main Menu", "Sound" not work.

2- If activate "Enable audio" in "Sound and Music", MaLa Crash in Exit:
2010/06/07  19:49:59.65   Error: Exception Message: Access violation at address 0055676C in module 'MaLa.exe'. Read of address 00000208, Object Function: LaunchAppOnExit, Exception Class: EAccessViolation, Object Class: TPopupList.

3- If activate Screensaver with videoSnaps, MaLa Crash in little time (perhaps when it finds determined file?)

4- You recall the "random start up video"?
Itself it has not been able to be implemented? 

5- THANKS by the 5Ί definable 

Sorry for my bad English

[loadman]

Hello loadman


1- In "Main Menu", "Sound" not work.

Sorry, Yes something is broken here. Thanks for testing and reporting. I will fix this.

2- If activate "Enable audio" in "Sound and Music", MaLa Crash in Exit:
2010/06/07  19:49:59.65   Error: Exception Message: Access violation at address 0055676C in module 'MaLa.exe'. Read of address 00000208, Object Function: LaunchAppOnExit, Exception Class: EAccessViolation, Object Class: TPopupList.

I am not gvetting this error. Perhaps you can email more details with an extract from the log file (please put mala logging to debug level) (logging set in the help and credits tab) to loadman@malafe.net

3- If activate Screensaver with videoSnaps, MaLa Crash in little time (perhaps when it finds determined file?)

I could not get it to crash. See above about sending me logs

4- You recall the "random start up video"?
Itself it has not been able to be implemented? 

Not Really, You can start with a random game,

5- THANKS by the 5Ί definable 

No worries

Sorry for my bad English

;-)

[kako121]

Hello

1- THANKS 

2- it reported to the e-mail

3- it reported to the e-mail
3.1-    Suggestion for a next version (Sorry if is not the moment. I have thought it now):
In Screensaver with Videosnaps (or pictures)
Upon pressing a button is executed the game that just then is represented in screen (if we have).

4- Not. I speak of another thing
In GUI/MaLa Start, "Play video on MaLa start"
Why not "Play Random video of the folder... "? (only on MaLa start).
Previously we will have created a folder with various startup videos (not necessarily videosnaps)


THANKS by your work     

[isucamper]

Ok the one bug I've found (and this wasn't introduced with the new beta, I noticed it in the last full release) is when I have the mouse enabled and I select a game (using a joystick button, not sure if this matters) sometimes when I exit the game a different game is selected upon return to the front end.  Either one up or one down from the game I was playing.  Doesn't happen everytime but maybe 40% of the time. 

Not that big of an issue but I've seen it confuse people playing my cabinet. 

If I disable the mouse this issue goes away.  Also I noticed in the new beta that if I enable the mouse, then enable the "left click to start game" option and then disable the mouse, I can still start a game with the mouse button.  Don't change this, I like it. 

Otherwise I've got 2 days on the new beta without problems. 

[jimmy2x2x]

controller/joystick/gamepad/check/J2Right functions correctly - the button lights when I press the trigger on my joystick (based on a 360 pad)

but this input (J2Right) will not function when assigned

the other trigger (J2Up) works fine
 

[nick3092]

I backed up my 1.62 directory, and placed the new 1.65 files in my folder.  The first time I start MaLa, it instantly crashes.  This is what is in the log:

2010/06/10  19:48:53.66   Error: Exception Message: Access violation at address 00635570 in module 'MaLa.exe'. Read of address 000000A0, Object Function: Ctrl1Down, Exception Class: EAccessViolation, Object Class: TTimer

Then if I start it a second time, it loads up.  But All my non-MAME emulators are messed up.  In the select emulator menu, there are a bunch of blank entries, and same thing if I go into the options.

[nick3092]

OK, I solved the inital crash by deleting mala.ini.  It must not like a control of some kind I had mapped.

But now I get a TON of pop up box errors saying that my config files are old.  It specifically names like the first 3 that should be in my list, but the rest all say #0.  Then I get two more pop ups (several times each) saying that my emulator files are old, and really old.  If I click through them all, I'm still left with a broken emulator list.

If it matters, its a Windows 7 x64 machine.

[loadman]

BUG FIXES

In "Main Menu", "Sound" not work.

Fixed  

2- If activate "Enable audio" in "Sound and Music", MaLa Crash in Exit:
2010/06/07  19:49:59.65   Error: Exception Message: Access violation at address 0055676C in module 'MaLa.exe'. Read of address 00000208, Object Function: LaunchAppOnExit, Exception Class: EAccessViolation, Object Class: TPopupList.

