Marquee LCD- Auto Switch as the game switches - Possible?

[JRoz]

Hey Guys,

Not exactly sure where I would post this but here's the idea:

I'm sure people have done this in the past, but I want to use a smaller LCD above my arcade cabinet as a Marquee screen. As I switch through my games I want the marquee to change. Any ideas on what type of application I can use to create this - if there is any? I already have the LCD and a dual card to use, just not sure which app could handle it?

thanks
Jason

[Howard_Casto]

Mamehooker can change em once the game is started.  There is a tutorial on my site to do just that. 

There are a few front-ends that do this as well. 

[JRoz]

Awesome, I'll check it out..thanks for the post

[Chappie]

JRoz,

Let me pass on my story with this. I have literally spent roughly 6 months messing with this and a few other programs at various times and this morning I finally hit pay dirt. Mame Hooker does work, but for me the documentation was a little short in exactly what needs to be done. The tutorial on Dragonkings site for "Using Mame Hooker to Display a Marquee on a Secondary Monitor" has a few holes in it. Let me explain. First, you need to know what your secondary monitors resolution is set for. The resolution will probably be 640x480 or maybe 800x600. This is the resolution of your second monitor only. Mine was set for 800x600. Second, you need to know its position in the dual monitor setup for x & y. Right click on your Desktop and go to Properties then Settings and hover your mouse over the second monitor and it will tell you it's position, mine was -160, -600. (So x=-160 and y=-600). Now you have the .ini numbers you need to fill in some blanks.

My marquees are .png files and are all located in a marquees directory in the mame folder. So for me it is e:\emulators\marquees

Now follow the tutorial and edit the default.ini as published.

This is where it gets cloudy in the tutorial. There are actually two .dis files that need to be edited. The one he lists in the tutorial is marquee.dis. That is located in the mamehooker\display\marquee folder. Edit that to exactly what Dragonking depicts in the tutorial. The only line I changed was the "image" command which was changed to read :

image=e:\emulators\marquees\%rpd%.png

The second .dis file is default.dis. That is in the mamehooker\display folder. This is the file that has to be changed to reflect your monitor numbers. So my default.dis reads:

[Layout]
x=-160 (I tweaked this from -160 to -170 to better center the marquee in the monitor afterwards)
y=-600
width=800
height=600

Now add Mamehooker.exe to your startup folder so it loads on start. That was it...so with Mame Hooker running now the marquees all show up now for every game that has one automatically. One other note...DO NOT edit your mame.ini and turn on the second monitor in mame (ie.....numscreens  2).

Hope this helps.

Chappie

[Howard_Casto]

It's always nice to get another explaination, but all of this is covered in the tutorials (note that's plural)

Before attempting the Marquee tutorial you should first read the other two, which specifically talk about the default.dis... that's why they are numbered like that. 


Also it looks like you've got a smaller monitor on top of a larger one.  If that is the case I would suggest aligning the left side of the marquee monitor with your main one instead of centering it.  It's just a pain in the butt for many dual monitor programs to deal with that sort of setup unless you have a specific reason to do so. 

[JRoz]

You the man Chappie!..thanks guys

[Chappie]

My apologies Howard....rack it up to guys who hate to read instructions category I guess. That third tutorial is easy to just go right to when you see it listed on there and that is your objective to achieve. Maybe worthy of a line in the beginning of the last tutorial to say that it is important to accomplish the first two tutorials before accomplishing the final stage.

Question....is there a way to load a generic marquee when one is not found that satisfies the rom, parent, driver search??

[gamepimp]

I use a program called Marquee Magician to load marquees (and custom images for my console games) whenever a game loads. Basically the program will match the marquee image name to the rom name and display it when the game loads. If there is no marquee for the game, u can specify a generic image to be displayed. Check it out...

http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/6911-release-marquee-magician-20/

[Chappie]

That was one of the programs I struggled with...I am happy for now that i have everything working. Will wait for Howard to reply to me if there is a way to display a generic marquee when one is not present. Thanks.

Chappie

[Howard_Casto]

What I do is use a default marquee as a background image.  When a marquee is found it covers it up and when none is found it makes it visible. 

It's probably something I should add for future versions though.

**UPDATE**

That's like two lines of code to implement... so I did it.  It'll be included in the next release.

[JRoz]

weird..anytime I try to Edit Default.ini I get the following" Run Time Error '339'  Component 'RICHTX32.OCX' or  one of its dependencies not correctly registered : a file is missing or invalid

[JRoz]

BOOYA..forget it I got it working hahah..this is awesome.  One thing I noticed which isnt a big deal..when I click on my game and it starts to load..there is a 1 or 2nd lag in loading the marquee..its really not that bad at all, I just notice the little details like this...is there any way to turn the lag down or make it load quicker?  if not no big deal..so pumped!

[Chappie]

I had the same problem with the outdated .ocx, so I just manually edited the file and saved it.

[Chappie]

Awesome thanks Howard...when can we expect the updated file?

[JRoz]

What I do is use a default marquee as a background image.  When a marquee is found it covers it up and when none is found it makes it visible. 

It's probably something I should add for future versions though.

**UPDATE**

That's like two lines of code to implement... so I did it.  It'll be included in the next release.

Are you able to set a background image only on your second monitor?  Normally i'd like just a black background so anything that gets ran when booting up doesnt show any type of background (atleast on my main screen).  I havent put these into a shell or anything yet so it may not be an issue once I do that..but how would I put a default marquee as a background only in my second monitor? 

thanks
Jason

[Howard_Casto]

I mean background image of the display file.

Not sure what you are doing on your particular mame cab, but nearly ever one I've ever seen uses a solid black background for all desktops.... because most people want to hide windows. 

[JRoz]

Right, I dont want to see anything behind my Gaming monitor, just boot right into the front end without any trace of XP...but for my Marquee LCD..I wanted to set that to my current marquee...so when a game isnt loaded at the time it still shows up.  I figured it out though, they have an advanced app for dual monitors that lets you assign different backgrounds.  Forget the name but if anyone needs it just PM me and i'll get back to you tonight after work.

On a side note....I haven't thrown down for one of those LG stretch monitors that look perfect with a marquee...i'm using a free 21" LCD I received from work for now...only problem i'm facing now is having to modify every single marquee, or pretty much make my own.  Definitely going to take some time to make them all look right.  The resolution is 1440x900 and obviously regular marquee's stretched out at that res really look awful.  My other option is setting up a masking system where I cover a portion of the monitor with a bezel, above and below..and in the middle is where the marquee shows up.  I'll do some updates on here when I figure it out............if anyone...cares..... 

[Chappie]

Howard...any follow up on the version that will allow a generic marquee for a game that has no marquee image? Thanks.

Steve

[Howard_Casto]

When it's done.... it's been over a year since the last mamehooker release. 

[kayser2008]

hello how what can I do to use the mamehoocker i have tried with this tutorial but no reason canīt  managed, specifically i wante to know if it is possible for the highscores to a second monitor.
thank you