AAAArrrrrrhhhh Front ends!!

[jahilton2002]

I'm at the point where before i build my cab, i want to get screenshots/videos for all my roms..... i used MA for 30days, which seemed nice clean and easy to use......

the i tried HS, which i really love, the eye candy is great. so that my dilema, pay for MA or Donate to HS.... the main thing for me is having the right artwork and videos, so HS seems the right place to go..... but i find it really hard to edit the HS FE, im not a coder via any means,

Plz help 

EDIT:

i use XBMC for my home movies, is there a front end that works like that? eg where it auto downloads data screen etc etc via the web automaticly

[drventure]

Nivo's screenies are pretty good

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=46026.msg1131954;topicseen#msg1131954

I haven't seen any FE's that'll go get screens/vids for you. But then I haven't looked much past Mala either. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[Dazz]

This is the problem with today's society... people want everything and they want it right now, but don't want to have to do any work to get the result they want.  There is not an FE that's going to download everything for you.  Every FE is going to make you do some kind of work.  Most FE's movies come from Emumovies unless you want to create your own videos. 

I'm not really sure what you mean by "edit the HS FE".  There isn't much that you need to edit...  We are working on making everything easy for users.  The thing is that your roms need to be named correctly. Once your roms are named correctly then everything else is simple.  We've made acquiring very nice artwork sets easy and we are releasing new sets every couple days.

[jahilton2002]

WOW calm down man 

HS is what i'm going for, just used hypersync to rename all my master system roms, and added the box art, just need the wheel icons and a few vids from emumovies. then just, mega drive, nes ,snes and n64 to go..........

it just seems i have to do alot of head scratchin' im new to all this, sorry if i said something wrong..... i just wanted some advice, yes i understand if i want to use Hyperspins eyecandy i'll have to do alittle work.

its just a step learnin' curve thats all 

[shateredsoul]

the gameex frontend fits in just right with a home theater system.. it looks like windows media center, but you can edit the looks. Check it out

http://www.gameex.net/

Hyperspin is definitely a nice frontend. Like Dazz said, it's a sinch to include supported systems. It's harder to include some other systems though whidh do require you to know how to use autohotkey you don't need to be a coder to use it, but if you know the idea of coding it might help.  I'd say start with supported systems (game boy advance, nintendo, super nintendo, genesis, mame) and when you figure those out move on to unsupported systems.

[WhereEaglesDare]

GamEx for the WIN!!!

[Havok]

And do try AtomicFE - we have an option to download a fully pre-configured setup where you just dump the files into directories and it works...

(Click my sig)

[shateredsoul]

And do try AtomicFE - we have an option to download a fully pre-configured setup where you just dump the files into directories and it works...

(Click my sig)

does your frontend (or any frontend) let you configure controls for all emulators? I mean.. it would be awesome to have an option to configure controls, screen size, full screen, etc.. right from the front end.

[yotsuya]

Havok-

I love Atomic FE and am currently using it in my cabinet project, but I do have one issue with it- it won't alllow me to run anything externally, nor will it allow me to un 'exceptions' (i.e. use a diffrerent emulator to run a specific rom in a list). Whenever I do, the program won't run the program or the Rom. Other than that, it's been perfect. Any ideas?

[Havok]

does your frontend (or any frontend) let you configure controls for all emulators? I mean.. it would be awesome to have an option to configure controls, screen size, full screen, etc.. right from the front end.

Atomic relies on the emulator's config; I'm not sure any FE would do that as you would have to constantly update your FE if anything changed on any of the emulator's side.

Havok-

I love Atomic FE and am currently using it in my cabinet project, but I do have one issue with it- it won't alllow me to run anything externally, nor will it allow me to un 'exceptions' (i.e. use a diffrerent emulator to run a specific rom in a list). Whenever I do, the program won't run the program or the Rom. Other than that, it's been perfect. Any ideas?

I would put in an exception for a particular rom, and then have it call a batch file which specifies the command line to fire up the program. That's what I do to run all my PC games, Daphne and American Laser Disc  games...

[yotsuya]

I could try that. Thanks!

[DeLuSioNal29]

Head over to Emumovies.com and download the download service utility.  It will scan your roms and auto download (and auto rename) the snaps to match your roms.

http://emumovies.com/forums/index.php?/files/category/164-emumovies-download-service-utility/

[Rick]

This is the problem with today's society... people want everything and they want it right now, but don't want to have to do any work to get the result they want.  There is not an FE that's going to download everything for you.  Every FE is going to make you do some kind of work.  Most FE's movies come from Emumovies unless you want to create your own videos.

You can't fault the guy for being spoiled by XBMC.  It has everything that you would ever want, and does most of the work for you.  If there was an FE that had that functionality, it would be the most popular one on the market, hands down.  Don't take that as a sleight against HS (or Mala, or MA, or any other for that matter) because it's simply because of the integration of XBMC.  You configure your settings, and it to look at three different XML based sites for media - it downloads posters and backdrops, media and series info for movies, TV and music.  There simply isn't a backend to support that for the FE's that are out there.

Now, if one day, someone put together a website whereby the information was scrapable in XML format, and people could turn on their FE, watch as it scanned their ROM's for missing information, and then DL'd the game picture, game video, marquee, and scan of the cabinet - imagine what that world would look like.

The only question is - which FE will be first out of the box?

[tspeirs]

"Now, if one day, someone put together a website whereby the information was scrapable in XML format, and people could turn on their FE, watch as it scanned their ROM's for missing information, and then DL'd the game picture, game video, marquee, and scan of the cabinet - imagine what that world would look like"

Its been done. See delusionals post above. Its got an XML API behind it that has the potential to be integrated into front ends. Although the utility itself does exactly that.

[Circo]

Just got to get the word out there that it exists  

We are trying to make this hobby easier.