Fixed  

Ok the one bug I've found (and this wasn't introduced with the new beta, I noticed it in the last full release) is when I have the mouse enabled and I select a game (using a joystick button, not sure if this matters) sometimes when I exit the game a different game is selected upon return to the front end.  Either one up or one down from the game I was playing.  Doesn't happen everytime but maybe 40% of the time.   Not that big of an issue but I've seen it confuse people playing my cabinet.  

Fixed  

If I disable the mouse this issue goes away.  Also I noticed in the new beta that if I enable the mouse, then enable the "left click to start game" option and then disable the mouse, I can still start a game with the mouse button.  Don't change this, I like it.

OK. I will leave it.  
I changed the options window so it was more obvious that disabling mouse scrolling does not effect the 'left click to start' otion

controller/joystick/gamepad/check/J2Right functions correctly - the button lights when I press the trigger on my joystick (based on a 360 pad)
but this input (J2Right) will not function when assigned
the other trigger (J2Up) works fine

I can not re create this issue. I just assigned it to various things and it worked  
Any other clues?  Is any other Joystick assignment wrong?    

OK, I solved the inital crash by deleting mala.ini.  It must not like a control of some kind I had mapped.
But now I get a TON of pop up box errors saying that my config files are old.  It specifically names like the first 3 that should be in my list, but the rest all say #0.  Then I get two more pop ups (several times each) saying that my emulator files are old, and really old.  If I click through them all, I'm still left with a broken emulator list.
If it matters, its a Windows 7 x64 machine.

Yeah, It's because I've added a lot more options of 'other emu' lists like an extra 'Definable' . I have not got an easy convert solution right now, other that to set them up again     I will think about a better way to deal with this

Actually can you please email me (loadman@malafe.net) these small files that you used from mala1.62 (zipped up that will help me)

All games.ml* (There could be a few of these .ml0 .ml1 etc)
otheremu.mli
mala.ini
mala.mle
mala.mlf
mala.mlc

Enhancement requests

By theym have you implemented a way to display snaps and title snaps in the same place, like an animated gif? I have not found how to do it, so I suppose it's not there.
Not sure what you mean, but videos/animated gifs currently have to be the 'top layer'

I think he might be asking if there is a way for mala to cycle through multiple snapshots for games.. this would be a pretty cool feature actually,would it be hard to implement?

Really. Now I am confused.    I think I might need more clarification before I think about that anymore  

In Screensaver with Videosnaps (or pictures)
Upon pressing a button is executed the game that just then is represented in screen (if we have).

Do you mean launch the game that is currently showing on screen saver? I think I could make that would easily If the video or snap file would have matched up exactly and it existed in the currently selected emulator / game list. Would you want a special button for this or would the rule be if you interuupted the screensaver with the 'start game' button it would do a quick quick to see if the game displayed existed in your current game list and if so Launch it?

In GUI/MaLa Start, "Play video on MaLa start"
Why not "Play Random video of the folder... "? (only on MaLa start).
Previously we will have created a folder with various startup videos (not necessarily videosnaps)

It would not be that hard to implement but you only start MaLa occasionally so what benefit would there be?

[nick3092]

BUG FIXES

Actually can you please email me (loadman@malafe.net) these small files that you used from mala1.62 (zipped up that will help me)

All games.ml* (There could be a few of these .ml0 .ml1 etc)
otheremu.mli
mala.ini
mala.mle
mala.mlf
mala.mlc

They are in your inbox.  Thanks for looking into this!

[kako121]

BUG FIXES

2- If activate "Enable audio" in "Sound and Music", MaLa Crash in Exit:
2010/06/07  19:49:59.65   Error: Exception Message: Access violation at address 0055676C in module 'MaLa.exe'. Read of address 00000208, Object Function: LaunchAppOnExit, Exception Class: EAccessViolation, Object Class: TPopupList.

Fixed  

THANKS 

In Screensaver with Videosnaps (or pictures)
Upon pressing a button is executed the game that just then is represented in screen (if we have).

Do you mean launch the game that is currently showing on screen saver? I think I could make that would easily If the video or snap file would have matched up exactly and it existed in the currently selected emulator / game list. Would you want a special button for this or would the rule be if you interuupted the screensaver with the 'start game' button it would do a quick quick to see if the game displayed existed in your current game list and if so Launch it?

With the "start game" button is well, although would also be able to configure in Controller/Keyboard

In GUI/MaLa Start, "Play video on MaLa start"
Why not "Play Random video of the folder... "? (only on MaLa start).
Previously we will have created a folder with various startup videos (not necessarily videosnaps)

It would not be that hard to implement but you only start MaLa occasionally so what benefit would there be?

