MAMEWah Menu Lockout

[MUKid]

A quick MAMEWah question -- I read on Stuzza's help page that if I press and hold Player 2 start for three seconds, I can lock out the menu.  I tried this, but all that happens is that the menu screen comes and goes repeatedly (exactly what I'd expect to happen when holding down that key, actually).  Is there a way to lock out menus using MAMEWah?  If so, how?

Thanks!

[JoeB]

Good one..

I also ran into this problem!  

[BigBri]

ya, just hold it down until you hear the noise.  than you know it's locked.

[MUKid]

Man, I held down that button till the cows came home, and there was no sound, and I got no menu lockout.

Let me just make sure I'm not being stupid and doing this wrong.... I press the Player 2 Start Button for three seconds, right?  And just to make sure, I went into the customize controls menu and made sure that I was pressing the right button for Player 2 Start.  Player 2 Start also brings the menu up, so it just comes up and goes down repeatedly as long as I hold the button, so I'm sure I'm pressing the right button.

*shrug*

[Cave]

Press 2 so the options box comes up, then press 2 AGAIN for 3 seconds, you will get a message confirming the lock also.

Cave

[Minwah]

Press 2 so the options box comes up, then press 2 AGAIN for 3 seconds, you will get a message confirming the lock also.

Cave

This is correct

MUKid: Does the options menu just keep appearing / disappearing?  Are you using a keyboard or encoder?

If you are using a keyboard or your encoder has key-repeat enabled (eg USB IPAC) then this cause a problem, since I relied on no key repeat...let me know if this is the case.

[SpamMe]

Well it's the case for me. Currently using a keyboard until my ipac comes, so it's probably not a big deal.

[MUKid]

Sorry I haven't replied to this in so long...

I was using a keyboard, but I also tried using my control panel which runs off of a Keywiz (it's a PS/2 emulator) and still have the same problem.  No menu lockout -- the menu just flashes on and off the screen.  This happens whether I try it while the options menu is already up or not.

[JoeB]

I'm using a J-PAC on a real arcade machine..

any no matter what I try, I can't lock the menu with the above key combinations.. Even tried it on the newest MAMEWAH!

[Minwah]

OK guys.  I wrote the lock thing almost assuming no-one used key-repeat (I had my reasons).

I will try to sort it out...

[SpamMe]

Could there just be a lock/unlock button (no holding)?

[Minwah]

Could there just be a lock/unlock button (no holding)?

Yes I suppose.  But most people would want to use a button on their control panel (many people do not have any other buttons).  In this case, just pressing a button wold be too 'easy' I think.

[MUKid]

OK guys.  I wrote the lock thing almost assuming no-one used key-repeat (I had my reasons).

I will try to sort it out...

I'm a little confused.  Are there situations where key repeat is disabled?  AFAIK, it's hard-coded into DOS and Windows.  I don't think you can turn it off, can you?  I mean, you can slow down the repeat rate, but I don't think you can turn it entirely off.  So what assumptions were you making about the setups users would be running?  Maybe I just don't understand what you mean by "key repeat."

By no means is this a troll or flame, btw; I think MAMEWah is a great frontend and I'm really enjoying it.  The menu lockout thing is a tiny little feature that's of minor importance to me overall.  I'd just like to know whose setup out there is running without some kind of key repeat, and why.

Thanks for looking into it, Minwah!

[Minwah]

I'm a little confused.  Are there situations where key repeat is disabled?  AFAIK, it's hard-coded into DOS and Windows.  I don't think you can turn it off, can you?  I mean, you can slow down the repeat rate, but I don't think you can turn it entirely off.  So what assumptions were you making about the setups users would be running?  Maybe I just don't understand what you mean by "key repeat."

Well many (most?) keyboard encoders do not use key repeat.  I know the HotRod encoder, and IPAC in PS/2 mode do not.  The IPAC in USB mode by default does however.

You can test this:  Go into notepad or similar, and hold down a button (say P1 Start '1').  If the encoder does not use key repeat, you should see only one '1' on the screen *.  If key repeat is enabled, you will see loads of 1's appear until you let go (just like a keyboard).

* you may actually see a few 1's, my HotRod does this probably due to a glitch somewhere.

When I began writing my FE, I thought all encoders disabled key repeat (maybe the ones available at the time all did?).  In fact, it would have been a LOT easy to write the input stuff if key repeat was always enabled...