Really it would be to give him a "tone" different each time that light the arcade.  Nothing more 

Thanks

[jimmy2x2x]

controller/joystick/gamepad/check/J2Right functions correctly - the button lights when I press the trigger on my joystick (based on a 360 pad)
but this input (J2Right) will not function when assigned
the other trigger (J2Up) works fine

I can not re create this issue. I just assigned it to various things and it worked  
Any other clues?  Is any other Joystick assignment wrong?    

********

I have downgraded MALA to V1.05, and changed my joystick drivers to XBCD drivers and still get this issue, not all the time

Here is a video demonstrating the situation with the above driver/mala version.

As you can see buttons 11 and 12 are 100% accurately detected in the joystick/check tab.  They light up the blue circles as expected.  Then I go to the advanced tab to show the assignment for volume up and down, back into the app and button 12 (volume down) doesn't function.  I then go back into joystick/check and the blue circles are lighting as they should for buttons 11 and 12.



I hope this is clear enough, very sorry about the video quality!

Thanks

[loadman]

As you can see buttons 11 and 12 are 100% accurately detected in the joystick/check tab.  They light up the blue circles as expected.  Then I go to the advanced tab to show the assignment for volume up and down, back into the app and button 12 (volume down) doesn't function.  I then go back into joystick/check and the blue circles are lighting as they should for buttons 11 and 12.

Weird. 

Thanks for the Video.

I just recreated the exact test you did and the volume went up and down accordingly when pressing button 11 or 12.   

[jimmy2x2x]

Do you use the same routine for reading the buttons in the 'joystick/test' screen as everywhere else?

As this screen always works perfectly for me

[loadman]

Do you use the same routine for reading the buttons in the 'joystick/test' screen as everywhere else?
As this screen always works perfectly for me

Yup,

If you want to pursue this might be best to open a different thread as this is not really realted to bugs in this beta release

Have a look at your Logs in debug mode (set in help and credits tab) You should see entries like this:

Code: [Select]

2010/06/13  14:16:08.45   Debug **: CallbackJoy: Button #2048
2010/06/13  14:16:08.45   Debug **: CallbackJoy: SteadyJoy NOT Pressed
2010/06/13  14:16:08.46   Debug **: Muzac: CtrlVolumeDown
2010/06/13  14:16:09.32   Debug **: CallbackJoy: Button #1024
2010/06/13  14:16:09.32   Debug **: CallbackJoy: SteadyJoy NOT Pressed
2010/06/13  14:16:09.34   Debug **: Muzac: CtrlVolumeUp
2010/06/13  14:16:09.57   Debug **: CallbackJoy: Button #1024
2010/06/13  14:16:09.57   Debug **: CallbackJoy: SteadyJoy NOT Pressed
2010/06/13  14:16:09.59   Debug **: Muzac: CtrlVolumeUp
2010/06/13  14:16:09.82   Debug **: CallbackJoy: Button #1024
2010/06/13  14:16:09.82   Debug **: CallbackJoy: SteadyJoy NOT Pressed
2010/06/13  14:16:09.84   Debug **: Muzac: CtrlVolumeUp

[jimmy2x2x]

No problem, Ill have a play around with it - see if I can gather any useful information

Thanks again!

[R0UNDEYEZ]

Really. Now I am confused.    I think I might need more clarification before I think about that anymore  Wink

lets say i have a title screen snapshot, and maybe a snapshot of the level one boss, and some other random in game snapshot I happened to think was cool.. is it difficult to make it so mala will cycle through and display them sequentially ?

[loadman]

Really. Now I am confused.    I think I might need more clarification before I think about that anymore  Wink

lets say i have a title screen snapshot, and maybe a snapshot of the level one boss, and some other random in game snapshot I happened to think was cool.. is it difficult to make it so mala will cycle through and display them sequentially ?

OK. How would the snaps be grouped. In separate folders or with an extension of sequential numbers... eg snap.001 

[loadman]

OK, I solved the inital crash by deleting mala.ini.  It must not like a control of some kind I had mapped.

Do you have that old .ini? Can you recreate it? It would nice to find the cause. 

But now I get a TON of pop up box errors saying that my config files are old.  It specifically names like the first 3 that should be in my list, but the rest all say #0.  Then I get two more pop ups (several times each) saying that my emulator files are old, and really old.  If I click through them all, I'm still left with a broken emulator list.

I think I fixed this one.    
Please try the latest beta. I updated the link on the first post (1.654)

[nick3092]

OK, I solved the inital crash by deleting mala.ini.  It must not like a control of some kind I had mapped.

Do you have that old .ini? Can you recreate it? It would nice to find the cause.  

But now I get a TON of pop up box errors saying that my config files are old.  It specifically names like the first 3 that should be in my list, but the rest all say #0.  Then I get two more pop ups (several times each) saying that my emulator files are old, and really old.  If I click through them all, I'm still left with a broken emulator list.

I think I fixed this one.    
Please try the latest beta. I updated the link on the first post (1.654)

I included my .ini in the zip file I sent you along with all the other files you asked for when you were looking into the other emulator import issue.   The fix to import old/other emulators seems to work perfectly.  I didn't go through and validate everything was intact, but I didn't get any errors, and my list seemed to be complete.  

[R0UNDEYEZ]

OK. How would the snaps be grouped. In separate folders or with an extension of sequential numbers... eg snap.001 

Honestly, I'm not sure about the coding and which way would be easier.. my first inclination is to think sequential numbers so people don't have to change the way they are storing all their snaps currently,it would just be a matter of adding extra pics to the existing snapshot folders.
would it be easier or are there any other advantages (beyond sorting slightly) to having them in individual folders?

thanks again loadman!

[loadman]

I included my .ini in the zip file I sent you along with all the other files you asked for when you were looking into the other emulator import issue.  

Yeah, I used that one but it did not crash for me. 

The fix to import old/other emulators seems to work perfectly.  I didn't go through and validate everything was intact, but I didn't get any errors, and my list seemed to be complete.  

Honestly, I'm not sure about the coding and which way would be easier.. my first inclination is to think sequential numbers so people don't have to change the way they are storing all their snaps currently,it would just be a matter of adding extra pics to the existing snapshot folders.

OK I will look at that

[R0UNDEYEZ]

OK I will look at that

awesome, thanks a ton loadman!

[drventure]

Honestly, I'm not sure about the coding and which way would be easier.. my first inclination is to think sequential numbers so people don't have to change the way they are storing all their snaps currently,it would just be a matter of adding extra pics to the existing snapshot folders.

Cool, if that'll end up in Mala, I won't need it in Engine18. I believe I did it via filenames with arbitrary postfixes. Ie.

Say Mala config told it to go look for a snap called

asteroid.jpg

Then the set of snaps that would be rotated through would be anything snap named

asteroid.jpg
or
asteroid-*.jpg
or
asteroid-*.(supported extensions, including TIF, GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, etc)

Same with vids, flyers, I believe even marquees, CPs, etc.

I also have the image box able to rotate between snap, marquee, video, CP, etc with a few cheezy wipes thrown in for good measure 

Now if I could ever get the dang Video Rotate support functional, I'd be able to post a V1 

[R0UNDEYEZ]

hey dr venture, that sounds exactly like what i was asking for and more, i've skimmed over the engine 18 thread once but never saw anything about that, i should go back and check it out more closely for other features as well. I was under the impression it was more for other plugin writers

[drventure]

Yeah, The engine itself is intended more for Plugin writers, but I gotta have a few plugins to test it with 

Plus, I wanted it to have some functionality in that area anyway.

[TheShanMan]

Loadman, I just got the latest beta installed and have noticed these things:

UseJoystick2 isn't written by the gui, so enabling it is useless. I had to edit the ini file to get this functionality working.

Mouse is scrolling the game list but it's not showing all the pics associated with each game, nor is it making the selection sound I have set.

Using an analog joystick, the selection sound only occurs when you let go of the joystick. In other words, it doesn't repeatedly play as the selection changes if you just hold it up or down. The old version did.

I imagine I'll find other stuff but otherwise first glance looks good!

[loadman]

Loadman, I just got the latest beta installed and have noticed these things:
UseJoystick2 isn't written by the gui, so enabling it is useless. I had to edit the ini file to get this functionality working.

Thanks.  Fixed.  

Mouse is scrolling the game list but it's not showing all the pics associated with each game, nor is it making the selection sound I have set.
Using an analog joystick, the selection sound only occurs when you let go of the joystick. In other words, it doesn't repeatedly play as the selection changes if you just hold it up or down. The old version did.

Hmmm I Got the same result for mouse with on these items on version 1.05 and 1.65.
You can change this sound and snap behavior in Gui-Options- Display-Delay Exceptions. Have a play!!
It will show pics and click as you scroll or not (your choice). It's a scrolling speed issue depending on the speed of your machine
Check what settings you had in this area on you working MaLa version please to possibly rule out a bug.

I imagine I'll find other stuff but otherwise first glance looks good!

Thanks for your time.  Happy Bug hunting.

[isucamper]

Ok the one bug I've found (and this wasn't introduced with the new beta, I noticed it in the last full release) is when I have the mouse enabled and I select a game (using a joystick button, not sure if this matters) sometimes when I exit the game a different game is selected upon return to the front end.  Either one up or one down from the game I was playing.  Doesn't happen everytime but maybe 40% of the time.   Not that big of an issue but I've seen it confuse people playing my cabinet.  

Fixed  

Still seeing this issue in the latest beta.

[TheShanMan]

Mouse is scrolling the game list but it's not showing all the pics associated with each game, nor is it making the selection sound I have set.
Using an analog joystick, the selection sound only occurs when you let go of the joystick. In other words, it doesn't repeatedly play as the selection changes if you just hold it up or down. The old version did.

Hmmm I Got the same result for mouse with on these items on version 1.05 and 1.65.
You can change this sound and snap behavior in Gui-Options- Display-Delay Exceptions. Have a play!!
It will show pics and click as you scroll or not (your choice). It's a scrolling speed issue depending on the speed of your machine
Check what settings you had in this area on you working MaLa version please to possibly rule out a bug.

I think you're missing my point. I'm not talking about during mouse scrolling. It never finishes showing pics and playing the selection sound. I have to switch to the joystick to get that stuff to return. I didn't catch on to the fact that it's only stuff that shows on a delay though but your comment reminded me of that.

And what about no selection sound while the joystick is scrolling through the game list? You didn't comment on that. Maybe the same issue as no selection sound with the mouse.

I should add an issue that has bugged me since day one of using MaLa. I often adjust settings without pulling a mouse out of the cabinet (keyboard only), and the tab order of everything in the options dialog is all over the map. There is no predicting where the cursor is going to jump to next when you hit tab (unless you memorize it). Any chance of you setting the tab order of all the sub-dialogs?

Thanks loadman!

[loadman]

I think you're missing my point. I'm not talking about during mouse scrolling. It never finishes showing pics and playing the selection sound. I have to switch to the joystick to get that stuff to return. I didn't catch on to the fact that it's only stuff that shows on a delay though but your comment reminded me of that.
And what about no selection sound while the joystick is scrolling through the game list? You didn't comment on that. Maybe the same issue as no selection sound with the mouse.

I will clarify.
My comments were for both Mouse and Joystick.
After your report I tested these areas and the behavior seems correct and the same between version 1.05 and 1.65.
The only way I could get it to behave in a different way was to adjust the config (Gui-Options- Display-Delay Exceptions).

Can you email me your mala.ini please and I will see what you have set.

It never finishes showing pics and playing the selection sound. I have to switch to the joystick to get that stuff to return.

I have NEVER seen that. Can please email me a log extract in 'verbose mode' when this happens please.

Also, Have you tried without any plug-ins?

I should add an issue that has bugged me since day one of using MaLa. I often adjust settings without pulling a mouse out of the cabinet (keyboard only), and the tab order of everything in the options dialog is all over the map. There is no predicting where the cursor is going to jump to next when you hit tab (unless you memorize it). Any chance of you setting the tab order of all the sub-dialogs?

 Fair Enough. I will fix that as it is a mess as you say.

Thanks again for your time

[loadman]

Ok the one bug I've found (and this wasn't introduced with the new beta, I noticed it in the last full release) is when I have the mouse enabled and I select a game (using a joystick button, not sure if this matters) sometimes when I exit the game a different game is selected upon return to the front end.  Either one up or one down from the game I was playing.  Doesn't happen everytime but maybe 40% of the time.   Not that big of an issue but I've seen it confuse people playing my cabinet.  

Fixed  

Still seeing this issue in the latest beta.

Really.

I must admit I didn't test with Joystick.

The bug I fixed was that is you moved the mouse during gameplay then the game list would bump up or down one item after you quit.

I will test again, but this time I will have the mouse enabled and use the joystick to select.

[TheShanMan]

I will have a look and get you that info as soon as I can hook it back up to the network. But in the meantime, are you saying that it should be playing the selection sound each time the game selection changes? Because it does not do that if I hold the joystick up or down (repeat mode). It only plays the sound once, when I release the joystick. Last year's beta played the selection sound repeatedly. It's possible I missed an option but I was alt-tabbing back and forth from my old install's options dialog to the new install's so I'm pretty sure I transferred every last option.